Dan Brown's Inferno screws up with your head

Reading a Dan Brown book is like watching a Jerry Bruckheimer movie. You know for sure that it will deliver on the thriller / action punch you expect out of it.

Inferno is another taut thriller from the master of history-meets-cult-meets-conspiracy theory genre. This time Prof. Langdon sets out on a race against time to save the world from another catastrophe set in motion by an obsessive but brilliant man of science who is also a Dante fanatic. His twisted interpretation of the message of Dante's Inferno makes him turn the power of science against the human race setting in motion a series of events that pose a threatening question to the very existence of human race.

The book is a pacy read, full of rich scientific, cultural and historical references - typical of a Dan Brown book. Inferno, takes the readers into the dark world of Dante's masterpiece Inferno and a whole underbelly culture of art, architecture and paintings based on Dante's works. The plot has some really hard hitting twists that will make you keep on turning the pages.

Well you might ask what's new this time as that's always the case with any Dan Brown work but I would urge the readers to read between the lines and relate it to your current world scenario. The message that Inferno seems to convey there screws up a bit with your head. Simply because the threat posed this time is deeply entrenched in reality. It brings to the fore the dangers of the mindless expansion of the human race and our blatant disregard for nature's constraints, taking us ever so closer to our extinction with every passing second.

While some of Dan Brown's earlier works may not have registered beyond being the work of pure fiction, Inferno, however will make you sit and realize that seemingly fictional horrors could very well become real life scenarios if we do not adopt a more sustainable way of life. The solution to the problem, that forms the key element of the plot, is even more horrifying and seems dangerously real. I could not help but think that if someone with a really twisted but super brilliant mind reads this book, it wouldn't come as a surprise to me if this piece of fiction turns very real soon. Except, and sadly so, that there may not be any Prof. Langdon around to save the human race.

Bet I got you thinking there and may be feeling a bit uncomfortable but that's what makes Inferno different - you can feel the imminent danger all the time.

The Pixar Touch - story of men with stars in their eyes and grit in the minds

Cartoons, fairy tales and superhero dreams is what most of our childhood was made of. Bringing these stories to life and transforming them into something that we can watch, hear and sing along with, was a challenge that a few men decided to take on. The result was this whole phenomenon called Disney and a handful of other smaller studios that worked under the shadow of Disney. 

The Pixar Touch is the story of a few mavericks who stuck it out in the era where Disney ruled the animation space and dedicated their prime to the cause of developing 3D animation. In a time where 2D animation ruled the roost, of which Disney was the King, and 3D was wished away as only suitable for advertisements or professional grade publishing and non-entertainment related applications such as healthcare, these guys worked tirelessly with a single point aim of making 1 3D film in their lifetime and boy did they make 1 film. With that one film as good as Toy Story, they broke all technology and commercial barriers and established themselves as the Gold standard in animation surpassing even the mighty Disney in their technical prowess.

Pixar Touch is the heart warming and inspiring story of John Lesseter, Ed Catmull and the visionary Steve Jobs who made the core of Pixar Animation Studios and their herculean effort to make 3D technologies suitable for animation movies.

Readers will be amazed to find that these guys were not just animators and artists but actually inventors and scientists who were behind multiple complicated algorithms for rendering, texturing, colouring, shading and what not. They almost worked like a kitchen cooking up new algorithms and ways every day to enhance the animation potential of 3D. Their work almost solely forms the base of the work that adobe does today in desktop publishing and the healthcare imaging industry apart from giving us the wonderful world of 3D animation.

The book also explores the complicated relationship between Disney and Pixar and how Steve Jobs took this group from being a technology provider for Disney to an animation powerhouse giving ground breaking hits after hits.

Extremely well written and pacy, The Pixar Touch will take you inside the world of Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Wall-E, Monstors Inc and many other hidden gems and the gems who worked tirelessly to bring these movies to us.

The Krishna Key - Book Review

Indian Fiction has seen a recent spurt of upcoming authors not shying away from questioning the existing faiths, be it Amish Tripathi or Anand Neelkantan or Devdutt Pattanaik. Ashwin Sanghi is a welcome addition to this crop of bold authors. 

