So this is for all the booklovers out there? What is your fallbook? As in which is the book you read when you don't feel very good, or need to take a break from the Universe?
What's your fall back book sir...?
Don't judge me, but its Doctors by Erich Segal. Its preface still gives me goosebumps. I read it as an adolescent, and it has stuck with me.
With a single exception they were all white. And with five exceptions all male.
Some were brilliant bordering on genius.Others, genius bordering on madness.
One had played a cello recital at Carnegie Hall, another had played a year of professional basketball.
Six had written novels, two of which had actually been published.
One was a lapsed priest.
One was a graduate of reform school.
All were scared to death.
What had brought them together on this bright September morning in 1958 was their common status as first-year students at Harvard Medical School.They had gathered in Room D to hear a welcoming address by Dean Courtney Holmes.
His features could have come straight from a Roman coin.And his demeanor gave the impression that he had been born with a gold watch and chain instead of an umbilical cord.
He did not have to call for quiet. He merely smiled and the spectators hushed.
‘Gentlemen,’ he began, ‘you are collectively embarking on a great voyage to the frontiers of medical knowledge – which is where you will begin your own individual explorations in the yet-uncharted territory of suffering and disease.Someone sitting in this room may find a cure for leukemia, diabetes, systemic lupus erythematosus and the deadly hydraheaded carcinomas …’
He took a perfectly timed dramatic pause. And with a sparkle in his pale blue eyes he added, ‘Perhaps even the common cold.’
There was appreciative laughter.
Then the silver-haired dean lowered his head, perhaps to signify that he was deep in thought. The students waited in suspense.
When at last he looked up and began to speak again, his voice was softer, an octave lower.
‘Let me conclude by disclosing a secret – as humbling for me to reveal as for you to hear.’
He turned and wrote something on the blackboard behind him.
Two simple digits – the numbertwenty-six.
A buzz of bewilderment filled the room.
Holmes waited for quiet to return, drew breath, and then gazed straight into the spellbound auditorium.
‘Gentlemen, I urge you to engrave this on the template of your memories: there are thousands of diseases in this world, but Medical Science only has an empirical cure for twenty-six of them. The rest is … guesswork.’
And that was all.
With military posture and athletic grace, he strode off the podium and out of the room.
The crowd was too dazzled to applaud.
Wow, interesting, very very interesting.
The premise is good, the characters are intelligent, prose is smooth. Will definitely read it 👍
From 26, any idea on how many diseases do we have empirical cure today 😀.
What's your fall back book sir...?
Don't judge me, but its Doctors by Erich Segal. Its preface still gives me goosebumps. I read it as an adolescent, and it has stuck with me.
With a single exception they were all white. And with five exceptions all male.
Some were brilliant bordering on genius.Others, genius bordering on madness.
One had played a cello recital at Carnegie Hall, another had played a year of professional basketball.
Six had written novels, two of which had actually been published.
One was a lapsed priest.
One was a graduate of reform school.
All were scared to death.
What had brought them together on this bright September morning in 1958 was their common status as first-year students at Harvard Medical School.They had gathered in Room D to hear a welcoming address by Dean Courtney Holmes.
His features could have come straight from a Roman coin.And his demeanor gave the impression that he had been born with a gold watch and chain instead of an umbilical cord.
He did not have to call for quiet. He merely smiled and the spectators hushed.
‘Gentlemen,’ he began, ‘you are collectively embarking on a great voyage to the frontiers of medical knowledge – which is where you will begin your own individual explorations in the yet-uncharted territory of suffering and disease.Someone sitting in this room may find a cure for leukemia, diabetes, systemic lupus erythematosus and the deadly hydraheaded carcinomas …’
He took a perfectly timed dramatic pause. And with a sparkle in his pale blue eyes he added, ‘Perhaps even the common cold.’
There was appreciative laughter.
Then the silver-haired dean lowered his head, perhaps to signify that he was deep in thought. The students waited in suspense.
When at last he looked up and began to speak again, his voice was softer, an octave lower.
‘Let me conclude by disclosing a secret – as humbling for me to reveal as for you to hear.’
He turned and wrote something on the blackboard behind him.
Two simple digits – the numbertwenty-six.
A buzz of bewilderment filled the room.
Holmes waited for quiet to return, drew breath, and then gazed straight into the spellbound auditorium.
‘Gentlemen, I urge you to engrave this on the template of your memories: there are thousands of diseases in this world, but Medical Science only has an empirical cure for twenty-six of them. The rest is … guesswork.’
And that was all.
With military posture and athletic grace, he strode off the podium and out of the room.
The crowd was too dazzled to applaud.
Look, the same book when you read it at different times will mean different things to you at different stages of life. I am not a HP guy, but I can tell that when I meet sometimes CEOs of small companies to senior officials, I sometimes find that they are HP fans and they find a lot of meaning in it.
I think its like watching Lion King the movie - the orginal not the 3D one. You can pretty much draw lessons from it even when you are old. Like fifty. And its children's movie.
it deserves a read even if it demands learning Hindi. YOLO.
it deserves a read even if it demands learning Hindi. YOLO.
