Ask me one question about one book in my collection and I'll answer as honestly as possible.

i've had always thought how cool it is to be immortal and everything would be just infinite. well..not anymore. this book was definitely a fascinating experience. the representation of hell was far beyond what we imagine. it doesn’t deal with stereotypical aspects of hell. it was truly haunting in an existential way....

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I have personally try to reading the whole day and sometime it works like whenever I was in vacation I read almost the whole days I don't know why ,but I loved that part of the year in this year ,but right now I am in home and when I try to read like for whole day I just feel disconnected from the story like I have that urge to read like insane to read 8 to 10 hours a day but I think that ruins the connection from story , it ruins the experience.

My second question or a thought is , how to control to not jump on other book and how to select a book according to our personality cuz as we all know we can't just read whole books that are getting hyped up on internet and I personally think that in the life of a reader this should be a point when he decides to read from his own choice not from the internet's choice. I'm not saying that internet gives wrong review, recommendations but it works for movies that the gems that will only connect to you are always hidden so how to find our own like connections with a book.

I've been playing Assassin's Creed Odyssey lately and watched the movie a few days ago. I've been so obsessed with Greek Mythology that I couldn't help but order these. It's gonna be so peak!!!

Has anyone read these too?

Have been wondering about to start reading poems that much poems in my life but from few days I am getting into poems want some suggestions from the community right now I am reading if by rudyard kipling. I am 20M , suggestions needed for poems .

I read this book back in 12th from the school library and I loved it so much that I got its copy last year after giving boards and hadn't picked it up to read it since. I finally picked it up, would love to see how I feel this time.

I've recently started getting into reading and could use some recommendations.

So far I've read:

- Animal Farm- I know it's a classic, but it honestly felt a bit like a kids' story to me.

- 1984- Decent read, but I found it kind of predictable.

Now I'm looking for something that'll completely hook me. I'm open to pretty much any genre thrillers, sci-fi, fantasy, mystery, literary fiction, classics, etc. As long as it's engaging and not too difficult for someone who's just getting into reading.

What books got you hooked on reading? I'd love to hear your recommendations (and why you think I should read them).

I am 14 yo and i want to start reading books what should i read guys recommend me some books pls

यह किताब एक कविता कि तरह लिखी गई है। वक्त मिलने पर ज़रूर पढ़ना कभी।

Long review incoming, only to hopefully save your time and money :) 

Premise: 

DD Kosambi {DDK} was an Indian Polymath, more popularly known as a Marxist historian. I'd seen this name pop up several times, in different contexts (Maths, History, Literary criticism), so I was always curious about who the heck was he?!

I'm not much of a biography reader, but I am in awe of most geniuses - Da Vinci, Einstein, Franklin, Oppenheimer... especially in awe of people who have varied interests. DDK is one of them, probably the only modern Indian Polymath I know about. (Apart from JC Bose, whose bio I have in TBR)

Was lucky to have this biography come out this month - I got my answers, and so much more! 

Who should read it:

If you're a curious person, interested in all sorts of subjects, this man's life (and works) will be a pleasure to read. 

To give you a glimpse of DDK's mind, he contributed to - Indian History/Historiography, Archaeology, Genetics, Medicine, Numismatics, Statistics, Mathematics, Computing, Indology/Sanskrit studies, Marxism, World Peace Movement, Agriculture, Literary Criticism, Novelist.  

(These all I can remember from the book). 

What I liked: 

• Kosambi Family Portrait: I mention this as an important heads up - because there are multiple pages where I lost interest, as there is a lot of discussion about DDK's family members. What I liked was DDK's father - Dharmanand's  story: what a legend, truly - a Gaud-Saraswat Brahmin whose arc follows that of the Buddha. Born Brahmin, lived Buddhist, died Jain! 
• Highlighting the Cost of Genius: DDK+Dharmanand's intellectual/spiritual Odyssey had terrible repercussions for the female Kosambis- author deserves full credit to highlight that. 
• To put it briefly - Dharmanand was a self-made man who learned Pali+Buddhism+Gandhianism+Marxism through his various travels away from family, and helped popularise Buddhism globally via his detailed translations. I'm telling you this here because his arc takes up 25% of the book, which by the title, was supposed to be about DDK. 🤷‍♂️
• DDK's personality: All-rounder, sharp, witty, angry, short tempered, pacifist, genius, visionary, healthy, egotist, impatient, thin-skinned, loner, workaholic, idealist, hunter, prankster! 
• Kosambi's ideas that fascinated me:

