You know how some people like saying there is no limit to creativity? Of course there is a limit! If there was no limit, there would be no space for words like out-of-tune, gaffe, faux pas, plot-hole, inconsistency,...

That being said, there is creativity when you sing off-key, or paint something butt-ugly, or dance clumsily, if the intent is to be purposefully deviant either to express an idea or challenge the limitations of creativity... and that my friend has rules as well.

For example, when you are being told a song is going to be off-key and you begin to feel like it is not off-key enough, it lacks some creativity because its intention is not met!

The limitation to creativity is relative to the artist's intention and the audience's expectation. It is both negotiable and nonnegotiable. And where it is negotiable, it makes for some excitement. Most disagreement on whether a new-something is creative or not happens in that negotiable space. Most agreement on whether a new-something is creative or not happens in nonnegotiable space, where the new-something is creative but stays within an already explored and accepted space.

In the last eight years, I have successfully transitioned from crying at the sight of roadkill to casually commenting on it. Now when I see a dead deer or raccoon, I am thinking "Fresh Kill" or "Flat Meat" like I am about to pull over and decide which one to have for dinner! It still makes me queasy and I go quiet for a few minutes, but I think I am less sensitive to it now.

In some U.S. states it is legal and even encouraged to eat roadkill. Makes sense! Take just the fact that 1.5 million deer meet their end on the road every year in the US. It made me wonder if the homeless shelters could somehow take advantage of this ... perhaps with the help of the State Trooper Association or the Dept. of Transportation?

There are tons of recipe books and websites dedicated to roadkill --- deer, raccoon, skunk, moose, bear, wolf, dog, cat, rat, elk, armadillo, small and large birds, rabbit, turtle, kangaroo, opossums, some snakes and reptiles, and hold your breath... porcupine!

It was as though the entire zoo was let out on the road to be tattooed with tire threads! You could just look out your car window for some nature time (even if it is more morbid than seeing live ones behind bars) It explains why Roadkill Bingo is a popular game. It is a game played in the car during long distance travel. A piece of paper has a grid with 24 animals on it. Every time a player spots a dead animal the square with its picture is marked off. The first player to spot a sequence of five dead animals which are in the same row or column wins the game!

Roadkill undoubtedly is a worldwide phenomenon. But, I wonder if roadkill is eaten in all countries... probably not in India. I wonder what Indians and the non-roadkill-eating countries do with all the kill. Having read Yann Martel's Beatrice and Virgil recently, it seems logical to surmise that roadkill art is popular with taxidermists (I saw a few websites with beautiful roadkill art). Taxidermists could probably make a living by choosing to do just roadkill! I wonder what else can be done creatively... toys of course!





There are lots of roadkill toys. Some look disgusting, or creatively mean-spirited, but there are a few that are actually not too bad. There is even a roadkilltoys.com (!)

About five years ago, Kraft Foods was forced to kill one of their gummy products. Their Trolli Road Kill Gummies were gummy-animals shaped like roadkill complete with tire threads. People thought it sent out a very bad message to kids. I wonder what that bad message was! Especially give that New Jersey, which strongly lobbied against this gummy actually lets you eat roadkill if you have a permit. Why then do they think it offensive to eat fake roadkill?

It is the equivalent of letting you each a real human brain and banning the human brain shaped jello!

That also makes me wonder if there is protest against all other kinds of gross candy. I see several in candy stores. There are jello molds shaped like human body parts - heart, brain and intestines, candies shaped like eyeballs, sour gummies shaped like toilet plungers, bugs and worms, pigs pooping out candy. Is anyone protesting against them? (Not that I mind either way.)

One of my favor go-to comic books is Stone Soup's Road Kill for the Closet. FYI: It has nothing to do with roadkill. The comic is about a single mom bringing up her two kids. Living with her are also her mom and her recently-divorced sister who is in love with her neighbour! As simple as that. It is the most endearing comic I have read. Funny, heartening and absolutely lovable. Since the title has Road Kill on it, I thought now might be a perfect time to promote it. :)

I wonder if I might find this in my library: Flattened Fauna: A Field Guide to Common Animals of Roads, Streets, and Highways

I was thinking of how sometimes we think of some books as changing our lives and still somehow after a few years we forget what it is in them that really influenced us!

Is it with books the same as it is with advice? Do we read books that are in line with our pre-existing beliefs while pretending to be influenced by them, just as we seek advice from those who we already know will validate our decision? Or do we really learn from what we read and become more enlightened?

For instance, I was trying to recall what I read in Albert Camus' Myth of Sisyphus eight years ago. It was the book I most talked about when I read it, and recommended it to everyone I met. I thought I had my whole life figured out as a result of it! Now, when I think back to what I liked about the book, I can barely outline Camus' philosophy on absurdity beyond the obvious themes that he touched upon. For the sake of this post, I'll be honest to my recollection of what he said. Be forewarned that this may not be what he said after all! (which is the point of this post) :)

He talks about the absurdity of human reasoning. We know that our life will eventually come to an end, and with each passing day, we are getting closer and closer to our inevitable death. But, we look forward to tomorrow (and our future) with a feeling of expectation and desire, and go on living our lives in denial, as if there is no death in the end. But, what will happen to us if we question the absurdity of human life? Why must we struggle to make a living, create societal norms, follow moral and ethical rules, go through pain and suffering, or even save for tomorrow, if it is all to end in our demise anyway? When a person attempts to find meaning in life and questions the merit of all these absurd pursuits, he either places his hope on a greater power (god) or concludes that there is no meaning to life.

To those who attempt to explain away this absurdity using the notion of God, Camus says it is a futile exercise that only encourages this denial of death even further and does not do anything to explain the absurdity. To those who accept the meaninglessness of life there is a chance that they may contemplate ending this absurdity by way of suicide. Camus explains that given that the absurdity we feel exists because of our own desire for a meaningful life and that it is inherently human to be absurd, it makes more sense to reject this desire for a meaningful life than commit suicide. (We can't all kill ourselves!)

Meaning, if we fight this feeling of false hope we have for a better tomorrow (even if it is an eternal fight), then we can unburden ourselves of wanting to live a meaningful life (because there is no such thing), free ourselves of moral and ethical norms of society (because there is no need for them) and take pleasure in the irrationality of our pursuits (because that is all there is to do)! The only things worth considering is living longest and happiest and indulging in rich and varied experiences.

In one greek myth, King Sisyphus was punished by the gods with the physically and mentally excruciating task of repeatedly rolling a huge boulder up the mountain only to watch it fall down again. Camus surmises that if Sisyphus were to have a shot at happiness, his best bet is to accept that there is nothing more to his life than this absurd pursuit... and that is the only way he can be free is to take pleasure in it!

Now, going back to my point about whether books really change the way we think, I can't help but wonder if this book really inspired me to pursue rich and varied experiences or accept the absurdity of my life. It certainly hasn't freed me of ethical and moral dilemmas. So what then has it bought me? Is it just another absurd pursuit that is best not analyzed? Should I just accept that there is nothing to gain from reading books? Is it futile to look to them to make my life meaningful? Or should I actually take Camus' advice and seek it only because it is one of those absurd pursuits that indulges me with (the possibility of) rich and varied experiences?

I suddenly see how Camus' book taught me something... and I think it may be the opposite of what he meant to teach me (because I find that I am influenced by his book)... or maybe not!... perhaps I best not analyze it. But, isn't that what Camus said? Am I agreeing with him?

What does Camus have to say about paradoxes?

My grandmom is an avid reader who devours literature like she also does cashews and dark chocolates! :) When I think of her, she is usually sitting on her bed next to this large window and reading one of Corbett’s books. For a long time, everything I knew of Corbett was through her accounts of his narratives of his exploits. Perhaps from that and her love for nature stems my own love. Now I read books about nature, often thinking about her. I also read them with this sense of awe for all that the writer observes and the thoughts that they inspire in him-- something that would have been lost on me had it not been for her.

I hear my grandmom complain that she can’t sit up too long or hold a heavy book in her hand. While I am convinced that she is inconvenienced by this lack of strength, it can’t be enough to stop her from holding one in her hand. Now when I read a book, I often wonder if she might want to read it, but is too big for her to hold, and that doesn’t sit well with me.

I am contemplating whether to buy her an eBook reader (Nook, Kindle, iPad) or not. Then again, I realize her handicap is with holding books she already owns, for which the eBook reader is of no help. A book holder perhaps?

The ergonomics of book holders is lost on me. Would she find a book pillow convenient, or a stand that can be placed next to her bed and positioned to eyelevel, or an adjustable bed table like the breakfast table that can be placed on top of her?

I am lost. I need your help.

I am in a serenely happy state of mind, like I just came out of a long aromatic bath in an oversized tub. I am out the warm soapy water, have slipped into a comfortable shirt and pajamas and am ready to drift into a restful sleep. :)

There are a lot of things I learnt over the last few days that have brought me here.

