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Encyclopedia Review - World Goodwill
Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential, edited
by Union of International Associations, Munich, New York, London,
Paris, K.G. Saur, 1991.
This review first appeared in World Goodwill (London), no. 4, 1991.
AN ENCYCLOPEDIA WITH A DIFFERENCE
Earlier this year the Union of International Associations (UIA) produced a third edition of their remarkable Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential. This two-volume, 2140-page book is like no other encyclopedia. Its subject-matter is unique: the problems facing humanity, the way international organisations and networks perceive those problems, and the ideas that exist about human potential. It is also unique in so far as it focuses on relationships between different areas of knowledge and apparently contradictory viewpoints, and because it relates spiritual and transcendent concepts to the more down-to-earth approaches of the sociologists and development experts. The first volume looks at 13,167 world problems that are of concern to international groups. The array of problems covered is impressive -- ranging from such topics as shortage of urban land, political torture, illiteracy, insufficient employment opportunities in developing countries to entries on suppression of creativity and innovation' superstition and fanaticism.
Volume II is concerned with ideas about humanity's potential to build an interdependent world. Entries are divided into the following subjects: Human Development, Integrative Knowledge, Metaphors and Patterns, Transformative Approaches, Human Values and Wisdom. Entries under the Human Development section include the UN's Human Development Strategy alongside such topics as the seven rays, psychosynthesis, meditation, cosmic integration and spiritual world order. The aim is to present as broad and complete a view as possible of human perceptions of development, The reader is invited to consider, for example, the value of zen koans or meditation techniques and the need for an intuitive approach to human development. In an introductory essay on "Insights: Interpretation of perceived problems", reference is made to world problems as the "shadow'' with which humanity must come to terms. One section in the Encyclopedia contains 64 entries on concepts implicit in the Chinese classic, the I Ching. Another section contains a valuable index to thousands of references in the Encyclopedia to religious and esoteric concepts related to numbers.
The Union of International Associations, which prepared the Encyclopedia, is an organisation that links international voluntary and non-governmental organisations. Formed in 1907, it publishes a range of guides and directories that are indispensable reference tools for anyone who wants to track down addresses and details of international peoples' organisations working in particular subjects, The Yearbook of International Organisations is a massive three-volume directory giving authoritative information on over 25,000 international organisations based in 200 countries.
The Encyclopedia and the Yearbook are large works and, inevitably, their cost (US$ 400 and US$ 750 respectively), will tend to put them out of the range of most individuals. However it should be possible to find them in public or university libraries and, of course, they will be available in many of the larger organisations.
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