Literary Specs

2009-12-10T20:10:00.000-08:00

Rain Men by Marcus Berkmann

You know that man? The one who wakes up, doesn't want to go to work, but has to go to work because of the paycheck. Wandering about doing daily, mundane tasks, cheerful but meaningless. But at the back of his head, there is always one question: "What is the score?"

Rain Men is a very funny book about such men. A few men who start their own cricket team (the Captain Scott Invitation XI), under hopes of being very good, and are in reality very bad. Men who are more interested in touring other village cricket teams for the lunch and high tea than playing. A team that has a "Tom Cairns Award" for the worst bowler of the year, named after Tom Cairns who had a bowling average of 102 in the first year of the club!

You might find it to not be a book about cricket, but rather a book about human nature. About a bunch of guys getting together but not getting along. However, at the end, it is a book about cricket. See, for example, the types of bowlers:
1) The perennially angry fast bowler - Remember Andre Nel?
2) The short-arse - The short, but really really quick bowler.
3) The colonial cousin - The general feeling that any tall West Indian bowler will be fast... dangerously fast.
4) The ex-fast bowler - They just refuse to retire.
5) The loose popgun - Could be a hatrick, could be 3 wides.
6) The sensitive flower - Can bowl well only if not being attacked
7) Mr Corridor of Uncertainty.
8) The donkey-dipper - Full tosses, over pitched deliveries. As described, "the arc is magnificent, so is the violence with which the batsman customarily greets it."
9) The unlucky bowler
10) The useless stranger - Remember Noel David?
11) Mr. Try Everything Once
12) The Enigma

As the Times Literary Supplement says
"If you have ever gone in number eight on a hatrick and doubled your team's score with a streaky boundary first ball... then there is only one cricket book for you, and Marcus Berkmann has written it."

Go, and buy it!

2009-11-15T10:52:00.000-08:00

The Bourne Trilogy by Robert Ludlum:-

The Bourne Identity (1980)

The Bourne Supremacy (1986)

The Bourne Ultimatum (1990)

I read the first novel of the series – The Bourne Identity way back in 2003 or so, and I must say that it deserves to be voted as the second best spy novel of all-time by Publishers Weekly, though I still have to read the winner – The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carré.

I have not yet come across any other book – fiction, non-fiction where I was hooked right from the first page. After all these years, I still vividly remember sitting down with the book on a lazy summer afternoon, opening the first page and reading the first few paragraphs and man was I buoyed by it. Another book that comes so close in comparison is Area 7 by Matthew Reilly in the intensity of action and thrill.

The book (Bourne Identity) is a fast-paced read with a lot of action and suspense, to which the movie adaptation does no justice, except for making Matt Damon uber-fast in his action sequences, which actually Ludlum has written fantastically in the book and needs vivid imagination and visualization to really appreciate.

A man is picked up by a trawler barely alive in the Mediterranean Sea with several bullet wounds and a head injury causing amnesia. As he recuperates with the help of a doctor, who has taken him in, he comes to know that he is not just like any other ordinary man. He has been put under the scalpel, has a fantastic knowledge of languages, and knows martial arts. The only clue to his identity is a secret account number in a Swiss bank.

Ludlum then takes us on a whirlwind trip all-over Europe with “the man” – let’s just call him Bourne, out-pacing and out-thinking the CIA, Interpol and Carlos, the Jackal (thus called when found with a copy of Frederick Forsyth's novel The Day of the Jackal amongst his belongings). At the end, the true identity of Bourne is finally revealed and along with the exposure of all rogue elements. This reminds me of the trailer I saw of “Wolverine of the X-Men Series” fighting hard to find his identity and history, have to yet see the movie.

The sequel Bourne Supremacy is also as good if not better than the first one. Again for all those who have seen the film, well just forget that you have seen it. It does no justice to the book and is actually very different and contradictory to the plot.

The story continues from where Bourne Identity left off. Bourne now knows his identity, and well has a life and a wife. And all of it goes for a toss, when another Bourne comes into the picture and starts shooting real people in his name. And then to top it off Bourne’s wife, the real Bourne’s wife whom he loves very much gets abducted – well then what’s a man supposed to do now, Bourne again takes up the mantle of being Bourne and goes after the killer.

Again the book is an absolute thriller. Ludlum very successfully fleshes out the character of Bourne even further and brings the various emotions – his anguish, turmoil and anger towards his handlers and his wife’s kidnappers, towards himself and his past out in the fore. This time the story is set in the Asian theatre when the British are supposed to handover Hong Kong to China.

In the final book of the series “Bourne Ultimatum”, before he ripens off of old age Carlos has now decided to kill his old nemesis Bourne. And thus, Bourne is pulled back into the world of violence and deceit when Carlos sets upon him his network of jackals. The plot of the movie is again way different.

