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MarchZ0T2 VoIume:6 No:6
A Book Written With An Eyelid
For Jean-Dominique Bauby, Decem
ber o''of 1 D, was a bl ack day e He had a
stroke that put him into a coma. When
he woke up, after twenty days, on Iy some
movement in his head and eyes re
mained. But, Bauby would not give up.
He started writing a book. An assistant
would read out letters from the al phabet
and Bauby would blink his left eyelid to
show his choice. Every word took about
Z, blinks. The book, 'The Diving
Bel l and the Butterfly' became an instant
hit.
Throughout the course of history,
books have been torch bearers and great
motivators. Some books make such an
impact that they change the way the
world thinks about things. This issue of
Tel l Me Why showcases some among
such books.
Of course, reading is subjective, and
individual tastes may differ. Any such
shortlists run the risk of being cal led
subjective. Please feel free to suggest
other titles you feel worthy, wh ich ca n be
included in a l ater volume.
Also, pl ease note that we have not in
cluded religious texts. Indian books that
influenced the worl d wil l be published
as a separate issue, in future.
The Epic ofGilgamesh
Gi l gamesh's
Epi c i s not only great,
but it's so stong! One
of its pages i njured
me.
Why is 'The epic
of Gilgamesh' consid
ered one of the world's
oldest books?
'The Epi c o
f
Gi lgamesh' i s one
o
f
the ol dest recorded stories i n the
worl d. I t's about an anci ent ki ng of
Babyl oni a, Gi l gamesh, who l ived
aroun
d
2700 Be. Accor
d
i ng to the
story, Gi l gamesh was part god and
part human, and had many speci al
powers. Thi s epi c is not a si ngl e story
written by one author. It has many
stories and myths woven together.
These stories were
f
i rst narrated
oral l y by d
i
fferent people. Later,
they were combi ne
d
with tal es
f
rom
other l anguages an
d written d
own
on cl ay tabl ets i n what is now cal led
the cunei
f
orm scri pt. The written
texts were create
d
over a thousand
year peri od, an
d
remai ned unknown
to the modern worl d unti l 1 872,
when stone tablets written in the
Babyl oni an l anguage were discov
ere
d, creati ng a great
deal o
f
ex-
citement. -
Book of the Dead
'The Book of the
Dead' is a collec
tion of different
magical spells writ
tendown invarious
ways bytheancient
Egyptians.
Tel l Me Why
Why do 'The Iliad' and
'The Odyssey,' have a spe
cial place in world litera
ure?
The I l ia
d and Odyssey are
perhaps the most i n
fl
uen
tial works i n the hi story of
world literature. These two
epic poems were written
nearl ythreethousan
d
years
agoby
The Book of the Dead
the Greek
po
et Homer. The I l iad
begi ns i n the middl e o
f
the Trojan War, and com
memorates the heroic
deeds
o
f
the brave warri ors of the ti me.
The story is conti nue
d
in the Od

yssey, whi ch narrates the epi c

journey home o
f
the heroes after
the war is over. Together, these
epic poems
f
ormed the basi s o
f
Greek cl assi cal educati on. For the
Anci ent Greeks, the I l iad an
d
the
Odyssey tol d them how Greece
had come to be the d
omi nant
power i n the western Mediterra
nean, and al so showed them what
sort o
f
peopl e thei r gods were,
an
d
how those gods behaved.
They establ i shed l i terary stan
d

ar
d
s and conventi ons that writers
have i mitated over the centuries.
Homer
We are
super st ars from
Aesop's fables!
The First Crossword
Puzzle Book
Why are Aesop's fa
bles so popular?
Aesop's fabl es have been popul ar
f
or thousands o
f
years. They are si mple
stories, mostly about ani mal s, that were
told by a Greek slave cal l ed
Aesop
around 620 Be. Aesop's tal ent for
story tel l i ng won hi m hi s free
d
om,
and he travell ed
wi
dely, narrati ng
these tal es, each of whi ch taught an
i mportant l esson. The stories were
passed down by word of mouth for
centuries, and
were
f
i rst written
down in 300 Be. They were l ater
translated i nto Latin, and
taught to
Roman schol ars. The si mpl e sto
ryl i nes have a universal appeal ,
and the fabl es are i mportant be-
D
o you enjoy doing
crosswords? The first
crossword puzzle book
was published in 1924, in
the USA. It was a compila
tion of crossword puzzles
from the newspaper 'The
New York World', and was
cause they teach chi l dren the
correct val ues i n l ife, and hel p i n
devel opi ng a chi l d' s character.
These stories are not only our
ol
d
est, but are sti l l among the
most wi del y read on our
pl anet.
, an instant success.
Why is 'The History of Herodotus' signifi
cant?
Hero
d
otus is sometimes cal l ed 'the
f
ather o
f
history'. He live
d
in Turkeyduri ngthe
f
i
f
th century
BC, and wrote about the Greek and Persian Wars.
Herodotus wante
d
to recor
d
what actual l y hap
pene
d, rather than tal k about gods and goddesses.
Hi s purpose was to
d
escribe the war between the
Persi ans an
d
the Greeks - the struggl e for supremacy
between Europe and Asia, between civil ization an
d
barbari sm, between
f
reedom and despoti sm.
Hero
d
otus' work i s signi
f
i cant because he ha
d
travel l ed widely, and hi s ' Hi story' is one ofthe pri mary
sources
f
or i n
f
ormation on anci ent l ands an
d
peoples.
There are extensive
d
etai l s relati ng to the spi ri tual
practices and bel i efs o
f
the Greeks and other peoples.
He described and analyzed war
f
are and pol itics, and
his
wri ti ngs strongly in
fl uenced future hi sto
ri ans.
Herodotus
Why are 'The Analects of Con
fucius,' a great work?
'The Anal ects o
f
Con
f
uci us', is a
col l ection o
f
moral and ethical
pri nci pl es taught by th
e Chi nese
thi nker Con
f
uci us, in conversa
tions with his di sci ples. There are
al so poems, stories, and legends i n
this col l ection. Con
f
uci us believed
that Man shoul d lead an upright
lif
e, ed
ucate hi mse
lf
, an
d
contri b
ute to the betterment of society.
Afer Con
fuci us died i n 479 BC,
h
i s
f
ol l owers compi l ed hi s teach
i ngs in the
f
orm o
f dialogues be
tween hi m an
d h
i s students. The
Analects of Conf
ucius have highl
y
i nfluence
d
e
ducational , social
, an
d
cultural thought i n Chi na and else
where.
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Plato's Republic
o
Plato
Confcius
Wh
y is Plato's 'Republic'
special?
Plato was born to a wea Ithy
fami ly in Ancient Greece, and
was a stu
dent o
f the great
p
h
i
l osop
h
er Socrates. Afer
the death of his teacher,Pl ato
founded the f
i rst university,
cal l ed 'The Academy'. Pl ato
wrote down h
i s teac
h
i ngs i n
the
f
orm o
f
conversati ons
cal l ed d
i al ogues. The most
famous of h
i s di alogues are
'The Republic' and 'The
Tel l Me Why
Why is 'The Nicomachean Ethics,' con
si dered the most si gnificant work of Ari s
totle?
Ari stotle was a
b
ri l liant ph
i l osop
h
er o
f
An
ci ent Greece, an
d h
i s work ' Ni comachaen
Et
h
i cs' i s a col l ection o
f hi s thoughts and notes
on ethi cs. T
h
ese were recorded
b
y hi s son Ni
chomac
h
us an
d h
i s students. The work i s
consi dere
d to
b
e Aristotle's most si gni
f
i cant
one, si nce it expresses
h
i s views on a vari ety o
f
su
b
jects,
f
rom ethics, reasoni ng and the pur
pose o
f lif
e, to justice an
d f
riendshi p. Many o
f
Ari stotl e's works were l ost afer
h
is death, and
many were damaged
b
y dampness and i n
sects. T
h
e survi vi ng
b
ooks were di scovered
more than two centuries later, and when the
Romans captured Athens, they took the
b
ooks to Rome. The works were later trans
lated from Greek to Ara
b
i c, and then to Lati n,
and th
i s created worldwide i nterest in t
h
em.
Thi s i s not a
dialogue from our
fi l m. I think it's
one of Pl ato's!
Death of Soc
rates'. The Re
pu
b
lic de
scri
b
es what
Pl ato thought
wou
l d
b
e a
b
etter
f
orm o
f
g ov e r n me n t
Athan the gov-
ernment of
Athens. The
m work is al so
f
a-
mous for its lit
erary style.
Books that Shaped the World
The Most
Expensive
Published Book
Sold at an
Auction
'Birds of America',
by John James
Audubon was
sold on 7th De
cember 1920, at
Sotheby's in Lon
don for $ 11.4
million, making it
the most expen
sive published
book ever auc
tioned. lt is a rare
book containing
illustrations of
435 birds drawn
and printed by
Audubon himself
between 1827
and 1838.
Birds of America
Cicero
Why did Cicero's 'On the
Republic,' inspire demo
cratic republics around
the world?
Cicero was a famous sena
tor an
d
orator of Ancient
Rome. He l i ved duri ng the
l ast days of the Roman Re
public and h
ad stu
died ph
i
losoph
y, literature, and law.
He spoke out against di s
honest rul ers, and h
i s work
'On th
e Republ ic,' i s an i m
passi oned plea for respon
si bl e government. Cicero
uphe
l d t
he pri nci ple that al l
citizens s
h
ou
l d have equal
rights. It was t
h
i s pri nci ple
that i nspi red the Ameri can
War of I ndependence, and
the French Revol uti on
thousands of years later,
and l ed to the establish
ment of democratic govern
ments around the worl d.
Why is 'The
Tale of Genji' con
sidered the world's
first novel?
The Tale ofGenji was written
in th
e 1 1 th century by a Japanese
noblewoman, Murasaki Shi ki bu.
She was widowed at an earl y age,
and became the empress's lady
in waiti ng. Shi ki bu kept a
dairy
for two years, recounti ng her ex
peri ences at court. Later, s
he
wrote 'The Tal e of Genji', whi ch i s
consi
d
ere
d
by many to be t
h
e
worl d's fi rst novel. It centres on
the l ife an
d
loves of a handsome
man Hikaru Genji, born to an em
peror. 'The Tal e ofGenji' i s univer
sal l y recognize
d as the greatest
masterpiece of Japanese prose
narrative. It
h
as been transl ated
i nto many
l anguages, an
d
i s
deepl y appreciated for its literary
excel l ence.
The Trvels a/Marco Polo
Why did 'The Travels of
Marco Polo,' inspire Euro
peans to come to the East?
Marco Pol o i s probably
the mostfamous Westerner
who travele
d
on the Si l k
Road to Asia i n the 1 4
t
h cen
tury. His journey throug
h
Asia l asted 24 years, and h
e
reached f
ur-
ther than any of h
i s
pre
decessors, beyond
Mongolia to C
h
i na. He then
returned to tel l the tal
e, which
became t
h
e wor
l d
's greatest
travelogue.
Manuscript editions o
f h
i s work
ran i nto th
e
h
undreds withi n a
century after
hi s death. The book
was recognized as the most i m
portant account o
f
the worl d out
si
d
e Europe, avai l abl e at the ti me.
I t paved the way
f
or the arrival s o
f
thousan
ds o
f Westerners to t
h
e
East, i n the centuries to come.
No more
voyages, ti l l I
complete thi s
travelogue.
hap OO s
Ryuho Okawa, a
Japanese writer, wrote and published 52 books
between November 2009 and November 201 .
This feat made him the individual with the
most books written and published in a single
year. He is the founder of a movement called
Happy Science, and has published more than
five hundred books altogether.
Books that Shaped the World
11
Canterbury Tales
The Canterbury
Tales is a collection of
stories written by
Chaucer, a 14th centu
ry British poet. The
stories are about a
group of pilgrims on
their way to Canter
bury. The themes in
clude topics such as
love, treachery, and
avarice. Some of the
stories are humour
ous, others are seri
ous. The book is im
porant because it
was the first book of
poetry written in the
English language.
1 Z
Why is
'The Divine Comedy,' a
masterpiece for all time?
T
h
e Divi ne Comedy i s an epic narra
tive poem written by Dante Ali gh
i eri .
Thi s masterpiece was written at the
en
d
of
hi s life, an
d fi nish
ed j ust before
hi s death i n 1 321 . The subject of thi s
l ong and narrative poem i s a mi racu
l ous visit to
h
el l, purgatory, and para
dise. l n i t, t
h
e poet journeys from d
ark
ness to divi ne li ght, meeti ng many i n
teresti ng characters on hi s way. The
characters whom Dante meets on h
i s
I'm reading
Divine Comedy.
Shortl y
i t wi l l become
'Divine Tragedy'!
/
Youngest Person to
Publish a Book
Little Dorothy Straight was only
four years old when she wrote 'How
the World Began', in 1962. It was published in 1 964, making her
the youngest person to have a book pub
lished. She had written the book for her
grandmother, and her parents loved it so
much, that they sent it to a publisher.
j o u r n e y
through he
l l
and purgatory to
h
eaven are drawn
l argely
f
rom an
ci ent Roman
hi sto
ry, and i ncl ude
Dante's contempo
raries, personal
fri ends, and ene
mies. The Divi ne
Comedy i s i mpor
tant
f
or its pl ace i n
the
hi story o
f the
devel opment o
fthe
I tali an l anguage,
and remai ns to th
i s
d
ay, one o
f
the pi l
l ars upon which the
European literary
tradition has
b
een
b
ui lt.
Books that Shaped the World
Why does
'The Prince,'
have a spe
cial place
among po-
litical trea-
The Prince
tises1
Machiavel li was a writer o
f power
f
ul , i nfl uential, and thoughtfu
l
prose. He live
d d
uri ng the Renais
sance, and was the author o
f 'The
Pri nce', which was supposed to
b
e a
b
ook o
f
i nstructions
f
or rulers.
Machiavel li
b
elieved t
h
at man had
t
h
e a
b
i lityto control hi s own fate.
Earli er political writers
h
ad treated
politics as a
b
ranch o
f
moral s. Machi
avel li
b
roke with this l ong tradition,
and treated politics i n a practical
way. Mac
hiavel lian politics d
e
scri
b
ed the worl d as it was, rather
t
h
an what people i magi ned. Thi s
was a
b
i g change i n tradition, and
that i s why The Pri nce wi l l al ways
have a special place among political
treati ses.
13
Why did 'The Fabric of the Human
Body,' bring about changes in
medical training?
In 1 500, the most i mportant books
use
d in the trai ni ng o
f
doctors were
those written by Cl aud
i us Gal en. Ga
l en's i deas ha
d
been domi nant for
hundreds o
f
years, but were onl y
1
Utopia
An Early
Edition o/the
Book
proved wrong for the
f
i rst ti me by An
dreas Ve
sal i us, who wrote 'The
Fabri c of the Human
Body' i n 1 543. Thi s text
book of human anatomy
presents a care
ful exami
nation of the organs and
the complete structure
o
f
t
h
e human body. Ve
sali us's work brought
about an i mportant
change in me
dical thi nk
i ng. He was abl e to prove
that some of Gal en's the
ories were wrong. Gal en,
who was only abl e to di s-
Why did Sir Thomas
More create 'Utopia'?
Si r Thomas More was
an Engl i sh l awyer, sc
h
ol
ar, writer, Member o
f
Parliament and c
hancel
l or i n the rei gn o
f
Henry
VI I I . He is
f
amous
f
or
h
i s
book 'Utopia,' whi ch was
written in 1 5 1 5. As C
h
an
cel l or to Henry VI I I , he re
f
used to sancti on Henry's
divorce o
f
Queen Cather
i ne. He was i mpri soned,
tried, and executed.
Morewroteatal eabout
an i magi nary i sl and
Tel l Me Why
The Fabric of the Human Body
cal l ed Utopia, th
at i s d
i s
covered on a voyage to
the newl y di scovered
Ameri cas. It is a per
f
ect
state,
f
ounde
d
entirely on
reason, w
here the society's
i nterests come
fi rst, and
there i s rel i gious toleration
and education
f
or every
one. More wanted to poi nt
out the contrast between
hi s ideal state and the ex
i sti ng Engli sh soci ety. I n
ti me, the wor
d
Utopia
cametosymbolizean i deal
but unattai nabl e socia
l
system.
Books that Shaped the World
sect ani mal s, assume
d that hu
mans had the same anatomy. Ve
sal i us, on t
he other
h
and, per
f
orme
d dissections on h
umans,
an
d revea
l e
d anatomi cal struc
tures previ ousl y unknown.
Vesali us
hel ped establish
sur
gery as a separate medi cal pro
f
essi on, and the popul arity o
f h
i s
book meant that greater empha
si s began to be place
d upon the
study of
anatomy i n medi cal
trai ni ng.
Largest Book
T
he largest book to
be printed measures
4.18 m X 3.77 m and
weighs 1,420 kgs. It is
a book about the Ag
gtelek national park in
Hungary, and is called
Fragile Nature. It was
created by two Hungari
ans along with 2S volun
teers, and published
in2010.
1C
The Largest Pop-up Book
Do you like pop-up books?
Then you will love a pop-up
book made for a TV commer-
Why did
Coper ni c us'
book change per
ceptions about the
cial advertising Pearle Opti-
cians in Belgium.
It was 4m X 3m in size, and
featured pop ups that were
2.35 m tall, making it the
largest pop-up book ever!
A Statue o!
Copernicus
Universe?
In 1 543, Copernicus, a
Polish astronomer, pub-
lished a book about a new idea
h
e
h
ad. Most people i n h
i s
d
ay
thought that, the Earth was at
the centre of the Universe, an
i dea known as a geocentri c uni
verse. However, i n hi s book 'On
t
h
e Revol utions,' Copernicus
put
f
orward a new theory. His
theory was that the Eart
h
rotates
dai l y on its axis, and revolves
yearl y around the sun. He al so
argued that th
e p
l anets ci rcl ed
the Sun. Thi s c
hal l enged the
l ong hel d view that the Earth
was stationary at t
h
e centre o
f
the universe, with al l the pl an
ets, t
h
e Moon an
d the Sun rotat
i ng around it. Not many people
liked Copernicus' book- in
f
act,
they may have put
h
i m in jai l
f
or
writi ng it, i
f h
e hadn't
d
ie
d
shortly af
ter writi ng it! O
f
course,
we know today t
h
at Copern i cus
was right. T
he Earth real ly i s a
pl anet which ci rcles the Sun.
Tel l Me Why
Why is Don
Quixote considered
the first modern ovel?
'The Adventures of Don Quix
ote' was written more t
h
an 400 years
ago by a Spani s
h
writer, Cervantes. Cer
vantes actual l y began 'Don Quixote' in jai l ,
where he was put for bei ng i n debt. The
novel , once publi shed, was such a
h
i t that
Cervantes did not have to worry about mon
ey the rest of hi s life. The plot covers the ad
ventures of Don Quixote and
h
i s squi re, San
- l" I-
c
ho Panza. Master and squi re h
ave many ad
ventures, some funny, some crazy, sometimes
causi ng more
h
arm t
h
an goo
d
! However, the
c
h
aracters are so l ovabl e that the book became
i mmensel y popul ar, and was translated i nto
several l anguages. T
hi s book is considered to be
the fi rst mo
dern novel, because ti l l then, popul ar
fi cti on was al l about chival rous knights and dash
i ng
h
eroes. Cervantes change
d
that when he
wrote in si mpl e prose, about an ordi nary man who
Our next
mission is to
explore Mars!
wanted to be a
knight, and
who di
d
many
fooli sh but en
tertai ni ng thi ngs
in the bargai n!
Why is Leon
ardo da Vinci's work
Treatise of Painting
unique?
Leornardo da Vi nci was not
only one of the greatest pai nt
ers of al l ti mes, but al so per
haps the most wi del y talented
person ever to
h
ave l ived. He
was a consummate pai nter
and scul ptor, a great i nventor,
mi l itary engi neer, sci enti st,
botani st, and mathematici an!
He l ived duri ng the Renai s
sance i n Italy, and whi l e work
i ng in Mi l an as an arti st, he be
gan wri ti ng texts
f
or
hi s stu
d
ents and apprentices. Hi s
notebooks covered more than
1 000 pages o
f
observati ons
and
i
l l ustrations. They re
mai ned unpubl i sh
e
d f
or more
than a century, and were gath
ere
d together a nd pri nte
d
on Iy
afer hi s death. 'Treatise of
Pai nti ngs,' is uni que in that it
advi ses aspi ri ng pai nters on
tec
h
ni ques on perspective,
l i ght and shadow, col our gl az
i ng and pai nti ng mi xi ng. It up
hol ds
da Vi nci 's bel i ef
that
pai nti ng i s notj ust an art, but a
sci ence as wel l .
The Pilgrim's Progress
Why has 'he Pilgrim's
Progress' beome one of the
most widely read books?
'The Pi l gri m's Progress',
was written by John Bunyan
in the 1 600's. He was an Eng
l i s
h
preacher and writer.
Wh
i le i mpri soned for preach
i ng t
h
e Gospel wi t
h
out re
cei vi ng permi ssi on
from the
Establ i shed
C
h
urc
h
,
h
e wrote
t
h
i s book in two parts. Part I
tel l s of 'Christi an' and h
i s
journey to 'Celesti al Ci ty'; Part
II tel l s o
f the journey of
Chris
ti an's wi
f
e C
h
ri sti ana and
thei r chi l dren to Cel esti al
Ci ty. T
h
e two
/
parts work together
as a unified
whole,
w
hi ch describes and de
pi cts the beli ever's l ife and
struggl es. Transl ated i nto
over 1 00 l anguage The
Pi l gri m's Progress' is one o
f
the most
f
amous cl assics
of l iterature.
On one level, its si mpl e
style provi des entertai ni ng
rea
d
i ng. On the other, it
o
f
f
ers a reli gi ous message
to readers to help them
save thei r souls. I s it any
wonder then t
h
at it was
read wi del y throughout
Europe and
t
he Ameri can
col oni es when i t was pub
li shed, and that it remai ns
popul ar to this
d
ay?
The Principia
Why is it said that Newton's
book 'Mathematical Principles of
Natural Philosophy' laid the
foundation of modern physics?
Isaac Newton was an Engl i sh
physici st and mathemati ci an,
and the greatest scienti st of hi s
era. Be
f
ore Newton's ti me, no
one coul d satis
f
actori l y explai n
why objects al
ways
fel l down-
wards, what caused the ti des, or
how pl anets remai ned in thei r or
bits. Newton came up with nu
merous theories and contri buted
i deas to many di
ff
erent f
iel ds i n
cl ud
i ng p
hysics, mat
h
emati cs and
phi l osophy. I n 1 687, wi th t
h
e sup
port of hi s
fri end the astronomer
Edmond Hal ley, Newton pub
l i shed hi s si ngl e greatest work,
'Mathematica I Pri nci pies o
f
Natu ra I
Phi l osop
hy'. Th
i s s
howed h
ow a
universal
f
orce, gravity, applied to
. al l objects in al l parts of the uni
verse. He al so
d
escri bed the three
l aws o
f moti on. These concepts l ai d
the foundati on
f
or mo
dern physi cs,
and remained at the f
ore
f
ront o
f
sci ence
f
or centuries a
f
ter.
Two Treatisesof Goverment
Why is 'Two Treatises of Govern
mentl the book that laid the founda
tion for democracy?
John Locke was an Engli sh phi l oso
p
h
er who was one o
f the pioneers o
f
modern thi nki ng. He made great con
tri butions in studies o
f
politics, govern
ment, and psyc
h
ol ogy, and
i s famous
f
or
h
i s book 'Two Treati ses o
f
Govern
ment,' that was publi s
h
e
d
in 1 689.
Locke hoped to poi nt out the de
f
ects
in the exi sti ng
f
orm of government,
and lay th
e groundwork
f
or a better
option. Lockeargue
d
thatsovereignty
lies not i n the ki ng or wit
h the state,
but with the people, and i nsi sted that
peopl e had the right to overthrow a
tyrannical government. Locke be-
lieved in the middl e cl ass, and
its
right to f
reedom o
f
conscience and
right to property. He had fait
h
i n sci
ence, and con
fi dence in th
e good
ness o
f
humanity. Locke's work was
very i mportant to the writers o
f the
American Dec
l
aration o
f
I ndepend
ence and Constitution. T
h
ey bor
rowed some o
f h
i s ideas, an
d
ex
panded on them. His work al so i n
spire
d the Frenc
h
Revolution, and
can be sai
d to
have laid the
f
ounda
tions
f
or modern
d
emocracies.
Why has
Daniel Defoe/s
'Robinson Crusoel
fascinated readers
around the world?
Daniel De
f
oe was an
Engli sh writer, most
f
amous
f
or
h
i s novel
'Robi nson Crusoe'
that was published i n
1 71 9. The story i s
about a shi pwrecked
man cal led Robi nson
Crusoe, an
d h
i s a
d
ventures on a desert
e
d
i sl and where he
was washed ashore.
The book captured
th
e i magination o
f
its
early 1 8th century
readers, and went
through six editi ons
i n j ust its
AYlhTL8
l(lINSN 8(
_@ l L Jg
Adventures of
Robinson Crusoe
first four months on the market.
One reason for its popul ari ty i s that i t i s
packe
d
with excitement and a
d
venture,
wi th sai l i ng shi ps, stormy seas, guns, and
canni bal s. I t is al so a vi vi d commentary
on the human need for bot
h
soci ety an
d
sol i tu
d
e, on Man's i ngenuity an
d
spi rit
ual struggl es, and on th
e sol i
d strength
of mi ddl e c
l
ass values. Without doubt,
Wow, it's
against Newton's
tneory of gravit
y
!
D e f o e ' s
R o b i n s o n
Crusoe es
tabl i sh
e
d a
r e a l i s t i c
styl
e of fic
tion, an
d set
th
e tone for
m o d e r n
novel s.
James Patter
son, an Ameri
can writer, be
came the first
author to cross
more than a mil
lion sales in
electronic
books. 1.14 mil
lion units of his
books were sold
for electronic
devices such as
the Kindle and
iPad. His novels
featuring Alex
Cross and the
Women's Mur
der Club are im
mensely popu
lar.

