Topic suggested by Ravi on Fri Aug 14 17:24:11 .
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.
|
Reviews of biographies, collection of speeches or essays, histories, popular science etc. |
Responses:
- From: Ramanan (@ faraday.bfsec.bt.co.uk)
on: Tue Aug 25 05:54:44
i have read a book called 'Zen and the Art of Motocycle maintenance' by Robert.M. Pirsig. It is one of my all time favourites.
I don't want to review the book. But,how about sharing your thoughts with me about this book ? how it has affected the way you think or something along those lines.
- From: pg (@ gate02.merck-medco.com)
on: Tue Aug 25 14:36:50
Anybody here a fan of Carlos Casteneda ? (who recently passed away)
- From: S.Krishnan (@ m52.chn.vsnl.net.in)
on: Wed Sep 2 03:06:06
"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert Pirsig is my alltime favourite. He writes just brilliantly . Incidentally, he has stayed in Benares and studied Hindu philosophy. Later he came out with Lila. This was also good.
I like reading books by Scott Peck. Who has not heard of Dale Carnegie ?
I've heard of Castenada. I have not read any of his books.
- From: S.Krishnan (@ m39.chn.vsnl.net.in)
on: Thu Sep 3 01:25:32
I have enjoying reading popular science works. Excellent recommendations are Chaos by James Gleick, The Dancing Wu Li Masters by Gary Zukav,Carl Sagan's The Dragons of Eden (Pulitzer Prize Winner?),Sagan's Cosmos,Richard Restak's The Brain,Stephen Weinberg's The First Three Minutes,Jared Diamond's The Rise and Fall of the Third Chimpanzee,books by John Gribbin.
- From: Udhaya (@ 205.218.142.217)
on: Wed Sep 30 18:19:55
Review of"In Light of India" by Octavio Paz.
Octavio Paz served as Mexico's ambassador to India for six years. He made some long-lasting friends during those years and also kept in touch with the Indian Government right up until Rajeev's assassination.
He recollects his experience in India with shining intellect and impartial curiosity as opposed to the snooty V.S. Naipaul in "India: A million mutinies now".
Paz is such a rarity; he's a world-class intellect with third-world modesty and empathy. In his words I don't even sense a struggle to hold onto objective reasoning. This man can not but think objectively. Maybe his is the height of knowledge: wisdom. He does not spare his commentary on any sacred issue. He combines his overwhelming knowledge of world history and the astonishing clarity of purpose that is to convey the objective truths of religion, politicians, culture, art, and society. His commentary is based on his observations, which are enough to make this a great read, but he has also read every book on the subject that he takes up (be it music or sculpture or architecture) and shares that knowledge with the reader too.
This essay book's size is deceptively small but every page is filled with amazing observations and the warmth of a soul that relentlessly pursued the true state of things. We should all be so lucky to achieve such an objective curiosity in our minds. Paz recently passed away and it feels like a library was burned down. I highly recommend this book to everybody, especially Indians.
- From: Ramji Ramachandran (@ 205.177.170.60)
on: Sat Nov 7 11:47:35
I am a newcomer. I wish I had known about this web page earlier. I can not wait to go the bookstore to buy "In light of India" reviewed by Udhaya.
One of my favorites is Allan Watts. Anybody wants to share thoughts on his " The Wisdom of Insecurity" ?
Ramji
- From: Ramji (@ 205.177.170.71)
on: Mon Nov 16 08:57:04
Udhaya:
Bought Octavio Paz's " In light of India ", started reading it. Thanks for the review. Will get back with my reaction after finishing it. I have already started reacting positively.
- From: Udhaya (@ 205.218.142.217)
on: Mon Nov 16 17:43:23
Ramji, I'm so happy for you. I hope more people discover this book and the writer.
- From: balaji (@ schubert.crhc.uiuc.edu)
on: Tue Nov 17 14:43:48
the recent nobel laureates in lit like Paz and Dario Fo are not known outside a circle. but those who know them do have a lot of respect for them. when paz died, not much media coverage was given in the indian media, though he was an ambassador to india some time back. instead, when kiran desai's book "hullaballo in a guava orchard" which is just pages of rubbish and superficial writing( i was unfortunate enough to read it), high media coverage was given to it. just because rushdie endorsed it and it was given space in TLS.
