"My Inventions" by Nikola Tesla

"My Inventions" by Nikola Tesla is the autobiograpy of the famous physicist Nikola Tesla. In a very simple language the scientist tells the story of his life - about his childhood, adulthood and mature stages of life. 

I expected the book to be full of scientific formulas and calculations, blueprints of his inventions and extremely hard and scientific to read but I realized that Tesla had a very creative, artistic and humanitarian side. He was fluent in many languages, enjoyed reading and listening to classics, wondered about the supernatural and paranormal quite a bit.

Tesla never married and it seems like he wanted to invent a way of being immortal or at least live until 150 years old. He experimented with his mind and memory and had an amazing ability to hear things.

Basically, this book gives a glimpse of the life and mind of the great physicist Tesla who gave us the alternating-current power system that provided electricity, radio communication and many other things.

"Psychology" for grade 12 by NIOS

 Psychology is a wonderful subject, and these books are the introduction to Psychology. These two books were issued by the NIOS open school and covered the foundation of psychology. The books start with the chapter on what is psychology, its research methods and techniques, statistics and personality theories and ends with the holistic psychology and stress management. My favorite chapters were on learning and memory as that is what I was doing and I learned a lot from these two books overall.

"History" for 12th grade by NIOS

These are the two history books issued by the NIOS and they cover the basics of Indian history since the Indus Valley and Harappan civilization until the modern times. My favorite historical time is always the ancient history and I love reading about the Cold War. My least favorite period is the Mughal Empire and the Delhi Sultanate in which I have to remember lots of Persian-Arabic-Urdu words and the administration system seems to be quite complex.

Overall, I loved reading the history (hate remembering) but it did give me an idea of what is India all about and where some cultural practices and traditions came from. Why are Indians the way they are and why are the states the way they are.

The only downside to this book (the authors have mentioned this themselves) is that it mainly focuses on the history of the Northern India and Delhi and just mentions in few chapters the rulers and dynasties of the South of India. This might be the reflection of the current discrimination of the South and the centralized focused on the North.

Other than that, the books were  written in a clear and passionate way and did inspire some love for history.

"Geography" for 12th grade by NIOS

This is my most favorite course ever. I struggle to remember what kind of mountains are there and soil etc but I just love the sense of "travelling the world and being in nature". These books were issued by the NIOS open school and I have enjoyed reading them. Although, I might not be able to study Geography college level, I still love the physical geography, cartography, geology and other Earth sciences. It gives me the sense of being close to nature and being a world traveler which I love. 

These are two books and the first book covers the physical geography whilst the second book covers the human geography, including economics, which I'm not a huge fan of.

Overall, these are great books that cover the basics of geography.

"English" by NIOS

"English" by NIOS for 12th grade is an English book full of stories as well as how to write a letter or attend a job interview. Good stuff. I have quite enjoyed the stories, although most of them are for the younger age level than mine. Some of them were uncomplicated, therefore boring to me being a forty year old, however I did find them to be heart warming.

"Certificate of Data Entry" by NIOS

I decided to complete my 12th in humanities and one of the courses is Data Entry Operations which I was kind of forced to choose but I'm happy with it as it's polishing my basic computer skills (very basic) but I find it still challenging as I have never had to use Excel or Power Point Presentations or Mail Merge.

After completing the practical parts of the book I did learn that I don't know so much of the basics when in comes to the most popular computer applications such as Excel, Power Point, Microsoft Word and Outlook. The most challenging was, I guess, the Excel because of the slightly mathematical formulas and the whole concept but I managed to get it in the end. 

My most favorite part of the book was the hardware of the computer, the servers and how the Internet works. I'd like to read more on that because the book provided only the basics.

"Idioms Dictionary" by Cambridge

 This is the dictionary of the English idioms, and I must say it has all the useful ones.

"Short Stories" by Ratna Sagar

 Short story book for kids (7 grade). I picked it up at the library in society and I have read one story that was about overcoming fear. Although at 40 I sometimes feel bored reading stories for kids, this story actually carried a strong message.

"Early India" by Romila Thapar

"Early India" by Romila Thapar is a history of prehistoric India and of India before the forming of the states. It's amazing but it's thick. I will return to this post after I read it.

"Master Your Emotions" by Thibaut Meurisse

Great book on Emotions that my daughter's teacher Tapan sir has gifted her after she admitted having an exam anxiety. She doesn't seem to be reading it at the moment, although she has started it, so I have started reading it. It seems useful and amazing and I will come back to this post after I finished it.

"Trail Blazer" by Ray Dalio

 They say it's a good book on business, so I will come back here after I read it.

