Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance – Robert M. Pirsig

What a wonderful book and written so excellently. Quality drips from every page (hahaha..pun intended). But truly, it is a special book by, I suppose, a special person.

Metaphysic of Quality and how it all started in the mind of one man, who even went insane for his ideas about the world. True philosopher .

I can’t wait to get to Lila, its sequel. That should say how much I like it.

Fooled By Randomness – Nassim Nicholas Taleb

I finished reading this book today. I have to say that it is a new and interesting area that he is writing about. Being a student of Statistics, I was able to find things of interest in the book and was wonderfully and pleasantly surprised at a few points. Overall, it was a good experience reading it and I suppose exactly the kind that I wanted to read at this point of time. Good time spent with it over the weekend.

I am finding that all the authors of good books have been voracious readers in their times. I mean that everyone does their homeworks. It is inspiring. I have not read “Black Swan” by the same author. I might try. Depends.

Elizabeth Costello – J.M. Coetzee

Just finished this book. It is the first time I have read Coetzee and I suspect that this is not a book for a first timer. While I got a peek into the brilliance of his mind and writing, I am afraid I was not able to appreciate it fully because I did not understand it completely.

This book is supposed to be about an acclaimed Australian author : Elizabeth Costello who is now in her last days. She makes her life by now giving lectures in the academic circles. It is through these lectures that first 6 chapters of the book are covered and though they are disconnected, we do get a glimpse into the mind of a writer. How she thinks, what she thinks about certain topics etc. Three thoughts are very strongly debated. Vegitarianism, African novel, Christianity and Hellinistic religion and lastly, exploration of evil by an author. She tries to make sense of the world but she is often presented with stark examples of both contrasts and thus she is flummoxed about what the reality is and what really matters. Then, there is a chapter about how she is waiting outside a door and is judged by a panel upon her beliefs. She is unable to point out a single thing that she believes in.

This is also the point where the book becomes a complete bouncer. No clue about what the author is actually trying to say. The last chapter which is actually a letter from Lady Chandos to some Francis Bacon, is almost as good as unread to me.

However, the parts that I understood impressed me a lot. There was a lot of analysis in the debates and almost all points that one can imagine were put on the table. One learns that the writer is a man of great thinking. The life of Elizabeth Costello is also very similar to Coetzee’s own life. It is I think an autobiographical portrait of himself as an author. I think that the experience of J.M. Coetzee, the writer, is what we have been offered. Being such an intelligent and complex man that he is, it is not surprising the book has turned out to be such. I will have to read it a few times more to really grasp it all.

The Conquest of Happiness – Bertrand Russell

Finally, I got to read the much talked about works of Bertrand Russell. What new can I add to the panegyrics that already have been bestowed on him.

All I can say is that he writes with lucidity and critical analysis. The gist of this work is that moderation is a prerequisite for happiness and that the interests of a person should be located in outside world and in other people and not within himslef because if it is inwards, the constancy of the subject is bound to get boring and leads to boredome etc.

This is a book of which a personal copy should be kept and should be reverted back to whenever in doubt. Despite the fact that it was written in 1930, almost all of it is relevant in the lives that we live today. A classic!

The fact that he was a logocian endears him more to me. I somehow feel that he is like my grandfather. In looks and in virtues,he reminds me so much of my babaji.

Identity and Violence – Amartya Sen

One could not ask for a more articulate, detailed and supremely intellectual analysis of the relation between identity and the problem of violence erupting in the society. He finds out that the problem lies in imposing a narrow outlook on a person’s identity and making sweeping generalizations based on that for a whole group which might otherwise be a complex set of infinitely diverse identities.He also argues the merits of multiculturalism and the demerits of plural monoculturalism. What emerges out is that the identity perception of an individual by himself and by others plays a very major role in the social, political and economic situations and that if we are ever to solve the problems of religious/civilizational clashes we will have to do a deep analysis of identifying identities.

This book is engaging, witty, analytical and intellectual.  One feels highly enriched after reading it. Such a powerful presentation of wonderful ideas is exactly what is expected of a scholar like Amartya Sen. This is a must read for all those who wish to think and engage in problems of society.

I Dare – Kiran Bedi

As a matter of fact, when you think about Kiran Bedi, that is the first word which comes to mind, Daring. She is a woman of so much substance that I am afraid , no other will be able to match her up soon. She takes up every challenge and converts it into success. She does what she is told is not possible and she does it in such style that naysayers have to bite their tongue.

As for the book, it is not very well written. I have a problem with the style where events are described, time of happeneing not withstanding. I prefer the chronological order, specially in books meant to be factual or at least for the most part factual. This book is not. The woman we are talking about is so extraordinary here that I feel the book was not able to potray all that she is as well as it could have. The subject is immensely interesting but the presentation is a little lackadaisical. Nonetheless, if one wants to read and know Kiran Bedi, this is the document to pick up.

It certainly has inspired me, as I am sure several other girls and told them that there are no limits. There are only those limits which we create for ourselves.

