Customer Reviews

High Noon 20 Global Problems, 20 Years to Solve Them

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Edit of 21 Dec 07 to aadd comment and links.

Comment: This is still the best strategic overview and a book I would recommend all. See the others below.

Having read perhaps 20 of the best books on global issues and environmental sustainability, water scarcity, ocean problems, etc, over the past few years (most reviewed here on Amazon) I was prepared for a superficial summary, political posturing, and unrealistic claims. Not this book--this book is one of the finest, most intelligent, most easily understood programs for action I have ever seen. The book as a whole, and the 20 problem statements specifically, are concise, illustrated, and sensible.

The author breaks the 20 issues into 3 groups. Group one (sharing our planet) includes global warming; biodiversity and ecosystem losses, fisheries depletion, deforestation, water deficits, and maritime safety and pollution. Group two (sharing our humanity) includes massive step-up in the fight against poverty, peacekeeping-conflict prevention-combatting terrorism, education for all, global infectuous diseases, digital divide, and natural disaster prevention and mitigation. Group three (sharing our rule book) includes reinventing taxation for the 21st century, biotechnology rules, global financial architecture, illegal drugs, trade-investment-competition rules, intellectual property rights, e-commerce rules, and international labor and migration rules.

The author's core concept for dealing with these complex issues intelligently, while recognizing that "world government" is not an option, lies with his appreciation of the Internet and how global issues networks could be created that would be a vertical complement to the existing horizontal elements of each national government.

The footnotes and index are professional, but vastly more important, the author's vision is combined with practicality. This is a "doable-do" and this book is therefore my number one reading recommendation for any citizen buying just one book of the 360+ that I have recommended within Amazon. Superb.

See also, with reviews:
The Future of Life
Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming
Society's Breakthrough!: Releasing Essential Wisdom and Virtue in All the People
Green Chemistry and the Ten Commandments of Sustainability, 2nd ed
Ecological Economics: Principles And Applications
Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution

J.F. Rischard does a fabulous job of compiling his knowledge into a great introduction of twenty global issues that the world is currently facing. As the subtitle indicates, these issues are steadily becoming problems that we, as a global community, must reckon with. Rischard says that they must be solved in the coming twenty years.

Most of the twenty problems are not surprises, but some are. The author spends time mentioning that his list is not all-inclusive, and that certainly other issues could have been added (or taken off). But his list is all-encompassing and includes the following classifications and then the actual problems:

Sharing our planet: Issues involving the global commons
1. Global warming
2. Biodiversity and ecosystem losses
3. Fisheries depletion
4. Deforestation
5. Water deficits
6. Maritime safety and pollution

Sharing our humanity: Issues requiring a global commitment
7. Massive step-up in the fight against poverty
8. Peacekeeping, conflict prevention, combating terrorism
9. Education for all
10. Global infectious diseases
11. Digital Divide
12. Natural disaster prevention and mitigation

Sharing our rulebook: Issues needing a global regulatory approach
13. Reinventing taxation for the 21st century
14. Biotechnology rules
15. Global financial architecture
16. Illegal drugs
17. Trade, investment, and competition rules
18. Intellectual property rights
19. E-commerce rules
20. International labor and migration rules

Yes, this list is QUITE long and extensive! But Rischard does a wonderful job of giving a brief (3-5 pages) introduction on each issue. If you are looking for a more in depth study of these issues, then you should look elsewhere. But note that the footnotes are great places to look for sources on these issues!

In the end, the purpose of the book is to present a brief summary of these problems, then propose a method for world leaders to use in solving the issues. The author's method is a good one, and he does a nice job explaining it simple terms with "pretty" pictures, charts, and graphs. My only complaint is that -- although the method is somewhat sound -- the book left me wondering what I could do (an average American citizen) to help solve these problems. I would have liked a chapter on what types of careers -- or even small daily tasks -- can be pursued to help fight these issues on a grander scale.

This book is recommended to any individual interested in economics, finance, environment, health, etc. on the global scale.

