Here's Your Hat What's Your Hurry ?

Book Name : Here's Your Hat What's Your Hurry ?

Author : Elizabeth McCracken

What is it about : This book covers nine short stories, all featuring normal everyday scenarios but peopled by not-at-all-normal characters from Tattoo Artist running out of skin space; Armless Circus Entertainer reminiscing old times; a Mysterious visiting Auntie whom nobody quite remembers; an unlikely Genius who masqueraded herself as a tramp or is it the other way round ?; Abandoned children raised by "walk in" parents; and a couple of eccentric family feuds. The location sets are very much American suburbia with small town extraordinary peoples living out even more extraordinary lives.

Some thoughts after having read the book : The short stories are full of lively conversation and plausible set pieces; written and packed with colorful imagination but yet firmly rooted on solid grounds. My personal favourite is "Secretary Of State" where a close knit family, the Barron's, will play their fun game during each weekend gathering : Government-Take-Over and each family member will be assigned a top job, like Attorney General, President and the niece, being narrator-first-person, was assigned Ambassador to Spain. The Author managed to always stay one step ahead of the readers and produced un-expected and entertaining twists and turns which kept the stories interesting and the readers on their toes. The Author's world is never mundane and the plots are always on the boil.

Would I recommend this book to you : Having read the first few stories in this book and familiarised with the Author's style and wit, I started reading with joy and anticipation, often accompanied with an appreciative quiet smile. Highly recommended.

Foe

Book Name : Foe

Author : Reid Iain

What is it about : In this story set in the near future, when a Lottery System will randomly pick out individuals to migrate to a distant planet and those who have been picked, will have no say whatsoever over this forced removal from Earth. Our man, Junior thus had to leave behind his wife, Henrietta, his barn and his chores of feeding chickens and ploughing the land; except in his case, this removal from Earth will only be for a few years, as he is only joining in the pilot program. Moreover, a Cyborg who looks identical to Junior and has intimate knowledge of all details and manners great and small about Junior, will be staying at the farm to accompany Henrietta whilst he is away. Junior still has a few years to go before his departure but he is feeling that his relationship with Henrietta is deteriorating and matters have been complicated even more as Terence, the Agent in charge of his removal case, starts living at the farm and observing Junior's every action, mood swing and little eccentricities. Junior began questioning his values, his very own identity and the whole debacle of his imminent departure. And so the fun begins ...

Some thoughts after having read the book : Overall a good plot, if somewhat drawn out and implausible. It was hard going to go through 200 pages with just the few characters (Junior, Henrietta, Terence, a few beetles and a couple of chickens), the farm and a few melo-dramatic set pieces to entertain. Even the supposedly stunning ending felt a bit forced and felt very much an anti-climax. Perhaps making this novel into a film with sights, colors and sounds will fill in the many voids.

Would I recommend this book to you : My enthusiasm in picking out this book, is very much based on my viewing of the adapted film by this author - I'm Thinking Of Ending Things. As in that film, this book, Foe, offers similar quiet menace, expectancy and mystique. Yes, I recommend this book to while away a few days by the pool.

Sapiens

Book Name : Sapiens

Author : Harari Y.N.

What is it about : The history of our species from low-life, run-of-the-mill incognitive organisms with a burgeoning imagination to tax-paying, smartphone-carrying individuals, living in nation states drawn up with self-imagined (Common Delusion would be the term used in the author's volcabulary) boundaries and capable of sending space probes to faraway planets. The book covered the series of revolutions, reformations and -isms which brought us here - cognitive, agriculture, religious, industrial, scientific, information, capitalism, colonialism, socialism, communism, liberalism, to name a few. Towards the end of the book, the author drilled down to the very important and relevant question - have these human achievements and failures in our history, influenced the happiness and sufferings of our species. It is high time that we gain some understanding in this aspect of the history of Sapiens. The book ended with thought-provoking predictions and scenarios of the human species at last playing the role of Intelligent Designers (self-gods) - curing illnesses and maladies affecting us and perhaps anti-aging gene therapy might provide us with the ultimate elixir of eternal life and even turning ourselves into the new Frankenstein's.

Some thoughts after having read the book : The author's mastery of the subject-in-hand proved irresistable reading and he had full command of his briefs. And what a story ! Great credit should go to the author for being the Generalist (with a capital G) as he weaved through tidily and logically thousands of years of human artefacts, behaviour patterns and historical imprints. He then corroborated these findings with the latest anthropology theories with a large dose of deeply provoking and insightful interpretation and philosophical constructs ! The book also sent alarm bells ringing with our experiments with cyborgs, human consciousness and genetics engineering, ending the book with the searching question : Is there anything more dangerous than dissatisfied and irresponsible self-gods who don't know what they want ?

Would I recommend this book to you : And there you have it, a highest of all highest level summary of the history of our species. Highly enjoyable and informative.