Very recently, I read Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser and a few books by Michael Pollan - In Defense of Food, Omnivore’s Dilemma and bits and pieces of The Botany of Desire. I then watched a film version of The Botany of Desire, followed by Food Inc, which features Pollan and Schlosser, and Super Size Me.

They all speak of what goes into the food we eat, where they come from, and how they affect our lives from every point of view that you can think of … imagine the good, bad and the ugly played out in a socio/political/economic/ethical/scientific/cultural/nutritional scenario with regards to food (!) The Botany of Desire even describes how human desires affect the plant life from the plants point of view. It takes examples of apples, tulip, marijuana, and potatoes to show us how these species have adapted over centuries to different environments all over world by manifesting themselves in hundreds of varieties that cater to our ever-changing desires of taste, beauty and experiences. What you take home from these books and films is an aspiration to contemplate our food choices in a less monotone way…

Tapi and I watch a lot of Food and Travel shows (apart from million other shows that keep us glued to the tube). The latest season of Top Chef was especially stimulating. It brought in some really gifted chefs who inspired a great deal of respect for the art. I speak especially of the four finalists who transformed the show from competition to purely display of talent.

This excessive food-related reading and watching is making me wonder if I am addicted to what Anthony Bourdain calls “food porn”. It is an unsettling feeling when your voyeuristic urges are given an unflattering label like that. I also think it simplifies the multitude of other satisfactions I derive from them. The entertainment is not just in the visual appeal or the urge to see talent, but also in the intellectual curiosity it satisfies! ... Am I saying I am a "food porn" addict and more?

Over the weekend I watched all ten episodes of “The Life of Mammals”. I don’t know how to talk about it without feeling like in saying more I am saying less. The dominant emotion I felt while watching the series was that of astonishment. I saw myself asking if these mammals really exist on this planet! If humans are the inferior mammal—if we are a much tinier blip in this series of blips in the universe than we thought we were. Moreover, within each episode Attenborough hurdles from continent to continent like a little girl hopping from one box to another on her chalk-drawn hopscotch court on the sidewalk! One minute he is inside a dark cave full of flesh eating maggots filming hibernating bats, and right after that he is hanging hundreds of feet above ground on a thin rope tied to a tall tree in a dense forest. And he does all that without looking muscly and athletic, but as strange as a flightless bird taking to the air with ease! His enthusiasm to share his discoveries is endearing and inspiring.

I thought The Life of Mammals was a revelation until I saw Attenborough in Paradise.

In early 19th century, Alfred Russel Wallace wrote a book called The Malay Archipelago about his first sighting of the birds of paradise. In it, he describes these birds as “the most beautiful, and most wonderful living things on the planet”, with illustrations of creatures of astounding beauty with structural features and plumage beyond anything imaginable. His description of the birds inspired an ambition in Attenborough to find them, only, there was little scientific evidence of their existence. Over the years, the birds of paradise took on an almost-mythical status, and were mostly talked about in speculation of what they may have looked like based on hearsay of local tribes or illustrations of artists. Many were even thought to be extinct. But, after six decades since reading the book, and trying to find them several times, Attenborough finally manages to fulfill his ambition through this film. What you see in this film is not just beauty, but a miraculous marvel that extends beyond the aesthetic! Their unique and elaborate courtship rituals, and their ability to impress their mates through careful planning is otherworldly!

Between the Botany of Desire that speaks of how plants take advantage of human desire to perpetuate themselves, and Attenborough in Paradise that looks at beautiful creatures living spectacular lives without the knowledge of humans, I have to wonder where we fit in this overall picture… Clearly we are looking less and less like we are in control of our environment and more and more like the environment is in control of us… and also like not everything on earth is made purely for our enjoyment. There seems to be beauty even where we cannot see it. Now, how does that sit with our swollen ego!

With that thought in mind, I am off to bed after that long, warm aromatic bath in my tub!

I was rather confounded by this logo I saw on a truck today. It needs a tagline that says "Bosom Threesome, Raring to Go!" or "Gleefully Happy to be Eaten"

Metropolitan brings to mind a book I read many months ago called "The Pig that wants to be Eaten: 100 Experiments for the Armchair Philosopher". The book is full of introspective questions and thought experiments that are perfect for bathroom reading. It provoked a lot of inane Gedanken-like all-night discussions with friends. Here's a bit from the book.

After forty years of vegetarianism, Max Berger was about to sit down to a feast of pork sausages, crispy bacon and pan-fried chicken breast. Max had always missed the taste of meat, but his principles were stronger than his culinary cravings. But now he was able to eat meat with a clear conscience.

The sausages and bacon had come from a pig called Priscilla he had met the week before. The pig had been genetically engineered to be able to speak and, more importantly, to want to be eaten. Ending up on a human table was Priscilla’s lifetime ambition and she woke up on the day of her slaughter with a keen sense of anticipation. She had told all of this to Max just before rushing off to the comfortable and humane slaughterhouse. Having heard her story, Max thought it would be disrespectful not to eat her.

The chicken had come from a genetically modified bird which had been ‘decerebrated’. In other words, it lived the life of a vegetable, with no awareness of self, environment, pain or pleasure. Killing it was therefore no more barbarous than uprooting a carrot.

Yet as the plate was placed before him, Max felt a twinge of nausea. Was this just a reflex reaction, caused by a lifetime of vegetarianism? Or was it the physical sign of justifiable distress? Collecting himself, he picked up his knife and fork…

The author then rants on for a paragraph before referring to my most favorite book in the world.

What if we could create animals that had no interest in their own survival, simply because they had as little awareness as a carrot? How could it be wrong to deprive them of an existence they never knew they had? Or what if the animal actually wanted to be eaten, such as the bovine imagined by Douglas Adams in The Restaurant at the End of the Universe?

The protagonist of that novel, Arthur Dent, reconciled in horror at the suggestion, describing it as 'the most revolting thing I've ever heard'. Many would share his revulsion. But as Zaphod Beeblebrox objected to Dent, surely it's
'better than eating an animal that doesn't want to be eaten'? Dent's response seems to be no more than a version of the 'yuck factor' - the kind of instinctive recoil that people feel when confronted by something that doesn't seem natural, even if there are no moral problems with it. Organ transplants and blood transfusions seemed freakish when first conceived, but as we got used to both, the idea that they are morally wrong died out, apart from among a few religious sects.

People may talk about the dignity of the animals or of a respect for the natural order, but can we seriously suggest that the dignity of the chicken species is undermined by the creation of a decerebated version? Isn't Priscilla's death entirely dignified? And aren't even organic arable farmers, who have selected and bred varieties to grow on a mass scale, tampering with the natural order anyway? In short, is there any good reason why the vegetarian today should not share a table with Max just as soon as his menu becomes a reality?"

And with that statement alone, I can end this post, but I am usually in favor of overstating the obvious. :)

The thought that occupies my mind today is whether there are environmental books that make you fall in love with nature (opposed to books that you read because you love nature). When you ask yourself a question like that about something that interests you greatly, be prepared to submit your wits to an astounding explosion of disparate thoughts and memories that you unknowingly carried with you throughout your life! Your mind scuttles back and forth between the past and the present in overwhelming haste and you want to tell yourself to stop and contemplate deeply and not disjointedly, but that rarely happens. As I began to make a mental note of the environmentally-themed books I have read and how they have shaped my thinking, as I likened or compared environmental writing to other science or political writing, I realized I was getting overwhelmed and not directing my mind to grasp concrete ideas but just a slew of disparate queries. My mind is still in fast-forward mode and I am not where I want to seek answers!

What bothers me right now is the fact that despite the many fairy tales and fantasy stories that bring nature to life; the usual diet of environmentally-themed books that seek to educate; memoirs of environmentalists, preservationists, conservationists, I can’t think of many fictional books I have read that I can liken to Asimov’s Foundation Series, or Gibson’s Neuromancer, or even Cook’s Coma for that matter.

This is not to say that such books don’t exist, I am only wondering why they haven’t entered my purview. Feel free to recommend some that you think I might enjoy, while I take delight in this new found pastime. :)

Guess what I found

The thing that scares me about moving out of our apartment eventually is all the books we have accumulated over the years. I am painfully attached to most of them, the memories they stir up, and the people they remind me of. I can't bring myself to give them away. But there are some godawful ones that I must get rid of, which too trigger memories, but sometimes there is some benefit to disremembering!

So I came across this fun website called Bookmooch that I am inclined to try. You log into their site and list the books you want to give away. For every book that you give someone through the website you earn one point, which will allow you to get any other book of your choice from the website that is listed by someone else! To begin with, you get 1 point for listing 10 books that you want to give away and three points for sending books out of your country. There is no cost to join or use the website, except for mailing the book. You can also maintain a wish list on the site, so that they can mail you the book of your choice once it becomes available!

