Roberto Pietroforte came to visit me. This was his third time in Motovun in less than four years. The last day of his visit, we had lunch at the hotel terrace. “Given your preoccupations and given the time you have on your hands,” he said at some point, “you should write a book about the future of mankind.” “Ha,” I responded without thinking, “that would be the shortest book ever written!” He was puzzled. ”Mankind ain’t got no future,” I explained. “In that case you should write a book about the end of mankind.” “Remember Marx,” I responded without thinking, “he never wrote a word about how communism would work—that he left to future generations.” At this point Roberto changed the subject.

Addendum (June 28, 2016)

I came across this piece on one of my uncharted journeys through my writings, and I ended up reading it twice. On some thought, I appear to have followed Roberto Pietroforte’s friendly advice no less than twice. One of my recent books, entitled What is to Be Done? Climate Change for Beginners (2014), can be thought of as a book about the future and the end of mankind wrapped in one. Still, I left the most harrowing years, centuries, and perhaps even millennia ahead to future generations. Marx was certainly right when he refused to dabble into the paltry detail. Come to think of it, this is best left to fiction writers. Many of them have plenty of time on their hands, as well. Besides, there is much money to be made while there is still time for the reasonably wealthy to read fiction at their leisure.