Category: Books

How All Systems Red by Martha Wells dispelled my fear of sentient machines

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Many Science fiction books and movies feature sentient robots or Artificial Intelligence that has evolved to gain consciousness. These stories often end up in a man versus machine theme. The robots may crave power and think they are superior to the fragile humans and decide to kill them off. Or they may enslave humans in a matrix to use us as a source of their power supply. They may even decide to end some humans for the sake of preserving humanity as a whole.

There is differing opinion on how close we are to Artificial Sentience or Machine Consciousness. Continue reading “How All Systems Red by Martha Wells dispelled my fear of sentient machines” →

Book Review: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Anusha Narasimhan4 Comments

This story is set in, as you may have guessed, a circus. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves. As the title suggests, it opens only at night and arrives without warning. Within its black-and-white striped tents is a magical and utterly unique experience. The descriptions of the setting was the main focus of this book. I thoroughly enjoyed the writing style.

Continue reading “Book Review: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern” →

40 Book Recommendations over 1000 pages to get through the Quarantine

Anusha Narasimhan2 Comments

Hey there! Tired of staying at home during the lockdown/self-isolation/quarantine/whatever you want to call this situation? If you are like me, you are probably having a hard time processing strings of words longer than a blog post and finding creative ways to procrastinate your reading habit. Maybe you are reading more than usual and the act of finishing a book a day is making you realise how long you haven’t stepped out of the house.

If you fall in the latter category, then fret not. I’ve collated a list of books over 1000 pages across genres to make you forget that you are in quarantine. (Yup, I just procrastinated my reading by compiling a booklist)

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Book Review: On Immunity – Eula Biss

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This book is a collection of essays from the author’s perspective as a doctor’s daughter and a mother. It informs the reader about immunity, viruses, history of some diseases, clinical trials and vaccination. It also explains the concept of herd immunity and the process involved in finding a vaccine for a disease. All these are very relevant to the current crisis of coronavirus. Continue reading “Book Review: On Immunity – Eula Biss” →

Book Review: Ink on Paper by Vishikha

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Ink on Paper is the debut book of 13-year-old author/poet Vishikha Tripathi. I say author/poet because the book contains stories and poems. Each poem is preceded by prose to set up the stage for it and I must say I found even the prose to be poetic at times. Continue reading “Book Review: Ink on Paper by Vishikha” →

Revisiting the Pale Blue Dot

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Today, February 14, 2020, is a very special day. It marks the 30th anniversary of the “Pale Blue Dot” image. This is a picture of Earth taken by NASA’s Voyager-1 after passing Neptune on its way out of the solar system. In this image, Earth appears as a speck of pale blue light. You could even say it looks like a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

Continue reading “Revisiting the Pale Blue Dot” →

How to make your reading habit less expensive

Anusha Narasimhan2 Comments

This post is part 3 of the Reading 101 series. Say you’ve taken an interest in reading, formed a reading habit and learned to make time for reading. Sooner or later you will find that it can be pretty expensive to sustain a reading habit. Depending on whether you like to read only physical books or if you are okay with any format of books, there are ways to make your reading habit cost less or nothing at all. Continue reading “How to make your reading habit less expensive” →

Book Review: Equal Rites by Sir Terry Pratchett

Anusha Narasimhan5 Comments

Equal Rites is the third book in the Discworld series and the first one in the witches series. The story starts off with a dying wizard passing on his power to the newborn Eskarina Smith without knowing that she is a girl. Continue reading “Book Review: Equal Rites by Sir Terry Pratchett” →

3 Simple Tips To Make Time For Reading

Anusha Narasimhan3 Comments

It is New Year’s Eve! The time of the year when people who either don’t read much or have drifted apart from their reading habit take up a resolution to read more. It is also the time when many bibliophiles decide what reading challenges to sign up for in the upcoming year and wonder if they can read ‘X’ number of books. Whichever category you belong to, it can be difficult to find time for reading. Continue reading “3 Simple Tips To Make Time For Reading” →

7 Tips To Form A Reading Habit

Anusha Narasimhan7 Comments

This is Part 1 of my Reading 101 series. If you are one of those people who really wished they read more books but could not start and/or maintain a reading habit, then this post is for you. Even if you are a disbeliever and think reading is only a substitute for sleeping pills, do try the tips below and you just might cave in and enter the wonderful world of literature. Continue reading “7 Tips To Form A Reading Habit” →

Why You Should Read Books On Introverts And My Top Books Of 2017

Anusha Narasimhan2 Comments

2017 was a good year for introverts when it comes to books. There were a few cool books published about introversion. I came across three lovely comics and one essential nonfiction. Before I announce these books, let me explain why we need to read them. I find that I often have to convince people to read books or articles on this topic, so here goes. Continue reading “Why You Should Read Books On Introverts And My Top Books Of 2017” →

My 10 Classic Spooky Picks For Halloween

Anusha Narasimhan2 Comments

Halloween is around the corner, so I decided to make a book list consisting of scary books. Since I am into classics lately, I dug into google and excavated some good old horror books. Who says Halloween has to be about ghosts and creatures of the dark only? In my list, I have books featuring unearthly creatures, portraying characters with twisted minds and depicting dystopian societies. Continue reading “My 10 Classic Spooky Picks For Halloween” →

10 Webcomics For The Grown-Up Reader

Anusha Narasimhan14 Comments

If you have never read a comic past childhood, this list is for you. Now before you brush it off saying that comics are for kids, let me insist that you check out at least a few of the recommendations below. You might change your mind.

Also, this list contains only webcomics which are legal and free to read online, so you’ve got nothing to lose. Without further ado, let me list down some awesome webcomics to suit the tastes of the adult reader: Continue reading “10 Webcomics For The Grown-Up Reader” →

My Favourite Lessons From Harry Potter

Anusha Narasimhan6 Comments

There is more to the Harry Potter series than meets the eye. Sure, we occasionally meet people who claim it to be a children’s book series, but every Potterhead will give you hundreds of reasons as to why HP is awesome. Take a step back from the spectacular world building, brilliant writing and interesting plot and you will observe many moral lessons.

The emphasis on certain topics, such as friendship, loyalty, courage, love, perseverance, righteousness, equality, sacrifice, community, hope, choice, etc., is pretty obvious. However, there are a few other things that grabbed my interest while reading the series again as an adult. In lieu of Harry Potter’s 20th anniversary, I reread the books and found myself more in love with the series than I did as a child. Here’s why: Continue reading “My Favourite Lessons From Harry Potter” →

My Women’s Day Reading List

Anusha Narasimhan3 Comments

I often come across book lists that feature women writers. This women’s day, instead of giving you yet another list of books by women, I wanted to share books for women and about women. No, this is not a list of “chick-lit”. And no, not a feminism 101 reading list either. I will post one in the future when I’m well-read on the topic.

In this post, I will be sharing books that have meant a lot to me, that are on my must-read list and that are constantly being recommended to me. This list will be across genres but will feature books that centre around women. Continue reading “My Women’s Day Reading List” →