Books are the chroniclers of mans inspiration, his quests and his triumphs. I’ve grown up reading books. Give me a book and I wouldn’t even bother about food. I’m that hooked onto them. So, when I saw this theme for a review, I jumped on the opportunity… writing on your favourite topic is always fun.
*Down to business:*
My first two books would be “*Altas Shrugged*” and “*The Fountainhead*” by Ayn R. It is said that there are two kinds of people – the ones who worship Ayn R’s philosophy to the core, and the ones who hate it so much they wouldn’t be caught dead with one of her books. I naturally fall into the first category. Ayn R seamlessly blends questions of philosophy and social existence into fiction to give us a gripping novel. The books were written during the height of Socialism in the Soviet Union, and pertain to the question – Should one person’s want be higher than another man’s ability? Though the books were written long back, they still hold significance to the essential spirit in man to succeed. The books reject the herd mentality that is pertaining in society today and profess that only an individual can accomplish any thing in his life. There is no such thing as a collective mind. The books are huge – atleast 1200 pages minimum, but once you pick it up, you wouldn’t be able to put it down.
The next book I would suggest would be the *Lord of the Rings* triology by J R R Tolkien. The movie simply does not do justice to the book, though it is amazing in it’s own right. I always believe that one must first read the story before going for the movie, whether it is Lord of the Rings or even Harry Potter. Only then could you do justice to both the book and the movie. The Lord of the Rings is an amazing work of fantasy and fiction. The scope of the book is immense in the sense that it is the story of an entire world, and not just a part of it. So, to truly grip the powerful phrases used, one must brush up on the background – “*The Hobbit*” and “*The Silmarillion*” make this up. The book drags at times but the plot is very tight and fast.
The fourth book is “*The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy*” by Douglas Adams. This is another cult book, with amazing significance to today’s world. The book is funny, witty, but that is not its purpose. It talks about the insignificance of humans in the universe and their quest for identity. It does this in a very slap stick and self depreciatory way that only adds to the charm of the book. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy actually consists of four books – The HHGG, Mostly Harmless, The Restaurant at the end of the universe, and So Long and Thanks for all the fish. Awesome books well worth the read.
The last book is also the heaviest book that I have read. It is “*The Third Wave*” by Alvin Toffler. Written in the eighties, this book is meant to make sense of the growing turmoil in society and the various aspects of societal evolution that come with it. The perspective is amazing. The feeling you get while reading the book is what one would get if he lived on Earth his whole life and suddenly saw the planet from space. An added dimension as it may seem. The book is well written and the analysis is spot on. Reading it twenty years after it was written, the number of predictions that have come true is amazing. Also, if you’re preparing for CAT or some such exam, this is a compulsory read anyway.
So, there you have it, my take at the five best books I have read. These are books one can read as many times as they want to, the always remain fresh. One of my friends read Lord of the Rings 30 times… which just goes to show you.