All in all, the trilogy is an absolute page-turner. I couldn’t wait for Bourne Supremacy after finishing Identity and then the Ultimatum. Hence, the suggestion, get the next sequel along with the book you are about to begin reading or else well wait out through the agonizing delay!!

Further continued on by Eric Van Lustbader:-

The Bourne Legacy (2004)

The Bourne Betrayal (2007)

The Bourne Sanction (2008)

The Bourne Deception (2009)

Check out the original post.

2009-11-11T22:36:00.000-08:00

The Foundation series started off with a trilogy of three books – “Foundation” (1951), “Foundation and Empire” (1952), and “Second Foundation” (1953). Due to popular demand, Asimov continued the series with “Foundation’s Edge” (1982), “Foundation and Earth” (1986), and wrote two prequels “Prelude to Foundation” (1988) and “Forward the Foundation” (1992).

The series were continued by another trilogy popularly known as the “Second Foundation Trilogy” – Foundation's Fear by Gregory Benford, Foundation's Chaos by Greg Bear and Foundation's Triumph by David Brin.

Suggested order of reading is the same as above.

The basic theme of the Foundation Series is a vast interstellar galactic empire, which many believe is still in its heydays. But few, especially an old mathematician Hari Seldon through his knowledge of psychohistory, know that the empire is slowly and steadily declining and a thousand galactic years later will be followed by a dark period of suffering for the mankind, which will span over 30,000 galactic years.

The first of the three books – Foundation captures the story of its namesake, which Hari has helped set up as an anchor for humanity in those dark times. This is the story of Salvor Hardin and Hober Mallow, and how they successfully navigate through various Seldon Crises and ward off aggressive attempts of their belligerent neighbors to subjugate the Foundation and its capital Terminus.

The second book of the series – Foundation and Empire, continues on with the story with a focus on the Galactic Empire, which having had forgotten about Foundation is now beginning to see it as a threat. Though the Galactic Empire is in its death throes and has lost almost all control over its peripheries where Terminus is located, it is still a major force to reckon with. And along with this threat, there is the Mule, who is threatening the ultimate collapse of the Foundation along with Hari Seldon’s plans.

An interesting aspect of this series is that unlike books such as “A Song of Ice and Fire” by George R.R. Martin or “Wheel of Time” by Robert Jordan there is not a single battle scene described and yet it leaves the readers on the edge of their seat craving for more and that not in a bad way. The suspense leading to the climax and its aftermath, with a major emphasis on character building and dialogs between the lead protagonists is a hallmark of Asimov’s writing in the “Foundation” series.

The third book of the series - Second Foundation reveals the presence of another Foundation secretly set up by Hari Seldon to help guide the “First” Foundation. This is the story of Mule’s and eventually the First Foundation’s search for the Second Foundation and the conflict that ensues between them.

The Second Foundation has been destroyed and the First Foundation has emerged victorious. Was it predicted by Hari Seldon or has his plans been irrevocably damaged? Or is the Second Foundation still lurking out there, or is there some other mysterious third force subtly guiding events in the galaxy? Foundation’s Edge is the story of Golan Trevize who may have the fate of the whole galaxy resting on his shoulders.

In Foundation and Earth, Trevize along with Pelorat and Bliss attempt to seek answers by seeking the location of Earth, the knowledge of which has been systematically removed from everywhere, so much so that its name is considered an obscenity in many worlds outside the Foundation’s sphere of influence.

The first prequel, Prelude to Foundation, is a story about Seldon and his initial days on Trantor; about the resourceful Hummin and his accomplice Dors; the relationship between Seldon and Dors; and also about the enigmatic Demerzel and his secrets. Seldon arrives as a young mathematician on Trantor, head full of ideas on psychohistory but with no practical approach on making it a reality, and gets jostled between various political forces who wants to use him.

After writing the last book for the series – Forward the Foundation, Asimov himself died within weeks of writing Seldon’s death. The story is about Seldon, whom Asimov regarded as an alter ego, his life’s devotion, the all-consuming fire to develop psychohistory, and his joys and despairs shared with Dors Venabili, and ultimately his poignant death after the establishment of the Foundations.

Foundation’s Fear is set in the period covered in the early chapters of Forward the Foundation, while Foundation's Chaos covers the early chapters of Foundation. Foundation's Triumph covers various loose ends and describes the setting up of holographic messages to the Foundation.

All in all, foundation series is one of the epic science fiction series spanning over 500 standard galactic years, winning the one-time Hugo award for “Best All-Time Series” in 1966 beating even “Lord of the Rings” by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Check out the original post.

