GLENVIEW, Ill., June 3, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- What is happening to our Western civilization? We seem stuck in a tangle of inconsistent intentions and self-contradictory efforts to remedy growing political and environmental problems. Richard Robertson's Perception of Reality and the Fate of a Civilization reviews the history of America's "progress" and then describes the process leading to our society's distressed future and incipient decline. At the same time, it suggests how ordinary people may avert such a fate through paradigm revolution concerning the fundamental axioms of their society.
We would like to see our future as progress in social and ethical development, and with the latest innovations of science: technology's capability to place convenience at our fingertips. However, the very process of realizing a culture's basic potential eventually brings about ever more convoluted forms of rules, laws and mores. Supposedly promising social solutions stumble via shortsighted plans and unintended consequences into travesties of common sense.
Perception of Reality and the Fate of a Civilization examines the history of the Western world since its beginnings as an example of the process of growth and decline that can apply to any civilization. With insights and sharp reflections on our society's evolution, this book maps out how Western civilization is causing its own deterioration. The writer goes on to explicate this process as a natural function of human behavior, drawing upon a burgeoning paradigm revolution in our understanding of how behavior works.
About the Author
Richard J. Robertson is professor emeritus of psychology at Northeastern Illinois University since 1993. As a professor, he taught a new approach in psychology, Perceptual Control Theory, for twenty years. A native of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, he served in the United States Navy from 1944 to 1946. After service, he attended the University of Chicago, finishing a Ph. D. in human development in 1960.
Richard Robertson's publications include books and articles in scientific and professional journals with studies in behavior, as well as in his chosen applied field of psychotherapy.
Perception of Reality and the Fate of a Civilization
Ordinary People as Virtual Pioneers in Critical Times
by Richard J. Robertson
Publication Date: 1/19/2004
Trade Paperback; $26.99; 516 pages; 1-4134-0649-1
Cloth Hardback; $36.99; 516 pages; 1-4134-0650-5
To request a complimentary paperback review copy, contact the publisher at (215) 923-4686 x. 238. Tearsheets may be sent by regular or electronic mail to Marianne Bellesorte. To purchase copies of the book for resale, please fax Xlibris at (215) 599-0114.
Xlibris is a strategic partner of Random House Ventures, LLC, and a subsidiary of Random House, Inc. Xlibris books can be purchased in any major bookstore, or online at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders or Xlibris. For more information, contact Xlibris at (888) 795-4274 or on the web at www.Xlibris.com.