Week 8: Feb 18 - Feb 24, 2019
Books Read: 1
- Die Empty by Todd Henry - If you struggle to live your life to the fullest, then this book is a good manual to help you reverse that and live your best life. A book with a powerful message and practical tools, strategies, tips and techniques to live our best every day and not wait till the end for that and die with regret. The book boasts of many original ideas and methods to enable the readers to address their limiting barriers, move them out of their comfort zone and propel them into a zone of innovation, creativity, growth, progress and achievement. The message of the book is crystal clear which is to live our most fulfilling life while we are alive and not die with our best still within us. A wonderful, refreshing book with a profound message.
Week 7: Feb 11 - Feb 17, 2019
Books Read: 1
- An Unshakable Mind by Ryuho Okawa - A nice and very relatable read which touches upon the vagaries and uncertainities of life and provides simple and easily do-able ways to deal with them. The beauty of the book lies in the reader embarking on a journey of spiritual evolution while getting prepared to address life's various fundamental issues such as Will, Significance of Day, Learning, Experience and more. Whether you are suffering from anxiety or distress, you will find answers in the book. Though the latter half of the book moves heavily in discussing about soul life but still the book is worth the time and effort.
Week 6: Feb 4 - Feb 10, 2019
Books Read : 2
- Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury - An incredible book, setup in a dystopian future where reading and books is considered illegal and firemen are entrusted with the task of not only burning the books found and the houses they are kept in but also arrest the owners of the books, as keeping books and reading them is considered illegal. The book is set in a period where society exists against the backdrop of a culture of hedonism, totalitarian, censorship, easy access to entertainment, and like. The futuristic setup of the book is really commendable, considering that the book was written in 1953. The book captures beautifully the transformation of a fireman, from being a book burner to a book keeper/ preserver. The hard hitting message of the book is to understand the value and importance of books and reading and not get too carried away by the consumerism or the hedonism attitude and do away with our ability to think and live well.
- The Leadership Pill by Kenneth Blanchard and Mark Muchnick - An interesting parable about different styles of Leadership which lays bare the tenets of an effective leader and brings home the point that true leadership is holistic in nature. The principles that come out through the parable clearly illustrate that true leadership is never about results or about self(of a leader) but is about partnership and teams; true leadership is not a short-term approach but a long-term strategy to build a self-sustaining team that can deliver results on its own. A nice, light read about the obvious and simple rules of leadership that very often we forget and in the process make leadership a complicated affair.
Week 5: Jan 28 - Feb 3, 2019
Books Read : 2
- The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris - It's a very heart-rending tale of a young Jew who lands up in the Nazi's concentration camp at Auschwitz and goes on to spend about 3 years of his life there, working as a tattooist and seeing death from very close quarters. It traces the journey of a man from being a tattooist and marking fellow prisoners, to becoming a survivor and a saviour. It is a story of courage and bravery amidst the most barbaric and inhumane conditions that humans may face and also about true love, a kind of love (between 2 inmates) that happens in the most unimaginable of the places (where death was always imminent and survival was always the priority for the inmates) but blossoms in the aftermath of the worst holocaust ever witnessed in human history. The book is a true testament to human's hope, will, and courage to survive come whatever may. It's also about living the paradox - displaying acts of kindness and help towards fellow humans even when our own life's at stake and living next moment is never a guarantee. The one big message from the book is that "there's always a glimmer of hope even in the most unpredictable and the darkest of situations and all we need to do is to self-affirm and live by the moment, positively and intently".
- Arriving At Your Own Door by Jon Kabat-Zinn - A wonderful and quite an unorthodox book on mindfulness which provides ample of fodder for the readers to reflect. The book contains 108 short lessons laced with great amount of wisdom succintly expressed through relevant concepts, some of which are quite offbeat. Stressing that mindfulness is about awareness and awakening, the book works as a companion to the reader, guiding him/ her to a journey of self-discovery, self healing and fulfillment. The topics/ headings of all the 108 lessons are very relatable and provides the understanding in a very crisp manner. There's a depth in the simplicity of each of the 108 lessons presented in the book.
