How to Think Long Term in a Short-Term World

The Good Ancestor

One of Britain’s most popular public philosophers introduces the six ways we can drastically change the way we think in order to ensure a tomorrow: long-term thinking for a short term world.

This is the book our children's children will thank us for reading

Roman Krznaric's brilliant book The Good Ancestor champions the long-term thinking that could lead us out of our multiple disasters.

Beautiful to read, heartfelt and persuasive The Good Ancestor is one of those landmark books with the power to shift a mindset. One turns the pages feeling a growing compulsion for change. Krznaric’s clarion call for long-term thinking makes him an ancestor all future generations can be proud of

A philosopher's contribution to saving the world

Packed with commonsense advice on how to develop an uncommon habit

Clear-sighted and inspiring – a must-read for anyone who's looking for the good news

It deserves to be widely read - by policy makers, and indeed by all citizens who care about the prospects for their children and grandchildren

A great antidote to the short-term thinking that comes easily to us all. If you want to be a good ancestor, start by reading this book

Nigel Warburton, author of A Little History of Philosophy

I judge a book’s usefulness by how many pages I’m compelled to dog-ear and underline. This book on the pragmatics of long-term thinking earned 50-plus dog-ears

Stewart Brand, creator of the Whole Earth Catalog and co-founder of The Long Now Foundation

An important and fascinating book that asks whether we’ve got what it takes to become citizens rather than consumers and create an ecological civilisation. The Good Ancestor is a triumph

Sir Tim Smit, co-founder of the Eden Project

How timely can a book be? Roman Krznaric fizzes with ideas about how we tackle that cuckoo in the nest, short-term thinking. We need to think today for tomorrow, to give future generations their rightful seat at the table

Lord John Bird MBE, founder of The Big Issue

There’s a paradox about our situation: that there’s nothing more urgent than acting slowly, with a long view. That we desperately, urgently need to become long-termist in our way of thinking and acting. Krznaric walks this paradox delicately, instructing us in how we could learn to think like an acorn or like a cathedral - and helping us imaginatively to enter into the pressing importance of doing so. As a result, there could be few more urgent tasks for any thinking person alive today than encountering this book. Read it: with slow deliberate care...

Professor Rupert Read, UEA, author This Civilisation is Finished and Extinction Rebellion Political Liaison and Spokesperson

Krznaric’s seamless and magical prose delights on every page. Let’s engrave his ‘six ways to think long’ across the gateway to every Parliament in the world

Professor Tim Jackson, author of Prosperity Without Growth

From the seventh-generation thinking of Native American tribes to legally empowered guardians of the future and citizens’ assemblies, Krznaric explores a wealth of ways we can become good ancestors. For anyone who is interested in how we can get today’s society to leave the world better than they found it – this is your guide

Sophie Howe, Future Generations Commissioner for Wales

Krznaric asks the defining moral question for our age: how will future generations look back on our legacy? A superb intellectual history and razor-sharp analysis of contemporary politics, this book will change how you think about the world and is a call to action. Read it. You owe it to your children’s children

Kevin Watkins, Chief Executive, Save the Children

With a dazzling range of sources, zinging with ideas, stories and jaw-dropping graphics, The Good Ancestor is packed with information and insight. Every school should have a copy, with its maps and plans on every classroom wall

Michael Wood, historian, broadcaster and author of The Story of China

In this persuasive book, one of our leading thinkers Roman Krznaric expands his ground-breaking work on empathy to argue that our only hope of survival is to develop deep empathy for future generations across time and space

Professor Morten Kringelbach, neuroscientist, Universities of Oxford and Aarhus, Denmark

A fascinating and inspiring exploration of one of the great relationship questions of the 21st century: how can we extend our circle of care to future generations?

