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text 2020-07-01 21:07
June 2020 Wrap-Up
Maerlin's Storm - Nav Logan
Crystal Zodiac - Katie Huang
The Brothers York - Thomas Penn
The Secrets of Ayurveda - Harish Chandra Verma,Gopi Warrier,Karen Sullivan

I haven't bothered with these monthly wrap-up posts in recent months because I've got so little reading done and with moving my account, it just got lost in the shuffle.

 

So anyway, four books finished in June. Only one fiction that I chose to read and it was pretty good. Three non-fiction from Netgalley. I seem to have a backlog of those all of a sudden. Some of them are a bit woo but I do take an interest in all sorts of things.

 

I'm reading several books at once so I may have more books done by the end of July. I'm still getting back to normal reading after the end of the world in march so I'm just glad to be reading again!

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review 2020-06-25 12:02
The Secrets of Ayurveda
The Secrets of Ayurveda - Harish Chandra Verma,Gopi Warrier,Karen Sullivan

by Gopi Warrior, Dr. Harish Verma, Karen Sullivan

 

Non-fiction

 

I've been aware of Ayurveda for a while but this is the first time I sat down and read a book about it. This one is divided into four chapters: Ayurveda: The Science of Life, The Ayurdedic Approach, Diet and Lifestyle and Practitioner Led or Self-Help?

 

The first chapter explains what Ayurveda is and gives history and a method to determine your Ayurvedic constitution. It points out that medicine is one "spoke on the wheel" of a holistic lifestyle approach to promote balance and good health, thereby making it easier to combat illness and mostly prevent it.

 

It explains that illness affects both body and mind and not just one in isolation of the other. It claims that modern illnesses like chronic fatigue and irritable bowel syndrome have been successfully treated with Ayurveda when modern medicine has failed.

 

It has its roots in Hinduism and both date back over 5000 years, yet stay dynamic to keep up with modern conditions. There are some surprising facts cited about the history, like knowledge of cells and microscopic organisms in a book written 2000 years before the microscope was invented. There's a strong spiritual connection with the practice, yet it embraces science and finds a balance between the two.

 

The book is filled with colourful pictures of the sort you might see in Hindu texts or temples and these are accompanied by snippets of relevant information. Over all the book is beautifully laid out.

 

Naturally the Hindu belief system that Ayurveda is based in comes into it and the concept of Karma is explained in full as well as the belief in reincarnation connected with it. In some ways the book is repetitive as the basic concepts get restated many times, but I can see why it is important to drive a different way of thinking into the average western mind.

 

I admit to feeling some scepticism about the physical types and how it affects the person to be one or another. It seemed too generalised to me. Having said that, I fell heavily into the Kapha category. The second chapter expands on methods and the third chapter, as the title suggests, deals with diet and lifestyle. The final chapter explains when you need to see a practitioner and how to treat yourself at home.

 

Overall I found the book very informative and easy to follow. While I might not be in complete alignment with the beliefs expressed, they are explained well and I felt the book covered the subject very thoroughly and clearly.

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review 2019-04-23 04:52
A Very Pleasant Novel of the Elderly Curmudgeon Reevaluates His Life/Attitudes Stripe
Professor Chandra Follows His Bliss - Rajeev Balasubramanyam

Cambridge's Professor P. R. Chandrasekhar is an emeritus professor of Economics, and someone who has come so close to winning the Nobel that it's jarring to many he hasn't (well. . . "many" might be a stretch, who actually knows leading economists?). But he's also alone. His ex-wife and youngest daughter live in Colorado, his eldest son is in Japan and his other daughter won't let anyone tell him where she is. While he has no room to complain, clearly bits of his life could've gone better. He seems well-regarded by those still around him, and while he's a hard teacher, he seems like a good one.

 

After a health scare (there's some humor in it, don't worry, it's not that kind of book), and due to worries about his youngest daughter's behavior, he takes a sabbatical to California. Things don't go so well with the daughter, or his ex, or his ex's new husband (the man she had an affair with before leaving Chandra). The trouble with the new husband leads Chandra into going to a "spiritual retreat" at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur. Any type of spiritual retreat is the last place that anyone who knows this irascible conservative would expect him to go -- including Chandra himself. But he goes, and as he's the type to throw himself into anything he's doing -- no matter how silly he thinks it is. He plunges into the exercises.

 

And he doesn't experience a giant epiphany turning him into a spiritual kind of guy. Nor does he find the exercises silly and spends the time mocking the experience. Instead, he starts to re-examine some things. Like the way he interacts with his kids, and how they react to him. So he starts trying with them in ways he hadn't before -- and it doesn't go that well, honestly. But he makes some in-roads.

 

He ultimately returns to his home in Cambridge and makes some adjustments there, too. Eventually, some things happen that do permit him to further rehabilitate things with his children -- and life in general.

 

I was really worried that this would be about Chandra finding some sort of enlightenment, throwing off all his accomplishments and convictions and becoming a totally different person. Instead, he becomes more thoughtful, more understanding and a better version of himself -- with opportunities for further development. I don't think that's giving too much away, I hope not anyway. He's worked hard all his life, and now starts to realize the price he and others paid for him to work as hard and as much as he did, and to achieve the success he has.

