Editing Alvin Toffler

{{short description|American writer, futurist and businessman}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{Infobox writer
| image         = Alvin Toffler 02.jpg
| caption       = Toffler in 2006
| birth_name    = Alvin Eugene Toffler
| birth_date    = {{birth date|1928|10|4}}
| birth_place   = New York City, U.S.
| death_date    = {{death date and age|2016|6|27|1928|10|4}}
| death_place   = Los Angeles, California, U.S.
| resting_place = [[Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park and Mortuary]], Westwood, Los&nbsp;Angeles
| occupation    = {{cslist|[[Futurist]]|author|journalist|educator}}
| nationality   = <!-- use only when necessary per [[WP:INFONAT]] -->
| education     = 
| alma_mater    = [[New York University]] (BA)
| notable_works = {{cslist|''[[Future Shock]]''|''[[The Third Wave (Toffler book)|The Third Wave]]''|''[[Powershift (book)|Powershift]]''}}
| spouse        = {{marriage|Heidi Farrell|April 29, 1950}}
| children      = 1
| relations     = 
| awards        = {{plainlist|
* {{#ifexist: McKinsey Foundation Book Award|[[McKinsey Foundation Book Award]]}}
* {{lang|fr|[[Ordre des Arts et des Lettres]]}}
* {{see below|{{slink||Selected awards}}}}
}}
| signature     = 
}}
'''Alvin Eugene Toffler'''<ref>{{cite news |last1=Henry |first1=David |title=Alvin Toffler, author of best-selling 'Future Shock' and 'The Third Wave,' dies at 87 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/alvin-toffler-author-of-best-selling-future-shock-and-the-third-wave-dies-at-87/2016/06/29/0d63748c-3e09-11e6-80bc-d06711fd2125_story.html |newspaper=Washington Post |access-date=31 October 2022}}</ref> (October 4, 1928 – June 27, 2016) was an American writer, [[futurist]], and businessman known for his works discussing modern technologies, including the [[digital revolution]] and the [[Telecommunications|communication]] revolution, with emphasis on their effects on cultures worldwide. He is regarded as one of the world's outstanding futurists.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Encyclopedia of the City|last=Caves|first=R. W.|publisher=Routledge|year=2004|isbn=978-0415862875|pages=672}}</ref>

Toffler was an associate editor of ''[[Fortune (magazine)|Fortune]]'' magazine. In his early works he focused on technology and its impact, which he termed "[[information overload]]". In 1970, his first major book about the future, ''[[Future Shock]]'', became a worldwide best-seller and has sold over 6 million copies.

He and his wife Heidi Toffler (1929–2019), who collaborated with him for most of his writings, moved on to examining the reaction to [[Social change|changes in society]] with another best-selling book, ''[[The Third Wave (Toffler book)|The Third Wave]]'', in 1980. In it, he foresaw such technological advances as [[cloning]], personal computers, the Internet, cable television and mobile communication. His later focus, via their other best-seller, ''Powershift'', (1990), was on the increasing power of 21st-century [[military hardware]] and the proliferation of new technologies.

He founded Toffler Associates, a [[management consulting]] company, and was a [[visiting scholar]] at the [[Russell Sage Foundation]], visiting professor at [[Cornell University]], faculty member of the [[The New School|New School for Social Research]], a [[White House correspondent]], and a business consultant.<ref name="MI">[http://www.milkeninstitute.org/events/events.taf?function=show&cat=allconf&EventID=GC03&SPID=898&level1=speakers&level2=bio "Alvin Toffler Speaker Biography"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927235248/http://www.milkeninstitute.org/events/events.taf?function=show&cat=allconf&EventID=GC03&SPID=898&level1=speakers&level2=bio |date=September 27, 2011 }}, [[Milken Institute]], 2003.</ref> Toffler's ideas and writings were a significant influence on the thinking of business and government leaders worldwide, including China's [[Zhao Ziyang]], and [[AOL]] founder [[Steve Case]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Gewirtz|first=Julian|date=February 2018|title=The Futurists of Beijing: Alvin Toffler, Zhao Ziyang, and China's "New Technological Revolution," 1979–1991|journal=The Journal of Asian Studies|language=en|volume=78|issue=1|pages=115–140|doi=10.1017/S0021911818002619|issn=0021-9118|doi-access=free}}</ref>

