Sherlock Holmes FAQ by Dave Thompson

All That's Left to Know About the World's Greatest Private Detective 
The Sherlock Holmes FAQ is a one-stop guide to over a centurys worth of mystery, mayhem, and most of all, deduction. 
Digging deep inside the manifold worlds of Sherlock Holmes, the FAQ is a dramatic and detailed digest of the Baker Street sleuth in all of his many guises, as TV and radio star, movie phenomenon, and, of course, literary giant. 
Chapters investigate his predecessors and his successors, and discuss the influence that Holmes has had not only on other writers, but on real-life police procedures as well. 
The London that he perambulated in deerstalker and cloak is laid bare, plus the life and other fascinations of Holmes creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, are mapped out in all their foggy, darkened atmosphere. 
We meet giant hounds and fearful foes, common crooks and misdirected souls. 
Ghosts appear in these pages, and vampires, too and more puzzles, conundrums, and mysteries than any mortal detective could ever hope to solve. 
But Holmes, as we shall see, was no mere mortal. 
And Sherlock Holmes FAQ is the story of his immortality.

[Book Description Source: www.amazon.com ]


Ratings
Goodreads Rating - 3.46 out of 5 (28 Ratings , 7 Reviews  - As on Dec 6 2017)
My Rating:   3 out of 5
My Comments:
Will be a great addition in the library of a Sherlock Holmes fan. Lots of interesting trivia. Beware of the spoilers though if you have not read any of the 56 short stories and 4 novels featuring Sherlock Holmes.

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A Guide to Fort St. George by Sriram V.

The oldest Anglican church east of the Suez, the first British inscription in India, the tallest flagstaff in the country and the only surviving national flag among those hoisted all over India on August 15, 1947,

These are but some of the treasures that Fort St. George, Chennai, holds within its precincts.

This is a guide that tells the visitor what to look for in this citadel, and where.
 

[Description Source: Back cover of the book]


Ratings
Goodreads Rating - 3 out of 5 ( 1 Ratings , 0 Reviews  - As on July 7 2017)
My Rating:  3 out of 5
My Comments: Quite interesting. A handy book to take along when you visit Fort St. George ,Chennai.



 
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The Man Who Knew Infinity - Robert Kanigel

A Life of the Genius Ramanujan 
In 1913, a young unschooled Indian clerk wrote a letter to G H Hardy, begging the preeminent English mathematician's opinion on several ideas he had about numbers. 
Realizing the letter was the work of a genius, Hardy arranged for Srinivasa Ramanujan to come to England. 
Thus began one of the most improbable and productive collaborations ever chronicled. 
With a passion for rich and evocative detail, Robert Kanigel takes us from the temples and slums of Madras to the courts and chapels of Cambridge University, where the devout Hindu Ramanujan, 'the Prince of Intuition,' tested his brilliant theories alongside the sophisticated and eccentric Hardy, 'the Apostle of Proof.' 
In time, Ramanujan's creative intensity took its toll: he died at the age of thirty-two and left behind a magical and inspired legacy that is still being plumbed for its secrets today.
[Book Description Source: www.amazon.com ] 

Ratings
Goodreads Rating - 4.15 out of 5 (3,410 Ratings; 204 Reviews)
My Rating:  4 out of 5
My Comments: A very well researched biography that brings out the personality of both Ramanujan and Hardy very vividly. Readers not exposed to college level mathematics may find some parts tedious.

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Stories Told by the Mother: Part 1 - The Mother (Mirra Alfassa)

During her evening classes in the 1950s, the Mother sometimes told stories to those gathered around her at the Aurobindo Ashram playground.

These stories rose naturally in the course of conversation, as illustrations of the points she wished to make.

Often she recounted incidents from her own life - her experiences in France, Algeria, Japan and India.

The angry lion in the Paris zoo, the children who made friends with the sun, the occult feats of Madame Theon, the woman who knew how to walk, the enchanting gardens of Tokyo, the clocks that stopped all at once in Sri Aurobindo's room - there are are fifty such stories in this book, suitable both for the young and the old. 

[Source: Back Cover of the Book] 

Ratings
Goodreads Rating - 4.25 out of 5 (4 Ratings, 0 Reviews)

My Rating:  2 out of 5.  

