Inferno by Dan Brown
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The favorite author of the new generation readers has once again struck with his powerful pen, a mesmerizing and wonderful fiction, worth reading many times.

Robert Langdon, the American professor, highly talented and expert in mythological symbols of the old world is called upon by the World Health Organization (WHO) to break the secret code of the famous painting of Dante’s Map of Hell also referred as La Mappa dell’Inferno, to unveil a dangerous plot by a renowned genetic engineering scientist Bertrand Zobrist, to destroy human race. The plot opens in Florence, Italy and winds up in Istanbul, Turkey passing through a series of twists and turns in tracing the final destination of the secret place and date where the scientist proposes to release the dangerous virus to the world, in a Sunken Palace somewhere in the middle of the world. In this journey, the reader is taken through a beautiful journey in gaining exquisite knowledge of Dante Alleghieri’s famous work “The Divine Comedy” composed in early 1300s, wherein he describes his great journey through the various stages of the so-called Hell in Christian religion. This great composition is the most widely read and respected in the world. Dante’s interpretation of his Hell and the Great Plague of Europe in the 1300s (also referred as Black Death) were contemplated to arrive at a disturbing fact that the World is over-populated as of now and needs to downsize the existing population by some means as fast as possible to help the human race to continue for some more centuries. This called for Bertrand’s wild and brilliant idea of creation of highly virulent air-borne vector virus that if enters the human body renders him/her infertile forever. This according to the scientist is the only immediate solution to curb the ever increasing human population that shall lead to widespread calamities, famines, starvation deaths and disasters in the near future. His great leadership on the Transhumanist movement whose fundamental tenets is that we as humans have a moral obligation to participate in our own evolutionary process and use our technologies to create healthier, stronger and intelligent human beings without waiting for the long periods of natural evolutionary process. However, Robert Langdon with the help of WHO and Sienna Brooks, lover of Bertrand Zobrist and a highly intelligent doctor do find the place and date of the release of virus. But will they be able to save the world? One must read this wonderful work of Dan Brown to catch the excitement!

Pros: Some of the greatest places of interest in art and architecture across Italy, Venice and Turkey have been widely described with a lot of information on the history and significance of each and every great monument built that stands as a mark of human intelligence in the ancient period. The author’s outstanding talent in his research abilities and zeal to pursue world history through art and architecture is absolutely unmatched as of today. The reader will remain hypnotized and carried right into the middle of the scenes as long he/she is reading the book.
The description of Piazza Del Duomo, the statue of David, Vasari’s paintings, cylinder seals, Death masks, the Medici, Palazzo Vecchio’s Hall of Five Hundred, Boboli gardens, Buontalenti Grotto, the Vasari Corridor, Uffizi Gallery, Mappa Mundi, the church of Dante, the Baptistry of San Giovanni, Gates of Paradise, The Rod of Asclepius, the grandeur of Vatican city, the Doge’s Palace, St.Mark’s Basilica, the Transhumanist Philosophy, the cupola of San Simeone Piccolo, story of St. Lucia’s bones, the origin of the word ‘quarantine’, the Grand Canal of Venice, the Venetian Gothic Architecture, the Byzantine architecture, the history of Horses of St.Mark’s, the Pala d’Oro, the Bosporus Waterway of Istanbul, the mosque of Hagia Sophia (considered as the eighth world wonder), Istanbul’s 300 yr old Spice Bazaar, the tomb of Henricus Dandalo, the Sunken Palace and finally the Dante Symphony by Franz Liszt are some of my interesting topics for study in this book.

Cons: The fact that the great American professor was mentally manipulated through a series of illusions by the World Health Organization to help them decode the secret lying behind in Dante’s painting to save the world was not acceptable to me. Though Bertrand’s vision and cause is worth a standing ovation, the means he chose to achieve the goal seemed to be wrong.

My favourite quote in the book :
“The decisions of our past are the architects of our present”

My rating is 5 out of 5


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The Gardener by Rabindranath Tagore
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Another great collection of beautiful hymns and poems written by the great writer poet of India, Shri Rabindranath Tagore.

Though most of the poems written in this book are related to nature and its beauty in the simple encounters of our daily life in our garden, village and countryside, the poet seems to have drifted towards reality of life secrets and philosophy towards the end. The mention of flute (a special music instrument) in many of the poems gives us the feeling of reference to Lord Krishna who is most associated with this musical instrument in Indian mythology. The writer’s inclination towards Indian customs and traditions is well reflected in this book as mannerisms and behavioral patterns were mentioned in his poems.
The best part is that my reading of this book almost one hundred years after it had been written in 1915 is beautifully mentioned in his last poem of this book beginning with the words
“Who are you, reader, reading my poems an hundred years hence?..............................”. A stark and astonishing coincidence, as if the poet was mentioning me in the book.
Again I would recommend the reader should also listen to each of the poems in audio form simultaneously while reading the book in order to have pristine enjoyment.