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XXVI.
Gulliver's Travels
ZZ
Why is
book 'Gulliver's
Travels' a world classic?
Gu
l liver's Travels is an adven
ture story by Jonat
h
an Swif, pub-
lished in 1 726. It is an account of several
voyages o
f
Lemuel Gul liver, a shi p's sur
geon. Because o
f
a series o
f
mis
h
aps, Gul
liver ends upon several unknown islands.
He meets with, and lives with people and
animals o
f
unusual sizes, behaviour, and
philosophies. However, a
f
ter each adven
ture,
h
e somehow manages to return to his
h
ome i n Engl and, w
h
ere
h
e recovers
f
rom
these unusual experiences, and then sets
out again on a new voyage.
What makes the book a world classic is
the treatment. Swif h
as represented ideas
as grotesque creatures, absurd customs as
absurd objects, and the
f
amiliar as some
t
h
i ng new and surprisi ng. The book is di
vided i nto
f
our sections, and is par novel,
par adventure, and par satire. It did not
stick to any rules, and is widely considered
to be Swi
f
t's greatest work, as well as one of
t
h
e indisputab
le classics o
f
English litera
ture.
Tell Me Why
jI \\ II' \ t'
T1 hI!f.ll.
I 11!`
MAY W ^&* FBT
AO 17 ,,,1,,,,,.,
Why is 'The Social
Contract' considered to be the
Bible of the French Revolutionar
ies?
'The Social Contract' was written by
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, an i mportant
f
i gure in the history of phi l osophy. The
Soci al Contract was a masterpiece writ
ten by hi m in 1 762. In t
h
i s book, Rous
seau expl ai ned hi s political theori es,
whi ch woul d l ater i n
fl
uence t
h
e writers
of the United States Consti tuti on as wel l
as the leaders o
f
t
h
e French Revol uti on.
The book opens with t
h
e
f
amous words
' Man is born
f
ree; and everyw
h
ere
h
e i s
i n c
h
ai ns' . With i ts sl ogan, 'Li berty, Equal
i ty, Fraternity', it became the bi bl e o
f the
Man is
born free and
every where he is
i n chains.
French revol u
ti onaries. To
day,
'The Socia
l Con
tract,' is accepte
d
as one o
f
the si n
gle most i mpor
tant decl arations
o
f the natural
rig
h
ts o
f
man in
the hi story o
f
po-
liti cal phi l oso-
phy.
Why is 'Pride and Prejudice' one of the
best loved novels of all time?
Jane Austen was an Engli sh novelist w
ho
lived i n th
e 1 9th century. Her books are set
among t
h
e English middl e and upper cl ass
es, and are notabl e for thei r wit, social obser
vation, an
d i nsights i nto the lives o
f
women of
that era. Her novel 'Pri de and Prej u
di ce,' was
Pride and Prejudice
Why did 'Inquiry into the Nature and
Causes of the Wealth of Nations,' lay the
foundation for modern economics?
Adam Smit
h was a Scottish economist and
phi losopher who became
f
amous because o
f
hi s i nfluential book ' I nqui ry i nto the Nature
An
d
Causes OfThe Wealt
h
o
f
Nations', written
in 1776. Smith lived in an era when the British
public and Parliament cl ung to a
f
eudal eco
nomic system i n which the government mai n
tai ned control overthe economy. Smith cal l ed
f
or economic f
reedom an
d f
ree tra
d
e. He de
scri bed the workings o
f
a market economy,
the
d
ivi sion o
f la bou r i n prod uction, the nature
of wealth i n rel ation to
money, and many other
economic concepts, i n
cl udi ng self i nterest and
the i nternational aspects
of free trade. Is it any won
der then that A
d
am Smit
h
is consi
d
ered the f
ather o
f
modern economics, an
d
that his ideas became the
basis
f
or
f
ree enterpri se?
Z
Most Expensive
Book
The original
copies of Chau
cer's Canterbury
Tales were
printed in 1477.
Onlyoneof
these copies is
still owned
privately. It was
sold in 1998 for
4,621,500
pounds-and
gained entry in
to the Guinness
Book of Records
as the most ex
pensive book
ever sold.
Tel l Me Why
f
i rst publi s
h
e
d
i n 1 81 3. I t is the
story o
f
Mrs. Bennet's attempts
to marry o
ff h
er
five daughters.
Excitement
f
izzes through the
Bennet househol d when young,
eligi bl e Mr. Charles Bi ngl ey
rents t
h
e
f
i ne
h
ouse nearby. One
o
f h
i s
f
riends, the wealthy Mr.
Fitzwi l li am Darcy, annoys t
h
e
vivacious Elizabet
h
Bennet, the
second o
f
the Bennet girl s, and
she annoys hi m. The romantic
cl ash between the opi nionated
Elizabeth and
Darcy forms the
h
eart o
f the story, whi ch i s tol d
with a wit and sparkl e t
h
at has
made i t one of the best loved
novel s o
f al l time.
the novel was publish
e
d w
h
en sh
e was
twenty-one. When the 'Frankenstein
monster' realizes
h
ow he came to be cre
ated and is rejected by manki nd, he seeks
revenge on
hi s creator's
fami l y to avenge
hi s own sorrow. Mary She
l l ey
f
i rst wrote
Frankenstei n as a short story a
fter the
poet Lor
d
Byron suggested to hi s
f
rien
d
s
that each o
f them s
houl d write a ghost
story. Publis
h
e
d
a
l
most 200 years ago,
Mary Shel l ey's Got
h
i c cl assi c sti l l bri ngs
Frankenstein
goose bumps to mo
d
ern-
d
ay readers.
Why is 'Franken-
stein', an unforget-
Franken-
table book?
stei n! ! !
Frankenstei n i s a
novel written by Mary
Shel ley about a h
orri
ble monster created
by mad scientist Vi c-

tor Frankenstei n.

Shel l ey started writ
i ng the story when
she was ei ghteen, and
Books that Shaped the World
ZD
Fastest Selling
'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hal
lows' by J.K. Rowling sold more than
8.3 million copies in the 24 hours fol
lowing its release in the USA, creating
a record. It also had the biggest initial
print run of 15 million copies - anoth-
er record!
Why does
'The Last of the Mohi
cans' have a unique place in
American Literature?
James Feni more Cooper is consi
d

ere
d to be the f
i rst true Ameri can
novel i st. Hi s most popul ar work,
The Last ofthe Mohi cans', publ i shed
in 1 826, has remai ned one o
f
t
h
e
most wi de
l
y read novels throughout
the worl d. Al ong wi th hi s other
f
our
novels, t
h
i s book
has had
a tremen
d
ous i mpact on the way many vi ew
both the Ameri can I ndi ans and the
f
ronti er peri od o
f
Ameri can
h
istory.
Thi s hi storical novel has d
i sti nctl y
Ameri can characters and setti ngs,
and starkly portrays th
e destructi on
o
f
the Ameri can wi l derness by the
coloni sts from Europe. W
h
i
l e other
writers had ofen depi cted Ameri can
I ndi ans as savages, James Cooper
hi ghl i ghted thei r di gni
f
i ed and no
bl e side. The novel became an i n
stant best sel l er, and James Cooper
was establ i shed as an i mportant l it-
erary
f
i gure.
Z
The Last ofthe Mohicans
Tel l Me Why
Why is Ralph
Waldo Emerson's book
'Nature' linked with the Tran
scendentalism?
Ral ph Wal do Emerson, the author of
' Nature',
f
ound
e
d the American Branch of
a
European movement known as Transcen
dental i sm. The
fol l owers o
f thi s movement
stressed the spi ritual po
tenti al o
f
every i ndivi dual .
Emerson believe
d that
Go
d
coul d be
found by
l ooki ng i nto one's own
soul . In hi s book Nature,
h
e
advi sed the reader to seek
a new worl d by rejecti ng
organize
d
religion an
d
materi ali sm, an
d
to seek
the Divi ne through Nature.
Be
f
ore l ong, Nature be
came the guid
e
f
or many
read
ers w
ho s
h
ared Emer
son's beli ef
s, an
d the Tran
scendentalist Movement
gai ned strength d
uri ng
the 1 840s an
d 1 850s.
Nature and Selected Essays
First Dollar
Billionaire Author
J.K. Rowling, the
creator of Harry
Potter, was the first
author to earn a bil
lion dollars. 400
million Harry Potter
books have been
sold worldwide,
making her one of
the five self made
female billionaires
in the world.
1. K. Rowling
-
.. MI
'
I
Why is
Charles Dick
ens 'A Christ
mas Carol'
one of the
best loved
stories?

C h a r l e s
Dickens was a
f
amous writer
who lived in Engl and in the 1 9th Century.
'The Chri stmas Carol', is t
h
e
f
i rst o
f f
ive
books on Chri stmas t
h
at were published
in 1 843. The book is a classic about a
mean spi rited miser Ebenezer Scrooge
who hates C
h
ristmas. T
h
e poi nt of the
story is to s
h
ow
how and why he c
h
anges.
Scrooge
h
as become one o
f
Dickens'
best-known creations. His name has be
come a bywor
d for meanness and hi s
phrase 'Ba
h, humbug',
h
as a
l
so taken on
a li
f
e o
f
its own. The Chri stmas Carol
h
as
become one of t
h
e most love
d
stories
f
or
t
h
e way it captures the spi rit of Christmas
so beauti
f
ul l y.
Yes, I can change,
I decided to spend
one rupee for tea
from today.
Tel l Me Why
Bronte Sisters
The Bronte
Sisters
Emily Bronte had two sisters,
Charlotte and Anne. Together,
they are known as the Bronte sis
ters and they have charmed, in
spired, and even shocked readers
from the Victorian Age to today.
Raised in Yorkshire, the three sis
ters produced classics like 'Jane
Eyre', 'Wuthering Heights' and
'The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.'
Why is Emily Bronte's 'Wuther
ing Heights' considered different
from the novels of that time?
Emi l y Bronte was a nineteenth
century Engli sh aut
h
or who wrote
just one novel
- Wutheri ng Hei ghts.
The book reflects
h
er passi onate
love of the moors, where she spent
nearly a
l l h
er li
f
e. It i s a sombre, and
someti mes
d
epressi ng tal e o
f
love,
h
ate and revenge, told through the
viewpoi nt o
f
two narrators, an
d
spanni ng two generati ons. T
h
e
novel is quite different
f
rom others
o
f
that ti me
f
or many reasons. I n
stead of
bei ng compassionate and
heroic, the h
ero and h
eroi ne, Heath
cliff and Catheri ne are selfi sh an
d
petty. I nstead o
f
bei ng bliss
ful ly i n
l
ove, Cat
h
eri ne marries someone
el se and breaks Heathcli
f
f's heart.
Too prou
d to tel l each other thei r
true
feel i ngs, they fight, storm, and
Books that Shaped the World
rage against eac
h other,
destroyi ng themselves i n
the process. There i s no
doubt h
owever, that the
emoti onal i ntensity o
f the
novel , t
h
e gl oomy perspec
tive, t
h
e psyc
h
ol ogical dra
ma and t
h
e tragi c outcome
make Wutheri ng Heig
h
ts a
ti me
l
ess cl assi c.
Wuthering Heights
How did the
book 'Civil Disobedi
ence' influence future leaders?
The book 'Civi l Disobed
ience,' was
written by Henry Thoreau, an Ameri can au
thor w
ho lived i n the 1 9th century. T
h
e book was
written a
f
ter he spent a ni ght i n jai l
f
or re
f
using
to pay a pol l tax. 'Civi l Di sobe
d
ience,' is an analy
si s o
f the i ndivi dual 's relati onshi p wi th
the state. It f
ocuses on w
h
y men obey
governmental law even when they be
lieve it to be unj ust. Accor
d
i ng to
T
h
oreau, i
f a l aw requi res a person to
commit an i nj usti ce to anot
h
er, then
the l aw shoul d be broken. T
h
e book
pro
foundly i nfluence
d
a young lawyer
in Sout
h
Africa w
h
o was protesti ng
that government's treatment of
i mmi
grant workers
f
rom I ndia. The l awyer
It's
was Mo
h
.
andas
di ffi cul t to
K. an
dh
l . Ga

