Book Review: T h a r o o r o s a u r u s! by Dr. Shashi Tharoor

About the Author: 

Dr. Shsashi Tharoor, was born on 9th March,1956 in London and raised in India. He did his early schooling from Bombay, Kolkata and then graduated from St. Stephen's College in New Delhi. He  competed his doctoral studies in International Relations and Affairs from Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy, Tufts University, Massachusetts, United States; his age then was only 22! 

Dr. Tharoor then joined United Nations and rose to the rank of Under Secretary General for Communications and Public Affairs in 2001. He quit UN in 2006 after finishing 2nd to the selection for Secretary General. He began his political career with Indian National Congress in 2009 and successfully represented the party from Thiruvanthapuram. He served as Minister of External Affairs & Minister of Human Resource Development under UPA, Government. 

Dr. Tharoor, is a role model when it comes to reading. He has been reading from his early childhood voraciously and has phenomenal command over the English language. He is quite eloquent.  The elite English he uses in his writing is a treat to eyes while one is reading what he has written; at most times demanding one, eagerly, a dictionary. It is because the words he uses are quite natural to him but for most, unknown. His most loved word; r e a d. His advice to those who want to improve the knowledge of their English as also widening one's thinking is: read, read and read. 

Dr Tharoor is a historian and has written some best selling books; just to name a few - The Great Indian Novel, India From Midnight to Millennium, An Era of Darkness: The British in India & The Paradoxical Prime Minister. He is a recipient of many literary awards too; he has won the Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism. 

Dr. Tharoor uses words that are interesting but not commonly known. On a taxi ride to the famed Jaipur Literary Festival; while he was chatting with his co-passenger Ms Meru Gokhale, Editor in Chief of Literary publishing at Penguin Random House India; she pitched him in to write a book that would enlighten the readers; with a title which would be a combination of 'tyrannosaurus & thesaurus'. He had just laughed it off then. On reflecting later, he found it worthwhile and thus resulted   'Tharoorosaurus' .

The Book:

Word Feast:     Entertaining,  Enlightening  & Educating.

The book is an imprint of Penguin Random House printed on  FSC paper. The font and its size is appealing to reader and comes easy to the eyes. 

It runs over 300 pages explaining the meaning, and the origin of the words in a typical Dr. Tharoor's engrossing style. The anecdotal incidents make the reading a joy. 

The illustrations by Mr. Mihir Joglekar are a treat too. And one really gets enriched by the research supplemented by Prof. Sheeba Thattil, which is reflected in each word, making it more interesting.

The book has a total of 53 words. It starts with Agathokakological and ends with Zugzwang.  

One needs to have real love for reading to enjoy the book. And a casual reader may become a voracious one. Sounds paraprosdokian. 😊

My favourite words out of the 53 contained in the book are: 

Panglossian (overtly optimistic), 

Floccinaucinihilipilification (the act of something or someone as worthless), 

Epicaricacy (deriving pleasure from the misfortune of others)- the opposite of Sanskrit word Mudit - which means being truly pleased at the success of others, 

Kakistocracy (typically of governments run by  least qualified or most unprincipled individuals), & 

Agathokakological (consisting of both good and evil).

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading the book and took time deliberately to savour it. It serves as a reference and I would return to it from time to time for the sheer pleasure of reading it offers. It has created in me a fresh urge to read, read and read. 

I am quite sure that over a period of time it would attract more non serious readers to get into the habit of reading and enjoying it as also to excel in their respective careers and becoming a more informed and humble human being. Reading makes one more human as it educates one on the various aspects of life and encourages one to relate to the human kind in particular. So much wanting; the human behaviour.

I entreat one and all to just go for it and especially the younger lot studying in school, colleges, universities to take time off from the various other social media distractions; primarily to be a better and successful rich person who is human! Keep hooked to social media but give due respect and attention to the age old print media in the form of good books; for the pleasure and well being.

