Animal Farm

Animal Farm by George Orwell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Introduction
The book “Animal Farm” is written by George Orwell which is a pen name for the author Eric Arthur Blair. The book which I read was published by the Maple Press Publication, India in the year 2010. The quality of the book is well-versed and the illustration at some interval gave it an overall feel of children read. Although I must say this read is not just for kids.
Theme
The book on the surface is all about the lives of the animal and their affair of how they come above their degraded life under the Human only to realize that they got into the hands of another oppressor of their own type. It goes on to show the genesis of struggle and power of common animals, the effort which the animal undertook for their success, but due to cunningness and corruption of few, losing their freedom to a dictatorial animal.
In an analytical view, the book dictates story which is in parallel with the Russian revolution of 1907. Starting from the lines of Marxism to how it turned into Stalinism with time. If you are into history you would be able to realize these dialogues. Although, for kids, it will still be a fun story to read to understand the basic idea about freedom and responsibility without going deep into the matter of communism and the Russian Revolution.
Pros
What I felt the best about this book is the use of punch line and narrative story which binds you to the world of Animal Farm. You can even find many artworks and animated based in this book. But I will suggest you that you should give this book a try. It is short and can be finished within a day or two without exercising much.
Cons
Initially, I assumed that the book is all about Animal Farm, and indeed the plot is set in Animal Farm, the title can be bit misleading since the book has more depth to it than it seems to have. Other than that, I didn’t find much negative about the book.
Opinion
Initially, when I started this book I never had a single idea that it is about the Russian revolution, it is only when I was half-way through that a friend of mine gave me the background idea behind this book. On my research, I was shocked that indeed the book is written in such a language that without this idea, one would think that it is similar to any child’s fairy-tale read which is meant to teach some morale. I started enjoying more when I learned that it deals with the history of communism and describes its short-coming.
Conclusion
I will recommend this book to all who want to have a short yet quality reading. The novel is light-hearted so the serious reader may not find it intensive enough for a regular reading list. Nonetheless, it a great book to read if you want to try your hand on Modern Classic read.

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Man's Search For Meaning

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Introduction
A man’s search for meaning is a book on hope, aspiration and the attitude of meaningful living. Before I elaborate about the book, let me give a brief data. The book is written by Victor E. Frankl who is known as the father of logotherapy, a school of psychology. It is published by Rider publication, in 2008. The book is divided into 3 parts and contains 153 pages.
Theme
The book is a live account of all the events that happened in the life of the author during the Holocaust period. We all know that the Holocaust was one of the atrocious events in the history of mankind and many of the survivors work on the Holocaust, shows as the extent of these tortures and horrific event. Frankl, alike others describe the same terrifying experience.
What differentiates this novel from the rest is that it encourages people to find meaning to the life and the sufferings, a ray of hope for people to stay alive, even in the worst of the conditions. He describes the principles of logotherapy in brief and how he used it in practice at the concentration camps that will become the milestone in his life to eventually teach about logotherapy to others in upcoming life.
Pros
It is the only book by the author where he shares his first-hand experience to logotherapy. While other philosophers and teachers of psychology preach about their theory, Frankl showcases his learning without forceful persuasion and free from vague analogies. I learned a new perspective on facing adversity with meaningful optimism, even though there is no obvious reason to feel good about. One of my greatest takeaways is the quote of Nietzsche which Dr. Frankl mentioned in this book “Those who have a 'why' to live, can bear with almost any 'how'.” This is so inspiring and yet pragmatic that you would be fired up to follow your life to fullest.
Cons
The writing style of the book is somewhat bit technical. In the second part, he explains the logotherapy in brief which gives us the idea about the main tenants and application of logotherapy. Although the part was not originally included in the original book, the brief introduction was added to clarify the doubt of reader on logotherapy. Although it all nicely wraps the book, I felt that the explanation can be a bit simple with an additional example to help readers to absorb information.
Opinion
I came across the book title through Mark Manson’s book list where he has a list of books that inspired him to write his blog and book. After reading the book I felt content that I got to read this book and understand the principles. The text can be a bit boring but it was worthwhile and useful information. I am looking forward to reading other contents of Victor Frankl to understand logotherapy in a holistic manner.
Conclusion
Anybody who wants to learn about holocaust will benefit from this book. It will also help you to learn a brief about the logotherapy. To understand his principle and its application in brief you should read the third part of the book. For those, who are looking for a theoretical aspect of logotherapy can refer to other works of Victor E. Frankl. Overall, it’s a great book.

