MSI Press Blog

Today's blog post is the next in the series of book back stories and is the story behind Rainstorm of Tomorrow by Renyuan Dong. From the publisher -  Rainstorm of Tomorrow presented as a rather unusual book. The author was very young and nothing short of brilliant. The traditional publisher would say: "cannot take this book because the traditional author cred is lacking." (Make no mistake, Renyuan is building that cred now and has been doing so and will be doing so. He just happened to write his book before building the cred -- and the book, having won awards and great reviews -- lends to his credibility now.) The insights of someone so young was breathtaking; the level of knowledge of multiple domains --philosophy, history, art, science -- was astounding (and makes it difficult to pigeonhole, i.e. categorize the book); how Renyuan wove it all together in a logical argument that is simultaneously an emotional story is magical. We HAD to take a risk on this book. We did....

  Preface “Philosophy is dead,” declared Stephen Hawking in agreement with many others. “As philosophers have not kept up with science, their art is dated” (Warman, 2011). However, if we refer to the history of how humans peruse knowledge, we will not find that different disciplines replaced one another in sequence. It is not that the wilt of religion gave rise to philosophy, or that the denouement of philosophy set the stage for science—nor is the world segmented into discrete, incompatible disciplinary fields. A biological reaction can be expanded to millions of chemical reactions or trillions of interactions between physical particles; likewise, the emergence of “social behaviors” among neural networks as they grow and that of “tacit agreement” from quantum entanglement have implied the possibility of adopting a sociological language to explain phenomena previously deemed as lifeless and strictly adherent to the laws of physics. Every discipline is a language capable of encompas...

  From Goodreads: 𝑅𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑚 𝑜𝑓 𝑇𝑜𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑤 is a sound refutation of Stephen Hawking’s declaration that “philosophy is dead”: as philosophers have not kept up with science, their art is dated. This work, however, casts light on philosophical questions that are ultimately beyond the reach of science – the type of questions that can be addressed but not answered so long as we hold to our position of human beings. That being said, philosophy remains one of the most frustrating disciplines in that it welcomes questions but evades answers. This never-perishing sense of frustration is symbolized by the everlasting 𝑅𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑚 𝑜𝑓 𝑇𝑜𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑤, which is not something to be rid of but rather hailed as the ultimate driver of human civilization. Check it out HERE . Read more posts about this book and its author HERE .

Released for pre-order this week, Rainstorm of Tomorrow by Renyuan Dong. Rainstorm of Tomorrow: The Ever-Flowing Banquet of Philosophy dexterously weaves the storied philosophical themes of truth, ethics, and aesthetics together with the theories of relativity, quantum mechanics, neuroscience, epigenetics, social Darwinism, utilitarianism, evolutionary psychology, and modern art—from the soberest rationality to the wildest conjecture—to generate provocative or even alienated discourse on topics that readers might otherwise regard themselves as being familiar with, and challenge them into rethinking any settled positions that are taken for granted. Such provocative insights are represented by the three parts on truth, ethics, and aesthetics respectively: (I) A reversed worldview—the tree growing into the soil with its roots buried in the air. (II) The complexity of ethical behaviors—the conformity to utilitarianism by anti-utilitarian events and the violation of util...

  Excerpt from the review: Rainstorm of Tomorrow  is an thought-provoking book written in a way that’s accessible to average people. It serves as a guide to help humanity understand what will possibly be best for us in the future. It traces a line that covers our past and makes us think about the evolution that we will have to maintain to guarantee that the world will continue to grow and become a better place for the future generations.  Rainstorm of Tomorrow  is an enthralling and brief history of the evolution of humanity that will give you a better appreciation of the human world as it centers around our individual and collective search for truth, ethics and beauty. To read the full review, click HERE . To read more posts about Renyuan Dong and his award-winning book, click HERE .

  Just released -- the hard cover version of the highly praised and award-winning Rainstorm of Tomorrow: The Ever-Flowing Banquet of Philosophy  by Renyuan Dong. Other versions of this book include  paperback  and  Kindle . For more posts about  Rainstorm of Tomorrow , including excerpts, click  HERE . For more posts about Renyuan Dong, click  HERE .

  The following excerpt comes from Rainstorm of Tomorrow by Renyuan Dong. Core Question: Is the world of nature knowable?   The tree represents an existence of obscurity, mystery, metaphor, and silence. While its canopy can stretch up to several thousand square meters, its roots can cover a n area of up to ten million. Such shocking, asymmetrical data prompted a nascent passion within me to carefully reimagine tree roots. Where to find a tree floating tranquilly in a lake, with its wanton crown stretching above shimmering, fluid moonlight; and beneath the water’s surface, as neither a reflection nor an attachment, grows another “tree,” its composition of interweaving, soil-delving roots discarded for an indiscriminate splay into the water? What a spectacular dual-tree picture it would cast upon the lake! Yet, this image is by no means symmetric, since the submerged tree is much more flourishing than its peer above the water – the part we normally see and recognize as a “...

  From the interview: Rainstorm of Tomorrow  shares your provocative philosophical insights on truth, ethics, and aesthetics. Why was this an important book for you to write? “Philosophy is dead,” declared Stephen Hawking in agreement with many others. “As philosophers have not kept up with science, their art is dated.” However, if we refer to the history of how humans pursue knowledge, we will not find that different disciplines replaced one another in sequence. It is not that the wilt of religion gave rise to philosophy, or that the denouement of philosophy set the stage for science—nor is the world segmented into discrete, incompatible disciplinary fields. Every discipline is a language capable of encompassing all phenomena in the world. Each speaks with a unique voice. In practice, however, we rarely lean on one discipline alone to explain everything around us. For example, we are not likely to use the language of physics—despite its sufficiency—to restore psychological ac...

Renyuan Dong works as a senior healthcare consultant based in Tokyo. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in both philosophy and economics, speaks three languages – English, Chinese and Japanese – and boasts of having traveled to over 30 countries. Most of the ideas presented in his book  Rainstorm of Tomorrow – The Ever-Flowing Banquet of Philosophy  matured during the author’s collegiate study of philosophy and economics, as well as his professional tenure in healthcare and biology; the shift wrought a cross-disciplinary mode of thinking, illuminating connections and contradictions that defy the boundaries of each subject. Through his travels, the author found persistent proofs of and supplements to his existing philosophical belief transcendent of the confines of any single culture. At the root of the author’s ideas, however, lie his inherent sense of alienation from the world and his vigilance against any established norms. The multinational identity of the author may help ...