2030: What Happens To America

In Albert Brooks, 2030: The Real Story of What Happens to America, the American population has started aging proficiently. While upon first look, this book appears to be a book simply about what Brooks predicts will happen in the future, it is actually about a lot more. I am sure that there would be no complaints if cancer was cured tomorrow. Well in 2030, this dream comes true. The cure of cancer brought about a surge of baby boomers, in the millions. This appears to be a good idea, I mean who would oppose population growth? Although with millions of baby boomers, and one of the biggest causes of death eradicated, overpopulation began to set in. The resources that were originally supposed to hold baby boomers into around their seventies
Brooks introduced a future that most people probably believed was not possible. Aside from the typical futuristic books and movies of robots, utopian society, or zombies, 2030 informs us of a probable future that could become reality. In addition to this, it tells us what potential consequences we could face. 2030 really is a fascinating story, and along with its interesting storyline, it’s view on the future of the American race is pretty interesting. The text makes it seem as if these things are already happening, and maybe we just do not notice it. I think that some of the information in this book could easily be useful and applicable for political leaders now and later, college students entering the business world, and even older
However, the way that Brooks writes the story, the characters have all different kinds of lives that cleverly merge together towards the novel’s conclusion. The story begins with the introduction of Brad Miller, an eighty-year-old widow, that lives in a California retirement community all alone. Within the first few chapters of the novel the reader begins to see just how much the world has changed by the year 2030. Cancer has been cured since the year 2015, and technological innovations are allowing people to live longer than ever before. Later on in the story, we learn of the angry youth (Youth for Equality, Enough is Enough), the president (Bernstein), the curer (Sam Mueller), the Chinese visionaries (Shen Li), and the AARP. One element that makes this story structured particularly well is the way that these characters are introduced. It creates a sense of suspense for the reader, as they wonder how all of these characters are connected. Since the chapters are pretty short, shortly after you get introduced to one character you are introduced to another. By doing this, Brooks keeps the reader engaged, having them focus on the previous character and the current character, all the while curious as to how each is significant