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| 1837994013
| 9781837994014
| 1837994013
| 4.41
| 32
| unknown
| Jun 20, 2024
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really liked it
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A sordid breakup and a precarious financial situation force a young Hannah Pierce to reevaluate her life. Determined to establish an independent footi
A sordid breakup and a precarious financial situation force a young Hannah Pierce to reevaluate her life. Determined to establish an independent footing for herself and buoyed by the example of her friend, Megan, Ms. Pierce lands on a remarkable decision – buying a boat and calling it home! The result, Argie Bargie, a 45-foot ex-leisure cruiser in royal blue, moored in Teddington, West London. All Boats are Sinking is a life affirming memoir of candour, conviction, confession and camaraderie. The book is not only about the nuances and techniques of living on a boat. It is primarily about taking the adversities hurled by life at an unsuspecting person head on. Ms. Pierce faces a daunting prospect when after impulsively purchasing the boat, she is required to comply with a set of extremely demanding regulations and conventions. For example, a boat needs to be moved every fortnight from its original mooring place to a new one. Then there is the fundamental issue of waste disposal. As the author herself writes in the book, an invariable question posed by curious acquaintances, being “how do you dispose off your poop?” Caring two hoots for squeamishness, Ms. Pierce proceeds to provide a detailed overview of the “options” a “boater” has in getting rid of bodily waste. The book is a carefully thought about blend of wit and reminiscence. Replete with lists and hacks, it also acts as an invaluable primer for all adventurous souls thinking about calling a boat home. The ‘lists’ span an entire spectrum from the silly to the sublime. There are lists of things that have contacted water, only to be irretrievably lost, culinary delights prepared within the confines of the boat, boat-themed gifts received by the author, the worst things about living on a boat, culinary disasters, and necessities which one must always be mindful of while navigating a boat, amongst others. The reader also gets a healthy insight into the tightly knit boating community where fellow boat owners help their neighbours in the maintenance and upkeep of boats, freely dispensing invaluable advice and timely tips. The core of the book, however, dwells on an audacious journey undertaken by the author when she takes her boat up north from London to Todmorden, West Yorkshire. Navigating more than 250 “locks” (a length of water with gates at each end where the level of water can be changed to allow boats to move between parts of a canal or river that are at different heights), Ms. Pierce manages to accomplish the impossible. In between she also squeezes in time for a virtual run of the London Marathon (the original being cancelled on account of the COVID-19 pandemic). The long journey is an agglomeration of thrills and spills. From getting stuck in a very complicated lock and facing the prospect of drowning, to meeting some incredible personalities on the way (boxing legend Tyson Fury being one such persona), the author undergoes a cathartic experience. All Boats are Sinking – a compelling and energetic read! I would be sure to pay a visit to the Argie Bargie when I happen to be in London next! ...more |
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1
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Aug 28, 2024
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Aug 30, 2024
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Aug 29, 2024
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Paperback
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| 1324050500
| 9781324050506
| 1324050500
| 4.11
| 2,508
| 2021
| Feb 21, 2023
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it was amazing
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In succinctly summarising the intellectual genius of John von Neumann, Hungarian Mathematician Rózsa Péter remarked: “Other mathematicians prove what
In succinctly summarising the intellectual genius of John von Neumann, Hungarian Mathematician Rózsa Péter remarked: “Other mathematicians prove what they can; von Neumann proves what he wants.” Von Neumann is undisputably one of the greatest thinkers to have ever lived. His influence is so encompassing that his vision continues to shape scientific discourse in myriad fields even decades after his passing. By the time he was consumed by bone cancer in 1957, when he was only fifty-four, Neumann had left behind a stupendous legacy of scientific achievements, many of which would remain unparalleled only because of their seraphic fungibility spanning space and time, and disciplines! The game theory which Neumann established now permeates the realm of cryptocurrency. Neumann’s atomic fusion theory underpins the contemporaneous development of green and clean energy; his vision of a ‘self-reproducing automata’ represents the beating heart of Artificial Intelligence; every electronic gadget from smartphones to supercomputers are in some form or the other children of ‘von Neumann architecture’; his analysis of the structure of self-replication even preceded the discovery of the structure of DNA by James Watson and Francis Crick years after Neumann first conceived the concept. Despite such a phalanx of achievements, the man who deserves to be spoken of in the same breath as Albert Einstein or Kurt Godel is an undeservingly fading figure. Science writer Ananyo Bhattacharya in his electrifying portrait of von Neumann attempts to right such a wrong, nay a travesty, and does a capital job of it! Neumann’s domain of research was jaw dropping in terms of the sheer breadth that it represented. He pioneered many developments in the realms of physics, economics, biology, sociology, and politics. A man with a super-human memory, Neumann could recite by rote, Edward Gibbon’s tome, History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. With a view to appeasing his obstinate father, who perceived no future in Mathematics, Neumann studied Chemistry in Berlin, while in parallel chasing a doctorate in Mathematics in Budapest. In fact, his academic rigours necessitated frequent commuting between three cities (Zurich, Berlin, and Budapest). He was just eighteen when engaged in such academic calisthenics. Yet he trumped both disciplines by clearing his exams in exemplary fashion. Neumann spent most of his productive life at the Institute of Advanced Study, at Princeton University. One of his greatest achievements lay in the construction of the ENIAC machine. Frequently cited to be the ‘birth certificate’ of computer science, the ENIAC employed certain instructions written by Neumann that are now recognised to be fundamental by any computer programmer. Neumann posited that data and instructions be kept in a single store so that instructions could be encoded and be amenable for modification by other instructions. This meant that one program could be treated as data by another program. Since then, every computer with a stored programme is known as a von Neumann machine. The RAND Corporation, in honour of Neumann built its own computer for scientific and engineering calculations and named it JOHNNIAC (John von Neumann Numerical Integrator and Automatic Computer), since the machine was based on the stored-program computer developed by Neumann. For all his achievements, Neumann was also an enigmatic person. Seeped in perpetuity in thoughts about the mysteries of Science, he neglected to spend time with his family. Jet setting to advise government, military and a whole horde of multilateral agencies, Neumann was well and truly the child of Science. Neumann also possessed a cynical bent of mind. Having experienced the brutality of Bela Kun’s totalitarian regime in Hungary, albeit for a brief time, and scarred by the atrocities inflicted by the Nazis both during the run up to and throughout the course of World War II, Neumann nursed an inveterate hatred for totalitarianism. He also nursed a brief inclination towards a ‘pre-emptive’ war against the former Soviet Union and was a fervent advocate of and for the Hydrogen bomb. A significant degree of his scientific genius was expended in the development of a nuclear weapon. But what Neumann favoured more than anything else was a capacity for engaging in uninhibited thinking. In the words of fellow Hungarian American, and acclaimed nuclear physicist, Edward Teller, “when he was dying of cancer, his brain was affected. I think he suffered from this loss more than I have seen any human to suffer in any other circumstances.” John von Neumann was a true colossus of our times and The Man From The Future is a stirring homage to the genius. ...more |
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1
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Jul 13, 2024
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Jul 15, 2024
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Jul 29, 2024
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Paperback
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| 178873999X
| 9781788739993
| 178873999X
| 3.60
| 25
| unknown
| Mar 26, 2024
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really liked it
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Ben Ware begins his book by setting out the context and purpose plainly. On Extinction is a ‘philosophical and psychoanalytical critique of our damage
