• “Tuesdays with Morrie: An old man, a young man, and life’s greatest lesson” I believe the title of the book is understated – an old man, yes! A young man, yes! Life’s greatest lesson, no! But life’s many great lessons. The book very cleverly hooks up the interest from the beginning when it starts plotting the foundation to give you life’s greatest lessons upon.

    “Who is Morrie Schwartz?” This single question leads young Mitch to search and find his old wise professor who was suffering from ALS (yes, the same “Ice bucket challenge” disease). Apart from giving the insights of how a person feels while suffering from ALS, the reader is provided with lessons from Morrie, the coach. He was not any sports coach but life’s.

    “Coach,” I said suddenly, remembering the nickname. Morrie beamed. “That’s me. I’m still your coach.”

    How would you feel having being called the same name after sixteen years?

    One of the myths which the book debunks is that we are irreplaceable. I was stunned at how easily things went on without me. Realize that the only people who would be affected by your disappearance, for whom you are irreplaceable is your family and family alone. For the company and organization you are working in, for the institution you are studying in, you are just another person; let me correct – just another REPLACEABLE person.

    Just as any inspiring specially-able person astonishes others with his positive attitude, Morrie takes his disease as a chance to live his life to the fullest:

                    He smiled. “Not everyone is so lucky.”

                    I studied him in his chair, unable to stand, to wash, to pull on his pants. Lucky? Did he really say lucky?

    Yes, everything is in your attitude. Heaven is here on Earth, but only those with positive attitude are able to see it.

    Here is another heart-throbbing piece of incident the book shares:

                    One of the patients, a middle-aged woman, came out of her room everyday and lay facedown on the tile floor, stayed there for hours, as doctors and nurses stepped around her. Morrie watched in horror. He took notes, which is what he was there to do. Everyday, she did the same thing: came out in the morning, lay on the floor, stayed there until the evening, talking to no one, ignored by everyone. It saddened Morrie. He began to sit on the floor with her, even lay down alongside her, trying to draw her out of her misery. Eventually, he got her to sit up, and even to return to her room. What she mostly wanted, he learned, was the same thing many people want – someone to notice she was there.

    So true! Isn’t that what we all want?

    I found Morrie’s death the most mystical. Finally, on the fourth of November, when those he loved had left the room just for a moment – to grab coffee in the kitchen, the first time none of them were with him since the coma began – Morrie stopped breathing.

    In a nutshell, this book would help you grow older happily and even grin on the face of paralytic old-age. “And Al?” “Yes?” “Make sure they don’t overcook me.” Morrie grinned while talking about his dealth.

    It is said that a great book is one that makes you feel you lost a friend when you turn the last page. Frankly, I will miss Mr. Morrie and his wise teachings and aphorisms a lot. And I feel I have lost a friend after finishing this book. I even shed a tear or two while reading the book.

    I gave Tuesdays with Morrie  stars.

  • This book was recommended to me by a senior professor of a very reputed university. I bet he himself has not read it, ’cause if he would have, then he wouldn’t have recommended it. This is one of those books that sail in the bestsellers because of such recommendations. I wonder how this book even made to best sellers list or at least so popular? This book clearly defines that still people judge the book by its cover.

    So coming to the review, I was very much disappointed with the contents of the book. It didn’t meet my expectations at all. I literally skimmed through the last pages just to take a breath of relief of having finished it.

    To the author: As a reader, we are interested to know about Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam and not what payload is required to make a hovercraft. There were times I almost felt I’m reading a DIY for ‘how to make your first hovercraft’ and not an autho-biography.

    To the readers: If you are in search for inspiration, this is not the book.

    I gave  stars to this book.

  • I had been looking forward to read ‘The Alchemist’ for a very long time till I finally decided to buy it. Before I begin, let me tell you this is one of the books which I read word-to-word in the past couple of weeks (And I recommend you to do the same, if you intend to read it too). Paulo has very cleverly weaved some great wisdom in this amazing piece of fiction. It is very hard for a book to keep me interested till the end, this book did!

