Book Bubble

Weapons of Mass Instruction is a book for those who are enraged by our current education system, which probably includes all of us. Written by a former teacher who has spent years in the system, this book is a powerful manifesto against our curriculum makers, administrators and designers of the system, teachers, and basically everyone who partakes in this collaborated effort to suppress the individualities of our children. As you will go through the book, you will empathise with the rage and the frustration of the author and you will hopefully start envisioning a better system which not only makes our students capable for jobs but also makes them educated. The book analyses the history of modern schooling system and reveals how so many education policy makers were unified in their vision of what the goal of an education system should be. They saw education as a tool to tame the spirit of children and make them accustomed to following orders and ensuring a chaos free continuity of ...

Salman Rushdie is a brilliant writer. The only writer to be awarded the Booker prize twice. I enjoy his witticism and his breathtaking style of writing. He can take the most ordinary of the stories and infuse it with such life that the reader is left spellbound. His writing is rich with allegory, symbolism, and incisive remarks about the current happenings in this fascinatingly bizarre world of ours. This is the third book by Rushdie I've read. My journey with Rushdie started with 'Satanic Verses'- A novel which is fascinating, scandalous, funny, bitter, all at the same time. I moved on to Midnight's Children, which I'm still to finish, not because it's boring but because it can be exhausting for someone who has stayed away from dense readings all his life. I do intend to finish it sometime and hopefully publish a review. Last year when I came across the news that Salman Rushdie is coming up with a new novel, a book about Jinn's, people with magical su...

Noir, in french, means black. When applied to movies, film-noir means a movie with black shades. The stories are gritty, the characters are amoral or downright evil, the protagonist is slick, street-trained and a cynic. Strictly speaking, Film-noir does not only refer to a genre of movies, it also refers to movies of a certain era. So a proper definition of film-noir would be movies with darker shades released in 1940s and 50s. Noir has been a popular genre and The Big Sleep occupies a special place in the genre. Perhaps, the movie itself is more popular than the book. I love mystery thrillers and this book was always on my to-read list. When the perfect opportunity arrived, I didn't blink twice and read the first chapter. And I was hooked. The big sleep is about Phillip Marlowe. Marlowe is a private detective who is hired by General Sternwood who wants to shake off someone who is trying to blackmail him. As he goes about trying to complete the task assigned to him, A murder ...

What if you were born in a room and you've never seen the outside world? What if you don't even know that the outside world even exists? Room is the story of 5 year old Jack and his mother who live in a room. Jack has never seen the world beyond the room. He has a TV but he believes everything on it is not real. The only people he knows about is His Mother and Old Nick who brings them whatever they need from the outside world. Room is a beautifully crafted story. It pulls you into the world of a 5 year old who lives in an extraordinary environment. You see the world from his innocent and sometimes confused point of view. Jack's observations are cute and raise a chuckle as you read them but at times they also provide startling insight into this chaotic world of ours. The story resonated with me personally because for a stretch of time I had limited interaction with the outside world. As Jack and his Ma struggle to fit in the outside world once again, I could see their...

The Girl on the train was released last year and went on to become a phenomenon. Widely praised and compared with The Gone Girl, the book sold millions of copies and also got a movie deal. I love thrillers and twists and turns but I didn't like The Gone Girl that much so I was slightly apprehensive. But anyway, I decided to take the plunge and see for myself what the hype was all about. And I'm not going to say I didn't enjoy the book. First, let me tell you briefly about the story without any spoilers. The book is about Rachel who travels everyday to London for work. Now Rachel doesn't has a happening life. She is divorced and still unable to get over her ex-husband who cheated on her. She lives alone with a flatmate. She has no friends. Only acquaintances. She is an alcoholic who like every other addict resolves that she is going to quit soon, that she's going to sort her life ASAP, which she fails to do. She is prone to blackouts. a stretch of time period when...

The screen of my old kindle finally gave up after working brilliantly for past two years. It was my first Kindle so it was a bit sad to see its demise. Maybe the device had some more life left if I had not been so careless. I had the lazy habit of leaving the wallpaper on for days at a stretch. Now the wallpaper has burned into half of the screen and rendered the device useless. Lesson learned: Never leave Kindle with the wallpaper for a long duration. Anyway, I promptly ordered a new Kindle which was delivered just before Christmas. I went through the usual gamut of emotions on receiving any new gadget. Excitement. Satisfaction. Happiness. I promptly loaded the device with few books and began reading. The first thing I noticed about my new Kindle was its weight. It was noticeably heavier than my old device. It was also thicker in size. Heavier and bulkier. I did miss my old Kindle for first few days but gradually I adjusted to the new form factor. The touchscreen is convenient fo...