India Books

Fantastic collection of short stories about Sikh women throughout the century and living around the world. Some of the best stories I've read about women and their need to follow honour,but also the anger and confusion this causes in a rapidly changing world. Very moving fiction. All the stories are told with excellent subtlety. A very strong recommendation for a relatively new writer of short fiction.

Probably one of the best pieces of fiction I have ever read. In fact, I asked my friends not to give me another book until it matched Singh Baldwin's quality.

The narrative and characters remain with me two years later. What more can a reader ask for?

This book is a wonderful account of the Indian (predominatly Punjabi) immigrant experience in America and Canada. The author's lyrical prose brings the reader into each character's life on an intimate level, rather than making the reader feel like a casual observer. Although most of the short stories are told from a female's point of view, readers across the board will be drawn in by the author's in depth afinity for character evolvment. The short story, Montreal, 1962, is the highlight of the collection, with it's tearful account of a Punjabi housewife's ability to see beyond the symbolism of her Sikh husband's turban.

I have to say that I would recommend this delightful book to anyone, and everyone looking for some insight into a family's experience abroad, in a totally foreign environment. This book perfectly conveys the experiences form all the characters and adventures, into a picture book infront of my eyes. A must-read for anyone and everyone.

The most meaningful travel is when one arrives at a destination and "makes camp", rather than doing the quick "5 cities in 5 days" route! But many of us can't manage that much time away. Traveling to India is a world away from the life that most Americans lead, and getting there is often beyond our budgets and time constraints. The book,Travels in India, allows the reader to visit India in all her vastness, cultural richness, and amazing diversity of every day life in one community for the small price of the book, and to experience a year there with Ms. Trembour and her family. We are transported to a community life similar to our own in its concerns and cause for celebration, and yet worlds apart. One may also gain an appreciation of the value of taking one's children out of the country for awhile to get another point of view. Read this book if you can't arrange to get to India to experience her for yourself, or read it to be inspired to go! (Or try, if you can, to get your kid to read it for a book report assignment, and give them a taste of another culture!)

As the mother of the author, I can truly say that although I had read this book as its email installments crossed my computer screen, when it arrived in the mail I couldn't put it down. It is full of delightful tales, some scary, many funny.

The adventures of this family in India provide a primer for any family on how to adapt to new surroundings and strange experiences quickly and well. If you are planning a trip to a developing country, this book should be in your luggage.

This book is brimful of God's presence. It weaves
His shining light between the sentences,
dancing with the words. The real-life vignettes are wonderful!

I was enthralled, inspired and tickled by the range
of potent, poetic images, intimate and
fascinating life details and real insight into
the nature, direction and synchronicities of
following a God-Realized Master in today's world.

Along with the inspirational material, superb
metaphors, and wisdom, I think the book
fills a significant niche. [Special appreciation
by the way for the material on Repeating God's
Name, tidbits like VP Gore's contact with
Meher Baba, and the light touch in much of the
poetry.] We've never before had published
biographical material about American followers
of Meher Baba that readers can identify with.
I admire the home-movie quality the author
brings to this volume.

Allan Y. Cohen, Ph.D., clinical psychologist;
author of Mastery of Consciousness (Harper),
co-author, Understanding Drug Use:
an Adult's Guide to Drugs and the Young. (Harper)

The story starts in 1969 when, at the age of 44, Bill Stephens went
through a near-death experience that changed him instantaneously
from an agnostic to a spiritual seeker, erased his lifelong fear of death
and eradicated his crippling addictions. He "...exploded into a brilliance
beyond anything I could imagine, and I was immersed in the warmth
and joy of a Living Presence that loved me and accepted me totally."

During the experience, Stephens saw a face in the light that he later
identified as the great 20th century spiritual master, Avatar Meher Baba.
That was the beginning of the author's love affair with God. His
compelling book includes many personal and graphic stories
of the ups and downs of treading the Path of Love by following
the divine footsteps of the Master.

The author has written many previous books about science and the
oceans, marine animals, and undersea research. But this
is his finest work because it comes straight from the heart.

My husband is Indian, so we cook a lot of Indian food. We have a lot of recipes that his mother has passed along, but more and more often have been using this book -- it's probably gotten the most use of any of my cookbooks in the last few months. It takes inspiration from all over India, so has widened the range of dishes that I make, and every recipe has been good and easy -- most can be put together in less than 30 minutes.