Civilization And Its Discontents

Book Name : Civilization And Its Discontents

Author : Sigmund Freud

What is it about : The Maestro of modern psychology probed this immense topic in an attempt to link logically unhappiness, the ego, the superego, the mass, the society, the individual drivers and the mechanics of present day civilization. Freud's main argument focused on the bounds, constraints and ethics of our civilization which created strains on our individual Pleasure Principle and so that the nature of the "free-self" would clash head-on with the cultural integration of our society - selfishness against altruistic. Freud put forward the ways in which self-happiness could be achieved through sublimation of art, science and work, giving way to our raw instincts and if all else failed, change the world by creating a new world through mass illusion such as religion. In contrary, un-happiness could be related to the power of nature, weakness of body and the state of our society and the sacrifices individuals had been forced to make in compliance to social norms.

Some thoughts after having read the book : Freud's mastery over the subject of Psychology as a whole would be on full display in this classic. Freud's point of view regarding the innate aggression of our species echoed in a distant parallel by the famous Chinese philosopher (荀子 Borne A.D. 316) when he put forward his idea of (性惡論), essentially our species had evolved to be evil from birth and that these instincts would play out in the form of greed, crime and cruelty. Having read the book, I gained a better understanding, at least a "confirmation-of-sort" from a psychological point of view, what I had long suspected - a general sense of disquiet and un-pleasantness when mass gathered together and formed our version of "civilization" which I long felt to be altogether un-natural and most un-civilized and that led the way to all sorts of governance - religious, secular, dictators, democratic, rule-of-law - all trying their best to quash down that inert discontent borne in all of us. Only as a passing jest - I reckoned that our species would just go after each other's blood and fortune at the first sign of the society breakdown and revert to our lawlessness bestial instincts - happened before in our short human history !

Would I recommend this book to you : A tour-de-force in this work of a top intellect done at the height of his powers - theorizing, logical deduction, unique insights into the mechanisms and drives of the individuals and the mass; all done with references to the id, ego, superego and he postulated the mass superego of our society. Surprisingly readable for the author's lucidity in presenting his thesis on this topic. Go read.

巧讀資治通鑑

Book Name : 巧讀資治通鑑

Author : 司馬光

What is it about : This book could be considered as one of the two monumental Classics on the history of China. Written in the Song Dynasty (宋朝) by the famous scholar (司馬光 1019 - 1086 A.D.), a senior figure who served under four Song Emperors and was in his later years, given the immense task on codifying Chinese history from previous ancient texts, spanning 1,362 years, broken down into 294 Chapters, composed of over 3 million words and using up 19 years of his life. 

The other great historian in China was (司馬遷) who was a famous astronomer-turned-historian in the Han Dynasty (漢朝 circa 150 B.C.) who codified even more ancient historical events spread over 2,500 years into the great Classic (史記). This great scholar was also credited for his other contribution of the precise calculation and formulation of the Lunar Calendar as well as the prediction of the operating trajectories of stellar bodies.

Some thoughts after having read the book : Not only this Classic was being hailed as a great scholarly achievement in its methods and contents, the book was lauded for its style and clarity in describing and breaking-down of Chinese historical events in an all-angle, story-telling and analytical manner, whereby the famous battles, the characters of note in each event, the power struggles in the Imperial Courts as well as the lessons learnt from the outcomes were clearly presented. The Classic became a valuable and practical source of wisdom and governance methods for future Dynasties, Emperors and Ministers for reference. The events outlined in this book were thought provoking and insightful into the oh-so-familiar human nature of greed, creed, honour, betrayal and glory; the inter-plays of cut-throat politics and the inevitable nature and cycle of the rise and fall of empires.

Would I recommend this book to you : A must-read for anyone who wanted to understand China, the Chinese and the Chinese history. For those who had been puzzled by the confusing and intricate world events of our generations and times, having read this Classic, one would look at our current state of affairs with renewed bearings and insights.

Common Sense

Book Name : Common Sense

Author : Thomas Paine

What is it about : In this pamphlet, arguably throwing down the first gauntlet and igniting the simmering explosive resentment of the Colonies, which eventually led to the American Revolution; Paine's writing was a tour-de-force in presenting a vision, a philosophical baseline, a working manual as well as a motivational (incendiary) speech to call upon the early American immigrants to take up arms and rise-up to their colonial masters in far-away Europe, who still had a strangle-hold on all American affairs from tax, law and Royal decree.

Some thoughts after having read the book : Paine was meticulous in the ways he put forward his arguments through the use of common language, the stoking of the anti-Royal sentiments, the financial reality of building an American naval force, pleading with and ridding doubts among the moderates, as well as fanning the flames of anger and sowing the seeds of hatred of the extremists towards the exploiting colonialists. Paine's work also indirectly inspired the uprising in France and other parts of Europe which led to changes in the governance and constitutional reforms all over the Old World. Paine also did not mince his words about his utter disdain for the Monarchy and the privileged classes of Old Blighty and he spent a great deal of passages highlighting the ills of such hereditary entitlements and concessions on the future of The New World.

Would I recommend this book to you : A work of extreme compassion in arousing emotions for the under-class being exploited and hard-done by their masters. Readers could study this manifesto to gain a good idea in how to reach out a sympathetic hand to the general public who shared sentiments and anger; then moving on to hold their hands in raising funds, creating an armed force and eventually overwhelming the oppressors. Inspirational stuff and worth a read to gain an insight into the sign of the times that were. 

