Deep Thinking the Human Condition by S.A. Odunsi

About the Author:

Born in Nigeria, Odunsi has lived in Texas for over a quarter century. He makes his living operating 2 small businesses. While he has a BA in business, Odunsi credits his ideas not to his formal education but to his independent investigative efforts.

For more information please visit http://www.humanrethink.net

About the Book:

The concepts presented in the book will open up a dialogue about how we look at our past, present, and future. Odunsi presents new ideas to chronic world problems in a very creative and imaginative way. Arguments presented are well worth debating and studying. With the numerous current global crises taking place, Deep Thinking The Human Condition is highly recommended to those concerned about why we are unable to solve world problems and why it is essential to change our approach when tackling major global plights.

Excerpt:

...it is intuitively logical that real development, as opposed to shallow modernization, will start in the PUCs (persistently underdeveloped countries) if the graduates of higher education - the leadership class-begin to function with the proficiency in management, entrepreneurship, and invention demonstrated by their counterparts in the developed countries.

...(In the PUCs) the bulk of economic growth in modern industry and commerce, as well as its effective maintenance, are disproportionately dependent on the entrepreneurial, managerial, administrative, and inventive efforts, initiatives, and leadership of a distinct ethnic minority or expatriate agents, and not on the rank-and-file members of idigenous population groups.

I had the opportunity to ask S.A. a few questions. Here is what he had to say:

Could you please tell us a little about your book?

The book is primarily about the premises and thought processes that maintain the endemic problems of persistent underdevelopment and persistent poverty in our world. Contrary to widely held beliefs, these problems are not too difficult to solve. Neither are the victims the cause of the problems. Instead, the premises and thought processes that have been used to address these problems are defective. These defective premises and ideas, however, are hardly ever challenged. They're generally accepted as true and continue to be reinforced.

Consequently, the efforts aimed at addressing persistent underdevelopment in the Third World over the decades have been inefficient and wasteful. The result is that we're forced to live with these endemic problems. Hence, persistent underdevelopment in the Third World is entirely an optional condition that can be swiftly overcome if conventional thinking and remedies are replaced.

Who or what is the inspiration behind this book?

The book was inspired by the observation that the people of the PUCs (persistently underdeveloped countries) have received western-style higher education in very large numbers but they remain underdeveloped. Yet, western-style education, particularly higher education, is touted by people everywhere as the solution to persistent underdevelopment and the key to western-style development. It was then concluded that what made westerners and some Asians proficient in development had little to do with conventional education and was instead a previously unidentified part of their culture. Nevertheless, the underdeveloped countries, international development agencies, aid agencies and donors follow the lead of academia and assume that university educated people in the PUCs will function like their western counterparts on matters related to development. And when we examine the reasons given for why westerners are proficient in economic development (e.g. work ethic and genetic superiority) we find out they amount to vague and poorly defined speculation. In other words, the West cannot explain why and how it is developed in a way that can be systematically reproduced in an educational setting. Hence, if conventional higher education is meant to facilitate independent and sustainable economic development in the PUCs, it is incapable of doing so because it does not include the necessary elements; it is incomplete.

What do you feel sets this book apart from others in the same genre?

What sets my book apart is that it addresses issues that are hardly ever considered in other books or by other investigators of the persistent underdevelopment phenomenon, issues we cannot avoid addressing if persistent underdevelopment is ever going to come to an end. In countless academic books and journal articles where the development prospects of different regions of the underdeveloped world are considered, however, the issues I address are never mentioned. Following the lead of academia, the underdeveloped countries, international development agencies, aid agencies and donors similarly ignore these issues as well as others who genuinely want to see development take place in these countries.

What are you currently working on?

I'm working on the first in a series of articles I intend to publish on my blog, HumanRethink.net. The term conceptual distortion is used in the book to describe those widely accepted defective premises that have maintained the problems of persistent underdevelopment and poverty. Each article will focus on a major conceptual distortion and demonstrate its fallacy by comparing it with observed reality as well as individual and social expectations.


WIN PRIZES!!!

DEEP THINKING THE HUMAN CONDITION VIRTUAL BLOG TOUR '09 will officially begin on March 2 and end on March 31. You can visit S.A.'s blog stops at http://www.virtualbooktours.wordpress.com/ in March to find out more about this great book and talented author!As a special promotion for all our authors, Pump Up Your Book Promotion is giving away a FREE virtual book tour to a published author or a $50 Amazon gift certificate to those not published who comments on our authors' blog stops. More prizes will be announced as they become available.