Book Review – The Emperor of All Maladies, Siddhartha Mukherjee

My first introduction to the dreaded disease of cancer was through movies, where the hero bleeds through his nose, wraps a shawl and goes around with unshaven face, singing sad songs about his plight. My mother’s narrations about her elder sister’s traumatic experience with breast cancer and resultant mastectomy at a young age didn’t make much of an impact on me. As I grew up, there were so many characters with cancer in so many movies that the word cancer itself started to feel like those foreign locations that the lead characters go to for their duets – exotic, intriguing, yet faraway, having nothing to do with me. But as I matured into adulthood, I started seeing relatives, families of friends and colleagues bear the brunt of this ominous disease. My brief volunteering with an NGO that works for cancer patients brought me face to face with the seriousness of this scourge of humans. Young children suffering from leukemia, men in their early twenties fighting lung cancer caused by smoking, elderly people disfigured by throat cancer due to tobacco use - cancer was no longer exotic and faraway. It was close and gross.

When recently someone near and dear was diagnosed with cancer, I felt my curiosity piqued. I was looking for resources to learn more about this disease and do what I can to spread awareness. That’s how I found this book. And, what a worthy primer this turned out to be!

Cancer is not a modern illness. Its ancientness parallels that of our own. For millennia, people have suffered from and succumbed to cancer. But what makes this dreaded disease unique is its ability to evolve at the same rate as we do. Every time we find a cure and hope to kill this disease forever, cancer evolves and moves the bull’s eye. To borrow an idea from the author, imagine an Achilles whose vulnerability shifts someplace else, just as you target an arrow at his heel.

All those centuries of painstaking research has taught us one thing – this disease emerges from within. While external agents – like viruses and carcinogens - play a crucial role in waking this demon from its slumber, cancer is something internalized. It is our own body cells gone rogue, disobeying the lifecycle of birth-growth-decline. In a cruel twist of fate, our own body cells, nano-representations of our own selves, find a mutated vigor for ‘life’, start proliferating so profusely that they end up killing us, their collective image. Killing a harmful virus or bacteria has been relatively easier, because they have definite shape, purpose and, especially, are apart from us. But cancer is a part of us, our own cells, our genes, DNAs gone rogue. Not just that. Each of these mutations takes its own unique form as there are individuals. Cancer isn’t one single disease to find a cure against. It is a bunch of mutations, the perverted race of cells to proliferate and spread all over.

This book taught me those things in an intense way. Starting from the earliest mentions of this disease in history, nearly 2500 years ago, to the latest development in the field of oncology, this book tries to light up a very vast area. And, it succeeds too. The tug of war between cancer and science, the misunderstandings, poorly designed treatments, lessons learnt, sacrifices by patients as well as physicians, their tenacity in the face of adversity, emotional / physical reliefs brought by discovery of cures, relapses and remissions, egos and ebullience of the people involved, this book tells it all. If you are looking to learn what cancer is and what a devastating trail it has left all through the annals of mankind, then this is a book you must start with. The sheer effort and research that fills these pages is astounding. Dr. Mukherjee has put his heart and soul into this book.

The book is comprehensive but not complete though. For example, the book doesn’t dwell into ovarian cancer, something that I was so keen to learn about. The book doesn’t provide any advice on how to prevent cancer, if at all it is possible, or what kinds of lifestyles are prone to the risk of it. But, of course, the good doctor promptly justifies his reasons in the annexures.

This book doesn’t tell you everything that you would like to know about cancer. But it will tell you all the basics that you need to know about it. If you are pursuing the subject with curiosity, this is a good book to begin with. Not an easy read, but definitely worth the time.

As I finished reading and sat staring at the covers, I had this strange emotion – in their traits of reproducing profusely, migrating to wherever possible, reshaping the landscape of their destination (organ), and increasing ability to defy death that results in the ultimate demise of the host organism, isn’t cancer quite akin to us humans? Are cancer cells the microcosmic parallels to what we humans are to the macrocosm, i.e., the Universe?!

Who knows?! May be, we are!

Happy New Year 2021!!!

 

Hope!

In all these years of my life, of whatever little duration I have been fortunate to be here, never have I seen a single emotion dominate the collective consciousness of us humans like the way hope does now. In the past, we have started our years with dreams, desires, passions, ideas, goals and ambitions. But in living memory of the majority of us, this must be the first year where we have all started the year with burgeoning hope. I see ‘hope’ being the keyword in most of the wishes I have received throughout the day.

 As I have been repeatedly telling, Nature doesn’t care for our definitions of Time and Space. These notions of months, years and hours are all abstract little chunks that we use to understand Time. So, as we move from one little chunk called 2020 to the other one named 2021, we have all decided to leave behind the fears, chaos and uncertainties that ruled most part of 2020 and face 2021 with abundant hopes in our minds.

