Predictions for the Next Millennium: Thoughts on the 1,000 Years Ahead from Today's Celebrities

Rating:
Summary: A surprisingly good approach to the Millennium theme
Review: I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. Rather than a corny collection of predictions from self declared psychics,these celebrities actually offer intelligent and interesting ideas about the future and are generally pretty humble in their views. Some are betterr than others, but hats off to the editors for putting together such a diverse group of names and not just pandering to Hollywood and sports figures. Many seem to be statements about mankind and not just rattling off specific events ( although some of those are pretty scary, like Bob McNamara"s). The James Michener message is worth the price of the book alone, and how they got Gore Vidal and Arthur C Clarke all within the same cover is a book lovers dream. I think the scientists and astronauts are the best, but was surprised at how profound many of the movie stars can also be. I do hope this book is a trend for the millennium reading we will be seeing next year, but I doubt most of the stuff will be as sincere or interesting as this little book turns out to be.

Rating:
Summary: Not worth the $ it's going for
Review: This book is completely useless and has no entertainment value whatsoever. Correction, every once in a while, when we're sitting in the office trying to decide what to do with the book, we open it for some piece of trite wisdom from actors, authors, scholars, and politicians. Of all the quotes, only the actors seem capable of putting together coherent thoughts. The rest spout off psuedo futurist predictions that aren't worth the time to understand. And for God's sake, DO NOT BUY this book for a friend unless you want them to have a hard time trying to return it for $. Frankly I'm dissapointed that I have to give this any stars at all.

Rating:
Summary: An impressive list of contributors with meaningful messages.
Review: This book is surprisingly interesting. With contributions from space pioneers, world leaders, politicians, entertainers, cultural icons, sports figures, and Nobel laureates, the book serves both as a collection of the here and now (who we are, culturally, at the end of this millennium), as well as a springboard for dreams of where we are going. From the manager of the Mars exploration program's prediction of the imminent discovery of past life on Mars, to Joan River's humorous "interest rates will be higher and my breasts will be lower," reading this book is a lot of fun. Contributors include Ed Asner, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Arthur C. Clarke, The Dalai Lama, Marlin Fitzwater, George Gallup, George Harrison, Garry Kasparov, Norman Leer, Robert McNamara, Scott O'Grady, Richard Pryor, Norm Schwarzkopf, Desmond Tutu, Earl Weaver, Chuck Yeager, and many more. A fun read, a worthy keepsake to commemorate the turn of the century/millennium, and a great gift book, too.