The Third Wave

By Alvin Toffler,

Book cover of The Third Wave: The Classic Study of Tomorrow

Book description

From the author of Future Shock, a striking way out of today’s despair . . . a bracing, optimistic look at our new potentials.

The Third Wave makes startling sense of the violent changes now battering our world. Its sweeping synthesis casts fresh light on our new forms of marriage…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked The Third Wave as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I like to look at the big picture. This book’s picture is huge: it explains three waves of human civilization, from agriculture and land ownership, to centralization and mass manufacturing, to distributed and custom everything—the wave we are in now. It was originally published in 1980 and predicted our current culture and technology with astonishing accuracy. I, and many entrepreneurs of the time, tried to use those predictions to guide our businesses, and many, like Amazon, succeeded as a result. Are there still more third wave things to invent? Yes—think of how streaming video channels are just now taking over…

From David's list on to give engineers new perspectives.

Want books like The Third Wave?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like The Third Wave.

Browse books like The Third Wave

Book cover of The Elements of Style
Book cover of The Immense Journey
Book cover of The Design of Everyday Things

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,187

readers submitted
so far, will you?

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in modernity, social history, and utopian?

Modernity 55 books
Social History 49 books
Utopian 72 books