"Algebra for Dummies 1" by Mary Jane Sterling

Wonderful book on Algebra for dummies. Yes, I consider myself a a dummy when it comes to Math, but I don't necessarily want to stay a dummy. I wanted to study Statistics because I like Psychology and Geography and they both have Statistics, but in order to study Statistics for dummies I was adviced to first complete Algebra 1 for dummies. I have covered the free section of the book about the prime numbers etc and it's started to warm up towards equations a bit, so will come back to this review after I complete this book. 

"Cybersecurity for Dummies" by Joseph Steinberg

 I have purchased and read 30 pages of this book as I want to learn more about technology. It has been extremely interesting and I'll get back to this post after I read this book.

"Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom" by Rachel Pollack

A lovey book on tarot by Rachel Pollack that has become a classic and the favourite tarot book of many people. I am reading it on and off and I've loved it so far. I will continue this review later on.

"Communion" by Whitley Strieber (trial)

Whitley Strieber is sharing in this book his experience of alien abduction. The book is quite famous and a classic in the genre.  I haven't read the full book, just the free trial section and either way, I must say, the story is interesting as a writing as well. The write was previously a successful sci-fi writer, and I could feel the mastery and expertise in the writing. 

I will continue reading this book after I purchase it on Google Books and will complete this review later. 

"What Darwin Didn't Know" by National Geographic

"National Geographic" is a magazine, but I decided to include it into this blog, because it always feels like reading a good book. 

This particular issue brought me to tears and especially the article about the Mustang horses. I feel so good after reading this as it truly enlightens me. 

"The Path Made Clear" by Oprah Winfrey

A wonderful collection of success stories by Oprah Winfrey was a truly inspirational little book. A good number of known people shared how they found their path. Many people have weird paths and missions: a designer, a comedian, a talk show owner, a professional organizer, a spiritual teacher. 

This book is encouraging for anyone who hasn't yet found their path but want to. It's great for students choosing their majors and people in the midst of a career confusion. Everyone has their place in this world.

"Tge Village by the Sea" by Anita Desai

A great book (most likely for children) about a poor family of seven (including the dog Pinto) that lives in the village by the sea.

The mother is ill and the father is an alcoholic and their two eldest children Hari and Lina are the care takers of all. 

It's a painful but playful story about the struggles of the poor and the modernization of a village. The moral of the story could be not to loose hope and do all you can to overcome difficulties. Also adaptability, change and learning. 

"Psychology of Money" by Morgan Housel

A great book about how to accumulate wealth, save and invest. An easy to understand and encouraging book about how money works and what made today's American consumer. I think it inspired me to save and believe that after decates my wealth will compound. Great book! 

"First Flight" - Textbook in English for Class X

"First Flight" - Textbook for English for Class X is a wonderful literature textbook for class X students. It has prose and poetry and most of the stories are extremely touching. One of them is the story of Nelson Mandela becoming the President of South Africa. 

"Ancient Delhi" by Upinder Singh

"Ancient Delhi" by Upinder Singh is a book about archeological findings and history of Delhi. It focuses on the various excavation sites around Delhi such as Purana Qila etc and the pots and structures found in them.

The book writes a great amount about the Ashokan pillars, the dynasties that ruled Delhi and the various protected and badly protected monuments.

The authors introduces the Anglo-Indian archeologists and discoverers and their work (and the commentary and criticism of their work). The historical findings are also compared with the folk memory and the story of Mahabharat (which says there is little proof to confirm the story, although the names of local rulers and groups match with the names from the Mahabharat). 

"Modern Short Stories" by Jim Hunter

"Modern Short Stories" by Jim Hunter is a selection of 15 short stories. It said modern but most of the stories were from the early 1900's. I did enjoy some of them but there were some which were hard to understand. The stories were by the authors from the English speaking countries like the US, the UK,  Australia etc

"Madame Burova" by Ruth Hogan

"Madame Burova" by Ruth Hogan was a surprise buy. I saw the recommendation while browsing amazon and it was super cheap (111 rs) and so I bought it. The book was quite thick (300 + pages) and it was printed in a biggish font, so  it seemed like it's going to be an easy fun read.

As I started reading, Ruth Hogan's writing style reminded me of my favorite Lithuanian writer's Jurga's Ivanauskaite's style and I was pleased. The more I read though,  the more confusing it got as there were many characters in the book and some events took place in 1973 and some - now.

I thought: "What the heck?!" and continued reading. So, I was in a puzzled state up to about 150th page but it started to become interesting as that's when I realized that the events of 1973 and now were one story (how stupid of me).