    Personally, I was fascinated with the alchemist (character). I would love to meet such a wise man myself. My curiosity elevated to its peak when the alchemist challenged the bandits, “This boy will turn himself into wind, or else our lives are yours.” Spoiler: He actually does! (How? Read the book and find out.)(Press “Ctrl” + “A”, if you wish to read the spoiler)

    The book feeds the reader with spiritual wisdom and at times showcases Paulo’s sense of humor. In one situation the boy contemplates while thinking about his flock:

    “They are so used to me that they know my schedule,” he muttered. Thinking about that for a moment, he realized that it could be the other way around: that it was he who had become accustomed to their schedule.”

    The starting of the book may look vague but it is sure to hook your interest till the last page, including the epilogue. 😉 I realized that there was one point which, if I put across positively was emphasized; and negatively, felt very repetitive at times. The same point was used in a Bollywood movie ‘Om Shanti Om’ and has emerged as a very famous dialogue. The dialogue is (in hindi): “Kehte hain ki …… Agar kisi cheez ko dil se chaaho to puri kayanat usey tumse milane ki koshish mein lag jaati hai.”. The English version from the book is: “When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”

    One of the aphorisms given in the book that I agree to and have personally experienced is: When you possess great treasures within you, and try to tell others of them, seldom are you believed.

    I rated THE ALCHEMIST  stars and would recommend it to anyone who is up for a journey to their own personal legend.

  •  

    On a thundering rainy day, a mom went to pick her six year old son from school thinking that he might be scared of lightning.

    But as she was heading towards the school, she found him smiling at the sky on every lightning

    She asked him, “Why are you smiling at the lightning?”

    He replied with an innocent smile, “God is taking my pictures so I need to look good.”

    Well, it’s the same lightning, the same situation for everyone but what matters is how you take it… right? WINK. 😉

  • “To be a well favored man is the gift of fortune, but to read and write comes by nature”

  • “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.”

  • OUR WRITINGS

    “Each day in life is like a spotless page
    That comes to us for writings, vain or sage,
    Upon its face that we say and do
    Is written down, the false, the good, the true.”

    “And at last a book the record stands
    The history of Self by our own hands,
    By self alone made, bound and fully writ
    No word, or thought, or deed escaping it.”
    John Kendrick Bangs

  • Jon at the genie lamp

    So… you have a wish. And you want it to come to reality, right??

    Aladdin also had some wishes, but he materialized them by using some extraordinary power named Genie, remember??

    Right. I want you to know that you too have a Genie in your life… wanna guess?? its name starts with U_____, any guesses??

    Well, let me make it easier, its the Universe, of course.

    So how to materialize your wishes using the Genie… here is what you have to do:

    “If you have a wish, pray and wait for 1 month… if it’s not fulfilled, pray harder and you don’t have to wait for another (month).”

    Manhardeep Singh Ahluwalia

  • If you think it is time for you to take your life to the NEXT LEVEL, then it is the right time to pickup Dan Lier’s book “The 10 Minute Coach”, the book that gives daily strategies for life success.

     According to Dan, “You can never earn $250,000 with $100,000 belief system.” So the foremost thing to do is to believe in the next level, believe in having room for improvement. The book is written in tiny, crisp chapters which help the reader to retain interest. The book covers broadly the following four areas:

    1. Career and life
    2. Selling
    3. Parenthood
    4. Relationships

    Dan has done complete justification to each of these aspects of life through each of his chapters.

    The plus points of the book are its crisp sized chapters, proper organization of chapters and small size of the book.

    According to the author, “Failure doesn’t mean you’re a loser, or you’re an under achiever. Failure is simply a word attached to the results you achieved when those results weren’t the results you were shooting for.” A simple yet deep thought.

    Overall, the book should be read by anyone who wants to take his/her life to the next level. A good book to have on your book shelf.