By the way, despite this sensational and influential work, in old age, Paine lived in obscurity and poverty and eventually died in New York City and was buried in a farm in New Rochelle, given to him by the State of NY as a reward for his revolutionary writings; out of a fluke of a mix up, Paine's bones were exhumed, became lost and never to be recovered.

國學三寶一百講：論語解讀

 Book Name : 國學三寶一百講：論語解讀

Author : 湖北人民出版社

What is it about : The ancient texts (written and summarised in 500 B.C.) presented in this book contained arguably the most famous of ALL Chinese written Classics - these were the works of Confucius (孔子), which influenced the ways how Dynastic politics were played out for over 2,000 years in China, as well as instilling the Confucianism (孔儒思想) in most Chinese around the world. This important work of literature contained philosophy, personal development and thoughts on Nature; much of the work would still be found in high-school examinations in Chinese-influenced regions. This book contained the original texts which mostly took the form of dialogues between Confucius and his students; also this book offered insights and interpretation of the texts as well a number of amusing side stories (sometimes totally unrelated and tangent-ed off to odd situations at the author's discretion).

Some thoughts after having read the book : Confucius had profound insights into human nature and nurture, strengths and weaknesses, creed and reservation, frailty and integrity, moralities and perversions, fear and courage. Not only was he a great scholar, Confucius was also a keen learner and student and he gained and inherited many of his knowledge and philosophies from : previous generations of respected dynastic rulers in the Zhou Dynasty (周朝 circa 1,100 B.C.); as well as from : even-more ancient texts such as I-Ching (易經) - The Book Of Changes; and also from : his peers and contemporaries of great standing, such as Lao Tze (老子) and Confucius thus becoming a giant in Chinese history. 

Also, the original texts contained numerous famous Idioms which would still be used today in Chinese-spoken regions, to describe particular circumstances and place emphasis and clarity on natural and human behaviour and phenomenon. Listing just a few below and one would get an idea of the immense impact and influence these ancient texts have, on all-things-Chinese.

Just for my record - Idioms from 論語  : 和而不同, 聞一知十, 手足無措, 盡善盡美, 巧言令色, 敬而遠之, 過猶不及, 善價而沽, 當仁不讓, 舉一反三, 欲罷不能, 飽食終日, 既往不咎, 不恥下問, 己所不欲 勿施于人, 怨天尤人, 欲速不達, 言不及義, 是可忍 孰不可忍, 各得其所, 后生可畏, 人無遠慮 必有近憂, 察言觀色, 工欲善其事 必先利其器, 言過其實, 以德報怨, 逝者如斯, 誨人不倦, 循循善誘, 文質彬彬, 既往不咎, 見賢思齊, 成人之美, 道聽途說, 三省吾身, 循序漸進, 富貴浮云, 聽其言 觀其行, 見義勇為, 有教無類, 割雞焉用牛刀, 侃侃而談, 樂而不淫, 溫故知新, 以文會友, 登堂入室, 一以貫之, 華而不實, 患得患失, 血氣方剛, 名不正 則言不順, 既來之 則安之, 三人行 必有我師, 求仁得仁, 色厲內荏, 道不同 不相為謀, 小不忍 則亂大謀, 五谷不分, 三思而行, 愚不可及, 溫故知新, 一言以蔽之, 以和為貴, 敬鬼神而遠之, 慎終追遠, 不在其位 不謀其政, 樂在其中, 其身不正, 任重道遠, 人之將死 其言也善, 四海之內皆兄弟,  生死有命 富貴由天, 非禮勿視 非禮勿聽 非禮勿言 非禮勿動, 夢見周公.

Would I recommend this book to you : A book which re-affirmed my admiration and respect for the Great Man and also my appreciation of the importance and immense influence these texts had on the philosophical bedrock of the Chinese society - I would highly recommend this most-readable book to layman, foreign students or those like myself, wanting a concise book on the Subject, with interesting anecdotes.

The Meursault Investigation

 Book Name : The Meursault Investigation

Author : Kamel Daoud

What is it about : In this short story, our man Harun presented the tale of his brother-turned-victim, Musa, in the famous book by Albert Camus, the Outsider (aka The Stranger). The book took the form of an investigative journalist interviewing Harun in an Algerian bar over a period of some seven days, with Harun regaling the story from a first person narrative perspective. Harun painstakingly recalled how his mother dragged his young self all around Algiers to find his brother, then only reported as "The Arab" who got shot or "The Victim" who was taken to hospital as all attention was focused on the French-Algerian murderer, who had no morals and drank coffee at his mother's funeral (as from the famous book). Years had gone past without Musa being found or even a grave being identified, then all of a sudden, a local female student turned up at the door step "... free, brash, disobedient, aware of their body as a gift, not as a sin or a shame... from the pre-Independence days ..." with the famous book, detailing all that had happened to Musa. As Musa's fate became clear, Harun found himself falling in love with the student.