What is interesting in addition to exchanging books is that you can donate points to charities that BookMooch works with!

Overall, I think it seems like a brilliant idea. It helps you get rid of bad books and narrow down your collection to good ones. It keeps books in circulation. It seems like an exciting and cost-effective alternative, if you, like me, prefer owning books to borrowing them from the library. It's passably eco-friendly! (not really). There is also that charity bit.

So there! I have convinced myself! I am going to be Bookmooching!

A Brief Tour of Human Consciousness: From Imposter Poodles to Purples Numbers

A Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat: And Other Clinical Tales

Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind

The Island of the Colorblind

I can’t be the only person navigating towards these books in the bookstore. Someone else has to find these titles just as intriguing. Someone else has to find these books just as staggeringly fascinating. They are all books that tell you how to grasp the marvel that is our brain.

At any given point in my life I am reading or making up theories about the brain. My favorite random theory about the brain is that it is the only thing that exists in the body. Everything is a result of its imagination, including the universe, if there is a universe. If you must question this theory, you should first consider the endless list of questions that arise as a consequence of questioning this theory. For instance, what is to say that even the brain exists? and "so what!"

The "so what!" question leads to other queries. For instance, once we suppose the brain is the only part of the body, why are some of us physically stronger than others, why can’t we hold a musical note in high pitch, why can’t we fly or defy the laws of gravity, or dispose off societal structures at a whim. Did it take us four years to unseat an idiot president and conjure up a rockstar as replacement?

I haven’t even begun to talk about consciousness and it is a whole other universe that I won’t get into now. :)
 
I learnt that there is no wrong question when it comes to the brain. You can make up the most absurd question, and it will still not be ridiculous enough to elicit a shocked reaction. If anything, it will educe an equally stupefying or absurd response, if not scientific, then philosophical. So then, the thinking involved in arriving at that fascinating question becomes the exciting challenge.
 
The net is full of interesting articles on how Art, Religion, Music, Addiction and so on relate to the brain. Then there’s another brain-related genre that recently made it to my to-read list, like how technology has made it possible to restore eyesight and hearing, or control stammering. How tiny blood-cell sized devices (nanobots) can be inserted into your brain to perform therepeutic functions and so on.
 
Now I am in the phase where I make up my own theories on why we do what we do. I think I have it all figured out. Ask me why a tune gets stuck in our head all day, how time is represented in the brain, why we zone out of boring conversations, or how dreaming is different from imagining and I can totally whip up a good response. If it is not true, it is certainly something to think about! But, just like asking absurd questions, coming up with seemingly logical responses is entertaining as well. It produces a whirlwind of thoughts and ideas that will leave you feeling awed and humbled by this thing that controls everything that we are, and everything that we are perceived by others to be.

While meditating now, I try three very different things, one to let my mind go completely blank, two to let it go haywire and see where all that erratic whirlwind of thoughts take me, and three to introspect, which is to think consciously and be aware! I have clearly not mastered my mind, or rather my mind hasn’t mastered me, because when I choose to do one I do the other.

Despite this constant fascination for brain books, it beats me why I can never remember the anatomy of the brain. I have the back of the brain figured out, the Cerebellum and Medulla Oblongata. There are the Frontal, Temporal, Parietal and Occipital Lobes, the Gyruses, and some random odd things here and there. But why I can’t remember what they do, and where my thoughts and my skills reside I don’t know. Can’t the brain just be what I want it to be?

Like when someone hits me I want to know where I was hit. When I sing, I want to know which cell in my brain is being tickled. When my stomach growls, I need to know where to put the food so that it travels down and appeases the growling, when my brain wants answers I want to know which neuron to connect to another and create the required synapses.
 
I have been reading This is Your Brain On Music by Daniel Levitin in bits and pieces. It may be the next book I read, but even before I have read it I have all these thoughts on music, which seem more profound that what the book may be able to offer.

Will someone give me my PhD please?

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Where did the brain go on vacation? to a Hippocampus! ha!
and what did the Hippocampus say during his retirement speech? Thank you for the memories. :D

A few months ago, Tapi and I bought a book called "Always Maintain a Joyful Mind" by Pema Chodron. It has fifty nine tibetan teachings called Lojong to help develop wisdom amid challenges of daily living.

Most of the teachings are quite straight-out, like: "don't expect applause", "abandon poisonous food", "don't be jealous" and so on.

The idea is to pick a slogan at random from the book each day, read the short commentary offered by the author and try to live by the meaning of that slogan throughout the day.

It is interesting to see how the work you do, and your everyday interactions with people take on new meaning each day depending on the slogan you have called to mind. The message manifests itself in your life in more ways than you had imagined.

Some slogans seem quite unclear in meaning without the commentary, like "Practice the five strengths, the condensed heart instructions", "three objects, three poisons, and three seeds of virtue."

I find with these ones that the commentary speaks of more than one thing, which then makes me want to take more than a day to think about the message.

Take today's slogan for instance. It is impossible to know what it could mean without the commentary . It also happens to be the first slogan for this year. I hope to make a regular habit of this from now on and read a slogan a day, or in some cases read the same slogan everyday until I am ready to move on to the next.

Slogan:
First, train in the preliminaries

Commentary:
The preliminaries are also known as the four reminders.
In your daily life, try to:

1. Maintain an awareness of the preciousness of human life.
2. Be aware of the reality that life ends; death comes for everyone
3. Recall that whatever you do, whether virtuous or not, has a result; what goes around comes around
4. Contemplate that as long as you are too focused on self-importance and too caught up in thinking about how you are good or bad, you will suffer. Obsessing about getting what you want and avoiding what you don’t want does not result in happiness.

That is a lot to take in at once. Frankly, I am a little overwhelmed with the recommendations and am not sure what to focus on and how. I can't even imagine how I would apply it in my regular life. I suppose I could split them into four different slogans, one for each day, and think about them independently first and then together as a whole and see where that takes me.

So more about this when I am done thinking and training in the preliminaries and taking the attitude of the four reminders :)

You know there is a "joyful mind" section coming up on this website soon, don't you?

When I made my to-read list in my review section today, Tapi decided to take a picture of some of the books as evidence of "all that I have bought and haven't read"!
He's unnecessarily raising a stink no?

Therefore (Ipso facto), I hereby vow that I shalt giveth these texts a hasty read, even though haste maketh a waste. So be it!

It is the middle of the week and I am anxious about something that I should be looking forward to. The weekend!

I want to address this whole concept of time management as authored by many self-help gurus. I won’t lecture on what it is, seeing as it is the most puffed up of all vocation-related virtues and everyone is an authority on it. I am only concerned about where all the weekends go or why they go by so quickly! Self-help gurus don’t seem to have any words of advice on this.

I have a feeling I am not managing my weekend time well. I have it all figured out for the weekdays. For the most part things go just as planned during the weekdays, as if the schedule is made of cogs and a wound spring (like clockwork), “precise and with unvarying regularity.”

Weekends however are mysteriously short whether I jam-pack them with activities or lay languidly on my couch doing nothing. Nothing seems to help.

The latest trend among the new wave of Type As seems to be to refer to time management as a mislabeled problem - “because time just is, it cannot be managed.” Whatever that means! If you ask me, I might just rephrase that proverb to “because time just was, it is gone”

If you think of time as a force capable of acting on people, just like the other forces of nature, only without obeying the laws of nature, then it may explain why my weekends go by quickly. It follows that time affects the way I feel, rather than being a period during which action occurs, which is why my “conscious” hours seem longer on the weekday than on a weekend.

I remember reading Einstein’s Dreams by Alan Lightman, in which the author narrates Einstein’s dreams in 30 short stories, each exploring how time might behave in different realities. In one story he speaks of how mothers move with their children to the center of time to avoid becoming old, because time stands still in the center. But, those living in the center of time don’t experience it because “experiencing” requires movement of time.

I wonder if Wednesday is the center of time, where time stands still, moving neither backward nor forward and the further away you move from it, the faster the time passes. Since weekends are the farthest from Wednesday, they slip away even before we can acknowledge it. This also explains why I don’t experience the beauty of time staying still on Wednesday. Time is so still today that I am not “experiencing” it.

To corroborate my theory, the last working day in the middle east is Wednesday. Cos, they are in a different time zone? :-)


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On reading this post, Deepan had some great ideas that I take the liberty of posting without his permission. He uses the Wednesday theory to simulate real things.

If we assume Wednesday is indeed the centre of time then there are probably parts of the world where the day is always a Wednesday. It could be any other day, but since each day is exactly like the day before and the day before that it all seems the same. Two thoughts come to my head - deep inside a tropical forest where probably the sun doesn't even reach the land, each day would seem like the last one... or a poor man who sleeps every night hungry and wakes up every day not knowing where his next meal will come from, for him each new day is like the day before and the one before.

How cool is that!