==Early life==
Alvin Toffler was born on October 4, 1928, in New York City,<ref>{{cite web|last=The European Graduate School|title=Alvin Toffler – Biography|url=http://www.egs.edu/library/alvin-toffler/biography/|access-date=January 7, 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140107225236/http://www.egs.edu/library/alvin-toffler/biography/|archive-date=January 7, 2014}}</ref> and raised in Brooklyn. He was the son of Rose (Albaum) and Sam Toffler, a [[furrier]], both [[History of the Jews in Poland|Polish Jews]] who had migrated to America.<ref name=bookref1/><ref name=nytobit>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/30/books/alvin-toffler-author-of-future-shock-dies-at-87.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220101/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/30/books/alvin-toffler-author-of-future-shock-dies-at-87.html |archive-date=2022-01-01 |url-access=limited |title=Alvin Toffler, Author of 'Future Shock,' Dies at 87 |work=The New York Times |first=Keith |last=Schneider |date=June 29, 2016 |access-date=June 29, 2016}}{{cbignore}}</ref> He had one younger sister.<ref name=nytobit/> He was inspired to become a writer at the age of 7 by his aunt and uncle, who lived with the Tofflers. "They were Depression-era literary intellectuals," Toffler said, "and they always talked about exciting ideas."<ref name=nytobit/>

Toffler graduated from [[New York University]] in 1950 as an English major, though by his own account he was more focused on political activism than grades.<ref name=nytobit/> He met his future wife, Adelaide Elizabeth Farrell (nicknamed "Heidi"), when she was starting a graduate course in linguistics. Being radical students, they decided against further graduate work and moved to [[Cleveland, Ohio]], where they married on April 29, 1950.<ref name=nytobit/>

== Career==
Seeking experiences to write about, Alvin and Heidi Toffler spent the next five years as [[blue collar]] workers on [[assembly line]]s while studying industrial [[mass production]] in their daily work.<ref name=nytobit/> He compared his own desire for experience to other writers, such as [[Jack London]], who in his quest for subjects to write about sailed the seas, and [[John Steinbeck]], who went to pick grapes with migrant workers.<ref>video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCXCDYj6U4E&t=10m18s Interview with Alvin Toffler]</ref> In their first factory jobs, Heidi became a [[trade union|union]] [[shop steward]] in the aluminum foundry where she worked. Alvin became a millwright and welder.<ref name=nytobit/><ref name="ATWPARTNERSHIP">{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20100917045828/http://alvintoffler.net/?fa=biospartnership "Alvin and Heidi Toffler: Partnership"]}} – Toffler Web site</ref> In the evenings Alvin would write poetry and fiction, but discovered he was proficient at neither.<ref name=nytobit/>

His hands-on practical labor experience helped Alvin Toffler land a position at a union-backed newspaper, a transfer to its Washington bureau in 1957, then three years as a [[White House correspondent]], covering Congress and the White House for a Pennsylvania daily newspaper.<ref name=nytobit/><ref>[http://www.legacy.com/news/celebrity-deaths/notable-deaths/article/alvin-toffler-1928-2016 "Alvin Toffler (1928–2016)"], ''Legacy.com'', June 30, 2016</ref>

They returned to New York City in 1959 when ''Fortune'' magazine invited Alvin to become its labor columnist, later having him write about business and management.<ref name=nytobit/> After leaving ''Fortune'' magazine in 1962, Toffler began a freelance career, writing long form articles for scholarly journals and magazines.<ref name=nytobit/> His 1964 ''Playboy interviews'' with Russian novelist [[Vladimir Nabokov]] and [[Ayn Rand]] were considered among the magazine's best.<ref name=nytobit/> His interview with Rand was the first time the magazine had given such a platform to a female intellectual, which as one commentator said, "the real bird of paradise Toffler captured for Playboy in 1964 was Ayn Rand."<ref>[http://atlassociety.org/commentary/commentary-blog/3901-the-lost-parts-of-ayn-rand-s-playboy-interview "The "Lost" Parts of Ayn Rand's Playboy Interview"], ''The Atlas Society'', March 1, 2004</ref>

