The dizzying exuberance of the Internet driven marketplace offers unprecedented opportunities and an ever-expanding choice of deals, products, investments, and jobs - ranging from the merely attractive to the nearly irresistible for the people with the right talent and skills. The technology that is the motor of transformation relentlessly sharpens competition. Sellers must make constant improvements by cutting costs, adding value, and creating new products. This is a boon to us as consumers, but it's wreaking havoc in the rest of our lives. Reich demonstrates that the faster the economy changes, the harder it is for people to be confident of what they will be earning next year or even next month, what they will be doing, where they will be doing it. In short, those fabulous new deals of the fabulous new economy carry a steep price: more frenzied lives, less security, more economic and social stratification, the loss of time and energy for family, friendship, community and self. Reich reveals what success is coming to mean in our time - the pitfalls and downturns hidden in the apparent advantages and advances - and suggests how we might create a more balanced society and more satisfying lives. The trends he discusses are powerful indeed, but they are not irreversible, or at least not unalterable.The Future of Successis a stunning, timely book, certain to galvanize the way we look at our future.

One of America's most thoughtful and influential social and economic analysts, Robert B. Reich has taught at Harvard and Brandeis universities and held office under three US administrations, most recently as Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton.

Academic, politician and Observer columnist, Robert Reich is the most brilliant and high-profile economist since J K Galbraith. His new book is a searching analysis of the new economy and how it is affecting our lives, for better and for worse.