Then 150th page onwards it was very interesting and seemed like a "good book" and a "good story" and I feel like I had a lot of fun and learned a lot from it. I'd recommend everyone who's interested in a bit of a contemporary read full of people and relationships. Although it was fun though, it discussed some serious issues like racism, homophobia, gender equality issues and animal abuse/rescue.

"The Diary of A Young Girl Anne Frank" by Anne Frank

"The Diary of a Young Girl Anne Frank" is what it says - a diary of a 13-15 year old girl Anne Frank. It was written during the 2WW in Holland where Anne Frank went into hiding with 7 others in her dad's office.

Anne Frank was a very energetic personality who had many friends and was quite popular, during the hiding she spent a lot of time reading and studying which makes her a good writer. She wrote several other works as well (not sure if they were published). 

It's definitely a heart wrenching read, knowing what happened to the family and what so many people had to endure during the war (and especially in Nazi occupied territories). 

From a cheerful and bubbly character, Anne Frank grows more and more serious when in hiding, her thoughts become more expansive and she herself - less  hopeful, more  accepting, more cynical but at the same time wise, mature and saintly (as if she's a Buddha detaching from all the world's pleasures and personal wishes). 

It was a profound, interesting, fun read with a dark shadow of sadness overcoming it all and amazing talent for writing.

"Inner Engineering" by Sadhguru

"Inner Engineering" by Sadhguru is a 271 page book consisting of two parts. In the first part author writes about his childhood and youth days about how he became Sadhguru. He writes a lot about yoga, health and spirituality, using various stories as an examples. Some stories and examples are actually funny.

In the second part, Sadhguru focuses on body, mind, energy, and joy, answering some important questions. 

It was interesting to read the part where Sadhguru wrote about his childhood, travels and first experiences. When it comes to explanations on herbivores and carnivores and why one should be (basically) a vegetarian, I am not sure I am convinced by it as people like Eskimos and the residents of Yakutia and Iceland were not considered (there is winter most of the year and no plants grow, so meat would be the only option).

Also, many sentences start with: "The biggest problem with the world today..." and it seems as if author complaints about the world and the way humans are (humanly) which makes it seem negative, depressing and not true. Spiritual gurus were saying the same thing 2000 and probably 100000 years ago. 

Author, as well seems to just drop facts and various unrelated information all  over the book, without trying to develop one particular idea very well, which seems chaotic and not boring  but looses the point. 

So, I am happy that I've read the book (I've learned a lot and it made me giggle), however it also made me think with my own head and judge the statements given.

"Satyopanisad -Volume 3" by Anil Kumar Kamaraju

 "Satyopanisad -Volume 3" by Anil Kumar Kamaraju is a Q and A book between Sathya Sai Baba and his devotees. 

The book is by Anil Kumar Kamaraju. It has three parts:

a) "The Inner Door"

b) "Human Values"

c) "Scriptures and Baba"

"Satyopanisad" is a spiritual book where Sri Sathya Sai Baba - a famous Indian guru from Puttaparti answers his devotees' questions about meditation, truth, human values and Hindu scriptures such as Ramayana and Mahabharata. 

I used to read a lot of Sai Baba's books in my childhood translated into Lithuanian language and used to find them quite powerful. I also liked Sathya Sai Baba's simple, humble and yet very powerful explanations on spiritual matters, the life that a person should/could lead and about Universe. 

I have found this book in a local library and it even has his signature (I hope it's real). I truly enjoyed the spiritual Q and A that, I think, can be useful and thought provoking to the majority, however I found the scriptures part a big boring and confusing as I am not familiar with Ramayana or Mahabharata. The many names of Gods and what happened between them feels like listening to a gossip about people I have never met. However, someday I would like to dive deeper into the Hindu scriptures.

Despite of that, I found the book heart warming, optimistic, encouraging and inspiring. I'm not anymore the 17 year old who used to read his books but a 39 year old who has lived more live and done more mistakes. By reading to these seemingly simple Q and A's and looking back at my life I can see that Sai Baba is right on many points, especially human values. No matter what, we should strive to be a better human and rethink our values on a daily or weekly basis. If we cannot help, it's at least better not not hurt anyone. But, as Sai Baba says, practice is worth more than book knowledge.

"Monsoon - A Poem of Love and Longing" by Abhay K.

"Monsoon - A Poem of Love and Longing" by Abhay K. is a poem about Monsoon and the path that it travels. It starts its journey in Madagascar and ends in Kashmir. 