Something about the Olympics reminds me of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. By saying this I hope I am not trivializing one or the other. In the Goblet of Fire, there are two much-awaited events that take place around the darkest of times, one is the Quidditch World Cup, which incidentally takes place every four years and the other is the Triwizard Tournament at Hogwarts. Both events are centuries-old, spectacular in presentation like can only be imagined, and bring together people from all over the world.Olympics is the only event I can think of that is just as magical. As I was watching the opening ceremony at the Birds Nest on TV a few days ago, I was awestruck by the coordinated movements of thousands of people, all performing dazzlingly in harmony. The vivid costumes and colors seemed straight out of a martial arts film, very much like that of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon or the House of Flying Daggers. Chinese culture seems so surreal that it almost resembles a dream in the way everything is so ethereal and mysterious. There is so much beauty, harmony in all their art forms that they take perfection beyond even the highest attainable standard. In some ways, some aspects of the chinese culture reminds me of the Minbaris in Babylon 5. :-)The ceremony flaunted tradition that’s over a thousand years old. There were men playing rolls of old traditional drums, women wearing flowing robes of the Warring states period of ancient china, dancers sweeping ink strokes over paper, performers hiding under Chinese characters rising and falling in unison to demonstrate printing, dancers creating illustrations of ancient ships while bringing in the compass, printing blocks transforming into peach blossoms of the utopian gardens of peace.There were times throughout the ceremony when I was almost expecting to catch a glimpse of a Chinese Harry Potter on Fawkes or a Thestral fighting a dragon to steal its golden egg.The opening ceremony reminded me of the performance of the team mascots before the Quidditch game started, where the beautiful Veelas with their natural ability to bewitch men danced on the pitch, making every man including Potter feel “a floating sensation as every thought and worry is wiped gently away leaving nothing but a vague, untraceable happiness.” Leprechauns flew in and showered the stands with gold coins that represent peace and security that the wizard world experienced ever since Voldemort lost his powers and formed green Irish symbols in the sky. In Quidditch Through the Ages, the tiny booklet that comes along with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them, it is told that the name Quidditch is derived from Queerditch Marsh where the very first game was recorded to have taken place, very much like Olympic Games were first recorded in Olympia. Coming to the dark side, there is a lot of discussion on the collateral damage of Olympic Games around the world. Korea displaced about a million people in Seoul and thousands of women were raped and arson was used to break resistance.Montreal plunged into debt and crippled Quebec's economy for three decades, Athens killed 15,000 dogs that threatened to ruin the Olympics Atlanta injured a 100 people in a pipe bomb explosionMunich had Palestinian terrorists taking Israeli athletes and coaches hostageMexico City shot over 300 mexicans fighting for democracy. Olympia destroyed greek penises! Several countries boycotted the Olympics over the years.The Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland refused to attend because of the repression of the Hungarian Uprising by the Soviet Union.Cambodia, Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon boycotted the games due to the Suez CrisisSouth Africa, Rhodesia were banned from the Olympic village and when officials refused to ban New Zealand, twenty-two countries boycotted the Montreal Olympics. Cold War opponents boycotted each other's games. Sixty-five nations refused to compete during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan It was natural therefore that China too saw dark times in the last year, with calls for boycotts in protest of China's poor human rights record and response to the recent disturbances in Tibet, Darfur, and Taiwan. There were a variety of other concerns raised as well, like severe air pollution in Beijing, warnings of a possible terrorist attack, criticisms of policies mandating the electronic surveillance of internationally owned hotels, the banning of ethnic Tibetans from working in Beijing for the duration of the games, displacement of residents, ticket adversities, and even christian advocates voicing concerns regarding the persecution of christians in China among many others. While every other Olympics host country had one critical issue disturbing the event, China has had every kind of criticism to fight against, and many groups of people expressing strong disapproval over the event all at once. Still, this may be the first time in Olympics’ history that no nation withdrew before the games began despite these crises.All this reminds me of the kind of enthusiasm with which the wizards’ awaited the Quidditch World Cup and the Triwizard Tournament even as there were rumors floating about the return of He Who Must Not be Named and the possible exposure to grave danger. Moreover the Triwizard Tournament had been discontinued for years because it became too dangerous, but was revived ironically at the most inappropriate time when it involved greatest risk and likelihood for disaster. It may be that these events, both fictional and real are not in themselves dangerous, but they seem to mark the milestones for the darkest of times and do that with a lot of splendor and spectacle.Perhaps that is what we need - Not the light at the end of the tunnel but a tunnel illuminated by light.

Maximum City, the book I am reading right now has stalled all other reading activity in my life. I read at a pace of 30 pages a day - 15 on the way to work and 15 on the way back. Still it is all the time I seem to be able to give to reading. But now finally, I can see the finish line. I am three-fourths on the way to making peace with my country or perhaps discomposing my faith in it, I don't know yet.

I am eager to express my thoughts about everything I have read so far, but I know I must wait till I finish. Perhaps tonight. Perhaps this weekend.

Holy Smokin Moley! Pardon my ignorance, (and maybe all my posts need to begin this way), but I just found Google’s Book Search, a prodigious online tool that allows you to read whole entire books online for free. How cool is that!

So they say on their website (and I’ve bolded the text that you should read while imagining my jaw drop):

If the book is out of copyright, or the publisher has given us permission, you'll be able to see a preview of the book, and in some cases the entire text. If it's in the public domain, you're free to download a PDF copy.

We've created reference pages for every book so you can quickly find all kinds of relevant information: book reviews, web references, maps and more.

If you find a book you like, click on the "Buy this book" and "Borrow this book" links to see where you can buy or borrow it.

Where do the books come from? Currently, we are connecting readers with books in two ways: the Partner Program and the Library Project.

My mind is running amok, like a mad bull in a china shop. This new information calls for a lot of changes to my otherwise unvarying online routine. I can already see it transforming my blog in so many ways. I am also thinking about how this is changing the literary business and what kind of challenges an all-encompassing online corpus such as this will face. I am obviously gravitating towards comparing it with online video libraries and the youtubes of the world, but that is a whole different monster.

I am (as expected) exploring other digital libraries that offer the same service. There are some that I have been (vaguely) aware of that suddenly look very appealing: Questia, Amazon’s Search Inside, iRead.

But I can’t even begin to fathom this list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_digital_library_projects

I don't know what it means to be religious or even if I believe in God. But I am awed by religion: the selflessness, the devotion, the wisdom, the knowledge and the culture that come out of being religious and believing in god.

I have been reading this beautiful book called the "The Holy Vedas": a Golden Treasury by Pandit Satyakam Vidyalankar.

In about 350 pages, he attempts to bring together representative hymns from all the four vedas. Picking carefully from 20,416 verses, he tries to encompass all the aspects enshrined in the four Vedic works. A daunting task! The result is this beautiful book of poetry, with simple, lucid verses, organized to give you an overview of all Vedic concepts. The book has original text as well as english translation and manages to retain the spirit of the original hymns and faithfully imparts the ambience of these sacred texts.

When I bought the book, I didn't expect to be drawn to it. This was to be my first introduction to Vedic philosophy, something that would quickly give me a gist of the scriptures that I grew up hearing about. That the Vedas is one of the fountainheads of philosophy and culture and that the depth of knowledge contained in these scriptures is influential is "common knowledge" to most people born in Hindu families. It is something that you learn to be in awe of from the times of your childhood, but never actually get to reading it. But, soon the guilt of pretending to know something that I hadn't the faintest clue about, and the curiosity of learning about the Vedas, caught on.

A few months ago, I went to a bookstore in India and picked up this book, as well as unabridged translations of the Ramayana and Mahabharata that I am yet to read. As I read about the creation of the world, about social consciousness, of kingship, of artisans, astronomy, science and medicine... I was humbled by the knowledge and the profound beliefs, elucidated in the most clear and simple terms. I am not just glad I am reading the book, I feel like my obtuse prejudices of anything religion-related kept me away from these great works .Hopefully, I will get around to reading more.

May we, with honest efforts
And no consciousness of guilt,
Ascend day by day
Higher and higher summits of
Eternal glory and bliss.

(Rig. 10.37.9)

101 Things Not to Do Before You Die by Robert W. Harris
Funny and interesting, but not one to be taken too seriously. It's 101 things to ponder about and try for kicks, hopefully until they become a life-time habit to the author's delight (cos it indirectly points to 101 things to DO until you die).

1984 by George Orwell
This book is certainly one of the most important reads of the century. A book that left me shaken and troubled for days after I read the last four words– “he loved big brother”. They struck me like a whetted knife. =)

A Brief Tour of Human Consciousness: From Impostor Poodles to Purple Numbers by VS Ramachandran
One of the greatest expositors in the medical field elucidates on things that are deeply philosophical in as scientific a way as possible by a neuroscientist. Ramachandran delves into an area of science that is mostly speculative as of today, but is equally intriguing to both philosophers and neuroscientists. The book is illuminating, entertaining, charming and insightful. It is a book that changed my perspective on life.