Ben Ware begins his book by setting out the context and purpose plainly. On Extinction is a ‘philosophical and psychoanalytical critique of our damaged times.’ The Visiting Senior Research Fellow in Philosophy at King’s College. London then proceeds to take his readers on a dizzying journey, in the company of some outstanding thinkers. Before the book begins to take steam even, Immanuel Kant, Friedrich Nietzsche, Judith Butler, and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel jump out from the pages to alternatively startle and regale the reader! Ben Ware defines extinction or the end by employing the highly imaginative notion of ‘apocalyptic jouissance.’ According to this notion, an end not only infuses the emotions of anxiety and dread, but also informs a paradoxical sense of enjoyment and wild excitement that transcends trivial pleasure. Ben Ware also attempts to explain the concept of extinction in terms of capitalism. Impending and past catastrophes such as pandemics, threat of nuclear calamities, climate change etc. not just lead to pessimism and resignation but also birth inexplicably opposing emotions such as enjoyment, identitarian narcissism, and a time of endless suffering which French philosopher Louis Althusser simply calls ‘barbarism.’ The author also cleverly introduces dark and introspective movies and television shows for advocating a dismantling of the capitalist system. One striking example being Darren Aronofsky’s 2019 film Mother! A poet, simply named ‘Him’ (a role essayed by Javier Bardem) and his wife, also unnamed and the ‘mother’ in the movie (Jennifer Lawrence) lead a serene existence in a home which the couple assiduously restore after it was destroyed in a fire. The tranquility and peace of the couple does not last long, courtesy a stream of uninvited guests. Beginning with the arrival of a doctor and his wife, the house is soon teeming with an unruly band of barbarians who fornicate, trash and dirty the place at random. Finally, the violation of the place extends to the desecration of mother herself when her body is repugnantly violated. As Ware informs his readers, an ecological interpretation of ‘mother’ here might mean Mother Nature or Gaia (goddess of earth). While Gaia in all her benevolence creates a veritable paradise for her children, the latter view such creation as a resource ripe for wanton plunder. Ironically, the violators of mother are integral constituents of nature. This perverse feature is emblematic of what the French philosopher Jacques Lacan describes as ‘nature’s rottenness’ (‘pouritture’), from within which seeps culture as ‘antiphusis’ (anti-nature). A riveting section on Walter Benjamin’s frighteningly prophetic text Experience and Poverty – penned in the early 1930s – that mulls discomfiting ways in which new technologies will result in a novel kind of “poverty of human experience characterized by excess rather than lack: a suffocating abundance of new ideas and styles that produce a feeling of generalized exhaustion; a sense that, from culture to people, everything has now been ‘devoured”, provokes a surprisingly contrarian reaction from Ware. In a reassuring vein, he opines that Benjamin’s warning’s may not necessarily be a terrible thing. His Cassandra like proclamations ought to inspire humanity to try and “begin again.” Ben Ware tries to convey to his readers that only in the wake of an existential crisis such as the threat of extinction, does mankind become not just visible, but also relevant. He draws inspiration from the works of Gunther Anders, Jean-Pierre Dupuy, Maurice Blanchot and Theodor Adorno to bolster this claim. The Swiss American composer Ernest Bloch once famously remarked, ‘The true genesis is not at the beginning, but at the end, and it starts to begin only when society and existence become radical.’ Ware by concluding in a vein like Bloch asserts that the biological end of all things may as well mean beginning again at the end (of prehistory): “abolishing a mode of political and economic life which seeks to tether us all – the yet to be born – to a sick but undying present.” ...more |
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1
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Jun 20, 2024
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Jun 29, 2024
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Jul 28, 2024
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Hardcover
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| 0374614970
| 9780374614973
| 0374614970
| 3.54
| 158
| May 12, 2023
| Oct 01, 2024
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really liked it
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Acclaimed author Deborah Levy, in a stirring collection of essays pays tribute to the feminine in general and some of the obscure as well as famous li
Acclaimed author Deborah Levy, in a stirring collection of essays pays tribute to the feminine in general and some of the obscure as well as famous literary and artistic women, who have served as beacons of inspiration in ger own authorial endeavours. The Position of Spoons is a powerful homage to the indomitable spirit. The first essay titled “Bathed in an Arc of French Light” sets the stage for the rest of the book. Expressing her unabashed admiration for French novelist, Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, known monymously as Colette, Levy writes about the influence of Colette on her life from a very early age. “When I started to read her books, all that was transgressive and sensuous in her writing blew like a wind from Burgundy, Paris and the south of France into the damp suburban gardens of London”, writes Levy. If Colette was the very epitome of transgression, Marguerite Duras worked magic by adhering to the principle of being economical with words. Miserly, yet magnanimous, Duras’s spare albeit revealing style of writing wove its own tapestry of influence on Levy. Terming Duras’s The Lover, a work of incandescence, Levy contending that the book is more existential in nature than feminist, expresses her doubts on the prospects of the same being published in the contemporaneous era. The Lover was penned in the year 1984. On January 19, 1981, twenty-two-year-old Francesca Woodman jumped to her death from a loft window of a building on the East Side of New York. The teenager, as the world learned much later, had left behind an enduring legacy in the form of her haunting and almost metaphysical collection of black and white pictures, many of which featured herself. Levy in her emotional essay “Walking Out of The Frame”, pays tribute to both the persona and photographs of Francesca Woodman. Realising that Levy herself is clad in a pair of boots similar to that worn by Woodman in one of her pictures, Levy underscores the importance of ‘getting a grip’ while attempting to walk out of what she calls the frame of femininity, into something vaguer, and something more blurred. The Position of Spoons also embeds within its confines an appreciable degree of interiority. Levy in a refreshingly transparent manner opens the doors to her own life by narrating experiences, both celebratory and sombre. In an eerily titled essay “A to Z Of The Death Drive”, Lecy relates each of the English alphabet with something to an automobile while describing the death of a famous persona in a road accident. The word C representing Camus (Albert Camus) and Cochran (Eddie Cochran) for example, concentrates on the accidents leading to the demise of both Cochran and Camus. The alphabet D as an ode to James Dean has this meagre assemblage of words, “Kenneth Anger owns a mangled piece of Dean’s cursed Porsche Spyder bought for $300.” The Position of Spoons is ambivalent yet lucid, concealing yet transparent. This collection of essays, more than anything else, is a testimony to the prowess of Deborah Levy as a formidable author. The Position of Spoons is published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and will be available on sale from Oct 01, 2024. Thank You Net Galley for the Advance Reviewer Copy! ...more |
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1
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May 09, 2024
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Jun 2024
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Jun 09, 2024
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Hardcover
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| 1761343467
| 9781761343469
| B0BYRMQKYJ
| 4.21
| 2,226
| Oct 31, 2023
| Oct 31, 2023
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really liked it
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In a story titled “Questions Posed by a Mad Mathematician,” Russian author Anton Chekov describes a train traveling between stations at specific times
In a story titled “Questions Posed by a Mad Mathematician,” Russian author Anton Chekov describes a train traveling between stations at specific times. Weaving an intricate question of Arithmetic in between the story, Chekov concludes with an abstruse question, “Who is capable of loving longer, a man or a woman?” The metaphysical query of who can love longer weaves through the narrative of Richard Flanagan’s serrating new book, Question 7. Diaphanous yet determined and vulnerable yet resolute, Question 7 is more a call for self-introspection than a non-linear assemblage of bitter-sweet memories. Flanagan begins his book on a mellow note as he describes his visit to the infamous death mines of Ohama in Japan. A multitude of Allied Prisoners Of War were mercilessly made to work their bones off at these mines, and many of them succumbed to either the rigours of work or the rapaciousness of their Japanese captors. Flanagan’s father was one of those people fortunate to have survived the horrors of the concentration camp. The visit to Japan seems to have triggered a “chaos theory” effect in the author. He proceeds to exquisitely thread together a series of seemingly unrelated events that led to Thomas Ferebee releasing a lever on his B-29 and letting drop an atomic bomb, paradoxically named Little Boy, which killed 60,000 – 140,000 souls in Hiroshima, on the 6th of August 1945. H.G. Wells, the undisputed pioneer of science fiction and a habitual philanderer, having experienced an unsettling encounter with Rebecca West, a trenchant and outspoken critic of his works, develops a raging obsession for West. In order to deflect his mind off West, Wells flees to the cooler climes of Switzerland and into the arms of his mistress, and a magnificent chalet. If Wells had not attempted to reign in his desire for West, he would not have written, The World Set Free, a book in which he first foresaw the creation of a destructive weapon of mass destruction. In fact, some credit Wells with using the word “atomic” in relation to a bomb for the first time. If Wells hadn’t written The World Set Free, the eccentric but indescribably brilliant Leo Szilard wouldn’t have read it. If the brilliant theoretical physicist had not read the book, he wouldn’t have grasped the enormity of his prophecy about a nuclear chain reaction. If Szilard hadn’t grasped the enormity of Germany developing such a bomb first, he wouldn’t have coaxed, coerced, and