1. The idea that good economics in a society would produce great literary works, then applying Statistics to Coin Weights and Literary Texts! It reminds me of Asimov's Foundation concept of psychohistory (applying Statistics to World History). 
2. Advocating aerial photography to assess agri yields - now Remote Sensing Tech is used by ICAR.  
3. Advocating solar farms instead of nuclear energy (was ignored back then)
4. Genetic Distance Formula: how he came up with it no one knows, but it's significant. 
5. Integrative/multi-disciplinary approach to History, especially in India where fieldwork was required to compensate poor written records. 
6. His output in non-math fields was ~3X than math stuff. Goes to show he was never boxed in by his educational degree. 
7. DDK wasn't always right in his analysis, but the breadth and depth of his ideas were always admirable. 
8. A polyglot but poor in his own regional language - Marathi! Just another one of those quirks...
9. Last Pseudonym used was of a Dog-Pig: S. Ducray. Wonder why...
10. His definition of science as "cognition of necessity" and freedom as "recognition of necessity". 
11. Dharmanand's Odyssey (see pic👆)
12. SayajiRao Gaekwad III helped Dharmanand and BR Ambedkar 👏👏👏
13. DDK was never there when it mattered most (life, wife, parents' deaths). V.sad really. 
14. Monica Felton - should be mentioned for her role in DDK's Magnum Opus (later edition removed her from the Dedication)
15. Reimann Hypothesis destroyed DDK. Still unsolved. 
16. Took Gerovital for his illness, perhaps too much?! Died early, and too healthy. 

• Mind-blowing just to know about some of the GOATS that Kosambis met/corresponded with:    Einstein, Oppenheimer, Andre Weil, John von Neumann, Bhandarkar (of BORI) and Sukhantkar (of Mahabharata critical ed.), Homi Bhabha, SayajiRao Gaekwad III, Gandhi, DD Karve, Ambedkar, Nehru, Agyeya, AL Bashum, JBS Haldane, Satish Dhawan, Kumar Shahani, Paul Erdös, Sweezy...among many others.   

What I didn't like:

• Structure of the Book: First few chapters focussed heavily on Dharmanand's arc, and many pages were unnecessarily detailing their family dynamics - space which I feel could have been used for discussing briefly DDK's works. I'm not downplaying the struggles of the female members of Kosambi household at all - that's really heartbreaking to read - I'm just pointing out that the structure of the book could've been much better. Author could've dedicated 2-3 chapters under the title of Family Blues, and that wouldn't have detracted me from enjoying the actual contributions of DDK. Instead, it's all over the place - one page I read about some ingenious idea by DDK, next is his poor relations with his wife/peers. Found it quite jarring. 
• Dark Academia - This really makes for a dull reading, author spends so many pages detailing academic correspondences, letters etc about DDK's works, rather than giving us a glimpse into those works. 
• Discussions on DDK's works - Idk what degree the author has, but it boggles me that he doesn't care to describe any of DDK's literary critiques, nor his maths/Stats papers. Instead, for the lone genetics paper, he spends 1-2 pages for a biology primer! The notes at the end are also quite insufficient. The author just mentions a list of DDK'S works at the end - I'd have liked for him to say at least a couple of lines about them instead of delving deep into family dynamics or academic squabbles. (list anyone can just see from the internet). 

Supplementary sources you'd enjoy if you liked this :

• Jon Von Neumann biography- Man from the Future by Ananyo Bhattacharya 
• JBS Haldane biography - A Dominant Character by Samanth Subramanian (DNF)
• Oppenheimer by Nolan
• GN Devy's writing on Bhartrhari 
• BR Ambedkar's Buddha and his Dhamma
• Rocket Boys TV series (for Homi Bhabha the GOAT!!)
• Fermat's Last Theorem by Simon Singh (current read)
• Nehru's Discovery of India 

• BORI, Pune - I visited it last year after learning about its significance from Devdutt's articles - to see the only surviving oldest manuscript of Mahabharata. Learned about Bhandarkar and Sukhantkar- their efforts to make a critical edition of Mahabharata, which was later translated into English by Bibek Debroy. 