John Gray, New York Times bestselling author of Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus

Roman Krznaric passionately argues that thinking long term would bring untold benefits and may very well be vital to our survival as a species. Lose yourself in these pages, expand your time horizons, and reimagine your relationship to time, to the future, to activism

Rob Hopkins, founder of the Transition Town movement and author of From What Is to What If

Roman Krznaric is a social philosopher who writes about the power of ideas to create change. His internationally bestselling books, including The Good Ancestor, Empathy, and Carpe Diem Regained, have been published in more than twenty-five languages. He is Senior Research Fellow at Oxford University’s Centre for Eudaimonia and Human Flourishing and founder of the world’s first Empathy Museum. 
 
 
After growing up in Sydney and Hong Kong, Roman studied at the universities of Oxford, London and Essex, where he gained his PhD in political science. His writings have been widely influential amongst political and ecological campaigners, education reformers, social entrepreneurs and designers. An acclaimed public speaker, his talks and workshops have taken him from a London prison to the TED global stage. 
 
 
Roman is a member of the Club of Rome and a Research Fellow of the Long Now Foundation. He previously worked as an academic, a gardener and a human rights campaigner. He is also a fanatical player of the medieval sport of real tennis.

'This is the book our children's children will thank us for reading' – The Edge, U2 
 
How can we be good ancestors? 
 
From the first seeds sown thousands of years ago, to the construction of the cities we still inhabit, to the scientific discoveries that have ensured our survival, we are the inheritors of countless gifts from the past. Today, in an age driven by the tyranny of the now, with 24/7 news, the latest tweet, and the buy-now button commanding our attention, we rarely stop to consider how our actions will affect future generations. With such frenetic short-termism at the root of contemporary crises, the call for long-term thinking grows every day – but what is it, has it ever worked, and can we even do it? 
 
In The Good Ancestor, leading public philosopher Roman Krznaric argues that there is still hope. From the pyramids to the NHS, humankind has always had the innate ability to plan for posterity and take action that will resonate for decades, centuries, even millennia to come. If we want to become good ancestors, now is the time to recover and enrich this imaginative skill. 
 
The Good Ancestor reveals six profound ways in which we can all learn to think long-term, exploring how we can reawaken oft-neglected but uniquely human talents like ‘cathedral thinking’ that expand our time horizons and sharpen our foresight. Drawing on radical solutions from around the world, Krznaric celebrates the innovators who are reinventing democracy, culture and economics so that we all have the chance to become good ancestors and create a better tomorrow.

Why It Matters, And How To Get It

Empathy

A practical, philosophical guide to living with empathy by one of the UK's leading thinkers

Having spent the past decade studying empathy, I can say without hesitation that Roman's work is exactly what we need to bring this powerful concept off the pages and into our lives. Empathy inspires with a unique combination of teaching, storytelling, and a serious call to action.

Brené Brown, bestselling author of Daring Greatly

Empathy explores the essence of being human...inspiring, fascinating and helpful.

Rick Hanson, author of Hardwiring Happiness and Buddha's Brain

Influential popular philosopher Roman Krznaric argues our brains are wired for social connection: empathy is at the heart of who we are. It's an essential, transforming quality we must develop for the 21st Century. 
 
 Through encounters with actors, activists, groundbreaking designers, undercover journalists, nurses, bankers and neuroscientists, Krznaric defines a new breed of adventurer. He sets out the six life-enhancing habits of highly empathic people, whose skills enable them to connect with others in extraordinary ways. 
 
 Empathy has the power to transform relationships, from the personal to the political. Krznaric contends that, as we move on from an age of introspection, empathy will be key to fundamental social change - making this book a manifesto for revolution.

Roman Krznaric

Brimming with ideas and insights, this is a welcome, important and clear-eyed view of how understanding the past can help us better prepare for the future

Peter Frankopan, author of The Silk Roads and The Earth Transformed

Enlightening and thrilling. History for Tomorrow tells us who we are and who we could be.

George Monbiot, bestselling author of Regenesis and How Did We Get Into This Mess?

History for Tomorrow simply fizzes with ideas, revealing with startling clarity what human beings have done, and can do, when they organise, cooperate and help each other. Compassionate, insightful and hopeful.

