Statue in the Square by Joanne St.Clair
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The author is a highly qualified teacher in engineering. She is multi-faceted with an exposure in Aerospace Engineering, business and financial management, Spiritual Laws, Metaphysics, Christian Science, Meditation and Visualization Techniques.

This book is divided into 7 chapters each having their own impact on the life of a person who feels dejected, is surrounded by negative thoughts and actions. She started with a Life Plan linking everyone’s life with their own DNA, a fixed blue print designed by GOD, for every individual, distinctly. Then the identification and differentiation of Ego-Self and True-Self with simultaneous actions of Constructive and Destructive Thinking determines one’s purpose and duties in this world. The importance of Faith, in whatever one does and his/her Imagination clubbed together can lead one to a successful and free life which later becomes a Habit to enjoy every minute aspect of life, be it positive or negative. Finally, the reader is taken through the knowledge of power of one’s inner Intuition and the need to follow the same judiciously keeps the spirits always high in pristine self esteem and lavish happiness forever.

Positives: I personally felt that this book was written for me. I am sure every working individual filled with monotony in their job and just waiting for their retirement, feel the same way the author described in this book. A must read for such people who fear to take risk and identify their true self and ultimately want to liberate themselves from the clutches of boredom and dark futures. A very intelligent narration to keep the reader interested till the last page. Worth its price.

Negatives: The author’s attempt to convert one from a negative attitude to a positive one did not completely materialize. But for some new terms, the gist is already available in many other books worldwide.

My rating is 3.75 out of 5


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She Broke Up, I Didn’t! .... I just kissed someone else! by Durjoy Datta
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The third in his novella, the author maintained his tempo of being one of the most sought after writers by the young.

Storyline: Avantika, a name very familiar with Debashish Roy, a management student at MDI, Delhi. Deb, a not so good looking guy gets hooked to a very beautiful, sexy and angelic Avantika, who loves him to her core, after she recovers from her tragic history of drug addiction. Though she is disowned by her family, Avantika gets into a passionate relationship with Deb, a fatso and good in bed type. Deb suffers from a inferior-complex due to his appearance, and wonders why such a sexy girl like Avantika had to hang on with him, for over 3 years. He doubts her character, when she had to work on a project with a sexy guy called Kabir, for which she is abandoned by him. This brings him closer to another sexy classmate, Malini who saves him from falling into a nervous depression, after he left Avantika. After some time, Malini educates Deb that his decision of abandoning Avantika was a blunder and she evicts herself out of Deb’s life, even after she falls in love with him and ofcourse lot of sexual encounters. Deb finally decides to opt for his old love Avantika, and dumps Malini, as he realizes that he never loved Malini, but only lusted for her.

Positives: The story clearly projects how pre-marital sexual affairs in colleges and schools devastate lives of today’s youth. It is clearly evident that today’s youth is mistaking lust for love and repent later when they have to live a forced married life with a stranger. It’s a lesson to many boys and girls as to how they are destroying their own lives in the name of fun and get tortured for rest of their lives when they don’t get to marry the ones whom they slept with in their college days. Can such testosterone driven infatuation ever be termed as LOVE? Would such guys and gals ever be at peace if at all they get married to someone other than those who they slept with before marriage? Million Dollar Questions…..

Negatives: This story clearly elicits the fact as to how young girls and boys in colleges, nowadays, get sexually involved with each other, as if they just don’t mind offering their bodies to each other physically, without any moral and true love lurking behind. I wonder how they get to live with a new married partner, after they involve in multiple sexual encounters with multiple partners, before marriage, in the name of fun. This is nothing but not only cheating each other but also their families and resulting kids, forever. Gives a horrible route map as to where today’s so-called modern society is leading us to.

My rating is 4 out of 5


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The Food Of The Gods by H.G. Wells
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

One of the best writers of fiction in the 60s and 70’s, H G Wells’s another great work of fiction which later was converted into a Hollywood movie, under the same title, released in 1976. The movie was a big success then.

