Where Have We Come From? History of the species is written on the genes of its each individual. Genome is a palimpsest. Eons scribble on it – in a simple language comprising four alphabets and twenty odd, three-lettered words – as the organism evolves over geological ages.   Life originated on earth nearly three thousand five hundred million years ago. Humans have been around for about 0.4 million years. Thus, a major portion of the book of our genome was written when we were not humans; if the book had one page for each million years, human story would occupy less than half a page in the three thousand five-hundred-page book.   Modern humans originated in Africa. Story of our African parentage is indelibly etched in each cell of our body, numbering trillions. These etchings tell us a singularly fascinating tale of our ancestors as they travelled out of Africa and established home in the wider world. They were then, hunter-gatherers. Civilisations were born many...

Current Affairs/Memoir/History   Cables From Kabul-The Inside Story of the West's Afghanistan Campaign Sherard Cowper-Coles               Sherard Cowper Coles was British ambassador in Afghanistan from 2007-2009 and then British Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan for about a year. For over three years he had a bird’s-eye view of West's effort to bring Afghanistan back to normalcy —normalcy as perceived by West and for West, read predominantly USA— after more than three decades of incessant wars, both external and internal. This book is not an in-depth analysis of West's Afghanistan campaign, which began in 2001 and continues still. These are Sherard's memoirs of his stay and involvement in Afghanistan, albeit, with thoughtful analysis of the Afghanistan situation, the incessant follies which US politicians perpetrated and the helplessness of British government to influence the Campaign as its rol...

                                                                                                                                                            History   The Anarchy-The East India Company, Corporate Violience, And the Pillage of An Empire William Dalrymple   William Dalrymple has written many books on recent Indian history. All are highly readable. They do not present history as a collection of dry-as-bone facts but read like a finely told story. These are meticulously researched and provide verifiable references. Thu...

History The Rise and Fall of the British Empire Lawrence James               This is a stunning history of British Empire, spanning four centuries of Pax Britannica, from the early settlement of North America in Sixteenth century to the Falklands war in the late twentieth century. The scope of the narrative, the sweep and the range are of mammoth proportions and Lawrence James has exhibited a breathtaking proficiency in dealing with such vast subject.             He begins the story with the settlement of Newfoundland in late sixteenth century. He talks about the reasons for this diaspora, the class of people that were forcefully sent and the Virginian tobacco that redeemed these colonies of their early years of paltry trade. He writes of the hardships the early colonisers faced in this harsh land and the plight of the native Indians; whose land was usurped by t...

                                                                                                                                                        History China-A History John Keay This book is of epic proportions, if not in girth, surely in its scope. In approximately 500 pages John Keay covers 3000 years of Chinese history. He starts with the mythological five emperors, allegedly belonging to an era before 2000 BC and ends with the China of Comrade Mao. It was a gargantuan task, that he has performed well. He talks of the dynasties, the emperors, the plunderers and the empire builders, sages and ...

*** 1/2 /*****                                                                                                                                   History Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind Yuval Noah Harari Yuval Noah Harari is a historian. In this epic story of the species Homo Sapiens, he takes up the task of analysing the three principl...

** 1/2 /*****                                                                                                                                     History Iran: Empire of Mind Michael Axworthy Think Persia and mind conjures up images of Nadir Shah, Omar Khayyam, Ayatollah Khomeini and latter’s fatwa against Salman Rushdie. Few of us are aware that Islamic conquest of Persia (modern day Iran) is a relatively recent event in the long history of this ancient land which is the birthplace of probably the oldest religion of the world, Zoroastrianism. In sixth century BC Achaemenid empire was the largest empire outside china. Its boundaries stretched from Eg...

***/*****                                                                                                                                                           History   War and Diplomacy in Kashmir-1947-1948 C Dasgupt...

*** 1/2 /*****                                                                                                    History Integration of the Indian States V. P. Menon India as one Nation, as we know it today, is a recent event. In its more than three millennia history, India never existed as one country under one supreme power. For short periods, under Ashoka, Akbar, and Aurangzeb large swathes of territory did come under the suzerainty of an emperor, but there was no political unity among var...

****/*****                                                                                                                                                                     ...