Nuclear accident: Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety

Nuclear weapons are immensely powerful, with the potential damage from an explosion being of much higher levels than all previous such weapons. The explosions of a nuclear weapon at Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan that caused the end of the second world war showed the immense power of nuclear weapons, and those were on the smaller scale. Modern nuclear weapons, especially the hydrogen bombs, are of a scale that is much more powerful than the ones that were used in Japan. And the number of these weapons (stored in missile systems) are in the thousands, spread all over the country. Most people staying near to these missile silos are totally unaware of how close they live to such destructive power; although these warheads are supposed to be designed that they will not explode unless a specific series of processes are carried out, and hence the risk of detonating accidentally is ruled out.
This book showcases that while even a powerful explosion next to the warhead did not explode it, there is always some amount of uncertainty when dealing with such a weapon. Even the fact that the missile has a large amount of very dangerous fuel adds to the complication in dealing with such matters.




The Titan missiles were a significant part of the US strategic missile fleet and were mated to a 9 megaton warhead, the most powerful warhead in the US stockpile of nuclear weapons. These were sited in silos across many parts of the country and were loaded with a fuel that was more stable than previous (although stability is always a relative measure - these propellants were far more dangerous and unstable than the petrol or gasoline we use in our normal vehicles). One of these silos was near Damascus in rural Arkansas, close to Little Rock. A missile is essentially a metal pipe that contains a lot of high explosive power propellant with a much more explosive warhead on top.
Imagine a regular maintenance of the missile, and a socket drops from the personnel who are doing the maintenance. They watch in horror while the socket plummets down into the silo, finally hitting the body of the missile and cause the fuel to start gushing out from the hole. From then on, it becomes like a real life high speed film, with disaster starting everyone in the area, conflicting scenes of responsibility, local authorities knowing that some disaster is unfolding but not having control of the area (that control was with the military), and finally sending in volunteers to control the situation, followed immediately by such a huge explosion that the warhead was thrown some distance away (and recovered).
The incident has been covered in books and in documentaries, and when you see the documentary, the theory that a warhead is totally safer even under these circumstances seems like theory, not something that you really want to see being under test.

Israel and the Bomb - By Avner Cohen (1999) - The fascinating story about the Israeli bomb

Israel is a very small country in the Middle East, a country that was formed soon after the Holocaust saw millions of Jews in Europe to be murdered in hideous ways, using the official state machinery of Nazi Germany. It caused a huge upheaval in the politics of the Middle East, with large migrations of Jews from all over Europe to the Middle East with a demand for a country of their own, where they would not be subjected to extermination. However, safety of the new nation was not easy, with it being invaded by its neighbors as soon as it was formed, and struggled to defeat them. There was nothing easier for a neighboring dictator (or democratically elected leader) to become popular than to promise the defeat of Israel and force the population to the ocean (and with the size of Israel and its width), this was no empty threat. 

As a result, the safety for the Israeli nation was in having a military that was far superior to the combined might of its neighbors (or in terms of tactics, such as destroying the standing Egyptian Air Force in a quick attack in a war); and a weapon that promised a much superior capability was the atomic weapon (and Israel has not flinched from attacking those who also sought to develop nuclear weapons, such as its attacks on nuclear reactors in Syria and earlier, in Iraq). However, for developing a nuclear weapon, you need a strategy, you need technology and you need nuclear material. This book seeks to explain all of those, including the development of the Israeli nuclear effort and its attempts to hoodwink the French and US Governments over a period of time. 

For Israel, the nuclear weapon remains an enigma; the Government has never admitted having one; anybody in Israel who seeks to expose any details finds the full might of the Israeli state descending on him; and because of its internal politics, the US Government and political class have not had any discussion on this topic for decades now. Neighboring countries also do not try to talk about it, since that would admit to their people that they cannot seek to defeat the Israelis and that their own leaders are impotent in developing a counter nuclear weapon. However, the Israeli nuclear weapon has come close to being used twice, in the 1967 and the 1973 (the position in the 1973 war more dire, and Golda Meir, the Israeli PM, had apparently felt that the war position was very adverse and had considered the option of using 13 nuclear weapons unless Israel became safe again).

The book provides a history of the 2 decades that led to the development of nuclear weapons in Israel, the period of the 1950's and 60's. It was David Ben-Gurion, the warrior leader of Israel, who authorized and started the process of this development; collaborating with France and the United States for getting the technology and the material, but without them really believing that Israel was upto this (or in the case of the US, by the end, tacitly admitting the program - to the extent that it was supposed to be stolen material from a US nuclear reactor that was used for many of the weapons developed by Israel). 

Some of this was at a time when the US administration (especially under President Kennedy) was against nuclear proliferation besides those who had already had the weapons and hence was trying to figure out what Israel was doing. But other administrations in the United States struggled with how hard to push, till the Nixon administration finally gave it up, with the understanding that Israel would not test the bomb, and the US would not ask about the bomb.

The book is worthy reading, and is not a boring thesis, but more like a novel, making for interesting reading for a wider audience.

The Price of Politics - Would the US fall over the fiscal cliff ?

