| Source: JayGary.com http://www.jaygary.com/t2-res.shtml Talk 2000  Since the mid-60s, more than 2,000 books on the year 2000 have been published. The majority are industry specific, and discuss national issues such as education, transportation or literacy by the year 2000. About 5 percent look at the year 2000 from an integrated social perspective. This bibliography falls under this later category. The books listed below should be available in your local library or bookstore. Subject: 2.1 WHAT ARE THE BEST INTRODUCTORY BOOKS ON THE YEAR 2000? If you have never thought about the year 2000, here are some recommended books. They assume no knowledge of the bimillennial, and will give you a sound grasp of the basics. Megatrends 2000 John Naisbitt & Patricia Aburdene, Morrow, 1990 In a widely read trends books, Naisbitt & Aburdene include an upbeat piece on "the millennium as a metaphor for the future" in their introduction and in the conclusion to chapter 9. ISBN: 0-688-07224-0. The Millennium Book Gail & Dan Collins, Doubleday, 1991 Take a fun look at the year 2000 and its festivities. Contains 26 top-ten lists of the last millennium, including the Top Tunes, Ten Worst Wars, or Twelve Greatest Women. Perfect for any Millennium's Eve trivia buff who wants to get ready for "the biggest New Year's Eve in a 1,000 years." ISBN 0-385-41165-0. The Star of 2000 Jay Gary, Bimillennial, 1994 A new star of Bethlehem has now appeared-the year 2000. This spiritual magnet is now drawing our civilization, which began with the birth of Jesus, to celebrate its 2,000th anniversary. Stories, inspiration and projections combine to share how this journey of hope will unfold from 1996 to 2001 to become the greatest celebration in the history of civilization. ISBN 0-9641388-0-8.
--Jiminy Cricket
Subject: 2.2 WHAT BOOKS SHOULD I READ ON 2000 FOR PLEASURE? This is recreational reading on the year 2000 from various novels, future histories, or science fiction books. As Marshall McLuhan said, "Anyone who tries to make a distinction between education and entertainment doesn't know the first thing about either." Looking Backwards: 2000-1887 Edward Bellamy, STMS, 1995, [1887] Good Morning, It's A.D. 2000! As people prepared to celebrate the turn of the century a 100 years ago, the most popular book of the day was about life in year 2000. Bellamy's utopian novel sold more than 10 million copies. The story revolves around Mr. Julian West, a wealthy Bostonian man who was an insomniac. As fortune would have it, one day in May 1887, West is hypnotized to sleep only to wake up 113 years later, on September 10, 2000, to find an American utopia. Literary historians claim Looking Backwards had an impact on American society equal to classics such as Uncle Tom's Cabin and Ben Hur. ISBN: 0-312-10591-6. 2001: A Space Odyssey Arthur C. Clarke, New American Library, 1968 In the words of Life magazine, the book and MGM movie by Clarke and Stanley Kubrick "dazzles the eyes and gnaws the mind." 2001 is the story of a black enigma found on the moon, a spacecraft sent to Jupiter to unravel the mystery, an intelligent computer gone insane, one man's search for his intelligent equal among alien stars and the birth of a Star Child. The Year 2000: An anthology Harry Harrison, editor, Berkeley, 1970, 1972. Thirteen distinguished science fiction writers share their vision of life in the year 2000. Considered brilliant, prophetic and frightening, they contribute to our understanding of where humanity is going, how and to what end. ISBN: 425-02117-095. A Creed for the Third Millennium Colleen McCullough, Harper & Row, 1985. A best-selling novelist weaves a spell-binding tale of power, self-deceit and manipulation. Join Dr. Joshua Christian, during the bimillennial year of 2033, as he leads a demoralized American public out of "millennium neurosis" only to experience a surprise climax. ISBN 0-06-015301-6. First Lady of the World Robert Muller, World Happiness, 1991 A novel by a former UN official of how the first woman Secretary General brings a renaissance to world affairs and prepares the world to celebrate the year 2000. A tale of love, courage, eastern mysticism and self-sacrifice. ISBN: 1-880455-01-3. Mega-Traumas: America at the Year 2000 Richard D. Lamm, Houghton, 1985 After the election of 2000, the new president calls in the cabinet appointees to help her write the State of the Union message. She learns that American is a nation in liquidation. Is this inevitable? In a more hopeful scenario, the author shows how the U.S. can avoid these projected disasters. ISBN: 0-39537-91-21. The Third Millennium Brian Stableford and David Langford, Knofp, 1985 If you lived in A.D. 3000, what would the history of the world look like since A.D. 2000? Here is a lively glimpse of the future through topics such as war and peace, environmental crises and space exploration. ISBN: O-394-74151-X.
