1. What
inspired you to write this book?
I had to write this book about Cultural Insanity to share a new
and deeper understanding of some of the answers to the question, “Why is the
world so messed up?”
2. What exactly is
it about and who is it written for?
Cultural Insanity arises from factors that transcend time and
nation. People are partly blind to their own culture, especially to
its hidden assumptions and beliefs. The goal of the state should be
to facilitate the fulfillment of human potential. Cultural insanity,
in contrast, involves the ways in which a society unnecessarily thwarts human
development, and the extent to which each such way does
so.
The book also covers how cultural insanities
develop. Some of the ways in which evolution has shaped our brains
tend to get in the way of assessing reality accurately. Human
defensiveness also contributes to the problems: too often we protect
our self’s status quo rather than seeking a higher
understanding. Part One gives a number of short examples of cultural
insanities and later I sketch some of the major ones that now threaten
us. This core of the book also includes some antidotes for
overcoming the weaknesses in our own thinking and evaluating processes.
Parts 2-4 demonstrate cultural insanity historically, mainly in
Western Europe, further “proving” that cultural insanities are the result of an
all-too-typical but consciously correctable deficit in human understandings.
The book was written to share this knowledge with everyone,
especially posterity—to help humanity, subsequent generations, and the
planet. (That is also why the e-Book is priced at only
$2.99.)
3. What
do you hope readers will get out of reading your book?
The book will enable readers to see themselves, and the
realities in their own society and subcultures more clearly, to re-evaluate
some of their assumptions, and to become less likely to fall for bias,
political spin, propaganda, and scapegoating.
4. How
did you decide on your book’s title and cover design?
Writing about Cultural Insanity as a major factor in undermining
our potentials and lives was always the goal, so it had to be central to the
title. However, deciding on the wording between “Cultural Insanity”
and the colon was a struggle to fully show its importance and range of effects
involved in it.
The cover design represents a cry of anguish from Nature about
what we humans are doing as well as from our younger and
future generations. The key tells you that this book can be of
assistance in dealing with the problems. At first, I experimented
with a brighter cover design crowded with people and imagery from the book but,
ultimately, I went with the more all-encompassing and direct, but perhaps more
depressing, image now on the cover.
5. What
advice or words of wisdom do you have for fellow writers – other than
run!?
Have an array of contacts likely to be interested in your
subject matter or, at least, search for an agent before you’re nearly
finished. An agent is needed to get you accepted by a publisher that
will be able to provide carefully guided assistance in promoting your book to
people more likely to buy it.
6. What
trends in the book world do you see -- and where do you think the book
publishing industry is heading?
Despite eBooks, paper books appear to be hanging in there... and
will probably always be the most desirable for children. But with so many
shortened attention spans, my advice is don't write such a long book involving
so many subtopics.
7. Were
there experiences in your personal life or career that came in handy writing
this book?
The book is full of learning from my life of 80
years. See my bio. The gross violations of this country's
ideals and values, and of common sense (e.g., the need to "save face"
for U.S. leaders), that were involved in the War on Vietnam made me realize
that there was such a thing as cultural insanity. Since then, I have
intensively monitored history, politics, and the environment in this
country. Later in life I made three shorter trips to European countries
while reading about their histories. That provided a lot of the
material for the book, including 22 photos from Europe.
8. How
would you describe your writing style. Which writers or books is
your writing similar to?
The writing is expository. Part One is like a text in a
new subject for an upper division college course. It starts out by
setting the stage and giving context, and systematically builds to the larger
picture. Parts 2-4, as expository histories demonstrating particular
cultural insanities, make the treatment more thorough. Perhaps Darwin's
approach to his topic is among the most similar.
9. What
challenges did you overcome in the writing of this book?
Finding a good way to systematically structure the material was
a challenge. Plus, I had to go over some parts many times to ensure
clarity. I tossed out one prospective historical chapter. Although
I had only 2-3 hours a day for writing, the reading and writing took about 10
years.
10. If
people can buy or read one book this week or month, why should it be yours?
Everyone can benefit from reading Part One of this book, even if
the rest is set aside. Part One addresses the human tendencies to
fall victim to subcultural, societal, and even multinational cultural
insanities—problems that can most readily be reduced by greater understanding
and conscious attention. In contrast, certain features of our
brains, some of which are all too conducive to scapegoating, political spin,
promoting fear, anger and resentment, the denial of social problems or history,
confirmation bias, unrepresentative anecdotes, bullying, ostracizing versions
of political correctness, name-calling, obstructionism, the war on drugs,
horse-race politics (instead of platforms/issues), etcetera, make cultural
insanities worse. As a result, we have not dealt effectively (or at
all) with the declines in middle class incomes and wealth, and their
corresponding increases among the rich (since 1980), nor with jobs shipped
overseas, the high cost of prescription drugs, unduly expensive medical care
and coverages, inequality before the law, residual discriminations,
immigration, environmental degradation, global warming, plastic wastes,
unsustainability, and more. This book will help the reader see
through the fog.
About The Author: I started college at Berkeley in 1959-60,
ultimately majoring in history, with the Civil Rights movement in the South in
the background. Rock and roll was coming on strong and folk music was
just over the horizon. I went on to be faced with the War on Vietnam
(and successfully protested against being drafted at the physical), the
protests against that war, the arrival of the birth control pill, the sexual
revolution, Black Power protests, and the third(?) phase of women’s
liberation. In 1968, I spent a year in Europe (living out of a
minimalistic VW bus). As a graduate student, I studied student/human
development and also spent several years on efforts to strengthen student input
via teaching evaluation, academic major program ratings and student
participation in university governance. I did the analysis for and
wrote a book on college student development (Types, Traits and
Transitions: The Lives of 4-Year College Students, 1974), and was
twice named one of three finalists by the University of California Student Body
Presidents Council for the one-year Student Regent position. I
finished my research doctorate in education and co-wrote a journal article
(with Harry G. Murray) on "Using Multiple Outcomes to Validate Student
Ratings of Overall Teaching Effectiveness" [pp. 61-81, Journal of Higher Education,
Vol. 66, No. 1 (January/February, 1995)]. I also took the lead in raising
two children, was heavily involved in K-12 education and, in partial
retirement, served as a volunteer expert to assist the State Department of
Education in Minnesota to develop the student evaluation components of their
model for evaluating K-12 teachers. For more info, please see: jeffreywynterkoon.com.
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About Brian Feinblum
Brian Feinblum should be followed on Twitter
@theprexpert. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2023. Born and
raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and
Ferris, a black lab rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The Writer
and IBPA’s The Independent. This
award-winning blog has generated over 3.3 million pageviews. With 4,400+ posts
over the past dozen years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by
BookBaby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018
as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com
as a "best resource.” For the past three decades, including 21 years as
the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and two
jobs at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time,
self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors
and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine
Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren
Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy,
Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He recently hosted a panel on book publicity for
Book Expo America, and has spoken at ASJA, Independent Book Publishers
Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod
Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, and
Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. His letters-to-the-editor have
been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY
Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington
Post. He has been featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.
For more information, please consult: www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum.
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