Thomas P.M. Barnett :: Weblog

Dateline: above the garage in Portsmouth RI, 30 December 2004

Finished going through blog today, organizing all the book notes I've taken, and perusing a couple of last books.

Got out the book proposal and put all the main sections out on the table, writing down each on a sticky note. Stared at it for a long time, knowing that I've long known I would rejigger once I got to this point. Tossed about 5 of the proposed 18 sections out, then added in a good dozen that came to my head. Rerationalized the whole thing to 18 again. Ordered them just so. Came up with preferred section names for about half of them, place-holders for the rest.

Then called Mark and talked him though the whole thing. "Do we have a book here?" I ask repeatedly, and he seems more and more certain the more we talk about. Enough for today. I will let it sit for a day and get back to it on Saturday, when I'll read back through all my meta-notes from the blog and various articles and books, sifting through several hundred ideas to see which could go where. I will inevitably rejigger the outline quite a bit in this process. Then Sunday I'll organize the source material, tossing all the pieces of paper into the various 18 piles (if I still have 18 at that point).

Basic set up for now is: Preface, a Chapter "zero" that does sketch of 2025 realities, a Chapter One that speaks to tools to be created and understandings to be achieved for the Core as a whole, a Chapter Two that focuses on how the Global War on Terrorism working out to some sense of a finish (obviously a Middle Eastern focus), a Chapter Three that speaks to growing the Core (obviously an Asian focus), a Chapter Four that speaks to scenario pathways for shrinking the Gap (at the system level, at the state level, and at the individual level), a Chapter Five that deals with the major obstacles (longevity, sacrifices, resources) to shrinking the Gap, and a Conclusion that sums everything up in an innovative sort of way that I don't care to reveal here (an interesting twist on scenarios that I've employed before in my work, but never for a publication).

So this is the rough plan - at least until I revisit it on Saturday.

Tomorrow I get up and pen the original essay for the first Rule Set Reset newsletter. Then it's all three Lord of the Rings (extended) movies in a row with the kids. We start at 1pm with the assumption we'll finish just before midnight.

Today I toss out both versions (original in English and edited one in Portuguese) of the email interview I gave a couple of weeks back to the Brazilian magazine Epoca:

■ First up is the edited article that actually appeared in Epoca in Portuguese. Click here for the blog post and go here for the original at .

■ Secondly, find the original email interview (in English) that I submitted to Mr. Filho back in mid-December.

Passing on the current news blog again. It's the reality of the effort on the book right now.