PERSPECTIVES WORLD PROBLEMS AND HUMAN POTENTIAL Over 4500 world problems that tra"!sce:zd national boundaries and the orgamzatzons working on them are described in this new book The Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential was first published in 1975. A new edition has just been published. It is a comprehensive sourcebook of i1:formation on recognized problems from human rights to energy, their interconnections and the human resources available to analyze and respond to them. The main section of the book features entries on 4,700 problems that transcend national boundaries. A typical entry describes the nature of a problem, its origins and incidence. A dialogue of responses from authoritative sources is like a local voter's manual, presenting a diversity of opinion on .each issue.An additional 5,500 problems are listed without discription, but are cross-referenced and indexed. The problem entries are complemented .by a series of sections which elaborate on the wide range of concepts applicable to worl~ problems and relevant responses to them. These mclude:.hm:nan values· human development; commumcat10n; perso;al and collective social transforn:iation strategies; in tegra ti ve knowledge; m terdisciplinary problem-solving ~pp.roaches; innovative techniques-commumcat10n and transformative conferencing techniques and evaluation of approaches to world problems. This is not a book to read when you have too little time on your hands. The print is like the Oxford English Dictionary, ai:~ the style ~s dens~, but it is inspirational. Like Citizen Summitry this encyclopedia represents another view of world problems, and solutions that indivi.duals and no~ government organizations _are carrying out on their own. For More Information: Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential, compiled by the Union of International Associations, and published and distributed by KG Saur, Inc., 175 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10010, $200.00, 1986, 1440pp. CITIZEN DIPLOMACY GUIDE Citizen diplomacy guide published the same day as the Iceland Summit between Secretary Gorbachev and President Reagan broke down The Ark Communications Institute, a nonprofit organization that explores innovati;e appr~a~hes to promoting peace recently published Citizen Summitry: Keeping the Peace When It Matters ~oo Much To Be Left to Politicians, In timely fash10n ··the book was published October 12, the day on which the Iceland summit of Secretary Gorbachev and President Reagan broke down. The book contains 28 essays about and by individuals performing' their own citizen diplomacy by building communicat~on b:idges between people in the U.S. and the Soviet Umon. Several of the pioneering communication links between the U.S. and the Soviet Union are described, including the US Festival-:--a festival of music and technology-held outside Los Angeles on Labor Day in 1982. The organizers arranged a live satellite linkup between the US Festival and Soviet musical performers playing in the Moscow studios of the Soviet " State Committee for Television and Radio." The book contains essays of other space-bridge pioneers. One article, /1 Throu.gh the E~es of A Citizen Diplomat", by a long-time contributor to RAIN, Joel Schatz, is one of the best proofs of the old dictim that a picture is worth a thousand words-a travel essay with insightful photographs. . . . One section is entirely a Soviet contnbuhon, entitled /1 Building a Space Bridge". The Soviet authors propose a regular facility that wo~ld allow audiences in their country to meet with Americans via satellite on large-screen television with simultaneous translation. All in all, a very hopeful and, down to earth perspective. For More Information: Ark Communications Institute, 250 Lafayette Circle, Ste. 301, Lafayette, CA 94549, 415-283-7920. Book distributed by St. Martin's Press, 396 pp., $11.95. Fall/Winter 1986 RAIN Page 21
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