Confessions of an Economic Hitman- John Perkins

Now I dont want to say that everything in this book is untrue. There is a lot of truth in there but unforunately, it has been tailored and deliberated by the author in such a way that it comes down as a conspiracy theory and propaganda. I am assuming that he wants to scare the hell out of us and unmask the true nature of cpaitalism that is going on behind tha facade of all being hunky dory. But only, if he had done it in a critical scientific way and stated things for what they are rather then making a cartel. The thing is that I know some of those things are true and need to be said, but if they are said in this manner, in this threatening, conspiratorial manner, they will not strike a bell and defeat the purpose.

Sadly, that is what has happened here. But the conspiracy theories are fun to hear and read about nonetheless and in that way it is pretty entertaining.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being – Milan Kundera

It is funny that I always thought Milan Kundera was an Indian person and this book about politics and bureaucracy. Whereas my first assumpton failed badly, the second was touching the truth somewhat.  Well, Milan Kundera is a Czech who had been expelled from the country when Russia captured it and has been living in France since. The story is formed with the background as the Czechoslovakia which was captured by the Russians and the resulting spread of communism, its threat, the expulsion and execution of intellectuals. Among all this is, at the centre of it, is a sad love story of philandering Tomas and agonizing Tereza. Tomas’ sexual appetite is not fulfilled by one or two. He has to explore the minutest differences that women have while making love. Tereza knwos this and outwardly she tries to be fine but her heart wishes Tomas to be only her’s alone. She has weird dreams about it and cries. Sabina is a particular mistress of Tomas who is also a friend and an artist and finds a romantic love in betrayal of everything that connects her to her former life. After Tomas leaves she is with Franz, a professor, who is trying to escpae from her superficial wife whom he respects but not loves, into the cult and the dreamworld that he has created with Sabina. The day when he leaves everything for Sabina, she leaves him because she can do nothing but betray.

The book is a philosophical musing about eternity and the meaning of our actions if they were to be repeated again and again and again. He says that since our actions happen only once, they can have no meaning as such, because what has happened is as good as it might not have happened at all. It is here that he poses the paradox, sort of, that despite the fact that our actions have no meaning at all as such, even the smallest of them impact our lives in tremendous ways. We keep longing for lightness, for what we not have and when we have got it, there is a sorrow, a sort of guilt that remains for leaving the heaviness.

The gist that I got is that the lightness implies being not able to care or to care, depending upon each person. But, if one does not care, the person is constantly riddled with the pressure and the guilt forcing him that he should care. And if he cares, he is constantly craving for not caring. In either case, the state of lightness becomes unbearable. Although I enjoyed the melancholy sweetness of the novel, a sad love story painted with the russian invasion of czechoslovakia, I am afraid to say that I think that I have not fully understood it. I will have to read it again to get a real good grasp. On surface, I understand the philosophy that the author tries to expound, that one’s actions are neither good nor bad and cannot be judged because they are never to be repeated and hence are of one time nature and inconsequential. So, we must not have much value attached to the actions that we take and yet these seemingly insignificant things affect our lives in most insignificant of ways, deciding whether the happiness exists or not. There is lot of soul searching in here, things abt communism, religion,kitsch, purpose of life etc. It is a rich book and a good book for thought. I shall have to read it again and I think I will do.

The Second Sex – Simone de Beauvoir

Simone de Beauvoir is a French existentialist and this work- The Second Sex- of her is a philosophical treaty on the concept of “feminity” and that how a woman is defined. Where does the concept of “eternal feminine” came into being. When does the patricarchal societies become the norm and why? Why has woman been relegated to the status of the other in a world where without her equal contribution, the species would not even go further. Despite the fact that woman as human being is a sentient being, her position among all the females is the worst, sometimes even worse than the slaves and minorities and other opressed groups. She states the unique phenomena and realtion that exists between the opressor(man) and the oppressed(woman) is the cause. The slaves can all gather together against the masters, exploited against the eploiters but not women against men.

She also discusses the Freudian psychoanalytical viewpoint and contends that the analysis may not hold value because the woman’s sexuality is seen from the male point of view, as someone who is deprived of penis and thereby, explains the things as castration complex or Oedipus complex or Electra complex. She says that the feminine sexuality should be studied independently and from a female’s point of view. She also stresses the importance of expectations that we confer upon the sexes that make them behave in a certain manner.

All in all, it is the ultimate Feminist Manifesto . It should be read by feminists and the chauvinists. It is a balanced and critical and seemingly scientific work which spells out the arguments very nicely. Given that I am colored in some shades of feminism , I was able to enjoy and appreciate the work and at the same time learn about some of the very fundamental points of contention, starting right from the contribution of the sperm and the egg.

Every Second Counts – Lance Armstrong, Sally Jenkins

I have been unfair in writing the name of Armstrong as the only author for the last book because as well Armstrong has lived his life, that well Sally has written it and portrayed to us the power of steel will, iron determination and single minded dedicaion. This one picks up where the last book left and does it in the same perfect way. It about the next four Tour De France that Lance Armstrong was able to win. It is about the arduous training, the hard work and the difficulties he surpassed to scale the mountaines of Alps and regain hi glory. This is about he gave a reply to the people who suspected him again and again. It is not about reaching the goal, the supreme but about surviving there. It tells us about the things that go behind being and becoming the best.

It was an equally enthralling read and is again recommended. In fact, it is after reading this, I picked up the It’s not about the bike and it worked fabulously for me.