A Man Without a Country by Kurt Vonnegut
A very simple book with memoirs of Vonnegut that touch on everything from war to environmental destruction to people. It is the kind of book that you casually mull over, your thoughts dancing lightly as you grasp little things that seem profound and yet so straightforward.

A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
I am a huge fan of Seth's writings, so this is going to be very hard to say. A Suitable Boy is very detailed and thought provoking but it seemed sort of questionable in terms of historical accuracy!

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
This short Dickens novel overcompensates for its size with its powerful portrayal of the French revolution. While Dickens remains cautiously optimistic throughout the novel that France can recover, the tone of the novel speaks to the regression of humanity, rather than advertise any real hope for its enlightened progress.

A Year in the Maine Woods by Bernd Heinrich
Heinrich's knowledge of the woods is awe-inspiring, his life in the four seasons is fascinating, and nature is humbling, and that is what you take from the book. I was surprised to see descriptions of everything from tree buds to insects, flowers, ravens and coyotes. Like Henirich says, if you cant recognize a bird or name it, it would for all practical purposes not exist, and that's exactly how I felt when I read the book. My ignorance of every living species he covered meant that it did not (for all practical purposes) exist.

A Year in the Merde by Stephen Clarke
This has to be one of the most boring books I have read. The humor is substandard and the author's opinions in general are shallow. Even though I expected the book to make fun of the French, the author’s observation of life in France (the strikes, the dog poop, the people, the women) is superficial and sometimes quite shocking.

Alchemist: A fable about following your dream by Paulo Coelho
This is one of those rare books that is preachy in an inspiring way. A simplistic book with a profound story that is more motivating than any fictional novel I've ever read.

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
A well-crafted story where three plots converge into one cohesive culmination, in the most unique way possible. This book takes comic experience to new heights. Both visually and expressively, it is beautiful and thought-provoking. The timeline can be slightly confusing.

An Equal Music by Vikram Seth
Seth is one of the most eloquent writers of this century. His language in An Equal Music is especially inviting. The novel takes us on an emotional ride that is so beautifully written that I literally hunted down all the music pieces that he describes in the novel. Luckily now the music CD is available in all stores. It is a must have.

Animal Farm by George Orwell
A book of great symbolic value on the failure of communism and how power corrupts. A simple fable reduced to a single phrase: "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." Unfair or not. Very accurate.

Aunt Erma's Cope Book by Erma Bombeck
This is the only Erma book I have read and I really love it. Bombeck is a riot. She is witty and humorous and so relatable. I enjoyed every bit of this book, especially because of my own reluctance to try self-help books, and some curiosity on whether they really help or not.

Blindness by Jose Saramago
Its a story of how the true human spirit emerges in the time of crisis. It's allegorical of a lot of things, especially of political systems, our quest for survival, our priorities and our idea of everyday life. The lack of character names and quotation marks, the overuse of commas to interject reflections in page long sentences add to the chaos that is the timeless and universal disease of white blindness.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Huxley wrote Brave New World as if he had glimpsed in a crystal ball and saw life as it is today. It is the only science fiction book I’ve both read and enjoyed. It is insightful and compelling, much in the lines of Orwell’s 1984. The book holds a disturbing secret behind the highly ordered world, where humans are mass-produced and conditioned.

Buddha by Osamu Tezuka (Vol. 1 & 2)
Osamu's manga comic series dives into the heart of Buddhist beginnings with the first two volumes, exploring societal outlook and the politics of that time in an engrossing tale thats entertaining and enriching. The story is still not about Buddha as much as it is about the social system. For most part, the humor is slapsticky-cheesy, but does not seem to evoke a lot of other emotions. It could have been more stimulating.

Bye Bye Black Bird by Anita Desai
One of the first few books to explore the life of Indian immigrants and their love-hate relationship with a western country. I might have picked the wrong book to get a sense of Desai's writings, because I don't see why she is such an acclaimed writer.

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
A terrifyingly funny novel. It is really not about the madness of war. It is about the moral dilemma of an individual caught up in the mob hysteria of war. The book’s film adaptation is equally riveting.

Charlie And The Chocolate Factory
This book is pure magic. Should be read first at the age of 5, then at 15 and then at 25... and you know what comes next, but I'm not there yet!

Collected works of PG Wodehouse by PG Wodehouse
Plum’s collected works are clever and full of peculiar characters that find themselves in bizarre muddles that are impossible to fix. Funny and entertaining.

Comics & Sequential Art by Will Eisner
This is not just a book on how to develop a comic strip, but one on how to read a comic strip. very interesting. The book shows us how much effort goes into creating a single strip. It is really about team work than about craft.

Comics, Comix & Graphic Novels: A history of Comic Art by Robert Sabin
Finally one of the greatest art forms gets its due in this awe-inspiring book by Sabin. This book really changed the way I look at comics. Its a history told with rich text and illustrations. A must read for comic lovers. Simply Brilliant!

Comics with an Attitude: A guide to the Use of Comics in Development Information by Leif Packalean and Frank Odoi
The title says it all. The book illuminates on the communication power of comics for development. Typical of all government works, the lackluster illustrations render the argument unconvincing. The book is not well written.

Complete works of O. Henry
His twisted endings apart, his stories bring out the ambience and the flavor of the setting with such splendor, that things as trivial as a lamppost seem curiously intriguing.

Cooking At Home With Pedatha by Pratibha Jain and Jigyasa Giri
My favorite cookbook by far. It has all the recipes of south indian food that we eat everyday - from rasams and sambars, to podis and pachadis, just the way we cook at home, without overdoing the spices or using complicated techniques. It's just the book to have no matter how long you have been cooking. Like me, Pedatha is also not very fond of sweets, but the book has some good recipes of payasams that I have both tried and enjoyed.

cool green stuff by Dave Evans
A very interesting guide to finding recycled, sustainable and renewable objects ranging from fashion and jewelry to electronic gadgets and home decor. It's a good first step to kick-starting a search for cutting-edge green stuff.

Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster
A book that every girl in her teens should read. It’s funny and sweet. It’s filled with the kind of stuff that sounds slightly sappy after we grow up.

Development As Freedom by Amartya Sen
His view on substansive human freedoms may seem like common sense, but its importance over the richness of the economy is a stimulating thought. In general, writers on human development tend to go into philosophical tangents, but Sen's conception is only overly optimistic about the possibilities enabled by rationality. The book does not lack objectivity. It's a good read with as little economic jargon as possible by an economist.

Do You Think What You Think You Think? by Julian Baggini
Yes, or at least the book thinks I think what I think I think. A fun book full of interesting exercises to see if your beliefs are in line with your actions.

Dr. Seuss Goes to War: The World War II Editorial Cartoons of Theodor Seuss Geisel by Richard H. Minear, Dr. Seuss and Art Spiegelman
It must come as a surprise to see Dr. Seuss so strongly in favor of intervention during World War 2. With wonderful and humorous illustrations, he makes the point with great impact. Minear’s text did well in providing context; only some subtleties could have been expanded on a little more. Racial stereotyping excused.

Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman
This book is definitely not "time" consuming. It is full of quick interesting vignettes about time, specifically about what it means and what it is in different realities.

Emma by Jane Austen
If I was as flawed as Emma, my life would have been an entangled comedy, full of confusion and intrigue. It is an uphill read but one that is entirely captivating after the first few chapters. I was completely fascinated with the gossip generated from casual name-dropping and all the analyses of people's thoughts. Brilliant characterization and understanding of human emotions and behavior.

Everybody Loves a Good Drought: Stories from India's Poorest Districts by P. Sainath
This is Sainath's compelling account of the realities of rural poverty in India. If this does not stir our conscience, I don't know what will. The book left me teary-eyed and feeling completely numbed and helpless. A must read.

Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
Must be read just for his breathtakingly evocative language, the descriptions of the rustic folk and the country, the ambience of the changing times and an enlightened sense of humor.

Flashman's Lady by George MacDonald Fraser
A bit of real history, a lot of adventure, amorous encounters, brevity and cowardice, tons to deceitfulness, horror, daring, humor, stupidity and mischievous behavior. What else can you ask for? This is perhaps one of the most well researched and well written books I have read, with unbelievable attention to detail. The narrative is ornately descriptive, and thought provoking even. There are some instances where Flashman, despite outwardly projecting himself as an insensitive bully, shows genuine "feeling". Poor guy did go through a lot!
I enjoyed all the annotations and end notes with clarifications on Flashman's sometimes dubious recollections, and the authors effort to authenticate the events as having taken place in reality!
Flashman's wife is adorable. Don Solomon and White Rajah are people of character, after all huh! and that Ranavalona - what an evil tyrant witch! (although wikipedia says people in magadascar don't see her as as the Mad Queen!

