I'm sure that upon their arrival, many visitors will quickly be asking themselves "well now, what's all this then?" Have a seat and let me tell you all about it.
This blog was created in accordance with project guidelines for a Summer 2009 session of Marjan Eggermont's "Engineering481: Technology and Society" course at the University of Calgary. As part of the coursework for Engg481, we were assigned a project to choose a publication from a list provided by Dr. Eggermont and read through it. As we read through the book of our choosing, we had the option of doing a standard old book report (boring) or utilizing a specific visualization method to report on our book. A third option was to create a blog detailing our experiences with the book and at that moment, the Engg481 Project was born.
The purpose behind this blog is to provide an outlet for the rants, ramblings and feelings of a 4th-ish year Mechanical Engineering student as he spends his summer adventuring through the realm of post-Americanism with Fareed Zakaria, editor of Newsweek International and host of CNN's "Fareed Zakaria: G.P.S." As I sat in the parking lot of my local "Chapters" book store reading through the list of optional books, I instantly recognized Zakaria's name, however at that moment I was unsure of why that name was familiar to me or where I had heard it from...when all of a sudden it hit me!
Like any stereotypical college-aged liberal hooligan student, I get most of my US news through the shenanigans of one Jon Stewart and his Daily Show. I recalled seeing Fareed on his show in May of 2008 talking briefly about his newly published book, "The Post-American World." By the end of that interview, I definitely did want to pick up the book and give it a good read but unfortunately, being an engineering student, most of my reading involves textbooks (on that point, Thermodynamics: An Engineering Perspective 6th Ed and Brake Safety and Design 2nd Ed are fantastic reads!) I was delighted to see the book on the list and quickly purchased it. Let's have a look at that interview!! The link will take you to Comedy Central's website and they'll force you to watch a commercial or two before watching the interview itself, but unfortunately there's not much that I can do about that.
http://watch.thecomedynetwork.ca/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart/interviews-a-z/interviews-z/#clip52356
Looking back on that interview, it sure didn't say a lot but it still made me want to buy the book. Okay, so now I've got this book, now what's this all about?
The Post-American World (P-AW from here on in) is a far-reaching lens focused by Fareed Zakaria's own passionate research on the products of mass globalization and what this means for the course of the world as we fly faster than ever into the future. In a deeper sense, it is a rather optimistic and positive look at the possible roles that the United States of America will play in the 21st century as the world becomes truly globalized and experiences what could possibly be the largest and most important secular power shift seen by mankind; the erosion of the uni-polar order of our globe and the "rise of the rest" of the world.
As stated by the publisher..."This is not a book about the decline of America, but rather about the rise of everyone else." So begins Fareed Zakaria's important new work on the era we are now entering. Following on the success of his best-selling The Future of Freedom, Zakaria describes with equal prescience a world in which the United States will no longer dominate the global economy, orchestrate geopolitics, or overwhelm cultures. He sees the "rise of the rest"-the growth of countries like China, India, Brazil, Russia, and many others-as the great story of our time, and one that will reshape the world. The tallest buildings, biggest dams, largest-selling movies, and most advanced cell phones are all being built outside the United States. This economic growth is producing political confidence, national pride, and potentially international problems. How should the United States understand and thrive in this rapidly changing international climate? What does it mean to live in a truly global era? Zakaria answers these questions with his customary lucidity, insight, and imagination. " That sounds pretty deep...I like it!
On a side note, I find the topic and subject matter of the book incredibly interesting and look forward to reading through it, probably as much as my good friend Barack did.
So, let's lay out a few quick guidelines on this blog.
I'll be providing updates when ever I get around to it on my thoughts, opinions, experiences, feelings and all that razzmatazz as I read through this book. Updates will be organized by chapter and written in a semi-formal manor. If references are necessary throughout my writings/ramblings, they will be made in an IEEE-ISH format with a chapter specific 'bibliography' of my references at the end of the update. All references will be from the P-AW unless otherwise stated. Additionally, all image links can be found by clicking on the images themselves. Images that are not directly inserted (but linked within the text) are done so as their sizes are waaaayyy too big to be inserted.
Other than that, I don't think there's much else to cover, so I tip my hat to you and offer my thanks at following my experiences as I read a book over the summer!
Good day, all.
-Darren
P.S. For extra fun/background information, you can check this youtube video of Fareed sitting down with the BBC to rap about his book and the theories of Post-Americanism.
Very clear, concise stuff. I really am looking forward to reading through this book.
Again, I apologize for the link. It should be safe and go straight to YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wA7srwym3Yk
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