Amidst looming global crises—climate change, migration, tech, pandemics—this book offers hope, not fear. Tom Fletcher's expertise in politics, education, and more shapes a practical guide for transformative action. Renewing education, reviving society, and envisioning a purposeful future are its core themes. It provides 39 actionable steps to boost resilience, bridging the gap between human and technological understanding. This accessible book equips us to face tomorrow's challenges, individually and together.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and I would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

This is not an easy read, from the opening address it is clear that this was not going to be presenting solutions to the evolving nature of education (or lack thereof). Much of the discussion supports the viewpoint of changing our systems but unfortunately I can’t see widespread change happening any time soon because of political reasons. So not the upbeat read I was hoping for. Still a worthwhile read.

The subject matter is quite interesting and important: a world in flux, the employment landscape changing rapidly, survival skills needed more than ever. However, I have to admit I was not won over by this book. I didn't feel there were fresh or compelling ideas in it. A more creative approach to the issue of survival skills is needed!

This is an excellent book, really helpful and research based. As soon as I finished it I bought two hard copies for relatives. have recommended it to students, All should read this first class book to gain useful skills for our complex age..

Ten Survival Skills For

This is a fair decent book. I however found it hard to read. This book greatly intrigued me a touch as it seemed to be looking at a global holistic education. To be honesty this book was a right downer and made me feel anxious about the world we live in and how all society's treat people terrible

Despite having had this book a while, and having it downloaded to my Kindle for a while I am still only just over 50% of the way through, which is why I've left a review to the last minute. I probably will finish it at some point. The problem with it is, it's fairly interesting whilst reading but once put down I've found it difficult to pick up again. It's a little dry for every day reading and doesn't really compel me to go back to it very often.

I'm not really sure who a book such as this would be aimed at. I think we all feel the world is in flux at the moment, certainly not least our own country - the UK. It was the title that caught my eye and I hoped to get some insight into how we could expect perhaps some optimism for the future. However on what I've read so far, the ideas are not so much aimed at us as individuals but as a society, even the whole human race. We need to change if we're to survive. Unfortunately I don't see how anyone can get the whole world to take on the ideas in this book. Perhaps then,, a book for those studying politics, sociology, management, heads of corporations could all take something from the writing, but a book for the ordinary individual? Well there's food for thought but I don't really see how it helps any single one of us to survive a world in flux, we can't do that alone. Like I say I will read some more, perhaps there are answers further along in the book.

I'm not a huge reader of this kind of soft political "how to change the world" books - not least because unfortunately they rarely lead to the actual change needed. But this intrigued me a touch as it seemed to be looking at a global holistic education, and that's something that I know a bit about. It also started well, flattering me with something I had actually done - ask recent University starters what they wished they knew before they had started, and coming up with a similar result - namely they wished they knew more about other cultures, and the history and politics which made them like that. What is interesting about that as an answer is that it has two drivers - partially that they strongly feel when meeting new people they would like to know more, but there is also the fear of embarrassment or making a faux pas. "Ten Survival Skills...." understands this, and at talking to a broad audience not everyone is going to be motivated by altruism - there is a large chunk of readership who also want to know how can I future-proof my children.

So there are ten things which when identified pretty much boil down to have an open mind, constantly learn, don't be quick to judgement and strive to make the world a better place. Its almost Utopian in its outlook, It identifies that most education systems are curriculum based, teaching the content without necessarily teaching how to teach yourself that content. Futurology only goes so far but he leans into a number of truisms that certain current jobs won't exist in the future, so you need to be able to anticipate changing trends (the How To Live With Technology chapter is fuzzy, but accurate).

So everything was a little obvious to me, though pretty well written and explained (a list of the ten skills which is on the content page did most of the heavy lifting for me, or at least confirmed that I wasn't going to be shocked by it). So the problem perhaps comes with where the book comes from, it isn't just about surviving, its also a sneaky leadership manual. I don't have a problem with "How to Find Purpose" or "How to find, grow and mobilise your community" as useful survival skills but genuinely there will be people that doesn't appeal to. The second part of the book, where he suggests the steps we can take are also a little blue-sky and arduous (and also the 39 Steps is not a good enough joke to force here). But I guess my big problem with it was the relentless name dropping. Perhaps it was useful to show the advice he got from Obama, or Mandela, but I found it rather exhausting, and I guess I didn't need it to underline the points involved. If you judge a book like this on how accessible or how readable it is, as well as the quality of the ideas, then this is a good book. But if you judge it on how much it also annoyed me, well, three stars from this cynical bastard.

Firstly, I feel so bloody daft but I thought this was written by Tom Fletcher - of McFly fame. I was wrong!
I thought this book would have a bit more jest and be a bit tongue in cheek - I was wrong!

This book just added to my anxiety, it claims to give you 'survival skills' but it just made me loose hope, and think of all the problems in the world. It was just a bit much for me! Too dense. Too full on!
Anxiety inducing!

The start of this book is pretty brutal - it won’t leave anyone feeling particularly cheerful about the situation the world finds itself in. - but the ideas that follow are very interesting. The author is clearly a deep thinker who has already had some extraordinary experiences.