cajoled Einstein to petition President Roosevelt. If that petition had never become exposed, Roosevelt might never have green flagged the Manhattan Project. But for the Manhattan Project, Thomas Ferebee would never have uttered the words “Bomb Away” and a great part of Hiroshima’s populace would have been spared the horrors of incineration. Flanagan also links the systematic and calculated genocide of Tasmania’s Aboriginal people by the Empire with yet another H.G. Wells novel, The War of the Worlds. There is thus established an unfortunate yet plausible connection between the dreaded atomic bomb that put an end to World War II, during which his Tasmanian father was imprisoned and the remorseless extermination of the natives in his home state of Tasmania. Flanagan builds up his reminiscences and reflections to arrive at a spine chilling personal Near-Death Experience that left a lasting imprint on him, and quite a few emotional scars. Trapped in a Kayak, with his legs jammed underneath, and a torrential flow of water threatening to engulf him, he struggles between life and death for hours before he is miraculously rescued by a friend, referred to only as ‘P’ in the book. While Flanagan jousts between survival and death, he experiences a moment of eerie calm and solitude. In what can only be described as an out of body experience, he serenely watches himself battling against all odds with the assistance of his friend and alternating between hope and futility. Incapable of being strait jacketed into any genre, Question 7 alternatively revels and repeals. As Flanagan himself bewilderingly writes, “the only writing that can have any worth confounds time and stands outside of it, swims with it and flies with it and dives deep within it, seeking the answer to one insistent question: who loves longer?” Question 7 does not provide a convincing let alone conclusive response to the query “who loves more?”. But it sure encourages its readers to never stop trying to love. ...more |
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1
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Jun 2024
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Jun 04, 2024
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Jun 03, 2024
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Hardcover
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| 0143135899
| 9780143135890
| 4.10
| 777
| unknown
| Jan 23, 2024
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liked it
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Zen Buddhist teacher and bestselling Korean author, Haemin Sumin, offers tidbits of ‘Kiplingesque’ wisdom in his slim, albeit alluring book, When Thin
Zen Buddhist teacher and bestselling Korean author, Haemin Sumin, offers tidbits of ‘Kiplingesque’ wisdom in his slim, albeit alluring book, When Things Don’t Your Way. Drawing upon personal experiences and challenges, Sumin distills the essence of life in six concise chapters. Exhorting his readers that not ‘feeling all right’ is also a perfectly acceptable natural phenomenon, the author urges taking on the invisible demons of the mind, head-on. The key to attaining success and fulfilment in life lies in welcoming pain and embracing failure. Channeling one’s inner chaos would ultimately lead to a journey of self-discovery. Unhappiness, according to the Buddha, is a direct outcome of relentless mental pursuits. Commonly termed “grasping”, these impulsive pursuits draw man to new objects, lure him to stay close to it, and encouraging complete possession and usage. Similarly, there is a tendency to flee the undesirable. When this happens the phenomenon of grasping transforms into an attitude of ‘resistance’, leading to stress. This perpetual and paradoxical struggle makes life an exercise in absolute misery. The best way to counter these two extremes, according to Sumin is to inculcate the value of gratitude. A grateful mind becomes open and receptive to both possessions and scarcity. Bitter experiences are welcomed and acknowledged in the same manner as euphoria and contentment. Sumin also places immense trust in the benevolence of the Universe. Influenced by the proclamations of his Buddhist teacher, who believed that “there are more than enough ‘pies’ to go around for everyone”, Sumin encourages his readers to take this daunting leap of faith. Such a faith would trigger a virtuous cycle of benevolent thoughts and deeds which in turn bestows beneficial and rich experiences, both spiritual and psychological. Sumin also dwells on sour experiences such as the deterioration of relationships in life and proposes measures to overcome such adverse circumstances. Giving his own example where he had a fall out with an otherwise close roommate at Princeton University, courtesy some trivial disagreements on the amount of rice for partaking a meal, Sumin emphasises the importance of space and harmony in any relationship. “Everyone has their unique quirks, idiosyncratic habits, and pet peeves. Rather than bottling up inside every time the other person does something that bothers you, communicate kindly and respectfully.” As a good beginning, Sumin proposes making ten close friends as one of the goals in life for deriving the benefit of a lasting influence The Chapter that interested and impressed me the most comprises within its confines the emphasis on enjoying the infinitesimal pleasures in life. One of the most cliched acronyms of our time is “YOLO”. Expanded to read “You Only Live Once”, this acronym is emblematic of a hedonistic treadmill. Bucket lists are made, ceilings on desires are removed and yet, man lives in a perpetual state of unhappiness. Instead, if YOLO could be replaced by SBCH – Small But Certain Happiness, life would be a great deal more joyous and peaceful. The phrase “Small But Certain Happiness” was first coined by the Japanese author, Haruki Murakami in an essay titled “Afternoons in the Islets of Langerhans.” Happiness, according to Sumin, is not dependent on many years of struggle and hardship; instead, it boils down to appreciating life as it is being lived every moment. Having a steaming hot cup of coffee, listening to one’s favourite song on the radio or browsing through the pages of a book in a bookshop can all result in overwhelming feelings of absolute satiety. Sumin draws attention to a fabulous quote by the German philosopher Goethe, “if you have fresh air, bright sunlight, clear water and the love of your friends, there is no need to be disappointed in life.” “When Things Don’t Go Your Way” is a handy compendium for contemplation, reflection and reminiscence. ...more |
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1
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May 31, 2024
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Jun 02, 2024
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Jun 01, 2024
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Hardcover
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| 0063318628
| 9780063318625
| 0063318628
| 4.41
| 1,611
| 2024
| Mar 12, 2024
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really liked it
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One of the world’s most dangerous sporting expeditions involves maneuvering an approximately 798-kilogram car primarily manufactured using carbon fibr
One of the world’s most dangerous sporting expeditions involves maneuvering an approximately 798-kilogram car primarily manufactured using carbon fibre and similar ultra-lightweight materials, hurtling it at mad speeds of 200 mph down long straight lines, while at the same time avoiding perilous and possibly fatal contacts with the barricades and walls fencing the automobile circuit, all the while crazy braking to navigate some tough chicanes. Every driver who gets into the cockpit of this screaming automobile loses between 2 – 8 pounds in weight after every race. Joshua Robinson and Jonathan Clegg in what undoubtedly must be one of the most definitive books of its genre, unravel the trajectory of the sport at a pace that would do more than ample justice to a Grand Prix race itself. Painstakingly informing their readers that there is more to the esoteric world of Formula 1 than just raw speed, the authors proceed to illustrate an eclectic agglomeration of factors, both extrinsic and intrinsic that makes Formula 1 one of the most complex of sports. An inextricably linked chain where the future of the sport is convolutedly meshed in with the personal proclivities and propensities of a few frighteningly eccentric bunch of dilettantes, and bon vivants, The ensemble comprising the subtitle to the book covers an entire phalanx of characters ranging from the sublime to the selfish. A madcap British engineer Colin Chapman, whose singularly manic obsession with speed and mania for innovation resulted in Lotus cars careening through post-war British airfields. Driver’s safety during the Chapman days were a mere figment of the human imagination as F1 racked up a steady stream of driver fatalities. A pretentious Italian, Enzo Ferrari, whose steadfast refusal to look beyond the conventional facets attached to the troika of engines, chassis and motor almost took the world’s most revered brand of automobile to the brink. A wheelchair bound genius whose penchant for technology ensured that a car equipped with the most sophisticated electronics could be driver agnostic. Frank Williams proved this point in exquisite detail when a 39-year-old driver called Nigel Mansell put an entire cast of universally acknowledged wizards behind a driving wheel to utter disdain by winning a Championship for Williams, courtesy a computer embedded within the car. If there is one distinctive feature attached to the exercise of making monotonous high-speed laps over a period of a couple of hours, it is the opportunity to exploit technical, legal, commercial, and technological loopholes. Teams have thrived, albeit for temporary durations by taking advantage of loopholes, both glaring and barely perceptible. Whether it be taking advantage of highly technical concepts such as downforce, or craftily installing performance enhancing devices such as double diffusers, F1 has always been a playground of and for the intrepid. A blank canvas for genius manufacturers such as Adrian Newey of the Red bull Motor Racing fame to paint their own history. Robinson and Clegg cover controversies and incidents which