Storyline: Somewhere in England, Professor Redwood and Mr Bensington were two hard core scientists, who always believed in creating something new and useful to the mankind. After thorough research, they discover a formula, that created a substance, which when fed to animals or plants increase their metabolism multifold and they grow in immaculate size, in no time. The food named “Herakleophorbia” (named after Hercules) also nicknamed as Boom Food by the locals, was first tried on chickens in a test farm of Bensington. Accidentally, the food spills and is eaten by the other inhabitants of the farm, including rats, wasps, ants, cockroaches etc. All of them grow including the plants that get exposed to Herakleophorbia, to massive sizes and start attacking and killing the people of the locality. This triggers great public rage. The scientists, who invented this food, were banished for their dangerous invention. Meanwhile, some patrons of the food, including Prof Redwood, feed their infant children with Boom Food, in anticipation of creation of a new generation of powerful offspring that can do wonders with their size. But, these children grow up to gigantic sizes and become a major problem to the normal population, as they start invading the privacies and properties of others. Over prolonged intolerance, the local government, took a firm stand to expel these giants from the country through force, but the Giants rebel. The story ends with Prof Redwood being called back from his exile and sent to deliver the peace treaty and message to the Giant children, by the local politician, asking them to stop their war against the normal population and orders to leave the country forever. The son of Prof Redwood, now a leader of the adolescent Giant group, politely refuses the order citing the reason that they have the right to live, as they wish, in the same country where they were born and would not succumb to such threats from the pygmy population. All of them get ready to fight the local police/army and die, if they lose the war, but not to leave their birth place.

Positives: A lovely classic from the author and salutes to his great imagination in those days of science fiction. The book reveals some great truths of life, survival, existence and growth. The author believes that growth should be the never ending process of the world and must be used to create more and more wonders to benefit the human population. An introduction to Max Nordau’s law, who believed in ‘Abnormal is Normal’.

Negatives: The scientific formula behind the Boom Food and how it led to such enormous growth was not clearly explained, for the modern reader. Can be treated as a bed time story to the children with some basic morals about life and its sustenance.



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NOW YOU SEE ME (HOLLYWOOD THRILLER)

Directed by Loius Letterier, Produced by Bobby Cohen/Alex Kurtzman/Roberto Orci, Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Melanie Laurent, Isla Fisher, and Morgan Freeman.

Storyline: Four street magicians (experts in their own tricks), come together through an invitation from an unknown person. The union emerges as ‘The Four Horsemen’. The first stage show and the subsequent ones of this new brand, specializes in giving huge performances, that target specific people from the audience to hypnotize them and later use them as pawns to steal huge money from vaults of big banks across the world.
FBI Agent Dylan Rhodes takes up investigation of this case, along with the gorgeous Interpol agent Alma Dray. They find out that ‘The Four Horsemen’ gang is targeting only those people who were responsible for the death of a famous magician, Lionel Shirke, who was humiliated and died in an accident 30 years ago, after his tricks exposed by his counterpart, Thaddeus. The Four Horsemen loot the bank Credit Republicain de Paris and Tressler’s insurance company that refused to settle the insurance of Lionel Shirke’s death. They, finally trick Thaddeus, to get him arrested.
The surprise comes in climax, when The Four Horsemen stage their final show in New York to steal a safe and transfer the money to Thaddeus’s car, giving an impression to the police that Thaddeus is the actual culprit behind the robberies. This is when The Four Horsemen get to see the fifth Horseman, in hiding all the while and that happens to be the FBI Agent Dylan himself. Dylan claims to have done all this to take revenge on all those who were responsible for the death of his father Lionel Shirke, but never ever to be found by the Police.

Positives: A wonderful twist at the end which surprises the audience. Magicians and many of their tricks revealed. A grave truth that modern magic is nowadays being used for huge financial gains rather than just providing entertainment to public, like once upon a time. The audience could never guess the secret of the fifth Horseman. Plot was well designed. Good screenplay and good music. Free flowing pure entertainment. Melanie Laurent and Morgan Freeman, are my favorites, in the movie.

Negatives: Gives a negative approach towards the FBI and Interpol which could be tricked so easily by some street magicians, while looting heavy amount from banks and insurance companies. The revelation of the fifth Horseman could have been a little more exciting.

My rating is 3.5 out of 5

Gateway to Nifleheim (A Novel of Epic Fantasy) by Thater, Glenn G.
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Volume One of the Harbinger of Doom Series by the author, who is an eminent scholar, scientist, engineering consultant, lecturer and also a forensic investigator. A very good hand on books related to sorcery, black magic, witchcraft, demonology etc which used to trouble kingdoms of ancient world.