As the Monsoon travels various places, the poet describes these places in detail, that is full of color, smells and beauty.

Loads of mythological, place and cuisine names are used and it's possible to get lost in so much culture and description. However, a list of explanations is given in every page and there is a vocabulary provided at the end of the book.

The writing is very Indian in a way that the poem is just as colorful and diverse as the Indian Sub-Continent. It's a beautiful colorful chaos full of nostalgia.

I usually don't read poetry and received this book by mistake and I must say it was an interesting experience to read it.

"Herstory" by Neha Bansal

"Herstory" by Neha Bansal is a collection of 39 verses that focus on gender inequality in India. Some of the verses are about mythical personages like Yashoda and others are about the common daily life that the author experienced through being a woman and working as a civil servant thus witnessing societal injustice towards the poor and the female gender. Many of such behavior stems even from the Hindu mythology and seems to be rooted deep in the Indian society.

The stories are beautifully written and are easy to read and understand. There is a certain amount of pain in each and every verse as they talk about the suffering mostly. Some verses (such as "Crochet Lace Hankies" and "Hiraeth: Green Chutney Made by My Mother") are filled with nostalgia.

It was a heart warming and important book making me look into the suffering of others.

"Thought Forms" by Annie Besant and C.W. Leadbeater

"Thought Forms" by Annie Besant and C.W. Leadbeater is a little book about auras, its colors, their meanings and thought forms. 

Thought forms are materialized thoughts that can be seen clairvoyantly as shapes and forms (that have a real potential to become physical things some time later).

The book explains how thought forms are made and what do they look like. There are some colorful illustrations in the book of thought forms and some of them have symbols in them. The symbols can be: crosses, the Star of David, lotus flower etc. Each symbol has a meaning and the clearer the shape, the clearer the thought.

Some pictures involve etheric (or neon) colors that don't exist on planet Earth (or the colors that the human eye cannot see). It is quite fascinating and especially the fact that so much study has been put into the subject.

"Clairvoyance" by C. W. Leadbeater

"Clairvoyance" by C. W. Leadbeater was a little book about clairvoyance. I am very interested in the subject and was looking for any information about it. 

This book introduces to different types and levels of clairvoyance. It's almost more than what one needs to know. The author refers to many other literature and has a recommended list for reading.

C.W. Leadbeater talks about astral travel, etheric and astral bodies, things one can see after their clairvoyance is developed. Apparently, one can see auras, elemental beings, dead people and ghosts, entities, thought forms, as well as through the walls and earth. While clairvoyance looks amazing, it might be scary and overwhelming to first experience it. Also it is not advisable to offer paid readings and tell people about this, especially if one's clairvoyance is partial and "accidental".

The author also talks about groups and types of clairvoyance, such as what can cause a clairvoyance and different cases of clairvoyance. For example, clairvoyance can be caused by a very ill health or alcoholism (or drug use), passing of a loved one where the missing and mourning is very strong, by unexplained accidental experiences where clairvoyant information seems irrelevant and by spirit guides (divine helpers) guiding one to help someone and similar.

Basically, there is full clairvoyance and partial. There is etheric vision and astral vision. Astral being the fuller one. The book also explains the chemistry/physics of all of that and how ether connects our physical plane with the etheric/astral one by permeating the matter.

I must admit I will need to reread it again as things are a bit hard to understand. It was a breathtaking book  to read and very grounded too as it tried to explain thigs scientifically and logically.

"On the Way to Krishna" by Swami Prabhupada

"On The Way to Krishna" by Swami Prabhupada is a little book of 74 pages. The book mainly talks about the human suffering due to materialism and chasing of desires. The book suggests that what we perceive with our five senses is all - an illusion.

There are many great points and things to think about and I would like to get some more books like these. 

"1984" by George Orwell

George Orwell's "1984" is a book about what would it be like if England was a socialist country. It well illustrates what's it like to live in socialism and is deeply depressing and disturbing (like socialism). 

The way it's narrated it makes the reader not sure of what to believe (just like the real life propaganda) and it's done so skillfully that it gets 'to the bones and soul'. 

I can't say I enjoyed reading this book (more like sick and disgusted especially in the end), because of how painful and true it was but I agree that it's a very important work that depicts the horribleness of the humanity with its wars and power obsession. It even reminded me the sci-fi movies and conspiracy theories about humans being mind controlled by aliens and various experiments done on humans (it's how you look at it).

It reminded me of a concentration camp memoirs that we had to read at school for history. Deeply traumatizing. (Wouldn't recommend for those who are very sensitive).