In the current atmosphere of the 2016 presidential elections, the tension between the Republican Party and the Democratic Party is extremely high, there is almost no sign of any civility between these 2 opposing parties. Politics is a total gridlock, the public impression of Congress is at an all time low and people want some kind of change.
The hostilities between the 2 parties is something that has been there for many years (nay, decades). However, there has been cooperation between the parties, there has been compromise. Previous Presidents have worked with Congress controlled by the opposition parties and managed to get new laws and bills passed. However, the 2010 rise of the Tea Party movement and the election of a set of new representatives in both the House of Representatives and in the Senate is pushing a move towards fiscally responsible principles. Overall, the Republican Party has been seen to be more fiscally conservative, with the concept of keeping 'giveaways' in check, and there has been a large section of the population who believe that if they can keep their finances in check, why can't the federal Government, a Government which they believe has gone out of control.




And who is to be blamed for fiscal irresponsibility ? Why, the current President, Barack Obama under whose policies the overall debt of the US has ballooned, where there is no control of the finances of the Government and the Government itself seeks to expand rather than trying to keep control of itself. On the other side, the Democrats and the President believe that the 2008-2009 financial disaster was something that could put the US into a deep recession which would be very painful, and there was a need to try to rise out of this morass, if this required suspending some of the measures of trying to put a hard check on rising finances. So there was Government support for major financial entities whose collapse could hurt sentiment and the economy, and all of this money had to increase the debt.
By the time of the entry of the Tea Party representatives, there was a push to not let this wasteful increase of finances keep on going on, somebody needs to push to prevent any further increase of the debt. As a result, by mid 2011, there was a hard line that was being reached. The US had reached a limit about how much the debt of the US could be, and Congress needed to increase the debt ceiling. And this was just one of the battles that were being fought between the 2 opposing parties. There was almost no compromise between the opposing parties, since there was a clash of ideologies. What hung in the balance was the fiscal condition of the US, and indeed the world, since if the debt ceiling was not raised, there was the danger of a worldwide loss of confidence in the US economy and the Government. The other main battle was about the healthcare law called Obamacare, and it was tagged in almost every bill that was making its way through Congress. The dispute showcased a high amount of rigidity at the highest political level, and reading this makes for horrific reading - how can the people elected to work for the betterment of the US and its citizenry be so unwilling to work with each other to resolve crisis ? Get an insight into the people involved in all these discussions through this book.

History - A Line in the Sand: Britain, France and the Struggle That Shaped the Middle East (Published in 2009)

The current state of the Middle East seems like a total mess. From the time of the American invasion of Iraq in 2003, it would seem that everything is going topsy-turvy. However, the region has been in a state of turmoil for decades (maybe even a century) - can one forget the turmoil between the Jews and the Arabs during the 1930's and 1940's, which increased with the end of the Second World War and the push towards getting a Jewish homeland. On the other side, the Ottoman Empire was ending, and leading to a push by the various communities for power through the area. Ibn Saud was battling to conquer the land of Arabia and setup Saudi Arabia. There were powers to be everywhere; and the ever present Shia-Sunni conflict would rear up its ugly head.
However, if you were to look at the current political structure of the Middle East, there is the emphasis on one particular event which seems to be the grand-daddy of all the chaos that is currently there, the precursor to the various nations that have been setup (so, for example, if you look at Syria, it is an amalgamation of many different tribes and communities and the scope for chaos, ruthlessly put down all these years, has risen so fast that the future of the country seems totally at risk with other similar examples) - this was an arrangement between the colonial powers of a century ago, France and Great Britain. This was the Sykes - Picot agreement (named after the good gentlemen who negotiated the agreement from both sides), and the agreement delineated the spheres of control for both countries once the Ottoman Empire was defeated at the end of the First World War (link to Wiki site for the agreement).



This book provides a good reference for the events of that time. There was a huge amount of politics in that area ongoing, and during the course of the First World War, Britain and France had decided that in the event of winning the war, the Ottoman Empire would be distributed among the victorious parties in terms of mandates and regions of influence. At the same time, there was a Turkish upheaval that was against the Ottoman Empire and who wanted their own set of power and authority at the end of the war, there was the demand for a homeland for the Zionists, there were other influential figures whose support was needed by Britain and France, and yet they also felt like a kind of parental authority for the region, that they had the best interests for everybody in the region. If you go through the book and see the flow of history, you would start to see some of the background for the problems that have occurred now, especially the way that the nation states have been setup in that region. Even the 2 colonial powers who had made the agreement, were constantly jealous of the authority of the other, and especially when territory was won in the war, there was a lot of reluctance to honor previous agreements. A great deal of the background between the animosity between the Jews and Arabs in Palestine, and even the fight between the Jewish underground militias and the British authority in Palestine (modern day Israel) could be traced to a slow boil that started in the first and second decade of the 20th century.