Please do take care and look after yourself well. Provide nutrition to mind with Good Books Reading and keep safe, eat and sleep well. Namaskar!

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Review: POLLYANNA by Eleanor H Porter

 About the Author:  

Eleanor Emily Hodgman was born in Littleton Hampshire, on December 19, 1868, the daughter of Llewella French and Francis Fletcher Hodgman. She was trained as a singer, attending the New England Conservatory for several years. In 1892 she married John Lyman Porter and relocated to Massachusetts, after which she began writing and publishing her short stories under the name Eleanor H Porter (retaining her maiden surname & her husband's together) and, later, novels. She died in Cambridge Massachusetts, on May 21, 1920.

Absorbing, &  Life Changing!

The Book:

The book has pictorial representations and runs over 230 pages in a font that would make all children enjoy irrespective of the biological age; 8 to 80 as they say and why not even 100!

It is presented thru 32 short chapters. Quite an easy and enjoyable read-till-you-finish kind of a book. I read thru in one go as it was impossible to put it down till the end. So absorbing.

It is one the best Children's classics that I have come to know in long time. Author brings to life the lead character of the book POLLYANNA, a young girl of 11 years of age who moves, on the early death of her mother. to her Aunt Ms Polly, a stern rich lady.  How she transforms Ms Polly & the neighbourhood is simply amazing with her innocence & determination to be glad in all situations.  

Pollyana is a jovial child.  Always happy and makes everyone around her happy. Like with most children's classics there is always a thing or two to be learnt to live life. Pollyanna teaches all to   L I V E   life and not just live. 

She plays the 'just being glad' game with one and all. It is an interesting game and I would not take away the curiosity by spilling the beans in this review. Would rather the readers explore and find out for themselves. Just a clue could be shared; which is, find happiness in seemingly adverse situations based on one's perception of the adversity in a given situation.

I wish I had read it when I was a child. It would have shaped my life better; not that I am not happy but the reading would surly have helped being a better human being & certainly more happy thru the challenging times that one goes thru.

My take from the book. We all can learn to be glad about everything we have; if only we make a sincere effort find one. Just be glad and enjoy life to the fullest by  

     L i v i n g !

I recommend this book to those who want to be happy in life and want to enjoy and live in its literal and figurative sense.  Explore the game - 'just being glad'.  Game, are you, for the exploration!  I feel you do. So just go ahead and immerse in the book asap.

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Review: ANIMAL FARM By GEROGE ORWELL

 About the Author:

George Orwell, a pseudonym of Eric Arthur Blair was born in Motihari, Bihar, India (then came under Bengal) on 25th June, 1903. Well over hundred years ago! 

His father was a British Official working with Indian Civil Services. His mother was French. He returned to England in 1911 to attend a boarding school in Sussex coast. He was a bright student and won scholarships of Winchester & Eton. He chose Eton. He died early at the age of 47 on 21st January, 1950. His ideologies & opinions lived on since, through his work.

R  i   v   e   t   i   n   g

Presentation:

The book is printed in India by India Book Distributors Limited in a pleasant eye soothing type face. Really enjoyable as far as the reading goes.

The book is short and runs about 80 pages.  It is a story of a farm owned by one Mr. Jones & inhabited by animals. It used to be called - Manor Farm. There lived a boar called Major, who,  has a strange dream one night and wanted to share it with fellow animals. So one day he assembles all the farm animals in the barn and shares his dream.  He dreams of an independent animal farm which will be managed by animals and there would be no man. He was convinced that man only exploits animals and thus has no right to continue exploitation.  He convinces the animals for a coup. He composes a song and calls it 'Beasts of England'. The animals get excited after hearing it from Major and echo it in their own liking. 

Major's speech has a lasting effect on the animals and especially on the two young boars - Snowball, a vivacious & inventive pig but with less character as perceived by the rest of the animals on the farm & Napoleon, a large fierce-looking Berkshire boar, not much of a talker but had the reputation of getting his own way. And the most popular one pig called Squealer, eloquent to the core, nimble,  twinkling eyes & quite persuasive. They take upon themselves to have the coup advocated by Major who dies soon after his famous coup speech. 