"Building a Life Worth Living" by Marsha M. Linehan

"Building a Life Worth Living" by Marsha M. Linehan was recommended to my daughter by her therapist. The therapist quickly summarized the book as being about a young girl who was sent to a psychiatric hospital for two years after which she was able to recover and become a world known psychotherapist and the creator of Dialectic Behavioral Therapy. 

On amazon the book is called one of the most inspirational books ever and is very valuable not only for 'clients' but by therapists, counselors and psychologists themselves. What's special about the book (one of the amazon reviewers said) is that it is not by someone about someone else but it's written by the person diagnosed with BPD (borderline personality disorder) who herself later gets out of it through determination, hard work, spirituality and self-work.

My daughter didn't want to read the book because, as she said, the therapist already narrated to her the whole story, but she took a photo of the cover and brought it home. I however couldn't forget the pink cover and decided to get it myself.

It was an amazing book, drawing me in immediately like a good thriller and keeping me engaged for the whole time. It is written like an autobiography but also it's so interesting, like some adventure fiction. Marsha M. Linehan tells her story starting from childhood and moving towards adolescence and adulthood, from high school to psychiatric ward, to the university and she shares her spiritual experiences and techniques as well. 

Even if one cannot find a therapist for BPD or any other disorder, this book is a great start that gives hope for everyone out there and really explains what DBT is and how it started and was created.

I will read and reread this book as there are so many things to go back to. It can be used as reference and even as a book for personal guidance. It's that inspiring and Marsha M. Linehan is inspiring too!

Would recommend for anyone interested in psychiatry, counseling, anyone who knows someone or suffers from mental issues, suicidal thoughts and behaviors, depression, anxiety and especially BPD. 

"Banquet on The Dead" by Sharath Komarraju

"Banquet on the Dead" is a detective fiction story written by the Indian writer Sharath Komarraju.

I bought it at a bookshop at a mall because I was looking for a not so thick, easy to finish book written by an Indian author in English.

My previous attempt to read a book by an unknown (to me) author was not a good experience as the writing seem to be a mess and full of mistakes.

I approached "Banquet on the Dead" a bit skeptically but from the first page onwards I loved the style that it was written in (short, clear and well thought of/edited sentences), great humor and a clear story/ problem to focus on. 

This was a classical crime novel written in a Agatha Christie's or Sherlock Holmes' type of way where a senior detective Nagarajan and a an older man -  Hamid Pasha (who was an ex con) try to solve the drowning (murder?) case of an old and wealthy grandma. 

They dive deep into the family business and question each and every family member. The story is well balanced between descriptions of only necessary people and places and dialogues, as every, crime novel is written in an 'interrogation' style. You can picture the scenes easily because they are so much like the TV show 'Crime Patrol".

Sharath Komarraju's work was quite interesting and easy to read. I can imagine a big number of readers being able to read and enjoy it. While it might seem sometimes too 'easy and simplistic', I think this story was perfect in a way that it was implemented. 

An excerpt from page 127: "Kamala's eyes blazed, and her voice broke. 'You know, sir,' she said, 'that is the problem with this house. People don't talk. People don't think about things. They don't solve things. They ignore them. They think that each incident in life is a one-off, and if you could gloss over one, you could gloss over all the others. They don't realize that everything is connected, that resentment builds over time if it is not nipped, that once hate topples over a little idiosyncrasies become huge fighting points; that people can be brought to a level where they would be ready to kill you because they don't like the way you smile or the way you tie your hair."

This was an excerpt that I just loved. The characters communicate some important truths and express valid points when it comes to the dynamics of a large joint family. Everyone who has lived in one, could relate.

"The Book of Tarot Spreads" by Barbara Moore

Barbara Moore is the legend in the Tarot world and has published many books. I bought this book specifically for learning the Tarot spreads and it did provide me with some spreads. 

Majority of the spreads were known to me from before, but there were a few interesting ones. Overall, an interesting book that I will be studying and using as a reference.

"Discover Your Psychic Type" by Sherrie Dillard

 "Discover Your Psychic Type" is a book by the psychic Sherrie Dillard and it covers the four main psychic (or intuitive types) - mental, emotional, physical and spiritual.

This is a great book for those who are interested in psychic development and spirituality. It is very real and humble. It contains guided meditations for each intuitive type, loads of samples of real psychic experiences and, as the author is a teacher as well, she shares the experiences that her students had. 

I loved the spiritual way that this book was written in, the words and sentences were flowing and it was uplifting and a pleasure to read. At the end of the day, despite the guided meditations and other exercises the main was "meditation" and "spiritual growth" which was also mentioned by some Indian gurus like Vivekananda and others.