WW2 - True Story of Wing Commander Tommy Yeo-Thomas - Published in 1997

There are actually 2 books written on the heroics of this awesome man. During the Second World War, Nazi Germany was on the warpath. By 1940, it had already run over the Low countries of Holland and Belgium, and also taken control of France, making it an occupied land. Bereft of supporters, Britain was alone in the fight against the Nazis. Russia was still in a no-war pact with Germany, the US was determined to stay out of this European war, and it seemed that Germany was preparing to attack Britain so as to ensure that the whole of Europe was under the grip of the Nazis.
At that time, it was pretty clear to Winston Churchill, the British Prime Minister, controlling a Government under siege, that there needed to be some sort of offensive against the Germans. Obviously, after the BEF (British Expeditionary Force) was walloped and had to be rescued from Dunkirk (having left all their heavy weaponry behind), there was no way that Britain could attack directly (in fact, there was little chance of even getting a beach head on continental Europe). But there were resistance movements starting to happen in the occupied countries, with the traditional enmity between France and Germans leading to the start of a vigorous resistance movement (however, the Gestapo was powerful and very determined to crush any means of resistance) - the call by Charles De Gaulle was a powerful one to oppose the Nazis.

Winston Churchill had also given the command to setup an organization that would work behind the scenes to keep the Nazis busy with sabotage, resistance and damage. The objective of the setting up of the Special Operations Executive was to 'set Europe ablaze'. The objective of the Wing Commander was to obstruct Nazi operations in France, and he soon realized that the French resistance was just not receiving enough support and sought a meeting with Churchill where he explained the need for more support for the resistance (they were the ones who could really play a role against the Nazis in occupied France). He made multiple trips to France but was captured finally by the Gestapo after being betrayed, and in turn, was tortured so that he could betray others. He refused and was tortured again and again, and still tried to escape multiple times, wherever he was kept in confinement and was finally able to make his freedom just before the end of the war in Europe. He was given multiple medals for bravery and valor; and the role he and fellow SOE agents played in Europe had a key role in finally ending the war and defeat for the Nazis.

World War 2 Book - The Day of Battle (Authored by Rick Atkinson)

For most people, their knowledge of the Second World War in terms of action are some battle scenes - Pearl Harbor, the African theatre, Battle for Stalingrad, Dunkirk, and the Normandy landings. One of the largest theaters of action during the 1943-44 phase (besides the Russian offensive on the Eastern front) was the action in Sicily and Italy. If you were to ask people besides historians about what happened in Italy during the Second World War, most people can only talk about Mussolini, but not too many more details. The Italian campaign was a significant campaign, involving men from many different countries (British, British commonwealth and territories, the Poles, and the American army). For the American army, it was significant. Their introduction into the African battle theater was not very positive, since the German army out-fought them. In the European theater, called the Fortress Germany because the Nazis controlled most of the continent, attacking the Italian theater would bring in the Nazi war machine to defend Sicily and Italy.



Another massive advantage that this entire theater brought to the American army was the blooding that it did to the army. It exposed it to war where it defeated the German war machine at many fronts, forced the development of tactics. At the same time, it also exposed them to the problems of war, with fierce German resistance preventing the movement at many fronts. The landings of Anzio provides lessons to armies even now.
The advantage of this book is about the research that has gone into providing the details of the various battles and confrontations that happened during this stage. The defeat and push back of the German armies from Sicily and evacuation from the entire island was a series of skirmishes and battles, with the German armies not being a pushover, fighting hard and also being intelligent thinkers. During the entire campaign, the German army essentially took over the Italian war campaign from the Axis side, with the Italian army not being too much in the picture.
During these battles, not everything was positive. There were failures from the various army leaders and generals, some of these were removed from their command positions during the course of these battles, and the person who developed a great reputation during these battles was also forced to relinquish his command and go into exile (this being General Patton, who slapped 2 soldiers for what he believed was cowardice and had to face severe problems when these slaps became public knowledge).
The book provides a lot of details of the entire campaign, something that a student of the war effort, or one who wants to read about this entire campaign. A must read book.

Political commentary: A history of the US Republican Party

In the charged political atmosphere of the United States as of today, there is a clear divergence between the 2 political parties - the Democratic and the Republican Party. Supporters of either party criticize the prevalent policies and trends of each party - the Democratic party is seen as a liberal party which is more supportive of minorities and more supportive of give-aways to the poor; the Republican party is seen as more conservative, more trying to attempt financial balancing, representing the white old section of the country which somehow feels that the country is moving away from the principles that have been in vogue for the past century. Supporters of either party feel that the other party is being irrational and not representing the best for the future of the country.
However, it would surprise a lot of people if they heard about history, about how the party have changed their spots over the years. How would people feel if they realized that the Republican Party was the party to which Lincoln belonged, and how the Democratic party was the one representing the south and on the losing end of the Civil War. It was the Democratic Party that was called the party of traitors, trying to break the union and fighting to support slavery. It is this history of the Republican Party that is sought to be explained in this book, first released in 2003, and then re-published in 2014.




The book covers the entire history of the Republican Party, its more than 150 years history and covers the response of the Party to the election of Barack Obama, and the weak candidates that the party set against him. One caveat is that the book is written by a person (Lewis L. Gould) who identified himself to have liberal leanings and hence is a supporter of the Democratic Party. So, the book seeks to be objective and tries to present the history of the party, covering the various twists of the evolution of the party into its current form.
One major chapter in this transformation was the period of the 1950's-1960's, or even more specifically the 1960's when the Civil Rights movement was at its peak, and where the Democratic Presidents brought in the various acts to ensure the total removal of segregation, a step which the party also realized that meant that the Democratic Party had lost the support of the south for a generation, a gap that was quickly taken up by the Republican Party. At a time of rapid change in society, the Republican Party was able to take on the mantle of appealing to people who sought stability and the values that they had seen in their young times, and who valued conservatism. The book is certainly worth reading, for a supporter and even for those who don't understand why the Republican Party is what it is.

