Dalits, Dynasty and She by Sanjay Chitranshi. My rating: 3 of 5 stars. Dalits, Dynasty, and She is a very good semi-fictional portrayal of Indian politics, especially as relates to caste tensions, scheming, greed and corruption. The story has real potential, and I was truly engaged in the first hundred pages. But, after that, I […]
Robert Wright’s book is a “must read” for anyone interested in and/or practicing mindfulness meditation. This is not a “how to” book, but rather a brilliant analysis (unique, in my opinion) of how mindfulness meditation works to help us overcome useless rumination, destructive thoughts, impulses, and desires that are deeply rooted in our evolutionary biology. […]
I highly recommend “Written in Stone” by Christopher Stevens to anyone interested in language, well Indo-European languages. Each of the 17 chapters gives us on average 5 Indo-European words (verbs); for each word, the author tells stories or weaves narratives to illustrate the English words that come from those ancient words. Sometimes the narratives are […]
While I agree with many of the reviews that the book is thin on plot, for me the characters came to life and the relationships were heart-felt and extremely human (I’m tempted to say menchlich!). I refer not just to the relationship between characters, but also those of characters to country (the local scene and […]