In sharing my thoughts about Mehdi Ghafourifar's seminal work, "Univetica: Compelling Change", I opted to provide a non-traditional book review. The traditional approach delineates a condensed version of the author's key concepts, which the reviewer either advocates or criticizes. The review approach I elected to personalize the book and discuss their impact on my constantly evolving world view.
I grew up in an age when people were voracious readers, and read books for knowledge and enjoyment. There was no Facebook; people conversed directly with each other. No YouTube, Internet, personal computers, DVDS or VHS tapes. Not even cable TV. Thus reading was a primary channel of acquiring information. Newspapers thrived.
In high school and college, I read hundreds of books, and built a library of several thousand books, on a variety of topics. I received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in American Studies at the University of California, Davis. The major program emphasized the development and perfecting of three essential cognitive skills; analytical thinking, critical writing, and the analysis of the intangibles (concepts, beliefs, theories, models). The goal was to intellectually prepare people to answer the "so what" question.
In all the reading I have done in my life, I have found only a handful that really address (or even recognize) the so what question. Not only does Univetica: Compelling Change recognize the vital importance of asking the so what question, but does so in a manner that has significantly impacted my worldview, and many of the ideas that comprise my world view (such as financial ROI and social ROI does not have to be mutually exclusive).
I predict that Mehdi Ghafourifar's "Univetica: Compelling Change", will become an even more influential book than Thomas Kuhn's "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" (1996). Kuhn argued that scientific advancement is not evolutionary, but rather is a "series of peaceful interludes punctuated by intellectually violent revolutions", and in those revolutions "one conceptual world view (paradigm) is replaced by another". One could easily argue that Univetica represents the framework for a paradigm shift in the way we approach the future to create a meaningful existence.
Buy, read, study, and embrace this masterpiece created by Medhi that possesses the power to positively change the lives of tens of millions of people around the globe. This book is truly a gift to humanity.