Some thoughts after having read the book : A refreshing and innovative technique to write a sequel to a well known book (from another author) by describing the perspectives and angles of the victim's family from the original book and at the same time injecting into the story the immense background of the build up of a revolutionary Algeria on its way to Independence.

Would I recommend this book to you : A book well worth reading for its technique, drama and narrative style - reading Albert Camus's The Outsider beforehand, would be a pre-requisite to catch the drift of this book and experience the emotional roller-coaster.

The Tenth Man

Book Name : The Tenth Man

Author : Graham Greene

What is it about : In this novella set in WW II war-torn Paris , a middle-age lawyer signed away his complete fortune including the mansion he grew up in, in order to save his own life. All because our man Chavel drew the short straw which meant he would face the German firing squad at dawn; to avoid this rather unpleasant experience, Chavel signed a legally binding document to hand over all his assets to Janvier, who would take Chavel's place in the death squad line-up, with his family inheriting the mansion, stocks and all, after his death in the German's hands. With the war over, Chavel returned in disguise to his old mansion as a laborer to live amongst Janvier's family and even entertained the thought of marrying Janvier's sister. Things came to a boil when another prison survivor turned up at the mansion, claiming himself to be the real Chavel.

Some thoughts after having read the book : In this unlikely thriller, the plot twisted and turned and would have the readers holding on to the book until the end, the story would seem somewhat surprising and implausible but never mind. Readers should take note that the novella was set in an era of gentlemanly gaming and lady-like behaviour and not our nowadays, cynical grab-the-money-and-run ethics and shameless antics - so think of a good old black and white old-timer movie with the likes of Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr, where men folks took their hats off in greetings and grunted "Mam" and ladies would make apple pies in their ironed clean aprons. 

Would I recommend this book to you : A book showcasing concise writing and the art of novella writing at its best - great lesson on essaying techniques or even the making of a short stage-play.

The Tiger That Isn't - Seeing Through A World Of Numbers

Book Name : The Tiger That Isn't - Seeing Through A World Of Numbers

Author : Blastland And Dilnot

What is it about : In this book, the authors presented the ways to interpret and make sense of counting, survey, sampling, comparison, clustering, measurement, chance, target, size and other data-related information. All this information had been well talked-about topics, all too often appearing as eye-catching newspapers headlines - Happiness Index, School Ranking, Emergency Room Response Time, Operation Waiting Time, GDP Growth, Median Wage, Infant Mortality Rate etc. The book cut through all the patterns of stripes of leaves (red herrings and catchy sensationalism) and revealed the true "tigers" (significance) beyond.

Some thoughts after having read the book : Two of the examples mentioned in the book which I liked best, were the use of Key Performance Indices (KPI) to gauge the efficiency of the UK government departments and civil servants and secondly, the hospital emergency triage waiting times. I was especially impressed by many similar examples not because of the methodology deployed in these measurements but the ways the departments and hospital front line staff  used "gaming tactics" and "doctoring the data" by adjusting their work practices to give better looking numbers, all without the work being done or patients being treated. For instance, Patient Care as measured by the length of time a GP spent with each patient improved significantly to 10 minutes, not because the GP spent the time on diagnosis but rather spent the time on asking after the patient "How is Auntie Beryl and her cat doing?" Joke aside, the book presented many of these eye-opening examples of how deceptive "numbers" could be.

Would I recommend this book to you : A book welcomed and praised by all walks of lives including Bank Governors, Prime Minister Advisors, scientific communities and High Street newspapers for the book's clarity and cynical dissection of the motives behind these so-called surveys and KPI; as well as giving the general layman a few tools to understand the numbers, data and numerical information which we all had been flooded daily and thus avoiding the many pitfalls of being misled and misinformed - I would give a BIG thumbs up to this book and rank it A Must Read.

The Looking Glass War

Book Name : The Looking Glass War

Author : John le Carre

What is it about : The almost-defunct branch in the British Secret Service which dealt with military affairs of all shapes and sizes, had a surprising tip-off about a missile site in East Germany, and devoured this un-expected opportunity with all its hunger and energy by deploying out-of-touch and inadequately trained agents with rusty equipment and procedures twenty years out-of-date. The mission to discover and report behind enemy lines exploded in their face with some dubious help from their sister secret service which had ambitions of their own. The unfortunate agent Fred Leiser, a naturalised Pole, was last seen holding a knife across an East German girl's throat when the whole house was stormed by the East German police force.

Some thoughts after having read the book : Written in the very productive years of this great author, presenting in full view the cynical irony, ruthless betrayal and the hopelessness to re-live the nostalgia of a lost cause. Le Carre excelled here in describing the "Agent recruitment cycle" - hunted down the desperate (yes Fred, you would need a bob or two to buy a necklace for your new girl), fed their ego (yes Fred, you were always the best and was high on our list), kept up the visage of the glory and might of the old Department (yes Fred, the Department had never been in better hands), made Fred felt loyal to their handlers (yes Fred, we all salute you and wait for your triumphant return, your White Lady cocktail would be waiting) and when excuses ran out, plain deceit would do (yes Fred, carrying a 50 Pounds transmitter and crawling a couple of hundreds yards behind enemy lines would all go un-detected, no worries).