In my view, it augurs well for the Indian literature especially fiction genre, that such authors are taking up age old themes and giving them a much needed face lift. At least the Indian readers are warming up to the Indian fiction as evident from the popularity of these authors and their books.

The plot basically revolves around a set of murders involving renowned intellectuals - all linked in some way or the other to the life of popular mythological / historical Hindu deity and 8th re-incarnation of Vishnu - Lord Krishna. One of their colleagues finds himself charged with these murders only to find himself a pawn in a greater conspiracy involving the origins of Mahabharata and Lord Krishna and in turn finding the key to possibly the greatest discovery of the mankind. This discovery could very well turn the entire Hindu faith upside down if unraveled and its left to this poor scholar to protect the secret from falling into wrong hands. 

While the book could still be improved upon in terms of tighter writing but full marks to Ashwin Sanghi for creating a wonderful piece of mythological / historical fiction. The story is as gripping as say a Dan Brown thriller and quite well researched.

The Krishna Key is an easy read if you are well versed with Hindu mythology, in particular Mahabharata. Otherwise as well, it does well to educate the uninitiated well enough to be able to appreciate the story line. I really liked the parallel narration from Mahabharata in Krishna's voice to refresh some of the characters and give a solid background to the story. Though starts a bit slow in pace but picks up equally quickly in the middle to become a sure shot page turner. It's got enough twists in the plot to keep you hooked on to the book till the very end.

Rich historical fiction - Empire of the Moghul

"Empire of the Moghul" is one of those series where everyone gets something out of it. Its got all the elements of fiction for the fiction-mongers and rich historical undertones for the non-fiction lovers. I particularly loved the book as I am generally interested in empires and the culture and history of civilizations. This was my very first book of this series and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Written in a nice pacy manner, the Raiders from the North encompasses the events and time period in the middle-eastern-asian history that led to the rise of the Moghul empire in India. The book chronicles the life and times of the first Moghul emperor Babur and how even after a series of disappointments as a ruler and conqueror, he continued his quest of establishing a big empire...finally landing up on the shores of Hindustan. The Raiders....succeeds well in painting an extremely detailed character sketch of Babur and his family as well as the political environment prevailing at that time in middle east and central Asia. It also gives insights into some of the major conquests Babur undertook in his prime and the politico-social reasons behind his success and / or failures. The book also brings about a critical analysis of the Timur dynasty, their life and culture and more importantly their motivations, strategy and thought towards the conquered cities like Samarkhand, Kabul and finally India.

A good book for anyone who wants to read the history behind the Moghuls and India under the Moghul rule with a twist of fiction that makes up for an easy and interesting read.

A tale of madness, insanity and genius behind the making of Oxford English Dictionary

I picked up this book because a conspiracy theory - true or not - always makes up for an intriguing read. The Professor and the Madman, turned out to be much more than a mere account of a conspiracy. It is a masterful piece of research around the most celebrated English literature.

The Professor and the Madman is the story of 2 men who probably had the most impact on the making of the Oxford English Dictionary. However, unlike what the title suggests, more than the making of the dictionary, it is a character study of the 2 most important people behind the dictionary and the strange bond they shared.

Professor James Murray, the distinguished editor of the OED project and Dr. William Chester Minor, an American Military Surgeon's paths cross in strange twist of fate this strange association probably became the biggest reason behind the success of the OED project. What makes this association most interesting is that for most part of the project, Professor Murray was oblivious of the rather dark life of Dr. Minor, who apart from being a murderer was also a committed insane confined to an asylum. His astounding contribution to the making of OED behind the walls of this asylum and his struggle to continue towards this single goal in life is as much inspirational as it is unbelievable.

This strange relationship between Murray and Minor, the insanity and genius of Minor and and how it shaped the greatest achievement in the English literature - the OED  - is what this book is all about. Simon Winchester, a master journalist, has time and again brought out  many such obscure stories of historical essence to his readers and this one is no different. It is an extremely well researched book that gives an equal space to all prevailing viewpoints whether it is about the identity and / or insanity of Dr. Minor or about their relationship.

