Prof authors third book on the interdisciplinary theory of wisdom

KALAMAZOO—Dr. Andrew Targowski, professor of business information systems at Western Michigan University, is the author of a new book, "Harnessing the Power of Wisdom, From Data to Wisdom."

Published in July 2013, the book explores and defines the interdisciplinary theory of wisdom and uses examples taken from real cases of applied wisdom by prominent people in our society. The review of applied wisdom is provided in a historic context as well as in the interdisciplinary approach.

"This book is the first of its kind by defining wisdom as information and the highest level of the cognition units set, composed of data, information, concept, knowledge and wisdom," says Targowski.  "I consider wisdom the most important civilization resource, and it should be monitored in a way that is similar or even better than the way we monitor the use of energy, the development of population or other resources."

Targowski has founded his theory of wisdom on multiple assumptions, including: wise decisions need not be expert in nature; wisdom is not synonymous with intelligence; wisdom has a range of bandwidth and properties; knowledge on what constitutes wisdom is not the same as the process of becoming a wise person; and many more.  

Andrew Targowski

A native of Poland, Targowski headed the Polish Computer Development Program in the 1970s. He joined the WMU faculty in 1980, first serving in industrial and manufacturing engineering and later transferring to business information systems. During the 1990s, he was a director of TeleCITY of Kalamazoo Project, that made the community one of the first digital cities in the United States.

Author of 27 books on information technology, civilization, philosophy and political science, this is Targowski’s third book on the interdisciplinary theory of wisdom and is available from NOVA Publishers, New York.

For more information, visit novapublishers.com.