-
col l ect tax. Ev
ery
-
dh
l
f
ound I
n
one is reading Ci vi l
T
h
oreau the
Disobedience.
techni ques he
woul d use i n
thesubsequent
struggl e
f
or I n
di an i ndepend
ence, and civi l
di sobed
i ence
became a pow
er
ful tool f
or
future leaders.
Why was
'David Copper-
field' considered a
reflection of social
conditions in 19th
century England?
C
h
arl es Dickens, the
great 1 9
t
h
century
Engli sh
author, is the
author o
f the
f
amous
book 'Davi d Copper
f
iel d' . T
h
e book is
about David Copper
f
i el d, an orp
h
an, and
throug
h h
i s
h
ero,
Di ckens draws openl y
on
hi s own lif
e. It i s a
story o
f the devel op-
No Verbs
C
an you imagine a
novel that does not
contain any verbs? It
may seem impossI
ble, but believe It or not,
French author Michel Thaler
published a 233 page novel
'Le Train de Nulle Part' or
'The Nowhere Train,' which
has no verbs. A sample sen
tence goes like this 'Fool's
luckl A vacant seat, almost,
in that train. A provisional
stop, why not? So, my new
address in this nowhere train:
car 12, 3,d compartment,
forward. Once again, why
not?' Astounding, isn't It?
ment o
f
a writer,
but it i s al so a portrait o
f
Victori an Engl an
d
at mi d-cen
tury with a host o
f
c
haracters
d
esi gned to show various social
f
eatures like class structure, t
h
e
penal system, the educati on
avai labl e for poorer chi l dren,
and d
i
ferent
f
orms o
f chi
l d la
bour and abuse.
Davi d Copper
f
i el d i s a story of
soci al protest, but it is al so about
a young man who must l earn to
overcome tragedy, and trust
that real love and happi ness may
y
et be his.
Why is
The Scarlet
Letter considered a
masterpiece of American
literature?
'The Scarlet Letter' is a
novel publi shed in 1 850
and written by Nath
ani el
Hawthorne. Set i n 1 7
t
h cen
tury puritan Boston, it tel l s
the story o
f
Hester Prynne,
who gi ves bi rth after com
mitti ng adultery and strug
gl es to create a new l
i
f
e o
f
repentance and d
i gnity. T
he
novel sh
ows t
h
e terri ble i m
pact a si ngle, passi onate act
has on the l i ves of three
members o
f
a community. I t
i s a masterf
u
l expl orati on o
f
h
umanity's unen
d
i ng strug
gl e with si n, gui lt, and pri de.
Why is 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' considered the spark that lit
the American Civil War?
'Uncl e Tom's Cabi n,' is a novel by Harriet
Beecher Stowe, publ i shed
i n 1 852. The story
begi ns as two sl aves, Tom and four year old
Harry, are sol d to pay thei r owner's
f
ami ly
d
ebts. T
h
e story
f
ocuses on Tom, a strong,
rel i gi ous man l iving with his wife and
t
hree
young chi l dren, and El iza, Harry's mother.
The novel ends when both Tom and El iza
escape sl avery. El iza and h
er
f
ami l y reach
Canada, but Tom's
f
reedom comes with
death.
Uncl e Tom' s Cabi n c
h
ange
d f
orever
how Americans viewed sl avery. I t was a
Why is 'Moby Dick' considered Her
man Melville's greatest work?
'Moby Di ck,' is considered to be the
greatest work o
f
the American author
Herman Melvi l l e, whose sea goi ng ex
periences became the subject o
f
thi s
novel . Hai l ed as a cl assi c l iterary master
piece, 'Moby Dick,' tel l s the tal
e o
f
one
man's
f
atal obsession, and hi s wi l l i ng
ness to sacrif
ice
hi s l i
f
e and that of hi s
crew to achieve hi s goal . T
h
e story
f
ol
Hel p!
Moby Di ck's
here!
lows the fortunes o
f
Captai n Ahab and
the crew of the
MobyDick
Pequod, a 1 9th century
whal i ng sh
i p. The
Pequod is on its last

voyage in pursuit o
f

Moby
Di ck, the great
3Z
Tel l Me Why
J
Why is 'On the Origin
of Species' called the
book that shook the
world?
runaway best
sel l er, an
d
con
tri buted to the
outbreak of the
Ci vi l War by
openi ng peo
pl e's eyes to the
harsh real ities
o
f
about slav
ery, an
d
pre
senting thi ngs
i n a personal
ized way
f
rom
L|KLLb
LKW|N
C
h
arl es Darwi n' s book
'On the Ori gi n of
Spe
cies,' i ntroduced the
concept that popul a
ti ons evolve over t
h
e
course o
f
generations,
t
h
rough a process o
f
natural sel ecti on. He
wrote the book based
the s
l ave's point o
f
view.
white w
h
al e whic
h
h
as been Ahab' s bit
ter adversary
f
or
many years. Narrat
ed by the sole survi
vor I shmael, the tal e
combi nes a wealth
of l iterary symbol
ism,
hi
dd
en mean
ing, and phi losophi-
cal debate with a
d

venture and gives a

d
etai l ed historical
account o
f
the 1 9th
century whal i ng.
Without doubt, thi s
ti mel ess epi c i s one
of the greatest sea
stories ever tol d.
on the evi
d
ence that
h
e
h
a
d col l ected
duri ng the course o
f hi s voyage on the
shi p HMS Beagl e in the 1 83 1 . Darwi n
h
a
d
encountere
d the extraord
i nary ani
mal l if
e o
f
t
h
e Ga
l apagos I sl and
s. On
h
i s
return,
h
e put
forth hi s theory i n hi s
book. W
hen
f
i rst publ i shed i n 1 859, its
central theory - t
hat the natural order
was not permanent and unchangi ng,
but a gradual process o
f
evol ution -
s
h
ook the worl d. It i n
f
uriate
d many
peopl e because it chal l enged the exist-
ing rel i gi ous be-
5 i r , we are
l i e
f
that God cre-
cousi ns!
ated man i n hi s
own i mage.
Books that Shaped the World
33
Longest Novel
T
he longest novel in
Why did Victor
Hugo's 'Les Miserables'
create waves?
Perhaps the greatest writer that
France h
as produce
d is Victor Hugo,
author o
f
Les Mi serabl es. Publ i she
d
in 1 862, thi s cl assic tal e is set agai nst
the backdrop of pol itical upheaval i n
1 9th-century France. It
fol l ows the
l ives and interactions of
several
Frenc
h
characters over a seventeen
year period an
d f
ocuses on th
e
struggl es of ex-convict Jean Valjean
an
d
his experience o
f
redempti on.
T
his hi storical
f
iction a
l
so exami nes
the nature of l aw and grace, the
hi story o
f
France, architecture o
f
Paris, pol itics, moral p
h
i l osophy,
j ustice, rel igi on, and dif
erent types
o
f l ove. It spoke
f
orthose members
o
f
society
f
orce
d
by unemploy
ment and starvation to commit
cri mes. T
he poor understood Hugo' s
message, an
d
worshi pped hi m as
thei r spokesman. Les Mi serabl es cre
ated waves because Hugo had written
a book about the poor and su
ff
ering
peop
l e, a book that d
emanded a
c
h
ange in society's judgment o
f
its
citizens.
the English language is 'Clarissa'. It runs to about
one million words, and was written by Samuel Richard-
son. It was published in 1748, and composed entirely of let
ters written by the characters, and some of the letters appear
endless to the reader!
3 Tel l Me Why
A
l
. l
l '
L`r
Y
l
l.
\I
lt- \

lI.

\
l

l
*

f
" '
C
\R
.l\
1
Why is 'Alice's
Adventures in Wonder
land,' such a well- loved book?
For more than 1 30 years, chi l dren
have revel l ed i n the the del i ghtful f
an
tasy cal led 'Al i ce's Ad
ventures i n Won
derl and' written by Lewis Carrol l . Thi s
remarkabl e story of a little gi rl cal l ed Al
ice, who embarks on possi b
l
y one o
f
t
h
e
most amazi ng,
f
antastical ad
ventures i n
l iterary history,
h
as more t
h
an stood the
test o
f
ti me. I n it, t
h
e reader meets not
only Al ice, but al so the White Rabbit, the
Queen o
f
Hearts, the Mock Turtle, and
the Mad Hatter, among a multitude o
f
other characters - exti nct,
f
antastical ,
and commonpl ace creatures.
Alice journeys through this wonder
l and, trying to fathom the meani ng of
h
er strange experiences . . .
but they turn out to be 'curi
ouser and curi ouser'! 'Al ice's
Adventures i n Won
derl and
,'
is ful l of parody an
d
satire.
Adults enjoy Carrol l ' s com
ments on hi story, po
l
itics,
and soci ety, whi le chi l dren
si mpl y
l
ove it for its absurdity
and
magi cal qual ity.
No'E'
A
nother amazing
novel is one that is
written without the
letter 'e' appearing
anywhere in it. The
novel 'Gadsby,' by
Ernest Vincent has
50,000 words, but
not a single word
has the letter
'e' in it!
3J
m
W
Das Kapital
Karl Marx
Why has
'Das Kapital,'
changed the course
of history?
'Das Kapital,' by Karl
Marx
has ofen been cal l ed the Bi
bl e of
the working cl ass. Pub
l i shed in 1 867, it is a l and
mark
work that condemns capital
i sm. Karl Marx was a
h
ugel y
i nfluential revol uti onary
t
h
i nker and phi l osopher. Hi s
writi ngs
f
ormed the theoreti
ca
l
base
f
or mo
d
ern i nterna
tional communi sm.
Marx bel ieve
d that that al l
human hi story had been
based on cl ass struggl es, but
that these wou
l d
ulti mately
di sappear with the vi ctory of
the masses. Hi s work is now
consi
d
ere
d
by communi sts
al l over the worl d to be the
source o
f
absol ute truth on
matters o
f
economics, phi l os
op
h
y, an
d pol itics. ' Das Kapi
tal ,' Karl Marx's masterpiece,
is the book that above a
l l
oth
ers
f
ormed the twentieth
century. From it sprung the
economi c and pol itical sys
tems t
h
at in our ti me, domi
nate
d h
alf the Earth
f
or hal f a
century.
Too Long
Why i s i t said
that Jules Verne predict-
ed many scientific advances in
'Twenty Thousand Leagues Un
der the Sea'?
Jul es Verne, a 1 9th century French
author, wrote
many great
books portray
i ng i magi ne
d sci
entific wonders.
In 'Twenty Thou
sand Leagues un-
d
er the Sea',
h
e
wrote about the
adventures of Cap-
P M
.,- llLLE t/
^
r
LF5 MR5
Many people at
tribute the longest
sentence in literature
to Victor Hugo. The
claim is that, a sen
tence in 'Les Misera
bles,' has 823 words
earning it that title.
However, that ap
plies to French liter
ature. Traditionally,
the longest sen
tence in English lit
erature has been
said to be a sen
tence in 'Ulysses'
tai n Nemo and the
crew of an atomic
submari ne cal l ed the
Twent Thousand
Leagues
Under the Sea
by James Joyce,
which has 4,391
Nauti l us - l ong before
submari nes or atomic energy were even
thought of! In many ways, the Nauti l us
i sn't al l that
d
if
f
erent from some mo
d
ern
subs. T
he novel al so describes i n real i stic
detai l , not just the submari ne, but its un-
words!
dersea expl orations and the pl aces it visits,
i ncl udi ng the South Pole, and the lost city of
Atlantis. Amazi ngly, i n the book, Jul es Verne
even predi cts envi ronmental probl ems l i ke
the exti nction of w
ha l es!
that Shaped the World
Brothers Karamazov
3o
Why is
'The Brothers
Karamazov,' con
sidered one of the
greatest novels of all
time?
'The Brothers Karama
zov,' was written by Fyodor
Dostoevsky, a great Russi an
author who l ived i n the 1 9
t
h
century. It is a compel l i ng,
pro
found, and compl ex story
o
f
a mur
der- and o
f the
f
our
sons o
f
the murd
ered man
who each had a motive to ki l l
hi m. T
hey were Dmitry, the
sensua
l ist, Ivan, t
h
e i ntel l ec
tual , Alyosha, the mystic and
the twisted, and cunni ng
Smerdyakov, the i l l egi ti mate
chi l d. The novel i s l uri d,
ni ghtmari sh, and bri l l iant. I t
gri ps t
h
e rea
der with a sordi d
love tri angl e, obsessi on, and
a breathtaking courtroom
d
rama. It i s al so a searc
h for
the truth bytheauthor- about
Man, about l i
fe, about the ex
istence o
f
God. It was Dosto
evsky's
f
i nal work, hi s crown
ing achievement- an
d
per
haps, the
f
i nest novel
o
f al l time.
Tel l Me Why
Why is
'Treasure Is-
land,' a classic
of children's
literature?
'Treasure I s
l and,' written
by Robert
Loui s Steven
son, i s one o
f
t
h
e most ex-
Treasure Island ci ti ng adven-
ture stories
for chi l dren. Publ i shed i n 1 883, i t has
captured t
h
e i magi nation of chi l dren o
f
al l ages across th
e worl d with its tal e o
f
a
searc
h f
or buried treasure. The author
h
as created a thri l l i ng story of adventure
and treachery on the hi gh seas, al l seen
th
rough the eyes of
a boy name
d
Ji m
Hawki ns. Ji m is the h
ero o
f
t
he story, and
h
e's a good lad with a stout heart.
The story has many col ourful
c
h
arac
ters, and the most fasci nati ng among
th
em i s Long John Si lver, the pi rate cap
tai n. The pl ot moves al ong very bri skly,
with no waste
d scenes, an
d the suspense
is so gri ppi ng, that it can be enjoye
d not
just by chi l dren, but by adul ts too.
that Shaped the World
Crimeand
Punishment
'C
rime and Punish
ment' is another
masterpiece by Dos
toevsky. lt is the dis
turbing story of a
youngman'sdescent
into crime. It is a tale
of horror, guilt, and
punishment, a crime
novel without a mys
tery which still man
ages to create almost
unbearable tension
in the reader's mind.
Crime and
Punishment
3
Why is 'The Adventures
of Huckleberry Finn' consid
ered a trailblazer in American litera
ture?
'The Adventures o
f
Huckl eberry Fi nn,' is a
great American novel, written by Mark Twai n,
as a sequel to his earl i er book The Adventures
o
f
Tom Sawyer'. T
h
e book tel l s the story o
f
' Huck' Fi nn, hi s friend Ji m, and th
ei r journey
down th
e Mi ssissippi River on a ra
f
t. Both are
runni ng away- Huck
f
rom hi s
d
runken fa
ther, and Ji m as a runaway slave.
Th
e wit and wi sdom o
f
Mark Twai n, a 1 9
t
h
century American author, and h
i s use o
f
col l oqui al l anguage and portrayal o
f
American t
hemes has ma
d
e thi s book a
trai l bl azer in American l iterature. The
story o
f
Huckl eberry Fi nn
abounds with enduri ng les
sons and i mages that s
hi ne
throug
h
i n every page. I s i t
any wonder then, that
t
h
roug
h
out t
he 20
t
h
century,
the book h
as become fa
mous as one of
Twai n's
greatest achievements?
Why is Tolstoy's 'War and
Peace,' considered a monumental
achievement?
'War and Peace' by Leo Tolstoy is a
novel that took seven years to write,
an
d
spans a period of f
i
f
teen years,
Publ i she
d i n 1 886, t
he story i s about
Napol eon's i nvasion o
f
Russi a i n 1 8 1 2.
As the i nvasion progresses, Tol stoy
vivi dl y fol l ows c
h
aracters
f
rom diverse
backgrounds-peasants and nobi l ity,
civi l i ans and
so
l diers-as they struggl e
wit
h the probl ems uni que to thei r era,
thei r hi story, and thei r culture. Gradu
al ly, these characters take on a l if
e of
t
h
ei r own to become some of t
h
e most
movi ng- and human-
f
i gures in worl d
literature. 'War and Peace' i s a trul y
monumental achievement for i ts scope
and l iterary style, its historical content
and real i sm and its psych
o-
l
ogical dept
h and i nsi gh
ts
i nto t
he val i dity of
war.
War and Peace
Challenges
Patience
The book that
cha"enges the
patience of a
reader the most is
onethat
demonstrates how
to calculate the
number pi in 800
pages. It is titled
'Pi: A Source
Book,' and docu
ments the history
of pi from the
dawn of mathe
matical time to
the present.
Why is Bram Stok-
er's 'Dracula,' one of the
greatest of horror stories?
Bram Stoker's 'Dracula,' is one o
f the most
magni
f
icent novels of the 1 9th century. I t por
trays the struggl e between good an
d
evil, tra
diti on and
mo
d
ernity. The aut
hor di dn't i n
vent vampi res, but hi s novel captured the
pub
l
ic's i magi nation an
d
ma
d
e vampi re sto-
ries the rage.
Bram Stoker's 'Dracul a' is the story o
f the no
torious vampi re Count Dracul a, l ord o
f the un
dead, wh
o rises
f
rom hi s cofi n at ni ght to suck
the bl ood o
f the l iving. The book succeeds i n
creating an aura o
f the culture o
f
the Victori an
era. The characters - men an
d
women - thei r
be
havi our, l if
estyle, et
h
ics an
d
aesthetics - al l
are
d
eeply an
d
truly Victori an. A l unatic asyl um,
a bl eak Transyl vani an cast
l
e, an anci ent ceme
tery ... these are the
dark background
s to t
h
e
even darker dee
d
s portrayed in thi s most
bl oodcurdl i ng o
f
tales. Dracul a is undoubtedly
one of the greatest o
f h
orror stories ever tol d.
A Writer's Writer
'War and Peace,' by
Leo Tolstoy was the longest
book written in the 1 9th cen
tury. The original text has some 460000 Rus
sian and French words, and since there were
no computers or copying machines at that
time, it was Tolstoy's wife who copied the
manuscript by hand, seven times!
Why is
Sherlock Holmes
one of the most endur
ing characters in litera
ture?
'The Adventures of
Sher
l ock Hol mes,' was written
by Si r Arthur Conan Doyle
who practiced
medi ci ne
unti l 1 891 , w
h
en
h
e be
came a
f
ul l time writer.
Doyle based
th
e c
h
aracter
o
f
S
h
erl ock Hol
mes on Doc
tor Joseph Bel l, a surgeon
an
d
teacher he ha
d
studi e
d
with whi l e attendi ng Edi n
burgh University. Dr. Bel l
h
a
d the uncanny abi l ity to
reveal a patient's symp
toms, di agnose patients,
and report on t
h
ei r ori gi ns
bef
ore
they woul d speak a
wor
d to hi m about thei r a
f
fl ictions! Thi s gi f was a ch
arac
teristic o
f
S
herlock Hol mes too.
The f
i rst S
herlock Hol mes story,
'A Study in Scarl et,' was written i n
t
h
ree weeks i n 1 886, and pub
l i sh
e
d in 1 887. The second Sher
l ock Hol mes story, The Si gn o
f
t
h
e
Four,' was written
f
or the Li ppi n
cott's Magazi ne and the later sto
ries appeare
d
in the Strand Maga
zi ne. Sherl ock Hol mes remai ns
one o
f
t
he most loved, and most
f
amous o
f f
ictional detectives to
thi s day, because of
hi s i ntegrity,
trustwort
h
i ness, sensi bi l ity, ra
ti onal thi nki ng, deci siveness, l ack
o
f
emotional i sm, an
d i ntel l ectual
superiority.
Mr. Watson,
I am searchi ng for
Dr. Conan Doyl e . . .
Why is 'The War
of the Worlds,' a model
for science fiction stories?
'The War of
t
h
e Wor
l d
s,' is one of
the most terri
f
yi ng science
f
iction novels
ever penned. Written by H.G.
Wel l s, and publ i shed in
1 898, the novel begi ns
with a series o
f
strange
flashes i n the distant ni ght
sky, that heral d an i nvasi on
from Mars.
The Marti an attack i ni
ti al l y causes l ittle concern
on Earth. T
h
en the
destruc
tion erupts- ten massive al
i ens roam Engl an
d
an
d de
stroy everythi ng in thei r
path with h
eat rays. Very
soon, humanki n
d f
i nds itse
lf
on the bri nk o
f
exti ncti on.
@A
p(T
YN
The War o!
the Worlds
'War o
f the Worlds,' tel l s a completely con
vi nci ng story o
f
al ien i nvasi on, and the pl i ght
o
f
humans caug
ht up in it. It set the trend
f
or
the sci ence fiction stories that are enormousl y
popul ar today, an
d
raises i mportant ques
ti ons about mortal i ty, Man's pl ace i n nature,
and
t
h
e evil l urki ng in the tec
hnol ogi cal fu
ture- questions that remai n urgentl y relevant
in the 21 s
t
century.

