Can Asians Think? Understanding the Divide Between East and West

Rating:
Summary: Fresh point of view!
Review: Always stuck with what you think of how the West thinks about the world?
Need new ideas, new perspectives?
Want to know what non westerners might think and desire about how this world should and could evolve?
An absolute requirement for those wanting to broaden views, learn and realize that there's more in this world than just the West. There's also the Rest

Rating:
Summary: Read this book and climb out of the PC rut
Review: First of all, the brouhaha over the title simply proves the author's point: Asians and Westerners view things differently.

If you care at all about the world, READ THIS BOOK. Really, it's OK. Just treat it like one of those trashy novels whose cover you need to hide in public. It's really worth it.

As an impressionable youngster I was brought up to believe that what worked for me as a kid was best for the world: a single-family home in a semi-rural setting, public schools, democracy, free speech, and so on. It took my first visits overseas to appreciate that people can really flourish in apartment dwellings. It's taken Mahbubani's book to make me realize that today's free speech and universal franchise may have been the RESULT and not the CAUSE of American middle-class prosperity.

Mahbubani's views have vital implications regarding aid to developing countries. We've seen in the news how elections by themselves have failed to stabilize unstable countries.

He also has some very ripe comments about the Western press, which no doubt explains why the book is so rarely reviewed. He argues that the press is an unchecked power both overseas and within the US -- imagine if a tinpot dictator refused to talk to the American press? Unheard of!

Mahbubani believes that the public should demand the same level of integrity from their journalists that they expect of their politicians. Yet it's rare that journalists are raked over the coals for being bribed by corporations (just about every major journalist seems to have spent time on Enron's payroll as a "consultant") or for marital infidelity. Washington journalists are very good at casting the first stone when some politician is caught with his pants down, but it's rare for someone to question a journalist's integrity based on outside infidelities. Given how "access" equals "power" in Washington, Mahbubani argues that the press represents a large power bloc within the US that is largely unchecked with respect to integrity. While I find this statement a bit extreme, there is some truth to it.

Some people see Mahbubani as an apologist for the Singaporean government. It's true that his words make their government more palatable to Westerners. But it's important to consider his words, regardless of whether he's an apologist or not. Intellectuals listened to numerous fools extolling the virtues of Stalin in the '30s. Let us give this fellow a hearing, at least.

Is Mahbubani "right" or "wrong" ?? I don't know. But he provides some incredibly thought-provoking essays based on a lifetime of foreign service.

Rating:
Summary: Good Insights
Review: I will like to congratulate Kishore in approaching this subject in a very thorough and balanced manner. It is very readable and should be recommended reading for all students who intend to further their studies in Asia. Executives who are posted to Asia can take heart that the mindset and thinking of Asians will not be a great "mystery" after reading this book.

Good work.

Rating:
Summary: Good Insights
Review: I will like to congratulate Kishore in approaching this subject in a very thorough and balanced manner. It is very readable and should be recommended reading for all students who intend to further their studies in Asia. Executives who are posted to Asia can take heart that the mindset and thinking of Asians will not be a great "mystery" after reading this book.

Good work.

Rating:
Summary: Intellectually engaging and well-argued
Review: In this collection of essays written by Mahbunai, a career diplomat and scholar, he seeks to answer questions relating to the new and evolving global order. The essays have been written about a decade ago(from early 1990s), yet the key ideas addressed still retain their relevancy in today's times. To help us better understand the global climate, the writer discusses questions such as `Can Asians think?' `How do Asians view issues such as press freedom and human rights" and "What can Asia teach the West?" Do not rush to think that the writer wrote his essays with an anti-West, pro-Asia bias. In fact, although he argues that the new millennium will see the rise of Asia and the declining dominance of the West, he maintains that the West, especially the US, will maintain a core leadership role in the world, and may become an even more cosmopolitan and vibrant by absorbing cultures from around the globe.

Mahbunai employs a relatively objective tone throughout his essays. His essays are well researched, cogently argued and incisively presented. The book written in a similar vein as that of Huntington's "Clash of Civilizations", but it differs by offering an Asian perspective on the changing global order. Now, that makes for essential reading (for both Asians and Westerners).