If you grow spiritually, your psychic abilities open up themselves - it's a natural way. It says that we all have the ability to develop as we're souls and souls are spiritual by themselves. I loved this book because it felt like un ultimate truth and realistic and believable. I was truly glad I purchased it and I would recommend it to anyone as reading it itself has a healing effect.

"The God of Small Things" - by Arundhati Roy

 

"The God of Small Things" by Arunadhati Roy is an amazingly written book about the childhood memories of Rahel and her twin brother Estha. 

Mostly, the book is set in Kerala, India and is almost like an autobiography that contains very personal and intimate memories from 'the half Hindu and half Syrian-Christian' family'. 

The author Arundhati Roy seems to see through the hardest masks of everything. She is creative with words and it's a pleasure to just to read it.

One can feel a bit of sarcasm in the author's writing. It's chaotic, colorful, crowded, contrasting and mind-boggling.

There are some paragraphs that describe nudity, bathrooms, sexuality, bums, spit, vomit, pedophiles and similar things, which can be a bit disturbing at times. 

However, I think that India would not be India without the smelly sewer, the poor, the betel leaf spit as well as gold, silks and the rich.

It was an amazing book and I wish to read more by the same author.

"Awakening Your Psychic Powers" by Henry Reed Ph. D.

"Awakening Your Psychic Powers" is one of the best and concise books on psychic development that I've ever read. 

The book is very well researched and written in a simple enough way. 

It discusses the psychic imagination, psychic states of awareness, the soul of the psychic and developing psychic awareness.

It helps one to understand what is psychic powers and through experiences of other psychics, it illustrates various psychic and intuitive instances. 

The book was wonderfully written and discussed complex ideas (especially the ones about the superconscious, unconscious and conscious mind) saying that one's motivation for psychic experience might affect how well it will work. It highlights the importance of developing spiritually and using psychic abilities for other people and good purposes. 

The book is also full of many exercises and great ideas on how one could develop psychically. At times, I really struggled understanding and digesting some of the concepts and could read no more than 30 or 50 pages a day. This book is best read little by little and then it could be use as a reference. 

I think it's one of the most amazing books ever written and I truly was absorbed by it and enjoyed it a lot!

"Forgiving the Unforgivable" by Master Charles Cannon

"Forgiving the Unforgivable" by Master Charles Cannon is a spiritual book whose author's teachings come from the Eastern philosophical teachings (mainly India). This book has a foreword by Eckhart Tolle and afterword by Neale Donald Walsch.

The book is narrating a story of Master Charles Cannon and his disciples traveling to Mumbai, India and getting stuck in the Oberoi Hotel where the terrorist attacks happened. Hundreds of people have died and two of their own as well. 

This book is about the spiritual outlook to life and being in the here-and-now moment, from which, the world looks quite different. The Mumbai terror attacks are not the main focus here. 

It's just a spiritual book which talks about our thoughts, attachments, karmic debts and meditation. The information can really challenge and change how one looks into one self, one's life and the world around us. 

This is a healing and calming book. It's written in a quite a simple way and is quite encouraging and enlightening. It does offer a new perspective on how to look at negative things that happen to us, how to react to negative experiences that happen to us and how to transform, heal and grow. 

There are links to the website as well where one can learn more about the teachings. 

"Edgar Cayce on Atlantis" - by Edgar Evans Cayce

"Edgar Cayce on Atlantis" was written by Edgar Cayce's youngest son Edgar Evans Cayce. He went through his father's notes and his past life readings on other people and compiled all the information on Atlantis into a timeline.

The book was first published in 1968 but is still pretty amazing. It has excerpts that describe in detail about where was Atlantis, what was it like, about the technology and beings that existed in Atlantis at that time, about the "flying boats" and subhuman creatures and about the spiritually and materially focused beings who always had a clash among themselves.

It describes the three destruction periods of Atlantis and how the Atlanteans moved to Egypt and the Pyrenees for solace where they created libraries to protect and safe their knowledge and information.

The book is super exciting. The author uses Edgar Cayce notes from his cases and does his own research on archeological findings and compares those together. The book is intelligent and scientific (the author was electrical engineer and a captain during the 2WW). 

I found that there were several messages in the book: it shows that there are many things that we don't really know and that we've regressed as humanity due to our own materialism, greed and identification with things. It was said that 19 out of 21 civilizations were destroyed "from within". Lack of spirituality and not striving to be a better human is what ultimately destroys us. I think it's a great reminder as well as an encouragement for us to go treasure hunting - for the new information on who we really are, where do we come from and what is our real mission and purpose.