The dishes have a contemporary, lighter twist, so they're not as traditional, but they're healthier and taste just as good. It also includes a great reference section for spices and other ingredients.

Fresh Indian is one of my favorite cookbooks and I have scores of Indian cookbooks, as I'm sort of a gourmet chef. I wrote a cooking column for a sailing magazine for a couple years and one of my favorite articles was my "Two Ways to Tandoori" which you can read in one of my "Amazon So You'd Like to Guides," if you want. Tandoori chicken is just delicious. Anyway, while I was making the guide, I listed fifty cookbooks from my collection. I have more. I know, I know, one would think a couple books would be enough, but it's sort of an obsession with me, making food taste great and I just love to see how others have done it.

While I was doing the guide, I pulled out all my Indian Cookbooks, had them all stacked around me. Then I decided to pull out all the ones I didn't think I could live without. It came to an even dozen and Fresh Indian was one of the books. The recipes are just divine. I've never been to India, been a lot of places, but never there. Delhi, Bombay, Ganges, names that just ring with adventure. I imagine I'm there every time I cook up something Indian. I can feel the smells as they wrap their delicious flavors all around the kitchen, or galley, if I'm cooking on board the sailboat my husband Dub and I live on half the year. You won't go wrong with this book. Check it out. Check out my other eleven too. Cook up something from India tonight, taste the adventure.

Review submitted by Captain Katie Osborne

This very contemporary Indian cookbook has mouthwatering recipees, beautiful photos and lovely graphics. What more can I say?

Wow, I bought this book at a library booksale, and read it probably 1 year later. I was very interested in meditation, peaceful resolution and such. This book is amazing, so full of absoloute wisdom and radically true assesments. I'm a college student and I have been copying this book and giving it away at school functions. Everyone who has children should read this book to find out how the world will end up without a positive personality to lead us through.

It is a small book but easily the single most important text I have ever read. A concise, clear depiction of the principles which motivated to Gandhi, and Dr. King like him, to commit their lives to peace. Unlike most books, De Mallac's appendix offers concrete ways in which to apply these principles and lists organziation devoted to non-violence. Every human should read it and integrate into their world view. NOW.

This little book is a gem! It explains in concise, understandable language the seven key steps to making a positive contribution to the world. The beauty of the book, besides its simplicity and readability, is its practical suggestions for steps that we, as individuals, can take starting today! Focussing on: 1) selfless service; 2) right and fair labor; 3) nonviolence; 4) conciliation; 5) sharing in government; 6) re-education and 7) the sharing of resources, De Mallac skillfully maps out Gandhi's steps to global change. The book also contains a very practical action guide on what we can do immediately to make a difference in these seven areas, including suggestions such as volunteering for groups like the American Friends Service Committe (selfless service) and "not letting a single day go by without practicing some form of giving" (sharing of resources). The Book is filled with pearls of wisdom and resources. It also contains Suggested Readings, a Gandhi Chronology, Goals for Contemporary American Personal and Political Action, and a Declaration of Interdependence - a statement reflecting Gandian values. I'm surprised that this book is not more widely circulated or used as a college text on Gandhian values and nonviolent activism. It should be required reading for anyone seeking to make the world a better, more peaceful place to live.

This is a superb book that includes a lot of information not previously known. Was so interesting to read of how he interacted with his family as well as observation after WW 1 that the middle east countries would be taken by the English and Americans because of the oil.

And how Tolstoy played a role in molding his views on all things spiritual as well as observations on how Gandhi's view effected issues like the environment, feminism, business and human rights in general.

As a journalist who has reported on religion for a quarter of a century, my bookshelves are lined with most of the earlier volumes on this defining spiritual figure of the 20th Century -- a man whose brilliance even shaped the American Civil Rights movement half way around the world and whose teachings continue to inspire and provoke.

Why buy this new book? (And I do urge you to buy it if you are intrigued by this figure who strides across the history of religion like a tireless titan to this day.)

Well, first of all, here's what this book is not. This isn't a breezy read and it isn't a fresh interpretation of one particular aspect or one particular era of Gandhi's life. Even though the biographer is Gandhi's grandson, who was a child when Gandhi was murdered, this is not a memoir of a close associate.

