The Battle for God: A History of Fundamentalism by Karen Armstrong

 My choices are getting more and more towards books related to religion and history (mostly around wars and colonisation). Its not good because this narrows down the topics to a very limited subjects, and after a point it looks like that the new books are not adding anything to what you've already read.

About this book, this is absolutely amazing and the only thing anyone could have asked for it an updated version. This one stops at 1999 as this was published in 2000.

It largely covers the changes in the three main monotheistic religions, and tries to paint a picture of how the different sects of practitioners and preachers responded to the immediate circumstances. People were led to believe in alternate truth, and how the acts of change between orthodox model to not so successful attempts of modernisation, and then back to fundamentals.

The larger thought is that religious ideas which were conceived long back couldn't respond to the changing environment. It was not able to answer the questions which came up with the rise of science and reason. A lot of things which were taken for granted by these ideologies were challenged in the light of new scientific findings. The problem was that those ideas were more to do with faith/belief rather than the reason, and eventually they were less accommodating to the reason.

This lead to the conflict between mythos and logos. So, this came down to the point where the fundamentalists (this word has nothing to do with the militant connotations attached to it in the modern lingo) wanted to create a society which was present at the ancient times which was a difficult task. The nostalgia (which was not even a first hand experience for anyone) passed over the generations became a mythical world where everything was great, and moral, and anything which suggests otherwise is treated as something suspicious or enemy.

The other big factor was the politics, ego, misguided understanding and greed of a lot of people who had vested interests in how the things came up. It may not have been the first intention but eventually it became so big that it was out of anybody's control.

There have been many points that have been put to the argument of why this became so but there can't be any one reason that can justify it. It is more of a mix of various reasons, circumstances, and choices which led to it.

This is worth a read for the history even if it is not up to date.

Peace

Faith, Science and Understanding by John C. Polkinghorne

 Don't fall for the title. It sounds so broad but in the first ten pages you can see how narrow this whole book is.

The religion is going downhill, and it is difficult for the preachers (not the practitioners) to keep the people. Finding the new one is relatively easier by casting a wider net but the problem is with the keeping the people who are believed to be the worthy followers(?).

There is also some larger attempts to dilute the vocabulary and replace the more conventional words to something more obscure like faith. Since, religion can't stand a reasonable argument so it hides behind the idea of god (yes, small g is not a typo) which is projected as something which is not conceivable by human faculties.

There is whole new narrative which is hellbent (choice of word because of hell) to put the religion on top of science and reasoning. Their simple argument is that since science can't give all the answers, religion is the right place to be. They summarily reject the idea of rationality that science never claimed to be the last word unlike religion. Science was always open to scrutiny, challenge, proof, and advancement. While the religious texts were the soul truth for such followers. And yes, science will have to prove everything. Remember, Copernicus waited for 400 years to be accepted.

I never heard of this author, and after reading first ten pages I knew why I didn't. One thing which is very evident from the whole narrative is that the author was trying to nullify the scientific theories, and was actually taking the ammunition from the other scientific discoveries to prove that some didn't stand for long. While he completely overlooked the fact that the science was always open for these changes and challenges. Another thing is how frequently he quotes himself to the man of science. Well, it looked like all the science has put to the efforts of justifying a pointless argument. It all goes down to create new words which look scientific or rational like Theology, Natural theology, Revealed theology. And yes the whole science is well written off as vicissitude. Brilliant!

One interesting thing I saw for the first time is the Templeton Prize. It is GBP 1.1 Million which is awarded for - "Outstanding contributions in affirming life's spiritual dimension, whether through insight, discovery, or practical works". Digest it!

Well, I'll avoid reading anything else from him.

Haunted: On Ghosts, Witches, Vampires, Zombies, and Other Monsters of the Natural and Supernatural Worlds by Leo Braudy

 This is a big title. The title is so big that this should be considered as a chapter, and should be included in content table :)

Joke apart, this is not what I actually thought it to be, and it lies with me for misunderstanding the title. I expected that this will largely based on how the ghosts, and other horror elements came into existence and survived over the time.

However, this is more about how some of the older myths around such entities ended up in the media channels which are largely film, and television.

