With his background in engineering and physics and his knowledge of both Europe and Asia, Joop Nieland is excellently placed to comment persuasively on the 'cognitional mismanagement' which is eroding our environment and our very selves.The Western 'I am I' philosophy has induced unobtrusively, he says, an egoistically oriented mindset in stark contrast to the Asian 'We-philosophy' of togetherness. The culture clash cannot be ignored in the face of demographic imperatives.Physics, biology, socio-economics, philosophy and geography vie for first place in a broad-based text that gives us an alarm call and offers tough solutions.