to a contemporaneous F1 fan, might seem straight out of the pages of a fictional realism piece by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Classic examples being two jaw dropping events simply named “Spy gate” and “Crash gate.” “Spygate” had a disgruntled Ferrari engineer handing over on a platter, realms of delicate and sensitive information about the Prancing Horse car to a McLaren Engineer. Close to five hundred pages of engineering design and data changed hands! “Crashgate” went a step further even! Nelson Piquet Jr a driver, peddling his OnTrack wares for Renault was instructed by his team to deliberately crash his car during the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix so that his teammate could benefit from the incident! Liberty Media, the current owners of F1, are leaving no stone unturned to broaden an already burgeoning outreach of the sport. A step in the right direction is the immensely popular Netflix series Drive to Survive. Expletive laden, adrenaline-fueled episodes of 40 – 45 minutes each that provide its audience with a ringside view of the sport, Drive to Survive has ensured that one need not view even a single race in person to qualify as an F1 fanatic! The Miami Grand Prix in 2023 had the drivers introduced by LL Cool J against a pulsating rap background. This garish display that denigrated the sport to a cringeworthy spectacle was frowned upon by none other than the current world Champion, Max Verstappen. Bemoaning the reduction of the sport to a circus, Verstappen was not one bit amused by the glitz and glamour surrounding the event. Neither did she shy away from lashing into a diatribe. Joshua Robinson and Jonathan Clegg have penned a work that would keep engaged hard core fans and intrigued entrants alike when it comes to understanding the world of Formula 1. ...more |
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1
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Mar 22, 2024
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Mar 25, 2024
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Mar 25, 2024
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Hardcover
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| 1633310833
| 9781633310834
| 1633310833
| 4.73
| 22
| unknown
| Jan 23, 2024
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liked it
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Frank C. Carlucci III was a storied diplomat who plied his wares under seven presidents across party affiliations. He discharged his responsibilities
Frank C. Carlucci III was a storied diplomat who plied his wares under seven presidents across party affiliations. He discharged his responsibilities in the military and foreign service in addition to serving as national security advisor and secretary of defense. Get Me Carlucci is a compilation of reminisces about her father by Kristin Carlucci Weed. Drawing on anecdotes from Carlucci’s superiors, subordinates and peers, empirical evidence from Carlucci’s own notes and conversations with Carlucci himself, the book is dwells on some of Carlucci’s momentous experiences and has a fair share of unexpected thrills and spills. Speaking six foreign languages, Carlucci found himself stationed in some of the most volatile places on earth, experiencing some of the most extraordinary situations over the course of his political career. Posted to Congo immediately after the country obtained independence – there were only 16 Congolese graduates in the entire nation – Carlucci got drawn into a cauldron of political churn. He got stabbed by an irate mob when the car in which he was traveling hit a cyclist who’s unfortunately succumbed to his wounds. Carlucci was even accused of murdering Congo’s first Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba, an allegation that solely belonged to the realm of fantasy. Carlucci distinguished himself so admirably in Portugal in the role of Ambassador that the U.S. ambassador’s residence in Lisbon is now named Casa Carlucci in his honor. But as the book states, the one achievement that Carlucci was most proud of related to his rehabilitation efforts to aid his home state of Pennsylvania after the State was battered by Hurricane Agnes in 1972. When the hurricane wreaked havoc, there was no government agency for handling disaster relief. Carlucci stepped in taking on the role of “flood czar,” and oversaw billions of dollars in federal aid on the ground. When the dust finally settled, the force of nature had caused 118 fatalities and lead to $3.5 billion in property damage. Carlucci also mooted the creation of a nodal relief agency for managing future disasters, which ultimately led to the creation of [the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The utility of Carlucci as a resourceful administrator is epitomised by the title of the book. In 1981 a 1981 Washington Post article titled “Get Me Carlucci is the summons for the quintessential Survivor” was published following the departure of Carlucci from the CIA under Carter where he undertook wholesale reforms in embellishing a tarnished image of the CIA, courtesy a slew of scandals. After decades of government service, Carlucci tried his hand at business and was a spectacular success there as well. Joining the Private Equity firm Carlyle as Chairman, he used his extensive networks to position Carlyle as the then number one Private Equity firm. He also assumed Directorships in a clutch of companies which created a bit of controversy. Get Me Carlucci is an absorbing recollection of a daughter about her father who despite being in a sphere of noteworthy influence thought the least about blowing his own trumpet. ...more |
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1
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Feb 06, 2024
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Feb 11, 2024
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Feb 11, 2024
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Hardcover
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| 145297053X
| 9781452970530
| B0C42CZ3JJ
| 4.09
| 1,703
| Jan 28, 2020
| May 21, 2024
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it was amazing
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In the year 1919, Sweden and Norway agreed on a reindeer grazing convention that proposed to limit the number of reindeer allowed to cross the border.
In the year 1919, Sweden and Norway agreed on a reindeer grazing convention that proposed to limit the number of reindeer allowed to cross the border. This convention also insidiously determined the number of people to be displaced from their homes on the Atlantic seaboard. The Sámi people represented an Indigenous group inhabiting large northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and of the Kola Peninsula in Russia from time immemorial. Their existence was governed by the Lapp Codicil which acknowledged the Sámi as a separate people with rights over the land and the right to fish, hunt, and herd reindeer. The Swedish-Norwegian convention commenced a brutal forced displacement of the people who had nurtured a precocious bond with their land and nature, a bond that made them indistinguishable from their environment. This forced displacement, termed Bággojohtin or Sirdolaččat, in Sámi terms, resulted in a heart-rending migration of entire families with disastrous and intended consequences. Elin Anna Labba (or in Northern Sami: Joná Gusttu Elin Ánná), a Sámi author and journalist and multiple prize-winning authors describes in a poignant and plangent manner, the forced migration of the Sámi in The Rocks Will Echo Our Sorrow. Based on interviews conducted with people having experienced the perils of forced deportation and drawing on records maintained by the ‘Lapp Bailiffs’ (designated authorities possessing the wanton power – but no accountability – to decide and determine the locations to which families should be deported), Anna Labba weaves together a mournful jeremiad of helplessness and injustice. Forced to abandon their goahtis (hut or tent of three types of covering: fabric, peat moss or timber) and haul all their meagre belongings over distances making up hundreds of miles, the Sámi lose people and reindeer on the way to both the vagaries of nature and the exertions on the body. Those who manage to reach their allocated designations face scorn and ostracism from the more ‘modern’ inhabitants occupying the new land. The Sámi children are mocked at school, called names, and accused of bringing lice into the classroom. Sámi people forced to migrate to Norway were at the receiving end of what professor of cultural studies Ivar Björklund, terms, Social Darwinism. Viewed as archaic and medieval, “they were regarded as people who had nothing to do with us, as foreign nationals with a culture that was dying out. It was thought to be just a question of time until they disappeared anyway. Quite simply they correspond to all the ideas about ‘the other,’ people who are different from us, who we want to distance ourselves from.” The Sámi people have been passing down from generation to generation, the chanting song that has survived the test of time. Popularly known as ‘joiking,’ some of the oldest joiks we know today were recorded by priests and missionaries in the 1700s and 1800s. But as one of the Sámi migrants Inggá Biette experienced, there was barely any joiking at all since the migration. In the haunting words of Anna Labba, “Its as if the words catch in his throat or the wind cannot carry them. He’ll joik only when he meets someone from back home or when there’s no one to hear.” The Sámi are also humiliatingly subjected repeated ‘racial biology’ examinations prior, and subsequent to their forced relocation. They are photographed from the front and in profile. “Naked, serious faced and with their mouths closed.” Protesting Sámi are either fined outrageous sums of money which can only be produced by either selling or slaughtering reindeers or as Biito Biera experienced firsthand, issued dire threats of being forcibly herded south by other reindeer herders. The expenses to be incurred in conducting this heinous threat would need to be borne by Biito Biera, the individual threated to be displaced! A Sámi says that the downy birch does not break in two; it merely bends. One bears one’s hurt alone for breaking down does not make life more easy or expedient. The grieving person’s tears should fall unseen on her shawl. This resilient philosophy forms the cornerstone of the word – birget -surviving and coping. “Each year the reindeer must survive the winter: that is what matters, not people’s feelings.” The tears of Ándom Ovllá and Ristiinná, Gusttu Bierar and Marja’, Márggu Ántte Jouná, Nilsa and Gustu Inggá, and a thousand others were silently spilling their stories on weathered and worn-out shawls. However, such stories should not be allowed to die. They cannot be ignored as forgotten relics of a neglected history. Anna Labba does a monumental job in bringing to the attention of an oblivious world, a tapestry of precious shawls that joik in their own beautiful and inimitable manner, the treacheries, teachings, and tales of life. (The Rocks Will Echo Our Sorrow: The Forced Displacement of The Northern Sami is published by University of Minnesota Press, and will be available on sale beginning 2nd April, 2024) Thank You, Net Galley for the Advance Reviewer Copy! #TheRocksWillEchoOurSorrow #NetGalley ...more |