Would I recommend this book to you : Good Le Carre book to re-capture the haunting atmosphere in the Cold War era all those years ago and how agents were fed to the vultures whilst those in London moved on to the next recruitment - we all know the rules, don't we gentlemen ? A brilliant novel - heart breaking and at the same time the readers wondered almost aloud at the stupidity of it all.

The Curious Case Of Dassoukine's Trousers

Book Name : The Curious Case Of Dassoukine's Trousers

Author : Fouad Laroui

What is it about : A first book by this Moroccan author that was translated in to English , containing nine short stories with themes of humourous situations, frustration in life, identity crisis, vanity, wisdom and philosophy.

Some thoughts after having read the book : Nine short sketches showcasing the Author's ability to create, structure, flesh out contents, directing and forming dialogues for vastly varying scenarios. My favourite story was "What's Not Said In Brussels" - about a long distance relationship between an Amsterdam male and a French female who both had initially intended to end their affair where they had met, Brussels. But somehow, words were hard to come by and thus began a new phase in their lives. I would see this author going into writing stage plays, movie scripts and stand-up comedies.

Would I recommend this book to you : Colorful passages but at times the stories see-sawed between a joyful read and exotic wonderment to a farce and absurdity. I found the book to be great training materials for flexing one's grey matter and imagination as well as a mental challenge for keeping up with the dialogues and comprehending different writing styles and choice of phrases. Go try !

Committed To Memory 記憶的祕密

Book Name : Committed To Memory 記憶的祕密

Author : Rebecca Rupp

What is it about : Seventy Seven short passages detailing "How we remember" and "Why we forget". The author examined the amazing feats memory performed by living organisms as well as the astonishing fallibility of our memory as we used imagination and creativity to fill the voids of memory gaps, to make us feel better and even to re-write parts which we would like to forget. To quote Mark Twain "... I could remember anything, whether it happened or not ...". The best advice the book gave to forgetful people - interactive learning to make a deeper impression on the mind and by understanding what you try to remember, would go a long way to hold on to what we remembered. Also, an important finding resulted from one of the experiments - keeping up the process of learning and re-learning during the age between 50-60 years would be vital in maintaining memory at senility - a new chess game, a new language and new crossword puzzles could all help prevent memory loss at old age.

Some thoughts after having read the book : Hats off to all those lab rats who aided our scientists figure out how our memory worked by having their tiny brains sliced left, right and center, had all sorts of tracing elements injected as well as taking all those drugs and chemicals while STILL managing to perform the maze tests. The book reminded readers "don't believe everything you see" because seeing would be one thing, remembering quite another; and also even though many "in the room" witnessed the same incident, the testimonies afterwards would give varying accounts to the event as we all remember in different ways and paid attention to different aspects and objects. Not only that, various suggestive words might also induce and evoke totally different memory to the same chain of events.

Would I recommend this book to you : Good book on the Subject with witty and thought-provoking quotations from all walks of life - Twain, Dickens, Confucius, Homer, Kipling and Machiavelli etc. This would be just the book if you want a comprehensive, fairly in-depth and amusing account on this interesting topic. I learnt a great deal having read it.

Popcorn

Book Name : Popcorn

Author : Ben Elton

What is it about : The book centered on the theme : does life inspire films or do films imitate life ? And the second half : Just Who Is Responsible ? In this book, copycat killings along the Californian coast bear a close resemblance to the latest movies made by our director, Bruce Delamitri. Wayne and Scout, widely known as the Mall Murderers, gunned their way to notoriety and decided to pay Bruce a visit at his LA villa the night after he won the Oscar's Best Director Award. Mayhem broke out when Bruce, in the middle of seducing our gorgeous Playboy Centerfold, Brooke, discovered that the two killers were actually in his house, wanting to play a part in his life and eventual redemption.

Some thoughts after having read the book : The center piece with all the characters involved taking place at Bruce's LA mansion was one long affair, taking up two-thirds of the book - big on atmosphere and dialogues but slack on pace and progress, until right at the very end when the SWAT team stormed in and only a few survived the cross fire. A brilliant satire on the theme "In the USA, Who Is Responsible ?". Such an idea had long simmered under my subconsciousness when news of racial violence, gun killings and the poverty gap in the USA, made me wonder often. It was not until the chaotic and finger-pointing response to the onset of COVID and the million-plus subsequent deaths which finally brought home to me that in the USA, as Wayne Hudson, our Mall Murderer told Bruce Delamitri on Page 230, that "... there is an excuse for anything and everything in the USA ..." and " ... nothing is anybody's fault ...". 

The Epilogue was one of the finest and funniest wrap-up that I had ever read, basically, true to form, everybody blamed everybody else - the murderers blamed the Welfare Department for neglect, Bruce blamed the live TV audience for fanning the murderers' ego, the live TV audience blamed the media for not certifying the live broadcast Rated 18, the media blamed the Government for not having enough regulations, the Democrats blamed the Republicans (vice versa) and finally Scout, our female Mall Murderer, blamed religion since The Almighty did not intervene to stop the tragedy.