My rating is 4 out of 5


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DAWN OF THE PLANET OF APES (A Hollywood Science Fiction Movie)

Directed by Matt Reeves, Produced By Peter Chernin/Rick Jaffa/Dylan Clark/Amanda Silver, Music By Michael Giacchino, Cinematography By Michael Siresin, Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Starring Andy Serkis (as Caesar), Toby Kebbel (as Koba), Jason Clarke (as Malcolm), Keri Russel (as Kelli, Malcolm’s wife)

Storyline: Caesar, the leader of the Ape population living in Muir Woods, away from the virus destroyed human world, comes across Malcolm, his wife and son who come into the woods to restore an old hydroelectric power house for electricity, in order to save the remaining human population living in a secluded place in a city faraway.
Though Caesar doesn’t like it first, he agrees to allow them into their world, provided the humans do not encroach into their territory. Koba, the second in command of the Apes, does not like this deal. Koba, in vengeance, tactfully destroys the living quarters of the Apes, shoots Caesar and makes them believe that it is the deliberate act of the humans. Thus a war is waged against the humans by the Apes in the city, under the forced leadership of Koba. Later, Malcolm discovers the wounded Caesar in the jungle and treats him medically to bring him back to normalcy. Caesar along with his son and loyal apes, encounter Koba in the battle and kill him in a hand to hand combat. The Apes, delighted to see their beloved leader back, stop the battle. But, the humans already make their arrangements to defend themselves by calling for military help from somewhere else. The movie ends with Caesar recognizing the impending danger and asking Malcom and his family to leave, so that he and his remaining army would fight the humans on his own as it was the Apes who started the war.

Pros: One of the best screenplay and cinematography ever filmed and viewed off late. Sequel to Rise of the Planet of the Apes, with the same taste of pure entertainment. The jungle atmosphere and the Ape costumes were so real that one would have the feeling of being amidst the Apes as long as the show is on. A very sentimental story, that really connected to the audience of the entire world. The entire movie was based on the Apes’ point of view. One would really feel how wrong humans can sometimes be in their decisions. A must watch and definitely a product that deserves to be in your video library. Do not forget to watch this lovely visual treat in a 5.1 surround audio system on big screen.

Cons: The emotions and intelligence of Apes was shown on par with the humans, which in real might not be true. The true inherent animal instinct is visible only in Koba but not in any of the other Ape population, which again cannot be true. A little over kindness displayed in Caesar, which I feel is the result of destruction of his entire race.

My rating is 4.5 out of 5

Poisoned Heart by Jason Blacker
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

A rather simple murder mystery, that could be read in just over an hour. The story starts and ends in the Abernathy Castle of England, whose owner Godfrey Apleby is in deep financial crisis after the World Wars. The small get together arranged by the Aplebys inviting the famous lady detective Frances Marmalade and Mr. Mountbatten, the future representative of the British Crown to India, leads to the murder of the housemaid Christine through cyanide poisoning. Frances, with the help of the Police Inspector Pearce cleverly investigates the brief encounter of Christine’s son and ex-husband along with the butler to dig out a secret relationship between Christine and Godfrey, which resulted in Christine blackmailing Godfrey for huge money. Godfrey ultimately confesses that he was the one who killed Christine because of her pressure to shell out more and more money.

Pros: It’s quite a simple story that involved only few characters and moreover the solution was predictable. The story portrayed the English way of living.
Cons: Did not like the way Indian climate and their habit about drinking tea even in hot summers was being looked down upon by the British, forgetting the fact that Indian tea is world famous and soothing even in hot weather. Can be read once but not a library stuff.

My rating is 2 out of 5


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The City Of The Sun by Tommaso Campanells
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This short book is written in the form of a poetical discussion between the Grand Master of Knights Hospitallers and a Sea Captain of Genova of Italy, the birthplace of Christopher Columbus.
It can be taken as a discovery of a Sea Captain (probably Christopher Columbus) of a totally different civilization somewhere in his voyage, which is practicing most of the modern life practices right from birth to death. The minutest detailing of each and every aspect of life regarding the birth, education, marriage, old age, love, warfare, protection, laws and wisdom of this civilization is awesome. Though this city is quite small, there seems to be perfection imbibed in the blood of each and every individual dwelling in the city. The perfection lies in every walk of their life irrespective of sex, colour and age. One could learn how in the olden days people perfected life and why there were no differences amongst them despite there were other cities around which were suffering with internal strives.

Pros: It is great to understand the fact that in this City of the Sun, there were no names to the citizens nor does it practices any caste system. A nice learning about the best practices of life, which could be imbibed into almost all the cultures and civilizations of the world today. The story seems to be inclined towards the cultures of some civilization which was related to India. The exact base on which the principle of Communism was developed upon seems to have been reflecting in the lifestyle of this City of the Sun.

Cons: The name of the City was not disclosed, nor was the place of its existence.

My rating is 3 out of 5


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