849. "The Future is Asian" by Parag Khanna -- 2-Stars

The Future is Asian by Parag Khanna – 2 Stars

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

ISBN: 9781501196263

This book provides a lot of incentive to think beyond the box; the box in this case is what is presented. Who’s the audience? This is a dump of everything learned by everybody imaginable without clearly separating fact from findings or observations. It is obvious that much research has gone into this to collect and report all the information. A PhD in Asian History may like the beginning chapter to refresh him/her with details of an era he desired; you get the author’s attempt to list all the “Asian” events from the beginning of time. I, on the other hand, was anticipating only something discussing how recent events and actions throughout Asia affect the goal of globalization. Instead, I was presented with a case study, somewhat biased, pitting the Western blunders vs. Non-Western successes. I wanted to know what plans the Asian countries have already initiated and are planning to employ to enhance globalized, worldwide relationships. This would have given me insight to private business changes, my investments, and America’s efforts to synchronize relationships towards a successful global integration.

A consultant needs to analyze ALL the findings relevant to predefined hypotheses of conclusions. Many of the findings in this book are bias toward Asian thinking which distorts the formulation of facts needed by the individual seeking global unity. Conclusions are sketchy against a synchronized global plan.

Despite the struggle I had to get through this book, it did make me think ALOT. The knowledge before reading this book was already adequate to understand the issues hindering the efforts of globalization. The last thing I needed was that the West is still trying to colonize the world while the non-west is opening it up (but, not to the West) with THEIR only objectives in mind.

Sorry, I’m not impressed with the pain-staking effort that apparently went into the research of this book when the message is ambiguous and conflicting at times. Way too many words and pages to get what should be a message to the West to pay ample attention to the world, seek ideas coming from the non-West, and together formulate plans for successful globalization. I certainly wasn’t the audience in mind for this book.

Reviewer: Rich