What to read

This is what I had mailed to my friend Nagesh Mungekar on 17th April 2017.

What to read

The process of reading enriches us in ways we can never imagine. Reading entertains, educates, motivates, inspires and rejuvenates us. For young readers I would strongly recommend the works of Jeffrey Archer whose literary style is easy to grasp and his stories are fast paced. His stories are highly imaginative with a twist in the end or are peppered with red herrings. One can safely pick up any of short story collections and curl up in bed. He also displays an affinity for India as there is at least one reference somewhere in his stories. One can also read Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of the venerable Sherlock Holmes or the other British great Agatha Christie who created such wonderful characters like Ms. Marple or the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. For those who like thrillers, one can read the works of Alistair Maclean. His Satan Bug, Golden Gate, Guns of Navarone, Puppet on a chain are classic examples of excellent, crisp writing. If you have a liking for techno-thrillers, who better than Michael Crichton? I was captivated when I read Jurassic Park and I was full of awe when I read The Rising Sun, State of Fear, The Great Train Robbery, The Andromeda Strain and many more. If espionage is your cup of tea I am sure the works of Frederick Forsyth, Tom Clancy or Robert Ludlum would be interesting.

There is so much good literature out there!

I perhaps have enjoyed the works of P.G. Wodehouse the most. Wodehouse was the king of subtle, understated British humour. There was an old-worldly charm in his short novels and no explicit descriptions of any kind. Jeeves and Bertie (Bertram) Wooster, Psmith and Mike have been my companions since childhood. Wodehouse is a master of the English language and curiously he is read the most in India today.

When I grew up a bit I was introduced to the world of Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister written by the incomparable pair of Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn. Such wonderful characters! Jim Hacker, Sir Humphrey Appleby and Bernard Woolley make such a fantastic team! The television adaptation of the book is also excellent. They have managed to retain the flavour of the books in the celluloid version. BBC allowed only one adaptation of Yes Minister... that too in Hindi... Ji Mantriji where we saw Farrouque Shaikh play Jim Hacker and Jayant Kriplani Humphrey. We find echoes of Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister in Indian government and administration as we have inherited the bicameral system from them. It is stunning to see the hold of the civil service on government.

I was also fortunate to have read Ayn Rand’s Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. Some consider Atlas Shrugged as Rand’s best work but I disagree. I think Fountainhead is her best work. In this book Rand shows how an ideal man should be. Her characters are always very strong and intelligent. No other popular author has invited praise and condemnation in equal measure. People are either strongly pro Rand or completely opposed to her writings. There is no middle ground.

Then there is other literature which is thought provoking and uplifting like the works of Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion), Bill Bryson (A short history of nearly everything, The Body, At Home), Yuval Noah Harari (Sapiens), Will Durant’s historical tomes..… there is so much to read!

I never got around to reading JK Rowling but I am told that she has hit the ball out of the park in all the novels of Harry Potter. This is one of the most successful franchises ever. Maybe one day I will scour through her work.

If I were to recommend some books, I would wholeheartedly suggest:
  1. Wodehouse (Leave it to Psmith, Psmith in the city, any book featuring Jeeves & Wooster)
  2. Jeffrey Archer: Short stories, Kane and Abel, The Prodigal Daughter, Shall we tell the president? And many more
  3. Alistair Maclean: Guns of Navarone, Golden Gate, Satan Bug
  4. Ayn Rand: Fountainhead and maybe later Atlas Shrugged
  5. Yes Minister
  6. Yes Prime Minister
  7. Michael Crichton: The Rising Sun, Jurassic Park, Lost World, The Great train robbery…
  8. Arthur Conan Doyles: The complete works of Arthur Conan Doyle
  9. The works of Bill Bryson
  10. Speeches and annual reports of Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger can also be considered as essential reading.

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