This does briefly talk about the fear, and the nature of fear but eventually delves more into movies. So, if you're looking for a guide on how ghosts, monsters, zombies etc got into the movies then this is a right reference book.

I was not looking for the above but I still enjoyed it.

Maybe not worth reading 260 pages but can give you a lot to explore further.

Love

For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway

 Classic again, and no surprises. Amazing from the page one. Special effects with the old english I missed. Thou, thee, orderest and what not :) Sad part is that a lot of obscenities are given as "obscenities" so that it doesn't corrupt your eyes but to your mind. I'd be glad to have these out rather than left for the imagination.

This is the story of love in war. This a story of three days of a mission in Spain where Robert Jordan, an American (addressed as Ingles) is sent to blow a bridge with the help of an antifascist guerilla unit in the mountains of Spain.

The beauty is that story can be summarised in maybe 5 or so sentences but the narration lasts for about 450 pages. So, largely this is covering the thoughts, dreams, fears, and future plans. Yes, this is full of dialogues also.

It helps you connect with the characters closely. Nothing else is worth adding here because when you read it you will understand it.

Worth a read in the memory of those good old days when the writers were writers.

Love!

The Lost Executioner by Nic Dunlop

 This one I picked after reading the news of death of Duch in September.

I was not aware of such a trial earlier, and when this news came to public I looked for something about him or Cambodia in general, and ended up with this.

I read this, and this left the same impression of anger and despair. This book largely covers the Cambodian situation during Khmer but it is largely focused on the infamous Tuol Sleng prison. 20,000 people entered it, and nobody left alive. The mass graves were found later, and they were found when nobody was looking for them. Like they were having some sort of solitary existence of their own until an outsider disturbed them.

The details of torture and the common condition of prisoners is difficult to go through. It also tries to recreate the situations how the guards, and the people working there handled it. The worst part is how they treated the children just for the sake of saving themselves some trouble.

Duch was always of the opinion that he did wrong but he was merely following the order. This was not surprising as this is the most common line of defence in such cases. The narration always gets shifted from the crime to helplessness of the perpetrators of these crimes. The whole thing is projected as a doing of an organisation where anyone caught is innocent.

Survival is the most basic of the instincts because it is same in animal and human. This is one of the most quoted point to describe animal behaviour from migration, food chain, to be alpha, marking the territory or even monopolising the whole chain of offsprings. However, when it comes to human a lot of these are considered to be off limit. There is a whole cognition in process which defines how we behave. No doubt humans are also genetically designed to have that survival instinct but what separates us from the animals is that cognitive ability to assess the consequences of our actions.

If we're talking about the kind of execution that happened in Tuol Sleng, than you can argue that you were just the cog in the wheel. But unfortunately, you're cog of a wrong wheel and bear the same responsibility as wheel. And, by any definition Duch was not just a cog.

Peace

The Trial by Franz Kafka

 So, the first thought is that this is an incomplete work, and it is written all over it. Another point is that the sequence of the chapters also doesn't come from Kafka. Which I believe is the reason that it sounds so incoherent. All the characters doesn't seem to have developed enough including Josef.

But that doesn't diminish the brilliance of Kafka. If you look at different plots in isolation than you can see his style of surrealistic narration. Pity that he couldn't complete it because even the draft itself is so promising.

Finally, if you're looking for a story this might not be the best of his works (due to incompletion) but if you're looking forward to some of his master strokes than this is worth a read. It's not complete but is about 200 pages so not to worry!

Love

Untimely Meditations by Friedrich Nietzsche

 This is literally a textbook from his initial writings.

Honestly, I missed most of the references and quotes in the book because I was not aware of a lot of people mentioned here. I did look them up later but still will not comment about it.

However, it gives you enough food for thought, and some amazing lines which you will not see from any other writer. It may sound like Nietzsche was critical of everything but look closer and you can see that he was very open for the challenges to his thoughts. Rather than criticising he seems more like examining. And yes there are some lines which I found funny (I'm not sure with those were sarcastic also) but I'll not know.

Not much on this as I'm still digesting it. Fun fact, I wanted to read "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" first but it has been more than a decade since I'm thinking of reading that, and maybe now is the time.

Peace!

Keeping the Jewel in the Crown: The British Betrayal of India by Walter Reid

 This one talks about the last few decades of the Raj in India.