It is an exemplary work of research and journalism and for all those interested in knowing the darker truths behind seemingly harmless events in the history, The Professor and the Madman will definitely deliver the goods.

Rockers and Rollers - a Ball Breaker, the AC/DC way

Warning: This book contains explicit content. Reader discretion is solicited.

Well I had really really high hopes from this book, being a chronic rock and metal fan and I was in for a laugh riot of Epic proportions.

Brian Johnson gives a no holds barred account of his tryst with the various automobiles in his life. Yes, its not about AC/DC, its all about Brian Johnson and his obscenely funny anecdotes about his cars, bikes and automobiles. And yes, its not about the technicalities or merits of the featured automobiles as well, it's one man's journey mapped around the milestones that happen to be automobiles.

Written in a truly Brit style sprinkled with metaphors that are insane, obscene and gross at times, Rockers and Rollers is probably the most easy read I have ever had. Coming from a non-Brit culture, it was almost a discovery of sorts for me in the grossest and funniest of metaphors. I would remember and recollect some metaphor or line even a day after and burst into a fit of laughter. On more than one occasion, I had to stow the book away away while reading in public to control my laughter.  I mean the man has not even tried to tone it down to suit a mass audience. In an attitude befitting of a Rockstar, he writes as if he doesn't give a damn! Which of course he doesn't

Coming to the book, well the content is neither inspirational (as expected from a Biography) nor informational (about the author's life) nor factual ( about automobiles) but a simple story about a man and his love (or hate) for his automobiles. Probably one of the things that could have been done better is to stick to some kind of a chronological order. The book rocks back and forth in present, past, childhood, teenage and adulthood with freedom only a creative brain like brian can only afford but to readers, it could be a tad bit difficult to follow.

It's an endearing and honest account of all the things that went wrong with this dude's life when it comes to automobiles.

Well me lads...this is shaker from a crazy ol' git..that's sure to get you laughing like a twat! Go figure.

Tuxedo Park - the untold story of science behind world wars

I never imagined the impact one man could have had on the path and destiny of the World War II that we have been a witness to. This man turns out to be Mr. Alfred Lee Loomis - did you ever hear of him? I'm sure not....I also did not...before my almost impulsive interest in the literature associated with World War 2 made me pick up this book.

Tuxedo Park tells the story of an American high society called Tuxedo Park and one Alfred Loomis, who turned his big mansion at Tuxedo Park into an almost mystical and highly secretive lab.This lab became the birthplace of the ideas and inventions that almost single handedly turned the tide of the World War 2 in the favor of the Allied forces and gave rise to many modern day technologies we find commonplace today.

If you want to investigate the reasons and origins of how this whole arms race started, this is the book to read. It is also a second hand account into the journey of a few committed scientists that led to the invention of atomic bombs that laid to waste, the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the first hand account being the biography of Dr. Oppenheimer, who headed that team.

The book takes you through the life of Alfred Loomis, a kind hearted millionaire, a shrewd wall street hero and a passionate scientist. This name is probably not even mentioned once or gets only a passing mention in the zillions of historical accounts of World Wars. However, Tuxedo Park is arguable the first account of this mysterious and enigmatic personality who played a most pivotal role in all the scientific progress that humankind made in defense related science during those few turbulent and devastating times. From spending without batting an eyelid on establishing a private state of the art laboratory to lobbying fervently for budgets for these researches to heading a number of committees that for the first time took the application of scientific concepts and applied it to defense. To mys surprise, almost every Nobel laureate and leading scientist have been associated with this man. Yet, I am truly amazed at the contribution this man has made to further science and even more intrigued by an almost conspicuous yet mysterious absence of this guy from any popular account - either of science, war or history. This book to a large extent unravels this mystery.

It will definitely appeal to all those who are intrigued by this heady and potentially dangerous collaboration between science and defense and how it has led to the evolution of the so called world <nuclear> powers as we know them today.