Down and Out in Paris and London (Published in 1933) - Authored by George Orwell

Published in 1933, Down and Out in Paris and London is author George Orwell’s first full length work. A 2 part memoir on the after effects of financial crisis the world over, especially after the Wall Street crash of 1929, this book is very different from most in its genre. The reason being that Orwell did not spout about the hardships of poverty and financial difficulties from the sidelines; but was very much living the nightmare - first in Paris, as a teacher, and then in London, where he recorded his travels.
The first half of the book deals with Orwell’s experiences in Paris, especially when he finds that he has only 450 francs on him. After putting a down payment of 200 francs as rent, he tells himself that he will somehow manage on 250 francs till he finds a better job than his present work situation, which offered him only 36 francs a week for teaching students. However, disaster strikes in the life of Orwell, in the form of a robbery. His remaining measly 250 francs get stolen from his room, leaving him with 40 odd francs which he had on himself. To make matters worse his students quit, leaving him 36 francs a week short. He explains vividly how it felt to be poor and on the brink of starvation every day.
Orwell describes for the readers how there was an abundance of food everywhere, staring at him through windows, making him dream and plot of grabbing a hot loaf and running, maybe even putting some in his mouth before anyone could catch up to him. Poverty and hunger are almost always accompanied by idleness.




Orwell finally turned to a Russian friend by the name of Boris, for help. However Boris was in a far worse state than Orwell, surviving on 2 francs a day and sleeping on the floor. But, the two get together and start looking for jobs. They find some luck when they are both given jobs as “Plongeurs”, at Hotel X. Their job is basically to wash the dishes and help serve the patrons. Orwell describes with revolting clarity how the richer the patrons were, the more unhygienic and dirty their food would be. While everything looks clean on the outside, the kitchens and other areas which were not open to guests, remained filthy and pest ridden.
They barely scraped by on the money from Hotel X. Soon after, both Orwell and Boris went to work for a Russian hotel, which was even worse. From there, Orwell managed to score a job in London. However, he arrived in London only to find that his to be employer has changed his mind. Once again homeless and jobless, Orwell now provides detailed descriptions of what it means to be jobless in London.
London, where a jobless wanderer cannot even sit on the pavement to rest his heels for fear of being arrested, turned out to be much worse during unemployment and financial distress than Paris. Forced to wander the streets, Orwell provides a very constructive view of the homeless people in London, known as “Tramps”. He believes they should be given small plots of land to farm and grow their own food. He does not think them to be lazy but those who are stuck in unforgiving circumstances.
While all the events that occurred in the book are stated to be true at some point or the other, Orwell has definitely taken some creative liberty in the arrangement of the events. Though entirely factual, the sequence of events and their narration for a more dramatic effect does make the book part fiction. But, overall the book is an authentic read on poverty and hunger during the world’s financial crisis, especially since it is not a third persons point of view but written by someone who was surrounded by these challenges himself.
Except for a bit of racial slurring, particularly where he describes people, the book is a must read. But then again, Orwell has compiled his memoirs at a time when racial slurring was not looked down upon with the same hatred as it is today. A must read for anyone who wishes to understand what a majority of the world’s population went through after the Wall Street crash of 1929.

Twelve Days of Terror: Shark Attacks in 1916 - Terror on the beach and in a creek

Shark attacks are one of the most scary horrors that people think of when they think of going into the water. The prospect of a perfect and unfeeling predator swimming silently to a person in the water, and biting large chunks of flesh, causing a death by horrific blood loss is bound to scare even the most courageous of people. The rattling off statistics that the number of deaths caused by shark attacks is mostly in the single digits worldwide and hence very unlikely to happen does not reduce the scare. Even now, the prospect of a shark in the waters can bring all the swimmers out of the water; although studies which show that sharks and people swimming side by side in the waters off Sydney show that sharks just don't attack people; there are some reasons why an attack would have happened.
But why this fear of sharks ? Why this unsettling feeling when there is even some news of a shark in the water ? A lot of people based it on a very popular movie called 'Jaws' (released in 1975, and based on a novel by Peter Benchley, published in 1974), which showed a small beach town terrorized by a great white shark and how people died in these attacks. The prospect of such a common pastime, going to the beach and swimming in the water, suddenly becoming so dangerous, stayed in the minds of people and caused the movie to become a major event (and a marked negative influence for the health of the many species of sharks). But the novel was not just fiction. It was based on attacks that took place in 1916, during the First World War, in the waters off New Jersey, where a great white shark not only killed people in the water off the coast, but even came inland in a creek and killed more people (for a total of 4 dead and one badly injured). These incidents have all been forgotten, if not for this book, whose author Richard Fernicola did extensive research on these attacks and describes these events in terrifying details.