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My Family and Other Animals - Gerald Durrell

"My Family and Other Animals" is the bewitching account of a rare and magical childhood on the island of Corfu by treasured British conservationist Gerald Durrell.

 Escaping the ills of the British climate, the Durrell family - acne-ridden Margo, gun-toting Leslie, bookworm Lawrence and budding naturalist Gerry, along with their long-suffering mother and Roger the dog - take off for the island of Corfu. 

But the Durrells find that, reluctantly, they must share their various villas with a menagerie of local fauna - among them scorpions, geckos, toads, bats and butterflies.

Recounted with immense humor and charm


Goodreads Rating - 4.28 out of 5 (15010 Ratings; 1078 Reviews)

My Review:
I really enjoyed this book. 

The humor Durrell brings  while narrating the incidents (and accidents !!) involving the  animals and his family during their sojourn in Corfu has to be read to be enjoyed !

I don't count myself as an animal enthusiast. 

But the descriptions of the lifestyles and mannerisms of the animals featuring in this book were so vivid and captivating that I could not resist searching the web to see their pictures and know more about them.

A fabulous read !

 

Links:

• My Family and Other Animals - TV Series Episode 1
• Last year I had  read another book by Durrell - "The Picnic and Suchlike Pandemonium" . That was also thoroughly enjoyable. Read about it at 
  http://bookwormsrecos.blogspot.in/2013/03/the-picnic-and-suchlike-pandemonium.html

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Today We are Rich by Tim Sanders

Harnessing the Power of Total Confidence
Are you just hanging in there? 
Have life’s curveballs thrown you off balance? 
Do you feel as if your life is going sideways?

Best-selling author, leadership coach, and former Yahoo! executive Tim Sanders knows how you feel. 
His father’s unexpected death put him in a downward spiral for fifteen years—what he calls his “sideways years.” 
A photo of a dusty water tower in Texas finally woke him up in 1996. 
That’s when he realized he needed to go home to his rock—his grandmother Billye, who had taken him in as a child to raise as her own.

Rediscovering the lessons she taught him as a child turned his life around and, in less than four years, catapulted him to financial security and an officer-level role at an S&P 500 company at the center of the Internet revolution. 
Today, his promise to himself is, “I will never forget those lessons. The price is too high.” 
Join Tim as he rediscovers the classic principles of confident living that some of the most successful and joyful people you know live by:

1 – Feed Your Mind Good Stuff
2 – Move the Conversation Forward
3 – Exercise Your Gratitude Muscle
4 – Give to Be Rich
5 – Prepare Yourself
6 – Balance Your Confidence
7 – Promise Made, Promise Kept

In Today We Are Rich, Sanders updates Napoleon Hill, Dale Carnegie, and Dr. Norman Vincent Peale to tackle a new world, where social media and transparency present unique challenges to our sense of confidence, sanity, and faith.
[Source: www.goodreads.com ]


Goodreads Rating - 4.04 out of 5 (453 Ratings; 70 Reviews)

My Comments:
Principles of confident living described in this book are what we call as common sense (but which is actually not so commonly seen). 
Book is rather autobiographical in nature mainly extolling author's grandma who lived by these principles. 
Nice and quick read but you won't miss anything exceptional even if you don't read it.

Links:

• Author's website
• Video preview of the book 
• Download the free e-book 

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Tamarind City - Where Modern India Began by Bishwanath Ghosh

Madras (now Chennai)-  the city where I used to spend my school holidays when I was a kid; the city where I spent almost 8 years (M.Tech, Ph.D) pursuing my higher education in the esteemed institution IIT-Madras; the city where my grandpa worked and had a house (sadly sold off 20 years ago); the city where my parents got married; the city where many of my uncles, aunts and cousins had lived or still live !
I have  pleasant memories of this first city of modern India.
It is always a pleasure to read anything about Madras/Chennai, especially if it has to do with its history and its culture.
The author Bishwanath Ghosh has come up with a delightful narrative about his life in this city.
A must read for  Chennaiites!

Book Description [Source: Back Cover of the Book]
‘While in other big cities tradition stays mothballed in trunks, taken out only during festivals and weddings, tradition here is worn round the year.’