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| 1632869500
| 9781632869500
| 1632869500
| 3.67
| 1,139
| Feb 27, 2018
| Feb 27, 2018
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liked it
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Savage, filthy, honest, and unflinching, Eat The Apple is a no holds barred reminiscence of an egregious youth who joins the Marine Corps aged followi
Savage, filthy, honest, and unflinching, Eat The Apple is a no holds barred reminiscence of an egregious youth who joins the Marine Corps aged following a car crash on an inebriated night. After crashing his car into a fire hydrant, eighteen-year-old Matt Young impulsively enlists himself into the Marines. After being put through the wringers at Camp Pendleton, Young is sent out for deployment in the ravaged terrains of Iraq. Young recounts in a lacerating manner, his experience in the war-torn desert. Self-deprecation juxtaposes with barely hidden obscenity as torn limbs share space with compulsive masturbation. In fact, an entire chapter is devoted to the act of self-gratification! When not hanging precariously to the sides of a toppled Humvee, Young finds himself obsessively smoking, getting dead drunk and brawling with his mates. Young’s irascible and irreverent account is not just a pungent jeremiad on the futility of war. It is also a railing against an establishment that harbours more secrets than it can store and has the right to store. Accounts of ‘vulnerable’ marines going ‘missing’ – a la the unforgettable Hollywood blockbuster ‘A Few Good Men’ -, racial slurs being leveled at people of colour all blow the cover open on an institution otherwise glorified for its achievements. Eat The Apple is an unflinching confession of spectacular human failings and the realisation of the same. Infidelity, selfishness, hatred, recrimination, and remorse all contrive to produce a roiling concoction of uncontained emotions. Getting fellated by random women with a fiancé waiting at home or shooting down stray mongrels in Iraq just for the ‘kick’ of it, Young chronicles his time with the Marines in short, crisp Chapters that explode at the reader in the same way bullets whiz around soldier and civilian heads in a staccato burst. “We think we need to find a dog to stroke, a baby to coddle. We destroy the picture and reinforce the packaging that houses the person-thing with positive thoughts and exercise and whatever other coping mechanisms we have developed. But even as we rip the picture to shreds and our eyes well with tears for our once-lost humanity, we feel the person-thing slithering along the walls of its makeshift cell, waiting.” The title is drawn from a Marine Corps saying, “eat the apple; (expletive) the corps,” meant both as a play on words and an insult to the Corps, often by a departing Marine. The most haunting and evocative part of the book deals with Young’s return from his very first Iraqi deployment. Drinking himself senseless, Young begins to ramble spinning layers of fantastic events, occurrences and thrills that never took place. As he keeps blabbering away with a misty head, he fails to appreciate the fact that his family squirming in embarrassment is pleading with him silently to halt the gibberish. Not for the faint hearted, Eat The Apple F*ck The Corps does not meld itself to the normal military genre. It may also not appeal to the senses and sensitivities. Graphic, unrepentant and even downright ugly in bits and snatches, this is a polemic that blends barely disguised vitriol with self-deprecating wit. More than everything else, it is also an unabashed and unashamed indictment of aggression resorted to without regard for cause and unmindful of consequence. ...more |
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Jan 23, 2024
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Jan 27, 2024
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Jan 27, 2024
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Hardcover
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| 0807007927
| 9780807007921
| B0CFPQTVRT
| 4.28
| 105
| unknown
| May 14, 2024
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really liked it
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Drive is more a savage and deserving indictment of a giant enterprise in a gig economy that cares two hoots about imperiling lives and futures than a
Drive is more a savage and deserving indictment of a giant enterprise in a gig economy that cares two hoots about imperiling lives and futures than a stark story of a young man who leads a life in between two successive paychecks, despite holding onto a stable day job, boasting two college degrees, donating a little more than thirty-nine gallons of plasma until his arms resembled divots (you read that right), and doing all of these things when not doubling up as an Uber driver throughout the night. Jonathan Rigsby’s life faces an existential crisis when a trifecta of calamities in the form of a broken marriage, burgeoning debts and an unceasing torrent of expenses raise their dreaded hoods. In desperation, Rigsby registers himself as a driver for Uber. Thus begins his life as a small cog in the gigantic wheel that is the gig economy. This work lends a sneak peek into Rigsby’s experiences spanning over eight thousand drives, hundreds of passengers, an eclectic agglomeration of emotions, an unpredictable bouquet of behaviours and a lasting memory of impressions and idiosyncrasies, nostalgia, and nightmares. Rigsby’s diverse experience behind the wheel of his car, at times reads straight out a Wachowski Brothers – or sisters in the most contemporaneous sense – thriller. Getting an inside view into the trials and tribulations of his passengers as they spill out their woes and wisdom, Rigsby might have felt as though he was experiencing an alternative or parallel universe. From the sophisticated to the simple and from the refined to the rustic, Rigsby gets a ringside view into the entire tapestry of human emotions with every warp and weft lending itself to sharing, if not scrutiny. When not trying to spill their inebriated guts out within the confines of Rigsby’s conveyance, people either choose to be an epitome of etiquette or a disgrace to humanity. An especial and dangerous illustration of the latter almost cost Rigsby an eye. When requested by Rigsby to get out of the car’s trunk and wait for another ride, since the car was already full of the stipulated number of passengers, an irate and inebriated man flings himself against an unsuspecting Rigsby, pummels him to the ground before unleashing a fusillade of punches one of which connects dangerously close to his left eye. What follows is a continuing episode of blinding lights, a series of examinations and a potentially gloomy prospect of the loss of an eye. An excruciating Court battle follows and by the time the issue is set to rest after more than a year and a half, Rigsby is left with a compensation, terming which as paltry would be being virtuous to the grant, and his assailant is left with just a rap and a few hours of community service. Throughout the whole unsavoury process, Uber could not be bothered to be disturbed with such trivial issues. Rigsby slowly masters the technique of identifying the right crowd, location, and time for optimizing his costs and maximizing his revenues. In the process he finds out the lies peddled by Uber in attracting drivers. Promising the world by proclaiming that a driver even when working at his or her own convenience could make as much as $90,000 per annum, Uber uses the technique of gamification to lure drivers to work as hard as possible. Fatigue for an Uber driver is as good as a veritable taboo. But the realities are tangentially different from the rosy proclamations. Rigsby when struggling to maintain his own livelihood let alone providing for his son, unfortunately gets into the rut of regular drinking. When the consumption transitions from the regular to the copious, he fortunately grasps the enormity of the problem and seeks support. Writing for the New York Times, Mike Issac on the 22nd of February 2017, bared in a no-holds barred manner the workplace culture permeating Uber. In what employees’ term “Hobbesian” environment, the company pits worker against worker and turns a blind eye to even major infractions from the stand-out performers. From managers groping women, directors hurling homophobic slurs and superiors threatening to beat underperforming employees head in with a baseball bat, Uber is a melting pot of reprehensible behaviour. Uber also is accused of regularly cheating drivers of their earnings. In 2023 Uber and Lyft agreed to pay $328 million after “cheating drivers out of hundreds of millions of dollars,” according to New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office. Uber’s share was $290 million while Lyft agreed to fork out $38 million. From 2014 to 2017, Uber deducted sales taxes and Black Car Fund fees from drivers’ payments when those taxes and fees should have been paid by passengers. Uber misrepresented the deductions made to drivers’ pay in their terms of service, telling drivers that Uber would only deduct its commission from the drivers’ fare. Rigsby highlights his and his fellow drivers’ travails as they are left at the mercy of a hyper capitalistic animal that pays scant – if not nonexistent – heed to the predicaments of thousands of human beings which it fails to even classify as ‘employees.’ Drive is a candid quasi memoir of failings, resilience, and a reinforcement of optimism. ...more |