Would I recommend this book to you : Although the part on the hostage hold-up was a bit drawn out, it nevertheless felt quite a real life interplay between the roles involved. A brilliant satire about life in the USA and the book to a large extent, answered some of my long-puzzled questions. Go read !

The Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes

Book Name : The Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes

Author : Arthur Conan Doyle

What is it about : "Elementary, my dear Watson." The super sleuth came back with eleven mind-twisters for our dedicated fans of the Baker Street duo. Watson through his diary with Holmes closely observed and revered, picked out the best cases from years ago before he became the celebrity he was. In these memoirs, Watson jotted down the many mysterious events and cases the cold logician famously deduced and concluded; and honestly, in one of these cases - the Butler really did it. Moriarty, described by Holmes as "... the Napoleon of crime, organiser of half that is evil, genius, philosopher, an abstract thinker with a brain of the first order ..." made a dramatic entrance in the Swiss mountains, in The Final Problem, where quite likely, both Holmes and the master villain met their fate in dubious circumstances.

Some thoughts after having read the book : Always comforting to have Holmes on your side, especially the way he focused and made seemingly un-connected observations (all relevant afterwards, of course), casually picked out the crucial information and uttered his famous phrase "My dear Watson" and reached the Eureka moment. We managed to find more dimensions to our Holmes, like he took cocaine and was a messy person in life. Sherlock's elder brother, Mycroft also made an appearance from his much treasured hermit-like seclusion. My personal favourite was "The Naval Treaty", a real gem of a story where a most important Foreign Office document went walkies from an all-sealed room.

Would I recommend this book to you : Short essay writings at their very best; one vital skills in any story writing would be the choice of an enticing and intriguing title for the essay and here the book did splendidly with titles like : The Musgrave Ritual, The Greek Interpreter, The Reigate Puzzle and The Final Problem. Check out how this master storyteller created the mystery, conjured up the plot, held the readers' hand through the action and effortlessly solved the whodunit. Each essay packed with details, colors and dimensions where clues lied around aplenty for the readers to go-figure - Classy !

The Postman

Book Name : The Postman

Author : David Brin

What is it about : Seventeen years after the "Doom-War", with the nation in ruins and the people surviving in isolated land pockets and had reverted back to tribalism - each guarding, trading, warring and making peace with one another; our loner of a man, Gordon found the corpse of a long dead postal worker and he donned the uniform of this federal postman and play-acted himself and conned his way into communities for a hot meal or two, even going to bed with a few hotties, so we were told. Soon, Gordon re-invented himself as the only link between his made-up restored civilised world and these communities, convincing most of these simple-minded if suspicious folks but at the same time, he was himself increasingly antsy and guilty about the deception and the whole charade; all was going well until he found himself confronted with the sole surviving artificial intelligence computer, Cyclops - Cyclops' secret only generated more despair for our Gordon, read on.

Some thoughts after having read the book : Way too many passages were devoted to describing the landscape and numerous repetition of ambushes by the "Tech-Haters" and the violent looting "Survivalists". The story remained somewhat, at a superficial level which I did not feel the desolation or the cruel Darwinian aspect of survival after the nukes fell seventeen years back. Communities seemed almost happy and jolly at their harvest and trading, without a care of "The Future" - perhaps that was the helpless reality, after all. The story ended with Gordon moving on to further afield to "spread hope", it was a fitting if melancholy conclusion of the book - a loner trying to find motivation for himself to carry on in that post-apocalyptic world.

Would I recommend this book to you : Good book to pass a few rainy nights but the drama could be a bit more exaggerated to make the book more interesting - perhaps taking a nasty turn towards the "Lord Of The Flies" story line. I would recommend the book as a Thought experiment - what Life would look like decades after a doomed nuclear war; and by the way, in the film adaptation, Kevin Costner played Gordon and the film received mixed reviews.

On War

Book Name : On War

Author : Carl von Clausewitz

What is it about : An "atomic" approach to the Subject by breaking down to the most elemental matters, all things related to military affairs, including war definitions and planning, battle preparation, supplies, training, psychology, diplomatic conducts, historical references, geographical aspects, mathematical angles and postures of attack and defense, the ranks and files formation, manoeuvres to out-flank the adversaries, the Do's and Don'ts in popular up-rising, guerrilla warfare pre-requisites and tactics as well as troop spirit and morale management. Examples given by the author would be mainly from the Napoleonic era, so readers should expect cannon balls, cavalry, mass deployment of soldiers, close quarter combat and Generals on horses in the book's description; not our present day drone strikes, laser beams, fighter aircraft and snipers shooting from a mile away.