Fog horn by Ray Bradbury
I read this short story as a recommendation after I read Life of Pi. Somehow I was not impressed.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
I have the bad habit of reading reviews before I read classics. With Frankenstein I had to read reviews before and after, because I couldn’t tell why this one is a classic. This book was a difficult read and in the least bit involving.

From the Holy Mountain: A Journey among the Christians of the Middle East by William Dalrymple
Im still a little shaken from learning about how whole civilizations disappeared over time as a result of invasion and religious subjugation. Secular countries have been ripped out and cultures erased systematically through a kind of religious genocide and replaced with fundamentalist faith. But, my emotion comes less from the book itself and more from all the side reading it triggered.
Dalrymple travels through the same path in the byzantine area as that of John moschos' in the 5th century, narrating the fate of christianity, which is in the brink of extinction.
I would have liked to learn more about the rich christian heritage and how Byzantine was in the good times when everyone got along, for it seems like even during Moschos' own time, the religion was struggling to survive in many places. Dalrymple also seemed somewhat intolerant towards Islam at times. But what comes through in the book is the culture of silence around the disappearance of the center and of all christianity.
Dalrymple is funny and perceptive but the book does not hold as much interest as you would expect given the volatility of the matter being dealt with.

Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America by Firoozeh Dumas
Light hearted account of Dumas' life, makes an entertaining read for on the plane or during a relaxed weekend. The stories are funny and her family is so likeable. It's a book that any immigrant will enjoy.

Globalization and its Discontents by Joseph E. Stiglitz
The only book I know that has insightful anecdotes about global institutions and their economy. The book gives a balanced and impassioned view on globalization (and its discontents).

Graphic Storytelling & Visual Narrative by Will Eisner
If you have ever drawn a comic strip yourself or have had the urge to do so, this book is for you.

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
I read the abridged version as a kid in school and re-read it many years later to find it completely brilliant and engaging. It's a book that a kid should never read until he grows up and can appreciate the infinitely detailed plot and a sense of Pip's class strivings and his personal development.

Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling
JK Rowling's works are nothing less than magical. I haven't read anything that has captured my attention as much as this series. One can only wonder how the plot was developed over seven books almost flawlessly. There are still some holes that need filling up, and that leaves the readers with a desire for more.

House of Blue Mangoes by David Davidar
Kerala’s history is a peculiar one. It encompasses the country’s divisiveness, the entrenched caste system and patriarchy, the influence of British colonialism in everything from religion to government affairs. Yet it does not completely represent Indian history and seems like a country of it’s own. Davidar's dramatic writing style with a descriptions of the ambience was riveting for most part, but tedious at times. The book was too long.

How to Land Your Dream Job by Jeffrey J. Fox
This may not get you in the door immediately, but it will definitely motivate you to do somehting about landing your dream job. Most of the tips are really useful, like how to write a resuletter, but some are unreasonable, like sending an image of yourself at work to your prospective employer.

How To Travel With A Salmon And Other Essays by Umberto Eco
For a man who can barely write a sentence that is less than a page long and without digressing from the main subject and nesting points inside points, it is surprising how simple, funny and inquisitive this book is. A good vacation read.

I Moved Your Cheese by Darrel Bristow-Bovey
A parody of Who Moved Your Cheese. It’s quite enjoyable in the context of the original book. It’s preachy in a non-preachy way.

Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach
A badly written book full of torturous pseudo-philosophical fluff. In general I love books on philosophy, but this one almost killed it for me.

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
Good book to read on a holiday. It is filled with moments that occur in our everyday life that impact the characters in a way that completely alters their lives. The plotlines are great, but parts of the book seem pretentious and the characters are rather flat.

Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster by Jon Krakaeur
An eyeopening narration of the murderous climb to the Everest, told by Krakaeur who is one of the few survivors of the 1996 disaster. Kraukeur discusses not only the experiences of his team, but also those of other teams during the expedition, going into some detail on the different schools of thought since early days of mountain climbing and how it has impacted the lives of many mountaineers and transformed the sport. I am so affected by the narration that I am unable express the shock and awe I feel towards the people and the sport. There is display of heroism, prowess and also fallacies and self-absorption but what affected me most is how much more mountaineering is than a recreational activity. It is a way of life, the subsistence of many, and has implications that transcend beyond the self - like humanity, politics and religion. Perhaps, I have undermined the book in this review. I can only say I am overwhelmed.

Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
This is another book I read as a kid and completely enjoyed the humor but thought the invisibility far-fetched. Obviously, today I can see why the book is brilliant and appreciate the exhilarating language and his exploration of identity. An intense novel.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
A soul-churning novel, supposedly the biography of Bronte herself. A book that brings out every emotion that we must go through as young adults. It is moving and contemplative.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach
This is an improvement over Bach's other pseudo parables, although quite depressing and not very different in content. Luckily, the story of the seagull distracted me from the "moral".

Kant and the Platypus by Umberto Eco
Somehow this book doesn’t go beyond complex rambling about things that can be said simply and in less than 10 pages. It is a layman’s introduction to semiotics, language and cognition- only the writing is too complex for a layman and nondescript for a theorist.

Life of Pi by Yann Martel
A wonderful book, that is thought-provoking and enjoyable on so many levels, with many layers of interpretation. It raises a lot of interesting soul-searching questions.

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
I can never understand the point behind filling a book with the most beautiful language but content that is sadistic and revolting.

Lord of the Rings Series by JRR. Tolkein
A completely captivating series. It flawlessly interweaves an unpredictable plot with thousands of characters in a make-believe world. Tolkein has an intricate sense of history that shines through.

Malgudi Landscapes: The Best of RK Narayan
It's probably the excitement with which I bought this book, or my lack of exposure, but RK Narayan's stories were all disappointing. While the stories themselves were entertaining, they all seemed to end quite abruptly. Even the language wasn't consistently good. His novels and short stories seemed like a poor imitation of O. Henry's.

Maximum City: Bombay Lost And Found by Suketu Mehta
An admirable book written by one of the bravest commentators in the country. Also, a blood-curdling one, revealing the dark side of bombay, with untold stories covering every caste and class and everything from population to annihilation. Perhaps a tad obscene at times, but given that the realities of our people are presented as terrifying facts and not opinions, it seemed shockingly enlightening.

Mother by Maxim Gorky
Insightful and emotional in a melodramatic way. Found this book extremely thought-provoking and perceptive towards the war against autocracy in Russia.

Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie
One of the most unpredictable books I have read in recent times. It is filled with every possible emotion that one can feel over a stretch of a few hundred pages. The book is full of action. It is an emotional rollercoaster written in the most beautiful language.

Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science by Charles Wheeler
One of the most straightforward books I have read that makes basic economic principles sound very interesting, with many thought-provoking real-life examples!

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Only Dickens can make you feel pathos with language that’s poignant and evocative. His characters are real and his story compelling. The book gives an excellent sense of the hardships of the poor in England.

Omnibus Volumes of Dr. Seuss by Dr. Seuss
Rollicking… whimsical… fun funny funtastical.

Orlando: A biography by Virginia Woolf
It is fascinating how the subject in the beginning is a young boy during the Elizabethan era and changes into a liberated woman in his mid-thirties three hundred years later. This is about sexual identity and gender roles in the English society, written in the most surrealistic way possible. Not sure if anyone but Woolf could have written this book. It’s brilliant.

The Periodic Table by Primo Levi
Some biographical stories, some fictional, each in some way connected to an element in the periodic table. In most cases, the link to the element is only metaphorical. Levi manages to bring out every emotion in the spectrum. Having lived through fascist regime as a victim in a nazi concentration camp, having seen poverty, and also having enjoyed unique privileges as a result of his profession, and meeting interesting people in many walks of life, he has stories to tell! He is one of the most poetic writers I have read. There are some really delightful and humorous stories as well.

Persepolis 1 & 2: by Marjane Satrapi
A very interesting auto-biography of an Iranian woman during the war in comic form that was illustrated and written by Satrapi herself. The book was both revealing and entertaining. A better version of Donald Palmer’s Documentary Comic Books.

Phantoms in the brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind – by VS Ramachandran
This book really blew my mind. Ramachandran is a fantastic writer. He is witty, extremely knowledgeable and exceptionally gifted. His projection of how the brain works with fascinating clinical stories was awe-inspiring. It is a book that is accessible to non-medical students, but one I suspect most medical professionals find stimulating.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
This is one of the greatest romantic novels I have read. It has some of the most memorable characters and the wittiest dialogues brought vividly to life. Jane Austen provides a stunning impression of life as it was in 19th century England. The story is perfectly balanced and the language is absolutely delightful.

Ponniyin Selvan by Kalki
Despite the writer’s brilliant translation, never have I regretted not knowing Tamil as much as when I read Kalki's Ponniyin Selvan - once a magazine series, now South India’s classic epic. This is the only epic story I have truly enjoyed. It is historically accurate although completely fictional, culturally enlightening although regionally restrictive, and extremely absorbing despite being hugely descriptive.

