Team-BHP - The Books Thread (Fiction)

Reading 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.'

Just done with 'The Lost Symbol.'

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Originally Posted by blue_pulsar (Post 2285062)

Just finished reading the Lost Symbol. The books is frustratingly long and the last half has been unnecessarily stretched. I agree that DaVinci Code was much better.

I totally agree :thumbs up Although I admire Dan Brown's knowledge, I felt he just used 'The Lost Symbol' as a showcase to whatever he knew about the Freemasons. The plot in itself was straightforward and simple.

Before that 'Assegai' by Wilbur Smith. Brilliant story woven around big game hunting, mysticsm in Africa and the WWI! Highly recommended.

Superfreakonomics before that. clap:

I am caught in a major mountaineering/climbing books reading trap right now. I was getting bored with my regular sci fi/fantasy reading list, so I asked a friend who is into mountainerring and climbed Aconcagua to recommend me climbing books which are not about technical mountaineering, but slightly more storylined.

verbatim is his mail below:
"On the books, the literature on the '96 Everest disaster is a good starting point for anyone looking to read about mountains. Two good accounts are "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakuer and "The Climb" by Anatoli Boukreev. The latter is a lot more balanced and an insight into an incredibly brave and strong climber's psyche. These ought to get you interested. Joe Simpson's "Touching the Void" is another very famous account of two climbers who are marooned in the Peruvian Andes, and one guy's struggle to make it back to camp. There's a great historical account of the first (and tragic) attempt to climb the north face the Eiger in the 1930s called the White Spider by Heinrich Hemmler. Start of with these - man, if you had told me a while ago, I would have sent some books through Sarkar. I'm sure he will be going back to Delhi soon enough though. But if you want a book of real and true adventure to completely knock your socks off, read Born to Run."

1 month forward I have read these and more (will recommend one more book - "K2- by Ed Visteurs"). And from just looking out to read a genre, I may have just started some passions which I have no control over. I have started running on a treadmill which i never used before. I am checking Nepal trekking routes for my next holiday. and doing pushups.

Currently reading "Holy Cow", by Sarah Macdonald. An Australian, on her first hand account of India and Indians. Extremely funny. Sometimes, it is good to have a look at ourselves through another persons POV.

The best would be a bit difficult but I find the following books worth a re re-read.
1. The Godfather (read it 11 times and still feels as new).
2. Shantaram (Superbly written)
3. The Da Vinci Code.

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Originally Posted by manolin (Post 2419196)

I am caught in a major mountaineering/climbing books reading trap right now.

Then I am sure that you will enjoy reading "Mountains of the Mind: A History of a Fascination" by Robert MacFarlane. It is not about one particular ascent/expedition, but an account of how mountaineering evolved and also covers themes like geology, glaciers, human beings' fascination with altitude, fear & adrenaline.

Cheers,
Vikram

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Originally Posted by tifosikrishna (Post 2363940)

Finished Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson and now started Fooled by Randomness.

Finished Fooled by Randomness. In essence it tries to convey that in real life when outcomes are influenced by so many direct and indirect variables, it is extremely difficult to find the exact cause of it. And more often than not, we do the mistake of attributing success or failure to a cause/individual whereas it could just be a case of random occurrence.

Given the unpredictable nature/randomness of outcomes, ideally, as a society we should give lot of importance to the effort that is put in and not on the outcome. However due to emotional biases and quirkiness of human beings it is practically not possible to have such a value system in the society.

Finally, author tell us that "value is its own reward" which to me is the quintessence of Bhagavad Gita... "I act because I must".

Book is very original in thought and author doesn't hide (rather deliberately expresses) his irreverence to media and white collared wall street blokes. Recent economic melt down(s) that happened after the launch of the book augurs well to prove his point.

Thoroughly enjoyed the style of writing and it has to large extent changed my outlook towards life.

Highly recommended.

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Originally Posted by Swanand Inamdar (Post 2419397)

2. Shantaram (Superbly written)

I agree for the most part but for the voyage to Afghanistan.

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Originally Posted by iMathan (Post 2259350)

Presently reading Bapu's The Story of my experiments with truth. No disrespect to him, but the book hasn't impressed me, yet.

When in school, there was an annual examination on this book!. Yes I couldnt take this up again now.

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Originally Posted by tifosikrishna (Post 2207901)

Currently reading The Tell-Tale Brain by V.S.Ramachandran. Quite interesting till now.

I loved Phantoms in the brain. And was keen on this book, but reviews suggested that it was perhaps a reiteration

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Originally Posted by pravingmh (Post 2419552)

I loved Phantoms in the brain. And was keen on this book, but reviews suggested that it was perhaps a reiteration

Since both the book deals with very similar subject, there are a few repetitions. I think author had put a note of caution about this. This book is definitely not as entertaining as Phantoms in the brain, perhaps this is because of the fact that I read PiB before and already had an idea of how brains works. So I was more informed and the surprise factor was missing.

I thought some of the concepts were difficult for me to comprehend. Especially topics on consciousness almost bordering on philosophy. If you are interested in reading more about brain, try this The Brain that changes itself . I went to book launch of Tell Tale Brain and V.S.Ramachandran himself spoke highly about this book and recommended it to us.