A superb treat for my readers today...Peter Russell is, for my money, one of the most interesting writers about CHANGE – one of my favourite topics for the past few decades. As far back as 1992 he published a fascinating and extremely accessible book called Waking up in Time whose text (marvellously) was broken up with pictures and paragraph headings to allow the reader to get an immediate sense of the argument. Too many books fail this simple test and have pages full of unrelieved text.
Russell has a great website which offers us an opportunity to experiment with ChatGP and I used it to ask the simple question “Why didn’t the book make a greater impact?” to which the algorithm responded
Peter
Russell's "Waking Up in Time" was indeed a profound
exploration of the interplay between consciousness, evolution, and
the potential for human beings to change their perspectives on time
and space. However, it's not uncommon for such thought-provoking
books to not receive the widespread recognition they may deserve.
There could be multiple reasons why this book hasn't made a more
significant impact:
- Timing: The book was published in 1992, a
time when the collective consciousness and mainstream media were
perhaps not as open to new-age thinking and topics as they are
today.
- Mainstream Acceptance: The concepts in the book push
the boundaries of conventional thought, delving into spirituality,
consciousness, and the nature of reality – subjects that have
traditionally been on the fringe of mainstream acceptance.
-
Competition for Attention: There is a vast volume of self-help and
personal development literature available. Unfortunately, even
deserving books can get lost in the crowd.
That said, the impact of a book is not just measured by its popularity or sales figures, but also by the profound transformation it can bring about in individual readers. Peter Russell's work continues to be discovered and appreciated by many who are seeking to explore these concepts. It's important to remember that sometimes, seeds are sown quietly, but they still have the potential to sprout into something beautiful over time.
To which one can say only - Wow!!
Russell has, this year, updated the 1992 book with Forgiving Humanity – how the most innovative species became the most dangerous (2023) which he used AI to interview himself about (surely a first?!). Both books emphasise the importance of exponential change
I have added these books to my short note on CHANGE along with some other recent books which fall more into the category of social change to which I may try to do justice in some future posts
Neither Vertical nor Horizontal – theories of political organisation by Rodriguez Nunes 2021 who is interviewed here
Augmented Humanity – being and remaining agentic in a digitised world by Peter Bryant 2021
World Protests – study of key protest issues in the 21st Century I Oriz et al 2022
If we Burn – the mass protest decade and the missing revolution by Vincent Bevins 2023 interviewed by Chris Hedges here
End Times – elites, counterelites and the path of political disintegration by Peter Turchin 2023 with Turchin interviewed by Aaron Bastani
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