The Pulse of Tomorrow

“To claim that Alvin & Heidi Toffler shaped an entire generation's worldview would be an understatement. They literally defined it. With The Pulse of Tomorrow, Deborah Westphal has done modernity and posterity a great service. This book is not only a tribute to the pioneering couple forever identified with the future, but also a deeply humane portrait of the Tofflers as individuals and their devotion to each other. This cinematic biography is an inspirational reminder of the power of relentless curiosity to uncover the connections between technology, society, institutions, business and geopolitics – and generate novel insights into our complex world." ––DRS. AYESHA & PARAG KHANNA, co-authors of Hybrid Reality

“Alvin and Heidi Toffler imagined a future we are still living in more than half a century later. This rare insider’s account of two non-obvious thinkers reveals the never-before-seen backstory behind their world-changing research, and just how much of today’s world they shaped.” ––ROHIT BHARGAVA, WSJ Bestselling Author & Founder of Non-Obvious Company

"In The Pulse of Tomorrow, Deborah Westphal shows how Alvin and Heidi Toffler learned to observe the present with enough curiosity to notice what others missed. A timely reminder that when the world changes faster than our plans, the most powerful skill may be our willingness to keep learning." —ANNE-LAURE LE CUNFF, Neuroscientist and Author of Tiny Experiments

“Alvin and Heidi Toffler understood that great periods of change require us to rethink the assumptions, institutions, and systems built for an earlier age. I knew them personally and saw the extraordinary reach of their ideas. In The Pulse of Tomorrow, Westphal tells the remarkable story of how they developed that way of thinking and why their ideas remain essential to understanding the transformations reshaping our world today.” —NEWT GINGRICH, Former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives

“Deborah Westphal is to be heartily thanked for writing The Pulse of Tomorrow, because it is indeed true, as her subtitle says, that Future Shock still shapes our world. I first encountered Alvin Toffler’s remarkable mind in 1965 and later had the privilege of knowing Alvin and Heidi personally. Future shock is the disorientation of finding yourself living in a world you did not anticipate and cannot simply leave behind. Despite Alvin and Heidi’s lifetime of extraordinary work, as Westphal makes plain, we have not yet learned all the lessons they tirelessly and creatively taught. Read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest what Westphal has written. It may help us make the better world for which they toiled.” —JIM DATOR, Professor Emeritus of Political Science and former Director, Hawai?i Research Center for Futures Studies, University of Hawai?i at Manoa

“This book could not be more timely, with so many balls up in the air, namely, shifting demographics, technology, geo-economics… Westphal helps us navigate through it all by inviting us to reflect on the peripatetic lives of Heidi and Alvin Toffler. The writing is vivid and engaging.” —MAURO F. GUILLÉN, William H. Wurster Professor of Multinational Management, The Wharton School, and author of 2030

“Future Shock taught us to understand change. The Pulse of Tomorrow inspires us to embrace it, shape the future, and carry forward the extraordinary vision of Alvin and Heidi Toffler.” —MICHAEL REISS, Publisher, Arts Management Magazine

“The Tofflers taught us to look beyond the technologies of the moment and see the larger forces transforming our economy and society. Their book The Third Wave shaped my thinking so deeply that decades later I borrowed its title for my own book. As we enter another period of extraordinary technological and societal change, The Pulse of Tomorrow is a timely reminder that understanding the future begins with learning how to see change differently.” —STEVE CASE, Chairman & CEO, Revolution; Co-founder, AOL

“More than half a century has passed since the publication of Future Shock, and yet its insights and those of the many groundbreaking books that followed are even more relevant today in a world where the pace of societal change, technological disruption, and a growing uncertainty of our collective future seems to continue accelerating and spiraling down a darkened path. In her beautifully written and thoughtfully researched biography of Alvin and Heidi Toffler and their enduring love, mutual respect, and intellectual partnership, Deborah Westphal not only shares their fascinating journey, but illuminates the brilliant insights and lessons learned from this extraordinary couple’s life work. By embracing curiosity of the unknown, maintaining humility in one’s assumptions and beliefs, and observing the patterns of change and likely ripple effects, the Toffler’s believed that we can each be better prepared and empowered to take action to make a better world worthy of generations yet to come. This book provides a powerful roadmap for individuals, enterprises, organizations, and entire nations from two of the most influential thinkers in modern history.” —MATT PILLAR, Entrepreneur, investor, and strategic advisor to numerous disruptive, high-growth entertainment, media, and tech companies and independent Board member at Alvin Toffler’s Anticipa digital media venture

"I knew Alvin Toffler for the last fifteen years of his life, and his way of thinking still shapes mine. Deborah Westphal was closer still, and has given us the book they deserved: an inside account of two minds whose genius has not aged a day. Presidents, generals, and CEOs took their counsel for half a century. Now you can." —WILLIAM MOUGAYAR, Technology entrepreneur and author of TRUSTSHIFT

“Living as we are in the greatest period of change, transformation, chaos, confusion, and uncertainty to have ever hit homo sapiens, Deborah Westphal’s new book, The Pulse of Tomorrow, provides us with one of a handful of lighthouses that can cast real illumination on the storm we are living through.” —DAN BURSTEIN, Best-selling author and Veteran venture capital technology investor

“Alvin Toffler and Future Shock changed my life. Shortly after graduating with a degree in Astronautical Engineering I read Future Shock and a door into my own future opened. Like the Tofflers, I wanted to become a Futurist...that's really why I studied rocket science. In every city and every airport, the brightly colored cover of Future Shock was everywhere. Everyone talked about it. I taught a course on it. The Tofflers not only saw the future in the present, they gave their readers the tools to think about the future in new ways and regain confidence in their own future...when the alternative reading was The Limits to Growth. This story of their lives makes clear what were the sources of both their deep insights and their confidence in the ability of ideas to make a difference. Their ideas certainly did.” —PETER SCHWARTZ, Chief Futurist, Salesforce; Co-founder, Global Business Network; Author, The Art of the Long View

“Alvin and Heidi Toffler helped us make sense of a world in transition. Deb Westphal captures the relentless curiosity of the remarkable couple I met and admired, and shows why we need their way of thinking now more than ever.” —KETAN PATEL, Co-founder and CEO of Greater Pacific Capital; Chairman, Force for Good; Former head of Strategic Group, Goldman Sachs; Author, The Master Strategist

“Change is easy to talk about – hard to accomplish. Rapid change is problematic where forces like technologic innovation can be difficult to rapidly embrace and incorporate into both learning and bureaucratic process. The Tofflers understood - they were masters of change and humans. They particularly understood the transformational power of information. This book reaffirms the importance of the transformation of the human journey. Knowledge tools will transport us to new discovery and super intelligence. Deborah Westphal’s substantial lived experiences can be a north star to anticipate consequences early as we navigate towards the future that awaits.  A future measured by more than the sophistication of technology.” —JEFFREY K. HARRIS, Former Director, National Reconnaissance Office; Former President, Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space

“Around the turn of the millennium, Deborah Westphal opened a door for me to the world of Alvin and Heidi Toffler, a world I knew nothing about. Future Shock became an eye-opener and stayed with me ever since. As an officer, I have spent much of my career making decisions where assumptions about what comes next could change overnight. The Tofflers showed me that the hardest part is not predicting the future, but recognizing when the world has already moved on. In The Pulse of Tomorrow, Deb, who knew them for two decades, shows how they learned to see. It is a book for anyone who must lead and command before the picture is clear and when the time to wait doesn’t exist.” ?—GENERAL (RET.) MICAEL BYDÉN, former Supreme Commander, Swedish Armed Forces (2015-2024)