Some thoughts after having read the book : Apparently all military personnel around the world had to slog through one of two books of this nature, the other one being the Chinese classic -The Art Of War by Sun Tzu (孫子兵法) dating back to 500 B.C. ! Well, our man Carl here waited long enough till the 18th Century, to come up with an European equivalent of sort. One important insight which I gained from reading the book, would be the author's emphasis on the superior difference in nature and outcome of Defense over Attack, which having thought deeper into this matter, I managed to comprehend the many examples in ancient and present wars relating both to Military campaigns and Trade barbs and the most important but often overlooked aspect of such engagements - Waiting and Timing; that would be, let time do its magic work by exhaustion of the Attackers, letting diplomacy and negotiation time to implement, enduring the blows until public opinion changed, making use of the emerging opportunity windows and finally dealing the fatal counter-punch.

Would I recommend this book to you : Dry as dust ! A hard read to start the year, although most of the book was a tough uphill struggle, I still managed to gain enough pleasure even though it meant the occasional re-read of paragraphs through a mounting headache. I would recommend this book for the purists and if analysis of all things military are your thing, then you should perhaps even own your private copy.

Meltdown

Book Name : Meltdown

Author : Ben Elton

What is it about : This work of fiction could very well be based on real life characters in the euphoric and dejected days of the "Noughties" - the years leading up to the financial crisis in 2009 triggered off by the US sub-prime mortgage debacle that swept the world and revealed those "not wearing swimming pants when the tides went out" as famously coined by Buffett. A bunch of friends who were Sussex University mates sharing a house in the student days who then went their own separate ways to become a Member of Parliament (Labour), CEO of a High Street bank, a Stock Trader and an Architect, kept in touch throughout those years and shared laughters and tears as they enjoyed the high-flying life and subsequently fought the crisis head-on, succumbed to debt and despair and rose from the ashes to drink to another day.

Some thoughts after having read the book : The author cast a keen eye on those years of free flowing champagne, mega City bonuses, over-the-top 5 bedrooms town houses (with an in-house lift to the underground car park with enough space for three 4x4s) followed by utter financial ruin through betting the savings on Ponzi schemes which promised astronomical returns of capital and re- and re-mortgaging which ended up with negative equity. The characters involved rediscovered what was important to life - a sound marriage, a sympathetic father who never said "I told you so" and the breakdown of prejudice social barriers; these Sussex mates would also experience the cold hard truth of "Every Man For Himself" when the faeces hit the fan, the blood-hounding of the media and in the case of our disgraced banker, Rupert, the past caught up with him in the form of a university fresher whom he unceremoniously pushed out of the shared house and now had a score to settle.

Would I recommend this book to you : I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Dialogues and set-pieces which real people would have lived out and the whole book was full of memorable wit and the author clearly demonstrated that he understood the signs and mood of those heady days and years. The flipping backwards and forwards of the events pre- and post- crisis gave a colorful contrast to the life style before the crash and the anxiety one would face after the crash - yes, Jimmy on paper still owned "a street", David's over the top half-finished architectural masterpiece remained an eye-sore on the London skyline and yet still no punters for Lizzie's O-So-Lovely butter-knife silver holder (500 Pounds a pair thank you). So what if the latest craze was Tulips, Dot-Coms or beautifully designed and packaged toxic Securities; somehow, human weaknesses would raise its ugly head and return one day to another "this time it's different" boom and bust cycle. A highly recommended book.

The Utopia Experiment

Book Name : The Utopia Experiment

Author : Dylan Evans

What is it about : The real life story of our forty-something Dylan, a graduate who specialised in robotics, the proud owner of a cottage in the Cotswalds and seemingly enjoying life with Socrates the pet cat. During a trip to Central America, deep anxiety surfaced about how he might be contributing to the end of human race as "machines" would take over and apocalypse followed. Upon returning to England, he sold the cottage to fund for his Utopia Experiment in remote northern Scotland to test what life would be like if all civilisation had been wiped out - no instant noodles, oven-ready pizza and definitely no toilet paper. Dylan would become gaunt and depressed out of guilt, sense of failure and poor diet and ended up in a psychiatric ward to recall better days.

Some thoughts after having read the book : I enjoyed the candid style, with no dramatic scenes, just the way he felt about the world and how he would want to get away and experiment with an alternative. I was somewhat shocked at how such an intelligent person went about destroying his world so wholeheartedly and seemingly not leaving himself a backdoor to escape or even a pot of money for his post-Utopian life or more sensibly starting with a "mini" version of the Utopia Experiment to test the waters - why not first go about life (in his cottage) without toothpaste, soap and electricity for a month and see how he would cope. But no ! Our man Dylan dived right in to the deep deep end by first setting up a leaky yurt in windswept Scotland, then he witnessed the comings and goings of fellow like-minded thinkers, some weird, some committed, some for a few joyful weeks and others left after taking a look at the mess that was the Utopia encampment. Dylan was definitely taking on too much too quickly, without a clue on the ins' and outs' of vegetable growing, leadership inspiration and relationship management.

Would I recommend this book to you : I would recommend this book to all those going through a mid-life crisis and thus itching to start afresh and create a brand new life - take note, if your ambitions and effort went too far, well beyond your comfort zone, you might just end up like our man, Dylan. An insightful real life story to appreciate how far we, the human race, had gone down the road to get "civilised". Reading Dylan's odyssey was like catching up with an old friend who really had a Story to tell.