2020 was a year of mixed emotions. It gave immense pain to many of us, but it also fulfilled lot of our dreams. So many people lost their lives, but there were so many new arrivals too. Many businesses shut down, but so many new entrepreneurs found their passions. So, let us be thankful that we did weather through one of the toughest time periods in our living memory and are entering 2021 in good health and hope.

I am sure you are also one of those innumerable good people that are starting 2021 in hopes. My wishes to you is that may you spend this whole year in good health, with your heart and mind soaked in love, peace and compassion, surrounded by the people who matter to you and to whom you mean the world, with enough of good things for you to enjoy and share with those around you! May your positive aura rub on those around you and lift them higher. Convey these good wishes to your beloved ones too.

Happy New Year 2021!

Book Review – Fallen Leaves, Will Durant

“There was a time when I…”

“In our days…”

“In my days it used to be better…”

These are some of the utterances through which the elderly people alienate themselves from the others and start appearing like a bore. Nope, I am not talking against their privilege to that common nostalgia. It is how they start harping on about how things were different and better in ‘their days’ that drives people away. But not every old person becomes a bore though. Some of them, through their immense experience and wisdom, gathered through the many long decades, help the younger people get a better perspective on the things around. Like Mr. Durant, who speaks to us through this book, from behind the veils of Death.

In his long life of 96 years, Mr. Durant had seen more than the most of us can even imagine. To put his life span in perspective, he was born on the same year when Louis Pasteur found the first vaccine and breathed his last in 1981, when NASA’s Space Shuttle took its first orbital flight. In this period, he had seen empires peak in glory and plummet to pieces, revolutions in Russia, the reshaping of Europe, two World Wars, man’s glorious landing on the Moon, eradication of smallpox, advent of digital era and so much more. Let that sink in!!!

Not just his age, Mr. Durant was a brilliant, prolific writer too. His books on history and philosophy have become some of the essential works in their respective fields. So, when a man like William James Durant leaves some unpublished manuscripts for posterity to benefit, I couldn’t let go of the opportunity to grab that book.

This book is a gem. It is not philosophy or a chronological listing of events. This is Mr. Durant letting us know his very personal opinions about various aspects of human life – from love to life, from war to democracy, from education to religion. He has delved into all the aspects of human life, from birth to death and all other things in between. Page upon page, one could feel the yearnings of a grand old man who had seen the past and who hopes for a better, improved future, without ever sounding ‘in our days things used to be better…’!

Time flies but Truth stays. All our lives, fancies, dreams, hopes, pains, desires, wars, religions, reasons, ramblings, glorious achievements, crippling pains, fantasies are all but transient, swirling eddies that forever rise and fall in the cosmic deluge. But there are certain truths that stay ever relevant, from the first human to the day of his/her final descendant. Mr. Durant has tried to recall such truths in this book. He was one who had known that history repeats itself, sometimes even after we learn from it. He was also aware that some Truths remain untouched even amidst that flux. This book is his recounting of such truths, so that we, the lesser mortals may learn and benefit from it. 

In his words “in the train of life it is the old who yield their seats to the young”. The grand old man, which such a beautiful understanding of the cycle of Life, has left behind this work of wisdom by ruminating on the past, gleaning all the timeless principles of life and putting them on paper. If you are a history / philosophy aficionado, who isn’t averse to listening to and learning from the old people, this book is for you!

Book Review – The Dark Net, Jamie Bartlett

 

We humans have always fantasized about invisibility. From being defined as one of the eight great powers attained through spiritual practices, to being depicted as the superpower of noble heroes or evil villains in movies, the power of invisibility has always ruled human imagination. Ask anybody as to what they would do if they can be invisible for a day and the answers will range from plain, simple pranking to wicked acts of violence and voyeurism. You will soon realize that it is best for the power of invisibility to remain invisible (pun intended) from us humans for a very long time to come.

But modern technology has given us very many ways to remain anonymous, if not invisible, and we humans are making do with the same to the best of our abilities. From being restricted to sending anonymous parcels or making bogus calls, we humans have gained enhanced abilities through technology. It is nowhere more clearly visible than it is in the world of internet. Using anything apart from our own photos as profile pictures and setting our ‘status’ as offline even while being online, are just two of the innocuous ways in which we remain anonymous. Creating fake profiles, sharing false information both fall on the other end of the anonymity spectrum.

But there are methods more advanced that truly define the term anonymity in today’s social-media obsessed world. And, these are the methods used to access and inhabit that hidden corner of the web, aptly called ‘the dark net’. It is dark not only in terms of hiddenness but also in terms of the emotional/intellectual darkness that prevails there. Just as how people would have answered our question of what they would do if they become invisible, here too people exercise their invisibility to do many things – from playing simple pranks (hacks) to performing vile acts. ‘The Dark Net’ by Jamie Bartlett does a great work in throwing light on everything that happens in that hidden part of internet.

