5 for Academics, 4 for Isolation from Corruption, June 25, 2011
I am stunned to not see a review of this book published in 2008. It certainly merits attention and inclusion in any dialog about democracy.
The author caught my attention immediately in the preface, observing that US democracy “looks awfully stunted and stymied.”
The author does a first rate job of summarizing the book in advance, the core focus being on democracy as civic capacity.
QUOTE (ix): “This blurring of the traditional divide between direction setting (policy making) and outcomes (implementation) is at the heart of the story…”
I am less interested in the case studies (urban growth, restructuring economy, and investing in youth), and much more interested in the author's concise presentation of his findings.
I was expecting so much more from this book, it is almost a three in relation to disappointment, but assuredly a solid four as far as it goes. This is a very good review of politics at the top personality level, but devoid of any discussion at all of corruption, government ineptitude, and so on. The index stinks, mostly a name index, but that sums the book up–names, not root cause and effect.
Part I is about Deng, Thatcher, Reagan, Gorbechev, Eastern Europe coming free, Latin America moving to the center, and India awakening.
Part II is about Fukuyama, Greenspan (before he was striped naked), Bill Gates, Bill Clinton, Asia rises, and in a most interesting but all too short section: the role played by the anti-globalization advocates and the neo-conservatives.
Part III offers three scenarios, the world as Europe, the world as China and Russia, and the world as Pakistan.
In relation to my broader reading habits the book is disappointing. It is a journalism story not at all illuminating. Particularly annoying to me, and especially so noting the financial reporting capabilities of the author, is the absolute refusal to call a spade for what it is: a spade. The destruction, de-construction, corruption, and flat out fraud that permeated all of the governments under the varied leaderships discussed by the author do not exist within the jacket of this book.
At a simplistic level there is certainly value to the book, but it ignores so much I was constantly resisting the urge to simply put the book down and move on.
The author concludes that there are three sources of zero sum thinking:
1. Slower economic growth
2. Rivalry between the USA and China (no mention of Brazil, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, and Wild Cards like South Africa and Turkey that I noticed)
3. Clash of national interests in face of global challenges–the author's range of understanding of global challenges is very limited and traditional: climate change (which is 10% of environmental degradation), global economic imbalances (but no focus on massive fraud and corruption), nuclear proliferation (ho hum compared to poverty and infectious disease), resource shortages (duh, especially when farm land is the next bubble and food prices suffer from unethical politicians pushing ethanol), and failed states (no mention of the role of the US in increasing that number from 25 to 175 in the last 12 years).
When the author states that China is “stealing” jobs from the US I almost drop this book to a three. That is idiotic. Jobs are being exported from the USA by unethical CEOs with no grounding in moral capitalism, and allowed to do so by unethical politicians who are absolutely not making policy in the public interest.
The author anticipates that polarization and protectionism are the most likely near-term national reactions, and this is the point at which I realize he has absolutely no idea about what is going on among the young and those that have labored in the evolutionary activism, emergence, and open everything circles these past twenty years.
QUOTE I liked (275): “On every one of the big global issues, a mixture of national interests and ideological disagreements blocks the chances of an international deal.”
Although I like the quote it reflects a complete lack of appreciation for panarchy, end-user democracy, open information-sharing, hybrid coalitions across the eight tribes (academia, civil society, commerce, government, law enforcement, media, military, non-governmental/non-profit).
My view of the author as totally status quo and convention is confirmed when he states that the existing international economic system must be preserved at all costs.
There is nothing in this book that actually helps understand complexity or foster resilience.
