Future Shock author Alvin Toffler dies at 87

Author Alvin Toffler, whose 1970 book Future Shock sold millions of copies and was translated into dozens of languages, died Monday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 87.

His Virginia-based consulting firm Toffler Associates confirmed his death. Toffler was born and raised in Brooklyn to immigrants from Poland, and started writing when he was a child. He gained international fame with Future Shock, and in the book, he "synthesized disparate facts from every corner of the globe" and "concluded that the convergence of science, capital, and communications was producing such swift change that it was creating an entirely new kind of society," The New York Times says.

Toffler popularized the phrase "information overload," and foresaw the development of cloning, the influence of computers on the world, and the invention of cable television and the internet. He followed Future Shock up with two more successful books: The Third Wave in 1980 and Powershift in 1990. He is survived by his wife, Heidi, and sister, Caroline Sitter. His daughter, Karen, died in 2000.

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