by George Friedman. This is the guy from STRATFOR. I know nothing about him beyond that. The book uses trend lines, current events, and I suppose some gut feeling to predict what the next 100 years might look like. He takes pains to point out that, despite his specifics, he shouldn't be taken literally. He seeks to give us a general idea of what might happen. Although a good bit of it might make one think WTF?, if you take it in the proper context, it does provide much to think about. I'd love to hear anyone else's thoughts on this?

Before that it was "The Starfish and the Spider" by Ori Brafman. I didn't necessarily agree with the author's view of man (inherently good) in light of his mention of AQ as a starfish, but he got his point across.

I'm now just beginning "The Second World: How Emerging Powers are Redefining Global Competition in the Twenty-First Century" by Parag Khanna. He views the current world as having 3 superpower (the US, EU and China) and looks at their influence on the 2d world (think Russia, Mexico, Egypt, etc.) and the 2d world's influence on them. I'm not sure about the EU being a superpower, but I'm open to the idea. Although they project a somewhat persuasive influence, I'm not sure if that qualifies. But maybe I'm placing too much emphasis on military might.