Book: Twelve Days of Terror	Movie: 12 Days of Terror	Movie: Jaws

Doing research on these attacks was not easy. The attacks happened nearly a century back and recollection of these events was not easy. Further, the First World War was happening in that timeframe, which made research so much time later even more difficult, The book does not only describe the events which happened, but also provides a lot of information about sharks and why the attacks could have taken place. And how did the author get interested in this story ? He heard a conversation about these attacks, which caused him to get interested, and led to a lot of research and finally the emergence of this book.
The book also provides information about the nature of the attacks and describes the wounds caused on the dead and the survivor; something that most modern day attacks do not actually describe. What is most interesting is the research about why the attacks could have taken place, and if you see modern documentaries that research shark attacks, in a lot of cases, there are conclusions that it was some activity of man (or in some cases, natural causes) that in turn change the behavior of the shark and could cause these attacks.

Into the Storm (Command Series) (Published in 1997) - Authored by Tom Clancy - The rise of the US army

Tom (who died in 2013) was a first rate author. He is famous for his series of fiction books centered around the world of his main character Jack Ryan, with a combination of intelligence agency (CIA) and military. His books starting with "The Hunt for Red October" were surprising because of the level of detail and military accuracy. This first book got a huge boost with the then President Ronald Reagan mentioning it as a book that he liked, and from that point on, there was no looking back. He wrote a series of books (many of them were quite lengthy), but for his fans, these were books that they loved and his books continued to be on the bestseller list, with many of them being converted into movies as well. Unlike many others, Tom Clancy did not portray the CIA or the military as big bad monsters, and with his main hero finally finding a place in the CIA, the CIA was essentially described as patriots, out to ensure that the United States defeats its enemies.
Some of his other famous books were such as Clear and Present Danger, Sum of all Fears, Debt of Honor, Executive Orders, etc. Some of these books could be seen as forecasting events which happened later, such as the plane crash by a disgruntled Japanese pilot in Debt of Honor was an eerie premonition of the plane crashes of September 11, 2001; and the Ebola crisis depicted in Executive Orders was probably the first time that a major author had shown the sheer horror of Ebola, and the current ongoing crisis in West Africa re: Ebola is similar (the social situation, infrastructure and countries are different, but the danger of such a virus comes real in the reading of this book).




Tom Clancy had also written some non-fiction books, which are much less famous, and since they are not fiction, they do not have the fast pace of the fiction books, but they are based on reality and are worth reading for the way that the books describes the setting. Into the Storm (which depicts the commander of VII corps during the Gulf War - General Frederick M Franks Jr) whose command played a pivotal role in destroying the effective military opposition of Saddam Hussein's Iraqi forces.
For those looking at a campaign from a distance, it seems about advancing into the battle and defeating the enemy, but if you want to take a closer look at the incredible amount of planning and intricacies involved in the effort, this book is a winner. From battlefield planning to logistics (and to give an idea of the sheer number of forces involved), you get details of everything in this book; it may seem too detailed, but there is a of great information available in this book - and it is hard to find this in other books.
The book also looks at the transformation of the US army. The Vietnam War was a defining moment for this institution; it was a draft based army, with discipline and training problems, and the defeat of the US in Vietnam was a huge blow to the morale of the army. From such a low, developing a professional and highly trained army that uses all the technology at its disposal effectively to be able to defeat its opponents in direct combat is a study that is brought out in this book.

Nerve (published in 1964) - Jockeys and horses, a book by Dick Francis

Richard Stanley Francis or Dick Francis was born in Pembrokshire, Wales, England on October 20th 1920. His father was a renowned jockey and Francis was catapulted in to the world of Horses, Jockeys and racing. He droppd out of school to train as a Jockey and was fighter pilot in the Royal Air-force during World War II. After the war Francis became a celebrity Champion Jockey winning over 350 races. He was the lead Jockey for the Queen Mother. But he had to drop out of Horse racing after a serious fall an d became a racing correspondent for Sunday Express. Dick Francis churned out numerous best sellers and most of his books deal with the mysteries in the realm of Horse racing and Jockeys. He wrote more than 40 international best sellers and is the recipient of numerous awards. Being a three time recipient of Mystery writer of America's Edgar Award he was made the Grand master of MWA. He is also the recipient of Britain's Crime Writers Association's Gold Dagger Award for fiction in 1979 and the Cartier Diamond Dagger lifetime achievement award. He also has the Gumshoe award to his credit. He was accorded in CBE in 2000. Dick Francis died in his Caribbean home on February 10, 2010 bringing down the curtains to an illustrious life.
Rob Finn is the black sheep of the family of talented musicians. Not only he cannot sing he cannot get the love of the woman he wants. Finn is head over heels in love with Joanna who finds his attentions unwarranted due to the fact that they are first cousins. Finn learns to ride at the outback and is hired as a trainey jockey when he reaches England.