Toffler was hired by [[IBM]] to conduct research and write a paper on the social and organizational impact of computers, leading to his contact with the earliest computer "gurus" and artificial intelligence researchers and proponents. [[Xerox]] invited him to write about its research laboratory and [[AT&T Corporation|AT&T]] consulted him for strategic advice. This AT&T work led to a study of telecommunications, which advised the company's top management to break up the company more than a decade before the government forced AT&T to break up.<ref>Galambos, Louis, and Abrahamson, Eric. ''Anytime, Anywhere: Entrepreneurship and the Creation of a Wireless World'', Cambridge Univ. Press (2002)  p. 266</ref>

In the mid-1960s, the Tofflers began five years of research on what would become ''[[Future Shock]]'', published in 1970.<ref name=nytobit/><ref name="ATWPARTNERSHIP"/> It has sold over 6 million copies worldwide, according to the ''New York Times,'' or over 15&nbsp;million copies according to the Tofflers' Web site.<ref name=nytobit/><ref name=Denver/> Toffler coined the term "future shock" to refer to what happens to a society when change happens too fast, which results in social confusion and normal decision-making processes breaking down.<ref name=Hindle>Hindle, Tim. ''Guide to Management Ideas and Gurus'', John Wiley & Sons (2008) p. 311</ref> The book has never been out of print and has been translated into dozens of languages.<ref name=nytobit/>

He continued the theme in ''The Third Wave'' in 1980. While he describes the first and second waves as the agricultural and industrial revolutions, the "third wave," a phrase he coined, represents the current information, computer-based revolution. He forecast the spread of the Internet and email, interactive media, cable television, cloning, and other digital advancements.<ref>{{cite news | url = https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-36670572 |title = Alvin Toffler, futurologist guru, dies at 87| work=BBC News|date=June 30, 2016}}</ref> He claimed that one of the side effects of the digital age has been "information overload," another term he coined.<ref name=USNews>[https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2016-06-29/alvin-toffler-author-of-future-shock-dead-at-87 "Alvin Toffler, author of 'Future Shock,' dead at 87"], ''U.S. News & World Report'', June 29, 2016</ref> In 1990, he wrote ''Powershift'', also with the help of his wife, Heidi.<ref name=nytobit/>

In 1996, with American business consultant Tom Johnson, they co-founded Toffler Associates, an advisory firm designed to implement many of the ideas the Tofflers had written on. The firm worked with businesses, NGOs, and governments in the United States, South Korea, Mexico, Brazil, Singapore, Australia, and other countries. During this period in his career, Toffler lectured worldwide, taught at several schools and met world leaders, such as [[Mikhail Gorbachev]], along with key executives and military officials.<ref name=CBC/>

===Ideas and opinions===
{{quote box|quote="A new civilization is emerging in our lives, and blind men everywhere are trying to suppress it. This new civilization brings with it new family styles; changed ways of working, loving, and living; a new economy; new political conflicts; and beyond all this an altered consciousness as well...The dawn of this new civilization is the single most explosive fact of our lifetimes."|source=Alvin Toffler, from ''The Third Wave'' (1980)<ref>Gilbert, Montserrat Gines. ''The Meaning of Technology'', Univ. Politèc. de Catalunya (2003) p. 157</ref>|align=right|width=25em|bgcolor = Cornsilk}}

Toffler stated many of his ideas during an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 1998.<ref name=Australia/> "Society needs people who take care of the elderly and who know how to be compassionate and honest," he said. "Society needs people who work in hospitals. Society needs all kinds of skills that are not just cognitive; they're emotional, they're affectional. You can't run the society on data and computers alone."<ref name=Australia>{{cite interview| url= http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/lm/stories/s10440.htm |first= Alvin |last= Toffler |interviewer= Norman Swann |publisher= Australian Broadcasting Corporation Radio National| title=Life Matters| date= March 5, 1998| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20001020092245/http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/lm/stories/s10440.htm| url-status= dead| archive-date= October 20, 2000| access-date= May 4, 2016}}</ref>

His opinions about the future of education, many of which were in ''[[Future Shock]]'', have often been quoted. An often misattributed quote, however, is that of psychologist Herbert Gerjuoy: "Tomorrow's illiterate will not be the man who can't read; he will be the man who has not learned how to learn."<ref>{{cite book|last=Toffler|first=Alvin|title=Future Shock|url=https://archive.org/details/futureshoc00toff|url-access=registration|year=1970|publisher=Random House|location=New York|page=[https://archive.org/details/futureshoc00toff/page/367 367]}}</ref>

