If you are a Su Doku fan, these hundred puzzles will keep you engaged for some time. Particularly the last twenty puzzles in the Fiendish section are killers. They can take 30 minutes to several hours and can test your patience.
I recommend this book. What a relief completing as soon as the year begins.
This book needs neither an introduction nor a review. When you have read a book in your 20s and again read it in your 40s, the perspectives are quite different. That's what I can say after re-reading this book. I have read several books on the topic. A few are probably influenced by this book. What are the seven habits?
While the outcomes and expectations from the habits are clear, one may find the methodologies described to achieve can be a bit restrictive and not to your liking. I think one can choose own technique to inculcate these habits.
The last in the Nehru Saga, this book is not just about the history of India. We draw that conclusion as most of us grew up with the televised series Bharat-Ek-Khoj by Shyam Benegal. This book is about Indian people, their aspirations, mistakes, and learnings from the mistakes. While one may wonder if this is the India-centric aspect of Glimpses of World History, the answer is not quite. There are parts where Nehru discovers India for himself by interacting with her history and people; there are chapters on how India needs to model herself based on the progressions of the modern world.
The last hundreds or so pages are on the post-war world order. The situation had not completely unfolded when Nehru wrote the book. Hence the explanations are a bit sketchy in places. Some may challenge the viewpoints, and with the wisdom of hindsight, we know some of the events did not take the direction Nehru expected to happen. But, with many of the follies, it still can be considered a great compendium to understand India.
"Raso Vai Sah - Sweetness only is He" was written in the late 70s when Brahmananda Panda was still a member of the Rajya Sabha. The book apprises us of the scholarly understanding of Hinduism of the author. It also tells us about how devotees of Satya Sai Baba mingled with Him like a friend, making Him a part of their daily life, expressing their doubts and uncertainties. Sai Baba used to call him Panda lovingly. He used to ask him about his well-being whenever He met. He has graced Panda's son and his grandkids on several occasions.
Overall it's a book about a devotee who reached his spiritual master and created a lifetime association. A person's spiritual journey is a great read. At the end of the reading, you still wonder what happened next. Panda continued to serve as the state president for many years later. Children as we were have interacted with him several times. He was popularly known as Brahmananda Aja (Grandpa) by the kids. Always, smiling, and encouraging, with lots of stories and fables with divine messages. Sahitya Academy has published his life story in Odia, but the book is no longer in print.
https://www.exoticindiaart.com/book/details/brahmananda-panda-old-and-rare-book-in-oriya-mzr127/
Who is Pundit Nehru? Here he replies in his own words:
"I have become a queer mixture of East and West, out of place everywhere, at home nowhere. Perhaps my thoughts and approach to life are more akin to what is called Western than Eastern, but India clings to me, as she does to all her children, in innumerable ways; and behind me lie somewhere in the subconscious, racial memories of a hundred, or whatever the number may be, generations of Brahmans."
Writing a review of this book will be superfluous. But, not writing a short opinion will be criminal. For the past month, I have consciously taken a few hours a day to read through these 600+ pages to understand the man. With the unfathomable intellect he had, it is hard to overlook his capabilities as a passing interest. The book starts with his early life, with a lot of focus as a congress worker. He openly discusses his shortcomings and the clashes he had with Gandhiji in terms of viewpoints. Even openly admitting his aversion to Fascism to the extent of rejecting a meeting with Mussolini from a Rome airport. He was not even a communist and had clashes with the principles. He was a socialist to a great extent. The book focuses a lot on his works, views, and vision for India before he was anywhere near consideration as a prime ministerial candidate. If you read this text, you will realize to a great extent why Nehru, the prime minister, took the actions he undertook. It refers to the planning commission and constituent assembly and many such congress initiatives much earlier to their actual effect.
Everyone who wants to understand Nehru and his contribution to India must read this book.
This book is by far the best book I have read in life. Why? Here is one book that gives me a complete picture of the history of the world till 1933 with some notes taking it to 1938. While Nehru wrote it all for his 11-year-old daughter Indira Gandhi, I am not sure how far a modern 11-year-old can assimilate the complexities of world politics. Some people may say there are historical inaccuracies in the text or may challenge Nehru's understanding of history. However, only a few books can give you such coverage of world history. That's why it's unique. Of course, Nehru was not a historian; he was merely writing letters to his daughter over nine years from various jails where he got detained as part of the Indian freedom movement. A 1200-page book without any reference material is impossible to imagine today. It also says volumes about his scholarship that is not natural to his training as a barrister. The book covers so much across all of history that it is not worth writing a review. It has prehistoric events, middle-age challenges, science and technology, industry, and coverage of the history of every continent (maybe no Antarctica). But what makes it interesting is the history of post-world war-I; one can see the pot boiling for the second world war and the world politics of the period. We can all be wise men with the wisdom of hindsight, yet looking through, one can realize how his understanding got created and the policies he undertook as the first foreign minister and prime minister of India.
I feel every person should read this book to understand world history and how our political leadership interacted with the world.
The book tells a great deal about the history of machines playing chess. I was surprised by the level of understanding Kasparov has of AI. Generally, explaining the concepts to a non-technical audience is not easy. However, this book carries on into it with utmost ease. I will still believe the book has lost its meaning in today's world of AI. The chess-playing of 1997 by a computer is very different from 2018. In the afterword, he states the AlphaGo-like machines based on reinforcement learning (type C) are taking over the game's strategy. The type-A or type-B machines based on search are a thing of the past. The book may not satisfy the interest of a technical audience but will keep you engaged. Hence, recommended.
