The last long long weekend (as the long weekend was appended by 2 days leave) allowed me some much needed time to read, in quiet. Here I am always surrounded by some kind of noise, but my hometown gives me a nice break. I managed to finish one-and-a-half books actually, with the remaining half taking last two days.
The first one was Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot, sequel to the legendary Cosmos. I liked it even better than its predecessor. The book present Sagan's vision about the human future in space. He ranges over our planetary system and the places where life may be found (Titan for example), the social issues surrounding spaceflight (who needs it when thousands are dying of hunger), the achievements of past missions and what we can expect in the future. Sagan's acclaimed writing style means you won't want to leave this book once you start. Read this book even if you are not a fan of space, just to see how the master wrote (and as a bonus, you might in fact become a fan in the end).
The second one was Gurcharan Das' India Unbound, which is a fundoo look at our journey as a nation from the independence to the 21st century. The book can be divided in two parts, with the first part talking about the polito-economic history from independence to the reforms of 91, which is a tour de force. The second part talks about the post reform India and the rise of the information economy, but it has a kind of the-world-is-flat feel about it and it rather bored me. But there is a lot to learn in this book, and the writing style will keep you glued. And as an added bonus, after reading it, you might be better able to appreciate 80's bollywood movies :).
Enjoy!
The first one was Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot, sequel to the legendary Cosmos. I liked it even better than its predecessor. The book present Sagan's vision about the human future in space. He ranges over our planetary system and the places where life may be found (Titan for example), the social issues surrounding spaceflight (who needs it when thousands are dying of hunger), the achievements of past missions and what we can expect in the future. Sagan's acclaimed writing style means you won't want to leave this book once you start. Read this book even if you are not a fan of space, just to see how the master wrote (and as a bonus, you might in fact become a fan in the end).
The second one was Gurcharan Das' India Unbound, which is a fundoo look at our journey as a nation from the independence to the 21st century. The book can be divided in two parts, with the first part talking about the polito-economic history from independence to the reforms of 91, which is a tour de force. The second part talks about the post reform India and the rise of the information economy, but it has a kind of the-world-is-flat feel about it and it rather bored me. But there is a lot to learn in this book, and the writing style will keep you glued. And as an added bonus, after reading it, you might be better able to appreciate 80's bollywood movies :).
Enjoy!
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