The Dilbert Future Thriving on stupidity in the 21st century
By Scott Adams

Let me confess as I start , I like Scott Adams. I am a big fan of his work and mad about Dilbert strips.

A couple of years ago when I sent him a mail on his very very public email address Scottadams@aol.com and thanking him for his book and saying that I enjoyed it,
and Lo behold of all the thousands of emails that he gets he found time to reply for my short email, it said

Thanks for reading it, Hari.

Scott

At first thought it doesn't look like a big deal, aren't writers supposed to respond to their readers, but well you would be surprised how many don't, Believe me I try and write to each and every writer whose work I read. And this response floored me. Here is an internationally syndicated writer whose cartoons get published in in 2500 newspapers worldwide in 65 countries and 19 languages with over 150 million readers with 26 books to his name and he finds time or cares enough to a poorly written email thanking him for his book, Now even if that reply was sent by someone in his office it still means he is bothered enough! This is much appreciated Mr. Scott Adams !

Of all the things I read, Dilbert is one from which I can get a guaranteed laugh every time even on every repeated reading. I am a self proclaimed member of the D.N.R.C (Dogbert's New Ruling Class) the official Dilbert Fan Club or rather a member of the group which will form the new ruling elite once Dogbert conquers the Earth.

Countless times I have spit out the food in my mouth , or jerked violently holding my stomach trying to control my laughter while reading his books. This one is no exception ! This one is a standard Dilbert book with a fair sprinkling of Comics and accompanying text giving on the theme of Dilbert's take on Future.

I have to agree that many of the chapters do not quite live up to the Dilbert Gold standard of wit and humor, nevertheless this is still a good read. The strips are just as humorous only the accompanying ramblings get a little dull at times. Again this is because I have excessively high expectations of his rambling having read The Dilbert Principle some years ago.

The unique thing about this book is the last chapter, "A New View of the Future" For this section Adams "turned the humor mode off" and discussed his personal philosophies on life , auto suggestion , ESP , gravity , and some of the other things which are way off topic in a typical Dilbert book. This chapter has enough food for thought and many would think that chapter alone would make the book a worthwhile buy. This would not be the funniest Dilbert book that I have read by a long shot but it is not what I would call disappointing.

Many readers would be surprised that Scott is even capable of writing something so off topic and serious like that, and believe me he can write well. In fact I would strongly recommend another serious novel by Scott Adams which is available free as an Ebook The God's debris.

Who we are - A miscellany of the New Australia
David Dale

The cover of this book shows a map of Australia with a pair of worn out slippers. In many ways an international symbol for the Aussie Backpacker.

I love statistics and numbers especially when they are presented in a way that makes sense, and this book is filled with such interesting titbits and pieces of information that help us decipher "Australia"

For exact statistics on any topic about Australia have a look here > the website of the Australian Bureau of Statistics. This is where most of the info in this book is sourced from.

The Book is full of numbers and percentages, on topics right from Population to demographics to languages spoken , religion, qualification , smoking habits , to cars , credit cardsdiseases, causes of death, top products used in households, most popular movies, books, music, world records, important dates, animals, inventions , periodicals and every other thing that matters.

To present some interesting numbers from the book,
85% of Australian population lives within 50 Kilometers of a beach ,
1% of Australian population lives on a Farm,
43% of the all marriages are likely to get Divorced
87% of the population are Mobile owners
60% use the internet at least once a week
75% live in a home with three or more Bedrooms
Newzeland , China and India are the biggest source of Migrants Now More info on this here
Cancer Causes 29% of all deaths in Australia.

Apart from plain numbers , there are good facts about Australia, like the defining moments in Australia's history, Important speeches, national anthem etc. There is also a small essay where the author describes a typical day in the life of an Australian family in terms of the products they use.

In all its a very good read and gives a quick snapshot of Australia as we know it.

Around the world in 80 Dates
by Jeniffer Cox

Well this is another perfect example of "Don't judge a book by its cover". On the cover you have a catchy title and the image of the pretty author lugging a briefcase and setting off on her oddysey(that's what she calls it). On the Inside you have a dreadful monologue of how she meets or dates 80 or so men, cutting them off her list one by one in a desperate urgency to get the numbers out. If you see this book take my word and give it a pass, It is so bad that I couldn't get myself to finish this book. Firstly I don't quite agree how can you decide on one meeting of a few hours that this person is your "true love". She repeats "True love" so many times in the book that I had to end the book half way thinking reading anymore would change the real meaning of the word "TRUE LOVE" for me.