DI E
The Metamorphosis
'T he Metamorphosis/ is a German classic writ
ten by Franz Kafka. Published in 1 91 5, it is a
masterful mix of horror and absurdity. The story
revolves around a travelling salesman's bizarre
transformation from man, to a man-sized insect.
The book became one of the most important
works of short fiction in the 20th century, and is
widely taught in coll eges and uni
versities.
Why does
'The Interpretation of
Dreams/ play a key role in the field
of psychology?
'The I nterpretation o
f
Dreams,' is the work
o
f
Si gmun
d
Freud, who is universal l y con
sidere
d the '
f
ather' o
f
psychoanal ysis. I n t
h
is
book, whi ch was publ i she
d
i n 1 899, Freud
anal yzes hi s own dreams as exampl es to
prove hi s new theory of the psychol ogy o
f
dreams. He put
f
orward the theory that al l
dreams represent the ful fi l ment of a wi sh
on the part o
f
the dreamer, an
d
mai ntai ns
1RAU MOLU1UM
that even anxiety dreams and ni ght
mares are expressions of unconsci ous
desi res. He al
so be
l ieved that dreams
often reflectt
h
etraumas o
f
chi l dhood,
an
d that peopl e or objects appeari ng
i n dreams are symbol ic of somethi ng
I sM FLD
ooks that Shaped the Wor d
# N A M 2 O Z M 1 1 & &.
el se. The book has become cl assi c text
on
d
ream analysis and i nterpretation,
and has i ntroduced many key con
cepts th
at would later become central
to psyc
h
oanal ysis.
The Stor of My Lie
Why is 'Up from Slavery,' an in
spirational autobiography?
'Up f
rom Sl avery,' by Booker T.
Washi ngton is a book t
h
at describes
h
is rise
f
rom a poor, une
ducated
sl ave to the head o
f
an i nstitution,
that
hel ped other A
f
rican Ameri cans
to l earn a ski l l , and
i mprove thei r
status i n l ife. Booker hi msel f was
born as a sl ave on a pl antation in
1 856. He toil ed i n t
h
e coal mi nes,
and packed salt as a chi l d. However,
h
e was determi ne
d to educate hi m
self, wh
ich he
did by studyi ng at
ni ght. Fi nal l y, he rose to become
the
h
ead of
an i nstitution that
hel ped others l i ke hi m. He bel ieved
that education was the key to i m
provi ng economi c condi ti ons. Hi s
l if
e, and th
e book
he wrote about it,
became an i nspi ration for other
d
owntrodden African Ameri cans,
and drew nationa
l
attention to thei r
pl i g
h
t.
WhyisHelen
Keller's 'The Story
of My Life,' a shining
light for disabled ones?
Hel en Kel l er was born
i n 1 880. When s
h
e was a
baby, she was stricken
with an i l l ness that lef
her bl i nd and d
ea
f
.
In 'The Story o
f My l if
e,'
she recounts
h
ow s
h
e
slowly learnt to rely on
her ot
h
er senses, bot
h
to communicate with
ot
h
ers, and to sense na
ture. S
h
e learnt to read
usi ng Brai l le- a script i n
vented fort
h
e bl i nd-and
graduate
d f
rom col l ege.
S
h
e publ i s
h
e
d 'The Story
Up From Slaver
Tel l Me
o
f
My Li
f
e,'
in 1 903, an
d
became a ti re
l
ess
crusader
for the
di sabl ed
, an
d the
underprivi leged. I s
i t any won
d
er that
her book
has be
come a shi ni ng
l i ght f
or di sabled
peopl e al l over the
worl d? Sh
e proved,
through her ex
traordi nary trans
f
ormati on, that dis
abi l ity was not a bar
to education, or to
the joys o
f l eadi ng a
normal , productive
l ife.
Why is /The
Call of the Wild,'
both entertaining and
thought provoking?
'The Cal l of t
h
e Wi l d' i s a story
set in the Al askan wi l derness. The
author, John Lond
on, narrates a
cl assi c tale o
f
survival from the view
point o
f
an ani mal , the sl ed dog Buck.
Buck's l i
f
e and death struggl e f
or sur
vival in the bl eak,
hostile, icy Arctic en
vi ronment makes f
or gri ppi ng readi ng.
It's al so symbol i c o
fthe struggl e of the
worki ng cl asses agai nst t
h
e odds
stacked up agai nst them in a capital i s
tic soci ety.
Publ i shed in 1 903, 'The Cal l o
f
the
Wi l d,' was based on the authors own
adventures, and it hi ghl i ghts the sharp
contrast between the pri sti ne beauty
o
f
t
he Arctic, and the
d
reary condi ti ons
o
f the Engl i sh sl ums i n London w
h
ic
h
had visited shortly be
f
ore
he wrote t
h
e
book. 'The Cal l o
f the Wi l d, ' was an i n
stant
hit wi th read
ers of al l ages . . . and
remai ns so to t
h
is day.
My
superb story!
Why did Einstein write 'The Spe
cial and General Theory of Relativity'?
Al bert Ei nstei n, one o
f
the greatest physicists the
wor
l d has ever seen, is the author o
f 'Rel ativity: The
Special an
d General Theory'. The work was publ i shed
in 1 91 6, an
d
i n it, Ei nstei n attempts to expl ai n th
e
complex pri nci pl es o
f hi s Theory o
f
Relativity in terms
si mpl e enoug
h f
or a layman to understand. Ei nstei n's
work create
d
new branc
h
es o
f
stu
d
y i n p
hysics and
revo
l utionized astronomy. Ei nstein's theories o
f
rela
tivity have not only afected our dai l y l i ves in such
basi c ways as
h
ow we
h
eat our
h
omes, reac
h
our
desti nati ons, and measu re our days, but the theories
were al so use
d
by p
h
i l osop
h
ers, pol i ti ci ans, and ac
tivists to turn moral phi l osop
h
y upsi de-down. Ei n-
stei n was awarde
d the Nobel Prize
f
or Physics i n
1 921 . Did you know t
h
at thi s bri l l i ant math
emati
cian and physicist got onl y poor grades in school ,
and dropped out at th
e age o
f
1 5
because
h
e was bored
?
Albert Einstein
Why did
'Siddhartha,' lead to an in
creased interest in Eastern religions?
'Si ddhartha,' by Hermann Hesse i s the story
o
f
a young man who l eaves h
is
f
ami l y
f
or a contem
plative l i
f
e. He then gets restless, and di scar
d
s it
f
or
one o
f
t
h
e flesh. He conceives a son, but
bore
d and sickened
by l ust and greed,
moves on agai n. Near despai r, Si ddhart
h
a
comes to a river w
h
ere
h
e
h
ears a unique
sound. Thi s sound si gnal s t
h
e true begi n
ni ng o
f h
i s l i
f
e-the begi nni ng o
f
suferi ng,
rejecti on, peace, and,
f
i nal ly, wi sdom. A
mystical and lyrical book, Siddhartha is a
beauti
f
ul story o
f
a truly personal quest
towards the se
lf
-
f
u
lf
i l ment we al l must
strive to attai n.
The story is set i n I ndia, and the book
sparke
d
an i nterest in Eastern rel i gions
when it was publ i she
d
i n 1 922. Sid
dh
artha is one o
f
t
h
e names o
f the hi stori
cal Gautama Buddha, an
d whi l e the l i
f
e
of Hesse's c
haracter resembl es that o
f hi s h
istori
cal counterpart to some extent, Si ddhartha is by
no means a f
ictional l if
e o
f Buddha and h
is teach

i ngs.
.
The Waste Land
'T
he Waste Land,' is perhaps the most dis-
cussed long poem ofthe 20th century. Written byT.S.Eliot, it deals
with the decline of civilization, and the impossibility of recover
ing meaning in life. Made up of 434 lines, 'The Waste Land' is a
disturbing poem, marked by the hundreds of al l usions and quo
tations from other texts .
. t "

Why is
'Ulysses,' a ground
breaking masterpiece?
Ul ysses i s a moderni st novel, written
by James Joyce and publ ished in 1 922. l t
i s an extremely
l ong story that i s funny,
sorrowful , and even suspenseful . Ulysses
detai l s the l ives ofthree ord
i nary peopl e
d
uri ng a si ngl e
d
ay. I t i s set i n Dubl i n,
I rel and, an
d
i nvolves subjects such as
mythology, European hi story, rel i gi on,
and astronomy. T
h
e book
h
as fasci nated
schol ars an
d bafled
readers for decades
with its dense prose, obscure puns and
al l usi ons to the characters an
d
events of
Homer's epi c Greek poem 'The Odyssey'.
Joyce experimented with new l iterary
techni ques in thi s novel. He omitted
punctuations, exhi bited frank expres
si ons, and made free use of fragmented
i dea to create a trul y ground
breaki ng
Two Moons
J
onathan Swift, the
author of 'Gulliver's Trav
els', wrote abouttwo moons
that circle Mars. What is
amazing is that he described
them exactly! A hundred years
later, the two moons of Mars,
Phobos and Deimos, were discov
ered by Asaph Hall, Sr. on August
1 2th, 1 877, and they matched
Swift's description in eve
ryway!
masterpiece.
Why can 'Mein Kampf,' be said
to be responsible for b0 million
deaths?
'Mein Kampf,' was written by
Adolf Hitl er, and
i s an autobio
graphical account of hi s youth and
rise withi n the Nazi Party of Germa
ny. I n i t, he el aborated on hi s bel i efs
on race, politics, and the future of
the German people. The book re
flects hi s pl an to create a master Ar
yan race by destroyi ng those whom
h
e viewed as the i nferior races- i n
cl udi ng the Jews. Publ i shed i n two
vol umes in 1 925 and 1 927, ' Mei n
Kampf,' became the pol i ti cal mani
festo of the Nazi Party. In the book,
Hitl er justified the mi l itary conquest
offorei gn l an
ds in the i nterests of
creati ng a master race. The book
was not taken seriously at first,
but in the en
d
, the i
d
eas Hitl er put
forward i n the book l
e
d to Worl d
War I I . I t was the most
destructive
of wars, and it caused the death
of
50 mi l l i on people, i ncl u
d
i ng mi
l
l
i ons of Jews who were ki l l ed on the
basi s of thei r race al one.
Books that Shaped the World
'Book'
'T
he English word
'book' comes from
the Danish word for
book which is 'bog'.
'Bog' is Danish for
birch tree, and the
early people of
Denmark wrote on
birch bark. The Lat
in word for book is
'liber,' and it refers
to the thin layer
found between the
bark and the wood
which was called
liber, on which the
Romans wrote be
fore they started
using parchment.
CZ
Why is the 'Oxford English
--
Dictionary,' a treasure house of
the English language?
'The Ox
f
ord Engl i sh Dictionary,' is t
h
e
authority on the h
istory o
f the Engl i sh l an
guage
f
rom 1 1 50, to th
e present
d
ay. I t not
only recor
d
s and de
f
i nes al l the words ever used
i n the Engl i sh l anguage,
b
ut al so i l l us
trates
h
ow eac
h
word has
b
een used at
t
h
e vari ous stages o
f
its history. Contai n
i ng over 600,000 wor
d
s an
d
2,500,000
quotati ons, the 'Oxf
or
d
Engl i sh Di cti on
ary,' i s wi thout
d
ou
b
t a treasure-
house o
f
t
h
e Engl i sh l anguage.
The di cti onary had its ori gi ns in the 1 850's
when i t was
f
i rst proposed
b
y the Ph
i
l ol ogi
cal Soci ety o
f
Lon
don. Th
e project got un
derway i n 1 879, with a Scotti sh Pro
f
essor
name
d Murray as the pri nci pa
l
editor. Mur-
ray an
d h
i s team
d
i
d
manage to pu
b
l i sh the
f
i rst part i n 1 884. Over the next
f
our decades, wor
k
on
the Di cti onary conti nued, and new editors joi ned the
project. Sadly, Murray
d
i
d
not
l
iveto seethe compl e
ti on o
f h
i s great wor
k
. In Apri
l
1 928, the l ast vol ume
was pu
b
l i s
h
ed under t
h
e i mposi ng name ' A New
Engl i sh Di cti onary on Hi storical Pri nci pl es'. I t
contai ned over
400,000 words and
phrases i n ten vol
umes. It
h
as
b
een
constantl yupdated
and modernized
unti l it has reached
its present form ,
ma
k
i ng i t a l i vi ng
d
ocument.
Why is 'All Quiet on the
Western Front' an unusual book?
'All Quiet on the Western Front,' is
a novel
b
y Eri ch Mari a Remarque,
pu
b
l i shed in 1 929. Remarque
b
ased
the
b
oo
k
on h
i s own experi ence as
a young i n
f
antryman in the Ger
man army
d
uri ng Worl d War I. Hi s
purpose i n wri ti ng t
h
e nove
l
was
'to report on a generati on that
was
d
estroye
d
b
y the war-even
w
h
en i t escape
d the sh
e
l l
s'. The story
is a
b
out a l ost generati on, as seen through the eyes o
f
Paul
Baumer, a ni neteen-year-ol d German vol unteer, duri ng the
l ast two years o
f
Worl d War I. The
b
oo
k
alternates
b
etween
peri ods at the Western
f
ront and peaceful i nterl udes, gory
b
attles, and scenes o
f
young comrad
es passi ng ti me to
gether, epi sodes i n the
fi el d hospital , and at home on
f
ur
l ough. The novel is unusual i n that i t is written i n the
f
orm o
f
a seri es o
f
s
h
ort epi so
des-i n the f
i rst person, and in present
tense. Thi s gives i tt
h
e
feel of
a
d
i ary, with entries on everyday
l i
f
e i nterspersed
wi t
h h
orri
f
yi ng
b
attle epi sodes. More than
a mi l l i on copi es o
f the
b
oo
k
were sol d i n Germany the
f
i rst
year i t appeared, fol lowed
b
y mi l l i ons more w
hen transl ated
and di stri
b
uted in other
nati ons.
The Tin Drum
Gunter Grass
speaks for a generation
of Germans who grew up
during the Nazi era. His
debut novel, The Tin Drum
Books that Shaped the World
( 1 959), took the literary
world by storm. It's the
story of Oskar Matzerath,
who communicates largely
through his toy Tin Drum.
D3
Why is 'The
Sound and the
Fury,' a different
type of book?
'The Sound
an
d
t
he Fury,'
b
y Wi l
l i am Faul
k
ner i s the
story o
f
a d
ecayi ng
aristocratic
f
ami l y.
It i s set i n Mi ssi ssi p
pi a
f
ter the Ci vi l
War. The story i s
told f
rom
f
our
d
i
f
f
erent
perspectives, eac
h
ma
k
i ng up a
d
i
f
f
erent section wi th a d
i
ferent
narrator. T
h
e
f
i rst three secti ons
are narrated
b
y three Compson
b
rothers - Benjami n, Quenti n,
and Jason -
f
ol lowed
b
y a section
b
y an omni sci ent narrator. The
cast o
f d
eeply trou
b
l ed charac
ters-darl i ng and dari ng Caddy,
i nnocent Benjy, tyranni cal Jason,
and tortured Quenti n have
haunted read
ers
f
or decades.
Faul
k
ner, one o
f
the most i nfl
u
enti al of
20th century writers,
casts asi de tradi ti onal aspects o
f
a novel l i
k
e pl ot and character
d
evel opment, an
d
i nstea
d
ex
peri ments wi th several new l i ter
ary techni ques. As a resul t, 'The
Sound and Fury,' attai ns hei ghts
and d
epths o
f
expression that are
trul y
b
reathta
k
i ng.
D
Why is 'The Maltese
Falcon,' a different type
of detective story?
'The Maltese Fal con,'
was written
b
y Das
h
i el l
Hammett i n 1 93 1 , and it
b
ecame extremely popu
lar
b
ecause, i t was a di
f

f
erent type o
f
detective
story. The novel was cre
ated out o
f
t
h
e author's
own memora
b
l e
b
ac
k