The coup is successfully marshalled and Mr. Jones is driven out. Animals rejoice with the Beast of England. There lived also a horse called Boxer who was quite dexterous and always worked hard & had set himself a motto - "I will work harder!"

The pigs on the farm who were more intelligent than the rest and had even acquired skills to read and write started governing the farm with Napoleon emerging as their leader by self proclamation. He smartly gets rid of other intelligent boar Snowball to have the competition for leadership to himself.  How he plots his way thru exercising his superiority over the lesser animals; lesser by intellect, that is.

Napoleon slowly works towards controlling all the affairs of the farm with his sharp brains and makes the animals slog while he and his coterie of pigs enjoy the dividends of the hard work put in by the rest.

Napoleon persuades the animals to build a Wind Mill on the farm (the idea was originally developed by Snowball whom Napoleon gets expunged from the farm).  Boxer putting the maximum efforts followed by other animals on the farm. What is interesting is the way Napoleon uses Squealer to convey his wicket ideas effectively to get what he wants.

The Wind Mill is built and destroyed - once by nature, the other time by Men but is finally built with tireless efforts of Boxer and animals who were goaded to making it cunningly by Napoleon.

The whole story is built slowly and so effectively that the reader is riveted to it from the word go. You would not like to put it down till you have finished reading it. So captivating and thought provoking at the same time. How the politics of power works. And one can easily relate to the every day politics that goes around especially by the power hungry individuals all across the globe! 

One may hate it, only to love the narrative finally and appreciate the way the author conveys the reality which was then prevalent when the book was written during the British Raj & is so relevant even today; only the animal farm characters have the face of a human. Their acts human or otherwise is left to the readers to decide and make peace with it.

This is a book that should be read by students who are preparing themselves for the world once they complete the studies. And all those who are interested in understanding the human psyche after all human beings are also called   'social-animal'.  Aren't  they?  

There is a lot to be learned from...

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Reviewed: Letters from a Father to His Daughter, Authored by Jawaharlal Nehru

About the Author: 

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India was born on 14th November,1889 at Allahabad, India. He studied at Harrow and Cambridge. He played a central role in India's struggle for freedom from British colonial rule. He was a visionary, scholar and a statesman of international stature. He was also an outstanding writer and his other two major works, apart from this one are- The Discovery of India & An Autobiography, Glimpses of World History.  He left for his heavenly abode on 27th May, 1964.

Fa n t a b u l o u s!  

Presentation:

The book was first published by Allahabad Law Journal Press in 1929 that is over 90 years ago! It is published by Penguin Books India.  The hard bound edition is very easy to hold in hands. The typeset is pleasing to eyes and illustrations by Ms Ajanta Guhathakurta are there to be appreciated. 

It is one classic, that I wanted to read for quite some time. In fact, when my only daughter Apoorva was born in 1990;  I longed to read and some how, could not. Now that I have read it, would share it with my grandson, Raghav in a year or so as he is just 8 month old as of now! Motivates me to read & share.

The books is to be enjoyed as a reference on how to be a better parent, grandparent & as a knowledge sharing friend to children.  The book contains personalised letters from a father to his beloved daughter.  

How a father, who is educating his daughter on various matters to incite the curiosity of a child of 10 years when the book was written and in the present context may be even at 5 years or earlier with human race, having evolved over the period since the book was written nearly a century ago! 

