Bibliophilia: Asimov, Milton and More...

Been reading some real hard-copy books now a days after a long long time. The last hard-copy book I read out of my college curriculum was "Mysterious Mr.Quin" by Agatha Christie, a collection of mystery and crime themed short stories with a mystical twist. That was way back in '09, I believe. Since then I read a few e-books, but, nothing beats the smell and touch of printed paper. The feel of a book in my hands actually starts background thought processes, I feel, within me that gives me an immersive experience. Ideas, imagination and links with existing knowledge is formed. Meanwhile reading a digitized e-book version is an ersatz; It maintains an elusive detachment and requires greater concentration and effort to grasp the text. I'll blog in another post on my recently read e-books.

  

I picked up two books from an airport bookstore on my way back to Patna from Delhi. The first was an earlier read book, "33 Strategies of War" by Robert Greene; A very good book which assimilates and distills 33 strategies of war from history. Superfluous with facts and beautifully informative side-notes running parallel stories, from history, in depth with relation to references in the main text. I had read this book earlier when in High School. I had borrowed it for almost a year from my elder cousin brother and had to return it with a lot of text unread, not understood or, now, forgotten. This time, I am working through it slowly and memorizing the narrated stories and strategies for longer retention. (Thanks to a couple of memorization tricks and techniques I've mastered. Though, I'll not be

able to memorize the text verbatim.) 

 

The second book I bought was "The Rest of The Robots" by Isaac Asimov, the classic science-fiction writer. His works mostly have a robot theme with a socio-philosophical premise. It is a collection of short stories by Asimov. There was an offer going that time of 3 books for the price of 2 by the publishers Harper Collins, but, I did not find any other intriguing book by Asimov or any other author that would've made a set of three. (The other book with multiple copies was I,Robot by Asimov which I had seen as a movie starring Will Smith.) Hence, I settled for this one only. 

I, a few minutes ago, completed it's 1st set of stories from it's three groups; "The Coming of The Robots". Novel and decently humorous, I'll rate them. A lot of fancy science buzz-words have been sprinkled, as was common in those days (I'm talking about the 1940s, people!), which does not quite impress or affect me as was it's intention for readers then. Maybe due to my exposure and understanding of a lot of modern day science and science-fiction, makes it taste a little bland. Still, the stories do give an entertaining experience, considering the time they were written in, and ignoring my encyclopaedic knowledge of science-fiction.

This book that I bought also combines introductions by Isaac Asimov, himself, which explains the themes and premise he has structured his stories upon. He refers to Frankenstein and Faust to have primarily forced his thoughts and story themes to go in the direction they took. I am very much aware and know of both Frankenstein and Faust but, personally have not read any of these works (other than in cartoon and comic variants, especially in DC Comics). Faust is primarily a supernatural, moral and horror themed story while Frankenstein is based in horror and rudimentary science.

Personally, I found the short, "Victory Unintentional", quite amusing considering people of the characteristics and mindset of the Jovians (Dwellers of Jupiter) do exist. Go read the story if you want to know. Here's a link to the book on Amazon. (And, that is because some good products are Fulfilled Amazon; which means they personally package, send/receive in case of returns for free and is eligible for cash on delivery. Meanwhile, Flipkart still sucks. Good luck paying extra 

while you could've saved it for some other book.) 

 

I've also picked up John Milton's poem-book, "Paradise Lost", which makes it a difficult read. (But, thankfully not as difficult as "You're not a Gadget".) Old style poem-prose with Biblical theme and cast of characters, unknown to the modern eastern reader, would make it an instant turn-off. Though my knowledge of the myths, supernatural and religious materials is great enough to create sensory overloads, the book still is a slow read. The prime reason I'm reading this is due to its protagonist. The protagonist of the story is Satan and the entire Biblical chain of events and theology is narrated and shown from his perspective which makes for an interesting read. Plus, it has some really fancy texts. Take this for instance;

A mind not to be changed by place or time. The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.

Then there is one really strong rebellious dialogue worth thought;

Better to reign in Hell than serve Heaven.

But, what a great/foolish/masochistic decision, I'd say!! Reminds me of the concluding conversation between Dean Winchester and Castiel in Supernatural TV Series Season 5 Episode 22: Swan Song. (I'd recommend you to see the series from the start but, you can also gather enough emotion for this thought provoking reply by watching only seasons 2/3 to 5). Owning a hard copy of Paradise Lost does make it good for underlining texts. So, here's the link; (Be forewarned! I don't know which themes does it touch as I've not read it entirely yet. Just gotten my feet wet and this is a freaking long poem running 280 pages and was initially published as a set of 10 books back in the year 1667, and you thought Harry Potter was unnecessarily long?) Finally, I've been skimming the various models in the book, "The Decision Book" by Mikael Krogerus and Roman Tschappeler, another non-fictional semi-technical book. Got it from Amazon, hardcover and all at only Rs149!! (One, of the reasons for my new allegiance to Amazon India.) Good book but, not for everyone. So, watch out and make sure it's worth your cash. For (a confused, a million thoughts & ideas a moment - brainstorm afflicted guy) me, it was totally worth it. Learned and tried out the first Eisenhower Matrix.

Books Discussed:

1. 33 Strategies of War by Robert Greene (Non-Fiction, History, Strategy)
2. The Rest of The Robots by Isaac Asimov (Science-Fiction, Classic, Robots)
3. Paradise Lost by John Milton (Long Poem, Classic, Biblical)

Books Mentioned:

1. The Mysterious Mr.Quin by Agatha Christie (Mystery, Crime, Enigma/Paranormal)
2. Frankenstein by Mary Shelly (Science-Fiction, Horror) - I must read later.
3. Faust by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (Supernatural, Horror ??)- I must read later.
4. The Decision Book by Mikael Krogerus and Roman Tschappeler (Non-Fiction, Meta-thinking, Life, Mind)