A great book!

"50 Shades of Grey" by E.L.James

I was given this book by a friend who said "it's very cool and you'll love it". I have heard the name before but I didn't know what was it about. 

After starting to read the book, it seemed like a very easy to read novel, actually too easy and modern. I liked the modernity and the mobile phones in it (I never read contemporary books). I liked the main character Anastasia and it seemed to be quite interesting at first. 

Then she met Christian Grey - a rich sociopath who was hot and she felt attracted to him. Christian Grey seemed to show an interest to her and from the beginning acted intimidating and controlling. 

Later, he admitted that he would like to try bondage sex with her and she agreed (although she was a virgin and didn't know much about it). 

From there on the author presents us with a lot of rich, juicy and detailed sex scenes and erotic intricacies. At first, I could not believe that all of that was actually in the book (I didn't have a clue before starting, I thought it was a crime novel), then I thought that I actually like it and after it reached page 200, I decided that I actually hate it. 

I think it could be a great book for someone who's super young and find sex thrilling (I don't) and perhaps someone who's in a mood to read all that or someone who seriously needs to better their libido.

Every work has it's own place and role and mission and I know that many people really loved this book and the author/the main character are really very likable, but sex is just not what I like reading about at the moment (plus I really hated that Christian Grey).

"Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad

"Heart of Darkness" is a novella about Charles Marlow, English seaman travelling to Congo, Africa during the time of European colonialism (1890). 

He boards a ship at Thames in London and reaches the coasts of Africa where he comes across Company's employees bad mouthing each other, hating their jobs,  taking bribes and despising everyone. Bureaucracy, violence, racism, killings and disease is common and the whole experience is described by the main protagonist as "horrible and savage".

The novella is written using a huge amount of descriptive words and it's easy to get lost in it. It has a dreamy feel about it as if the one who reads or the one who writes has a fever. It was hard for me to understand who was who in the novella, where was everyone and what was happening. It felt more like a poem or some kind of transcendental writing.

The native inhabitants of Congo were described as scary, savage and barbaric, as if inhuman. I didn't feel right reading that. Just because the author didn't know anything about them and their life, he could have at least tried to go deeper in his thought as if to put himself in their shoes. 

However knowing the ignorant and superior attitudes of the materialistic Europeans in 1890, it would have been probably extremely hard as they judged everything from their own view. I didn't basically like the cynicism and superiority I could feel in the writing of Joseph Conrad. 

It was a very grim and dim novella. Perhaps that's how it was in 1890's. So, in a way, I liked that the author was honest about himself and the reality that he saw. By the way, Heart of Darkness was used to refer to the places that main protagonist traveled to. There was very little appreciation of the landscape. 

"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee

I bought "To Kill a Mockingbird" spontaneously at a book stall at a mall. I have heard a lot about the book previously and it was on my mental list to read it. At first, I found the writing style a bit archaic and complicated. However I soon realized that actually I wasn't used to reading English literature that much. Slowly, I got used to the style and it became easy to read. 

"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee was set in 1930's Southern USA. It was narrated by Scout - an 8 year old girl whose father Atticus was the lawyer. She had an older brother Jem and a friend Dill with whom she would hang out everyday. 

The author describes the events that happened in her town, in school  and among neighbors. She would write a lot about her father who is a very educated but humble and wise Gandhian figure who would be wiser than everyone in town. 

The main event being the trial of Tom Robinson - a black 25 year old man falsely accused of rape of a white woman. The novel exposes the inhumane treatment of people based on their color and asks questions the unfairness and prejudice that prevails even in courts.

Although the novel was written in 1930's South, racist attitudes are widely present almost 100 years later. 

Overall, I really enjoyed the book because of the way it was written, I was able to travel to my own childhood, to the places I spent summers at and I loved reading and imagining the lifestyle that people in 1930's America had. I had a sad but warm feeling after reading this book.

"The Best of Arabian Nights" by Young Learners

 "The Best of Arabian Nights" by Young Learners is a tiny book for children that has 27 stories from the Arabian Nights series. 

This is an amazing collection involving: King Shahryar, Sheherzade, The Wedding, The Story of the Rich Trader, The Three Wise Men, The Story of the First Old Man, The Story of the Two Black  Dogs, The Story of Alibaba, Alibaba and Cassim , Alibaba and Marjina, The Story of the Lost Ruby Ring, Naunihar's Groom, The Story of Paribanu, The Story of Aladdin, The Story of the Witch, An Adventure of Sindbad, The Benign Fairies, The Story of the Falcon, The Story of the Ninth Statue, The Story of the Poisoned Pages, The Flying Horse, The Story of the Brass Pot, The Story of Khudadad, The Monkey-Poet, The Lost Camel, The Story of an Ass, Shehrezade Survives.