groun
d. He too had
wor
k
e
d
as a
d
etective
f
or
si x years, travel l i ng across
the country on di
f
f
erent
assi gnments. The hero o
f
'The Maltese Fal con,' is a
detective, named
Sam
Spade. Unl i
k
e earl i er de
tectives in
f
i cti on who
were model l ed a
f
ter
Sherloc
k
Hol mes, Spade
was a h
ard
b
oi l ed detec-
1M
NLTE$E
FLfM
t
At
HA
tive who d
i
d not de
l
i
b
erately
b
rea
k
th
e
law,
b
ut was not
a
b
ove cutti ng cor
ners. He had
no
h
esi
tati on i n mani pulati ng
anyone, i ncl udi ng the
pol i ce and
h
i s cl ients,
to arrive at the truth.
Hammett wrote i n a
terse i roni c style, an
d
the numerous twists and
turns o
f h
i s pl ot captivated
reader and i nfl uenced
authors o
f
other detective
novels.
Most Valuable
Chi l dren'S Book
The most valuable
chi l dren's book ever
sold was a rare first
edition of 'Alice's Ad
ventures in Wonder
l and.' The book was
Lewis Carroll's own
copy. It was sold for
$1 .5 mi l lion at an auc
tion.
Books that Shaped the World
Why did 'The
Good Earth,' i n
fluenee Western
attitudes to
wards Chi na?
Pearl Buc
k
, the
f
i rst Ameri can
woman to
b
e
awarded t
h
e No
b
el Pri ze
f
or l iter
ature in 1 938, wrote
'The Good
Eart
h
,'
f
rom her
f
i rst han
d
experi ence of l
i
f
e, i n
C
hi na. She had l ive
d there most
o
f
her l i
fe and her novel pro
vi
d
e
d
i nsi g
hts i nto the
l
ives o
f
ri ch C
h
i nese l an
d
owners as
wel l as th
e poor C
h
i nese peas
ants. It i s the story o
f
the ups
and downs in th
e l if
e of a poor
peasant
f
armer who ri ses to
b
ecome a prosperous l andl ord
an
d
i t compl etel y c
h
ange
d the
way the Western worl d vi ewed
Chi na. Ti l l th
en, C
h
i na
had
b
een
a l an
d
o
f
p
h
i l osophers an
d
schol ars to the west, and they
k
new nothi ng a
b
out th
e every
day l ives of
t
h
e common peo
pl e. The
b
oo
k
had a tremen
dous i mpact on readers - and i s
sti l l popul ar today-
f
or the
gl i mpses i t provi des i nto th
e
evol vi ng culture o
f the vast
Chi nese empi re.
DD
Why is 'The
Brave New World',
a warning against
u n c o n t r o l l e d
technological ad
vances?
Why was 'The Story of Civiliza
tion,' one of the most ambitious of
literary projects?
'The Brave New
World,'
b
y Al dous
Huxl ey was written
'Th
e Story of
Ci vi l ization,' is an el even
vol ume narrative traci ng the devolve
ment of man
k
i n
d f
rom anci ent ti mes ti l l
the earl y 1 9
t
h
century. I t was written
b
y
Wi l l Durant and hi s wi
fe Ari el , and the
coupl e spent 40 years wri ti ng al l the vol
umes, wor
k
i ng 8 to 1 4 hours a day. They
travel l ed al l over t
he worl d, research
i ng
materi a
l f
or thei r wor
k
, w
h
i ch
b
ecame
the most am
b
i ti ous l iterary project ever
underta
k
en. Durant pai nts eac
h h
istori
cal ch
aracter as a real human
b
ei ng,
with the comp
l exities of character we
al l have. Whi l e h
e
doesn't ma
k
e excuses
for vi l l ai ns of history, he ma
k
es sure
h
e
h
umani zes eac
h
person menti oned.
Here history i s presented not as c
h
ro
nol ogy, and not as a sequence of
events,
b
ut as a progressi on o
f
peopl e.
Some o
f
the vol umes are more than
at a ti me i n the early
1 930's when great
advances were
b
ei ng
made i n sci ence. I n
The Brave New
World,' he al erted
peopl e to the pro
b

l ems that technology

could cause, i ncl udi ng
overpopul ation an
d
psychol ogi cal
b
rai n
washi ng. The novel i s
a
b
out a
f
ri ghteni ng so
ci ety, where humans
are reproduced i n l a
b
o
ratories to per
f
orm cer
tai n roles. Those w
h
o
d
i
d not con
f
orm were
cast out. Rel i gi on was
b
anned in thi s soci ety,
1 000 pages in l ength,
b
ut the story i s
tol d i n such an entertai ni ng and col
our
f
ul manner that the rea
d
ers are
entranced, and never
b
ored.
and mi nd alteri ng drugs al lowed
the government total control over
the i n
d
i vi dual . Today, hi s words
seem prophetic,
f
or Huxl ey has
warned us that technol ogy must
b
e used f
or the good o
f
man
k
i nd,
or i t wi l l lead
to its destructi on.
D
What
an amazing
technol ogy!!
Tel l Me Why

Why is 'Gone With

the Wind,' a valuable work?
'Gone with the Wi nd,' i s a hi storica
l
romance set in northern Georgi a duri ng
t
h
e
d
rama o
f the Civi l War and Reconstruc
tion Era. It traces t
h
e
l
i
f
e o
f
Scarl ett O'Hara
and h
er rel ati onshi ps wit
h Rhett Butl er, and
As
hl ey and Mel ani e Wi l
k
es. The novel ad
dresses such themes as survival, romanti c
l ove, and the soci ety's structuri ng o
f
gender
an
d
cl ass. Wi th i ts detai l ed
atmosphere o
f
a
vani she
d
age an
d
its compel l i ng characters,
' Gone with the Wi nd,' conti nues to entertai n
rea
ders to thi s d
ay.
Pu
b
l i sh
ed in 1 936, 'Gone with the Wi nd,'
b
e
came an i mmediate
b
est-sel l er,
b
ri ngi ng
f
i rst
ti me novel i st Margaret Mi tchel l an over
whel mi ng amount o
f
pu
b
l i c appreci ati on- an
d
the 1 937 Pul itzer Prize. As wel l as
b
ei ng a novel
o
f
epi c proportions, t
h
i s is va
l
ua
b
l e as a hi s
tori cal document too. I t is a depi cti on of l
i
fe i n
the 1 9th century South, and al so
d
ocuments
20th century emoti ons a
b
out the regi on's
past, and memori es o
f
a way of l
i
f
e that many
consi
dered had gone wi th the wi nd.
Book
of a Million Poems
T he Book of a Million Poems
was written by the French po
et Raymond Queneau. It has
only ten pages with fourteen
lines on each page. Every single page is cut
into strips, containing a sonnet. These can be
read combining fragments at your personal
will. Any line from a sonnet can be combined
Books that Shaped the World
GN
WH
Raymond
Queneau
with any, from
the other nine,
giving a million
different po
ems!
D1
Co
Why did 'Grapes of
Wrath,' create an uproar?
When 'Grapes of Wrath'
b
y John Stei n
b
ec
k
was
pu
b
l i shed i n 1 939, Ameri ca was sti l l recoveri ng f
rom the
Great Depressi on. The
b
oo
k
created
a nati ona
l sensati on
f
or
i ts depi cti on o
f t
he
d
evastati ng efects o
f
t
h
e Great Depres
sion o
f th
e 1 930's. I t expose
d the mi sery, a
b
uses and i nj usti ce
t
h
at mi grant wor
k
ers
had
to su
ff
er duri ng t
h
i s peri o
d. T
h
e story
f
ocuses on thetri al sand tri
b
- u -
l ati ons o
f
the Joad f
ami ly
w
hen they leave the dust
b
owl
o
f
O
k
l a
h
oma
f
or a
b
et
ter l i
f
e in Cal i
f
orni a. Many
peopl e were shoc
k
ed
b
y the
poverty and hopel essness of
the story. It created quite an
uproar, and Stei n
b
ec
k
f
ound
h
i mself i mmerse
d
i n a great
nati onal de
b
ate over the mi
grant l a
b
our pro
b
l em. Amidst
the controversy, peopl e wh
o
had never read a
b
oo
k b
e
f
ore
b
ought a copy, and l
i
b
rari es
h
a
d
waiting l i sts
for the novel
t
h
at were months l ong!
Why is 'The Common
Sense Book of Baby and
Child Care,' popul ar with
new parents to this day?
'The Common Sense Boo
k
o
f
Ba
b
y and Chi l d Care,' was
written
b
y a
famous paedi
atri ci an Dr. Benjami n
Spoc
k
. Theauthor ofeleven
b
oo
k
s, he was a pol
itical
activist
f
or causes that vi
tal ly a
f
f
ect chi l dren. These
i ncl ude topi cs l
i
k
e day
care, school i ng, housi ng,
and me
d
i cal care
for al l .
The
b
oo
k
covers eyery
thi ng
f
rom preconcep
ti on to teen hood. Spoc
k
answers the most ele
mental stu
f
f
- care and
feedi ng, di aperi ng and
Tel l Me Why

Super Book
weighing 1 060 kilograms, with 304 pages
that are 3.85 metres wide and 2.77 metres
tall ... photographer Ayman Trawi's
book holds the largest book's
record.
i ssues,
and how to answer
t
h
ose toug
h ques
ti ons
from you r tod
dl er. Baby and Ch
i ld
Care has been trans
lated i ntothi rty-ni ne
l anguages, and has
sol d fi
f
ty mi l l i on copi es
worl dwi de si nce its
f
i rst publ i cation i n
1 946.
Fi rst read
thi s! Then decide
to punish me.
Whyi s'The
Diary of Anne
Frank,' so movi ng?
'The Di ary o
f
Anne
Fran
k
" written by a
young Jewi sh gi rl ,
Anne Fran
k
, i s a pow
er
f
ul remi nder of the
horrors of war and an
el oquent testament
to t
h
e
h
uman spi rit.
In 1 942, with Nazi s oc
cupyi ng Hol l and, a thi rteen-year-ol
d
Jewi s
h
gi rl Anne and her
fami ly fled
t
h
ei r home in Amsterd
am an
d went
i nto hi
di ng. For the next two years,
unti l t
h
ei r w
hereabouts were be
trayed, they and another f
ami l y l ive
d
cl oi stere
d
in the 'secret annex' o
f
an
o
l d o
ff
i ce bui
l di ng. Anne's d
i ary i s
h
er
one true
f
ri en
d
an
d
con
f
i
d
ant. I n it, she
records the thoughts o
f
a typi cal teen.
Anne Fran
k
recor
d
e
d
vi vi
d
i mpressi ons
of her experi ences duri ng thi s peri od.
By turns thoughtf
ul , movi ng, and amus
i ng, her account o
f
fers a f
asci nati ng
commentary on
h
uman courage.
Books that Shaped the World D
Cr, the Beloved
Country
Why is 'Ni neteen
Eighty Four/ a
thought provoking
story?
Ni neteen Eig
h
ty
f
our
i s a propheti c
b
oo
k
written
b
y George
Orwel l in 1 949. The
mai n c
h
aracter in the
novel is a man cal l ed
Wi nston Smith, who
Ninteen Eighty Four
Why is 'Cry, the Beloved Country,' the
most i mportant novel i n South Africa's
history?
Cry, the
b
el oved Country is the most i m
portant novel i n South A
f
ri ca's
h
i story. Thi s
i mpassi one
d
novel
b
y Al an Paton i s a
b
out
a
b
l ac
k
man's country under white man's
l aw. When i t was written, Sout
h A
f
rica was
b
itterly d
i vi
ded
b
y segregati on and preju
di ce. Power was i n t
h
e hands o
f
t
h
e mi nor
ity wh ites, wh
i l e the
b
l ac
k
s su
ff
ere
d
poverty
an
d humi l iation. Thi s
b
oo
k
gai ne
d
i nterna
ti onal acclaim when it was pu
b
l i shed in 1 948.
l ives in a total i tari an state, wh
i c
h ma
k
es up
most o
f
the Engl i sh-spea
k
i ng worl d. I n thi s
worl d, everythi ng i s control l ed
b
y the Party
and Bi g Brother. Citizens are at al l ti mes
watched t
h
rough the ever-present tele
screen, whi ch cannot
b
e turned o
ff
. Every
one l ives i n constant
f
ear o
f
doi ng some
t
h
i ng that mi ght get reporte
d to the
Th
oug
ht Pol i ce. Citizens are encouraged to
spy on eac
h
other, an
d
c
h
i l dren are taught
to report th
ei r
parents
f
or so
cal l e
d
'thought
cri me'. Ni neteen
Ei g
h
ty
f
our ex
poses the worst
cri mes i magi na
b
l e-the destruc
tion o
f
truth,
freedom, and in
divi dual ity.
Puni shment
without cri me . . .
Tel l Me Why
Why is Winston Churchi l l's 'The
Second World War,' remarkable?
'The Second World War,' was written
b
yWi nston C
h
urchi l l, a Bri ti sh statesman
an
d l eader of h
istoric proportions, who
al so possessed su
b
stantial l iterary tal
ents. It i s a
f
i rst
han
d
account o
f
Wor
l d
War I I , an
d
was pu
b
l i sh
e
d
i n si x vol umes
over a six year period
.
The
f
i rst vol ume deal s with the rise o
f
Adolf Hitler, and ends with Churchi l l
b
e-
comi ng th
e Pri me
The
Mi nister o
fEngl and.
S
econ
d
The second vol ume
Worl d War
d
eal s with Eng-
i s over!
l and's isolation after
The Second World War
the fal l of
France, whi l e the thi rd, fourth
an
d f
i
fth vol umes descri
b
e the progress
ofthe war from 1 941 to the eve of D Day.
The
f
i na
l vol ume portrays the concl u
si on o
f the war, and i roni cal ly, how
Church
i l l h
i mself was not in power
f
or its
ulti mate end. The
b
oo
k
i s remar
k
a
b
l e i n
that, a man wh
o presi ded over thi s cri si s
i n
h
i story i s a
b
le to turn h
i s experiences
into l iterature.
Books that Shaped the World
Somerset Maugham
BestTen
The world famous
writer Somerset
Maugham selected
the following as the
ten best novels of
the world:
1. War and Peace
by leo Tolstoy
Z. Pere Goriot
by Honore de Balzac
J. Tom Jones
by Henry Fielding
4. Pride and Prejudice
by Jane Austen
5. The Red and the Black
by5tendhal
b. Wuthering Heights
by Emily Bronte
. Madame Bovary
by Gustave Flaubert
. David Copperfield
by Charles Dickens
. The Brothers Karamazov
by Fyodor Dostoevsky
1 0. Moby Dick
by Herman Melville
1
Why Is Isaac
Aslmov's 'I, Robot,' unusual?
Isaac Asi mov chronicl es the d
evelop
ment o
f
the ro
b
ot through a seri es of i n
terl i n
k
ed
stories i n
h
i s
b
oo
k
, ' I , Ro
b
ot'.
The
b
oo
k
is a col l ecti on o
f
short stories
l
i n
k
ed
b
y an i nterview
b
etween a re
porter and a scientist. It traces the de
vel opment o
f
ro
b
ots
f
rom its pri mitive
ori gi ns to its ulti mate per
f
ecti on in the
not-so-distant future. The stories i n
cl ude tal es of
ro
b
ots who have gone
ma
d
, o
f
mi n
d
-rea
d
i ng ro
b
ots, an
d
ro
b
ots wi th a sense o
f h
umour. Th
ere are
al so ro
b
ot pol i ti ci ans, an
d
ro
b
ots that
secretly run the worl d. The
b
oo
k
i s one
of the great cl assi cs o
f
sci ence
f
i cti on i n whi c
h Asi mov set
out the pri nci pl es of
ro
b
ot
b
ehavi our that we
k
now as
Lord o/the Flies
the Th
ree Laws o
f
Ro
b
otics.
The stories are all tol d wi th
the dramati c
b
l end o
f
sci ence
f
act and sci ence
f
i cti on t
h
at
h
as ma
d
e Asi mov such a pop
ul ar author.
Why Is 'Lord of the Fl ies,'
considered a dark novel7
'Lord o
f
the Fl ies,' i s wri tten
b
y Wi l l i am Gol di ng, who won
the No
b
e
l
Prize
f
or Literature i n
1 983. T
h
e
b
oo
k
i s
b
ased on hi s
horror at t
he atrocities com
mi tte
d
b
y the Nazis duri ng
Worl d War I I . 'Lord o
f
t
h
e Fl ies,'
i s set at a ti me w
h
en Europe is
in t
he mi dst o
f
nucl
ear
de
struction. The story is a
b
out
group of
b
oys, who are
b
ei ng
evacuated from Engl and to
Austral ia, and crash l and on
-e wy
A Huge Book
The Klencke
Atlas, which
stands at 1 .78
by 1 .05 metres
when open, is
recognized in the Gui nness
Book of Records as the world's
largest atlas. It was presented
to Charles II on his restoration
to the British throne, by a
group of Dutch merchants led
by Johannes Klencke. It is so
big that six people are needed
to lift it, and another two to
open it!
tropi cal i sl and. Noadul ts survive
the crash, and the novel i s the
story o
f
the boys' descent i nto
chaos, di sorder, and evi l . Gol d
i ng' s gri ppi ng novel expl ores
the boundary between hu
man reason and ani mal i n
sti nct. T
h
e auth
or ma
k
es ex
tensive use o
f
symbol i sm,
and
t
h
e
dar
k
tone o
f the
novel is chi l l i ng. Hi s wri ti ng
style i s si mpl e, but t
h
e sub
ject matter is deep. He uses
a rather comparativel y si m-
pl e story to convey a
wei ghty i dea and
tri es to
teach us and warn us of the
evi l nature of man
k
i nd.
Book
Why is 'The Ol d Man and
the Sea,' a classic fish tale?
The Old Man and the Sea i s
a cl assi c written by Earnest
Hemmi ngway, and pub
l i shed in 1 952. Told i n l an
guage o
f
great si mp
l i city and
power, it i s the story o
f
an o
l d
Cuban
f
i sherman, down on
h
i s l uc
k
, and h
i s supreme or
deal - a rel
ent
l
ess, agoni zi ng
battle wit
h
a gi ant marl i n
f
ar
out i n t
he Gul f Stream. Hem
mi ngway uses a stri
k
i ngly
contemporary and
star
k
wri ti ng style to expand on
the theme of
courage i n the
f
ace o
f d
e
f
eat, and o
f
per
sonal tri ump
h
won
f
rom l oss.
The Ol d Man and the Sea re
vive
d Ernest Hemi ngway's
career, w
h
i ch was
f
ounder
i ng, an
d
i s in
f
act, a
f
i sh tal e
that honours i ts author.
Why is it said that Hel ler's 'Catch 22,' re
flects the sentiments of a generation?
'Catch
22,'
b
y Joseph Hel l er i s an anti war
novel , that refl
ected the senti ments o
f
a gen
eration a
f
ter World War I I . Hel l er
hi msel ffl ew
si xty mi ssi ons in Europe
d
uri ng the War, and
h
i s experi ences
deepl y a
ff
ected hi s outl oo
k
on
l
i
f
e. The novel s
k
i l lful l y projects the a
b

surd ci rcumstances o
f l
i
f
e among the Ameri
ca mi l itary
duri ng Worl d War I I . I t i s t
h
e story
o
f
a US ai rman's attempts to survive the
ma
d
ness o
f
t
h
e Second Worl d War, shortly
afer returni ng
f
rom the confl
ict
h
i msel f. Usi ng sati re,
b
l ac
k
h
umour, an
d seemi ngly un
d
e
f
eata
b
l e l ogi c, the
b
oo
k
argues th
at
war i s i nsane, t
hat the mi l
itary is i nsane, an
d th
at, qui te pro
b
a
b
ly,
mo
dern l if
e itself is i nsane too. I t was so popul ar that, tod
ay the
phrase 'Catch 22,' re
f
ers to a si tuati on i n
whic
h any move that a person
Why is 'Pedro Par-
amo,' a one of a kind book?
Pedro Paramo was pu
b
l i s
h
e
d in 1 955
b
y Juan Rolfo and
h
as si nce
b
ecome one o
f
Latin Ameri ca's most read
b
oo
k
s. It is a
d
ream-l i
k
e tale, whi ch i ntertwi nes a man's
quest to fi nd h i s l ost
father wi th the
f
ather's
o
b
sessive l ove
f
or a woman. In the
b
oo
k
, Rulfo uses strai ght
f
orward narration, mov
i ng
f
rom conscious t
h
ought to memory,
f
rom the worl d o
f
the l ivi ng, to th
e wor
l d
o
f
the dead. , Pedro Paramo,' captures th
e es
sence of l
i
fe in rural Mexi co duri ng the last
years o
f
the 1 9th century, an
d
t
h
e
b
egi nni ng
o
f
the 20th, l i
k
e no ot
her wor
k
o
f f
icti on.
Here, i n a mere 1 24 pages, t
h
e author viv
i dl y portrays the radical social and eco
nomi c changes whi ch spurred t
h
e dramatic

can ma
k
e wi l l l ead to
trou
b
l
e.
Tel l Me Why
Why is it said that 'Silent Spri ng',
l aunched an environmental movement?
'Si l ent Spri ng',
b
y Rac
h
ael Carson was re
l
eased i n 1 962. lt o
f
ere
d t
h
e
f
i rst sh
atteri ng
l oo
k
at widesprea
d dangers of the overuse
o
f
pestici des, and touch
ed o
f
an envi ron
mental awareness that sti l l exi sts. The
b
oo
k
too
k
f
our years to write. It meti cul ousl y
d
escri
b
ed h
ow DDT entere
d the food
c
h
ai n, an
d
accumulate
d i n the
f
atty ti ssues
of ani mal s, i ncl
u
di ng
h
uman
b
ei ngs, and caused cancer an
d ge
neti c damage. Carson concl uded that DDT and other pesti ci des
had
i rrevoca
b
ly harmed
b
i r
d
s an
d
ani ma
l s, an
d h
a
d contami nated
the enti re worl d f
oo
d
supply. Carson, a nativeo
f
rura
l
Pennsylvania,
had grown up with an enthusi asm
f
or nature matche
d
onl y
b
y h
er
love of wri ti ng and poetry. Her
b
oo
k
' Si lent Spri ng', proved to
b
e
the spri ng
b
oar
d for an envi ronmental movement that l ed
to
tougher govern ment control s over the use of pestici des.