-Arthur C. Clarke
Subject: 2.3 WHAT BOOKS SHOULD I READ IF I'M ACTIVE IN TALK 2000? This is intermediate reading on the bimillennial. For regular participants in bit.listserv.2000ad-l, these books are indispensable. Century's End Hillel Schwartz, Doubleday, 1990 Here is the definitive cultural history of the fin de siecle, from the 990s through the 1990s. Explains how the "century-end effect" will impact the '90s, from the fear of decay and fantasies of renewal. Superb material on "The Legend of the Year 2000"--a storehouse of research. ISBN: 0-385-24379-0. (The paperback edition will be released in late '95.) Celebrations William Johnston, Transaction, 1991 A study of the "cult of anniversaries" in Western Europe and United States today from a postmodern perspective. Covers the great calendar, the humanist tradition and the power of bimillennial consciousness. ISBN: 0-88738-375-0. The Anniversary Compulsion Peter Aykroyd, Dundurn, 1992 A classic study of how a mega-anniversary can be successfully conceptualized and staged, based on Canada's experience with their centennial in 1967. Offers anniversary axioms for the unprecedented worldwide celebrations at the advent of the 21st century. Excellent reading for civic or corporate leaders planning bimillennial celebrations. ISBN: 1-5002-185-0. Preparing for 2000 Anju Reejhsinghani, Millennium Institute, 1995 A very short impressionistic survey of national attitudes toward the turn of the millennium and preparation for celebration, including reports on the significance of the year 2000, the use of various calendars, the observation of anniversaries, and the significance of gift-giving. Framework for the Preparation of the Year 2000 Robert Muller, Quinnipiac, 1994. A proposal for how the United Nations community should prepare for the advent of the third millennium. Contains Muller's "My Dream 2000" poem and excellent documentation of the early calls to celebrate the bimillennium going back to Earth Day '77. ISBN: 1-885007-07-8. Tertio Millennio Adveniente Pope John Paul II, Vatican Press, 1994. An apostolic letter to the Church on preparation for the jubilee of the year 2000. Includes theological reflections on the Incarnation, the tradition of Holy Years and the preparations for celebration of the Great Jubilee. This document is available through Pauline Books & Media, ISBN: 0-8198-7381-0 or via a Web site: http://listserv.american.edu/catholic/church/papal/jp.ii/jp2-3rd.html 2000 Pablo Neruda, [1974] trans. by Azul Editions, 1992 Neruda (1904-1973), the Nobel Prize poet from Chile, embraces the "three equal, commonly shared zeros" and weighs our history in the balance. 2000 has been called Neruda's "missal of presentiments and his prayer book of survival" in the human struggle to achieve the longed-for peace of a new history. ISBN: 0-9632363-0-X.
