Wildfire nets BBC journalist Fisher’s ‘radical reassessment of our relationship with time’

Wildfire has acquired The Long View: Why We Need to Transform How the World Sees Time by BBC Future journalist Richard Fisher.

Publishing director Alex Clarke acquired world rights from Kate Evans at Peters Fraser + Dunlop for publication on 30th March 2023.

The publisher describes The Long View as a “wide-ranging and important book that calls for a radical reassessment of our relationship with time”.

Its synopsis continues: “Richard Fisher shows us how we have become stuck in a short-termist, never-ending present, at the mercy of reactive politics, quarterly budgets and 24-hour news cycles.

“He examines the psychological biases that discourage the long view and talks to the growing number of people from the worlds of philosophy, technology, science and the arts who are exploring smart ways to overcome them. In a wise, hope-filled and often deeply personal analysis, he asks: how can we learn to widen our perception of time and honour our obligations to the lives of those not yet born?”

Clarke said: “The Long View is an urgently needed book. Richard Fisher shows us just how important it is that we move away from short-term thinking. He offers us a pragmatic, clear and hopeful alternative—where decisions are made with an eye firmly fixed on the distant future. Richard’s wise words are essential reading.”

Fisher commented: “Taking the long view doesn’t require us to make sacrifices or carry weighty duties; there are myriad advantages to embracing it, for ourselves and our children.

“When the bad news in the present feels overwhelming, the long view can offer perspective, and when the future seems dark, it promises a source of energy and autonomy. When we observe the world through this temporal lens, we can learn to situate ourselves within time’s long arc and see that there’s a richer, deeper story of humanity and nature to be found."

Evans described The Long View as “one of those rare books that is both mind-expandingly beautiful and completely, pressingly, useful”. She said: “I can’t wait for Wildfire to introduce it to readers everywhere."