I've read on this topic, and everyone of them has given some insights on the situation, and aftermath of those times. However, this one gives a more factual records quoting some of the reports which were not quoted earlier. So this comes up with a deeper analysis of the British policy of colonialism. You can take a look and you can see that the only policy was procrastination. Just to delay any action as much as possible. And unfortunately, nobody had an idea what this delay was for.

Now when more details are out, we can look at this decay of majestic level where the delay was the only recourse to keep the colonies under British for as long as possible and for the sheer non-sensical pride of it. This also stress the point that to delay any action, the policy which was employed here was to pit the two communities against each other. The seeds sown at that time are still bearing the bitter fruits of hatred even today.

Another point was the self assurance of superiority of British culture. It was never a point of consideration, forget about the discussion, that the indigenous people have the ability to run their own country. It was portrayed that keeping the colonies was more of an act favour, and not the denial of the rights which people had the claim to. But this was the age old race supremacy idea which still has a lot of takers.

Even if you've read something on the similar lines earlier from other authors, this one is still worth the time.

Peace

The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Classical World by Catherine Nixey

 The title may sound scandalous but the book is not. In fact, a lot of reviews which I read afterwards are more of scandalous in nature.

It was surprising to see that a lot of readers (?) mentioned this book to be written to take a ride on anti-christian narrative. Another accusation was that this mentioned only the bad things of Roman days but if you read the introduction it stated very clearly that the songs are already sung on high notes in the praise of those good things, and this book tries to find a balance between the two extremes, which it did well.

Not everything can be proved by the records, and books of which only the few survived. And it is not an understatement that zealots always tipped the balance in favour of the stronger one who was left behind to tell the story. A lot things had be read in the peripheral texts, and signs of demolition.

Faith is not a bad thing in itself but it can drive people to do the unimaginable deeds. Specially, when it is against any type of reason, argument or rationality.

Banning the common practices, and persecuting the people for what they believe in was approved by law. There was a selective bias behind what is to be kept safe, and what is to be burnt. And later what is left to be used as a proof point of good intentions which were never there. Also, a lot of things were brushed under the carpet for the saints. If in doubt take a closer look at what they  preached.

Peace

The Pianist: The Extraordinary Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw, 1939–45 by Władysław Szpilman

 This is one book where I watched the movie first, and later read the book.

I watched the movie long back but after finishing the book it felt like the movie did a justice to the book. However, reading the book was still a better experience.

While reading the story there were points where it sounds like that the writer was not talking about himself but about someone else. The narration was so plain that it doesn't really creates any passion but that simplicity is the beauty of the book.

There are many instances which could have been a strong statements of accusations but somehow this got clouded by the human grit or like he mentioned the animal instinct of survival. But that was a bit crude or should I say emotional way to take the blame. This sounds almost like a result of self pity conceived by the helpless situation of saving your loved ones.

Well, even if you've watched the movie, try this book. Worth the time.

Peace

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez

I read this. And this has been one of the good reads after the recent serious books.

By that I don't mean that this is not serious. It is pretty serious if you look at it. The whole plot can be summarily written in 5 sentences but then it's not always about the story. It has more to do with how it was told and that's where a classic differs from a contemporary book.

The book is about love, and perseverance. Young lovers who got separated at very young age but were united after 50 years. This is the time when someone might not be thinking about the lost love, forget about finding that lost lover. However, Florentino never lost his love. He was always waiting for it.

This has a lot of sex, infidelity, stupidity, and travel. Which summarily describes any normal life. The only thing which is not normal is how long love can last. A common thought among the readers about this is that this book is full of sex. Somehow, people are not able to accept the fact that the protagonist was having a lot of sex while he waited for all those fifty years. This can be due to the fact that a lot of people don't see the two things (love and sex) separately. It is a common belief that one precedes another. This can be attributed to how the idea of love and sex has been taught and understood by the larger society. What it will look like if we remove all the pieces of his going to other women. Imagine, Florentino might have chosen to be a priest which might have made a lot of people happy, and I don't think it's impossible that there might be a novel version of it where he devoted all his life to charity, and died of cholera. And all those readers who objected to the real version might actually cheer it up!