He rides the tempestuous horses and his fearlessness helps him to overcome the most beastly ones. Slowly his fame spreads and he is catapulted in to the big league of horse racing. After basking in the glory of great wins he finds sinister going ons around him. Vicious rumors are spread about fellow jockeys and soon suicides and murders happen. Canards are spread about Finn who suddenly find his rides sluggish and his winning streak severely down in the dumps. Word goes around that he has lost his “Nerve”.
As Finn tries to find the answers about himself, he looks into the death of his colleagues and finds similar patterns and rumors surrounding their ends. As he investigates he is kidnapped and is tortured and given up as dead. But the resilient Finn manages to escape and gets the police and tries to piece the puzzle. Now the motivation is to find revenge for his torture and Finn goes against a powerful adversary whose motive is to destroy jockeys who do conform. This tale is the ultimate revenge drama of a determined but unassuming man against the power corridors in the racing land. The ending is superb and you feel for Rob Finn as he struggles to find his place in the competitive world of horse racing and love. He wins the former, but alas I feel cheated as Joanna who rescues him does not return his love.
Again a great racing story from Dick Francis in his typical crisp English. Readers can feel the yesteryears Britain through his writings, especially the English Gentleman's stiff upper-lip. Rob Finn is the typical hero who plods through torture, injury and bad luck to find a smile. Again a great mystery solved with out the high tech devices, just by pursuit and brains. A great book to take home.

Jungle Lore - a book by Jim Corbett (published in 1953)

Jim Corbett was a famous man of the Jungle, who lived in the northern portion of India (the Kumaon and other Himalayan regions) in the first half of the 20th century, and was an expert in the Jungle. He could track animals like the best of them, and was much in demand, especially for killing those animals (tigers, leopards) who had started killing humans. This would happen if the animals were diseased, or badly injured enough that they could not catch their normal prey, or had realized that humans were easier prey, especially in the region that was hilly and very green. Jim Corbett would take up such assignments, tracking down these animals over the days required, and finally hunt them down. He had given up shooting for fun, and only killed when the need was for killing such man-eaters. In dedication to him, a famous tiger reserve called "Corbett Tiger Reserve" was named after him.



Nowadays, the message about the need to protect nature, to ensure that their is a correct balance between man and nature is maintained is very important, since the future of humans depends on maintaining this balance. However, many many decades before, Jim Corbett would write on the same subject, about the hills and the nature of the forests of Kumaon.
The book is about his life, his experiences, and what he learned as a result of his experiences. Corbett had a very strong respect for the animals of the jungle, and the overall beauty of the entire nature experience.

The Man-eating Leopard of Rudraprayag (By Jim Corbett) (published in 1948)

Jim Corbett was a famous hunter and conservationist, who was born and lived in the Terai region of the Himalayas. He knew the jungle inside out, and was an expert tracker. He was also much in demand for his hunting, but at some time in his life, he had made a vow to not kill for fun, but kill those animals who hunted humans. He is responsible for killing a number of leopards and tigers who had terrorised humans in the region (many of these animals had killed scores of humans). Jim Corbett is now immortalized with the naming of a famous Tiger Habitat, called the Jim Corbett Tiger National Park (having around 164 tigers) located in the same regions where he lived, and where animals are now protected. Corbett wrote a number of books based on the animals he killed, especially since he also wrote about the habitat, about the reasons as to why an animal turned into a man-eater (because it was unable to hunt its natural prey - old age, wounded in a fight, or injured by a bullet), and also about the society of that time.



This book about the chase of an animal famous as the man-eater of Rudraprayag in the year 1925-26, in which he was accompanied by Commissioner of Kumaon, Sir William Ibbotson. They were tracking an animal that had killed around 125 people, and was an elusive hunt, and was a pretty heavy task; compounded by the fact that the region in which the leopard roamed free was around 1300 square kilometers.
As usual Corbett describes the society around him, the superstitions and faiths of the villagers; something which varied drastically between daytime and night. At night, the terror of the leopard would ensure that people kept inside, scared of the leopard. You also realize the admiration with which Corbett held the nature and environment around him.

The Temple Tiger and More Man-Eaters of Kumaon (published in 1954)

Jim Corbett was a famous hunter and conservationist who lived in the region of Terai and Kumaon, in North India during the latter half of the 19th century, and through to the mid part of the 20th century. Being born in this region, he grew up with the forested and mountainous region and became very familiar with it. He loved the jungle, was very comfortable inside the forest, and could track down animals.
He became very famous as a hunter, but he was no there for the thrill of killing wild animals, instead killing those who became man-eaters. Some of the animals (typically tigers and leopards) that Jim Corbett killed were those who would terrorize villages, killing people as they moved around after dark. These animals had typically lost the ability to hunt their native prey, being either weak, or having suffered some wounds in battle, or having been shot and injured; in such a state, hunting humans was far easier than trying to kill their traditional prey. Villagers would call Jim Corbett to hunt down such animals, and he would track them down, sometimes alone (accompanied by his dog) and hunt them down.



These were the days before modern vehicles, so moving between places and through the forests would take a fair amount of time to do. This book is the last such book written by Corbett of his adventures, culminating in the last terrific tale of his quest to kill the Talla Des Man-Eater. The stories have vivid descriptions of the forest, as well as of the rural Indian societies of these remote villages and small towns.
Reading these books will almost give you the feel that you are along with him, and able to get inside the minds of the big killer cats, and you learn to appreciate these huge animals, as well as the reasons why they do need to be killed. You also get to read interesting tidbits such as the superstitions among the people inhabiting those areas.