Early in his career, after traveling to other countries, he became aware of the new and myriad inputs that visitors received from these other cultures. He explained during an interview that some visitors would become "truly disoriented and upset" by the strange environment, which he described as a reaction to [[culture shock]].<ref name=interview>video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCXCDYj6U4E&t=1m48s Interview with Alvin Toffler]</ref> From that issue, he foresaw another problem for the future, when a culturally "new environment comes to you&nbsp;... and comes to you rapidly." That kind of sudden cultural change within one's own country, which he felt many would not understand, would lead to a similar reaction, one of "future shock", which he wrote about in his book by that title.<ref name=interview/> Toffler writes:
{{blockquote|We must search out totally new ways to anchor ourselves, for all the old roots—religion, nation, community, family, or profession—are now shaking under the hurricane impact of the accelerative thrust.<ref name=CBC/><ref name=AP>{{cite news|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/alvin-toffler-author-obit-1.3659263|title=Alvin Toffler, Future Shock and Third Wave author, dead at 87|date=June 29, 2016|publisher=[[CBC News]]|agency=[[Associated Press]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160813081640/https://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/alvin-toffler-author-obit-1.3659263|archive-date=August 13, 2016}}</ref>}}

In ''[[The Third Wave (Toffler book)|The Third Wave]]'', Toffler describes three types of societies, based on the concept of "waves"—each wave pushes the older societies and cultures aside.<ref>video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgwVlsHxdWY&t=7m24s Alvin and Heidi Toffler interview with Brian Lamb], 1996</ref> He describes the "First Wave" as the society after [[Neolithic Revolution|agrarian revolution]] and replaced the first [[hunter-gatherer]] cultures. The "Second Wave," he labels society during the [[Industrial Revolution]] (ca. late 17th century through the mid-20th century). That period saw the increase of urban industrial populations which had undermined the traditional [[nuclear family]], and initiated a factory-like education system, and the growth of the corporation. Toffler said:

{{blockquote|The Second Wave Society is industrial and based on [[mass production]], [[mass distribution]], [[mass consumption]], [[mass education]], mass media, mass [[recreation]], mass entertainment, and [[weapons of mass destruction]]. You combine those things with [[standardization]], [[centralization]], concentration, and synchronization, and you wind up with a style of organization we call [[bureaucracy]].<ref name=Australia/>}}

The "Third Wave" was a term he coined to describe the [[post-industrial society]], which began in the late 1950s. His description of this period dovetails with other futurist writers, who also wrote about the [[Information Age]], [[Space Age]], [[Electronic computer|Electronic]] Era, [[Global village (term)|Global Village]], terms which highlighted a scientific-technological revolution.<ref name=Denver>[https://www.denverpost.com/2016/06/29/author-alvin-toffler-dies/ "Future Shock" author Alvin Toffler has died at age 87], ''Denver Post'', June 29, 2016</ref> The Tofflers claimed to have predicted a number of geopolitical events, such as the collapse of the Soviet Union, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the future economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region.<ref name=Denver/>

==Influences and popular culture==

Toffler often visited with dignitaries in Asia, including China's [[Zhao Ziyang]], Singapore's [[Lee Kuan Yew]] and South Korea's [[Kim Dae Jung]], all of whom were influenced by his views as Asia's emerging markets increased in global significance during the 1980s and 1990s.<ref name=Denver/> Although they had originally censored some of his books and ideas, China's government cited him along with [[Franklin Roosevelt]] and [[Bill Gates]] as being among the Westerners who had most influenced their country.<ref name=USNews/> ''The Third Wave'' along with a video documentary based on it became best-sellers in China and were widely distributed to schools.<ref name=Denver/> The video's success inspired the marketing of videos on related themes in the late 1990s by [[Infowars]], whose name is derived from the term coined by Toffler in the book. Toffler's influence on Asian thinkers was summed up in an article in [[Daedalus (journal)|''Daedalus'']], published by the [[American Academy of Arts & Sciences]]:
{{blockquote|Where an earlier generation of Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese revolutionaries wanted to re-enact the [[Paris Commune]] as imagined by [[Karl Marx]], their post-revolutionary successors now want to re-enact [[Silicon Valley]] as imagined by Alvin Toffler.<ref name=Denver/>}}

