Includes bibliographical references and index.

For three decades, the renowned author of "The upside of down: catastrophe, creativity, and the renewal of civilization," and "The ingenuity gap: can we solve the problems of the future?," has examined the threats to our future security -- predicting a deteriorating global environment, extreme economic stresses, mass migrations, social instability and wide political violence if humankind continued on its current course. He was called The Doom Meister, but we now see how exact and prescient he was. In "Commanding hope : the power we have to renew a world in peril" on the other hand, he marshals a fascinating, accessible argument for reinvigorating our cognitive strengths and belief systems to affect urgent systemic change, strengthen our economies and cultures, and renew our hope in a positive future for everyone on Earth.