I agree this is a very personal and touchy topic but I really can't quite come to terms with the idea that you can find your "TRUE LOVE" by going around the world dating people. I mean all these dates except for one lasted less than a single day, how much can you find out about a person in a day? and what can you decide with what you know in a day? And for God's sake don't keep repeating the word True love over and over again.

Many a times in the book you get a feel that she is not out to find love, but just to go around and complete those 80 people so that she can write the book and get the money promised by some publisher. At one place things seem to be going good for her with a guy(number 20's I think) in the burning man festival. She spends a couple of days with him and gets to know him better than the others before him but in the end she decides to go ahead and look for what else might be in store for her in the remaining 60 guys. And truly in Hollywood style the understanding guy agrees to her going and dating what's left of the 80 guys to decide if he makes the cut. She justifies this saying the other people with whom the dates had been prebooked also had feelings and she should give it a shot. It is at this point that I found the book way too ridiculous.

There is another time when the author participates in Speed dating and finishes off 10 or so people in one go in less than an hour, and then has the guts to justify these as legitimate dates in her "Quest to find TRUE LOVE". I don't know if she even understands what is meant by"TRUE LOVE"? not that I am an expert at it , but at least I am sure that you cannot find one sitting together for few hours in a coffee shop. The only mildly entertaining part was the relationship resume where she wrote a history about all her previous relationships and why they failed. I wouldn't be surprised if the Author has broken up again and is still looking for her second "True love"

Yakety Yak: Bombay to Beijing by Bicycle

By McGilton Russell

Russell McGilton, You are bound to like this man by the end of the book, I have been searching the net for ages looking for ways to contact Russell to thank him for writing such a hilarious travelogue. As usual it got to my reading shelf being a travelogue with a difference, Bombay to Beijing on a bicycle, well technically speaking he did not do the complete trip on a bicycle, but frankly speaking I don't think it would matter unless you are one of those who go back an verify every little thing that they read.


Read the initial introductory pages of this book which explain why Russell started on this trip here.

From there on the books gets even more interesting as he actually sets on his trip and arrives in Bombay. On the flight sitting next to him is an inquisitive Indian who doesn't understand why must one cycle when there are trains, while Russell learns that the local politicians had just changed the name of the city from "Bombay" to "Mumbai" and along with the old name plates go his dreams of the title of his planned Book, "Bombay to Beijing". Once in India just like all foreigners he is dismayed by the poverty and difference in classes, the crazy honking traffic, pollution and the general hustle bustle of Bombay.

Hailing from India it makes it all the more interesting for me to read about my home town when viewed from a different perspective. Especially when no matter where he goes he is pestered with a single question " Hello Sir , Which country?"

The book then moves on a swiftly , with Russell's experiences as he meets another cyclist and they join to cover the route till Kathmandu together. In Kathmandu he is joined by his beautiful blonde girlfriend with whom he then cycles to Ladakh. On the way things don't quite well and the stress of the journey and the pressure of Indian pestering takes its toll, with Russell breaking up with his Girlfriend. Then he moves on by flight to Hongkong and from there rides on to Beijing.
In between these pages are hilarious accounts of his experiences with villagers, bad hotels with peeping toms, cycle breakdowns, friendly people to assist in roadsides, frustration over his inability to find a single private moment in a country crowded with a billion people, fighting freezing cold and snowfall on roads in China. In China is when Russell gets lucky again and hooks up with another petite babe who takes his nude picture on the great wall of China.

This is a very fast moving humorous book , especially when coming from a horny and pervert author:) He paints a factual not so pretty picture of India as it really is, I recommended it to another cyclist and he got through it in less than a week and came back with genuine compliments for the book . In all an excellent, hilarious, must read book !

Spotted in France
by Gregory Edmont

I just finished one book on France, and this is the next in line. Picked it from the France section in the library mainly because it is a Moto-Travelogue with a difference, The cover showed that Gregory on a Vespa Scooter with a Dalmatian and I could make out that this was an on road journey through France. If you don't know the French just Love DOGS and this books makes it all the more evident. The book is filled with hints on how much the French love their dogs, Did you know that the French have mating shops or to put it more crudely animal brothels where one can take his pet to be "trained" just in case if breeding does not come naturally to his pet. Did you know that French dogs eat out at restaurants with their owners and are often given their own chair at the restaurant table, with their own dish.

Having just finished an Excellent book on the French last week I was hoping this one to be just as good and it was. The book starts with "I knew my life was missing something . . . I just didn’t know what, ...." I always wanted to have a pet dog and this book just gave me a hundred more reasons why I should hurry up. You can read a brief outline of the story in one of the reviews here which broadly give you an idea of the story.

