I am reading contrasting books about the two empires that made the modern world: The Black Hole is a fascinating study of the British empire’s founding myth: an event, on a stifling June night in Calcutta in 1756, lacking in verifiable facts—but which was embroidered to symbolise British heroism in the face of Eastern barbarism. Dalley shells the layers of greed, fear and propaganda that envelops this incident and shows why it came so to resonate in British culture. Among Empires by Charles Maier considers the one power that can claim to be an empire today (though it seems too coy to want to do so): the United States. He soberly places it among history’s other great imperial systems, and shows how the US is able to extract tribute today by maintaining a global financial system that induces the rest of the world to subsidise its extraordinarily high national debt.
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Vijay Tendulkar, Playwright Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
I love this writer. This is his third novel about a young man’s romantic coming-of-age. The other two books I’m reading are more serious: A Proper Study of Mankind: An Anthology of Essays by Latvia-born British political philosopher Isaiah Berlin. And someone has just given me a copy of Goa: A Daughter’s Story by Maria Aurora Couto. I’ve just started it but have got the feel of the book and am looking forward to it.
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Navin Jindal, Industrialist Vedanta Treatise—The Eternities by A. Parthasarathy
I’ve read the earlier version of this book and found it very interesting that living is a technique that can be learnt and practised. He tells you simple things like following one’s own dharma, to follow your heart even if it leads to failure.
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Simi Garewal, Actress My Story by Jackie Chan
It’s fascinating. If someone were to make a film on his life, it would be unreal. It’s not like he got lucky breaks in his life. He got more broken bones really. He made it by hard work and has has today reached almost mythical proportions, especially in China. I love autobiographies anyway.
