If nothing else, former Gov. George Ariyoshi is a planner.

A constant theme through his 13 years as Hawai'i's longest-serving governor was this: The way to deal with today's problems is to plan for tomorrow's. That led to the Hawai'i State Plan, the supporting Functional Plans and so much more.

Ariyoshi is long past being governor, but he hasn't stopped thinking about the future. The latest example is a small book ("Hawaii: The past Fifty Years. The Next Fifty Years," Watermark Press) that lays out Ariyoshi's view of what has happened over the past 50 years of statehood, during which he was almost constantly a player, and his vision for the next half-century.

The target audience for this booklet is specific: young people now in middle and high school who will for good or ill lead Hawai'i through the next century. Ariyoshi's dream, and he has been in contact with the Department of Education already, is to put the book into the hands of each and every high school student in the state.

The idea is not to force this book or his ideas into the curriculum, but rather to get young people to begin thinking about their future and the future of the state they live in. Again, it's planning.

"I just want the students to have it," Ariyoshi said. "It's their future, not ours."

Fair enough. But what does this book say? Part reminiscence, part history and part philosophy, the book offers a quick tour through the years of Ariyoshi's youth, early political years and governorship (he served from 1973 through 1986).

But fundamentally, it is a charge to the next generation to seize the opportunities before them and make the next half-century as innovative and challenging as the one that has just passed. Along the way, Ariyoshi has some pointed and occasionally prickly observations on how things have evolved over the years.

One of his sharpest comments focuses on the State Land Use Law and the supporting Land Use Commission. In a word, Ariyoshi believes that the original intent of the commission, to guide and control development, has been undermined. The commission, he argues, has largely been taken over by development interests and has become a playground for insiders and people with money.

"Today," he writes, "the intent and functioning of the Land Use Law has been extensively subverted. Contrary to the original idea of the Land Use Law, the public is substantially shut out of the process."

Now there's a cause for the next generation should they choose to accept it.

There is much in this book that has a certain wonkish earnest quality that might appeal to student government types. Issues ranging from the complexities of state budgeting through water and land use, agriculture, housing, energy and more are discussed. Rather that prescribe solutions, the former governor tends to describe the issue and sketch out how we got to where we are today,

That's not bad from someone who led the state longer than anyone ever had or ever will, thanks to term limitations and the like.

One need not agree with Ariyoshi on every one of his points to make this booklet valuable. Indeed, some might argue that he is wrong about the potential of, say, diversified agriculture or many other issues. But he is right on this point: Every student interested in his or her own future in this state should read it.

So should the rest of us.