I know a bit of Hindi, general talking level & not complex. I don't think I can understand poetry level Hindi. Will definitely read it though after I get perfected in Hindi & don't want to get lost in translation 😜
MarcusA,1.Mrityunjay - Shivaji sawant (marathi book on Karna. the conversation at the end with krishna is the best)
2.Rashmirathi (bas naam hi kaafi hai)
3.Atomic Habits- James clear (good book to develop sustainable habits)
4.Deep work- Cal Newport ( for focused and digitally minimalistic work ethic)
5.God Talks with Arjuna- Paramhansa Yogananda (will provide a unique way to understand Gita)
1.Mrityunjay - Shivaji sawant (marathi book on Karna. the conversation at the end with krishna is the best)
2.Rashmirathi (bas naam hi kaafi hai)
3.Atomic Habits- James clear (good book to develop sustainable habits)
4.Deep work- Cal Newport ( for focused and digitally minimalistic work ethic)
5.God Talks with Arjuna- Paramhansa Yogananda (will provide a unique way to understand Gita)
How old were you when you read Rashmirathi? I was in sixth class when my father gave me the book. It was for my elder sister, who was applying for Navodaya Vidyala , where they asked questions from passages of the book. And then all kids in the family used to recite it.
ssver2,1.Mrityunjay - Shivaji sawant (marathi book on Karna. the conversation at the end with krishna is the best)
2.Rashmirathi (bas naam hi kaafi hai)
3.Atomic Habits- James clear (good book to develop sustainable habits)
4.Deep work- Cal Newport ( for focused and digitally minimalistic work ethic)
5.God Talks with Arjuna- Paramhansa Yogananda (will provide a unique way to understand Gita)
How old were you when you read Rashmirathi? I was in sixth class when my father gave me the book. It was for my elder sister, who was applying for Navodaya Vidyala , where they asked questions from passages of the book. And then all kids in the family used to recite it.
last year, when i was 23😅. i know its unfortunate to get introduced to this great work of Dinkar ji so late in life. but tbh here in maharashtra i think very few people know about hindi authors and poets. the regional literature is dominated by marathi. and being from eng medium school reading hindi and even marathi was not my forte. it was recently that i decided and understood that reading the literature in its original language is the best way to understand what the author has to convey. so i started with marathi 'kadambari' on karna, Ch Shivaji and Ch Sambhaji maharaj, works of v.s.khandekar, shivaji sawant,etc
long story short....i was introduced to rashmirathi through youtube recommendation where kavi sandeep dwivedi is reciting rashmirathi, and manoj bajpayee reciting krishna ki chetavani.straightaway bought the book😄
1 suggestion: you should start with your best books of the year (like bill gates). would be helpful to all community members here.
ssver2,Sankoza
1.Mrityunjay - Shivaji sawant (marathi book on Karna. the conversation at the end with krishna is the best)
2.Rashmirathi (bas naam hi kaafi hai)
3.Atomic Habits- James clear (good book to develop sustainable habits)
4.Deep work- Cal Newport ( for focused and digitally minimalistic work ethic)
5.God Talks with Arjuna- Paramhansa Yogananda (will provide a unique way to understand Gita)
How old were you when you read Rashmirathi? I was in sixth class when my father gave me the book. It was for my elder sister, who was applying for Navodaya Vidyala , where they asked questions from passages of the book. And then all kids in the family used to recite it.
last year, when i was 23😅. i know its unfortunate to get introduced to this great work of Dinkar ji so late in life. but tbh here in maharashtra i think very few people know about hindi authors and poets. the regional literature is dominated by marathi. and being from eng medium school reading hindi and even marathi was not my forte. it was recently that i decided and understood that reading the literature in its original language is the best way to understand what the author has to convey. so i started with marathi 'kadambari' on karna, Ch Shivaji and Ch Sambhaji maharaj, works of v.s.khandekar, shivaji sawant,etc
long story short....i was introduced to rashmirathi through youtube recommendation where kavi sandeep dwivedi is reciting rashmirathi, and manoj bajpayee reciting krishna ki chetavani.straightaway bought the book😄
1 suggestion: you should start with your best books of the year (like bill gates). would be helpful to all community members here.
I badly want to. But I read a very wide range of books. So I am not acceptable among non UPSC friend circle because my libarary has some upsc type books. And I am not acceptable among the upsc crowd folks because some books will be too capitalist / business books for some people”a taste and may attract a backlash. :(
Here is a look at one corner of my room.
Take a look and I am sure at least one book will offend you as being in my library.
1.Mrityunjay - Shivaji sawant (marathi book on Karna. the conversation at the end with krishna is the best)
2.Rashmirathi (bas naam hi kaafi hai)
3.Atomic Habits- James clear (good book to develop sustainable habits)
4.Deep work- Cal Newport ( for focused and digitally minimalistic work ethic)
5.God Talks with Arjuna- Paramhansa Yogananda (will provide a unique way to understand Gita)
Deep work is on my TBR list.
Itachi,alankritbhatia6382
@Neyawn I have not heard of people getting offended by someone's booklist except Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged maybe. You should do it.
Oh you have no idea. I get a lot of love mails. But I get a lot of hate mails too :/
Life has taught me that no good deed goes unpunished. So if you are doing something good, you better do it because it’s good in itself and you want to do it. Not because a good deed will have good outcomes. They don’t!
@Itachi mitra majha bilkul ulta case aahe. mi bihar cha aahe pan mostly mumbai la rahile aahe. majhya khup mitrani mrutyunjay ani chhava he suugest kele aahe . aata paryant procrastinate karat hoto pan aata tujha comment pahun order kele aahe. mala marathi literature ani dusre art form( films, songs especially classic ones) sudha khup aawadtat.
i purposely coomented in marathi as for the past few years i am living in delhi and speak in marathi at the very instant I find any maharashtrian. sorry if there are any mistakes in my marathi
Itachi,
Up-lit books are fallback books by definition.
Few of my favorites are - 'Rosie Project', 'Where'd You Go Bernadette', 'A Man Called Ove', 'Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine', 'Convenience Store Woman', 'Wonder'.
Also, many works of Amitava Ghosh are serene to me.
I am looking forward to read - 'A Gentleman in Moscow'.
The registration process is bit complicated - but not very tough.
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