Introduction -- Part one. The death of permanence. The 800th lifetime -- The accelerative thrust -- The pace of life -- Part two. Transience. Things: the throw-away society -- Places: the new nomads -- People: the modular man -- Organization: the coming ad-hocracy -- Information: the kinetic image -- Part three. Novelty. The scientific trajectory -- The experience makers -- The fractured family -- Part four: diversity. The origins of overchoice -- A surfeit of subcults -- A diversity of life styles -- Part five. The limits of adaptability. Future shock: the physical dimension -- Future shock: the psychological dimension -- Part six. Strategies for survival. Coping with tomorrow -- Education in the future tense -- Taming technology -- The strategy of social futurism -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- About the author.

Describes some of the problems our technology has created for society and suggests some strategies for coping in the future.