A World Waiting to Be Born: Civility Rediscovered [Paperback]

M. Scott Peck (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1994

Just as The Road Less Traveled  provided hope and guidance for individuals seeking  growth, this major new work by M. Scott Peck,  M.D., offers a needed prescription for our deeply  ailing society. Our illness is  Incivility--morally destructive patterns of  self-absorption, callousness, manipulativeness, and  materialism so ingrained in our routine behavior that we  do not even recognize them. There is a deepening  awareness that something is seriously wrong with  our personal and organizational lives. Using  examples from his own life, case histories, and  dramatic scenarios of businesses that made a conscious  decision to bring civility to their organizations ,  Dr. Peck demonstrates how change can be effected  and how we and our organizations can be restored to  health. This wise, practical, and radical book is  a blueprint for achieving personal and societal  well-being.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The author of The Road Less Traveled stresses the importance of civility in everyday life.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"A peck of  hardheaded, kindhearted advice; the author's best since  [The Road Less Traveled.]--Kirkus Reviews  

"An extremely important book...Dr. Peck gives us  powerful new reasons for hope and confidence in our  personal ability to change ourselves and the  world."--Vice President Al Gore, author of Earth  In The Balance: Ecology And The Human Spirit

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Bantam (March 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 055337317X
• ISBN-13: 978-0553373172
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.7 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #800,644 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

65 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What civility really means, December 30, 1999

By 

R. Wallace "Bob Wallace" (St. Louis, Mo USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A World Waiting to Be Born: Civility Rediscovered (Paperback)

Peck starts his book with an example followed by a question: a man on an airplane, after talking to a fellow passenger, sees him as a business prospect, excuses himself, checks the man's credit rating, then returns with a drink "for his new best friend." Why, Peck asks, is this wrong? We know something is off the mark here, but can't quite put our finger on it. What isn't right, Peck explains, is that the passenger is really being treated as a "thing" to be exploited, but outwardly is being treated as an intimate friend. The theologian and philosopher Martin Buber, who has greatly influenced Peck, called the first relationship an "I-It" and the second, an "I-Thou." The first is narcissistic, the second, anti-narcissistic. And narcissism, writes Peck throughout this book, is really the problem: people treating others as if they are only "things" there to serve them. That, is a sentence, is the essence of incivility. Being civil doesn't necessarily mean being polite. The man on the airplane was polite, but a hypocrite. Civility means, more than anything else, not being so utterly self-centered that peoples' feelings are never considered. It can at times require forcefulness, even anger, to get the other person to understand. But true incivility, Peck believes, actually is a cause of quite a few divorces, and many problems in business. For those interested in the subject, this book is exceptionally interesting.

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The World, Less Unravelled., July 16, 2004

By 

Cipriano "www.bookpuddle.blogspot.com" (Planet Claire) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A World Waiting to Be Born: Civility Rediscovered (Paperback)

Well, I have yet to read a book by Dr. Peck that did not leave me grateful. This one is no exception.
A dear friend asked me why I read so many Peck books. Is it so that I can gain the needed insight to become a better person? Or is it moreso to be made aware of why I am not that better person already? To be reminded of my failings?
My own answer is sort of a variegated gradation of "no" to all of the above, and yet my vague explanations always seem to involve a simple desire for greater awareness. Peck's books are not really "how-to" things, but moreso "why we do" or "here-is-what-happens-when..." and this approach interests me more than "how to."
More theoretical than practical, you might say. (Just like me!) This is why I am hooked.
This book discusses how we relate to each other in business, family, the workplace, and in the greater society, and is based on the premise that the way we are generally doing it... is sick, and in need of attention/repair. On a linear continuum stretching from psychology to sociology, I would place this book somewhere between his The Road Less Travelled on the former end, and The Different Drum on the latter.
The one chapter on vocation is worth it all.
Phrase by phrase, let Peck delineate how he comes to his definitive conclusion that "civility is consciously motivated organizational behavior that is ethical in submission to a Higher Power."
If those last two words make you feel like you're passing a kidney stone, or perhaps giving birth to a prize-winning pumpkin... relax. Let him explain. It's never as painful as it first sounds.
When I suggested above that this book is more theoretical (why) than practical (how-to), I should really clarify that assumption, especially since the latter portions of the book discuss the specific work of the Foundation For Community Encouragement, an organization that literally "teaches" community (civility) to corporations and groups of all kinds, worldwide. Very practical stuff indeed.
But what I meant is that even here, the principles that Peck expounds, theoretically speaking, are universally applicable and relevant. The same principles that will save a corporation from ruin will help strengthen a marriage, or cause improved relations between parents and children, or help a single person live a more fulfilled life.
Patients would ask Peck "How do I know when to quit therapy?"
He would answer "When you have learned how to be your own therapist; when therapy has become a way of life for you." (p.340).
I like that answer, and it's why I keep reading and re-reading him.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mature ideas on true civility., March 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A World Waiting to be Born: Civility Rediscovered (Audio Cassette)

Peck's ideas are mature and insightful on civilized and organizational life. He takes the reader into all aspects of organized life including marriage, family, vocation and business. One just needs to turn on the TV and watch a talk show or the news to see the incivility that is rampant in our society today. Peck begins his book by stating that, "Something is wrong...." I agree with his assessment and greatly appreciate his attempts to call us forward toward maturity and curing ourselves. True civility can belong to us. But the responsibilty is ours!