The Sovereign Individual

Mastering the Transition to the Information Age

De: James Dale Davidson, Peter Thiel - preface, William Rees-Mogg

Narrado por: Michael David Axtell

Two renowned investment advisors and authors of the best seller The Great Reckoning bring to light both currents of disaster and the potential for prosperity and renewal in the face of radical changes in human history as we move into the next century. The Sovereign Individual details strategies necessary for adapting financially to the next phase of Western civilization.

Few observers of the late-20th century have their fingers so presciently on the pulse of the global political and economic realignment ushering in the new millennium as do James Dale Davidson and Lord William Rees-Mogg. Their bold prediction of disaster on Wall Street in Blood in the Streets was borne out by Black Tuesday. In their ensuing best sellar, The Great Reckoning, published just weeks before the coup attempt against Gorbachev, they analyzed the pending collapse of the Soviet Union and foretold the civil war in Yugoslavia and other events that have proved to be among the most searing developments of the past few years.

In The Sovereign Individual, Davidson and Rees-Mogg explore the greatest economic and political transition in centuries - the shift from an industrial to an information-based society. This transition, which they have termed "the fourth stage of human society", will liberate individuals as never before, irrevocably altering the power of government. This outstanding book will replace false hopes and fictions with new understanding and clarified values.

©1999 James Dale Davidson and Lord William Rees-Mogg (P)2019 Simon & Schuster

Food for thought for tomorrow's dynamic world

Much of the concepts presented here are steeped in history and without reading up it is hard to follow. I personally had parts that I could not grasp the significance of because I was under read. I do believe that the ideas in this book present a foundation for a global ideology. The best bits of information can be found towards the end where the author mentions a shift towards Asia, problem solving, and investment as current and future developments. I found the thesis of violence to be particularly interesting as I had my own thoughts about it but I had not put them on paper. Overall I think this book deserves at least 3 readings. The first for grasping main concepts, second for supporting information and the third for details.

Core message of the book, always keep learning and developing yourself. Think about solving problems instead of just having a job. You will be fine don't stress.

Great foresight

This was a very interesting take on the forthcoming Information Age. As it was written in the 90’s, there are many cases where the subject matter is already occurring. Experiencing the content while the world is rapidly changing with technological evolution is valuable. Many insights can be applied and glad to have read (actually listened to) it.

My favorite book I've read this year (so far)

Eternal optimism. One can only hope they're right. What a world to live in. Free from all tyranny but your own.

chapter 9 prediction of the pandemic

As a whole this is a stunning book.. what floored me though was in Chapter 9 as they detailed how pandemics would be declared as a means of taking away more freedoms and gaining control. Nailed it!!

Accurate predictions

It’s incredible how accurate some of the predictions in this book are.

Pandemic, war, the markets being the predominant ideology, failing nation states and others.

Not to be ignored

Kudos to the publisher for finally making this available as an audiobook. Given its content, I couldn’t imagine a title better suited to this format. The new 2020 preface by Peter Thiel is short but good. This book is a real eye-opener (or “red pill” if you prefer). The authors would be easy to dismiss as crazed conspiracy theorists or fear-mongers, if it weren’t for the fact that so many of their predictions have come true since the last two decades that the book was published.

They managed to predict (with alarming accuracy) everything from Bitcoin, e-commerce/Amazon, video chat, the widening effects of globalization, the gig economy (brought on by the microprocessing revolution), the ballooning U.S. college loan debt bubble, to the surprise mainstream popularity of Jordan Peterson and Trump.

Explains the history and evolution of human power balance, conflict, and war – all the way from the caveman days until the present day Information Age. It then proceeds to forecast where societies are likely to be headed in the future, and does it in an OCD-level of detail. It’s worth noting that the "MTV generation" as described by the book has since been replaced by the "social media generation,” which has had exponentially greater cultural influence worldwide.

I haven’t read Sapiens or Homo Deus, but I imagine both were heavily inspired by this book.

Interesting ideas and prescient

had to keep reminding myself this was written in the 90s. Very prescient and gave food for thought. I don't necessarily agree with everything said but was good to get historical context for some if the ideas in the book. I finished the book but the final third or so of the book was a bit of a slog and preachy

Eye-opening

I'm amazed how much this book, written more than 20 years ago, correctly predicted about current trends in the world. Wish I'd found it sooner.

So on point it's scary.

This book was engaging and surprisingly accurate given that it was written in the 90s. They really saw a lot of things coming. Throughout the book the authors wove present issues with the past seemingly effortlessly. Through time instances change but many themes stay the same and recycle. I highly recommend this to anyone looking to understand a bit more of what is going on right now.

A whirlwind

Atlas Shrugged for the Silicone Valley set. Both exhilarating and terrifying simultaneously. Recommend for anyone looking for insight into one speculative & technocratic future.