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Tuesday, January 26, 2010

This is a very interesting book. Presents different learnings and readings from different upanishads. There are a number of slokas given from the Upanishads. Kenopanishad, Mandukya Upanishad, Kathopanihad - all of them are quoted.

Inspite of all these, I found that this is not a heavy book. Even I could understand the flow of thought. I could follow the examples given and the stories picked up from the Upanishads.

The story of Nachiketa and his journey to yama loga and his three boons and his longing to understand what happens after death is well explained. The story of different sages seeking knowledge from different people is also explained.




It looks as if Kannadasan was right when he wrote in his tamil poem " Andavan satre arugil nerungi anubavam enbadhe naanthan enran". That is the story getting established by the discoveries of Bhrugu where he first identifies himself to the external things and then to his body and then discovers that there is something beyond this body.

All of us seek that experience which will make us understand everything else. It is like the question Parvati asks in the Vishnu Sahasranamam : "Kenopayena laguna vishnor nama sahasrakam?" Which nama, if I know, helps me know every other nama? That was the question. Our quests are also not very different. That knowledge, if I have, ensures that I don't have to seek anything else - that is what I need. What is that knowlege? That one thing, if I have, I don't have to have anything else. What is that? That is the voyage and that is the discovery.

Very well written. Worth spending the time reading it.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

I think there were two reasons why I chose to take this book from the library. One, when I opened, I opened on the chapter 7 which said, "First Go for the Gut". It looked like something similar to BLINK and thought I would check this out. Two, the name of the author. It was too good to be true.




Frankly, the book was nothing great. But, it is not a complete waste of time either. One can finish it in about 35 minutes. It talks about how to be charged, and how to charge people, how to present well and some tips on not boring people. It talks about having a great vision and articulating the vision. It gives some tips such as in 8 seconds, the audience measures up what you have to say ; about 18 minutes is all that you can get from the audience and so on. It talks about 7 communication value addeds that one should have :

1) Not boring; 2) Adding value to people who have come for the ppt 3) Being master of your ppt 4) Knowing what you are going to talk about 5) Knowing your audience 6) Talking in pictures 7) Doing your homework and being thorough. These are good to remember principles.
After having read David Baldacci's Absolute Power and Last Man Standing, this comes as a shockingly damp squib. There is no story at all. It looks like 2 entirely different stories stitched together. And, written by some third rate writer. The collectors is really sad.


It is not worth reading. I am really sad that my blog on the books that I read starts this way. But, it might end up saving lots of time for you.