BOOK REVIEW: Is there life after Facebook?

IF YOU ARE a Facebook or Twitter addict, or are satisfied with the 10 second sound or video bites that are the TV substitutes for not connecting the dots o what's going on in the world "Is There Life After Facebook is likely not or you.

But if you have ever wondered “where does all this fit in?” and have become apprehensive about a world where smiling TV presenters flit from one disaster, suicide bombing, demonstration, or political malfeasance to the next, before the weather or sports report intervenes to remove the glaze from your eyes,  then it could be  time for you to reawaken your interest in a world beyond the hundreds or thousands of unknown “friends” you have on social networks.

Is There Life After Facebook by Anis Bajrektarevic, who has contributed numerous articles to Newsroom, certainly links a lot of the dots .

Dieter Farwick, Rt. Brig. General of the German Army , author of fice books on defense studies and later NATO secretary General writes: "The presence and future of our globalized, interwoven world has become so difficult to comprehend that many people refrain from even trying to understand it. Most media only scratch the surface of relevant topics. Specialists concentrate on a single issue – be it climate change or energy security – disregarding the interrelations and linkages. There is a huge gap between the daily information avalanche – in a kind of infotainment – and the presentation of the tight web which affiliates, ties and bonds all relevant factors around the globe. It is the merit of Professor Anis Bajrektarevic to fill this gap with excellent analyses brought together in his brilliant book. It is a must read for those who want to get a better understanding of the complex world and who want to contribute to a better and safer world."
In the foreword to the book, Professor Murray Hunter says:

Prof. Bajrektarevic in this work has skillfully blended history, evolutionary-biology, geopolitics, international law and foreign policies, technology, philosophy, quantum mechanics, informatics, astrophysics and cognitive science, and analysis all together with a complex uptake and digestion of the contemporary issues within the world today. He is one of the few that can undertake this complex analysis successfully and this is the hallmark of his fabulously novel perspectives that he is able to put into any subject. If the ‘world is flat’ today, it is mostly in the field of ideas, with the single (over-) dominant narrative. However, Anis’ writings are more than just a counter-narrative. This monograph is a tribute to transdisciplinary thinking the future of intellectual thought in geopolitical discipline of which Bajrektarevic is in the vanguard.

Prof. Anis conveniently uses the metaphor of language to view the world by being reflective, instructive and predictive. Firm and forthcoming in his sharp analysis of international affairs and diplomacy, or of technology in relation to geo-economic, energy security or to liberties and freedoms, he easily walks the edge into the first class political philosophy. In this way, he is able to explain deep socio-political interlinkages (ranging from en mass wonders like Lady Gaga and Paris Hilton to ancient times of Plato, or from the ‘Matrix’ and ‘Truman Show’ movies to a subtle analysis of security structures in the world politics) at a level of skill, unmatched in the field, and for this reason I consider him one of today’s great thinkers.

To me the very title of his book "Is there life after Facebook" is a provocative challenge to the reader to think about what is happening. He questions our accepted norms before the cover is opened. Finally, I welcome you to a journey into unexplored and under-elaborated, to the author’s own ‘quantum filed’ of numerous possibilities, and dense web of meanings.

The book is available from Amazon.