Mysteries of Existence

Hi!

 

  I wrote about my Maugham mania in a previous post. To learn facts about the life of the author whose books you have adored for long must be a universal urge amongst book lovers. I have read many biographies of Somerset Maugham; perhaps all which have been published. Maugham’s life was as intriguing as his stories. He was an extremely successful playwright, novelists and a short-story writer in the first half of the twentieth century. He earned immense wealth from his writings. Rain, one of his most popular short stories, allegedly earned him one million dollars in royalties. But critical acclaim never came his way while he was alive. Though he affected to know his lowly place amongst exalted authors of his time-I know where I stand, in the very front row of the second rate; he was fond of saying-he nursed a deep hurt all his life for this neglect by the intelligentsia among critics. Some of this resentment he poured in his brilliant novel, Cakes and Ale. He wrote that very early in his life he learnt his limitations as a writer and then set about honing such limited skills as he thought he possessed. This pattern is clearly visible in his books.  One who has read a sizeable portion of his great oeuvre can easily appreciate it.  Selina Hastings' biography The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham is written well. It’s a page turner. She has a lucid, pleasing prose style of the master. She is not judgemental. She is sympathetic to Maugham, but is not biased. This book should interest even those who have not read much of Maugham. One fond of the writer should not miss it.

Link to review is embedded in the name of the book.

 

 Darwin solved one of the profoundest mysteries of our world: Emergence of unfathomably complex life forms on earth, the millions of species of animals and plants, that seem designed for the environment where they thrive. His simplest of modern scientific theories, origin of species by natural selection, left God redundant in world. Richard Dawkins has written numerous books on different aspects of the theory of evolution. He is a giant of a thinker in today’s world who defends rationalism tooth and nail. He has been arguing for adapting a scientific attitude in our lives, for almost five decades. He is a gifted writer who has equal expertise in his subject and the language of his discourse, i.e., English. His books are a delight to read just for the elegance of their prose style and clarity of thought being enunciated. Though he has written on various facets of evolution in his various books, in The Greatest Show on Earth-The Evidence forEvolution, he discusses all extant evidence for evolution in one book. It’s a wonderful book. If someone wants to read one book on evolution this is the book to pick up without second thought.

 

If Darwin put God out of work majorly, by his theory of evolution, revolution in Physics and resulting upheaval in astronomy in the late nineteenth century and the first half of twentieth century, finished the job started by Darwin. New astrophysics explained the genesis of Universe with its billions of stars, their planets and the matter and the energy that go into its making. Now, the Universe and the Life, did not need a supernatural being to explain their provenance. Inflationary theory of the origin of Universe solved many conundrums in astrophysics. It was posited by Alan Guth. The book Inflationary Universe-The Quest for a New Theory of Cosmic Origins is Alan Guth’s attempt to explain cosmogenesis in the light of modern physics. Book covers most contemporary topics in astronomy. The fact that it’s written by the physicist who gave the world one of the most important theories of the origin of Universe will lure many readers to take it up. This surely enticed me into acquiring it.

 

 Another great mystery in the world is human mind. Evolutionary biology revolutionised psychology, the study of mind, in the second half of last century. Much human behaviour was explained in the light of our evolutionary history. Adult seagulls feed at sea. They return to their nest to feed their chicks. Chicks repeatedly tap the red spot on the yellow beak of their mother. This prompts the adult bird to open its mouth. Chick places its mouth in mother’s and the latter regurgitates little food in to chick’s mouth. It is seen that chicks will tap a red spot even on a yellow stick. And adult seagull will open its mouth whenever the red spot is tapped by any object. This action-response behaviour characterises working of human mind too. Psychologist Robert Cialdini in his book, Influence-ThePsychology of Persuasion, explains the role of this instinctual behaviour as we go about purchasing goods and services. He talks about how marketing professionals exploit this bias of our mind to boost their sales. It’s an interesting book written in a style that is effortlessly accessible to a layperson.

 

 William Dalrymple is a brilliant historian. His books combine a meticulous research with a spectacular narration. In Xanadu-A Quest is his first book and what an impressive debut it is. It is a travel book describing Dalrymple’s journey from Jerusalem to Xanadu. It is superbly witty and fabulously delightful. None can fail to appreciate its charm.