13 minSummaryRead it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook editionPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What does the future look like to people watching electric light, telephones and aeroplanes change their world?
In The World in a Hundred Years, editor Arthur Brehmer brings together writers, scientists and public figures to imagine life a century ahead. This essay collection, published in Germany in 1910, explores how people might live, travel, work, fight and make art as machines reshape the world around them.
The essays move from technology in daily life to swelling cities, changing social roles, war, politics and culture. Their visions carry both hope and unease. As you read, you can compare these forecasts with the present—and ask what their expectations reveal about the world from which they look ahead.
What you’ll discover
- Machines enter daily life Explore forecasts shaped by electricity and engines, with everyday habits open to sweeping change.
- Cities keep growing Step into imagined cities where swelling populations bring questions about how people will live together.
- Conflict shadows the future See how arms races and European tensions leave their mark on visions of tomorrow.
- Art meets a changing world Consider whether art, learning and human feeling can endure as machines transform their surroundings.
- Old forecasts meet the present Compare the contributors’ hopes and fears with the world you know, weighing surprises against familiar concerns.
Who will love it
You will enjoy this book if you like the history of ideas, early technology, lively thought experiments, and comparing old forecasts with the world we live in.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Cheap power still needs human kindness
- Wireless brings distant lives together
- Flight opens another battlefield
- Peace grows before people notice
- Freedom changes love and family
- Human growth needs room for freedom
- Every promise has a cost
- New technology changes artistic expression
- Predictions reveal the people making them
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 13 minutes, to read today.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
Every printed copy is made when you order it and shipped worldwide; shipping is shown at checkout. The eBook opens when the book texts go online.
How it works
- Start free. Nothing to pay today; the eBook of this book is yours to keep.
- Read and print. 200,000+ classics as eBook, large-print eBook and 15-minute summary, and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print, 5 accounts for the price of one.
- We remind you first. Free for 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment. Then USD 0.14 a day in your first year on the yearly plan and USD 0.27 a day after, or USD 0.66 a day on the monthly plan. Cancel online in two clicks.
Bought on its own? Every eBook and printed book you buy without the plan carries our 30-day money-back guarantee.
25 languages, side by side
The World in a Hundred Years in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
The World in a Hundred Years
Writers picture the year 2009, from wireless gowns to airship wars to a sleeper woken after a century.
Challenging2–5 hours to read20 languages
Learn a language with challenging classicsSpanishFrenchGermanItalianJapanesePortugueseEnglishHow we measure levels
Excellent
Free for 3 months · starts right away, on any device
Read free3 months free · cancel anytimeRenews every year · Cancel anytimeHow it works
- Read, large type too
- 25 languages, side by side
- Print and large print at cost
- 5 accounts for the price of one
In short
Picture a ship's captain near the South Pole who calls his wife in Bermuda and sees her face in a metal mirror. Then he tunes in to an opera in New York.
The World in a Hundred Years at a glance
- Reading time
- About 4 h 35 min3 h 40 min fast, 5 h 25 min slow
- Length
- 65,300 words
- Library level
- Challenging long sentences, a rich vocabulary
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Cheap power and machines will remake the world
Hudson Maxim, an American inventor of explosives, opens the book with a thousand-year kingdom of machines. He argues that the future grows out of causes already at work, so a careful mind can forecast it. The key, for him, is energy that is endless and cheap.
Coal will not last, he warns, and it fouls the air. So he points to the force locked inside matter as the real prize. Once power costs almost nothing, farming becomes a pastime, and electric greenhouses bring fruit as big as melons. He also imagines air travel that turns strangers into neighbours, and cities of towers two thousand feet high.
Renews every year · Cancel anytime
You looked at
Which edition is right for me
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet or computer. Your place follows you, and you can make the type as big as you like.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 13 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- Language
- English
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
The World in a Hundred Years. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-world-in-a-hundred-years.
The world in a hundred years. (2026). Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-world-in-a-hundred-years
The World in a Hundred Years. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-world-in-a-hundred-years.
@book{anonymous2026world,
title = {The World in a Hundred Years},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-world-in-a-hundred-years}
}
Free gifts
USD 580 in free gifts when you start
Every book in every format and in 25 languages, 5 accounts for the price of one. Nothing to pay today.
- 200,000+ classic eBooksIn 25 languages, side by side
USD 170FREE - Every eBookIn 25 languages, any device
USD 120FREE - 15-minute summariesRead in 25 languages
USD 60FREE - Print at cost, no markupPaperback, hardcover, large print
USD 60FREE - 5 accounts for the price of oneA shelf for everyone at home
USD 170FREE - A part in rebuilding the libraryNew languages and books for all
FREE
Questions about The World in a Hundred Years
Can I read it free?
Yes. The first key idea of the 15-minute summary is free with no sign-up. Start free and the whole book is yours for 3 months, with the eBook to keep, plus 200,000+ more classics and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print. Nothing to pay today: we email you 7 days before your first payment, and you can cancel online in two clicks.
Can I buy the printed book?
Soon. The paperback, hardcover and large print editions are being prepared. Choose Paperback or Hardcover above, leave your email, and we tell you the day you can order it, printed at cost.
How many accounts do I get?
Five, for the price of one: you and 4 more people, each with their own login, shelf and their own place in every book.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. Cancel online in two clicks at any time and nothing more is charged. Nothing is charged in your first 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment.
What is The World in a Hundred Years about?
It is an anthology of essays, stories and sketches by many authors who imagine life about a century ahead, around 2009. Topics include technology, war, peace, women, education, art, medicine, sport and the fate of the Earth.
Who wrote The World in a Hundred Years?
Arthur Brehmer edited it, and each chapter has its own author. They include Hudson Maxim, Robert Sloss, Bertha von Suttner, Cesare Lombroso, Eduard Bernstein, Ellen Key, Hermann Bahr, Wilhelm Kienzl and Garrett Serviss.
Did the predictions in the book come true?
Some did in spirit, such as wireless telephones, pictures sent through the air, flight as normal travel and a European union. Others did not, such as radium cures and an end to war. Each chapter shows its writer's hopes.
More like this
Our mission
The library burned once. We are building it back.
Every great book, in every language and every format, for every family. Every plan helps pay for new languages and books for readers who have never had them. Join the movement.
Read our story- Every language25 languages today, side by side, and more every year
- No wastePrinted on demand: no warehouses, no unsold stock, no pulped copies
- For everyonePaperback, hardcover and large print at the cost of printing
