Named a Best Book of 2019 by NPR How might we mitigate losses caused by shortsightedness? Bina
Venkataraman a former climate adviser to the Obama administration brings a storyteller's eye
to this question. . . . She is also deeply informed about the relevant science. -The New York
Times Book Review A trailblazing exploration of how we can plan better for the future: our own
our families' and our society's. Instant gratification is the norm today-in our lives our
culture our economy and our politics. Many of us have forgotten (if we ever learned) how to
make smart decisions for the long run. Whether it comes to our finances our health our
communities or our planet it's easy to avoid thinking ahead. The consequences of this
immediacy are stark: Superbugs spawned by the overuse of antibiotics endanger our health.
Companies that fail to invest stagnate and fall behind. Hurricanes and wildfires turn deadly
for communities that could have taken more precaution. Today more than ever all of us need to
know how we can make better long-term decisions in our lives businesses and society. Bina
Venkataraman sees the way forward. A former journalist and adviser in the Obama administration
she helped communities and businesses prepare for climate change and she learned firsthand why
people don't think ahead-and what can be done to change that. In The Optimist's Telescope she
draws from stories she has reported around the world and new research in biology psychology
and economics to explain how we can make decisions that benefit us over time. With examples
from ancient Pompeii to modern-day Fukushima she dispels the myth that human nature is
impossibly reckless and highlights the surprising practices each of us can adopt in our own
lives-and the ones we must fight for as a society. The result is a book brimming with the ideas
and insights all of us need in order to forge a better future.