A second doubt is about the reality of love as defined here. This is very much obvious that for all practical matters the kind of love shown here is not something which we encounter everyday (or maybe in a lifetime). But a lot of time the idea of love is lost on Florentino. People ignore the love of Fermina and her husband which endured the most difficult obstacles of a real life love. The mesmerising story of longing overshadowed the real story of a married couple.

If you're a fan of GGM's other works, you may be disappointed because it doesn't have the magical realism of "hundred years of solitude" but a reader should be glad that it doesn't have it.

This is a bit long one but worth a read.

Gun Island by Amitav Ghosh

 Of course you're an amazing story teller. His stories are full of life, and grit of the characters.

However, Deen doesn't seem like the strongest of his characters with all his dual mindedness, and habit of giving up so easy. But what a character he is. And I think he looks like more realistic, and hopelessly romantic.

One thing for sure is that this is full of dramatics, by which I mean that this has so many twists and turns and of course so many co-incidents. It was on a borderline of dream sequence in lot of subplots but as always, all the things fall in place.

One thing which I couldn't connect with, unlike his other works, was the pace of the story. It did increase the pace a lot like a thriller which looks like more of a style of Dan Brown. Maybe it was for me since I was habituated to a particular pace of your other books.

Anyways, must read, and yes a lot of Italian.

Love

The Sea by John Banville

 I do accept that I picked this one when I saw the Pulitzer prize winner. I didn't know the writer earlier but after reading this I might pick some of his works.

About the book, this is a memory of a kid who is now an old man. The narration revolves mainly around three major parts of his life which are one childhood summer, marriage, and the current situation.

The whole plot is full of deaths of so many people that it becomes a bit depressing by the end. You do feel like connected with the characters, and their disappearance is not something which you can digest easily.

I'm not saying that this is not for faint hearts but it can make you feel low for a couple of days specially if you're sensitive about death.

Worth the read, and a quick one too.

Love

One True God: Historical Consequences of Monotheism by Rodney Stark

 You can't judge a book by its cover, and neither do I.

I picked this one, and thought it to be interesting which it is "partially". However, this is one of those books where the writer has quoted extensively himself. I don't really mind it but this really got on my nerves when in a lot of instances it was only "like I mentioned in my other works". I was not really looking for a compendium or a cheat sheet of your work.

As far as the rest of things this doesn't offer anything new. In fact, I was surprised how it tried to low ball some of the casualties in the history. I never fall for numbers but the extent to which it tried to normalise the things was on a border of dehumanising a lot of historical incidents.

And yes, if you look closely you can find the bias in the whole narration. There were things about other religions like Buddhism, Hindu etc which were summarily rejected in a line. So much justification of missionary work, and there was a whole dissection of strategy why it didn't work in some countries/communities. Also, I was also surprised with how frequently the words barbarians and pagans were used in such a derogatory reference.

There is no theology in it (don't fall for the title), and there is definitely no place for rationality.

Peace!

The Myth of Nations: The Medieval Origins of Europe by Patrick J. Geary

 This is such an amazing account of historical Europe. And more than that it gives you some new thoughts.

If you're interested in the facts than this has a lot of details. However, the more important thought which is rightly emphasised is that the history of countries is not a fixed idea. It's evolving and keep changing. Anybody who puts it in just one perspective is most probably trying to gain something by its improper projection.

A larger thought is that the people who are trying to write the historical account for a country or culture etc have a grave responsibility of staying neutral and recording only the facts or hypothesis which can be proved independently. However, the sorry state is that a larger chunk of such exercises were completed based on half truths and rest on imagination. This was a dangerous mix because this gave the people a fake sense of belonging or being biased against others who were or could be left out of it.

This thought corruption in the records lead to so many conflicts that there was a whole army of such writers who were/are hellbent to provide people with the wrong/imagined detail. And once this was out, it was difficult to disprove it. Not because this was right but because this was repeated and realigned so many times that it become a truth in itself which was a dangerous situation.

Unfortunately, it's not easy to judge between real and imaginary accounts, and eventually it lands on the consciousness of the people to decide. It is not an easier task but can be done with some proper training of faculties. The key is that you look at everything with an open mind and filter out the undesirable elements.

Definitely a great read, and yes a quick one.