This is just one of the author’s many keen observations of Chennai. With mordant wit, this biography of a city spares neither half of its split-personality: from moody, magical Madras to bursting-at-the-seams, tech-savvy Chennai. 
And, a minute into the book, the reader knows they are inseparable-and Bishwanath Ghosh refuses to take sides.

And yet, he tells us, while Chennai is usually known as conservative and orthodox, almost every modern institution in India-from the army to the judiciary, from medicine to engineering-traces its roots to Madras’s Fort St George, which was built when Delhi had only just become the capital of the Mughal Empire, and Calcutta and Bombay weren’t even born. 
Today, the city once again figures prominently on the global map as ‘India’s Detroit’, a manufacturing giant, and a hub of medical tourism. 
There have been sweeping changes since pre-Independent India, but even as Chennai embraces change, its people hold its age-old customs and traditions close to their heart.
‘This is what makes Chennai unique,’ says Ghosh, ‘the marriage of tradition and technology’.

Bishwanath Ghosh wears a reporter’s cap and explores the city he has made his home, delving into its past, roaming its historic sites and neighbourhoods, and meeting a wide variety of people-from a top vocalist to a top sexologist, from a yoga teacher to a hip transsexual, from a yesteryear film star to his own eighty-five-year-old neighbour, from the ghosts of Clive, Wellesley, Hastings and Yale to those of Periyar and MGR, two people who redefined the political skyline of Tamil Nadu.

What emerges is an evocative portrait of this unique city, drawn without reservation-sometimes with humour, sometimes with irony-but always with love.

Goodreads Rating - 3.71 out of 5 ( 120 Ratings; 35 Reviews)

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Readers in Other Countries 
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Sai Baba of Shirdi - M.V. Kamath & V.B.Kher

A Unique Saint
Sai Baba of Shirdi is a phenomenon.

In all of India's history,there has never been another like him.

He is not a conventional saint.

He wrote no critique of Bhagavadgita or the Upanishads or any other holy work.

He made no pretensions to scholarship yet he had a profound insight into both Hinduism and Islamic scriptures.

He founded no ashram or peetham,wrote no tome,initiated no disciple to take over from him.

He performed 'miracles' but in no manner of means to impress anyone,devotee or otherwise.

Sai Baba in every way remains unique. 

Born about twenty years before the 'Sepoys' mutiny in the 19th century in Marathwada,the home of medieval saints of Maharashtra,he came in his late twenties to Shirdi,an insignificant hamlet in Ahmednagar District and spent fifty years of his remaining life there until his mahasamadhi.

Shirdi is no longer an obscure village.

Today it is a centre of pilgrimage for lakhs of Sai Baba's devotees. 

This book is a complete account of his life and mission
[Source: Back Cover of the Book]

My Comments:

I was impressed by the research the authors have undertaken to trace the birth place and early life of Shirdi Sai Baba which was rather unknown before the publication of this book.
Also the chapters where lineage of Marathwada Saints to which Sai Baba belongs are very informative.

I have extreme regard and respect  for  Shirdi Sai Baba, truly one of the great saints of modern India.
I was expecting a biography which can provide me a better understanding of  Baba as a person, his nature and his core philosophy.
While these areas are discussed, the major portion of this book comprises of  hundreds of anecdotes about how directly or indirectly Baba came to the aid of his devotees when they were in trouble.
This makes the narrative very repetitive and several of these stories seem somewhat incredible to my rational mind.
Hence I was somewhat disappointed with this biography.
Nevertheless it is a good book to read, especially for the very pious and the faithfuls.

Goodreads Rating - 4.14 out of 5 ( 7 Ratings)


 
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The Picnic and Suchlike Pandemonium

Author:      Gerald Durrell

Published: 2006

Publisher:  Westland Ltd.

Paperback: 244 pages

The author Gerald Durrell was a well known naturalist and conservationist. He was also  a zookeeper and wrote lots of books based on his experiences with animals. Now I am not a great animal enthusiast but I had really enjoyed one of his stories which we studied in high school. It was really a very humorous piece of writing.
So I couldn't resist picking up this book at Landmark when they were selling it at a bargain price of Rs.99.  
This book does not have any animal stories (but I am not complaining !) but has six pieces on  different pandemonic ( utterly confusing and chaotic) situations which he encountered.
The stories are about - a picnic with his family;  then a cruise with his family; a chance meeting with his ex-girlfriend  during his holiday in Venice; the impact of his reading a textbook on sexuality, on the staff of the hotel he was staying; the origins of a exotic dish served by a restaurant in France; spooky mirrors. 
Stories have a great sense of "Wodehousian" humor (except one which though well written  is a horror story) and I thoroughly enjoyed them.
A great read to lighten up your mood and enjoy all the good and bad things in life !