-Bill Copeland
Subject: 2.4 WHAT BOOKS CAN HELP ME RESEARCH MILLENNIALISM & 2000? This is a specialized reading list on the year 2000 and its relationship to various millenarian or utopian ideas. There are hundreds of books each year written on this subject. Those listed here reflect different aspects of millennialism and its relationship to the year 2000. The Millennium Survival Kit John Ohliger, Basic Choices, Madison, WI, 1990 Offers tips to survive the pell-mell rush into the new millennium. A 100-page study kit with more than 350 footnotes to help adult educators reflect on existential time at the turn of the millennium. For ordering information, e-mail: johliger@facstaff.wisc.edu. The Meaning of the Millennium Robert Clouse, InterVarsity, 1977 A comparative study of the three classic theological views on the millennial reign of Christ: premillennial, amillennial and postmillennial. ISBN: 0-87784-794-0. Soothsayers of the Second Advent William Alnor, Revell, 1989 A compelling expose by an evangelical investigative reporter of "doomsday-dating, pin-the-tail-on-the-Antichrist, and other non-biblical games that Christians play." ISBN: 0-8007-5324-0. Arguing the Apocalypse Steven O'Leary, Oxford, 1994 Maps the millennial rhetoric of the 1840's and 1980's and probes the apparent human need to view history as symbolic drama-either comic or tragic. ISBN: 0-19-508045-9. The Sense of an Ending Frank Kermode, Oxford, 1966 A classic study of literature showing how writers impose their "fictions" upon the face of eternity to reflect the apocalyptic spirit. ISBN: 0-19-5000770-0. The Millennial Project Marshall Savage, Little-Brown, 1992, 1994 We live on a planet that cannot sustain the twin problem of overpopulation and environmental destruction. In order to survive, Savage proposes we must reach the stars by building up a space-based civilization "in eight easy steps." Here is "millennialism" from a techno-space mentality. ISBN: 0-316-77163-5. The Millennium Myth Michael Grosso, Quest, 1995 From Joachim of Fiore to Adolf Hitler, from Lenin to Gaia, the twists and turns of the millennial myth is weaved. Grosso claims that in our day technology and alternative spirituality also shape the prophetic vision of the western world. ISBN: 0-8356-0711-9. Millennialism: An International Bibliography Ted Daniels. Garland Publishing, 1992. This is the only book-length bibliographic treatment of the subject. It takes in more than 3,000 books and articles on the subject, most from the fields of sociology, history, anthropology, literature, and political science, and reviews material in most European languages.
werewolves, the way sirens affect dogs, the way that bizarre black monolith affected the apes in '2001.' --Peter Carlson
Subject: 2.5 WHAT BOOKS CAN HELP ME RESEARCH GLOBAL GOALS & 2000? Starting in the early '70s, the year 2000 became the mother of all target dates for global goals. Here is a list of books on this "agenda 2000" phenomena. Reinventing the Future Rushworth Kidder, MIT Press, 1989 What new century resolutions should humanity make as it enters the 21st century? Here is an "Agenda 2000" with 95 global goals in the areas of development, peace, civilization and ethics. ISBN: 0-262-11146-2. Global 2000 Revisited Gerald Barney, Millennium Institute, 1993 A lucid assessment of the critical needs facing our world in order to achieve a "sustainable future for Earth" for the year 2000 and beyond. Includes a call to cross the threshold into the new millennium, from 1999 to 2001 that would leave a legacy for future generations. ISBN: 0-937585-00-9. Wild Hope Tom Sine, Word, 1991 As we stand poised on the threshold of a new century, how should we deal with the crises facing the human community? Christian futurist Tom Sine offers a challenge to complacency and a call to creative living, in what Jimmy Carter calls "...an important book for all people of faith." ISBN: 0-849931-31-2. Our Globe and How to Reach It David Barrett and Todd Johnson, New Hope, 1990. Illuminates the race of the world Christian movement towards A.D. 2000 through starting-line statistics, finish-line goals and a 100-point global action plan. This is the eighth book in an AD 2000 series on global agendas. ISBN: 0-936625-92-9.