Peace

The New Religious Intolerance: Overcoming the Politics of Fear in an Anxious Age by Martha C. Nussbaum

 Someone once said that the good books are the one which teaches you something new. But the better ones are which give you a feeling that you already knew it but this book gave the words to it.

Well, this is that kind of book. I definitely got stuck with a bit of legal history where some older cases were mentioned but apart from that it more or less echoes the thoughts.

Let's agree to the point that a narrow vision doesn't get you the right picture. All we need is empathy, and we'll understand everything from than onwards.

Just because we don't know the rituals, and traditions of the other culture is not a good enough reason to oppose it. In fact not knowing it should be treated as an opportunity to know something new.

People should have to follow or observe what they want to, and everything else should be treated as law and order problem if it poses one (which is unlikely the case).

Peace!

The Captain's Daughter and A History of Pugachov by Alexander Pushkin

 I read Pushkin, and I thought why didn't I read any of his work till now.

This was a two in one with a lot of author's note. And for the first time I realised how much work goes into a good book before it comes in our hands.

Of course the first one (The Captain's Daughter) is a poet's work. You can see the poetry and imagination that goes into the whole narrative. This is such a happy go lucky story that it leaves you with a smile. You don't believe in all the coincident that happened but one after the other you keep on wishing more to come for a nice closure, and yes it doesn't disappoint you.

The second one (A History of Pugachov) is more of a historical account. It is super prose heavy, and goes into all the details which are available in the archives, and records. I never saw such a detailed story of a historical account, and it gives so much information about a military expedition (or more than one).

Peace

1984 by George Orwell

 There is a reason why some works outlast others. One of them may be that they survived but the major reason is that they hit a chord. This one hits you all over.

I always wanted to read the Animal Farm first but this was never off the list. So, when I saw this one on the aisle, the immediate thought was "Yeah, why not!".

I read it fast as it was too absorbing, and somewhere it echoed the thoughts.

There is no Big Brother or is there. We may never know but the process of changing the past keeps on going. You may not be a part of it but that doesn't mean you're not affected by it.

These day when we see a lot of noise around fake news, changed names, unscrupulous officials/politicians you can easily hear yourself saying what Winston said. And the bigger problem is that the only thing you can do is to survive it. You can't fight the fight but you can survive the fighting. And one day when the truth is out there in full force, nobody will be able to alter or cover it.

They can never enter your head, you just have to give a closer look to keep your sanity, and stay strong in what you believe.

Alas, it never end there and you prepare yourself for the next wave. This is a cycle we're part of. It may change it's flavour but it can't change it's nature.

Peace

Half a Life by V.S. Naipaul

 Why did I read this

I was not sure if I should put a ? or ! (resentment) at the end of the sentence above.

I'm never looking for an adventure in a book, and in fact nothing happening is more of a sign of deeper thoughts. Unfortunately, that's not the case here. I think this is the reason I'm not going to pick up anything from Naipaul anymore.

I'll not go into details but I suggest this is not worth the time (even if it is a short one).

The Story of the Jews: Finding the Words, 1000 BCE – 1492 CE by Simon Schama

 I don't really have to write about what's in the book. The title says it all, and may be I'll pick up the second volume of it too.

This was a bit difficult to read initially because I was not able to understand a lot of words which I didn't see earlier, and the ideas were a bit crude but after half of it I was much better with the overall thought. Plus there are some really good instances which make you smile but when you look closer you realise the gravity of those light moments.

But the overarching thought is that all the calamities are man made irrespective of what they are made of. The whole idea of doing something, and getting away with it is so alarming that it puts you into perpetual fear of what can go wrong. The sad part is that you're not even instrumental for it going wrong.

All the atrocities against fellow humans are not justified irrespective of the reason but there had always been the voices which try to bring a counter point which is on the line of two wrongs making one right (I read on earlier and regretted it). It's always unpleasant to hear all the theories which try to justify any hatred against others but or at least dilute the arguments against it.

The other thought was that end of the day all these can be of power or money everything else is just a cover up for the real reason. So next time you hear of any such thing, keep in mind that it doesn't have anything to do with ideology, religion, cast, creed or colour.

My optimism - we're in the best of the world, and it is only going to be better than this.

Peace