U.S. House Speaker [[Newt Gingrich]] publicly lauded his ideas about the future, and urged members of Congress to read Toffler's book, ''Creating a New Civilization'' (1995).<ref name=Denver/> Others, such as AOL founder [[Steve Case]], cited Toffler's ''The Third Wave'' as a formative influence on his thinking,<ref name=USNews/> which inspired him to write ''The Third Wave: An Entrepreneur's Vision of the Future'' in 2016. Case said that Toffler was a "real pioneer in helping people, companies and even countries lean into the future."<ref name=CBC>[http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/alvin-toffler-author-obit-1.3659263 "Alvin Toffler, Future Shock and Third Wave author, dead at 87"], ''CBC News'', June 29, 2016</ref><ref>[http://www.multichannel.com/blog/i-was-saying/remembering-aols-deal-century/403835 "Remembering AOL's 'Deal of the Century'"], ''Multichannel'', April 4, 2016</ref>

In 1980, [[Ted Turner]] founded [[CNN]], which he said was inspired by Toffler's forecasting the end of the dominance of the three main television networks.<ref>[https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/17276 "Future Speak"], ''Entrepreneur'', March 1, 1999</ref><ref name=NPR>[https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/06/30/484161975/future-shock-author-alvin-toffler-dies-at-87 "'Future Shock' Author Alvin Toffler Dies at 87"], ''NPR'', June 30, 2016</ref> Turner's company, Turner Broadcasting, published Toffler's ''Creating a New Civilization'' in 1995. Shortly after the book was released, the former Soviet president [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] hosted the Global Governance Conference in San Francisco with the theme, ''Toward a New Civilization'', which was attended by dozens of world figures, including the Tofflers, [[George H. W. Bush]], [[Margaret Thatcher]], [[Carl Sagan]], [[Abba Eban]] and Turner with his then-wife, actress [[Jane Fonda]].<ref>Abramson, Lee. ''Ezekial'', iUniverse (2007) p. 14</ref>

Mexican billionaire [[Carlos Slim]] was influenced by his works, and became a friend of the writer.<ref name=Denver/> Global marketer [[J.D. Power III|J.D. Power]] also said he was inspired by Toffler's works.<ref>[https://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2014/03/16/j-d-power-ten-things-ive-learned-in-business/#12754ac61aee "J.D. Power: Ten Things I've Learned In Business"], ''Forbes'', March 16, 2014</ref>

Since the 1960s, people had tried to make sense out of the effect of new technologies and social change, a problem which made Toffler's writings widely influential beyond the confines of scientific, economic, and public policy. His works and ideas have been subject to various criticisms, usually with the same argumentation used against [[futurology]]: that foreseeing the future is nigh impossible.<ref name=USNews/>

[[Techno music]] pioneer [[Juan Atkins]] cites Toffler's phrase "techno rebels" in ''The Third Wave'' as inspiring him to use the word "techno" to describe the [[musical genre|musical style]] he helped to create<ref>{{cite news|last=Ferguson|first=Benjamin|title=Label of love: Metroplex|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/jun/15/label-love-metroplex|newspaper=The Guardian|date=June 15, 2010}}</ref>
[[File:Club Toffler in Rotterdam.jpg|alt="The great growling engine of change - technology"|thumb|A quote of Alvin Toffler at the entrance of the club named after him in Rotterdam, the Netherlands]]
Musician [[Curtis Mayfield]] released a disco song called "Future Shock," later covered in an electro version by [[Herbie Hancock]].<ref name=USNews/> Science fiction author [[John Brunner (novelist)|John Brunner]] wrote "The Shockwave Rider," from the concept of "future shock."<ref name=USNews/>

The nightclub Toffler, in [[Rotterdam]], is named after him.

In the song "Victoria" by [[The Exponents]], the protagonist's daily routine and cultural interests are described: "She's up in time to watch the soap operas, reads Cosmopolitan and Alvin Toffler".

