Book Review: The crisis within by G.N. Devy

Introduction

• ISBN: 978-93-83064-10-6
• Genre: Non-Fiction/ Economics
• Publishers: Aleph Publishers
  
• Price: Rs. 399/-  ( I got the book for review from the publisher)

Nearly one in every twelve humans is a young Indian for whom meaningful education is of critical importance. A good education will not only help our youth get jobs and build fulfilling careers, it will also lead to the widening of our collective imagination and the shaping of the way we think; for all these reasons it ought to be an important concern of our time.Unfortunately, this is not the case. There is a lack of infrastructure, adequate funding and genuine autonomy within educational institutions, departments within those institutions and individuals who teach in those departments. And this is not all. There is also the question of the nature of knowledge that is relevant to our rapidly modernizing country that needs to be dealt with.If knowledge is the core of education and if education lays the very foundation of a nation, the author argues that it is of critical importance that the plight of educational institutions and the need to generate knowledge appropriate to India are addressed without any delay.Original and profound, this book offers a clear picture of the mistakes that have been committed in the past, confronts the present decline of knowledge and education in the country and offers a vision for the future.

Behind the Book

Source: Amazon.in

Behind the Book: Salil Desai

It is not very often that get to interview someone you can proudly call your mentor and also as someone you look up to in more than one ways! For me its none other than author Salil Desai. To let you know more about him,  Salil Desai is an author, columnist and film-maker.

Book Review: A Hundred Journeys (Stories of My Fatherland) by Omar Zafarullah

Introduction

• ISBN: 978-81-291-4739-4
• Genre: Fiction
• Publishers: Rupa Publishers
  
• Price: Rs. 295/-  ( I got the book for review from the publisher)

I write because I need you to know what I cannot say. I write about the past, about family, about country, because they all speak to me about my father…’

Addressed to Hyder, his son, Omar Zafarullah’s A Hundred Journeys is part memoir and part manual for living. With the help of his family’s personal history, the author attempts to explain Pakistan to Hyder, a narrative which is intensely personal but deeply political too.

The journey begins in the early 1900s when the family migrates from Ropar (in India’s Punjab) to Gojra (in Pakistan’s Punjab) in search of a better future. The book is filled with inspiring characters—Zafarullah’s great-grandmother, Maaji, a woman with an iron will who challenged patriarchy in her efforts to take the family out of the throes of poverty; his highly respected doctor–grandfather whose perseverance turned around the fortunes of his family; his friend Khawaja Imran who helped him bounce back from a failed business and many others. With instructions on how to jump a busy intersection, to the travails of setting up a business and on to the advent of the War on Terror that has shaken the core of the country, this book portrays everyday life in Pakistan with an immediacy that is poignant and striking.

Behind the Book

Source: Amazon.in

Book Review: The Inimitable Chaos Of Life by Maliny Mohan

Introduction

• ISBN: 9789386305466
• Genre: Fiction / Anthology
• Publishers: Story Mirror
  
• Price: Rs.190/-  ( I got the book for review from the author)

A naive girl of eighteen is trapped in a dungeon, which changes her and her capturer’s life forever. Afar, tucked away in the sleepy terrains of a town in Kerala, a married woman is determined to revisit a forbidden part of her past. A model-turned-MBA aspirant is scourged mentally for a decision she almost made three years back. Back in the less happening village of Kanyapuram, an aspiring author loses a copy of her very first manuscript.
True to its title, ‘The Inimitable Chaos of life’ is an amalgamation of enthralling stories borrowed from the chaotic pages of life, which allure you to relive the multitude of unique emotions humans are made of.

Behind the Book

Source: Goodreads.com

Behind the Book: Chaitanya Charan Das

Book Review: Broken Branches by M. Jonathan Lee

Introduction

• ISBN: 978-0-9954923-3-2
• Genre: Fiction
• Publishers: Hideaway Fall
  
• Price: 8.99 pounds  ( I got the book for review from the publisher)

Family curses don't exist. Sure, some families seem to suffer more pain than others, but a curse? An actual curse? I don't think so.'

A family tragedy was the catalyst for Ian Perkins to return to the isolated cottage with his wife and young son. But now they are back, it seems yet more grief might befall the family.

There is still time to act, but that means Ian must face the uncomfortable truth about his past. And in doing so, he must uncover the truth behind the supposed family curse.

Behind the Book

Source: Goodreads.com

Book Review: The Decline of Civilization by Ramin Jahanbegloo

Introduction

• ISBN: 978-93-84067-26-7
• Genre: Non-Fiction/Politics
• Publishers: Aleph Book Company
  
• Price: Rs.399/-  ( I got the book for review from the publisher)

Human civilization has lasted for approximately fifty centuries despite being continually under threat because of its inclination towards fear and violence. Today, however, ‘the future of civilization seems bleak’, as Romila Thapar writes in her foreword. Why is this so? Is it because our present time is barbaric? Is the twenty-first century another Dark Age?

In this new book, eminent philosopher Ramin Jahanbegloo talks about this new crisis in civilization that has given rise to fundamentalist movements and authoritarian leaders like Donald Trump. He shows us that civilization is all about the relationship of human beings to one another. When that relationship breaks down and we begin to distrust each other, when we are no longer inclusive or accepting of our differences, then society, which today is more plural than it has been at any time in its history, begins to decivilize and break down. Using the insights of Hegel, Kant, Arendt, Rousseau, Ricoeur and many other great philosophers, the author concludes that it is time to go back to the values and beliefs of Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore, two of the greatest humanists the world has ever seen, if we are to reverse the rot that has set in.

The Decline of Civilization shows that a healthy civilization is one that is a ‘shared human horizon’ of empathy that avoids moral anarchy and relativism while acknowledging the plurality of modes of being human. It is a concept and a reality worth fighting for.

Behind the Book

Source: Goodreads.com

Book Review: Eating Robots and Other Stories by Stephen Oram

Introduction

• ISBN: 978-1781326220
• Genre: Sci-fi
• Publishers: SilverWood Books Ltd
  
• Price: Rs.192/-  ( I got the book for review from b00k r3vi3w)

Step into a high-tech vision of the future with author of Quantum Confessions and Fluence Stephen Oram. Featuring health-monitoring mirrors, tele-empathic romances and limb-repossessing bailiffs, Eating Robots explores the collision of utopian dreams and twisted realities in a world where humanity and technology are becoming ever more intertwined.

Sometimes funny, often unsettling, and always with a word of warning, these thirty sci-fi shorts will stay with you long after you’ve turned the final page.

Behind the Book

Source: Goodreads.com