Gregory's life truly changes for the better with the dog, everywhere he goes people are more friendly , strangers come and talk to him and compliment him about the dog. He is invited into homes, fed and treated well , offered assistance , showered with innumerable smiles and the like just because he and his dog strike a gentle chord in people's hearts wherever they go.

In the 2 years Gregory also gets too attached to JP as he calls his dalmatian, and they share a lovely relationship. The book is filled with cute one page hand sketches of JP and the environment of the chapter which are sort of a prelude to what's in the chapter and really add a sort of a suspense and good feel to the book. This book is very well written in a simple and lucid manner, and can be easily read in a few hours. Apparently there is a movie in the making on the book, I'm looking forward to the movie now.

A Short History of Nearly Everything
by Bill Bryson


This is one of those books that deliver, on what it promises on the cover page. A Short history of EVERYTHING. "Everything" is highlighted in the last sentence for a reason, because the book is indeed so exhaustive that there is hardly any area in the Physical sciences whose history and present state is not quite touched by Bryson.

From cosmology, physics, oceanography, chemistry, biology, geology, anthropology, paleontology, climatology, botany, and evolution he covers all of these and much more.

I would not attempt to write a complete review of this book as I don't quite think I can better the one written here.

You can also have a look here for a transcript of good Q & A interview with Bill Bryson on this book.

One repetitive comment that you would see in all these reviews is on the ease and manner in which Bryson conveys SCALE, be it the scale of time /life of the earth, or interplanetary distances, or intermolecular/atomic distances. Some of these examples of scale can be seen here.

As usual this book again follows the Bill Bryson standard of not using any pictures at all, I guess when If you as as comfortable using text, you don't need to use pictures to illustrate what you mean. Words themselves crystallize into pictures. Amazon has some 45 overwhelmingly positive reviews of this book, by far the most I have ever seen and its not as though he is writing about some more interesting topics like "Sex".

This is a book with ENDURING VALUE, meaning there is so much interesting and relevant info in it that it can be read over and over again.

To put it in one sentence, If textbook writers could write science as well as Bill Bryson, I would have become a scientist!

Notes from a Small Island
By Bill Bryson

Bill Bryson is what I was looking for , I am smitten after reading his excellent travelogue about Australia and was looking for more of his books. The fact that he is a very popular writer is clear from the fact that this book has 256 reviews on Amazon.com and believe me that is something !

If you have read any of his travelogues before you would know he has his own distinct style of humor and that is visible in every page in the book. It is his interactions with strangers and his descriptions of people that I like the most. He has the ability to bring out laugh out loud jokes in seemingly mundane everyday encounters.

Also he has a penchant for picking up details about history that you would not normally hear of from other sources or read in typical travelogues, stories like the a psycho duke who had a fear of people so severe that his servants would communicate with him in letters. Or the Crazy man on the train who bored him to death with details about Engines used in trains, their piston sizes , manufacturing sites, model year details and stuff like that. I especially loved a sentence where he says "and then the man took off to count rivets on trains". Another exceedingly humorous passage is when he describes in not so polite words the "Vodafone man" who makes pointless calls to tell people he’s on the mobile, on the train and will be home in so many minutes (1995: 187). There are many such funny / witty instances in the book like the time when Bryson was a journalist when Rupert Murdoch buys the company and the printers and typesetters go on strike. There are picketers everywhere blocking roads and terrorizing people and how Bryson barely manages to escape from being kicked in the ass by some picketers.

He did this journey throughout England primarily on public transport going to places with strange names that I have never heard of, most of which (place names) I managed to forget before turning the page. Well I must admit I know very little about places in England and of all he describes except for a few city names, Stonehenge was the only tourist place I was quite familiar with.

It is his idiosyncrasies that make the book interesting , this book does not have as much factual information or a lot of lasting value as a guide book but it is just one of those Non Fiction books that can be read once for a decent laugh. To say it shortly he sums it up as "British towns are a deck of cards that have been shuffled and endlessly redealt--same cards, different order." Throughout the book he complains consistently about bad architecture ruining the Victorian or traditional look and feel of the cities and when he complains he does not restrict himself to architecture, very often in a timely manner he has enough disdain for everyone right from public transport authorities, fast-food check out clerks, Ticketing clerks, to poor old men with hard hearing.

Overall I would read this book once and that would be it. It did fall short of my expectations in the sense that I am not a lot more knowledgeable about England having read this book unlike what happened before when I was enlightened with information about Australia last time. On the back cover of this book was a one line review that said "This book has as much Bill Bryson in it as much as it has England." I could not agree more.