Reading this book was rather like going into a 400 page Newsweek article. Even though the theory about "waves" can seem appealing, the authors fail to provide a theorical framework for the ideas they propose. Ok, so the wars of the future will be different.. so what?
There's no explanation within the book that tries at least to determine what the causes of the future wars will be. It leaves the door open for any "random" cause to ignite a war.
Anyway, I could say the anecdothic style of the book makes it easy to read, but if you're looking for a more in-depth text about wars and their future implications, forget about this one.

I read this book when first released in hardcover for $30. I think its well worth $7.00. The text is summarized by the 4 or 5 essentials of [ or add connectivity]. Since the book was written in 1995, readers who rate this book poorly should reflect on its generalities and see whether Toffler's predictions have come to pass.

1995 was a time when the Internet, Yahoo, and Amazon.com were just evolving parts of Americana, the idea of investing heavily in the 4th 'C' needed reinforcement in the minds of CEOs. War against networks [hacking] was not critical and now, were are we? Millions of dollars later, the book has paid for itself well for $30.

Other components of the text discuss non-lethal weapons, and specific technological strategies for war that may not be relevant to commerce, and are more for military strategists. Further I found the first edition I read had awkward moments of questionable syntax.

Nevertheless, knowing that non-lethal weapons are evolving, and the 4th C of conflict are well established [computers & communications], what glimpses we may get from Toffler projections in "War and Anti-War" are certainly worth a $7.00 entrance fee.

The Toffler's have written a very engaging book about the coming age of war in what they call the 'third wave'- or a post industrial society. Information, according to the Tofflers, will become the vital component of future conflicts in the way that territory and resources were in the second wave. The details and the theory that they construct are very interesting. The causes of this are a new form of wealth creation that is also information intensive (read Silicon valley and the computer industry/cell phones/ or services in general). I recommend reading this book before, with or after Robert Kaplan's vision of the future in "The Coming Anarchy". One aspect of the book that is rather surprising is that they managed to write an entire book on this subject without mentioning Microsoft or the Internet! Then I checked the publication date (1993), and was amazed by the fact that only 7 years ago these entities might not have merited such consideration. This alone helps confirm the Toffler's theories on an quickly changing world, and one in which information is becoming the hot commodity.

The waves are also amazingly close to an anthropolgical method of classification- domestic scale society (tribes bands and chiefdoms), political scale society (nation states) and commerical scale society (the emerging global system). I wonder how much interchange of ideas has gone on over the years between the Tofflers and the author of my text book! Very interesting.

I worry that their division of the planet into first, second and third wave societies may be a way of anesthetizing the fact that wealth and power are becoming more and more polarized. But this is the reality of our time, and whether or not it is pleasing, books such as this are attempting to make sense out of the present and the future. I will most likely consult this book again in the future when writing papers, or talking with friends about the future of conflict for some time to come.