Links:

• Goodreads Rating - 4.12 out of  5   (275 ratings)

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Bangalore - A Century of Tales from City & Cantonment

Author:        Peter Colaco

Illustrator:    Paul Fernandes

Published:  2003

Publisher:   Via Media Books ( viamedia@vsnl.net)

Paperback: 320  pages

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I have been a Bangalorean since last 30 years . I have seen it change drastically  before my eyes since our family moved in to this city in 1982. Whenever I get to read articles or books about good old days of Bangalore I really enjoy the feeling of nostalgia which creeps in. Peter Colaco's Bangalore is one such book.

The author born in 1945 is a grandson of Rajkaryapraveena P.G.D'Souza ( a layout in Lavelle Road, Bangalore is named after him) .In this book he has compiled over 60 personal anecdotes and stories about his  family (both his immediate and his large extended one) while they went about with their daily lives during the years  between 1950s to 2000. The book gives a very good idea of what it would have meant growing up in Bangalore during those days.

The stories make a very enjoyable read as there are ample doses of humor, wit, irony and sarcasm. They reminded me of Ruskin Bond's writings about his family. Excellent sketches by Paul Fernandes serve like an icing on the cake for these stories.

This is a must read for all Bangaloreans and for anyone who is interested in this genre of writing.

Table of Contents:

 

Prologue:  My Bangalore 

Part I - The Landscape. The Land: A Tale of Two Bridges; The Self-Contained Watershed; Something about the Weather.

Part II - A Little History (minus the boring bits): The Fort at Bendekaal'uru; The Coming of the Cantonment; The Coming of the Railways; The Coming of the 20th Century; Wrestlers in Muscle and Stone; The Kings & Queens Depart

Part III - City and Cantonment. The Space Between:  I go Adventuring; Oorgaum House; Deer Lodge; Monkey Tops; Cheek to Jowl; Communal Harmony; 'Fyure' Kannada; Of Court and Cathedral; Music in CitiCant; Jayanagar Revisited.

Part IV - Living Then:  The Comedy of Manners; Eating Out & On the Town; Cheaper by the Dozen; Unmentionables of the Cantonment; Transports of Delight; The Gardner's City; The Shadow of the Gun; Wine, Women & Song; Talking of Teachers; Pensioners Paradox; Faith is the Opium; The Anglo-Indian Days; There is More to Death than Dying.

 

Part V- Tall Tales. Short Tales:  Booze; More Transports. More Delight; Bangalore by Night; Loss of Character; Performing Artistes of the Road; Ghost Stories; 'Watch that Ye Enter Not!'; The Search for a Suitable Boy; Dog Stories; The Beauty Industry in Bangalore.

Part VI- Exploding Metropolis: The Coming of Modern Bangalore; The Military Occupation; The Dawn of a New Profession; Existing in Luxury; How the Other Half Lives; Saving the Lake; The Closing of Cubbon Park.

 

Part VII- Living Now:  Was My Bangalore More Peaceful than Yours?; Bringing up a Family; Super Markets; Embarrassing Admissions; On the Roads; Urban Menace; Crossing the Bridges; Tales of True Love; Aids Day; Communal Riots; Where is Bangalore?

Epilogue:  The End of One Millennium; A Letter to the Next

Links:

• The Ebb & Flow of the Chamber Pot, Now & Then:
• Author's article in  the Times of India. The chapter "Unmentionables of the Cantonment" of this book is based on this article.
• Other Reviews of this Book:
•  Peter Colaco's Bangalore
• Stories from the Streets of Bangalore
• Bangalore - a century of tales from city & cantonment by Peter Colaco 

• P.G. D'Souza Clan:
• This website puts together information about P.G. D'Souza clan to which the author belongs to. It has articles by Peter Colaco and some of his other family members and photographs of some of the persons featured in this book. 

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