• Some Works mentioned in this book I plan to read further:

1. Urubhanga (2nd c. CE Bhasa): Duryodhana's last words to his mother.  Avimaraka (Bhasa): Sheep Killer's romance story?! 
2. Kumar Shahani's 1984 Movie Tarang
3. Divine Play on Earth: Sontheimer's Discovery of India (82 min) online 
4. Vidyakara's Subhashitaratnakosha (12th c.) court poetry aphorisms 
5. Dharmanand's distillation of Buddhist text Visuddhimagga --> Samadhimagga. 
6. Shooter of Sound : story by DDK

Conclusion: 

I will credit my own fascination and curiosity about DDK that I could finish this book - everything good about it is just due to DDK's works, not the author's style. Credit to him for highlighting the struggles that befell the Kosambi household, due to the father-son genius duo. 

Dharmanand's spiritual journey is almost complemented by DDK's intellectual journey: 2 tragic Odysseys that contributed so much to Indian thought. 

I've mentioned the crucial stuff for you all above and in the pics 👆.  Hope it helps, if you decide to buy this. 

Rating: 7/10 

{Only because of DDK's brilliance, and the cost of genius that has been the theme of July for me - DDK and Nolan's Odysseus both drove home the same message. 

Also, spooky coincidence - I got this book the day I went to see The Odyssey, and upon returning to read it, which book do I see listed 1st in DDK's collection?👆See the last pic}

Are they good ?? Better than hidden hindu ??

Do tell me your experience if anyone read the series. Thx

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Takeaway from the book - We spend our entire lives inside our heads, in conversation with versions of people rather than the people themselves, rehearsing arguments, nursing grievances and managing impressions.

It made me ask myself - how much of today did I actually live? and how much of it happened inside my head?

Read this after the stranger, I'm going to have to read more camus now

How many of yall are fans of Cyberpunk?

(Baner, Pune) 3 POPULAR SELF HELP BOOKS

TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE - Mitch Albom - 100rs

Confront your fear of end of life through a conversation between a man whose life is ending and his student

LET'S TALK MONEY - Monika Halan - 100rs

Get to learn the basics of life finance from one of the country's topmost financial advisors, Monika Halan. Great gift for teenagers to promote financial discipline.

THINKING FAST AND SLOW - (late) Dr. Daniel Kahnemann - 200rs

Get to learn the basics of human thinking and laws governing the human world - this is an international best seller written by a Novel Prize winner

PART 2

(Baner, Pune) 2 THOUGHT PROVOKING FICTION BOOKS

THE LATITUDES OF LONGING - Shubhangi Swarup - 150rs

A beautifully written novel that weaves together love, nature, and history across India's landscapes. Rich, immersive, and perfect for readers who enjoy literary fiction.

ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE - Anthony Doerr - 150rs

A Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about hope, courage, and survival during World War II. An unforgettable story with memorable characters and beautiful writing.

19 (F) my friend 19(M) wants to start reading but is confused from which genre should he start as a beginner, he had started reading Think and grow rich as it was already available in his house . He is facing too much difficulties in

1)vocabulary

2) comprehension

3) maintain focus

He is a very curious and generalist guy who believes in " Jack of all trades is better than master of one "

Also drop your personal suggestion or tricks for reading ..

I read Propaganda by Edward Bernays and Manufacturing Consent by Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky a few years ago , at the time, i thought they were just interesting books, now looking at what's happening today and realize they changed the way i consume news more than i expected.

I don't automatically accept the first narrative anymore , pay a lot more attention to the words people choose, because language can shape how we feel about an issue before we've even looked at the facts and try to filter that out, compare multiple sources, and then make up my own mind and that doesn't mean i'm always right, but those books definitely changed how I think.

Like Chetan Bhagat or Sudha Murthy.

Are they any good?

I m a beginner and just completed master your emotions.

Don't know wht to read next suggest me😊

I am seeing lot of posts on good book suggestions over past few days. So created this thread where you can post books you have liked most and would suggest others to read.

Here's my list sorted by order of my personal taste -

To kill a mocking bird

One hundred years of solitude

And then there were none

The girl with a dragon tattoo

Kite runner

The Name of the rose

A tale of two cities

Midnight's children

Hey, everyone! How do you get the pulse of what India is reading to understand popular fiction?

Like I do this by Amazon search without logging information,

Browsing second hand and pirated books stalls

Instagram is the other way.

Major publication houses' websites

This is just for my curiosity.