Storyline: The House of Eotrus ruling the northern province of the Lomion kingdom is attacked by scary demons from the world of the dead, the Nifleheim. A patrol led by the king of Eotrus, Lord Aradron Eotrus, along with his brave Knights and House wizard, are brutally killed and their bodies mutilated, by these demons which took the forms of strange animals with different ugly shapes and exoskeletons. These fiends, backed by the demon Gods of Nifleheim, plan to enter the human world through a mysterious hole in the Vermion forest near Eotrus province and kill all the mankind to take over the mortal world. The son of Lord Aradron, named Claradon, along with the valiant Knights, Sir Gabriel and Lord Angle Theta (a foreigner who came to the rescue of the Eotrus), lead a second patrol to find out what happened to the first one. They, in the midst of Vermion forest come across a mysterious hole and an ancient temple, which is used as a gateway, by the demons of Nifleheim, to cast a spell on the humans and kill them brutally to capture their soles and convert them into their slaves. Sir Gabriel and Angle Theta fight bravely with all their skills against these ugly, nauseating, scary creatures and prevent them from entering the mortal world, in the nick of moment. In the ferocious tussle with Lord Korrgonn (son of Azathoth, the God of the Dead), Gabriel loses his life. His soul captured by the demon God. Though the patrol of Claradon was successful in driving the demons back to Nifleheim, they vow to avenge the brutal murder of Gabriel and also bring his soul back to human world, from the demonic clutches of Nifleheim.

Positives: A hair raising narration of one of the scariest stories of demons, the dead and the ugly creatures that invade the human and mortal world to capture their souls, through mystical powers and sorcery. Very interesting turn of events and near real life characters highlighted with deadly imagination and creativity. Will form a great video game for the kids if taken on the lighter side. One of the memorable epic fantasy stories. Triggers interest in going for the rest of the books in the series.

Negatives: The question of whether the mortal world can really face the powers of the dead from the other world is still unanswered. The characters like Angle Theta and Sir Gabriel are depicted as mortal heroes without magical powers but said to be just carrying some daggers and swords powered by some ancient witchcraft. Did not appear practical, when it comes to facing the mighty demons of Nifleheim, which were both physically and spiritually described to be much more superior.

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Apology/Crito/Phaedo by Plato
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is an amazing book of philosophy and trial of Socrates, the man considered to be the Father of World Philosophy. The book is written by Plato, one of the staunch devoted pupil of Socrates and prominent ancient philosopher. The book is nothing but the translation of three of Plato’s works namely, “The Apologia”, “The Crito” and “The Phaedo” all of which have reference to the trial, imprisonment and death of Socrates.
The first part represents the trial of Socrates in the court of law at Athens, where he argues for himself at the age of seventy, on the charges against him, that he did not believe in the Gods recognized by the State and that he had corrupted the Athenian youth by his teachings. Though Socrates gives all reasonable and logical explanations to prove his integrity and innocence, the judges sentence him to 'death by poison', which Socrates obeys, as he was committed to follow the law of the land. In the second part, Plato records the visit of Crito, Simmias, Cebes and Phaedo along with many of friends and pupils of Socrates, in the prison, to offer him a secret escape. But Socrates convinces all of them against such act, as he believes in obeying the diktat of the supreme law governing Athens. The third and the last part records the final day of Socrates in the prison when he teaches the immortality of soul, its pre-existence, its journey and the law of contraries. He comes to a conclusion that death brings about liberation of his good soul to a different world of peace and harmony and hence he welcomes such a separation without any grief or pain. He finally bids farewell to his pupils, friends, family, takes a bath and drinks the poison to lie down and pass on to eternal sleep, which he calls ‘death’ or separation of the immortal soul from the moral body.

Positives: The book gives deep insights into the understanding of wisdom and knowledge, the true identity of a great philosopher. The ideology of Socrates which brings about distinct separation of the immortal soul and mortal body through various logical explanations related to common examples that can be easily understood by a reasonably intelligent person, is well illustrated. One can get the basics of philosophical thinking and start to experience detachment from materialistic things once he finishes reading this book with utmost concentration.

Negatives: Many tough logical reasonings can be above the grasping power of many and consider Socrates philosophy as ‘insane’. Very difficult to understand some parts, if not read with concentration.

My rating is 4 out of 5.


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