Michael Wood, historian, broadcaster and Professor of Public History, University of Manchester

This joyful and informative book opens our minds and souls, helping us to see with new eyes and to believe in ourselves as a species, so we can meet our predicament with a belief that change really is possible.

Gail Bradbrook, Co-Founder, Extinction Rebellion

Essential thinking about the big issues facing the world today

An amazing feat of synthesis and imagination, weaving together many different strands of world history to make a pattern that can guide us in the present toward a vibrant future. Krznaric’s book is immensely suggestive of positive actions that have track records; they’ve worked before, and in new formulations they can work again. Wise and practical inspiration

Kim Stanley Robinson, author of THE MINISTRY FOR THE FUTURE

A fascinating account of historical moments that could serve as beacons of hope for our own times.

Amitav Ghosh, author of The Nutmeg’s Curse

Roman Krznaric has achieved a tour de force with a book that draws unexpected links between a very wide range of historical events from all over the world. This is a uniquely hopeful book, which never romanticizes the past but inspires us to imagine alternative solutions to address the most urgent issues of our time.

Dr Hélène Neveu Kringelbach, Associate Professor of African Anthropology, University College London

Roman Krznaric turns to the past not for its own sake, but for ours. In his deft hands, case studies suggest how we can do better – learn and be capable – as we face the largest challenges of the present.

Dr Sarah Knott, Sally Reahard Professor of History, Indiana University and author of Mother: An Unconventional History

Inspiration from the Past for the Future of Humanity

'Brimming with ideas and insights, this is a welcome, important and clear-eyed view of how understanding the past can help us better prepare for the future' - Peter Frankopan, bestselling author of The Earth Transformed and The Silk Roads 
 
'Enlightening and thrilling. History for Tomorrow tells us who we are and who we could be' - George Monbiot, bestselling author of Regenesis and How Did We Get Into This Mess? 
 
What can humankind&rsquo;s rich history of radical revolts teach us about the power of disobedience to tackle the climate crisis? What inspiration could we take from eighteenth century Japan to create a regenerative economy today? How might understanding the origins of capitalism spark ideas for bringing AI under control? 
 
In History for Tomorrow, leading social philosopher Roman Krznaric unearths fascinating insights and inspiration from the last 1000 years of world history that could help us confront the most urgent challenges facing humanity in the twenty-first century. From bridging the inequality gap and reducing the risks of genetic engineering, to reviving our faith in democracy and avoiding ecological collapse, History for Tomorrow shows that history is not simply a means of understanding the past but a way of reimagining our relationship with the future. Krznaric reveals how, time and again, societies have risen up, often against the odds, to tackle challenges and overcome crises. History offers a vision of radical hope that could turn out to be our most vital tool for surviving and thriving in the turbulent decades ahead.

Roman Krznaric

Praise for History for Tomorrow

Brimming with ideas and insights, this is a welcome, important and clear-eyed view of how understanding the past can help us better prepare for the future

**Enlightening and thrilling. History for Tomorrow tells us who we are and who we could be.**

History for Tomorrow simply fizzes with ideas, revealing with startling clarity what human beings have done, and can do, when they organise, cooperate and help each other. Compassionate, insightful and hop ...

Brimming with ideas and insights, this is a welcome, important and clear-eyed view of how understanding the past can help us better prepare for the future

**Enlightening and thrilling. History for Tomorrow tells us who we are and who we could be.**

History for Tomorrow simply fizzes with ideas, revealing with startling clarity what human beings have done, and can do, when they organise, cooperate and help each other. Compassionate, insightful and hop ...

Brimming with ideas and insights, this is a welcome, important and clear-eyed view of how understanding the past can help us better prepare for the future

**Enlightening and thrilling. History for Tomorrow tells us who we are and who we could be.**

History for Tomorrow simply fizzes with ideas, revealing with startling clarity what human beings have done, and can do, when they organise, cooperate and help each other. Compassionate, insightful and hop ...

Books by Roman Krznaric

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