Robot Dreams by Sara Varon
A quick read (a few minutes). For a wordless graphic novel, it expresses a lot of emotion. It's among a very few books that you spend less time reading and more time reflecting on things (like life, love, failed relationships and moving on). It's sweet, bittersweet, and resonates with everyone and every aspect of life. The illustrations are adorable.

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
This isn’t a comment about the book itself but about my observations of life in the 19th century as revealed by Austen and some of the other writers during the period. What makes them all so fascinating is the colorful description of normal life that makes even a events like going for a walk seem so pleasurable. And then again, there are the lavish houses, alluring costumes, the snooty privileged class, the nosy parkers, … Sense and Sensibility is really not an exception. While it lacks the humor element of Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, it more than makes up for it with the drama. However, it is really not the only book that is limited to its theme – i.e. the ability to judge situations (sense) and a sensitivity towards aesthetic issues (sensibility).

Shalimar the Clown: A Novel by Salman Rushdie
Not a big fan of his writing style in this book. It was too verbose and full of metaphors, emotional descriptions and superfluous tangents. On the whole it was a bit confusing and unconvincing in terms of the murder not being related to a religious conflict. His portrayal of the Indian army’s rough treatment was also an exaggeration.

Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
A very insightful book about spiritual consciousness and a quest for self. For it's small size this book takes us on a long spiritual journey that is powerful and inspiring. The narrative is a lot more detached than it is preachy and therefore is more accessible to those who hate being spoon-fed.

Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata
This is definitely one of the more difficult reads. There's a lot that is implied and very little in terms of rising action. The void that the reader experiences is possibly what Kawabata wants to convey about the Snow Country and the emotional depth of the story. The way in which nature creates the ambience of the story, is captivating and evokes a lot of visual and emotional senses.

Sons and Lovers by DH Lawrence
It took me a while to get over the perversion around incest. Now that I see the book more objectively, this is what I have to say: the characters are dull, the moral dilemma is even dated for it’s own time and the language was too colloquial to the point where it had absolutely no charm.

Sophie’s World - The Novel About The History Of Philo by Jostein Garder
This book made philosophy so enjoyable that I suspect it is the culprit behind my fascination for this subject. This book is really a great introduction to philosophy in the form of a novel. It chronologically covers all the major philosophical and theological schools of thought.

Tales of Beedle the Bard by JK Rowling
Magical isn't the word that comes to mind, given that it is a book of magical tales written for wizards, which is what is most appealing about the stories. They aren't about the triumph of good over evil with the help of magic, but, about the triumph of good over bad through one's personal choices. In that regard, the stories are as applicable to wizards as they are for muggles. Dumbledore's notes are not enlightening as you would expect, but are amusing nevertheless and sometimes serve to augment the message.The tone of the book is iffy - Dumbledore's notes, Rowling's clarifications for muggles, and that it is a translation from ancient runes by Hermione - somehow don't add up nicely. Rownling seems to use the notes more to squeeze all the different interpretations of the stories that she couldn't fit directly into the stories! But, I don't mind all the spoon-feeding :)

Tess of the D'Urbervilles: A Poor Woman by Thomas Hardy
This is my favorite Thomas Hardy book. The story itself is heartbreaking and
I was very touched by Tess’ character that her agony was unbearable at times. As always Hardy uses his pastoral setting effectively to convey every emotion that Tess goes through – be it her excitement or fatigue, her fortitude or despair. This is the only book that I can think of that flawlessly mirrors the historic setting and the theological ideas of its time.

The Best of Roald Dahl by Roald Dahl
Collected Short Stories of Roald Dahl by Roald Dahl
It’s not fair on Roald Dahl to be called “like O. Henry” just because I don’t see O. Henry as anymore a genius than Roald Dahl. But they do share the twist in the end. Roald Dahl’s short stories are more dark, humorous, suspenseful and horrific. Even so, there is a great sense of morality, just as we see in his children’s books. This one with more mature content is by far my favorite of his writings.

The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
This book is about a lonely suicidal kid, but is in the least bit depressing. It is one of those rare books where you empathize with a character despite the fact that you are nothing like him. That said, we are all irrational or confused, disillusioned or illogical (at times) that some of the things the kid says is amusing in a way that is embarrassingly true of us and the way we react. I liked the book but I still don't know why this is a classic.

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
I watched the movie before I read the books, but I was still fascinated with the story. The Christian allegory is a lot more obvious in the books, but it’s more refreshing than bothersome. After all, religious books are entertaining, especially fantasy-based/ mythological stories.

The Classic 1000 Indian Recipes by Wendy Hobson
It has every Indian recipe under the sun and yet it lacks that something that makes it completely authentic. I always start with the intention of trying a recipe in the book and then end up making my own. I just don’t trust it enough. It has just too many masalas for my liking.

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
Roy’s absurd language seemed to distract me from the narrative. The sentences were either too simplistic or complicated, too subtle or too dramatic. It just completely lacked rhythm. It is a pretentious book with a fascinating story , but an incoherent plot. It should have been written by someone else.

The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials Trilogy) by Philip Pullman
Having watched the film first, I read it only with the expectation that it will cover more ground. Literally, it did. Lyra traveled a lot more and endured challenge after challenge as she lived with Mrs. Coulter, voyaged with the Gypsies, rode on Iorek’s back, rescued the kids from Bolvangar, challenged Iofur, uncovered the secrets of her father (and mother) and moved up to the sky. But, what it did more than I anticipated is take on a theological angle in a fantasy setting, but in a way that feels more real and less magical. Despite the witches and daemons, the narrative seems more than just fantasy-like, which is why it was so powerful and intriguing. It leaves you with so much to think about and is very challenging without obviously seeming so. It’s a very dark book, and you don’t realize it until you come to the very end.

The Golden Gate by Vikram Seth
Only Seth can write a book in the form of 690 rhyming tetrameter sonnets and have us enjoy it and not be intimidated by it. It's witty, it's warm and it's completely brilliant. Some of the phrases he uses are just hilarious.

Taking a walk is such a big deal.
"We're a good match: Liz dresses well;
She's dynamite in bed--but brother!
Her cerebellum's shot to hell."

The Great Cat Massacre: And Other Episodes in French Cultural History by Robert Darnton
For those of us who grew up listening to nursery rhymes, fairy tales and folk stories, this book explains their humbling origins. The essays give a fascinating account of the intellectual contributions during Age of Enlightenment, in 17th century France.

The Great Indian Novel by Shashi Tharoor
Tharoor is one of the most astute authors I have read. The melange of mythology with pre-independence politics was quite interesting, and leaves you with a lot to think about. There are some parts fo the narrative that are extremely profound and insightful even. But, sometimes it is overwhelming because he touches on a whole array of issues, that keep coming at you one after the other, if not all at once, before you can take it all in. And then there are some provocative parts that almost border on offensive, that make you quite angry! Sometimes, he also seems to try too hard to draw the correlation between mahabharata and Indian politics, which is not necessarily a bad thing, given that it is a daunting task. One couldn't possibly have done much better than he did. But, you are certainly made aware ofhis struggle to make it all come together. But on the whole, it is one of the most perceptive fictional novels I have read.  

The Green Book: The Everyday Guide to Saving the Planet One Simple Step at a Time by Elizabeth Rogers and Thomas M. Kostigen
Very practical doable solutions to living an eco-friendly life. The statistics get annoying after a point. Consuming less of everything is good, is the running theme of the book. But, their suggestion that every aspect of human life can be improved should not demotivate people from improving at least some aspects of their life!

The Humanure Handbook: A Guide to Composting Human Manure, by Joseph C. Jenkins
I am just not mentally prepared to do anything with my manure except flush it down a western toilet. If this book did not inspire me, I don’t know what will. At the same time, I am now more environmentally conscious and am inspired to figure out other ways to be environmentally friendly while being less demanding on my spouse.

The Iliad and The Odyssey by Homer
It was a tedious read, but one that I was completely willing to go through for the exciting story and my love for the characters... I learnt later that Fagles translations are a lot more accessible. Too bad, I am not planning to go back to them in a long long time.

The Island Of The Colorblind By Oliver Sacks
I can’t make up my mind on whether this is a captivating travelogue first or the most intriguing neurological exploration. Oliver sacks travels to the most peculiar Micronesian island called Pingelap, where a majority of the inhabitants are colorblind. The disease is more astounding than unfortunate, and the life on the island is as surreal as the scenery itself. A must read, no matter what you read the book for – the scientific study, the gripping narrative, or the travel expedition.

The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat: And Other Clinical Stories by Oliver Sacks.
Sacks has a knack for making the bizarre sound fascinating. What is astounding is how much the human brain can go wrong and what that reveals about our mind. Sacks has a way with words. His explanations are a real treat for a curious reader.

