Cycles: The Science of Prediction is a mid-twentieth-century study of recurring patterns in economics, nature, human affairs, and historical change. Edward R. Dewey, founder of the Foundation for the Study of Cycles, and Edwin F. Dakin argue that cyclical rhythms can be found across markets, industry, biology, weather, social behaviour, and other fields where events appear irregular until viewed across longer spans of time. Written for general readers as well as those interested in business forecasting, economic trends, and the hidden order of events, the book presents cycle theory as a practical tool for understanding recurrence, timing, and probability.
The book's appeal lies in its ambitious attempt to connect statistical observation, economic forecasting, natural rhythms, and social prediction into a single pattern-based view of the world. Later critics questioned the scientific rigour of some cycle theories, but Cycles remains a notable work in the history of forecasting, market timing, economic cycles, and popular systems thinking. For readers interested in prediction, business cycles, historical recurrence, speculative economics, market patterns, and the intellectual history of forecasting, this volume offers a fascinating example of the belief that the future may be partly legible in the rhythms of the past.