40th book of 2024 complete:

The Fourth Turning by William Strauss and Neil Howe

It’s about more than the meme “Hard times make strong men”. The cycles of history are as consistent as the changing of the seasons and are necessary to balance out the extremes of humanity.

This book was published in 1997 towards the end of the Third Turning. The authors predicted the Fourth Turning would start around 2005 with a crisis catalyst (the 2008 GFC was likely that moment), reach its apex in 2020 (spot on with that one!) and reach resolution around 2026.

That doesn’t mean the hard times are over and it’s all uphill from here. What it means is that over the past decade, people have been figuring out what is corrupt in our system, building alternatives, and creating resilient organizations.

I believe that is what we have seen happening as local, decentralized groups have become stronger and more resilient