In his book (audio version) The Age of the Unthinkable, which most likely will become an important book to all sections of society, Joshua Cooper Ramo points out how we have come to a time in our history where things are happening that would be unimaginable a few years ago.

The leaders and institutions that we count on for safety and security have failed us. By facing the problems with the old way of thinking, these entities not only fail to make the situations better but in fact make them worse. Ramo illustrates this point with the financial crisis, the terrorist threat, and plans for peace. In each case, it seems, the cure is worse than the disease.

Ramo puts forth a new (thus revolutionary) model to deal with our outdated and ineffective way of thinking. This new method is not easy and it probably will not be foolproof. His plan calls for looking at all aspects of a problem and not placing all concern on the central object. Ram contends that if we look at and plan all aspects of the problem, we will be better conditioned to handle any number of events that spawn from the problem. Ramo cautions that this way of thinking won't prevent these problems from arising. He does, however, say that with this way of thinking resilience will become our lifeline as we withstand the attacks and walk away to operate another day.

Ramo does not give us a recipe on how to think, but he supplies a large number of stories about people in history who have "thought outside the box" to give us an idea how we might go about thinking in a different and better way.

The examples that Ramo gives are very entertaining and educational. Will our leaders read and apply Ramo's suggestions or will they try their best to quash the information and continue to use outdated thinking to solve our problems? Only time will tell and their decision will affect the lives of all of us. But, in the meantime, we individual citizens can begin to think in a new and exciting way.