The Man Who Planted Trees by Jean Giono
Here is an example of how tiny drops make a mighty ocean. If the saying does not say it, this story certainly will. This book may very well prove the proposition: the size of a book is inversely proportionate to its impact on the reader. It may also prove that a fictional story pretending to be true is just as inspiring as a true story intending to make an impact. The title of the book, if taken literally suggests what it is about, but to elabore, it is about an admirable man who spends his solitary life planting trees in a barren abandoned land, soon to create a forest, replenish the river, and re-establish villages - all in silence.

The Mind Tree: A Miraculous Child Breaks the Silence of Autism by Tito Rajarshi Mukhopadhyay
One of the most profoundly beautiful books I have read, which is so full of wonder and imagination. I wish I could express myself as eloquently as he does! What's especially amazing is the many different styles of writing that he plays with - theirs the poetic, the biographical, the fictional and the prose, written in first and third person. He even writes little snippets about life from the point of view of challenged kids and a tree! I can't think of a book that has made me smile as much as this one has in recent times. 

The Myth of Sisyphus: and Other Essays by Albert Camus
I struggled through this book and I am glad I did. It's almost ironical that I hesitantly rolled the stone up the mountain to appreciate Camus' meaning of life, and then ran down with it to understand philosophical suicide!

The Name Of The Rose by Umberto Eco
The whole purpose of this book was not its gripping detective plot, but the philosophical tangents that Eco takes during the investigation. That said, it gets annoying sometimes and is a real drag. Eco should learn to let detective novels be detective novels and philosophical books be philosophical books until he learns to do a better job of bringing the two together.

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
This book changed my opinion about Lahiri. She is indeed a very eloquent writer. It does not have any pompous language and vague metaphors that are characteristic of recent Indian writers. The Namesake followed the life of a family, with each part of the story seen from different points of view (except the sister's). My heart went out to Gogol's mom as she forgot her gifts bag in the train, I empathized with Gogol's frustration with his name, and his father's perseverance is very relatable to most immigrant Indian men. The only drawback for me is the lack of closure with the mom's story. Also, Gogol's sister seemed so insignificant to the story, that I didn’t see a great need for her character. All in all the book was very enjoyable.

The Nature Handbook: A guide to Observing the Great Outdoors by Ernest H. Williams Jr.
This is the best nature book I have read. Its a small and very colorful book with interesting information about everything from why autumn leaves change color to why butterflies have eyespots. It's extremely enjoyable and one that will change how you look at things around you even when you go on your everyday walk.

The Old Man And The Sea by Ernest Hemingway
An incredible short novel that is vibrant, full of spirit and touching. I know of its religious symbolism, but what really struck home was the humanity and the old man’s endurance.

The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten: 100 Experiments for the Armchair Philosopher by Julian Baggini
Each chapter is a short story or scenario that raises provocative questions about our beliefs. It's definitely stimulating if not illuminating, and makes for great conversation.

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
A rich and colorful tapestry of life in the 12th century. You almost feel like you are a part of that era. The characters are magnificent. One of those books that looks intimidating at first sight but draws you in from the very first page.

The Roald Dahl Treasury by Roald Dahl
This book has excerpts from Roald Dahl’s greatest children’s novels. I have read a lot of the originals but didn’t want to make separate entries for each, as I have nothing more than words of praise for his works. Added to that this one has some fantastic short stories, rhymes, memoirs and personal letters. He’s just the most brilliant kid’s novelist ever.

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
The second time I read the book, it was being sold as a Kaplan SAT Score-Raising Classic. I don't know if I want to limit its scope to just that, considering how many books and movies it inspired with it's theme. This is one of those few books whose adaptations are read and viewed a lot more than the original. Stevenson's original is a rich and powerful read that gives us a fresh sense of human morality. Not reading it would be like appreciating Shakespeare's Othello by reading the three page summary of the story.

The Travels of Marco Polo - by Marco Polo and Ronald Latham
This was unputdownable! If you are done marveling at the latitude of places, history and culture that Marco Polo covers over his many years of travel in the East, and have laughed your head off at his wonderment and his blind beliefs in the myths of the time, you will see how observant he was of the events that shaped the religion and politics of countries. He is certainly a person to tell stories and he does that with style.
Let's not trivialize the book by suggesting the "fictitious" aspects of his narration. If anything, they are an indication of the beliefs of the time, including Marco Polo's. But, what is humbling is in fact his travel itself through the worst of situations sometimes, in every mode of transport possible and through many difficult times.
The book is fantasy, adventure, politics and history, geography and environment, religion, culture and mythology all rolled into one. How does one beat that!

Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1) by Stephanie Meyer
At the core of it, it is a teenage vampiric romance novel. And once you have accepted that, it leaves you longing to see Edward Cullen's beautiful face and chiseled body. The book's romance lingers in my mind several days after I've read it. There are thoughts about beauty, of life and death, and what it means to be human. While Bella's narrative felt like being spoon-fed, it still left a lot to the imagination.

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
A lot of contemptuous gobbledegook. The protagonist's thoughts unrealistically alternate between wide-eyed villager to the worldly-wise thinker. The motive for the murder was unconvincing. That being said, the book gets consistently better after the fourth day with the rooster-coop explanation.

The Works: Anatomy of a City by Kate Ascher
The book covers every aspect of New York's innards, and illustrates how the city is wired in the most fascinating way possible. A dry subject about water, electricity and phone lines, parking meters, pot holes, metro system, traffic lights.. you name it, but written excellently in the most engaging way possible. A great treat and definitely a book to read no matter which city you live in.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
This book is a masterpiece. It completely changed my life as a kid. Atticus Finch's perseverance and Scout's innocence is awe-inspiring. I have the greatest respect for the characters in the story and a deep sympathy for those who suffered prejudice. The movie is equally brilliant.

Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud
Most often books written about comics are either about its rich history or a tutorial on how to create one. McCloud's version is a lucid presentation on appreciating the cultural aspects of this art form. It is also one of the most entertaining books in illustrated form.

Unaccustomed Earth
As with all Jhumpa's books, this one is a visual treat. Her detailed descriptions of ambiance and culture are evocative and elicit a sense of nostalgia. Her stories in Unaccustomed Earth end suddenly (either with a twist, or with an open "such is life" type of statement). The portrayal of NRIs in her books are depressing and sometimes plain negative but very relatable and realistic.

Vegetarian (Best of Williams-Sonoma Kitchen Library) by Chuck Williams and Allan Rosenberg
This is one of those attractive books with colorful images of food that must be eaten off the page. I have also found that the recipes are very simple and comforting and look as fresh and delicious as they do in the book. While most of it is filled with soups, sides and starters that we are all familiar with and love, the book also introduced me to a world that I have been quite apprehensive to try- like fennels, farfalles, butternut squash, parsnips and adzuki beans.

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
This novel is complete, in the range of emotions and actions, the assortment of characters, the representation of 19th century Russia, and in general the depiction of human complexity. The novel has the most compelling storyline, together with tragedy, melodrama and romance. It’s long, but it’s worth it.

Where's Bin Laden by Daniel Lalic
The books is inspired by Where's Waldo, but this is definitely the funnier version. The mission is to find Bin Laden and his accomplices who are hiding in major cities of the world. It's high profile and wacky.

Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal With Change in Your Work and in Your Life by Spencer Johnson
I don’t generally like preachy self-help books but this one was short and not torturous. More than anything I like it because of it’s parody “I Moved Your Cheese”.

Writers and Readers Documentary Comic Book by Donald Palmer
This documentary comic series is just perfect for inquisitive people who want to know everything about everything. From Clowns for beginners to post modernism, these books are quirky and brilliant. You can’t expect to know everything after reading a comic book of 100 pages but you will be surprised at how much you’ll learn and enjoy.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Dark, wicked, brooding and in the least bit romantic. Completely enjoyed it. It was brilliant in an unsettling kind of way.

Young and Hungry: More Than 100 Recipes for Cooking Fresh and Affordable Food for Everyone by Dave Lieberman
This book is as young and charming as Dave Lieberman himself. I like how he gives you a peek into his life and childhood and makes each recipe personal and enjoyable. Not the most useful book, but one that will make you fall in love with cooking. I also like his tips on how to equip the kitchen on a tight economic budget.

Yuganta by Iravati Karve
How many epic interpretations have we read and enjoyed so much that it inspires us to read the actual epic itself? Yuganta was my first of this kind.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values by Robert Pirsig.
This is a book to devour thoroughly, completely and entirely. One of the most gripping narratives written within the philosophical-adventure genre (if such a thing exists).

An excellent book for mac users to create, present and publish their work in style! iWork '06 features two powerful applications for creating everything from newsletters to business presentations. Check it out. Also see my name in fine print :-)
Admire the images in the book, the projects on the cd... For the first time in my life, my names on a book sold in Barnes and Noble. Yay !!!