Having read perhaps 20 of the best books on global issues and environmental sustainability, water scarcity, ocean problems, etc, over the past few years (most reviewed here on Amazon) I was prepared for a superficial summary, political posturing, and unrealistic claims. Not this book--this book is one of the finest, most intelligent, most easily understood programs for action I have ever seen. The book as a whole, and the 20 problem statements specifically, are concise, illustrated, and sensible.

The author breaks the 20 issues into 3 groups. Group one (sharing our planet)includes global warming; biodiversity and ecosystem losses, fisheries depletion, deforestation, water deficits, and maritime safety and pollution. Group two (sharing our humanity) includes massive step-up in the fight against poverty, peacekeeping-conflict prevention-combatting terrorism, education for all, global infectuous diseases, digital divide, and natural disaster prevention and mitigation. Group three (sharing our rule book) includes reinventing taxation for the 21st century, biotechnology rules, global financial architecture, illegal drugs, trade-investment-competition rules, intellectual property rights, e-commerce rules, and international labor and migration rules.

The author's core concept for dealing with these complex issues intelligently, while recognizing that "world government" is not an option, lies with his appreciation of the Internet and how global issues networks could be created that would be a vertical complement to the existing horizontal elements of each national government.

The footnotes and index are professional, but vastly more important, the author's vision is combined with practicality. This is a "doable-do" and this book is therefore my number one reading recommendation for any citizen buying just one book of the 360+ that I have recommended within Amazon. Superb.

I bought this book as a requirement for a conference and I expected it to be another boring political/economical book that was going to make me yawn, but truly, after finishing the first chapter I was hooked onto it. The writer's style makes this book very interesting and I enjoyed it very much.

Exceptional insights from the former vice-president of the World Bank. It presents a succinct and thoughtful perspective on the challenges we are facing...and...how we can solve them. ..and along the way highlights the need for different thinking and a different education for our young people if they are to solve these problems of the 21st century.

This book is a very solid, creative and refreshing proposal for new ways to look at Global problems. He modestly proposes real solutions and processes. These ideas seem equally applicable at the regional and local level where institutional change can be slow but problems need a response without years of debates and institutional resistance.

I attended a lecture the author gave summarizing his book. If you're interested in globalization, the environment, or any other global problems, I highly recommend reading this book. It was deliberately limited in length, so it is a really quick read... about 5 pages for each of 20 problems and an additional 100 pages or so presenting the general problems and his proposed solution.

This book changed my life. It put me on totally new tracks. No book had ever hit me with the simple reasonable facts of the suicidal insanity being created by modern culture. I read J.F.'s book in 2007, five years after it was written, so the title was already wrong for me. We only had 15 Years to Solve Them...

Now it is 2012. We have only 10 years to solve these problems, and not one of the 20 problems has been solved yet. Even though we created the problems, they are actually too big to solve. They are systems problems, cultural orientation problems. I faced the problems by personally changing my life.

In 2007 I was so worried by what I read that I called up J. F. Rischard in Paris and asked him if Marion and Wolfgang and I could come from Germany and interview him. He said yes. This world-class consultant took two whole days to talk with us. What J.F. told us in Paris still inspires my work today. Now he spends most of his spare time talking with young people at schools.

Before reading High Noon my problem was how to have a great life. While reading the book my heart got bigger, my ability to take responsibility expanded. My perspective shifted from how to have a great life to how to create a future for our grandchildren. It was a big shift. I hope you read this book too.

The book examines the processes and institutions we use to address global problems, such as global warming, water deficits, war, etc. Twenty problems are enumerated. The main theme running through the book is that our current institutions are not up to the task. Reasons are discussed including institutional inertia, information overload, etc. The author then proposes a Global Information Network that would work trans-nationally to address these issues.

All well and good, but it is unfortunate that the author does not address sustainability vs consumption. Our current model is consumption: we mine, consume, then dispose of 'things' with the motto "Whoever makes it to the grave with the most toys wins." The author is correct in noting that our increase in world-wide population places additional stressors on this model. And, yes, if we were better organized, we could consume more with less war. But, as we are to the right of the 'peak oil' curve, this model has limits which we are rapidly approaching.

Instead, if we shifted to a sustainability model, limits would disappear, including the twenty problems the author has identified.

The book was an enjoyable read and very informative. Author was spot on with many comments.