Media Coverage

Ex-DM Munir Sheikh has written a novel 'for the thinking mind'

Munir Sheikh, a former senior assistant deputy minister at Finance and Canada's former chief statistician who resigned from the top post in 2010 in protest over the Conservative government's decision to no longer require the mandatory completion of the 2011 census, has published a novel.

Lost Minds: A Near-Future Geopolitical Novel of Power, Decisions, and Global Conflict came out on May 12.

"The novel follows Paul Weitzman, a technology innovator who unexpectedly becomes U.S. president at a moment when the world appears to be drifting toward catastrophe,"  Sheikh, a research professor at Carleton University, wrote in a post on LinkedIn that day.

"As tensions escalate, he becomes convinced that the deeper problem is not only geopolitics itselt, but the way human beings-especially their leaders— make critical decisions. Can humanity evolve fast enough to manage the destructive technologies and geopolitical pressures that are rapidly reshaping the future?"

"Having read an advanced draft, I can say with confidence and genuine excitement that this novel is written for the thinking mind," wrote National Post columnist and University of Alberta professor Murtaza Haider on LinkedIn.

"This is not escapist fiction. It is fiction that challenges readers to think more seriously about the future we are already creating." 

Independently published, Lost Minds is available on Amazon.

In the near future, the world begins to move in two opposite directions.

Wars and geopolitical tensions accelerate as technologies of destruction — including cyber warfare capabilities — evolve rapidly. At the same time, new ideas, movements, and technologies begin to emerge from those seeking to help human beings set aside their biases, think more rationally, and approach conflicts differently.

Lost Minds explores what happens when these two forces collide.

The novel follows Paul Weitzman, a technology innovator who unexpectedly becomes U.S. president at a moment when the world appears to be drifting toward catastrophe.

As tensions escalate, he becomes convinced that the deeper problem is not only geopolitics itself, but the way human beings — especially their leaders — make critical decisions.

Can humanity evolve fast enough to manage the destructive technologies and geopolitical pressures that are rapidly reshaping the future?

Lost Minds is now available on Amazon. Order using the button above.

At a moment when the world is captivated by the promise and peril of artificial intelligence, Munir Sheikh turns our attention to a more consequential frontier: the untapped potential of human intelligence itself. Set against the stark realities of territorial conflict and ideological division, Lost minds imagines a future in which peace and prosperity are not imposed by machines, but cultivated through a deeper commitment to rationality, empathy, and moral clarity. Sheikh tells a deeply human story, of love and loss, of belief examined and prejudice undone, while asking what becomes possible when people learn to think better, together.

An economist by training, Sheikh understands scarcity, of resources, of trust, and of rational judgement. As a novelist, he dismantles these constraints. Drawing on familiar centres of power, from the White House to the fault lines of the Middle East, he constructs a world in which homo economicus gives way to homo rationalis: individuals capable of transcending narrow self-interest in pursuit of collective progress.

Lost Minds is, at its core, a global narrative. From the icy heights of Nepal to the burning sands of the Middle East, Sheikh’s characters traverse continents and convictions, confronting competing ideologies while expanding the boundaries of human capacity and connection.

This is fiction for the thinking reader: for those who admire science fiction not merely for its imagination, but for its plausibility. Like Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, Washington and Jerusalem projects a future that feels unsettlingly close. It offers a glimpse of a world in which the human mind and heart prevail over fear and tyranny. This is a novel that challenges, provokes, and ultimately insists on being read.

—Murtaza Haider, Professor & Executive Director of the Cities Institute; Radhe Krishna Gupta Executive Chair in Cities and Communities, Alberta School of Business, University of Alberta

***

“Munir Sheikh's novel is well worth the read. The Israeli Palestinian issue is a difficult one to solve and his story seeks a solution. Whatever view one has, most of us would agree the best thing for both Israelis and Palestinians is to come to some agreement and bury resentments. The novel provides a message of hope.”

—Jack Mintz, President’s Fellow of the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary, Canada

***

“Munir Sheikh had a distinguished public service career and in this novel one sees his values shine through to give us hope as we are called on to deal with the two biggest issues confronting humanity.”

—Donald Savoie, Canada Research Chair in Public Administration and Governance at the Université de Moncton