Hyperbole Squared, Disingenious, Mostly Theater, June 2, 2011
I happen to like Newt Gingrich, but no one has held him accountable on matters of truth for decades. When I was elected Virtual President at the Huffington Post (search for Robert David Steele), Newt was my choice for Vice President for Global Engagement. He is easily the most educated and thoughtful/philosophical leaders we have, apart from Dennis Kucinich (better on facts) and Ron Paul (better on the Constitution and common sense). I suppose you could add Mike Bloomberg (my choice for Vice President for Education Intelligence, & Research). In short, no Coalition Cabinet can be complete without Newt Gingrich. He might even make a good president if he would stop talking and learn to integrate the thoughts of others from across all 64 parties, not just the right wing of the same bird that has been pooping on America since Newt destroyed Speaker Wright (see The Ambition and the Power: The Fall of Jim Wright : A True Story of Washington). That was also the end of bi-partisanship and the beginning of the end of the Republic, now a neo-fascist corporate state.
TImely, Deep Historical Insights, Some Gaps & Biases, May 29, 2011
I would normally wait but in the absence of any reviews want to just praise this book as timely, with deep historical insights, and a few gaps and biases as well as no index, the latter almost always causes me to remove a star. The book has been rushed into print and suffers from that rush, but I fully anticipate that a second edition will be fleshed out, add an index, and be a full five star contribution. This is a print on demand book (Amazon's superb CreateSpace offering) and only 78 pages, it is properly priced and that I find especially commendable.
The author is nothing less than a superior analyst with very high integrity, and his historical knowledge, as well as his historical contributions to non-fiction literature, cannot be denied.
Among the core findings that I appreciate are the author's early focus on the complete ignorance of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) [and of course also the Departments of State and Defense] with respect to both the opposition leaders (all of them, not just the normal suspects] and the underlying preconditions of revolution across all dimensions.
There is much insight to be gained about our relationship with digital technology in reading Alone Together…but it's equally informative to consider some of what's not covered in Turkle's book. When viewed through a broader perspective, perhaps we needn't be as alarmed as one might think after finishing AT.
Sherry Turkle's research indicates a loop. People design digital machines that make demands on us, their users. But people program digital technology such as robots and games to appeal to vulnerabilities. Turkle is most concerned with demands digital makes on our vulnerabilities, to the extent that some people are so attracted to the digital world that they run the risk of not being able to differentiate between reality 101 and digital illusions.
Rock Solid Starting Point for Ethical Revolution in Intelligence Affairs
May 14, 2011
This is a solid four-star piece of work with the right intellectual and moral attitude. It is noteworthy for recognizing that a “revolution in intelligence affairs” has not taken place, and that everything done to date has been at best incrementalism if not outright pathologicial self-destruction. Those who are not themselves revolutionaries in the intelligence discipline, and especially those who are just starting out and need an innoculation against the embedded idiocy of the current hierarchy of seniors all too eager to pander to unethical politicans, would do well to read this book. It is more than satisfactory as a starting point for getting it right.
I know the author and his earlier work, and consider this book to be a very fine contribution with perspectives that have been completely absent among the self-proclaimed “in-house” reformists.
See Also (live links at Phi Beta Iota the Public Intelligence Blog):
Graphic: Intelligence Maturity Scale
2010: Human Intelligence (HUMINT) Trilogy Updated
2010 The Ultimate Hack Re-Inventing Intelligence to Re-Engineer Earth (Chapter for Counter-Terrorism Book Out of Denmark)
All of my books are free online so please don't take this as pimping them–the below books and the one above are the series on intelligence revolution, as yet not recognized nor implemented by any nation.
“Ken Wilber is one of the most important pioneers in the field of consciousness in this century.”āDeepak Chopra
“The most sensible, comprehensive book on consciousness since William James.”āDr. James Fadiman, President, Association for Transpersonal Psychology
“No Boundary does for this generation what Alan Watts' writings did for an earlier one. It brings the most difficult subject of allānature of consciousnessāinto an easily grasped presentation that is both elegant and simple.”āJohn White, editor of Kundalini, Evolution, and Enlightenment Continue reading “Review (Guest): No Boundary–Eastern and Western Approaches to Personal Growth”
5 for Academics, 4 for Isolation from Corruption, June 25, 2011
