The new realities, Peter Druker

"This book is hard to understand”, was the way I was introduced to this book. That only motivated me more to read it.(I hope it does the same for you).

Published in 1989 by the management guru Peter Drucker who has actually transcended above this title. He has became a specialist when it comes to matters of management, organizations and inadequacies in economy and government. Every chapter puts forward an idea/s which more than often challengesthe traditional beliefs. This is done with help of numerous examples, events and data to support the idea. The best thing that I liked about the book is the way in which author looks at the current situation from a very broad perspective. This coupled with his immense knowledge about sociopolitical history and its apt use in relevant places makesit a really interesting read.

The book is divided in to four parts of 'The political realities','Government and Political Process', 'Economy, Ecology and Economics' and the last 'The knowledge society'. The first two parts are pure treasure of political/history knowledge and how to interpret that knowledge (those who are interested in such things please don’t miss it). In third part the ‘paradoxes of economic development’ i.e. 10th chapter is really good. For me the last part was most interesting as it is more recent and most of us form a part of this knowledge society. Besides this some very nice terms like "Transnational" (i.e.spread or existing in many nations) are used.

To be frank sometimes one feels like there is too much information, especially for a person who has little knowledge about world political history (like me :) ). Thus one should only aim at understanding the main core or crux of the chapter. No need to panic even if you are not familiar with the various examples that the author is citing. The various intermediate headings inside the chapter actually help a lot to keep one on track about what author is emphasizing. Besides content the other things that I really liked about this book is its font, a bit bigger than conventional but very soothing to read.

To conclude I will pick up the lines from the preface of the book itself This book is not futuristic but it does attempt to define the concerns, the issues and the controversies that will be realities in years to come. The author contends that the toughest problems we face are those created by the successes of the past - the success of thewelfare state, the invention of the fiscal state and the knowledge society. This book does not focus on what to do tomorrow. It focuses on what to do today in contemplation of tomorrow.

Note: The last chapter "Conclusion: From analysis to Perception: The new World View" is just outstanding in terms of the facts that are mentioned. So if you find the book, sit, read the chapter then and there. It will surely be worth the 15 min time you spend.

-Anwar Sahib