The knowledge and the curiosity that it imparts through the letters on :

#  The Book of Nature ;    #  How Early History was Written ;

#  The making of the Earth ;    #  The First Living Things ;   #   The Animals Appear ;

#  The Coming of Man ;    #  The Early Men ;    #  How Different Races were Formed ;

#  The Races and Languages of Mankind ;    #  The Relationship of Languages ;

#  What is Civilization? ;    #  The Formation of Tribes ;

#  How Religion began & Division of Labour ;

#  The Changes Brought about by Agriculture ;

#  The Patriarch - How He  Began ;    #  The Patriarch - How He Developed ;

#  The Patriarch Becomes the King ;    #  The Early Civilizations ;

#  The Great Cities of the Ancient World ;    #  Egypt and Crete ;    #  China and India ;

#  Sea Voyages and Trade ;    #  Language Writing and Numerals ;

#  Different Classes of People ;    #  Kings and Temples and Priests ;

#  A Look Back ;    #  Fossils and Ruins ;    #  The Aryans Come to India ;

#  What Were the Aryans in India Like?    #  The Ramayana and the Mahabharata

A must read for all who want to acquire knowledge. It is written in easy to understand English. The Author uses punctuation sparingly and conveys the message clearly.  Simply brilliant. 

It is recommended to read from first page to last page lasting about plus 150 pages as the letters build the narrative over the pages. First letter leads to the second and so on. Later one may read any randomly to suit one's liking.

A literary feast of a kind. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and would recommend to all anytime. 

The books is for all - parents, children, grand parents & single parents in particular! 

A book to be kept in personal library - all homes.  And of course to gift to your near and dear ones.

Go all, go for it.....

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Review: Eats, Shoots, & Leaves

About the Author:

Lynne Truss is one of the best loved Britain's comic writers. 

Lynne Truss is an English author, journalist, novelist, and radio broadcaster and dramatist.

This book was inspired by a BBC Radio show about punctuation, Cutting a Dash. It was presented by her.

Presentation:

The book is an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers & printed on a FSC certified paper. Font type and size is pleasing to eyes.

The book has 7 sections sans any chapter nos to lend uniqueness to the way Author liked to present. Persuading the readers that each punctuation mark is important.

#  Introduction: The Seventh Sense

#  The Tractable Apostrophe

#  That"ll Do, Comma

#  Airs and Graces,

#  Cutting a Dash

#  A Little used punctuation Mark

#  Merely Conventional Signs

The way it is written for any stickler or not so stickler of the written word is a delight to read. Her witty and humour filled expressions; personification of a punctuation would get even the most mundane reader to splits and admire it; the personification, that is. 

It keeps the reader hooked on. The wit &  humour is used; such that the serious message is nailed in with ease. One needs to read it; to appreciate & enjoy.

Witty, Educative  & Funny !

The simple ? to her looks like a sea-horse. I bet, now when you see one; you would also look at question mark - not as a mere question mark - but a sea-horse looking back at the sentence that precedes.

The author is so dedicated to using the punctuation correctly that she even advocates to form a Vigilante group of Apostrophe society which is armed with- correction fluid, big pens, stickers in various sizes to stick over wrong apostrophes and so on.... Would you like to join her campaign in promoting the correct usage....Be brave go on...it is worth for a noble cause.

The book ends with a Bibliography that reflects the kind of research the Author has done before setting out to pen this remarkable book on a simple yet important subject : the punctuation. Highly recommended book around at present time to save the literary world!

The book invites one to really enjoy the written word and pay attention to the nuances of the written world. As long as we have Authors like her; the print media has a bright future in-spite of the web world encroaching upon it so determinedly. 

Go folks; go for this treasure book and ensure you have one in the personal collection & gifting. Good for all ages. Young, old, & not so old.

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Book Review: The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down, Authored by Haemin Sunim

About the Author:  Mr. Haemin Sunim, was born in South Korea and educated at Berkeley, Harvard & Princeton. He is a Buddhist monk, who received monastic training from Haein monastary in South Korea and taught Asian religions  at Hampshire College in Massachusetts. 

He is one of most influential zen monks in the world with over 1.5 million followers on twitter. This book is so popular that it has already sold over 3 million copies the world over being available in over 30 languages.

Book presentation: The book is printed by Penguin Life & made out of FSC certified paper.The print quality and the font used are soothing to the eyes.   