Resources:
1. Asimov Home Page
2. Wikipedia - Isaac Asimov
3. Wikipedia - Foundation Series
4. Isaac Asimov's Book Reviews
5. Hugo Awards
6. Nebula Awards

2006-10-01T18:09:00.000-07:00

A Fine Balance, by Rohinton Mistry

I finished reading Rohinton Mistry's A Fine Balance a couple of weeks back, which is just as well—enough time has passed so that I can write about it without overindulging in superlatives.

The book is set in Mistry's fictional Mumbai, which he styles City by the Sea, and centers on the lives of four characters: two low-caste tailors seeking their fortunes in the city, a young, idealistic college student accustomed to a simple life in the hills of the north, and an aging but resilient Parsi widow determined to preserve her independence from her overbearing elder brother. With an almost cruel eye for detail, Mistry recounts painful histories of brief joys and dashed hopes for each of his characters, leading slowly but inexorably to their unlikely encounter, and the even less likely friendship that develops between them. The backdrop to the whole story is the draconian emergency regime imposed in India by Indira Gandhi's government as a response to growing dissatisfaction and political dissent.

A Fine Balance is, of course, a biting critique of the emergency—but it is much more. Mistry brings to life the many dilemmas that Indian society poses to its denizens: choices between morality and survival, between fighting for one's rights and submitting to the status quo, and shows that there are no easy answers. With tightly controlled prose that betrays no hint of his schadenfreude until it is too late, he draws his readers into hoping, fearing and grieving for his very believable characters.

All in all, a very well-crafted and disturbing book, and highly recommended. Just don't expect to enjoy the day after you finish.

2006-09-28T13:06:00.000-07:00

Robot Dreams

Just finished reading Robot Dreams by Asimov. The first few stories were ok, the usual Asimov robot type. I did not like The Ugly Little Boy (considered by many to be amongst Asimov's best works) that much, and basically did not find the book as persuasive as the rest (like Foundation, but I guess it is not a correct comparison, since one is a series, the other is a collection of short stories).

Ans then there came The last question.

This is among the best short stories I have ever read. I have read it numerous times, but still am overawed by the ending, it staggers you like nothing ever can.

An online version is available here. I would however recommend going through the book, since flipping the pages in suspense has a different feeling w.r.t. scrolling down... but read it nonetheless.

Stunning story... almost flawless

Book Rating: 7/10

Story Rating: 10/10

2006-09-01T13:47:00.000-07:00

Consilience - Edward O Wilson

Consilience means the unity of knowledge, how various fields of knowledge can be united by certain underlying common principles. Wilson's book introduces us to the idea that every problem can be solved by reductionism, that is, every problem can be broken down into smaller and smaller parts, and each of these individual smaller components can be solved. The solution to the actual problem is the combination of the solutions to these parts.

Further, Wilson goes on to suggest that the underlying principle to solve these individual components is the same in every problem, irrespective of which field the complete problem originated from. Ultimately, the solution to the individual components stems from the biological basis of behavior. For example, an artist, says Wilson, is not more creative in the sense as we understand the word, but rather has the ability to appreciate which of the infinite ideas that pass through our mind everyday (ratehr every moment) would be aesthetically appealing (both - to himself and to people). And this ability can be (sometime in the future, not presently) perfectly understood once we have a perfect understanding of the biochemical and neurobiological basis of the brain ans psychology. Ultimately, thus, since all science can be explained by mathematics, the neurobioloical basis of art too can be understood mathematically.

It is an interesting reading, and makes a lot of sense. How evolutionary theory explains art, religion, society and ethics (what we consider the humanities) is a fascinating tale. However, I have a problem with the concept of reductionism being used to solve all problems. The combination of results after reductionism is not a simple additive process... i.e., the addition is more of a vector addition as opposed to a scalar addition. In addition, if every problem can be solved by reductionism, then there must also exist a solution to the problem statement "How can a problem be split into smaller components via reductionism". I have not yet come across a satisfactory solution to this problem.

The other problem I have with the book is the tone used, which (unintentionally perhaps, though I am unwilling to give the benefit of doubt to Wilson) assumes a superiority of scientists over the humanistic scholars. I disagree, and believe that scientists too can learn a lot from the humanities scholars, a fact that Wilson too agrees but does not discuss in detail.

I read conscilience after reading a whole chapter refuting the arguments presented in it by Gould in The Hedgehog, the Fox and the Magisters Pox. Both books try to tackle the existing dichotomy between the sciences and the social sciences, but use different approaches.

All in all, a book to be recommended to everyone who is stuck in the details of their own work with no heed of the work in other fields. As Wilson says, the future belongs not to the person who has more information, but to the person who knows how to combine and understand information from different fields.