- From: Ramji (@ 205.177.170.61)
on: Wed Nov 25 17:54:39
I just finished reading " In light of India" by Octavio Paz. ( See review by Udhaya in Sep 98.)
Very few books have influenced or fine-tuned my perspectives as this one. Million thanks to Udhaya.( Udhaya: Did you get my personal email?)
I wish Paz was alive to write a sequel reflecting on what is happening in India now.( bombs, loss of secularism etc)
- From: vj (@ chme118pc16.ecn.purdue.edu)
on: Fri Jan 15 13:11:51
revive
- From: Ramji (@ 205.177.170.73)
on: Fri Jan 15 13:29:50
Agree with vj. This thread badly needs to be revived. I have just started reading Nietsche's "Beyond Good and Evil ". I had been wanting to read this for a long time and finally was triggered by refernce to Nietsche being influenced by Vedic philosophy in Octavio Paz's "In light of India". Will get back later with my reactions on Nietsche.
- From: Ramji (@ 205.177.170.80)
on: Wed Jan 20 16:18:26
Progress(?) on Nietzsche's "Beyond Good and Evil". In the last five days I have hardly crossed ten pages. It is tough. Anyone to share this experience?
- From: Ramji (@ 205.177.170.78)
on: Tue Jan 26 07:11:05
PLEASE REVIVE THIS THREAD !!!
- From: ramanan (@ rigel-17.cableol.net)
on: Sat Jan 30 04:09:35
I don't know whether i can talk about Hofstadter's 'Metamagical Themas' here. Can I ?
- From: Ramji (@ )
on: Sat Jan 30 07:58:37
Ramanan:
Yes, please.
- From: ramanan (@ rigel-34.cableol.net)
on: Sun Jan 31 04:16:52
Thanks Ramji> i will post soon
- From: Anu (@ ws239-24.allen.msstate.edu)
on: Tue Feb 16 10:07:52
Hello all,
Has anyone read "Autobiography of a Yogi" by Paramahamsa Yogananda? A real treat to the heart and soul!
Any comments, reviews ?
Anu
- From: vj (@ chme118pc01.ecn.purdue.edu)
on: Thu Feb 18 17:11:34
anu, i have read "the....yogi".... somehow i am just unmoved by yogis recounting their lives,
i cant understand why they would write a book ... seems to be cross with the kind of things they talk about... ..but one thing i learnt from that book is that he is "endowed" with "somthing"
and Ramji, talking about Nietzche ( a struggle to get across the spelling..) i "tried" Thus Spake Zarathusthra which makes me believe what one professor of philosophy wrote about many of the european (especially german) philosophers thriving on a platform of obscurity
vj again
- From: vj (@ chme118pc01.ecn.purdue.edu)
on: Thu Feb 18 17:15:20
i would recommend Franny and Zooey by Salinger (was his last book before he went to self imposed exile) i really want to know how many empathise with the characters..
and please read "NO one writes to the Colonel" by garcia marquez.... never felt sadder after reading a book
and one other book....Aunt Julia and the Script writer...by Mario Vargas Llosa.. try these !
any reccos from your side?
vj
- From: Nithya (@ mecca.spd.louisville.edu)
on: Fri Feb 19 10:09:43
I've read Franny and Zooey but was not able to empathize with them, as they seemed too dormant.
Haven't read "No one writes to the Colonel" yet but I'm a fan of Marquez. I would recommend his "Love in the time of Cholera" (which I think is his best book, better than his popular "one hundred years of solitude"). "Aunt Julia..." was not very impressive to me although it is delightful.
Has anyone read Rohinton Mistry's "A fine balance"?
Nithya
- From: Nithya (@ mecca.spd.louisville.edu)
on: Fri Feb 19 10:11:00
vj: I think we are discussing fiction in the nonfiction thread!