                                            B  e  a  u  t  i  f  u  l

The books contains many graphic illustrations quite artistically put and soothes the eyes and keeps one's interest intact.

The book runs over 250 pages covering 8 Chapters. Each chapter has an essay and complemented by short massages of wisdom for the readers to read and re-read to absorb and remember.

Chapter-1: Rest (sub chapters-Why am I so busy? & When life disappoints rest a moment)

Chapter-2: Mindfulness (Sub chapters- Befriend your emotions & When you are feeling low)

Chapter-3: Passion (Sub chapters- Temper your eagerness & Being right isn't important being happy together is)

Chapter-4: Relationships (Sub chapter- The art of maintaining a good relationship & The journey of forgiveness)

Chapter-5: Love (Sub chapter- First love & I love your ordinariness)

Chapter-6: Life (Sub chapter- Do you know Kung Fu & Three liberating insights)

Chapter-7: The future (Sub chapter- One word of encouragement can change the future & When you look for your calling)

Chapter-8: Spirituality (Sub chapter- Long lost cousins & Two spiritual paths in one family)

It starts with a prologue and ends with an epilogue with the beautiful quote:

'Only when we slow down can we finally see clearly our relationships, our thoughts, & our pain. As we slow down, we are not entangled in them. We can step out and appreciate them for what they are!'

It is advisable to read one chapter at a time very slowly till you feel you have got the advice the Author intended to convey you for your own good.

The Buddhist influence is quite distinct and one can relate to the examples and quotes in real life.

The book is quite relevant to present pandemic time when the world is locked down and each one of us is reflecting. 

A book like this one helps understand the importance of universal brotherhood. It helps to find true happiness in this utterly chaotic world & how to wade thru the troubled waters.

I strongly recommend having a personal copy of the book for periodic reference and revising; refreshing one's soul. 

A must buy kind of book- surely, presently & ever.

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Book Review: The Power of NUNCHI, Authored by Euny Hong

Ms Euny Hong the author of the book is of Korean origin. She moved from US to Korea at the age of 12 to do her schooling and later came back to US to do her B.A. in Philosophy from Yale University and pursued Journalism as a career. 

She was interviewed by France 24, an international news channel. (https://youtu.be/Y0ImdHF3kZk). Here she speaks eloquently on the book with the anchor.

NUNCHI is the Korean secret to happiness and success.

Nunchi (noon-chee): 'eye measure', or the subtle art of gauging other people's thoughts and feelings to build harmony, trust and connection.

She lucidly explains the 8 rules of Nunchi with examples and quiz questions.

Rule-1: First empty your mind. Clear your mind of preconceptions in order to observe with discernment.

Rule-2: Be aware of the Nunchi Observer Effect. When you enter a room you change the room. 

Rule-3: If you just arrived in the room, remember that everyone else has been there longer than you. Watch them closely to gain information.

Rule-4: Never pass up a good opportunity to shut up. If you wait long enough and listen carefully, most of your questions will be answered without you having to say a word.

Rule-5: Manner exist for a reason. Respect the cultures.

Rule-6: Read between the lines. People do not always say what they think and it is their prerogative. Do not just go for the spoken words but look at the combination of words and the body language to make a sense of what is being conveyed by the speaker.

Rule-7: If you cause harm even i n i n t e n t i o n a l l y, it is sometimes as bad as if you'd caused it intentionally. So do exercise caution and be sensible.

Rule-8: Be quick and nimble. Speed matters most in quick Nunchi.

Nunchi is perhaps the most important skill you will ever learn- a skill that gets to the core of being human.

With practice one can master the art of Nunchi. 

I liked the Mantra given by Author: 

Observe, observe, observe; listen, listen, listen. 

Human beings are blessed with two eyes, two ears and one mouth. 

Observe & listen twice as much or more as we speak.

The book ends with notes and off course the acknowledgement. 

The book is for all those who want to excel in their life. Highly recommended as a self help book.

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