staffed with two-year personnel, working on one-year appropriations. It's simply not good enough. --Harlan Cleveland
Subject: 2.6 WHAT BOOKS CAN HELP ME LEARN ABOUT FUTURE STUDIES? In the mid-60s, projections toward the year 2000 gave birth to the modern future study movement. Riding this wave were authors such as Bertrand de Jouvenel, Robert Jungk, Alvin Toffler and Herman Kahn. Here is a list of introductory books in this field. The Study of the Future Edward Cornish, World Future Society, 1977 A definitive introduction to the study of the future, its origins, its ideas and methods. Contains an excellent guide to future-oriented organizations, periodicals and books. ISBN: 0-930242-03-3. What Futurists Believe Joseph Coates and Jennifer Jarrett, eds., World Future Society, 1989. An in-depth examination of the thoughts and beliefs of 17 futurists, including Peter Drucker, Daniel Bell, Richard Lamm, Kenneth Boulding and Dennis Meadows. ISBN: 0-912338-66-0. Futurehype: the tyranny of prophecy Max Dublin, Plume, 1992 On the eve of the next millennium, this book challenges the foolishness of futurology by taking a scalpel to all the the imagined utopias and counter-utopias, questioning their methodology and morals. ISBN: 0-452268-00-1. Encyclopedia of the Future George T. Kurian and Graham Molitor, eds., Macmillan, (forthcoming)
world worth living in and worth turning over to future generations, we must conceive most of that world today and build it with every succeeding tomorrow. --Glenn T. Seaborg
Subject: 2.7 WHAT BOOKS CAN HELP ME LEARN ABOUT PUBLIC POLICY & 2000? The Great Turning Craig Schindler and Gary Lapid, Bear, 1989. Offers global vision and practical tools to create a new era of human dignity and make the "Great Turning" of the millennium a true turning point in the way nations and communities manage conflicts. ISBN: 0-939680-51-3. The American Hour Os Guinness, Free Press, 1993 At the climax of the "American century" and on the eve of a "pax moderna," this book examines the uneasy but necessary relationship of religion to public life and offers suggestions on how a common vision for the common good might be developed. ISBN: 0-02-913173-1. On the Eve of the Millennium Conor Cruise O'Brien, Free Press, 1995 Sub-titled, "the future of democracy in an age of unreason," an Irish statesman looks at the apocalyptic threats which religion and nationalism bring to democracies founded on the Enlightenment. Includes a chapter which evaluates the British "Millennium Commission."
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world... --W.B. Yeat's poem, "The Second Coming"
Subject 2.8: WHAT GROUPS ARE DEVELOPING AGENDAS FOR THE YEAR 2000? There are more than 100 major international organizations with goals for the year 2000. Some take the millennial milestone as a finish line, others as the starting gate. This is a short list of groups which aim to harness the emotional energy of the approaching millennium for positive actions by governments, non-profits and individuals. Each group listed has developed a coalition for widespread public action to forward a global agenda which pivots off the year 2000/2001. AD 2000 & BEYOND MOVEMENT: "A Church for Every People by the Year 2000" In light of the millennial milestone, the AD 2000 & Beyond Movement offers conferences, resources, and "track" networks for church leaders committed to development work among indigenous peoples. Since 1989, this network has spawned more than 100 national or regional AD 2000 consultations. AD 2000 & Beyond Movement Web Site: http://www.ad2000.org/ AGENDA 21: "The Earth Summit Strategy to Save Our Planet" The Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro (UNCED) brought together nearly 40,000 people and 100 heads of state to draft a global action plan to confront and overcome the most pressing environmental and economic problems facing our planet. The main binding agreement, signed by all 172 participating nations, was called Agenda 21. The United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) is implementing the recommendations of the Agenda 21. The Commission of Sustainable Development (CSD) is monitoring how far Agenda 21 has been implemented. UN Commission on Sustainable Development United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) P.O. Box 30552 Nairobi, KENYA Gopher: gopher://gopher.undp.org/ Web Site: http://www.undp.org/ E-mail: ipaunep@undp.org Gopher: gopher://gopher.igc.apc.org/ [look under CSD in United Nations, under Econet] Conference: There is also a "Citnet" conference on Econet run by the Citizens Network for Sustainable Development. FIRST MILLENNIAL FOUNDATION: "Colonizing the Galaxy in Eight Easy Steps" To leave planet Earth and colonize space is not just science fiction any more, but our human