This book is divided into seven chapters, reminding me of the similar number of vices that Christianity warns us against. The first of the vices discussed in the book is trolling. While pranking is for simple people, the anonymity cloak offered by the internet has been a boon to bullies. Today, anybody with a smartphone and internet connection can abuse and confront anyone from any part of the world. While such behavior has spilled over to the visible part of the internet these days, the revolting kind of trolling is prevalent more in the dark web. In fact, from obscene messages to disgusting images, there is nothing revolting for these bullies. These trolls don’t even refrain from making fun of funerals, mind you!

Then, there are racists, staunch nationalists and bitter radicals, who use dark net to plan attacks – at times, even physical – against one another. More often than not, these are people affable and unassuming in real life, but don absolutely contrasting identities on the web, pouring all the world’s hatred and bitterness on you. While these people rely on bitter arguments to bring about political changes, there is another group working on alternative economic controls – the crypto-currencies - like Bitcoin to loosen the financial grip of the governments on their citizens. With secretive transactions and no central control, there is nothing here that the government can keep track of and raise revenues through tax. How possible or even how acceptable are such alternative currencies?! Decide for yourself.

The fourth and fifth vices practiced in the dark net both pertain to the sins of flesh. While anyone with a smart phone and internet connectivity can access pornography freely these days, there are perverted kinds that even fans of porn would shun. Dark web is a place for information and access to such practices. Pedophilia is such a perversion ostracized from the surface web, and the perverts who want to be ‘understood’ (!) and accepted for their pedophilic tendencies have made the dark web their home.

Consuming narcotic substances is a clear no-no, as preached by all the religions. So is the act of stealing. The dark web offers a marketplace for all such forbidden things and more. You can buy anything from drugs to banned books to murderous weapons, all safely hidden from the prying eyes of the government. Strangely, the principles of economy and customer satisfaction seem to apply to these hidden marketplaces as well as they are in real markets.

While gluttony is the last of our seven vices, the act of starving oneself in order to shred every last ounce of flesh from the body seems to be an act of normalcy for some in the dark net. So is the practice of harming one’s own self or even ending one’s life. From motivating people to starve for days together, to mentoring people on harming one’s self, sometimes even egging on people to commit suicide, it all happens in the dark net.

Kudos to the author for handling such a dark subject in a matter-of-fact manner! Without standing on a high-pedestal and looking down on the inhabitants of dark net, deriding them for not following the social mores, the author presents the facts, about how they are simple people like the rest of us, their arguments and reasons that pushed them to that darkness. Reading through the book, one cannot wonder but find one’s own mind straddle the thin line between rights and wrongs, just as all these aspects of dark net are prevalent, to a lesser extent, in the visible web as well. In fact, dark web is not all evil and villains. It is just for people who prefer to carry out their activities anonymously. Sadly, anonymity is preferred more by those who have some not so acceptable agendas.

I picked up this book hoping to get a technical insight into the dark web, about TOR browser, technical configurations and so on. Instead, I ended up wondering about the dark, hidden depths of the human mind, which make possible the presence of the dark web. I have always believed that given enough darkness, we will all unleash our inner demons. ‘The Dark Net’ strengthens that belief. A good read!

Book Review – Life Lessons from Lal Ded (Edited by Shonaleeka Kaul)

‘Ekam Sat Vipra Bahuda Vadanti’ is a Sanskrit saying that every human in our country once learnt and lived by, but has conveniently forgotten now in these hate-filled modern times. Put in plain terms, it means ‘The Truth is one. The learned call it by various names’. This was meant to teach us all that the Supreme Godliness pervades all through the universe, permeating through all beings, animate and inanimate, big and small, young and old alike. Myriad saints and savants that walked this holy land kept reiterating the same, but we humans, the naïve ones that we are, keep forgetting that lesson.

‘Life Lessons’ from Aleph Book Company is a commendable effort to give us an introduction into the lives and realizations of the many holy personas from our glorious past. There are five

books in the series that tell us about the lives and lessons from Adi Shankara, Guru Nanak, Mahavira, Lal Ded and Moinuddin Chishti. This book by Lal Ded is the fourth one in my collection, with only the book of Chishti pending to adorn my shelf yet.

Lal Ded, or Lalleshwari as she was formally known, was a Shaivite saint from the 14th Century Kashmir. Said to have had a simple beginning and a failed marital life, she turned to spirituality to find the root cause of her suffering and seek liberation from it all. After she succeeded in her quest by following the Shaivite method of seeking the truth, she went around, alone, on foot, urging her fellow humans to seek liberation from all the illusions and travails that kept them bound to their mundane lives.