mi grati on o
f
the peasants f
rom
ranchos an
d vi l lages to the ur
b
an
sl ums, when t
h
ey coul d no l onger
l
ive o
f
the l and, nor
f
i nd wor
k
. It i s
a shadowy, eerie, haunti ng wor
k
,
and one whose i mpact on l iterature
cannot
b
e over-emphasize
d.
Books that Shaped the World
An Expensive Book
'T
he Task,' by Tomas Al
exander Hartmann has only
13 pages, but is priced at
1 S3 Mi l lion Euros! This
makes it one of the most ex
pensive books in the world.
The author explained that
its value stands i n its con
tent, for the book offers an
swers to some fundamental
questions of humankind in
less than three hundred
sentences.
D
Marshall
McLulzall
Why di d 'Understanding
Media- The Extensions of Man,'
challenge old ideas i n mass com
munication?
Un
d
erstandi ng Me
di a- T
h
e Exten
si ons o
f
Man i s a pat
h
b
rea
k
i ng wor
k
b
y t
h
e technol ogy guru Marsh
al l
McLu
h
an. I t was pu
b
l i shed
i n 1 964,
and i t chal lenged the exi sti ng notion
that the content o
f
a message was
more i mportant than its
f
orm. McLu
han argue
d that the i mpact o
f
a mes
sage
d
epen
d
e
d
on t
h
e way that i t was
presente
d
, or on its
f
orm. He al so
b
e
l i eved that the medi um i n wh
i c
h t
h
e
message was presente
d
- that is,
w
h
et
her i t was presente
d
on radio,
televi si on, or pri nt- also a
f
f
ected the
i mpact that it had. He
f
oresaw the
domi nant role t
hat el ectroni c com
muni cati on woul d play, and how
technology woul d
b
ri ng people cl oser
together, to ma
k
e the worl d seem
smal l er. In fact, he was the
f
i rst person
to use t
he term 'gl o
b
al vi l l age,'- a term
t
h
at
h
as
b
ecome so popu l a r today.
Why di d 'The Quota
tions of Chairman Mao', play a
major role in infl uencing the hi story
of Chi na?
Mao Tse - tung was t
h
e great leader o
f
the
Chi nese Communi st Party, and th
e
driving
force o
f the revolution that founded The
People's Repu
b
l i co
f
C
h
i na. He al so i nitiated
many social and economi c re
forms at the
cost o
f
mi l l i ons o
f
l ives. 'The Quotations o
f
Chai rman Mao' was pu
b
l i shed i n 1 966, and
Mao Tse-tung
was i ntended to
b
e the gui de
b
oo
k
f
or th
e
Cultural Revoluti on, wh
i c
h was Mao's dream. T
h
e
b
oo
k
contai ne
d
Mao's p
hi l osop
h
ies, and was requi red readi ng
f
or al l C
h
i nese people. I t
b
ecame one ofthe most i ntense
l
y
stu
d
i ed
b
oo
k
s in t
he world, and Mao's word
s
b
ecame the
Mao's
quotations were
sol d out
.
Now, you
can buy my own quo
tati ons!
ulti mate authority i n Chi na.
However, a
f
ter the
death o
f
Mao,
h
i s views were de
nounce
d
. But
h
i s accom
pl i shments as a lead
er, and
f
oun
d
er o
f
mo
d
ern C
h
i na
cannot
b
e c
hal l enged.
Quotations
fom
Chairman
Mao
Tse-tung
Books that Shaped the World
1
Why is 'One Hun
dred Years of Sol itude,' the
crowning achievement of Gabriel
Marquez?
'One Hun
d
re
d Years of So
l
itu
de,' tel l s the
story o
f
t
h
e rise an
d fal l,
b
i rth and death of
the mythical town o
f
Macon
do, through
the
history o
f
a
f
ami l y
k
nown as t
h
e
Buendfa. lt was pu
b
l i shed i n 1 967, and with
thi s
b
oo
k
, the author Ga
b
ri el Garcia Mar
quez i ntro
d
uce
d
Latin Ameri can l iterature
to the worl d. It i s a ri ch an
d
b
ri l l i ant chroni
cl e of l
i
f
e and deat
h. I n th
e story o
f the
Buendi a
f
ami ly, one sees a
l l o
f h
umanity, just as
i n the history, myths, growth, an
d d
ecay o
f
Macondo, one sees al l o
f
Lati n Ameri ca. Love an
d
l ust, war and
revol uti on, ri ches an
d poverty,
youth and seni l ity are al l portraye
d with the si m
pl i city, ease, and purity t
h
at are t
h
e mar
k
o
f
a mas
ter, 'One Hundred Years o
f
Sol itu
d
e,' i s one o
f the
20th century's enduri ng wor
k
s, and the crowni ng
ac
h
ievement o
f a No
b
e
l
Prize wi nni ng
author.
Why is 'The Gul ag Archi
pel ago' i mportanthi stori
cal ly?
'The Gulag Archi pelago',
b
y Al e
k
sandr Solzhenitsyn
i s an i mportant
historical
document
b
ecause it chroni
cles the i mprisonment,
b
ru
tal ization, and very ofen,
mur
d
er o
f
tens o
f
mi l l i ons
o
f
i nnocent Soviet ci ti zens.
St. Joan
Thi s was done
b
y
the Soviet government,
mostly duri ng Stal i n's rul e
f
rom 1 929 to 1 953. Sol zhenit
syn's
f
i rst purpose was to
d
ocu
ment
f
or t
h
e Soviet people, the
real truth o
f
w
h
at happened. A
survivor hi mself, Solzhenitsyn felt
o
b
l i ged to do thi s
for the sa
k
e o
f
'al l those tortured
an
d
mur
d
ere
d',
b
ut even more,
f
or l ivi ng an
d f
u
ture generations. The
b
oo
k
was
f
i rst pu
b
l i she
d in France in 1 973,
an
d
i s a l iterary tri umph.The wor
d
'gulag' re
f
ers to t
h
e system o
f
concentration camps, and
Solzhenitsyn used th
e word 'ar
chi pelago' as a metaphor
f
or the
camps, spread throughout the
Soviet Uni on l i
k
e a chai n of is
l ands.
George Bernard Shaw, the
famous English playwright,
wrote a play based on the life of Joan of Arc,
shorly after she was declared a saint. It
was cal led 'Saint Joan', and over the years,
it has been seen as one of his greatest, and
most imporant works. St. Joan has been
hailed as being intellectually exciting, and
praised for dealing with imporant themes,
such as nationalism and war.
Books that Shaped the World
Why i sToni
Morrison's book 'Beloved,' l i ked
by readers world wide?
'Bel ove
d
,'
b
y Toni Morri son i s a Pul itzer
(l( :
Prize wi nni ng novel, that is set in O
h
io i n
1 873. T
h
rough a seri es o
f flash
b
ac
k
s, the
b
oo
k
reveal s the horror o
f
sl avery, an
d
com
b
i nes lyri cal prose wit
h
a magi cal re
M

al i sm that h
as ma
de it love
d
b
y readers
worl dwi de.
At the heart o
f
the story i s an al most un
spea
k
a
b
l e act of h
orror and
h
eroi sm- a
woman
b
rutal l y
k
i l l s her i n
fant daughter
rather than al l ow her to
b
e ensl aved. The
woman is Sethe, and the novel traces her
journey
f
rom slavery to
f
reedom duri ng,
an
d
i mmediately
f
ol l owi ng t
h
e Ci vi l War.
Woven i nto thi s mesmeri zi ng narrative are
the terri
b
l e truths o
f
Set he's past. The novel
is part ghost story, part
h
istory lesson, and
part
fol
k
tale, and addresses the i ssues o
f
b
l ac
k
cul ture, hi story, and
i
dentity wi th
sensitivity and
b
eauty.
Fi rst Nobel Prize i n
Li erature
The Nobel Prize
in Literature is
awarded by the
Swedish Academy,
Stockholm, Sweden.
The very first Nobel
Prize in Literature
Sully Prudhomme
A Brief Histor of Time
Hey!
Where
d
i
d
I come
from?
Why is 'A Brief History of Time,' an
outstandi ng book?
Stephen Haw
k
i ng, one o
f the most
b
ri l l i ant theoretical physi ci sts in
hi story,
wrote t
h
e modern cl assi c, 'A Bri e
f
Hi story
o
f
Ti me,' to hel p non sci enti sts under
stand the questions
b
ei ng as
k
ed
b
y sci
enti sts to
d
ay. Where d
i
d the uni verse
come
f
rom? How, an
d
w
hy di d i t
b
egi n?
Wi l l i t come to an end, and
i
f
so, how?
T
h
ese are the mysteri es that have puz-
was awarded in
zl ed man
k
i nd
f
rom ti mes i mmemori al ,
1901 tothe French
and Steph
en Haw
k
i ng
b
ri ngs us c
l
oser
poet and phi loso-
to the ul ti mate secrets at the very hear
pher SullyPrud-
o
f
creati on, with exci ti ng i mages and
homme, who, in his
pro
f
oun
d
i magi nati on. T
he
b
oo
k
pl ung-
poetry, showed the
es us i nto the exoti c real ms o
f
b
l ac
k
'rare combination of
hol es and
quar
k
s, o
f anti matter and
'ar-
the qual ities of both rows o
f
ti me', o
f the ' Bi g Bang' and a
hear and intellect'.
b
i gger God. Al l these comp
l ex concepts
Books that Shaped the World
11
Stephen Hawking
are expl ai ned wit
h
easy,
good-natured humour, and
an abi l ity to i l l ustrate hi ghl y
complex propositions wit
h
anal ogi es pl ucked from dai l y
I ife that ma kes the book tru I y
outstandi ng.
Desmond Morris
Why did 'The Naked
Ape,' become so popular?
Desmond Morri s wrote
'The Naked Ape,' in t
h
e l ate
1 960's. Hi s id
eas were revo
l utionary at the ti me, and at
tracted
a lot o
f
attention
worl dwi de.
Accordi ng to Desmond
Morris, o
f
t
h
e 1 93 species o
f
monkeys and apes, th
e onl y
one that i s not covered with
hai r is Man- hence the title
'The Naked Ape'.
Morris, an anthropol ogist,
studies humans f
rom a zoo
l ogical perspective, f
ocusi ng
on ori gi ns, beh
avi our, rear
i ng, expl orati on,
f
ighti ng,
f
eedi ng, and com
f
ort. Th
e
Naked Ape's
view t
hat, the
behavi our of
h
umans
was
determi ned l argel y by
thei r bi ol ogy, and that hu
mans s
h
are many charac
teristics wit
h
ani mal s, par
ti cul arl yapes,wasofensive
to many readers, and en
l i g
h
teni ng to others.
'The Naked
Ape' was first
serial ized in London's Dai l y
Mi rror tabl oi d, i n w
h
i ch he
d
escribed humans in t
he
same objective, analytical
way that zoologists de-
scri be ani mal s.
Morri s was t
h
e curator of mammal s
at the Lon
d
on Zoo, an
d
a special i st i n
pri mates. Hi s view of Man was that
our species i s best viewed as a very
compl icated pri mate.
2011 Nobel Prize for Literature
The 201 1 Nobel Prize for Literature
was awarded to Swedish poet, Tomas Tran-
stromer. His sometimes bleak, but graceful work
explores themes of isolation, emotion and identity
while remaining rooted in the common place. Mr. Tran
stromer, 80, has written more than 15 collections of poetry,
manyofwhich have been translated into Engli sh, and 60 other
languages.
Books that Shaped the World 13
Doctor Zhivago
Boris Pasternak
Most Successful Textbook Writer
Euclid is the most successful
textbook writer of al l time. His 'El
ements', written around J00 BC,
has gone through more than
T ,000editions since the invention
of printing!
kon]thoChoohon
Why does 'Doctor Zhivago'
have hi storical significance?
'Doctor Zhivago', by Bori s Pasternak
i s cl assi c story o
f
t
h
e l i
f
e and loves o
f
a
poet an
d
p
hysician cal l ed Yuri Zhivago,
duri ng t
h
e turmoi l o
f
t
h
e Russi an Revo
l uti on. T
h
e novel has histori cal si gnifi
cance as it deal s with themes l i ke social
i sm an
d Marxi sm, the excesses t
h
at oc
curre
d
in name o
f
revol uti on, and th
e
trans
f
ormation o
f
t
h
e l argest country o
f
the wor
l d f
rom a centuries ol d system
i nto a
f
ai l ed i deal . Bori s Pasternak h
as
written a
del i ghtf
u
l
tal e wh
ose c
h
arac
ters are cra
fted f
rom al l secti ons o
f
socie
ty, maki ng this novel a representation of
t
h
e w
hol e o
f
society at that ti me. Th
e
h
ars
hness o
f wi nter, the beauty of f
orests
an
d f
i el ds, the man divided in hi s love
f
or
wi
fe and lover, the poet i n exi l e, the i
deal
ists seeki ng to c
h
ange t
he worl d, Russian
history and customs, are al l conveyed with
power an
d poetry that make readi ng thi s
book a rewar
d
i ng experi
ence.
Tel l Me Why
Alexandre Dumas
Why is the 'The Count
of Monte Cristo,' consid
ered one of Alexandre
Dumas's best works?
'The Count o
f
Monte
Cristo,' i s one o
f
the most
popul ar works o
f
the
f
a
mous French author Al ex
andre Dumas. It i s an ad
venture story with a hi stori
cal setti ng, and i s packed
wi th i ntri gue, great
f
i ght
scenes, love, passi on, and
witty social satire. Dumas
has a wonder
f
ul grasp o
f
human nature,
and a tal ent
f
or render
i ng al l the
f
ol l i es o
f
Man i n
del i ghtful, snappy prose. Set i n
Marsei l les, Rome an
d
Pari s i n the
1 9th century, i t tel ls the story o
f
Edmon
d Dantes, a young sai l or
who i s
f
al sel y accused o
f
treason,
and i mprisoned
in a
d
ungeon
f
or
1 4 years. A
f
el l ow pri soner tel l s
hi m where to
f
i nd treasure buried
on a Me
d
iterranean i sl and cal l e
d
Monte Cristo. On Dantes's escape,
he acqui res the treasure, gives
hi msel
f
the name Count o
f
Monte
Cri sto, and ruthl essl y goes about
the slow d
estruction o
f his ene
mies. The book presents a vivid
portrait o
f
France
f
rom the end o
f
the Napol eoni c years to the early
1 840's, and generati ons o
f
read
ers have thri l l e
d
to Dumas's rivet
i ng, romanti c tal e o
f
revenge.
Its sure . . .
I wi l l fi nd somethi ng
on Monte Cristo
Island.
Kahlil Gibran
Why is Gi
bran's 'The Prophet,'
the work of a geni us?
Kahl i l Gi bran's master
pi ece, 'The Prop
h
et', i s one
o
f the most bel oved cl assi cs
o
f
our ti me. Publ i she
d
i n
1 923, i t i s a collection o
f
po
etic essays that are phi l o
sophi cal , spi ri tual , and,
above al l, i nspi rational . Gi
bran covers topi cs l i ke love,
marriage, chi l dren, givi ng,
eati ng and dri nki ng, work,
T lH l J 1 0 lll l'
KAHLl LCl 8kAN
joyan
d
sorrow,
housi ng, clothes,
buyi ng an
d
sel l i ng, cri me
and puni sh
ment, l aws,
f
ree
d
om, reason an
d
passi on, pai n,
self-knowled
ge, teachi ng,
f
ri en
dshi p, tal ki ng, ti me, good
and evil, prayer, pl easure, beauty,
rel i gi on, and deat
h
. Poet, phi l oso
p
her, and artist, Kahl i l Gi bran was
born in Lebanon. Mi l l ions o
f
Ara
bic-speaking peoples
f
ami l i ar
with hi s writi ngs i n that l anguage
consider hi m the geni us o
f hi s
age. He was a man w
h
ose
f
ame
an
d
i n
fl
uence sprea
d f
ar beyon
d
the country o
f hi s bi rth. 'Th
e
Prop
het,' is loved by readers al l
over t
h
e worl d, who f
i n
d
i n it, an
expression o
f
t
h
e
deepest i m
pul ses o
f
Man's hear and mi nd.
Gibran's Home
in Bsharri
Albert Camus
Why is it
said that 'The Pl ague,'
by Al ber Camus i s a novel with
several meanings?
'The Pl ague' by Al bert Camus i s a
h
aunti ng tal e o
f the tri ump
h of
t
h
e hu
man spi rit i n the
f
ace o
f
unrel ieved hor
ror. Th
e novel
deal s wi t
h an epi demi c of
buboni c pl ague that takes place i n th
e
Al geri an port city o
f
Oran. W
hen the
pl ague
f
i rst arrives, the resi
d
ents are slow
to recognize t
h
e mortal
d
anger they are
i n. Once t
h
ey do become aware o
f
it, they
must deci de wh
at measures theywi l l take
to
f
i g
h
t t
h
e
d
eadly di sease. 'The Pl ague,'
was
f
i rst publ i sh
e
d
i n France i n 1 947,
t
h
ree years afer the end o
f
Worl d War I I .
T
h
e novel has several meani ngs. On one
l evel , i t refers to the German occupation
o
f
France
f
rom 1 940 to 1 944, wh
i c
h cut
France o
f f
rom the outsi d
e worl d
, j ust as
i n the novel , the town o
f
Oran must close
its gates to isolate the pl ague. The pl ague
may al so be understoo
d
as the presence of
moral evi l , or si mply, as a symbol o
f
the na
ture o
f
t
h
e human condi ti on. In s
h
ort, 'The
Pl ague' is Camus's bri l l i ant al legory o
f the
spread o
ff
asci sm.
Anna Karenina
Leo Tolstoy's clas
sic novel Anna
Karenina tells of
the love afair be
tween Anna and
Count Vronsky. An
na rejects her pas
sionless marriage
and is forced to en
dure the hypocri
sies of society. Set
against a vast and
richly textured
canvas of the nine
teenth-century Rus
sia, the novel's sev
en major characters
create a dynamic
imbalance, playing
out the contrasts
of city and country
l ife and al l the vari
ations on love and
fami ly happiness.
Fi rst published
in T 8??.
11
H.G. Wells
The
'i
me
M
a