Nithya
- From: vj (@ chme118pc15.ecn.purdue.edu)
on: Fri Feb 19 12:31:18
i dont understand how publishers categorise books
but as long as the TFMPolice doesnt send us a ticket. lets continue!
i think gabriel's most impressive work (interms of the maximum "magic realism") is "Autumn of the Patriarch" , tried it? its a maze of ideas!
and RohintonMistry....aah! I am biased against the new crop if Indian writers inEnglish, there is something "false" about their themes and concern...
m i just dreaming?
vj
- From: Nithya (@ er-308-1.spd.louisville.edu)
on: Fri Feb 19 15:55:13
I'll try to read the above two Marquez soon, and let you know.
Believe me, Mistry is different. And "Fine balance" is disturbingly shamefully realistic.
Nithya
- From: vj (@ chme118pc09.ecn.purdue.edu)
on: Fri Feb 19 18:48:38
is it shamefully looong too?
other suggestions welcomed, i need a book to cry
- From: Nithya (@ mecca.spd.louisville.edu)
on: Mon Feb 22 09:55:45
Well, Mistry's "A fine balance" is a big book, 500 pages or so. This is a perfect book to cry over.
Nithya
Currently reading Patrick Suskind's "Perfume".
- From: vj (@ chme111pc13.ecn.purdue.edu)
on: Wed Feb 24 19:31:14
who is Patrick Suskind?
vijay
- From: Nithya (@ mecca.spd.louisville.edu)
on: Thu Feb 25 10:31:25
I don't know of other books Patrick Suskind has written, but his "Perfume" (translated from German) is a very interesting one. Before I read that book, I have never thought much about our olfactory sense! Read it if you are ready for a fantastic journey through a murderer's life.
Bye,
Nithya
- From: kalyani (@ 1cust77.tnt1.redmond.wa.da.uu.net)
on: Fri Mar 12 20:26:16
does anyone here read books by thomas moore? i just discovered his works, and i wonder which school of indian philosophy he'd be aligned with.
kalli
- From: Katherine Brown (@ 203.19.218.2)
on: Sun May 30 22:55:09
Thomas Moore was a devout Christain born in 1876 in Yorkshire, England.
He was very commited to male nuns, in the monastry of Islam.
He was also commited to establishing the extistentialist movement of the right wing militia group nuns in Bakina Faso (capital: Wonga Donga).
- From: Anbu (@ ss02.co.us.ibm.com)
on: Wed Jun 16 15:13:22
Hi all,
New kid in the block.
I've read Zen & the art of Motorcycle maintanence by Pirsig. Great book. I did't try his Lila.
I guess many have read Richard Bach's Jonathan
Livingston Seagull or Illusion.
- Anbu
- From: pattu (@ cclmspc225c.phys.lsu.edu)
on: Thu Oct 28 18:18:40
Hi!
This is for " ZEN and...." fans...
did you read "LILA".. by Pirsig.. talks about more quality....and social heirarchy......
- From: aruLaracan (@ psiphi.umsl.edu)
on: Fri Apr 20 13:24:47
Voodoo Science by Robert Park: A very important book about the scientific way of living, continual attempts at perpectual motion machines, simple follies and frauds in science (including SDI and X-ray lasers). a great book that clearly exposes the likes of mahesh yogi, deepak chopra, ... . please read at least the last section of the book.
- From: stg (@ st55.aramco.com.sa)
on: Sun Apr 22 03:26:17
anu,
just tell us whats the real treat to heart and soul?
- From: f (@ 210.186.101.89)
on: Sat May 19 13:32:07
http://mif.freeservers.com
- From: Anu (@ 53.dallas-43rh15rt-tx.dial-access.att.net)
on: Wed Jun 18 18:39:22
Hi,
Has anyone read Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer? It's simply fantastic. It's about the failed Everest expedition, the part of the unfortunate team, the writer was.
Does anyone have any recommendations for any interesting non-fiction books?
Udhaya, where are you?
- From: *rak* (@ 213.42.2.14)
on: Thu Jun 19 04:57:03 EDT 2003
I usually read fiction..(John Grisham,Jeffrey Archer etc) now I got APJ Abdul Kalam's Ignited minds with me. Its really inspiring. I would like it if someone recommended some works with a bit of humour.... thanx
List all pages of this thread
Want to post a response?
Back to the Forum