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The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A F*ck

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Central theme: Are you into kind of puzzled up world. Dived depth into the materialistic world that gives you so many things to choose from that you don’t know what to choose and what not to? And after giving in to so many highs you now finally seeking a shelter to take rest? Then I will assure you that Mark Manson’s The Subtle Art of Not giving a Fuck will help you to relax, take a chill pill and live life the way it is meant to be.
It is the endeavor of the author to make readers think. By that I mean to really think about the way people choose their life values and the metric they choose to measure them. This book will help you to find out what values and metrics are must not in your life. It will teach you how to give no fuck to things that are superficial. Instead give a fuck to something that is essential, essential to the extent that gives meaning to your life and to your values.
Pros: The book has a way of presenting content to you and you will find it very amusing and reader-friendly. The examples are quite practical and many of his counter-intuitive methods will certainly keep you engaged for a longer period. None of the ideas here are his original. But some things are needed to be repeated and again. And he has done the same.
Cons: The use of swearing in the book can be intimidating for some people. So read it cautiously. But if you are already following his blog then I am sure you are already familiar with his style of writing. Sometimes I feel the need of author to clarify certain theory that he has presented. I guess an open forum or that feature could really help the reader to get most of the book.
Conclusion: After going through this 200-page book I can only say that if you are into self-help book and love philosophical stuff then you should read this. Also, people who love stoics and their work can certainly relate strongly to the theme of this book. In case, you are reading a book for the 1st time, then go for this book. It will not only make you read but also think, about content in particular and about life in general.

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Leonardo Da Vinci by Sherwin B. Nuland

Leonardo Da Vinci: A Life by Sherwin B. Nuland
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