bc
1o
Why is 'The Tim Machine,' by
H.. Wells the vehicle for hi s social
and political ideas?
'The Time Machi ne' is a sci ence
f
iction
cl assi c, and H.G. Wel l s, the author, was a
pi oneer o
f
such novels. I n thi s work, Wel l s
put
f
orward hi s soci al and pol i ti cal i
d
eas
in thi s narrative o
f
a namel ess time travel
ler who is hurtle
d
i nto t
h
e year 802,701 by
h
i s el aborate ivory, crystal, an
d
brass con
trapti on. T
he world he
f
i nds is peopled by
two races- the
d
eca
d
ent Eloi, fl uttery and
useless, are dependant
f
or
foo
d
, cl othi ng,
an
d shelter on the si mi an subterranean
Morl ocks, who prey on t
hem. Th
e two
races symbol ize Wel l s's vi si on o
f the
eventual result o
f
unchecke
d capital i sm.
'The Ti me Machi ne,' i s considered by
many to be one o
f the
f
i nest works o
f
Engl i s
h f
i cti on. Thi s
h
i ghl y entertai ni ng
novel has had an enormous i nfl uence on
Engl i sh
f
iction i n general , and science
f
iction in parti cul ar.
Survival by Chance
Several of Aristotle's writ
ings have survived only by a
forunate chance. Around 80
BC, the men of a Roman army
invading Asia Minor found a
number of manuscripts of Aris
totle's works in a pit, and
Tel l Me Why
Why is 'Paradise Lost,' a gift to
the English Language?
'Paradi se Lost,' by John Mi l ton i s an epi c poem
t
h
at tel l s the story o
f the
fal l of
Man. The central
f
i gures in t
he poem i ncl ud
e God, Jesus, Satan,
A
d
am, Eve, an
d
the archangel s Raphael an
d
Mi chael . Mi lton's purpose i n wri ti ng the poem
was to 'justi
fy the ways of God to Man,' and to
def
i ne to the nature o
f
obedi ence,
f
ree wi l l , an
d
just aut
hority. It is not an easy poem to read
and understand
because it was written i n th
e
1 7th century and the Engl i s
h
l anguage was di
f

f
erent
f
rom what it is to
d
ay. Mi lton was i nnova
tive with words, and he gave Engl i s
h
the gif o
f
new expressions, such as the most
famous 'al l
Hel l broke loose', whi ch was
f
i rst uttere
d
i n
'Paradi se Lost'. I n
f
act, there are many, many
wor
d
s w
h
i ch were
f
i rst used i n Engl i sh in 'Para
di se Lost,' with over 9000 l i nes o
f
some o
f the
greatest poetry every written, Mi lton does an
i ncredi bl e job o
f
usi ng cl assi cal and bi bl i cal al
l usi ons i n a cl assi cal
f
ormat to create a surpris
i ngly modern, and i ncredi bl y poi gnant look at
the nature of
God and Man.
brought them to
their general, Sulla.
It turned out that no
other copies of
many of them exist
ed, and Sulla had
them taken to Rome
and recopied.
Books that Shaped the
Paradise Lst
o
Why did 'The One
Straw Revolution,' by Fuku
oka trigger a revolution i n
agriculture?
'The One Straw Revolution,'
was written
b
y Masano
b
u
Fukuoka, i n 1 975. Fukuoka was
a Japanese farmer and phi l os
op
h
er, w
h
o
d
eve
l oped a sys
tem of natu ra I fa rm i ng t
h
at
h
e
b
el i eved coul d
b
e of great
b
enefit to the worl d. He di d
not pl oug
h h
i s fiel ds, used no
agri cul tural chemi cal s or prepared
ferti l izers, and di d not flood hi s rice
fiel ds as farmers have done i n Asia
for centuries. Yet
h
i s yie
l ds equal led,
or surpassed the most pro
d
uctive
farms in Japan. 'The One Straw Revo
l ution,' was a
b
est-sel l i ng
b
ook that
d
escri
b
e
d hi s l ife's journey, his phi
l osophy, and farmi ng tec
h
ni ques. It
has
b
een translated i nto more than
25 l anguages, and hel ped to make
Mr. Fukuoka a lea
d
er in t
he world
wi de sustai na
b
l e agri cul ture move-
ment.
Tel l Me Why
' H E
:.g.c.ll H.e:.- ei
H A V L L T,
Pe yDm=q,
pvnraes|= .
Ncwlrimpiode1,({o a; mu
;i ni tw;)accor to terc a pta
j[=
I AT LONDON
Pe q1.1 fr N. L ao 9Mb (2b
f ' S DoC i
..
Hamlet
Why
is
' Hamlet,' one
of Shake
speare'sgreat
est plays?
'Haml et,' i s
wit
h
out ques
ti on, t
h
e most
famous play i n
the Engl i sh l an
guage. Probably
written i n 1 601
or 1 602, the tragedy i s a masterpiece of t
h
e
famous Engl i s
h
pl aywri ght Wi l l i am S
h
ake
speare. T
h
e heart of t
h
e story is the h
ero's
struggl e with two opposi ng forces- moral
i ntegrity and the nee
d
to avenge hi s father's
mur
d
er. The play has al l the i ngre
d
ients for
a gri ppi ng story, i ncl udi ng revenge and
power, love an
d
betrayal,
d
ramati c swor
d
fights and dark spooky scenes. It is trul y a
supremel y rich and complex l iterary work
that conti nues to del i ght both read
ers and
audi ences with its myria
d
meani ngs and i n
terpretations. ' Hamlet' is S
hakespeare's
l ongest play, an
d
among t
h
e most powerful
an
d
i nfl uenti al tragedi es in the Engl i s
h
l an
guage.
Burnt
Literature
Virgil, one of
the great
Roman poets,
lef instructions
that, upon his
death, his
manuscript of
'The Aeneid,'
should be
burnt, because
he had not been
able to polish it!
o 5nehokoo
Bust of Virgil
Why is 'The Jungl e Book,'
by Rudyard Ki pl i ng popul ar
with readers of al l ages?
'The Jungl e Boo
k
' i s a col lection o
f
stories written by the Bri ti sh Nobel
Laureate, Rudyar
d
Ki pl i ng. Thetales i n
the boo
k
are
f
abl es, usi ng ani mal s,
an
d
are presented in such a manner as
to give moral lessons. The themes o
f
'The Jungl e Boo
k
,' revolve around no
bl e qual ities suc
h
as
l oyalty, h
onour,
courage, tradi ti on, i ntegrity, and per
si stence. Among the most famous are
the stories o
f
Mowgl i , a ' man-cub'
rai sed by wolves i n t
h
e I ndi an j ungle;
Why has 'The
Rubaiyat' been trans
lated i nto most l an
guages?
Omar Khayyam, t
h
e
1 1 th century poet, wrote
'T
h
e Rubaiyat,' w
h
ich is
made up o
fthe most ex
qui site verses. Hi s
rhymes received l ittle
attenti on in thei r
d
ay,
but they were rediscov
ere
d an
d transl ate
d i nto
beautiful Engl i sh, more
t
h
an seven centuries
later, by a gentl eman
an
d
sc
h
ol ar name
d
E
d

war
d
Fi tzGeral d.
T
h
e Rubaiyat o
f
Omar
K
h
ayyam then became
i mmense
ly popul ar
w o r l d -
that of
Ri
kk
i-Ti
kk
i-Tavi, a heroi c mongoose;
and 'Toomai of the El ephants', the story of a
young el ephant-handl er. I nterspersed
wit
h
numerous poems 'The J ungl e Boo
k
' is re
gar
d
e
d
as an i mmorta
l
cl assi c w
h
i c
h wi l l
enchant and e
d
ucate read
ers
both young and
ol d.
oZ
Hel p me!
Shere khan is
here!!
Tel l Me Why
wi
de, and was
transl
a
te
d
i nto most l an
guages. The poem presents the
deep feel i ngs an
d
emoti ons of
the poet on a vari ety of subjects
such as death, love and
rel i gi on
i n four
l i ne stanzas that were
known as ' rubai ,' in Farsi , the
l anguage ofthe poet.

The
Rubaiyat
Mother of al l
Recipes
.
The first volume of reci-
:
:
pes was published in 62 :
:
ADbytheRomanApicius.
:
:
Titled 'De Re Coquinar-
:
"
g ia,' it described the _
g
..
feasts enjoyed by
.
.
.
.
.
the Emperor ",
g
g
'
g
Claudius.
g
g
g
g
g
g g
g
g
g
'

g
g
g
g
g g g
g
g
g
g
Why is the 'Encyclopae
dia Britanni ca' i mportant
i n our lives?
The Encycl opaedi a Bri
tanni ca i s, wi thout doubt,
the most compreh
ensive
encycl opaedi a i n the
worl d. It has been provi
d

i ng knowl e
d
ge and i nfor
mati on to peopl e for al
most 250 years. I t was first
publ i s
h
ed as a three-vol
ume set, publ i shed
in Ed
i nburgh, Scotl and, in 1 768.
The Britanni ca qui ckly
Encyclopaedia Britannica
grew in size and reputation i n
t
h
e years that
fol lowed, and soon
b
oasted ari cl
es
b
y emi nent
scholars. The ownershi p o
f
Bri
tanni ca passe
d
to two Ameri
cans i n 1 901 , and pri nti ng was
moved to the States i n 1 929,
b
ut
its engagement wit
h
the worl d's
f
oremost schol ars an
d
experts
conti nued. Today, it is written
an
d
conti nuousl y up
dated
b
y
a
b
out 1 00
f
ul l-ti me editors, and
more than 4,000 expert contri
b

utors. Readers can access qui ck

f
acts or i mmerse t
h
emselves i n
d
etai
l
e
d arti cl es on al most any
su
b
ject i magi na
b
le, w
h
i l e en
joyi ng the vivi d an
d
b
eauti
ful
i mages o
f
art, geography, sci
ence, sports, and much more,
maki ng the Encycl opae
d
i a Bri
tannica the leader in re
ference,
education, and l earni ng world
wi
d
e.

I aman
Encycl opaedi a
Britannica!
Ripley
Why is 'Ri pley's Believe It
or Not,' amazing?
'Ri pl ey's Bel i eve It or Not' i s
a series o
f
b
ooks
b
roug
h
t out
b
y Ri pley's Pu
b
l i shi ng, l i sti ng
vi rtual ly every ki nd of unusual
person or event. For i nstance,
Ti m Cockeri l l , known as the
Great I n
f
erno, gargles hot
molten l ava. A 6500 year ol d
b
a
b
y mummy i s depi cted i n a
l i
f
e-l i ke pose. T
h
e arti st, Dan
i el Ortega of San Di ego, Cal i
forni a, turns ashes of th
e

Iceberg i n
Literature
Since most early
literate civilisations
werelocatedaround
the warm Mediter
ranean region, the
first mention of an
iceberg in world lit
erature did not come
until the ninth centu
ryAD.
dead i nto
b
eauti
f
ul art pieces.
A l ive pi cture o
f l i ghtni ng
was capture
d
b
y a pho
tograp
h
er as the fl ash hi t
the Statue of
Li
b
erty on
22 Septem
b
er 201 0 .
Every page is chock
f
ul l o
f
f
acts,
f
i gures, an
d f
ul l col
our photos, hi ghl i ghti ng
some o
f
the most
b
izarre
thi ngs t
h
e world
h
as ever
seen. Basical ly, it i s a
great encyclopae
d
i a o
f
wei rd p
h
enomena that
wi l l catch the attenti on
of ol d and young al i ke.
Why i s 'Uncle Vanya'
appeal i ng to audiences even
today?
'Uncl e Vanya,' i s Russi an auth
or An
ton Chekov's masterpiece o
f f
rustrated
l ongi ng and waste
d l ives. A tragicom
edy, it was
f
i rst pu
b
l i s
h
ed in 1 899, and
is a cl assi c a
b
out the un l ived l if
e, told
through th
e regret
ful musi ngs of
a
f
ami ly. The story revolves around an
el derly pro
f
essor and
h
i s gl amorous
young wi
f
e El ena. Two
f
ri ends, Vanya
an
d
Astrov
b
ot
h fal l und
er El ena's
spel l . Sonya, the pro
f
essor's
daughter
i s in love with Astrov,
b
ut
h
e
d
oesn't
return her love. T
h
e tal e i s a so
b
er
one, and Chekhov's c
h
aracters are
eac
h
unhappy in thei r own way ...
and th
ey are not a
f
rai
d
to admi t pre
ci sel y th
at. What makes Chek
h
ov so
appeal i ng to us today i s hi s remark
a
b
l e a
b
i l ity to richl y draw some o
f
the most memora
b
l e characters o
f
t
h
e mo
d
ern t
h
eatre, al l o
f
w
h
om we
h
ave no trou
b
le i
dentifyi ng with
numerous peopl e we know in our
own l ives !
that Shaped the World
Why did 'Twenty Love Poems and a Song
of Despair,' establish the author as a gen
ius?
Twenty Love Poems an
d
a Song o
f
Despai r
by Pabl o Neruda was
f
i rst publ i shed i n 1 924,
when he was only ni neteen. Thi s col lection o
f
romantic poems is
h
i s most popul ar work.
Drawn
f
rom t
h
e poet's most i nti mate an
d
per
sonal associati ons, the poems are a bl end
o
f
youthful passi on an
d the desol ation o
f
gri e
f
. I n
spite o
f hi s youth. Neruda was abl e to convey
exquisitely the beauty an
d
nature o
f
love, and
the passi ons,
fears, pai n, and angui sh of h
u
man existence. T
h
e book establ i shed h
i s repu
tati on as a l iterary geni us, an
d
i s so popul ar
that it has been trans
lated i nto many l an
guages.
Twent Love Poems and a Song ofDespair
Pablo Neruda
o
The Overcoat
Wh is 'e Overcot/ N
model fr other writers?
'The Overcoat,' a short sto
ry by the Russi an author
Gogol , i s a remarkabl e piece
o
f
l iterary art. It di splays
Gogol 's gi
f
t o
f
caricature and
i magi native invention. Gogol
i s a champion o
f
the poor
an
d downtrodd
en. He gave
l iterary l i
f
e to the 'l ittle man',
usual ly a minor ofi ci al
crushe
d
by an i nsensi tive ad
mi ni strative system. Thi s i s
the theme o
f
'The Overcoat',
and Gogol's pathetic l ittle
man is Akaky Akakiyevich
Akakievich Bashmachki n, an
Chinese Ci nderella
Gogol
i nsi gni
f
i cant, copyi ng cl erk.
There's a lot i n 'The Overcoat,'
that is as scathi ngly true i n
modern l i
f
e as i n 1 9th-centu
ry Russia such as the i mper
sonal ity an
d
casual cruel ty o
f
ofice l i
f
e. Gogol knows and
writes about poverty - to
save a
f
ew kopecks, Akaky
gives up candl es and hi s
eveni ng tea - an
d
the way
dreams, even very smal l
ones, can be l i
f
e-supporti ng.
Wi th 'The Overcoat', Gogol
i ntroduce
d the short story as
a literary
f
orm i n Russi a, pro
vi di ng a new model f
or other
writers o
f
the ti me.
The famed story of Cinderella was based on a simil
iar story first appeared i n a Chinese book in 850 AD.
Books that Shaped the World
o1
Why is Goethe's 'Faust,'
considered as one of the great
est plays i n the German l an
guage ?
'Faust,' by Goethe is a tragi c
pl ay i n two parts. I t i s hi s most fa
mous work, an
d
is consi d
ere
d to
be one o
fthe greatest plays in the
German l anguage. 'Faust,' i s al so
the pl ay wi th the l argest aud
i ence
numbers of German l anguage
stages.
Faust concerns the
f
ate o
f
a
l earne
d
gentl eman name
d
Dr.
Faust, w
h
o of
f
ers to sel l hi s soul to
t
h
e Devil in return for the Devil's
service for a given period
o
f
ti me.
Faust
'Mother'
Maxim Gorky is the
pen name of Rus
sian writer Aleksei
Peshkov. Gorky
was a literary gen-
ius. 'Mother', his
most famous novel
has been translat-
ed into all the lead-
e
ing languages of
the world. His other
well known literary
works are 'Lower
Depths,' and 'My
Childhood and
Reminiscences'. His
novels, plays and
autobiographies
describe the woes
of the Russians in
the pre-revolution
arydays.
Paper Story
Paper was i nvent
ed in China around
105 AD, by Ts'ai Lun.
According to the of
ficial history of the
Why is
'Thousand and
One Nights' unique?
'The Thousand and
One Ni ghts,' is a mag
nificent col l ection of
tal es compi l ed i nArabi c.
It i s popul arl y known i n
Engl i sh as the Arabi an
Nights.
Ki ng Shahryar got hi s
wi fe execute
d
,
d
i sgust
ed by her behaviour.
Angry wi th a
l l women
he i nstructe
d
hi s advi sor
to bring a new bri de to
hi m each ni ght, an
d
ki l l ed them al l in the
morni ng. The a
dvisor's
Han dynasty (J'century
_
AD).
d
a u g h -
ter, Scheheraza
d
e, ha
d
an i ngeni ous i
d
ea. Becomi ng
Queen Scheherazade, she enter
tai ned
her husban
d
with a story,
breaki ng it at the
d
awn, at a cruci al
poi nt. Too eager to hear the rest of
the story at ni ght, the ki ng put of
her execution. Thi s went on and
on. The way Scheherazade weaves
the web of her stories is amazing,
ofen tel l i ng several stories si mul
taneously. The col l ection i ncl udes
famous stories l i ke Ali Baba an
d
Forty Thi eves, Si nbad the Sai l or
and Al addi n and the Magi c Lamp. l t
was first translated i nto Engl i sh in
1 835. Later, the transl ati on by Sir
Ri chard Franci s Burton ( 1 884) ma
d
e
it more famous al l over the worl d.
Ts'ai Lun was given "n aristocratic
title afer he presented Emperor Ho Ti
with samples of paper. In 751 AD,
Chinese papermakers were captured
by the Arabs at Samarkand, and by
794 AD, several state-owned paper
mi l l s operated in Baghdad. The Arabs
were manufacturing paper in Spain
around 1 1 50.
Ts'ai Lun
Books that Shaped the World o
1N1NNNUMM
IOH f|beeHue d)
1. Plac of Publicaton
2. Periodicity of its Publication
3. Printer's Name
(whether citizen of India?)
Address
4. Publisher's Name
(whether citizen oflndia?)
Address
5. Editor's Name
(whether citizen of India?)
Address
6. Names and adds s ofindivi
duals who own the newspapr
Name and address of share
holders holding more than one
prcent of the total capital
1. Mr. Mammen Mathew, Manorama Mandiram, Manganam.
Kottayam- 686 018.
Kottayam
Monthly
V. Sajeev George
Y
M.M. Publications Ltd.,
PB. No. 226, Kottayam - 686 001
V. Saeev George
Y
M.M. Publications Ltd.,
PB. No. 226, Kottayam - 686 01
Mrs. Ammu Mathew
Yeo
Ropka1a, Mount Wardha.
Kottayam-686 004
M.M. Publications Ltd.,
P.B. No. 226, Kottayam - 686 001
as given blow:-
19. Mrs. Sarah Kuriyan, Empire Infantry, 3rd Flor, No. 29,
Infantry Road, Bangalore- 5 01.
2. Mr. K.K. Mammen Mappillai, Indo Bloom Ltd., Empire lnfan- 20. Mr. Rohan Mathew Mammen, Blok E-13, Wllingdon
tr, 3rd Flor, 29, Infantry Road, Banga1ore- 560 (1. Enclave, Pandit. Karuppan Road, Thevara, Kochi-682 013.
3. Mrs. Soma Philips, 221, Grant Road, Bangalore- 5 01.
. M. R MmNo. 2, lnfantyRod, Bon- 560 001.
5. Mr. A Mammen, 28, G.N. Chetty Road, 1 Nagar,
Chennai- 600017.
6. Mrs. Omana Mammen, 15, Wallac Garden, 1st Stret,
Chennai- 600 006.
7. D. Mrs. An a Msmmen, Mount Wardha,
Kottayam- 686 004.
8. D. M. Sarah Thomas, Mount Wardha, Kottayam- 686 04.
9. Mrs. Annu Kurian, Ooppoottil, Kawdiar PO.,
Thiruvananthapuram- 695 003.
10. Mrs. Mary Kurian, Clo. Mr. T.K Kurian, 402,
Skyline Apartmenta, Langford Road, Bangalore- 560 025.
11. M. Shirin Mammen, No. 10, Wallac Garden, 1 Street,
Chennai- 600 06.
12. Ms. Shil pa Mammen, Con. IFS Apartments, Mayor Vlhar,
Phase I, New Dl- 110 091.
21. Mrs. Ambika Mammen & Mr. K.M. Mammen, 17,
Gilchrist Avenue, Ot Harington Road, Chetpet
Chennai- 600 031.
22. Mrs. Reenu Zachariah, Ashoka House, Mount Wha,
Kottayam- 686 004.
23. Mrs. Ammu Mathew, Ropkala, Mount Wardha,
Kottayam- 686 004.
24. M. K.M. Mammen, 17, Gilchrist Avenue,
OfHarington Road, Chetpt, Chennai- 60 031.
25. Mrs. Meera Mammen, No. 6, Riverside Road,
Kotturpuram, Chennai- 60 085.
26. Mr. Mammen Eapen, IS, Wa1lace Garden, 1st Street,
Chennai- 600 06.
27. M. Rebecca Jacob, Flat No. lB, 'AUM' Apartments,
26, Kothari Road, Nungambakkam, Chennai.6O 034.
2. M Anand Mammen Katakam, 4 Curley Street,
Richmond Town, Banga1ore- 560 025.
29. Ms. Anna Philip, 2 Cambrae Hall, 172,
D. P.V. Cherian Cresent, Egmore, Chennai-60 08
13. M. Rohlt Philip, India Cofee and Tea Distributing Co. Ltd.,
30. Ms. Maya Kurian, 16115. 8inny Cresent, Benson Town,
1213, Jeevan Udyog, 278-0, Naoroji Road, Mumbai- 400 01.
Banga1ore- 560 046.
14. M. Kiran Kattukaran, Empire Infantry, IIIrd Flor, No. 29, 31. Mr. Adith Poulose Mammen, Blok E-13, Willingdon
Infanty Road, Banga1ore- 5 01.
Enclave, Pandit Karuppan Road, Thevara, Kohi-682 013.
15. M. Prema Mammen Mathew, Manorama Mandiram, 32. M. Varn Mammen Mappillai, No. 6, Riverside Road,
Mang Kottayam- 686 018. Kotturpuram, Chennai- 60 085
16. Ms. Oivya Philip, lndia Cofee & Tea Dbutng Co. Ltd., 3. M. Aditi Mammen, By M. & G. M Meera Mammen,
1213, Jeevan Udyo, 278-0, Naoroji Road, Mumbai- 400 01. No. 6, Riverside Road, Kotturpuram, Chennai- 60 085
17. Ms. Awathy Varghes, B, Century Reteat, 23,
3. M. Mammen Philip, 4 Chandika, O.PTwers, 8,
Sterling Road, 1st Cross Street, Chennai- 600 034
College Lne. Chennai- 60 00
18. Mrs. Bina Mathew, 'MOR', 57/1670,
35. M.Annamma Philip, 4 Chandika, O.P.Towers, 8,
Pandit Karuppan Road, Thevara, Kohi- 682 013.
College Lne. Chennai- 600

