Review by bibimahkh1960 -- Rediscovering the Wisdom of H...
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bibimahkh1960
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Review by bibimahkh1960 -- Rediscovering the Wisdom of H...
[Following is a volunteer review of "Rediscovering the Wisdom of Human Nature" by Chet Shupe.]
The first thing that caught my attention when I was selecting a book to review was the title and subtitle of Chet Shupe's Rediscovering The Wisdom Of Human Nature: How Civilization Destroys Happiness .
I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars and I strongly recommend it to anyone who is interested in human nature, happiness, and the general human condition.
Shupe's main contention is that we humans, as a collective, have strayed from our essential nature when we became "civilized" 6-10 thousand years ago. As civilizations developed further with their rules and beliefs, human societies became almost enslaved to legal and other institutions. While there are benefits for human societies, these institutions also restrict and limit us in many ways. More worrying are those that distract us from our true natures and these deviations over the past generations may explain societies' loss in direction.
Shupe's arguments make compelling reading and he clearly expresses his intention in writing this book as that of a spiritual awakening of sorts for our species. He does not prescribe specific solutions and this book should not be seen as a "Here is a problem and this is how to solve it" manual.
As an engineer myself who is familiar with systems theory, complexity theory, and critical systems thinking, I appreciate Shupe's interpretation of humans and human societies and communities as complex adaptive systems. I would certainly look forward to his further writing on this topic - how we need to recognize the dissonance and utilize our natural abilities to red-discover and re-apply our innate human wisdom to create a loving society.
I would also be interested in his views on how other perspectives, e.g., dreams of Utopia, value-creating societies, and various philosophical systems of thought that emerged from thinkers around the world. Shupe, in his humbleness, has done us a great service in connecting several apparently disparate thoughts into a more coherent whole - the very essence of systems thinking.
There is a certain amount of repetition of certain themes in the book. To some, it may seem dreary but I saw it as an expression of these themes' importance and their repetition as a reinforcement of these ideas.
Overall, this book made me think and it encouraged me to explore these ideas further for myself and, perhaps, for others.
Various authors and their work are cited and I, for one, will certainly look them up. I would love to see a suggested list of recommended readings from the author.
One factual point I noted was that he quoted the world's population as 8 billion. The current world population is approximately 7.8 billion and is projected to reach 8 billion in 2023. Perhaps he is expecting the number to be very close to the stated quantity by the time the book is released.
Finally, I do hope that he's planning to write another book!
******
Rediscovering the Wisdom of Human Nature
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
The first thing that caught my attention when I was selecting a book to review was the title and subtitle of Chet Shupe's Rediscovering The Wisdom Of Human Nature: How Civilization Destroys Happiness .
I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars and I strongly recommend it to anyone who is interested in human nature, happiness, and the general human condition.
Shupe's main contention is that we humans, as a collective, have strayed from our essential nature when we became "civilized" 6-10 thousand years ago. As civilizations developed further with their rules and beliefs, human societies became almost enslaved to legal and other institutions. While there are benefits for human societies, these institutions also restrict and limit us in many ways. More worrying are those that distract us from our true natures and these deviations over the past generations may explain societies' loss in direction.
Shupe's arguments make compelling reading and he clearly expresses his intention in writing this book as that of a spiritual awakening of sorts for our species. He does not prescribe specific solutions and this book should not be seen as a "Here is a problem and this is how to solve it" manual.
As an engineer myself who is familiar with systems theory, complexity theory, and critical systems thinking, I appreciate Shupe's interpretation of humans and human societies and communities as complex adaptive systems. I would certainly look forward to his further writing on this topic - how we need to recognize the dissonance and utilize our natural abilities to red-discover and re-apply our innate human wisdom to create a loving society.
I would also be interested in his views on how other perspectives, e.g., dreams of Utopia, value-creating societies, and various philosophical systems of thought that emerged from thinkers around the world. Shupe, in his humbleness, has done us a great service in connecting several apparently disparate thoughts into a more coherent whole - the very essence of systems thinking.
There is a certain amount of repetition of certain themes in the book. To some, it may seem dreary but I saw it as an expression of these themes' importance and their repetition as a reinforcement of these ideas.
Overall, this book made me think and it encouraged me to explore these ideas further for myself and, perhaps, for others.
Various authors and their work are cited and I, for one, will certainly look them up. I would love to see a suggested list of recommended readings from the author.
One factual point I noted was that he quoted the world's population as 8 billion. The current world population is approximately 7.8 billion and is projected to reach 8 billion in 2023. Perhaps he is expecting the number to be very close to the stated quantity by the time the book is released.
Finally, I do hope that he's planning to write another book!
******
Rediscovering the Wisdom of Human Nature
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: “Wisdom Of The Men” by Clint Arthur