1. What do I feel about the book overall?
The book about which I am going to give my review is titled as Leonardo Da Vinci. The author of this book is Sherwin B. Nuland. The book is published under the Penguin lives series by the Penguin publication. It is the edition of 2005. Now before I begin my review on the book I would like to give a brief introduction about the author. Mr. Nuland is a famous surgeon and is known popularly for his book How we die? The point that he is a surgeon is important to understand the overall taste of this book.
As the name suggests the book deals with the life of the legendary painter Leonardo Da Vinci. But it’s just not the collection of historical notes on Leonardo that is assembled in this book. This book is the tryst of the author to understand the anatomist in Leonardo. The author has done complete justice to describe the Leonardo in simple words and complete sense ie. He describes Leonardo’s life as painter, sculpture, architect, without deviating from the main topic of Leonardo as an anatomist.
Overall the book serves its purpose well in demonstrating the life of Leonardo in a lucid manner. In fact, the very attempt at compiling and presenting the life and works of Leonardo in an organized manner is a Herculean task. In the sense, that the person to this date is a mystery which might not be resolved for coming years. On top of that, the very nature of the subject and his varied life and varied interest made sure that no author in future will find it easy document his life in a single lucid manner. But the author has done a great job on this part.
2. The Central theme
For this review, I have structured the talk in 4 parts. First, I will talk about the main theme and the underlying principle of the book. Then next, I will talk about the parts where I feel the books could have done better to improve the overall experience. After that, I will talk about the part where book performs well and I will conclude my talk one the excerpt from the book.
Coming to the main topic, Since the author himself is a surgeon it is only natural for such a person to write about Leonardo Da Vinci on the light of his work in the field of anatomy. But to give the complete picture about the author’s hero, the author has dedicated half of the book on the timeline of events of Leonardo to demonstrate just how great his hero is. Starting from his birth in Venice to his death at Amboise and everything in between.
One fun fact that I got to learn is that although we all know Leonardo as the painter of Mona Lisa and the Last Supper and regard him as the greatest painter, he considered painting as a seer distraction from his passion of science and maths. In simple words Leonardo hated painting and this fact has been proven in the book where the author points out numerous event where Leonardo started the painting project but left it incomplete. Many of his works that we know are still incomplete for example Saint Jerome and Adoration of the Magi
Leonardo was more interested in learning about the deep secrets of nature and for that, he invested heavily in various fields of science ranging from optics, perspective, and vision to cartography, watershed management, and geology. He was also one of the earliest who had expertise in Architecture, flight, and advanced weaponry. He was one of the earliest people to view the human body in terms of mechanics, geometry, and relationship among different parts as a whole.
3. The weak points.
Now coming to the aspect where I felt the book could have done better is the picture to illustrate the works of Leonardo, especially when he was explaining the expertise of the Leonardo in drawing the human parts. Although there are few pictures like the one depicting the fetus of around 5th month in the uterus and the comparison between Leonardo’s drawing to that of Galen’s medicine from 2nd century which was prevalent at that time, more of it would only help the readers to appreciate the drawings of the Leonardo.
Nonetheless, the author has done a great deal in describing the great discovery that Leonardo has made during his adventure as an anatomist. For example, the Leonardo first worked on the geometrical aspect of the body whose finest example is the famous Vitruvian man also called the Leonardo Man. Also, he was the first person to carry out the drawing of different parts of muscles and bones with minute accuracy, which dates back 3 or 4 decades before the work of the father of anatomy Andreas Vesalius.
4. Pros of the books
The two greatest discovery by the Leonardo in anatomy are the sinuses of Valsalva which was not known to mankind until it was discovered in 1912. And the discovery about how human perceive or view objects through the eye. The working of the eye was discovered by Leonardo when he was just 30 years old and for him to accomplish this task he had to study optics, perspective, the anatomy of eye and brain all at the same time to comprehend the complete nature of image formation in human mind. He was the 1st person to suggest that the image is formed by lights converging at retina in opposite to what was believed at that time that the image was formed at the lens of the eye.
The author also shows us the other aspect of the Leonardo about which I was completely unaware. Like he was a fan of designing instruments of mass destruction. From Leonardo’s notebooks, many sketches can be found that resembles early prototypes of tanks, advanced catapults, and helicopters. At the same time, he was engaged in the study of mechanics and motion and on that note, he published the book titled “On the flight of birds”.
The book neatly divides the life of the author into chronological order and thereby describes the challenges that the hero had to face at that time to sustain himself and his passion. His 1st problem was the unstable politics of Italy. Due to this, he had to travel a various number of times in his lifetime, because of which his many original works are missing. The 2nd-second reason was his impulsive nature of leaving the commission work uncompleted due to which he had a difficult time in managing his finance to continue his pursuit in science.
Many authors and critics at that time criticized Leonardo for his incomplete work of painting and his habit of leaving his painting incomplete for his pursuit in science and natural science, but after his death, did the people recognize the importance of work done by the Leonardo in the various field where ever Leonardo has stepped in. As per the author, Leonardo “woke up too early in the darkness when everyone else was sleeping”. Had Leonardo had access to better technology or would have taken birth a century or later, mankind would have benefitted from his in-depth knowledge of science and maths.
5. Quotes
In the end, I would like to end with the line of reference from another book named The subtle art of not giving a fuck by Mark Manson. In one of his chapter, he mentions that no man is great or less. If a person excels in one field then he must be less great in another field. In that way, he was talking about the idea of balance in life. But after reading about the Leonardo, I feel that true polymath does exist on earth and such polymath contribute to humanity in a way which the earth will much. So If you are fascinated about Leonardo and want to know more about this guy then I would definitely recommend you to read this book.
I would like to end the speech with this quote of Leonardo Da Vinci on time. “In rivers, the water that you touch is the last of what has passed and the first of that which comes; so with present time.”
Thank you.

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