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Jan 21, 2024
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Jan 22, 2024
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Kindle Edition
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| 1803697431
| 9781803697437
| 1803697431
| 4.57
| 14
| unknown
| Jun 13, 2023
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really liked it
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Emma Strandberg’s reminiscences of her 21-week peregrination of Iceland transcends the genre of travelogue. It is a spontaneous and agglomeration of r
Emma Strandberg’s reminiscences of her 21-week peregrination of Iceland transcends the genre of travelogue. It is a spontaneous and agglomeration of raw emotions. It is also a tribute to resilience and a reinforcement of the power of belief. Strandberg sets off on an extemporaneous journey to Iceland with a view to not just exorcising a few ghosts of the past but also to stir herself out of her comfort zone. Being subject to a traumatizing episode of burglary, Strandberg decides to undertake a ‘cleansing’ expedition to the same land which had traumatized her late mother many moons back. Strandberg deliberately avoiding the more popular tourist destinations and the capital of Iceland, settles on a non-descript town and former municipality as her base of expedition. The incredulity exhibited by friends and strangers alike to the choice of location can be gleaned from the title of this compelling book. Situated on Route 1 at the mouth of the glacial river Blanda, Blönduós is split into two parts by the glacial river Blanda, for which it is named (Blöndu is an oblique case of Blanda). Housing a wool washery, and the Icelandic Textile Center, Blönduós also hosts a residency program for international textile artists and scholars. It is the residency where Strandberg book herself into. Where the F&*K Blönduós is a testimony to both wanderlust and verisimilitude. As Strandberg navigates some of the most treacherous terrains, driving white knuckled and being buffeted by gale force winds – at one point in time her car finds itself balancing on just two wheels with the other two hanging precarious in the air – she also finds herself in this exhilarating journey. Every spectacular glacier, every splendid specie of bird and every hair-raising bend in the mountain is path towards introspection and self-discovery. Strandberg’s journey begins in the worst possible way when she receives the devastating news of the demise of one of her best friends, courtesy an IED in Afghanistan. As a homage and tribute to him, Strandberg continues her journey and lights a candle every time she sits down to chronicle her experiences. And boy! Doesn’t she do a capital job of it! Laced with wit and interspersed with precocious advice, the book is an indispensable guide for the intrepid and the intrigued alike. During one of her long drives, Strandberg is accosted by an egregious group of Asian tourists looking to immerse themselves in a hot spring. They also express a keenness to take a selfie with a ‘local’ woman. Strandberg, plays along by advising them advising them that the only spring worth visiting happens to be her ancient ancestors’ hole in the ground at Grettislaug. She even writes down the details of such a spring before nonchalantly signing off the note as ‘Emma Grettisdóttir.’ Other than those occasions where Strandberg is trying hard not to plummet to her death from a cliff edge (which she has scaled in a brazen act of indiscretion), or where she is photographing whales or taking a flying tour of a scientific island from the confines of a helicopter, she tried hard to assimilate herself into the Icelandic mores of culture and language. For example, she understands that the single word “Ha!” accommodates ubiquitous usage in alignment with myriad situations ranging from the aesthetic to the asinine. She also finds herself participating in the unique ritual of “Rettir,” that involves gathering sheep and horses from the high ground before the weather closes in. All of these when she is not photographing the breathtaking magnificence of aurora borealis or the Northern Lights! Strandberg finishes her book with a precious list of dos and don’ts for an inspiring explorer determined to choose Blönduós in particular & Iceland in general as a sojourn. This includes a list of indispensable items. Where the F*&K is Blönduós – An exercise in excelsis! ...more |
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| 034943185X
| 9780349431857
| B09TR5XYY1
| 3.89
| 27
| unknown
| Sep 08, 2022
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it was amazing
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I usually abhor the self-help genre like the plague. So, it was with a tinge of skepticism that I picked up psychotherapist, coaching psychologist, an
I usually abhor the self-help genre like the plague. So, it was with a tinge of skepticism that I picked up psychotherapist, coaching psychologist, and writer Stephen Joseph’s Think Like A Therapist. 177 pages and arresting reading later, I was pleasantly surprised. Professor Jospeh distills the philosophy of Buddhism, the empirical techniques of clinical psychotherapy and the invaluable attribute of empathy into six extremely practical and powerful ‘insights. Insights that would lead to life in general being led in a more meaningful and purposeful fashion. Majorly influenced by the seminal work of the leading member of the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory, Erich Fromm, Joseph alludes on the two modes of existence that struggle for the spirit of humankind, the having mode (empahsising on material possessions power and aggressiveness), and the being mode (stressing on the need for love, the pleasure of sharing and productive activity). Each of the six insights is divided into six chapters with a profound quote opening each Chapter. Joseph kicks off with “Second Life,” a clarion call to be aware of one’s mortality. On the 4th of August 2013, American journalist Steven Sotloff was kidnapped by ISIS militants in Syria before being brutally beheaded on the 2nd of September a year later. In the interregnum, Sotloff penned a moving letter to his parents. A quote originally attributable to Confucius, found its way into Sotloff’s letter. ‘A person has two lives; the second life begins when they realise, they only have one.’ This constant awareness of one’s mortality (not in a morbid sense), according to Joseph, can function as a steppingstone to a wiser way of living. Confrontation with frailties (as occurred to and with the Buddha) often leads to moments of awakening and a grasp of the true nature of reality. The insight “Not Just You,” exhorts readers to recognise the worth of others. The greatest challenge facing people possessing enormous social power lies in its use to nurture and grow the personal power of others. As both psychotherapy and Buddhism allude to, the quintessence of genuine relationships lies in approaching life with a non-judgmental way of being. However, it also needs to be reiterated that the pre cursor for accepting others and exhibiting compassion towards them is developing an attitude of acceptance and compassion towards oneself. The last bit of the previous insight logically and seamlessly segues itself into the insight of “Accepting Oneself.” Personally, this is the Chapter that is likely to leave a lasting impact and imprint eventually. The insight of “accept yourself” hinges on two important practices pioneered by Carl Rogers a humanistic psychologist, and which have an explicit outcome even though they are executed in an implicit manner. Conditional regard and unconditional regard. Conditional positive regard refers to the expression of acceptance and approval by others (often parents or caregivers) only when an individual behaves in a certain acceptable or approved way. According to Rogers, conditional positive regard in childhood can lead to conditions of worth in adulthood, where a person’s self-esteem and self-worth may depend heavily on meeting certain standards or expectations. These conditions of worth can create a discrepancy between a person’s real self and ideal self, possibly leading to incongruence and psychological distress. On the other hand, Unconditional positive regard is where parents, significant others (and the humanist therapist) accept and love the person for what he or she is, and refrain from any judgment or criticism. Positive regard is not withdrawn if the person does something wrong or makes a mistake. Unconditional positive regard can be used by parents, teachers, mentors, and social workers in their relationships with children, to foster a positive sense of self-worth and lead to better outcomes in adulthood. To inculcate a strong and sustained mode of unconditional regard, Joseph suggests a simple confidence building breathing exercise: Take a breath in through your nose for the count of 7, hold it for 4. Expel it through your mouth for 9. On the ‘in’ breath, visualize a neon sign that says, ‘I am a person of worth just as I am.’ On the ‘out’ breath visualize another sign that says, ‘I don’t have to be a people pleaser.’ Think Like A Therapist, is a slim book that packs an enormous punch. Never going overboard and refraining totally from jargons, it is a delight for the lay and the learned alike. The icing on the cake is a gob smacking bibliography section that is a repository of wisdom waiting to be unpacked. This section led me to the pristine works of Erich Fromm, Carl Rogers, Evelyn Underhill, D.T. Suzuki, and D.H. Meadows (amongst others!). ...more |
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Dec 25, 2023
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Dec 30, 2023
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Dec 30, 2023
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Kindle Edition
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| 0735845441
| 9780735845442
| 0735845441
| 4.28
| 206
| unknown
| Mar 05, 2024
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it was amazing
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From one of the most acclaimed Iranian illustrators comes an exquisite introduction to the legendary poet Rumi, targeted at children. Rashin Kheiriyeh