Man-Eaters of Kumaon by Jim Corbett (published in 1944)

Jim Corbett was a famous hunter and conservationist born and brought up in India during the latter half of the 18th century, and lived up till the mid-1950's. He was also a colonel in the British Indian army, and also worked for the Railways. He is famous (immortalized to some extent) by the naming of one of the large Wildlife sanctuaries in Uttranchal (India), called Corbett National Park, the home of the Royal Bengal tiger (at current count, there are 164 tigers inside the Park).
Corbett was also much respected by the local population of the region, a mountainous and forested regions; since he was called upon by them to kill many of the man-eating tigers and leopards that roamed in the region. Typically, these were animals that were either old or had suffered injuries during fights or when they were shot, and were unable to kill their natural prey. As a result, they turned to hunting easier prey, such as humans and many of them killed tens or hundreds of humans. The terror cast by such cats was such that people would not move out of their homes during the night.



Corbett had become incredibly comfortable with the jungle, becoming a good tracker and lover of nature. This is when he vowed never to kill or hunt down animals for fun, instead only using his gun when required to kill man-eaters.
The book is an interesting collection of 10 such stories where Corbett tracked and shot down these man-eaters in the Kumaon and other regions. Many of these required much effort to track down these animals, including live baits to get them. As you read about these tracking efforts, you learn about how an animal turns to become a man-eater, and you also learn about the efforts involved in tracking down such a man-eater, especially since such a man-eater loses the natural shyness of humans and can easily attack the hunter. These are very interesting stories.

Tuesdays with Morrie - A true story (published in 1997)

How many times do you read a book that changes the way you think about life ? Well, welcome to a book that has changed the way of thinking of many people, got people to re-think about what is important in life. The book, through its focus on the inspiring words of a dying man, sends a message to people to focus back on what is important in life, to appreciate the good and simple aspects of life, as well as implicitly also about what your legacy will be like. How you are remembered depends on the way you treat others, not on your own set of riches or ambition. Treating other people with compassion and kindness, mindful of their dignity, giving love and joy, none of these are difficult to do, but we ignore these simple aspects so easily. This book is one of those books; it started out with a small beginning, having been refused by a couple of publishers, but the appeal of the book was such that it became a huge bestseller.



So what is the book about ? It is about the interaction between a well known sports writer named Mitch Albom (who was working with Detroit Free Press, and who saw an interview of his former teacher, Morrie Schwartz, a history professor at Brandeis University (the interview is with Ted Koppel on Nightline). Morrie has been diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) and is dying. Albom has not been in touch with his former teacher ever since college, sixteen years earlier, and decides to pay a visit, initially on Tuesdays, since his paper is on strike; soon these visits become regular visits.
Albom writes about several things, such as details about Morrie's declining health, which is quite depressing, about the final conversation between Albom and Morrie, and about what has happened in Albom's life between his college and visiting Morrie. However, as you progress in the book, you read more Morris' views, a sense of what the important things in life are from someone who has little left. Morrie is very eloquent and seems to carry an upbeat dignity to the end, and it is through his views on the need for a person to have his own set of beliefs, and not be driven by what is current culture; how you should strive to make a difference and be good. It is particularly through the wisdom of a terminally ill man to make us realize that human relationships and health are more important than all the gadgets, modern conveniences, pressures to get ahead professionally, and the need to advance monetarily.

Pale Blue Dot by Carl Sagan (1994)

The complete name of the book is called "Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space" and it was another non-fiction book released by Carl Sagan (the famous astronomer and scientist) who wrote a series of books on science and space, and is most famous for his works, Cosmos and Contact. The name of the book is based on a photograph taken by the space explorer spacecraft, Voyager 1. Carl Sagan had pushed for the spacecraft to take a photograph when it was at a huge distance from the earth, a distance of 3.7 billion miles. In this photograph, the Earth seems nothing more than a Pale Blue Dot in the midst of empty space, and this is all that mankind has got.
Carl Sagan also described this photo in a speech he was giving, with these starting words: "Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam."



The book takes a look at previous theories of the geocentric Earth-centered universe, and how that was the idea that could not be challenged, with torture awaiting those who dissented. Slowly, that idea was overturned and we started learning about reality, about our true size in the enormity of the universe, starting with the scale of the solar system, and then continuing with the idea of how to explore the planets in the solar system. Carl Sagan also talks in detail about the Voyager program. The book also has some great photos of the Solar System, courtesy of NASA.

Chapters

Wanderers: An Introduction
You Are Here
Aberrations of Light
The Great Demotions
A Universe Not Made for Us
Is There Intelligent Life on Earth?
The Triumph of Voyager
Among the Moons of Saturn
The First New Planet
An American Ship at the Frontiers of the Solar System
Sacred Black
Evening and Morning Star
The Ground Melts
The Gift of Apollo
Exploring Other Worlds and Protecting This One
The Gates of the Wonder World Open
Scaling Heaven
Routine Interplanetary Violence
The Marsh of Camarina
Remaking the Planets
Darkness
To the Sky!
Tiptoeing Through the Milky Way

Billions and Billions by Carl Sagan (1997)

Carl Sagan was a famous scientist, teacher, and writer of books and creator of the series Cosmos, creations that tried to popularize science and increase the concept of free and logical thinking. Carl Sagan died in 1996 of the disease myelodysplasia (Wikipedia), after a long medical treatment. This death was a great loss to science, given that Sagan died at the fairly young age of 62 (he probably had a number of books, lectures and television series still in him, something that would have done much more to popularize science). This book is composed of essays written by Carl Sagan on different subjects, and was published after his death by his widow Ann Druyan. The title of the book is a spoof on the term 'Billions and Billions', a term that was never uttered by Sagan, but which was used satirically in various ways including by TV standup comedians.



