book project invitation

[Subhash Durlabhji]

Hello friends:

Would you like to be involved in an interesting book project that could
be path-breaking and revolutionary? Would you (or interested colleague)
be willing to write an essay on the role the concept of POWER plays in
your field?

For centuries the physical and social sciences have followed the course
of differentiation into finer and finer specializations. This division
of labor has been phenomenally successful, producing startling insights
and breathtaking scientific and social achievements.

But many scholars believe that we are now in a new phase of knowledge
generation, that this is the century of integration. Interesting
parallels and crossover problems and issues are being discovered daily
by scientists in different fields. Boundaries between various
disciplines are become fuzzier. Scientific progress in the 21st century
will come more, and more usefully, from interactions among the separate
disciplines than from deeper penetration into narrow specializations.

The scholarly effort I am suggesting here is based on this premise.
There are a number of concepts -- power, value, hierarchy, energy, to
name a few -- that occupy a central place in almost all the physical
and social sciences. My proposal is simple: bring together in one volume
essays on the subject of POWER by scientists from a range of disciplines
-- Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Psychology, Sociology,
Political Science, Economics, Organization Studies, Anthropology,
International Studies. These essays will focus on the role the concept
of POWER plays in the central problems of each discipline. Written in
simple language with as little technical detail as possible, they would
seek to highlight especially the connections and commonalties among the
basic sciences. The essays will not be concerned with the latest
research and recent citations, but more with the "big picture".  My role
as editor will be to write the introduction and an integrative
narrative, and a concluding chapter, and arrange for publication.

If you find this idea interesting and would like to explore it in more
depth, please contact me for a more detailed proposal, including some
suggestions for style, substance, length, and so on. Please comment on
the outline of the proposal given above and your own take on it -- how
you would approach the task.

Please join me on this venture, or pass on this message to a colleague
who may be interested. At the least it will be fun; my hope is that it
will be a runaway success and open the path to similar efforts for other
concepts.

Thank you.

durlabhji at nsula.edu

Dr. Subhash Durlabhji
College of Business
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497

318-357-5692
Fax:   509-272-2692