Alvin Toffler, ‘Future Shock’ Author, Dies at 87

The far-seeing futurist predicted man’s rising anxiety with digital technology in prophetic 1970 book

Alvin Toffler
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Alvin Toffler, the author of the nonfiction best-seller “Future Shock,” has died Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 87 and no cause of death was given, The New York Times reported.

His death was confirmed by his consulting firm, Toffler Associates, which is based in Reston, Virginia.

Published in 1970 when U.S. society was in chaos amid riots over the Vietnam War, “Future Shock,” sold millions of copies and was translated into dozens of languages, catapulting Toffler to international fame.

The book presciently forecast how people and institutions of the late 20th century would contend with the immense strains and soaring opportunities of accelerating change.

The book was the result of five years of work that began in 1965 with the publication of a magazine article titled “The Future as a Way of Life.” In it, Toffler posited that human society was in transition to a globalized “post-industrial” age in which the majority of human activity was devoted to services, scholarship and creativity, as opposed to agrarian and manual labor.

He went on to write two sequels, “The Third Wave” (1980) and “Powershift” (1990).

Toffler is also credited with having coined the term “information overload” to describe people’s struggle to keep up with exponentially expanding data.

Born in New York in 1928 and raised in Brooklyn, Toffler was the only son of Polish immigrants. He began to write poetry and stories soon after learning to read and dreamed of becoming a writer from the time he was 7 years old, he told interviewers. After graduating from New York University, he worked as a newspaper reporter and editor.

He published 13 books and won numerous honors, including a career achievement award in 2005 from the American Society of Journalists and Authors.

He and his wife, Heidi, formed Toffler Associates, a global forecasting and consulting company, originally based in Manchester, Massachusetts, in 1996.

Toffler is survived by Heidi and his sister, Caroline Sitter. The Tofflers’ daughter, Karen, died in 2000.

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