 

Chandra is a fascinating guy -- I like the way he thinks. I like the very subtle humor in his approach and response to things, and wish more people in his life could catch it. I'd have liked more time with his daughters, I liked both of them and we only get to see the beginnings of better times between them and their father. Between family, new friends and new acquaintances, there are just too many characters to dig too deeply into. Which is one of the biggest problems this book has -- too many great characters to fully appreciate any who aren't in the title.

 

This looks like a "lighter" book from the title, cover, etc. -- and it is. But it deals with some bigger ideas, just not in an overbearing way. It's also not as funny as you'd expect from the description (or the blurbs on the cover). But there are subtle bits of humor throughout, and one or two very comedic moments. There aren't laugh out loud moments -- but there are plenty of smile quietly to yourself moments.

 

Balasubramanyam's writing is strong, his characters are great, and he can keep the story moving well. He balances the lightness and the darkness of the story well, and while it's not the kind of book that has a twist or three in the end, there are some things that you probably won't see coming until they happen (and feel inevitable once they do).

 

At the end of the day, this was a very pleasant novel with one very interesting character, and a few too many other characters. Some of which had the potential to be just as interesting, but we couldn't spend enough time with them because of their number. Trim a few of those, so the reader can focus those remaining and this book becomes much better. As it stands -- I may not find a lot of bliss in these pages, but I found entertainment and relaxation and would certainly read Balasubramanyam in the future with great interest.

 

2019 Library Love Challenge

Source: irresponsiblereader.com/2019/04/22/professor-chandra-follows-his-bliss-by-rajeev-balasubramanyam-a-very-pleasant-novel-of-the-elderly-curmudgeon-reevaluates-his-life-attitudes-stripe
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review 2019-03-30 04:56
A novel about self-discovery
Professor Chandra Follows His Bliss - Rajeev Balasubramanyam

Professor Chandra Follows His Bliss, by Rajeev Balasubramanyam

Professor Chandra is viewed as a master economist, but near 70, he is again passed over for the Nobel Prize. Disappointment fills him, but he hides it as well as he can and attempts to deal with what he perceives as his failure, in a good natured manner. Actually, he is insults some of his students in the process. Therefore, he is offered the opportunity to take a sabbatical to gather his thoughts. Although he initially refuses, he soon changes his mind. Fate plays a part in his plans. He is hit by a cyclist and winds up in the hospital with some serious health issues. He decides it is time to search for some contentment. Once he thought he was happily married, but his wife left him for another man. He has not been as involved with his children as he would like to be since the divorce. He is no longer even in touch with one of his children, a daughter he fought with often. She refuses to contact him and won’t allow anyone to tell him where she is. He misses her. His son Sunil (Sunny), is successful, but lives in India running a business school with a focus on how business should be done. He rarely sees him. He realizes he is lonely. He decides to travel to California, where his ex-wife, Jean, lives with her new husband, Steve, and their youngest daughter, Jasmine. He is hoping to try and reconnect with his family. While there, his ex-wife’s husband challenges him to go to Esalen, a place he believes will help Chandra to gain personal awareness and fulfillment. It will make him happier. This experience opens a new chapter in his life.

Chandra, whom his ex-wife calls Charles, embarks on a journey towards self discovery. He is a man with a type A personality. His behavior and manner reflect his own upbringing, his father’s influence on him and also the influence of his country of origin, India. He is restrained regarding a show of emotion, and he is formal in his dress and demeanor. As he begins to meditate and grow more introspective, he begins to understand more about his own responsibility for the things that have happened in his life, for his children’s reactions to him and his wife’s possible reasons for leaving him, for his colleague’s and student’s treatment of him as well as his behavior toward them. As his ideas and actions slowly evolve, it is as if he “comes of age”. His change affects his interaction with others and they also change, growing more receptive to him as he becomes freer and more open. Old injuries and grudges gradually become less important as they are revealed, accepted, ironed out and even resolved.  As Chandra searches for meaning in his life, he also provides meaning in the lives of those he touches.

He has enormous expectations of himself and his children and they often feel unable to fulfill his wishes. Each of his children is struggling to discover their own identity, unencumbered by his. His wife has found a new identity with her new husband. He begins to show more understanding of the plight of others and not only to dwell on himself and his own desires.

The book cleverly touches on racism, politics, religion, culture, morality, economics, world affairs, child rearing, fidelity, divorce, drugs, feminism, and more. As these subjects are introduced, they are treated with humor, a light wit or serious exploration. The book beautifully examines relationships with family, friends, strangers, and anyone else one might come in contact with, with all their flaws and in all their incarnations. Acceptance of what life offered was key, introspection was vital, self-control was primary. Chandra was a man who had almost too much self-control. It made him hard to reach, and it made him self-important, and perhaps, even selfish. He wanted to control others, to make his children in his own image. He showed disappointment rather than compassion, restraint rather than affection. He emphasized success at all costs and sometimes those on whom he imposed his control could not satisfy his dreams. They needed to find their own, and they needed to separate from him to do this. As the book develops, the characters develop and grow. The power of spirituality and deep thought brings enormous change to all of them.

 

I received this book from LibraryThing Early Reviewers.

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text 2018-01-02 18:06
Non-fiction top reads 2017
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