ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book owes its existence to my exceptional agent Jim Levine. I had spent an inordinate amount of time on a lengthy proposal for a sprawling book on how to think about and create the future, and I managed to get it into the hands of a few top literary agents. All of them told me they couldn’t sell it. However, Jim read the proposal carefully, told me I was trying to cram three or four books into one, and said that if I took one of the chapters in the proposed book, titled “Thriving on Overload,” and made that into a book, he was sure he could find a good publisher.

I am deeply grateful that Jim recognized that potential. I have long intended to write this book, having first started developing the ideas in 1997 and registering the domain thrivingonoverload.com in 2009. However, I thought I would get to it later in my writing career. But Jim was spot on: this is the right time to write this book, and I am extremely glad to have written this book rather than the one I proposed. Big thanks are also due to my old friend Tom Stewart, who introduced me to Jim.

I was aided immensely by Ann Graham, who worked with me on both book proposals as well as providing her usual unsparing, razor-sharp feedback on a draft of the entire book to help whip it into shape.

It has been a pleasure working with Casey Ebro, Scott Sewell, Donya Dickerson, Jonathan Sperling, and the rest of the talented team at McGraw Hill. Their experience and perspective have helped make the book immeasurably better. Kevin Commins provided valuable feedback during final development of the manuscript. Thank you to Michele Matrisciani, who shared useful perspectives as I prepared the manuscript. Alison Shurtz’s copyedit of the book was thorough and perceptive. Steve Straus did an excellent job on the book production and was a pleasure to work with.

It has been a great pleasure working with Mark Fortier, Rebecca Proulx, and the rest of the team at Fortier PR in helping the book be found by those who might find it useful. Their collaborative approach was an excellent fit.

I knew that the people I interviewed for the book would have incredible insights to share, many of which I would not be able to fit into the book, so I recorded my interviews as the Thriving on Overload podcast series. Deep thanks for their time and illuminating perspectives from all those I was able to interview before I had to submit the manuscript: Tim O’Reilly, Cathy Hackl, Nir Eyal, Tom Stewart, Jerry Michalski, Robert Scoble, Leslie Shannon, Brett King, Harold Jarche, Annalie Killian, Dan Gillmor, R “Ray” Wang, Robin Athey, Michell Zappa, Marshall Kirkpatrick, Gary Swart, Madeline Ashby, and Christopher Mims. I was not able to quote everyone directly in the book, but they all contributed to the final product.

Other people whose expertise and provocative perspectives added to the book include Bernard Balleine, Napier Collyns, Chris Dancy, Graham Dawson, Peta Estens, Oliver Freeman, Christine Gallagher, Josie Gibson, Terri Griffith, John Hagel, Brett King, David Kenney, Gerd Leonhard, Chris Meyer, Tony Morriss, Ramez Naam, Charis Palmer, Mark Pesce, Howard Rheingold, Euan Semple, Brian Solis, Mike Walsh, and Richard Watson. Forgive me if I have overlooked anyone from the many who have contributed to my thinking on the topic, of which there have been probably hundreds over the past two decades.

It was a pleasure to work once again with Daniil Alexandrov on the diagram design in what is now our third book collaboration over a period of more than a decade. Working with Sam Barton, Brian Sowards, and Gio Kakhiani on the Thriving on Overload course and platform has been exciting and rewarding. I’m looking forward to seeing what our project becomes.

There have been many who have played vital roles in supporting my ventures run in parallel to writing this book. To all the Advanced Human Technologies Group team, especially Jenna Owsianik, thank you for driving things forward while my attention was pulled elsewhere. Everything good about Bondi Innovation Hub before its untimely death by Covid-19, and for Bondi Innovation thereafter, was driven by the inspiring energy of Julia Dominguez, Nicole McKay, David Warwick, the Hub residents, and the many others involved.

Through the course of writing this book it has been a massive boon to be working with the highly talented Jay Kemp and Tanja Markovic of Provoke Management for all my keynote speaking and corporate engagements. It is a pleasure to work with you, and I look forward to our continued success together.

Thank you to Elena for being with me. I am blessed to have you in my life.

My daughters, Leda and Phoebe, are at the heart of my life; they are precious, delightful, and inspiring. Thank you so much to both of you for your understanding as I have taken so much time to work on the book, and thank you for being your marvelous selves. I love you so much!