Published by Hodder & Stoughton, 1997, 374 pages. My fascination with Turner’s paintings began in the late 1970s. I was in my late teens, and we had just moved to Delhi. Instead of buying me new clothes for an upcoming festival, my mother, very sensibly, took me to a bookshop. The first thing I saw …
Category: Non-Fiction
Sergio Leone: Something To Do With Death—Christopher Frayling
Published by Faber & Faber, 2000, 592 pages. I hesitated about writing this review because you have to be a real fan of Sergio Leone films to enjoy this book, and I wasn’t sure how many of the readers of this blog are. But you know that I can be a bore about films I …
Continue reading Sergio Leone: Something To Do With Death—Christopher Frayling
Beyond Our Means—Why America Spends While the World Saves: Sheldon Garon
Published by Princeton University Press, 2011, 488 pages.Review by Susanne Karine Gjønnes The key question Sheldon Garon, Professor of History and East Asian Studies at Princeton, tries to answer is why are some countries thriftier than others, and in particular, why is the US saving so little? Through a comparative historical analysis, Garon tracks thriftiness …
Continue reading Beyond Our Means—Why America Spends While the World Saves: Sheldon Garon
Koestler’s Kafkaesque Nightmare: Parallels Beyond Perception
The Scum of the Earth by Arthur Koestler Published by Eland, London, 2006, 253 pages. Originally published in 1941 by the Left Book Club.Review by Tom Peak Arthur Koestler was a curiosity. So often spent rowing against the tide, his life personifies the experience and aura of the twentieth century intellectual more than any other. So …
Continue reading Koestler’s Kafkaesque Nightmare: Parallels Beyond Perception
In Other Words: Jhumpa Lahiri
Translated from Italian by Ann GoldsteinPublished by Alfred A. Knopf, 2016, 233 pages. Original version published in 2016.Review by Imran Ali Khan In Other Words by Jhumpa Lahiri is a beautiful read that explores the relationship between a writer, language and the nature of the self. The book explores the writer's relationship with Italian, a …
H is for Hawk: Helen McDonald
Published by Grove Press / Vintage, 2014, 320 pages. A hawk stares out from the cover of this book: it is hard to turn away from the fierce intensity of its gaze. And intense, too, is how I would describe this book, which is about grief, trauma and the relationship between humans and goshawks. When …
Indian Summer— The Secret History of the End of an Empire: Alex von Tunzelmann
Published by Henry Holt & Co. / Simon & Schuster, 2007, 496 pages.Review by RIshad Patell Reading this book as an Indian who grew up in the nineteen eighties and who had been fed a version of Indian independence through text books and what was taught in school, it is interesting to look at this …
Continue reading Indian Summer— The Secret History of the End of an Empire: Alex von Tunzelmann
Pilgrimage to the End of the World—The Road to Santiago de Compostela: Conrad Rudolph
Published by University of Chicago Press, 2004, 144 pages. At a time when more and more people are moving away from religion, this book takes you back to the essence of faith. Conrad Rudolph is not particularly religious, but decides to make the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, walking all the way, staying in gîtes …
The Type Taster—How Fonts Influence You: Sarah Hyndman
Published by Type Tasting Publications, 2015, 148 pages. Sarah Hyndman brings 20 years of experience as a graphic designer, with findings from neurologists and psychologists, to her book about types and fonts. When I read the book’s blurb, I expected a collection of essays, which this book is not. It’s a largely visual, hands-on introduction …
Continue reading The Type Taster—How Fonts Influence You: Sarah Hyndman
Economics—The Users Guide: Ha-Joon Chang
Published by Bloomsbury Publishing / Pelican Press, 2014, 528 pages. I am one of those people who have a mental block about economics. When I read about it, my eyes glaze over and my brain goes “are you kidding?” and shuts down. I think this is ridiculous. I consider myself a reasonably intelligent person, and …