From one of the most acclaimed Iranian illustrators comes an exquisite introduction to the legendary poet Rumi, targeted at children. Rashin Kheiriyeh, the winner of the Golden Apple of Bratislava, has pulled a rabbit out of the hat and more with "Rumi - Poet of Joy and Love". In a short span of 40 pages, Kheiriyeh whips up the curiosity of her reader in wanting to know more about one of the greatest literary figures our world has ever seen. Beginning with the birth of Rumi in 1207, the author traces - with the help of some glorious illustrations, the growth of Rumi as an inquisitive child, an attentive adolescent and a keen cultivator of relationships. Influenced greatly by a book titled "The Conference of the Birds" gifted to him by a famous Persian poet, Attar, Rumi experienced a dramatic shift in outlook. This outlook was further enhanced and embellished by his friendship with the Persian spiritual teacher, Shams. Literally meaning "the sun", Shams regaled Rumi with chronicles of his extensive travel. As Rumi's friendship with Shams bloomed, Rumi's students (by now Rumi was a teacher) turned jealous and goaded Shams to get away from Rumi. Although the disappearance of Shams devastated Rumi, it also broadened his perspective, and his writings took on a seraphic quality that continues to mesmerise his readers till today. Rumi - Poet of Joy and Love, no better gift for a parent to gift to their literary inclined child! Rumi–Poet of Joy and Love by Rashin Kheiriyeh is published by NorthSouth Books Inc. and will be available for sale beginning 05 March. 2024 Thank You Net Galley for the Advance Reviewer Copy! ...more |
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Dec 30, 2023
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Dec 30, 2023
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Dec 30, 2023
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Hardcover
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| 9798394177040
| B0C6BYXT5K
| unknown
| 4.83
| 6
| unknown
| May 27, 2023
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really liked it
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Author and illustrator Jayme Kendall does an exemplary job of educating kids about the importance of Honey bees in and to the world. Employing a blend
Author and illustrator Jayme Kendall does an exemplary job of educating kids about the importance of Honey bees in and to the world. Employing a blend of wit and spectacular illustrations, Kendall enlightens not kids and adults in equal measure with some startling facts about bees. For example, she informs her readers that bees visit two million flowers just to produce one pound of honey! Similarly, we also learn that approximately 75% of vegetables, nuts, and fruits grown in North America come from crops that were pollinated by bees. Bees in the United States alone pollinate about 100 different crops, such as almonds, blueberries, clover, apples, melons, and squash. Many more startling facts such as the above intersperse this fascinating picture book. An absolute joy to both behold and read! ...more |
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Dec 27, 2023
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Dec 27, 2023
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Dec 26, 2023
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| 0711277249
| 9780711277243
| B0BQRV1419
| 3.74
| 80
| unknown
| Jul 06, 2023
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liked it
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Using humorous names such as 'Smallasaurus', 'Badasaurus' and 'Worseasaurus', award winning author of childrens books, Sean Taylor, ably supported by
Using humorous names such as 'Smallasaurus', 'Badasaurus' and 'Worseasaurus', award winning author of childrens books, Sean Taylor, ably supported by award winning illustrator, Zehra Hicks, strives to illustrate the food chain during the era dinosaurs were freely roaming and inhabiting Planet Earth. Poor little Smallasaurus needs to be on its heels always lest she falls prey to the notorious Badasaurus who is always on the prowl for making a proper meal out of a plant eating tiny dinosaur such as Smallasaurus. If you thought that was bad, just wait until you reach the pages detailing the predatory predilections of the Grand Daddy of them all, the Worseasaurus. Towering over the rest of the dinosaurs like a massive skyscraper, Worseasaurus, chomps big dinosaurs such as Badasaurus for a hobby! How poor Smallasuarus manages to survive in such a dangerous world makes up the quintessence of this small (no pun intended) book. "When Dinosaurs Walked the Earth", is published by Quarto Publishing Group – Frances Lincoln Children's Books and will be available for sale from the 6th of February 2024. Thank you, Net Galley for the Advance Reviewer Copy! #WhenDinosaursWalkedtheEarth #NetGalley. ...more |
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Dec 26, 2023
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Dec 26, 2023
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Dec 26, 2023
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Kindle Edition
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| 0593137418
| 9780593137413
| 0593137418
| 4.19
| 790
| unknown
| Oct 03, 2023
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liked it
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Erwin Raphael McManus‘ profile terms him a mind, life and cultural architect. A well acclaimed author as well as the founder of and lead pastor in Mos
Erwin Raphael McManus‘ profile terms him a mind, life and cultural architect. A well acclaimed author as well as the founder of and lead pastor in Mosaic, a global spiritual movement, McManus has risen from a humble beginning as an immigrant from El Salvador to a leading humanitarian figure and a creative mind whose clients include the NFL and the Pentagon. In his latest book -the size of the work makes it more a tract than a book – McManus demonstrates to his readers the unlimited potential and possibilities which an individual can experience if he/she takes some small and incremental steps to bring about a “MindShift”. Hence it comes as no surprise that McManus’ work is titled “Mind Shift.” McManus sets out a dozen “mental structures” that would usher in a physical, spiritual and mental change in the reader and act as a harbinger of good tidings. McManus lays down the terrain by placing people at the very first mental structure. “It’s All About People” has at its nub the need to preserve, maintain and cherish precious relationships. Accumulation of physical and material wealth at the cost of losing people who matter the most, is no achievement. With real life examples and an easy-on-the-eye narration, McManus devotes, at the maximum, just 5-6 pages per mental structure. “You Can’t Take Everyone With You” takes recourse to the author’s own life experience to illustrate how hard it is to please everyone and why such an endeavour should not even be attempted. When McManus decided to change the location of his Church Mosaic, to Hollywood Boulevard from Los Angeles, families that otherwise had sworn allegiance to the Church refrained from moving. but ultimately the benefits in terms of empowerment outweighed the costs of loyalties lost. Conviction, confidence and character form the bedrock of the Mindshift/mental structure titled “You are Your Own Ceiling”. Even in the face of the harshest limitations imposed by the world upon one’s aspirations, if one was to continue in an unrelenting fashion no success would remain just a dream. As a migrant from El Salvador, McManus was on more occasions than one deemed to be genetically inferior and incapable of demonstrating leadership abilities since he was a “Latino”. But he shrugged away all those remarks like a duck shrugging water off its back. He is now a much vaunted and wanted public speaker who has toured more than seventy countries. “Mind Shift” is an encouraging primer to get one’s priorities, programmes and passions back on the right track and to accomplish one’s desires. However, such accomplishments should never be at the cost of hurting or wounding the genuine sentiments or feelings of fellow human beings “Mind Shift” by Erwin Raphael McManus is published by Convergent Books and would be available for purchase from the 3rd of October 2023 (tentatively) Thank You, Net Galley for the Advance Reviewer Copy! ...more |
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Jun 11, 2023
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Dec 25, 2023
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Hardcover
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| 0593542215
| 9780593542217
| 0593542215
| 3.22
| 180
| unknown
| Jul 18, 2023
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liked it
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In 1967, J.A. Baker, an unpretentious individual from Essex, who left school at the age of sixteen to work, first with the Automobile Association, and
