The review to The Future Is Wild can be found HERE

Today we are pleased to have as our guest John Adams, one of the authors of The Future Is Wild.

Good day John and thank you for agreeing to being interviewed by Bookpleasures.

Norm- John, could you tell us something about your educational background as well as your writing experience?

John:

My Educational background is fairly embarrassing. I was one of those who blew an expensive schooling and came out with nothing. (Actually I did get an “A” level in ancient history, but it was the bottom grade). As you will see from my spelling at least part of it was well deserved. My previous writing is limited to a single article in a motorcycle magazine, 25 years ago.

Actually, perhaps it would be a good idea to explain who I am and what I do. As I am not a typical author, I am really an ideas person who created concepts, which I pre-sell to the television and publishing market particularly. I then hire the necessary specialists, in this case Dougal Dixon, the celebrated author of “After Man.” You should certainly interview Dougal, who is a genuine writer and biologist. He is a real genius behind the idea of future evolution. I am just the entrepreneur who created the framework.

I am neither a writer nor a producer. In fact, until the FUTURE IS WILD, I did not even have an understanding of evolution- I still have not read “After Man.” I really only work on my own ideas and these usually involve animals. A family passion, we live in the country with lots of horses, dogs, cats, hens, ducks, geese, etc My understanding of animals is really from my own experience.

Norm-why did you write The Future is Wild, what were your objectives, how long did it take to research the topic and write the book?

John

I came up with the idea for The Future Is Wild 7 years ago wrote a brief synopsis and pitched it to the discovery channel, which very kindly gave me some development funding to make this series. After 4 years development costing $1M, this was eventually completed in October 2002. The books were produced during the last year of the production period. I really had 3 objectives:

1) To produce an entertaining TV series that would inspire children to explore the subject of evolution, blending it with their own imagination. As a child I found science to be a complete bore, as I did not fee I was able to influence it myself. A long-term goal of the Future is Wild is that “if we can use the principles of evolution to create future creatures and worlds, then so can children.” The test of scientific integrity is based upon ‘not what their creatures look like but what took their creators there.’

2) Pure selfish megalomania. To create something that would belong to me.

3) Create something completely new that would create debate and controversy.

Norm- after reading The Future Is Wild, I asked myself- how did you gather all of the material and come to your conclusions. Were all of the scientists in agreement? After all, we will not be around to see if your predictions were accurate!

John:

I gathered together a prestigious team of academic experts together with an awesome winning group of natural history film- makers. They were not in agreement all the time, but generally there was consensus on the big issues. Fortunately, the education and expertise of my team was able to make up for my own shortcomings.

Norm- how were the illustrators able to project future animals?

John:

We used stills of the CHI animated sequences created for the TV series.

Norm- how were you able to co-ordinate all of the information gathered by the various scientists? It was as if you gathered a mixture of vegetables, blended them all in a bowl, poured in some salad dressing, et voilà, there you have it!

John:

It was a complex time consuming process involving the scientists, researchers, producers and animators. We set it up over several years of research and the 2 years of production.

Norm-are you planning any future books dealing with similar topics?

John:

A children’s version ""THE WILD WORLD OF THE FUTURE"" is just published. A field guide will be available later this year. I also plan a major Encyclopaedia of evolution plus educational materials to accompany video and DVD sale into schools. Over the next few years, there will be a children’s TV series and probably a movie. Both of these will have accompanying book publishing.

End of Interview Thanks John