This book contains her ‘vaaks’ (wise sayings) on how we are bound by earthly emotions, how we can see through that all and attain the Supreme Consciousness that is all around us, unnoticed and unsought. A good to have book for those who are open to seeking the various ways that all lead to the single destination – the Supreme God. Will be a good gift for children too, if you want them to grow up understanding that God is only one, and all the bickering around in His (or, is it a Her?!) name is, simply, bollocks!

Book Review – Superhubs, Sandra Navidi

Being the mere mortal that I am, once in a while I too fall prey to the hype created by the well-meaning friends around me, at least when it comes to book recommendation. This year, this is the second such book which was sold to me – not literally though – with a huge hype, but which ended up as just another dull ones.

The book promises to show us how the world’s most powerful financial organizations and their bosses influence our lives by their decisions. I was sitting up eagerly hoping for an adventurous ride, able to get an inside view into the business intricacies of global finance and economy. But the book was filled up with the ostentatious parties and endless conferences that the finance bigwigs get to attend to all through the year. For a while, the book feels like it is trying to teach you the need for a good networking amongst your peers and superiors. Then it feels like a roster of who-is-who of the global finance and the parties they attend and the cabals they are parts of. I couldn’t control letting out an occasional yawn every now and then.

After striving to pay repeated, utter obeisance to the overlords of financial world, especially to people like George Soros and Nouriel Roubini, recalling their names with superior adjectives almost every other time they are mentioned, the author shifts gears at last, just as I was losing interest to even skim through the pages. She started talking about some serious topics like how exclusive and single dimensional these ‘super-hubs’ are, less represented by people of other gender and other races. She also started talking about the muck – corruption, arrogance & indifference to the plight of lesser mortals like us - that is covered up beneath all that veneer of opulence that shimmers on the high profile bankers.

Ironically though, just as the author improved the tempo, letting go of all the bragging and boring obsequiousness, she seemed to have lost interest. This was clearly seen in a bunch of spelling and grammatical errors that mar those pages. Imagine! Just as you start reading something worthwhile on those pages!

The author ends the book with a half-hearted call to reform the global financial network, and restrain the unbridled - often times unethical - pursuit of wealth. But who will bell the cat?! There is no definitive answer or any meaningful discussion.

So, just to sum it up all, it doesn’t contain any meaningful insights about how the global financial systems work or how they influence our lives, if that is what you were trying to learn as I initially did. This book is more about how the behemoths of finance mingle and mesh, with their unimaginable wealth and the relentless pursuit for more, especially when written by an insider who looks at them with a twinkle in her eyes!

Boring! Obsequious!! Boastful!!!

Book Review – Sapiens, Yuval Noah Harari

I have read quite a number of books that ended up disappointing me. Some of those were gifted by well-meaning friends. Some of them were books I bought on an impulse. Then there were books that I had waited years to read only to find them unworthy of all those years of patience. But this book by Yuval Noah Harari tops the list. Just imagine reading a book that all your friends were going gaga about, only to find that there is nothing worthwhile in it and wondering whether you are really a good reader at all, now that you don’t even like a book that the whole world around you seems to love!

Let’s clear a few things first, before you think of bashing me up. This is a commendable effort by Mr. Harari to summarize the whole history of mankind and its evolutionary tale. During the initial pages, I too thought that this will be one of the best reads on anthropology. But this book promises a lot only to deceive. We statisticians use the term confirmation bias, which means the tendency to favor and present only those information that are supportive to one’s beliefs. This book is full of them. Harari had decided to present all that is wicked and weak about Homo Sapiens and he has succeeded to a large extent.

Not that I am complaining. I for one have never held the notion that we humans are special beings sitting atop the food chain, placed there by a favorable god who created us all in his (or, is it a ‘her’?) own image. I think of us as a different species of apes that managed to evolve a little quicker than our cousins. Despite our use of advanced languages, costly clothes and snazzy gadgets, internally we remain the beasts that roamed the vast forests once. I see nothing special about being human. This book helped cement that belief in my mind by discussing the idiocies and idiosyncrasies of our species as a whole.

But that’s just about it. This book isn’t ‘a brief history of humankind’, but the opinions of Mr. Harari about the various aspects of human evolution. This isn’t a chronological history in the lines of ‘What on Earth Happened?’ by Christopher Lloyd or ‘A Short History of Nearly Everything’ by Bill Bryson, both of which I found to be far more informative and interesting than this one. This is both a philosophical take and passing of judgments by Mr. Harari on what he considers to be the vital cogs of human evolution, namely Cognitive Revolution, Agricultural Revolution & Scientific Revolution. There is nothing that you end up learning that you already didn’t learn, especially in case you had read those two aforementioned books.

Sorry, dear friends. I have read much better books. 2.5 stars!