In 1967, J.A. Baker, an unpretentious individual from Essex, who left school at the age of sixteen to work, first with the Automobile Association, and subsequently, with the soft drink manufacturer, Britvic, wrote a slim volume titled The Peregrine. Subsequently attaining renown as one of the best books written on the art of observation, The Peregrine regales its readers about Baker’s predilection with a peregrine falcon. Over a prolonged period of following the bird, the observer becomes the observed. ‘Once you have started to observe a phenomenon, you must find yourself obsessed by it, or the observations will be of little value.’ Christian Madsbjerg exhorts his readers to cultivate the art of ‘hyper reflection’, a practice of seeing the unseen, listening to the lessons imparted by silence, and absorbing the essence that lays unexploited and unexplored in the background as against the noise and cacophony in the foreground. Usually, our observations are restricted to the loudest voice in the room, the most vitriolic placard or the social media that generates the maximum degree of clamour. Madsbjerg strives to divert the attention of his readers from the foreground to the background by employing three fundamental building blocks of a philosophy known as phenomenology. The three building blocks reduced to their most simplistic structure assert that: observation is a study of experiences. it’s not what people think but how; and observation should not be substituted by opinion. Phenomenology when explained in its most reductionist context, means describing the human experience of things directly without any judgment or preconceived notion. As the famous French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty exclaimed, “to the things themselves”. Merleau-Ponty often reminisced about the wonder of looking through a keyhole. Human perception at first permits us to see inside the hidden world and comprehending the same in a spatial manner as a vast place despite the limitations of the keyhole. Fascinatingly, the observer can seamlessly shift back into her experience of life in a full-size body. This experiment highlights in a searing manner the experience of observing the world. The German physicist Franz Boas upended the conventional norms in founding the subject of cultural anthropology during his field research in the Baffin Islands. His theory rends asunder the commonly accepted notions of superior Western values that relegated a non-Western existence to the realms of the inferior and inconsequential. Boas patiently listened to and looked at the people who were the subject of his research. He neither formed judgments nor crafted opinions. He just watched. And continued watching. He observed that human beings had the capability to endlessly adapt – in terms of both their individual bodies and in the communities created by them. This technique was adopted to astounding success by Boas’ protégé, Margaret Mead on her own anthropological expedition in the Samoan Islands. It therefore comes as no surprise to read that some of the most skilled anthropologists argue that observation is never sufficient until you can see the ghosts of others. The ghost of the observed subsumes into the ghost of the observer. As Madsbjerg writes, ‘When you have given yourself over fully to the act of observation, you must allow for self-transformation.’ Robert Caro the biographer who produced the magisterial five-volume tome on Lyndon Johnson spent long hours in the vast, sparse, and desolate setting of rural Texas in preparation for completely understanding his protagonist. Madsbjerg provides some innovative tools and techniques for honing our observation skills and to be more aware of what French sociologist, Pierre Bourdieu terms “doxa”. Operating at a sub-conscious level, doxa is a bouquet of implicit beliefs that limits and even impairs our ability to see beyond the most influential and trending cultural frameworks that have a bearing on our thinking. The muted and almost unnoticed presence of a group of gruff and unappealing farmers in a village ball where all the attention was captured by sprightly bachelors who had migrated to more urban settings, led Bourdieu to write his most powerful book, The Bachelor’s Ball: The Crisis of Peasant Society in Bearn. The next time you observe any bird soaring across the vast expanse of the sky, please remember J. A. Baker and his inspiring words, “the hunter must become the hunted. What is, is now, must have the quivering intensity of an arrow thudding into a tree. Yesterday is dim and monochrome. A week ago, you were not born. Persist, endure, follow, watch.” ...more |
Notes are private!
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Aug 08, 2023
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Dec 25, 2023
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Hardcover
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| 0345422805
| 9780345422804
| 0345422805
| 3.63
| 2,576
| May 05, 1998
| May 05, 1998
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liked it
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Laced with vitriol, and interspersed with dollops of morbid wit, award winning investigative reporter Carl Hiaasen’s book, nay, tract, is a polemical
Laced with vitriol, and interspersed with dollops of morbid wit, award winning investigative reporter Carl Hiaasen’s book, nay, tract, is a polemical and personal vindication of one the world’s largest stand-alone entertainment corporates. Vacillating in that cramped space between a book and a brochure, Hiaasen’s slim work at times reads more like a personal vengeance towards Disney than a rebuke of the company’s proven misdemeanours. However, this is not to say that “Team Rodent” (a wicked reference to the rampant spread of the Disney image globally), the book is totally bereft of facts and substance. It sure has its moments. Under the stewardship of Michael Eisner, scathingly referred to as “Insane Clown Michael” repeatedly by Hiaasen (an ode to a monumental blunder made by Disney in releasing an expletive laced music album titled The Great Milenko made by a band called Insane Clown Posse), Disney, according to the author has been operating in a ham fisted and brute manner in furthering its prospects. Whether it be turning a blind eye to controversies of voyeurism within the company or a sweeping acquisition of hundreds and thousands of acres of land that involves draining of lakes and threatening the ecology, Disney according to Hiaasen virtually has a free hand to do as it pleases. Possessing the power to influence politicians, law enforcement agencies and even the lower rungs of the judiciary, Disney is the beneficiary of a plethora of favours. However, at times even Goliaths of the likes of Disney is humbled by the occasional David. A case in point the failed bid to develop a three-thousand-acre sprawl that was in close proximity to the Manassas National Battlefield. Despite the cries of Virginians who viewed such a development as transcending mere encroachment and coming dangerously close to the boundaries of desecration, Disney was set in its motives and intentions. “If the people think we will back off, they are mistaken.” Eisner stated with more than just a measure of confidence. However, the will of the people prevailed, and the proposed $160 million project was ultimately abandoned. Similarly, the gut-wrenching story of a young rhino that was found dead under mysterious circumstances with a lethal stick found wedged deep into the animal’s rear end. Even though it was ultimately proved that the offending object was found inside the rhino before it was transported into Disney, there were more discomforting questions than answers. “Team Rodent” is a short exercise in anger, focusing more on an execrable periphery than plunging into the core of and for the truth. ...more |
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Paperback
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| 1771647639
| 9781771647632
| 1771647639
| 3.91
| 187
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| Sep 19, 2023
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Whether it be prowling the streets of Mexico City in search of ahuautle, a delicacy made from the eggs of a tiny water strider, and supposed to be an
Whether it be prowling the streets of Mexico City in search of ahuautle, a delicacy made from the eggs of a tiny water strider, and supposed to be an Aztec royal fare, or traipsing the isolated stretches of Ossabaw off the coast of Georgia hunting down one of the finest pork (“Ossabaws are considered the closest thing to the acorn-fed pigs of western Spain, whose ham is counted among the treasures of European gastronomy”), award winning author Taras Grescoe attempts to instill the practice of diversity when it comes to culinary preferences. Diversity according to Grescoe is resiliency. Grescoe, during his singularly unique travels, comes up with facts which are more in the form of revelations than just information. For example, he shares with his readers the jaw dropping fact of 90 per cent of all milk coming from “freakishly productive Holstein Friesian cows all of whom are descended from only two bulls.” But the key and quintessential message propagated by Grescoe throughout his fascinating book is the striking fact that sustainable and rejuvenating eating is not an outcome of looking to the future but in looking back to the past. Looking back to the gastronomic fare which nourished and nurtured our ancestors and humanity in general through its half-million-year existence as a species. Grescoe’ s adventures represent a paradoxical combination of sheer culinary derring-do and a methodical scientific dissection into the health aspects of such bravado. This includes trying ingrain into his family the multiple benefits of entomophagy by persuading his son to pop a roasted cricket (or two) into his mouth! The book is also tinged with measured humour contextualized to the situation on hand. In a poignant and evocative passage, Grescoe appeals to the world to leverage on the Traditional Ecological Knowledge (“TEK”) possessed by the indigenous populace, and the adaptation and adoption of which would work wonders for the preservation of not just the environment but also enhance and embellish the relationship of man with nature. TEK includes techniques of controlled burns that serve as both a fire prevention method and food management technique. Grescoe even tracks down a potato like vegetable Camas, cultivated by the Coast Salish people by using the method of controlled burns. Human intransigence finds unashamed expression in the aged and monumental olive trees of Puglia, where an insidious bacteria going by the name of Xylella threatens to fell magnificent olive trees that have stood the test of time and circumstances for centuries. Instead of instituting quickfire damage mitigation measures, politicians’ bicker over motives while conspiracy theorists across the country produce theories ranging from the outlandish to the outrageous. The Lost Supper is a marvelous journey into the wide and diversified world of food, a world which the current phenomenon of monoculture is threatening to decimate. “Human appetite is completely capable of usurping species in the wild,” writes Grescoe. “Species are disappearing at rates hundreds of times higher than at any other point in the last 10 million years”. As responsible citizens it is up to us to reverse this alarming trend by taking informed decisions on how, what and where we consume our food. Lest any doubts arise, each of us is perfectly capable of making such studied decisions. Here is hoping that we do just that! ...more |
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