It had been 20 years since Andrew Crofts had last seen Jim Martin when I read in the press that he had donated $100-million to Oxford University to found The James Martin 21st Century School. Jim's latest book, The Meaning of the 21st Century, was the most borrowed non-fiction book from British libraries in 2008, beating Bill Bryson, Peter Kay, Richard Dawkins and all the other famous names. Andrew decided it was time to get back in contact ...'I've bought a private island in Bermuda,' he said. 'You must come out for a week so we can talk properly. There's so much to say and so much to be done and so little time.' This was enough to pique Andrew's interest. He arrived at Agar's Island, very unsure of what might lie ahead. The resulting book, The Change Agent: How to Create a Wonderful World, is partly the story of how a working class boy from Ashby-de-la- Zouche ended up with his own school attached to Oxford University. Along the way he has encountered people as varied as Bertrand Russell, David Bowie and Lee Kuan Yew. From prime ministers and presidents to Cold War spies and business leaders, he has been called in to advise them all and his books have been read by millions.
It is about the man's ideas, which are the reason so many millions of people read his books and attend his lectures. Jim believes we are entering a time of transition during which we could either destroy Homo sapiens, or at least relegate ourselves back to the Dark Ages, or we could use technology to create the most wonderful civilization that has ever existed. He believes that whatever happens, it is now a matter of urgency. The Change Agent is partly a conversation with a wise man and an old friend, rather like the best-selling Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom, and partly a Paulo Coelho-style fable of a shy, awkward boy from a poor background who becomes an international guru. In this fascinating popular science and business book, he makes startling predictions about what is going to befall us in the coming decades, explaining how we can avoid the many horrors that the media are constantly threatening us with, and how we could build a global Utopia.