Chapters of the book:

Part I: The Power and Beauty of Quantification
1. Billions and Billions
2. The Persian Chessboard
3. Monday Night Hunters
4. The Gaze of God and the Dripping Faucet
5. Four Cosmic Questions
6. So Many Suns, So Many Worlds

Part II: What Are Conservatives Conserving?
7. The World That Came In The Mail
8. The Environment: Where Does Prudence Lie?
9. Croesus and Cassandra
10. A Piece of the Sky Is Missing
11. Ambush: The Warming of the World
12. Escape from Ambush
13. Religion and Science: An Alliance

Part III: Where Hearts and Minds Collide
14. The Common Enemy
15. Abortion: Is It Possible to Be Both "Pro-Life" and "Pro-Choice"
16. The Rules of the Game
17. Gettysburg and Now
18. The Twentieth Century
19. In the Valley of the Shadow

The book is worth reading for the essays.

The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence by Carl Sagan (1977)

To read a science book can be dreary or boring; or it can be enlightening, imparting a wonderful education. It all depends on the author, and Carl Sagan was a wonderful author in this regard. He explains the concepts and ideas thoroughly, dosing an imparting of humour into the whole explanation and making it actually fun to read. Evolution is a heavy topic, and is also a political hot potato in the United States, where many bible groups believe that God (or intelligent design) is the creator of all life in the world, and more detrimentally to science, evolution is just a theory with no proof, a postulation by atheist scientists who do not recognize the importance of a supreme being in the whole aspect of creation.



Carl Sagan does not go against religion, he is more for the use of common sense and logic, backed by a scientific bent of mind, which looks for proof and theories that can explain life and its mysteries. So, Carl Sagan takes the theory of evolution, from the primordial single cell creatures to the age of reptiles to the evolution of highly intelligent species such as humans. He also takes on the human fear of reptiles, suggesting this fear to be based on early human's struggle against predators. Sagan also does a lot of detailing on subjects such as the search for a quantitative way of measuring intelligence (using the brain to body mass ratio), the evolution and structure of the brain, why do humans dream, etc.
The book won a Pulitzer Prize, and was a continuation of the Jacob Bronowski Memorial Lecture in Natural Philosophy which Sagan gave at the University of Toronto. The chapters of the book are:

Introduction
The Cosmic Calendar
Genes and Brains
The Brain and the Chariot
Eden as a Metaphor: The Evolution of Man
The Abstractions of Beasts
Tales of Dim Eden
Lovers and Madmen
The Future Evolution of the Brain
Knowledge is Our Destiny:Terrestrial and Extraterrestrial Intelligence

Broca's Brain by Carl Sagan (1979): Wonderful short essays

Carl Sagan is extremely famous for his books on science. These books take on various questions on science, and provide an education to people in such a way that the story-telling does not seem to be very high-brown, or above the head. If you read the book normally, by the end of the book, you will certainly have learned something. And that was the mission statement of Carl Sagan, who wrote a number of books seemingly to explain science to the masses. Broca's Brain (the full name of the book is "Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science"). It was one in a series of books written by Carl Sagan, having been written just after 'The Dragons of Eden'. After Broca's Brain, Sagan went onto one of his major creations, something he will be known for long (Cosmos).
The title of the book is one of the interesting questions that Carl Sagan poses for his readers. The book is named for the French physician, anatomist and anthropologist, Paul Broca (1824 – 1880). At a time when medical science had not progressed too much, Broca is best known for discovering the previously unsuspected fact that the brain is compartmentalized into functional regions. He used to save hundreds of human brains in jars of formalin, part of his belief that science could predict the behavior of humans through a process that comprises of a study of the physical structure of the brain, as well as the known behavior of the people whose brains were so studied.



So, when Carl Sagan visits this place, and sees Broca's brain similarly preserved, he asks a question that is more of a religious question; how much of Paul Broca can still be found in the contents of the jar. After all, if a person is known by their thoughts and actions (both of these controlled by the brain), then having the brain preserved would mean that you could still study the physical structure of the brain and make some conclusions.
The book is a fascinating study in which Sagan tries to combine the discussion of science with an interleaving of philosophy, at the same time never leaving the thorough logic and discussion that are necessary while coming to a conclusion. The book is a series of essays, based on articles published in various magazines such as Atlantic Monthly, New Republic, Physics Today, Playboy and Scientific American, published between the years 1974 and 1979.
The book discusses a number of subjects, including the petty rivalry between scientists, discusses science fiction, how the planets were named, frauds and charlatans, and so on. The book has a fascinating quote by Carl Sagan near the end: "My deeply held belief is that if a god of anything like the traditional sort exists, our curiosity and intelligence were provided by such a god...on the other hand if such a god does not exist then our curiosity and intelligence are the essential tools for survival. In either case the enterprise of knowledge is essential for the welfare of the human species."