I, V. Sajev Gerge, hereby declare that the particulars given abve are true to the bst of my knowledge and blief.
Dated: Ol'(2-2012
S
Publisher
Tel l Me Why
Man Booker Prize is a prestig
ious British awar
d
given annu
al ly to a f
ul l-l ength nove
l . It was
establ i shed i n 1 968 by the
company Booker McConnel l .
Entri es, must be written by an
Engl i sh-l anguage author from
the United Ki ngdom, the Com
monwealth countries, I rel and,
or South A
f
rica. The l ast
f
ive
Booker Prize novels are given
here:
Z00. The Gathering
- Anne Enright
Z00B. The White Tiger
- Aravind Adiga
Z009. Wolf Hall - Hi lary Mantel
Z010. The Finkler Question
- Howard Jacobson
Z01 1 . The Sense of an Ending
- Jul i an Barnes
Books that Shaped the World
Since 1 901 ,
the Nobel
Pri ze i n liter
ature has
been award
e
d
annual ly
to an author from any country.
The Swedi sh
Academy de
ci des the prize
in any given
year. The last
ten Nobel
Pri ze wi n-
ner's l i st i s
given below:
Tomas Transtromer (201 1 )
Mario Vargas Llosa (201 0)
Herta Mul ler (2009)
Jean-Marie Gustave
Le Clezio (2008)
Doris Lessing (2007)
Orhan Pamuk (2006)
Harold Pinter (2005)
Elfriede Jel i nek (2004)
John M. Coetzee (2003)
I mre Kertesz (2002)
Si r Vidiadhar Surajprasad
Nai paul (200 1 )
1
L0Stb00KS
Have you
h
ea r
d o
f
b
ooks that mad
e
h
istory,
b
ecause no
b
ody has seen them?
Some o
fthem h
ave vani sh
ed, or some o
f
t
h
em mi ght exist onl y i n i magi nati on.
Here i s a
l
ist o
f
a
f
ew some such
b
ooks:
Aristophanes' ' Heracl es
the Stage Manager,' was one o
f
t
h
e playwrights severa
l spoo
f
s
t
h
at
d
isappeare
d
.
pochon
d
riacs an
d
cures
b
egun
when th
e aut
h
or was
f
atal l y i l l
.
T
he second
h
a
l f
o
f 'Dead
Soul s'
b
y Ni kol ai Gogo! . The au
t
h
or
b
urned it afer a rel i gious
conversion convi nced h
i m that
literature was pagani sm.

'Love's La
b
our's Won'
thi s may h
ave
b
een a sequel to
Shakespeare's Love's La
b
our's
Lost. Some al so say it mi ght
have
b
een an al ternative titl e
f
or the 'Tami ng o
fthe S
h
rew.'
Socrates' version o
f' Aesop's
Fa
b
les' was total l y destroyed.
R. L. Stevenson's 'Weir o
f
Hermi ston,' was l eft i ncom
plete
b
y the author's d
eath.
Jane Austen's i ncompl ete
novel 'San
d
iton,' was a
b
out hy-
Z
Marco Polo's Writing
Had Marco Polo not been cap
tured by the Genoese and im
prisoned for a year, the tales of
his historic twenty-two-year adventure i n the Far and Mid
dle East (at the end of the thirteenth century) might never
have been collected and written down. When he returned
to Venice after his odyssey, he became a 'gentleman com
mander' of a war vessel striving to hold off Genoese traders.
In a battle of Curzold Island, his gal ley was captured, and
Marco was hauled off to Genoa and jailed. There he met a
writer named Rustichello, who, after hearing Marco's yarns,
insisted that they be written down.
Tel l Me Why
The
f
ront cover ofth is i ssue
f
eatures an amusi ng oi l
pai nti ng, 'Le Librai re' (Th
e
Li brari an), by the renowned
artist Andre Marti ns de Bar
ros.
The pai nti ng shows the
f
i gure o
f an old man
f
orme
d
sol el y o
f
boo
k
s, gazi ng i nto
the worl d o
f
boo
k
s through
hi s monocl e.
Andre Marti ns de Barros
was born i n 1 942, in Pau, a
French town in th
e
foothi l l s
o
f t
he Pyrenees near the
Spani s
h
bor
d
er.
An
dre's style i s ch
aracter
ize
d by a complex i magi na-
Books that Shaped the Worl d
Andre Martins de Barros
tion laden with ideas that run
deep, and his wor
k
s ta
k
e us
to a worl d of fantasy, as is
cl earl y seen i n 'Le Li brai re'.
His pai nsta
k
i ng ef
ort, and
meticul ous attenti on to de
tai l are al so evi
dent in thi s
great wor
k
o
f
art.
e mai l :
MR|0!000||0!@gM|| .t0M
3
Why is 'The Bl i nd
Owl,' considered as a major
literary work in I ran?
Sadegh Hedayat, one o
f
the estab

l i she
d
I rani an writers, is the au
thor o
f
'The Bl i nd Owl.' Written
in Persi an, 'The Bl i n
d
Owl,' i s hi s
most enduri ng work o
f
prose
and a major l iterary work o
f 20th
century I ran. It tel l s the story o
f
an unname
d
pen case pai nter.
The novel contai ns a maze o
f
symbols, recurri ng i mages, so
ci al commentary, contempl a
ti ons of the
h
uman condi ti on,
i nterjecti ons on art, and refer
ences to l iterary an
d
rel i gi ous
texts, al l o
f
whi ch have,
f
or dec
ades, made i t ferti l e ground f
or
critical i nterpretati on. 'The Bl i nd
Owl,' was written d
uri ng the oppressive
latter years o
f
Reza Shah's rul
e. I t was
publ i she
d
i n 1 937 in a l i mited edition in
I ndia, where Hedayat was then l ivi ng.
The novel appeared
i n I ran's i n 1 941 ,
and went on to have a tumul tuous exist
ence in the hands o
f
I ran's censors, who
were present everyw
h
ere. 'The Bl i n
d
Owl,' had
f
ound wide acceptance, and
was transl ated i nto multi pl e
l anguages.
Why is 'The
Adventures of Pinoc
chi o,' very famous?
'The Adventures of Pi nocchi o,' i s
one of the most famous novel s for
chi ldren. Written by Ita
l
i an author
Carl o Col l odi , it i s considered a cl as
si c of chi l dren's l iterature. It narrates
the story of Pi nocchio,' an ani mated
puppet, and hi s poor father, a wood
carver name
d Geppetto. The Adven
tures of Pi nocchio i s not set in a tra
di ti onal fai ry-tal e worl d. I t deal s wi th
the h
ard real iti es of l ife.
The first halfofthe novel was ori gi
nal l y a seri al , but later, i t was com
pleted as a book for chi l dren. Chi l
d
ren' s l iterature was a new i
d
ea i n
Col l odi ' s ti me, an i nnovation i n the
n i neteenth-centu ry. Th us, i n content
an
d style it was new and modern,
openi ng the way to many writers of
the fol l owi ng century.
| [
a t
I a n
lindness,' i s a
novel by Poruguese
author Jose Sarama
go. It is one of his most
famous works. 'Blind
ness' is set in an un
named city. It is the
story of an unex
plainedmassepidemic
of blindness afflicting
nearly everyone in
the city. The novel
tells about the
breakdown of a so
ciety, because of
the sudden blind-
Nno 0xt
Mayan Story
The sole surviving written
record of Mayan hi story is
three codices written in hier
oglyphs on bark paper. All
three are now held in Eu
ropean cities.
Awtnd8hot
Why di d 'Black
Beauty,' break the
sal es records after a
few months of its
publ i cation?
Bl ack Beauty i s one
o
f the best-sel l i ng
books o
f
al l ti me.
Written by Engl i sh
author Anna Sewel l,
it tel l s t
h
e story o
f
a
h
orse name
d Bl ack
Beauty. T
h
e novel
d
eal s wit
h the hu
man ani mal rel ation-
Tel l Me Why
Black Beauty
shi p, and love. It al so teach
es
how to treat people with kind
ness, sympathy an
d
respect.
The bi rth o
f
this touchi ng story
was
f
rom the personal experi
ence o
f
Anna Sewel l , By tel l
i ng
the story o
f
a horse's l i
f
e i n the
f
orm o
f
an autobiograp
hy, and
d
escri bi ng t
h
e worl d t
hrough
the eyes of
the horse, Anna
Sewel l broke new l iterary
ground. Thi s best-sel l er broke
al l sal es records withi n
months.
Books that Shaped the World
LPR|\^JL^S

LRRLfJlL^S
It is our policy to correct errors,
and present diff ering views and
clarifcations about the contents
in previous issues. Please send in
your feedback, mentioning the
title and page number.
Arvi nd Goel ,
f
rom Del hi ,
has poi nted out a mistake i n
the January i ssue of Tel l Me
Why, 'Hi storic Lasts'. He
writes that on Page 48, I t is
given that Abraham Lincoln
was t
h
e
f
i rst presi dent o
f
th
e
Unite
d
States, whi ch is not
correct. George Washi ngton
was the
f
i rst presi dent o
f the
United States an
d
Li ncol n
was t
h
e 1 6
tho
Thank you, Arvind, for your
valuable feed back. Actually
Abraham Lincoln was the first
president of the United States
to be assassinated.
We were comparing Lincoln
with the last assassinated
president,)ohn /Kennedy

president of the United States).

The words 'to be assassinated'
got omitted because of some
technical error.
- Editor
1
Aren't there many little things you have wondered about, but didn't know whom to
ask? Send us your questions, and we will give you the fascinating reasons behind the
incredible mysteries of life.
Why do we snore?
Bi ol ogi cal ly, snori ng
re
f
ers to a vi brati on i n
t
h
e ai rway connecti ng
the nose, and th
e mouth;
a vi bration t
h
at can
emerge through the
mouth, the nose or
through both! The an
swer to the questi on
'w
h
y do we snore?' i s
f
ound by l ooki ng at the
ti ssues wi thi n the ai r
way. Thi s ti ssue is very
sof, and at ni ght, be
comes relaxed; it's si mi
lartohowsomemuscl es,
l i ke biceps, become re
laxed at ni ght si nce the
bod
y d
oes not requi re
them. As the throat re
laxes duri ng sleep, the
wi nd tunnel becomes
narrower, and hence,
snori ng occurs.
We ofen snore when we have a col d,
because o
f
bl ocked nasal ai rways. We
would th
en breathe through our
mouth causi ng negative pressure be
hi nd the uvul a and sof palate, and thi s
h
el ps to create the sound o
f
snori ng.
Uvul a i s the smal l pi ece of
so
f
t ti ssue
that dangles down
f
rom the
f
t pal ate
over t
h
e back o
f
the tongue. Snori ng
can al so be cause
d
i
f
the nose has any
d
e
f
ormi ti es i n the nose.
K.P.5okomor
MANORAMA TELL ME WHY - BOOKS THAT SHAPED THE WORLD
Editor: Ammu Mathew Editor-in-Charge: N.M. Mohanan*
Printed and Published by Y. Sajeev George, on bhalf of M.M. Publications Ltd,
P.B. No. 226,Kottaya - 68600I at M. M. Publications Ltd, P. B. No. 226,Kottaya - 68600I
and Malayala Manora Press, Kottayar - 686039and published from
|
M. M. Publications Ltd, P.B. No. 226,Kottaya " 6860i .
* Responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act
. Solar System IJ. Computer +. Prehistoric Creatures
. Birds I4. Egyptian Civilizations 45. World Cup Football
. Inventions I5. 1 00Great Scientists 46. Ancient Greece
T. Oceans I6. Continents 4. Story of Firsts
5. Ancient World I. Revolutions 4B. Natural Wonders
6. Cricket IB. 1 00Great Medical 49. Endangered Animals
. Animals Discoveries 50. 1 00Great Writers
B. Plants I9. The Moon 51 . Roman Civilization
9. Transportation J0. Great Disasters 5I. Polar Regions
1 0. 1 00Great Events J 1 . I nsects 5J. 1 00Great Painters
1 1 . The Earth JI. Metals 54. World Wars
1 I. Communication JJ. Money 55. Mammals
13. Indian History J4. Mythology 56. Parliaments
14. Festivals J5. The Mughals 5. Reptiles
1 5. Wonders of the World J6. Mountains 5B. Great Women
1 6. Great Explorers J. Universe 59. Lost Civilizations
1 . 1 00Great Lives JB. Mysteries 60. Ancient World's Commanders
1B. Weather J9. Spors 61. Amphibians
19. International Organizations 40. Diseases 6I. Volcanoes
I0. Desers 41 . Animal Behaviour 6J. Countries ofthe World
I1 . Weapons 4I. Water , Historic Lasts
II. Olympics 4J. Wars 65. Evolution