One Hundred Years Of Solitude

Book Name : One Hundred Years Of Solitude

Author : Gabriel Garcia Marquez

What is it about : The many myths and legends of the Buendia family, whose humble beginnings and the co-founders of the swamp village of Macondo somewhere in south America, came to prominence through the family members' (mis-)adventures into wars, politics and feuds. Macondo could only be described as semi-developed with scorpions in the bathroom, surrounded by banana groves and only just recently had its first trains arriving; the village however did house a movie theater where teenagers snugged up on their first dates. The first half of the book described the central players who went through the plague of insomnia and temporary loss of memory of the entire village, encountered wizards and gypsies who came to the village with objects yet-unknown to the villagers which included ice, magnet, mercury, flying carpets, telescopes; also the ghostly presence of the wizard Melquiades would ensure the Buendia family's continuous effort in de-ciphering the mysterious ancient parchments. The second half of the book mostly concerned Aureliano the General who fought 32 battles, as Liberals against the Conservatives (Government) and who eventually surrendered to the government for the sake of peace. The next generations of the Buendia members were also introduced : the boisterous Jose Aureliano Segundo and his o-so-uptight wife, Fernanda and his attractive concubine Petra Cotes; Aureliano Segundo's twin brother Jose Arcadio Segundo, a seemingly rather straight laced sort of chap burst on the scene and led the banana workers' strike against the government and ended up as the sole survivor of the massacre. Macondo would eventually go through a period of continuous rain of 4 years, 11 months and 2 days, followed by 10 years of drought before being completely destroyed by a hurricane. Confused yet ? The last 5 pages of the book would unravel the fate of the Buendia family as the secrets of the ancient parchments revealed themselves. So read on ...

Some thoughts after having read the book : I could bet my bottom dollar that the readers would not be able to recall the immense details after reading each ten pages, as this prize-winning laureate sure knew how to spin a tale of incredible imagination. If only I had been warned of the delicious and enjoyable confusion throughout the book's many mini-plots; all loosely bound but yet closely knitted, it would have saved me the initial huge headaches in trying so-very-hard to piece together these mini-plots in logical and chronological sequences. I particularly enjoyed the little stories of the 17 sons our general Aureliano seeded all over the country and who all came back one day to the village of Macondo. The book just kept coming up with delightful and colorful characters such as the ever-so-slowly-aging grandmother Ursula lived to more than 122 years and who solely knew where the 7,214 gold coins were hidden, somewhere within a radius of 388 feet from her bedroom, Aureliano the respected General, Crespi the handsome and love-sick Italian pianola player, the simple-minded Remedios the Beauty, Fernanda the fallen aristocrat, Pilar Ternera, the madam in the brothel, Jose Aureliano Segundo who guzzled on champagne and life was just a long feast, the traumatised twin Jose Arcadio Buendia who took the only true version of the massacre to his grave; and who could forget the tragic and horrifying fate of the last Buendia baby (fire ants involved here).

Would I recommend this book to you : I would recommend reading this glorious book in ten pages' sittings as the reader would need good quality time to digest and appreciate the magical and mesmerising story-telling and the wild imagination and creativity flowing out of the pen of this great author. No need to bother with any logic, flow or understanding of this great book, just let the book take you through the glorious landscape and the weird but sublime characters ! Upon finishing the book, the readers would have an intimate understanding and be merrily confused about the happenings of this eventful village and its community; putting down the book was akin to leaving the Macondo world and would leave a huge void in the readers' coming weeks; a bit like having spent a great sojourn in a remote vacation spot and missing it even before one had left. A Big Book, A Stunning Finish and A Must Read.

The Girl In The Spider's Web

Book Name : The Girl In The Spider's Web

Author : David Lagercrantz

What is it about : Commercial espionage in the field of artificial intelligence through cyber-hacking would take centre stage in this new adventure of our heroine Salander and the now-down-but-not-out crusading journalist Blomkvist. Oh, also an autistic child with photographic memory and genius drawing ability would pull together all the loose-ends and characters in this story and Salander's twin sister, the o-so-cool and beautiful Camilla made a surprise mid-book appearance.

Some thoughts after having read the book : Perhaps because a different author had been contracted to write this installment of the Millennium Series after the original author's death, so the prose, style and pace differed greatly from the previous stories. Then again, the theme and chemistry of Salander the punk cyber-hacker criss-crossing paths with the investigative reporter, Blomkvist felt somewhat tiresome, exhausted and deflated and this story offered not much intrigue and I did not find dramatic exciting climax and moody build-up along the way. Also, one rather annoying aspect in this book was that, after having spent pages describing a certain character about his life, background, pets-hate, job etc. and the readers thus established an understanding and even an affinity to that character, the author would abruptly kill off the guy in a shoot out or something; so the whole book felt disconnected and the pace scuppered with these guys emerging slowly and dying quickly.

Would I recommend this book to you : I would recommend the earlier three novels by the original author; especially the first installment which had much more drama, atmosphere, mystery and depth. Go read that first installment : The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and see how the "real" Blomkvist really dig into his investigations and Salander the cyber-punk cum martial arts killer could really kick some bad ass.