==Critical assessment ==
{{NPOV|date=February 2025}}
[[Accenture]], the management consultancy firm, identified Toffler in 2002 as being among the most influential voices in business leaders, along with [[Bill Gates]] and [[Peter Drucker]].<ref name=Accenture>{{cite web|title=Accenture Study Yields Top 50 'Business Intellectuals' Ranking of Top Thinkers and Writers on Management Topics |url=http://newsroom.accenture.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=3898 |publisher=Accenture |access-date=January 7, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060315033017/http://www.accenture.com/xd/xd.asp?it=enWeb&xd=_dyn%2Fdynamicpressrelease_487.xml |archive-date=March 15, 2006 |date=May 22, 2002 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Toffler has also been described in a ''[[Financial Times]]'' interview as the "world's most famous futurologist".<ref name="ft">{{cite news|url=http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/af33b982-2dbd-11db-93ad-0000779e2340.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/af33b982-2dbd-11db-93ad-0000779e2340.html |archive-date=December 10, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Lunch with the FT: He has seen the future|work=Financial Times|date=August 18, 2006}}</ref> In 2006, the ''[[People's Daily]]'' classed him among the 50 foreigners who shaped modern China,<ref name="china501" /><ref name="china502" /> which one U.S. newspaper notes made him a "guru of sorts to world statesmen."<ref name=Denver/> Chinese Premier and General Secretary [[Zhao Ziyang]] was greatly influenced by Toffler.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Gewirtz|first=Julian|date=2019|title=The Futurists of Beijing: Alvin Toffler, Zhao Ziyang, and China's "New Technological Revolution," 1979–1991|journal=The Journal of Asian Studies|language=en|volume=78|issue=1|pages=115–140|doi=10.1017/S0021911818002619|issn=0021-9118|doi-access=free}}</ref> He convened conferences to discuss ''The Third Wave'' in the early 1980s, and in 1985 the book was the No. 2 best seller in China.<ref name=nytobit/>

Author [[Mark Satin]] characterizes Toffler as an important early influence on [[Radical centrism|radical centrist]] political thought.<ref>Satin, Mark (2004). ''Radical Middle: The Politics We Need Now''. Westview Press and Basic Books, p.&nbsp;30. {{ISBN|978-0-8133-4190-3}}.
</ref>

[[Newt Gingrich]] became close to the Tofflers in the 1970s and said ''The Third Wave'' had immensely influenced his own thinking and was "one of the great seminal works of our time."<ref name=nytobit/>

==Selected awards==
Toffler has received several prestigious prizes and awards, including the [[McKinsey & Company|McKinsey Foundation]] Book Award for Contributions to Management Literature, Officier de [[Ordre des Arts et des Lettres|L'Ordre des Arts et Lettres]], and appointments, including Fellow of the [[American Association for the Advancement of Science]] and the [[International Institute for Strategic Studies]].<ref name="MI"/>

In 2006, Alvin and Heidi Toffler were recipients of [[Brown University]]'s Independent Award.<ref name=birthday>{{cite news| url= http://westport.dailyvoice.com/neighbors/happy-birthday-to-reddings-alvin-toffler/405405/ | title= Happy Birthday To Redding's Alvin Toffler!| work= Westport Daily Voice| location= Weston, Connecticut| date= October 4, 2013| access-date= May 4, 2016}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Toffler was married to Heidi Toffler (born Adelaide Elizabeth Farrell), also a writer and futurist. They lived in the [[Bel Air, Los Angeles|Bel Air]] section of Los Angeles, California, and previously lived in [[Redding, Connecticut]].<ref name=birthday />

The couple's only child, Karen Toffler (1954–2000), died at age 46 after more than a decade suffering from [[Guillain–Barré syndrome]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Paid Notice: Deaths Toeffler, Karen|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/07/11/classified/paid-notice-deaths-toffler-karen.html|newspaper=New York Times|date=July 11, 2000}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/urbanphotos/2415309182/|title=Karen Toffler – 1985|work=Flickr.com|date=August 3, 2005}}</ref>

Alvin Toffler died in his sleep on June 27, 2016, at his home in Los Angeles.<ref name=washpost>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/alvin-toffler-author-of-best-selling-future-shock-and-the-third-wave-dies-at-87/2016/06/29/0d63748c-3e09-11e6-80bc-d06711fd2125_story.html "Alvin Toffler, author of best-selling 'Future Shock' and 'The Third Wave,' dies at 87], ''Washington Post'', June 29, 2016</ref> No cause of death was given.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-alvin-toffler-20160629-snap-story.html |title=Alvin Toffler, author of 1970 bestseller 'Future Shock,' dies at 87  |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |author=Jill Leovy |date=June 29, 2016 |access-date=June 30, 2016}}</ref> He is buried at [[Westwood Memorial Park]].