destiny. The First Millennial Foundation feels this task will occupy mankind for the next thousand years. They help volunteers work together on a pragmatic plan toward this end, which starts with a colony at sea by 2008. For information, contact: First Millennial Foundation P.O. Box 347 Rifle, CO 81650 BBS: Web Site: http://www.csn.net/~mtsavage E-mail: mtsavage@pipeline.com GOALS 2000: "Educate America Act" In an effort to raise academic achievement by 2000, President Clinton signed into law the "Goals 2000: Educate America Act" on March 31, 1994. The U.S. Department of Education maintains a web site on this legislation. Goals 2000 600 Independence Ave, Ste 4000 Washington, DC 20202-6100 Web site: http://www.ed/gov/legislation/GOALS2000/ MILLENNIUM INSTITUTE: "A Sustainable Future for the Earth" The Millennium Institute grew out of the widely respected _Global 2000 Report to the President_. Through programs, publications and software they promote long-term integrated global thinking about economic and environmental issues to "build a sustainable future for the Earth." In collaboration with other groups, the Institute is designing a series of events and social engagements to mark and celebrate the year 2000 as a milestone and transition to a new era. The Millennium Institute 1117 North 19th Street, Ste 900 Arlington, VA 2209-1718 E-mail: millennium@igc.apc.org Web site: http://www.igc.apc.org/millennium/ MILLENNIUM PROJECT: "Forecasting the future of the next century" The Millennium Project has been commissioned by the United Nations University to help organize futures research on an international basis, such that the forecasts of the next 100 years would be continuously up-dated and disseminated through a variety of media for consideration in public policy, advanced training, public education, and systematic feedback. The Millennium Project Feasibility Study The United Nations University/American Council 4421 Garrison Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20016-2055 Mailing List: millen-l at listserv@listserv.america.edu Web Site: http://nko.mhpcc.edu/millennium/Millennium_Project.html E-mail: jglenn@igc.apc.org NATIONAL MILLENNIUM FOUNDATION: "Looking to the future with foresight" The National Millennium Foundation, in Washington, D.C. traces its roots by to 1987. By 1989, its leaders had drafted model legislation to circulate to the Congress and White House. The Foundation's purpose is to undergird the study of possible futures in commemorating the dawn of the third millennium, through celebrations in the year 2000 and beyond. Beyond legislative action, they serve as clearinghouse for events and ideas in the United States. The National Millennium Foundation 1331 Pennsylvania Ave, NW #909 Washington, DC 20004-1703 E-mail: millen@rpi.edu PROJECT GLOBAL 2000: "Planning for a new century" In 1979, Global Education Associates called for world wide bimillennial celebrations of life in the year 2000 preceded by "unparalleled thinking, education and planning for a just and sustainable human world order." As a world wide citizens movement of some twenty non-governmental and inter-governmental organization, Project Global 2000 has as its purpose is to raise the level of public demand for effective, democratically based policies on disarmament, economic development and environmental protection as the necessary framework for global security. For information on its Earth Covenant, collaborative research and policy development councils, write: Project Global 2000 Global Education Associates 475 Riverside Drive, Suite 1848 New York, NY 10115 E-mail: gea475@igc.apc.org WORLD 2000: "Shaping a New Global System" World 2000 is an international planning dialogue to achieve sustainable world development by the middle of the 21st century. It works primarily through project teams and also track meetings at major assemblies, such as the World Future Society. It's goal is to help the global system rise to a higher state of organization, through collective human choices, to achieve sustainable development. For more information, contact: World 2000 203 Monroe Hall, GWU George Washington University, DC, 20052 E-mail: halal@gwis2.circ.gwu.edu Web Site: http://gwis2.circ.gwu.edu/~halal
-Max Beerbohm
--Chinese Proverb
This is the second in a series of three postings of Frequently Asked Questions for the Talk 2000 forum, which incorporates both the "bit.listserv.2000ad-l" newsgroup and the "2000ad-l@usc.edu" mailing list. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ON THE YEAR 2000: An introduction to the Talk 2000 Forum, Version 2.0 - 1 December 1995. Copyright 1995 by Jay E. Gary. All rights reserved.Submissions: 2000ad-l@usc.edu Web: http://www.jaygary.com/talk2000.shtml Email: Contact Web Weaver: Chris Coleman Top of Page |