The stories in this particular book were arranged in a manner that made sense and I loved the neat and beautiful illustrations in black and white that were extremely masterful. I think this is one of the best collections. 

"The Road Less Travelled" by M. Scott Peck

"The Road Less Travelled" by M. Scott Peck is a book that I find hard to describe. It belongs to the "psychology" genre and it is a self-help book whose purpose is spiritual development. 

The author M. Scott Peck was a psychiatrist with many years of experience and he wrote this book from a psychiatric perspective. This book is about parenting, about the fact that if we want to grow spiritually, we should actively initiate the growth and not fear of challenges. The author encourages (based on his psychiatric experiences) his readers to be brave in living our lives and not avoiding difficult experiences.

A lot is written about parenting, marriage and relationships in this book and it does press a lot of buttons and is not an easy book to read. I thought it basically revealed the secret of life. Why are we here, how does spiritual grow happen and how to behave in order to grow faster and better spiritually. 

I remember once wondering about how love works. It resulted in me buying the "Psychology of Love" by Freud, but I didn't find the answer there. M. Scott Peck explains what is love and what is the difference between love and falling-in-love. I felt absolutely satisfied with the explanation. 

The author also talks a lot about "Grace", which is the term I never heard before but which basically is similar to "The Spirit" (used by the New Agers). He mentions how "Grace" helped him in writing this book and which basically is "the magical synchronicity" that brings something helpful into our lives at the right moment (which is hard to explain and is "beyond science"). 

I think that with the help of this "grace" I actually received this book. A wife of my husband's friend just handed over to me a backpack full of "esoteric" books. One of those was "The Road Less Travelled" and I decided to read it only after a year of when I received it. The cover isn't bright and memorable, it's kind of dull, but something in me said: "I want to read that dull-looking book!" (no idea what it's about).

I extremely enjoyed reading this book and it's more than a book - it's wisdom, it's guidance and, I feel, - it's the truth! After a very long time I enjoyed reading something so much, I forgot to look at which page I'm on (usually I can't wait to get over with the book). 

I recommend it to everyone and I think everyone would benefit from it (but one kind of has to be "ready"). It also can be a bit painful and healing at the same time to read it.

"Self-Mastery Workshop Manual" by Dr. Newton Kondaveti

"Self-Mastery Workshop Manual" by Dr. Newton Kondaveti is a 67 page booklet with some basic information on self sabotaging patterns, basic fears,  basic character structures, the essence of shamanic wisdom, power animals, soul retrieval, abundance, story meditation and  meditation and spiritual science.

This book was published to use in a local workshop and is not available on amazon. It does have some good information on personalities and basic fears and their relation to past lives, also the chapter on power animals was interesting. 

I felt that the book is not meant for independent reading and it is meant only as notes to be used within some context (like a seminar or workshop). Therefore the information seemed a bit scattered and unrelated. Overall, I did enjoy reading it and revising the information that was heard or unheard of before.

"Stories from Around the World" by Heather Amery & Linda Edwards

"Stories from Around the World" by Heather Amery & Linda Edwards is an amazing book of folk stories with beautiful illustrations.

This is a 127 page high quality book with foam covers that has 22 stories from Australia, Persia, Greece, France, South America, New Zealand, Germany, Mexico, India, Scandinavia, Italy, Holland, Morocco, China, Czech Republic, Spain, Africa, Russia, Britain, North America, Japan and Cambodia.

The stories are well selected and have a deep meaning that delivers a great message for the children. Each page and each story is amazingly illustrated by Linda Edwards and it's hard to stop looking. 

The book itself is an artwork and although it's not too thick, 22 stories is more than enough. It takes you all around the world and makes you "taste" the different culture, although the main thing - people relationships and learnings are always the same.

"Moonlight Magic of Arabian Nights"

 "Moonlight Magic of Arabian Nights" is a 79 page illustrated book for children. It has four stories: "King Schariar", "The Greedy Trader", "The Husband and the Honest Parrot" and "A Bull and a Donkey".  

"King Schahriar" story is probably the most famous Arabian Night's story because it's the story about the smart and beautiful Scheherzade who decided to stop the cruel king from killing young brides by telling him stories.

"A Bull and a Donkey" is also a very famous story with a great moral. 

I found these stories fun to read, loved the illustrations and everything else about this book.