==Bibliography==
Alvin Toffler co-wrote his books with his wife Heidi.
* ''[[The Culture Consumers]]'' (1964) St. Martin's Press, {{ISBN|1-199-15481-4}}
* ''[[The Schoolhouse in the City]]'' (1968) Praeger (editors), {{ISBN|0-275-67145-3}}
* ''[[Future Shock]]'' (1970) Bantam Books, {{ISBN|0-553-27737-5}}
* ''The Futurists'' (1972) Random House (editors), {{ISBN|0-394-31713-0}}
* ''[[Learning for Tomorrow]]'' (1974) Random House (editors), {{ISBN|0-394-71980-8}}
* ''[[The Eco-Spasm Report]]'' (1975) Bantam Books, {{ISBN|0-553-14474-X}}
* ''[[The Third Wave (Toffler book)|The Third Wave]]'' (1980) Bantam Books, {{ISBN|0-553-24698-4}}
* ''[[Previews & Premises]]'' (1983) William Morrow & Co, {{ISBN|0-688-01910-2}}
* ''[[The Adaptive Corporation]]'' (1985) McGraw-Hill, {{ISBN|0-553-25383-2}}
* ''[[Powershift: Knowledge, Wealth and Violence at the Edge of the 21st Century]]'' (1990) Bantam Books, {{ISBN|0-553-29215-3}}
* ''[[War and Anti-War]]'' (1993) Warner Books, {{ISBN|0-446-60259-0}}
* ''[[Creating a New Civilization]]'' (1995) Turner Pub, {{ISBN|1-57036-224-6}}
* ''[[Revolutionary Wealth]]'' (2006) Knopf, {{ISBN|0-375-40174-1}}

==See also==
* [[Daniel Bell]]
* [[Norman Swan]]
* [[Human nature]]
* [[John Naisbitt]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em|refs=
<ref name="bookref1">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lNllAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Adelaide+Elizabeth+Farrell%22|title=Who's who in U.S. Writers, Editors & Poets|work=google.ca|last1=Johnson|first1=Curt|year=1988|publisher=December Press |isbn=9780913204214}}</ref>
<ref name=china501>{{cite web|title=50 foreigners shaping China's modern development |url=http://english.people.com.cn/200608/03/eng20060803_289510.html |work=People's Daily |date= August 3, 2006| access-date=September 4, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140108000052/http://english.people.com.cn/200608/03/eng20060803_289510.html |archive-date=January 8, 2014 }}</ref>
<ref name=china502>{{cite web|url=http://www.alvintoffler.net/?fa=china_top50|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061220232410/http://www.alvintoffler.net/?fa=china_top50|title=alvin + heidi toffler (futurists) :: Bios |archive-date=December 20, 2006 |url-status=usurped|work=alvintoffler.net}}</ref>
}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Commons category}}
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20160427222806/http://www.alvintoffler.net/]}}&nbsp;– official Alvin Toffler site
* [http://www.toffler.com Toffler Associates]
* [http://www.learnoutloud.com/Catalog/Business/Economics/Americas-Revolutionary-Wealth-and-its-Impact-Around-the-World/26431 Interview with Alvin Toffler] by the [[World Affairs Council of Washington, DC|World Affairs Council]]
* {{YouTube|8DWj-G-VZEQ|Alvin Toffler interview on ''The Gregory Mantell Show''}}
* [http://www.booktalk.org/future-shock-by-alvin-toffler-f47.html Discuss Alvin Toffler's ''Future Shock'' with other readers], BookTalk.org
* {{OL author}}
* {{C-SPAN|38737}}
*[http://event.tofflerassociates.com/p/1 Future Shock Forum 2018]
*[https://findingaids.library.columbia.edu/ead/nnc-rb/ldpd_4078547 Finding aid to the Alvin and Heidi Toffler papers at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Toffler, Alvin}}
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