Millions have read Louis Fischer's breezy introduction, first published in 1954. There's probably a paperback edition of Fischer somewhere in your public, school or parish library. You may even have a well-worn copy on your shelf. If you know that version -- Fischer's book (which still stands as a fine introduction) is like a magazine story compared to this full biography.

A number of more ambitious biographies also have been published down through the years, including Eknath Easwaran's 1972 effort to describe Gandhi's "transformation" -- and Yogesh Chadha's thick biography more recently.

What I like about Gandhi's new biography of Gandhi is the substantial, almost formal, way in which the grandson has cast this book as The Definitive Biography. And I agree. To put it simply, I think this is the version of Gandhi's life that we will find on library shelves 25 years from now as the recommended book to read to delve into his life.

"Delve" is a key word here, because you're in for a good long adventure here. At 754 pages, this is a brick of a book. It is "definitive" in the sense that it is a solid, detailed, chronological biography. It's the kind of presentation that will leave readers really feeling that they have trekked with Gandhi across continents -- and through his spiritual and political journeys.

More detailed reviews of this book, published in India, point to very specific aspects within the book -- and the way the author took a balanced approach to them, rather than pulling the most dramatic or provocative bits of Gandhi's life out of context. Generally, Indian media has praised this book.

I share all of this background with you so that you understand exactly what will arrive on your doorstep with a thud if you order this book. It's an adventure in reading that you're going to want to pursue, perhaps, for some weeks.

Now, here's what I really love about this book: In the midst of the chronological tapestry that the biographer weaves from Gandhi's life -- we find these vivid images that open up from time to time. Having just finished my own journey through the book -- I don't think I'll forget the passages of Gandhi's own writing, late in life, that the biographer chooses to leave us with. Yes, we're moving through the detailed account of the final months of his life with dates, places, events and context all described. But, this provides a framework in which the biographer places these windows into Gandhi's own insights. And, in that final section of the book as an example, he has deftly chosen the most vividly revealing passages -- from a satirical note about snakes that Gandhi scribbled to a critic to an achingly beautiful passage about forgiving one's own assassin that Gandhi wrote not long before he was shot down.

It's a big book and a big investment in time -- but well worth the journey.

The Mahatma, the Great Soul of India went to practiced law in South Africa to carry the banner of justice against the usurpers of human dignity.

He defied the unjust authority with wisdom and pacifism.
How ironic that the British Empire, supposedly the torch of liberty and equality stood like a brick wall in the face of Gandhi.

Gandhi was India's first free spirited intellectual to raise a red flag against the notorious Indian cast system.
This book retraces memorable moments in his life.

The book is up-lifting and inspirational.
It is nourishment for the soul.

This book covers the entire history of the Greek cultural impact in the Indian civilization. I found it very helpful in understanding the connection between the ancient Greek and Indian philosophies and cultures.

This book links the European and Indian Histories from the earliest days up to the present and helped me to understand the connection between Greek and Indian cultures especially during the Indo-Greek kingdoms. The article on Galanos brings new light in the previous researches on the pioneer Greek indologist and the chapter on the contemporary Greeks in India is very balanced and objective. I strongly recommend this book to all those who are interested to learn more about the cultural history of the Greeks in India

This is a scholarly book on a historical topic that is rather difficult to research. Who were the ancient Indogreeks and what role did they play in history? What were the philosophical analogies between Greece and India? The sources are relatively few and obscure, and there is much speculation on the subject. The author has researched the subject meticulously from ancient Greek and Sanskrit sources.

Several years ago, other historians, such as Tarn, have published on the topic. This is a fresh view with a philosophical twist that deserves study and understanding.

This is the best one-volume book on the market at this time. It has very good illustrations and good species accounts that include excellent range maps. It is the only book of one volume that covers all the birds of the Indian subcontinent with this quality of illustration. The range maps are very good and there is an adequate amount of information about each bird. It's too heavy to take into the field on your trip to India, but it is an excellent reference.

Simply the best available guide to the birds of the Indian Subcontinent. Subcontinental birders have long awaited a comphrehensive guide to the birds of this region.

No other guide comes close in quality of drawings, text and range maps. Though too large and heavy to be called a field guide. It is still brought on trips to be reviewed after a day in the field.

We eagerly await the publication of this book as a true 'field guide'- that will be useable in the field.

Ali and Ripley's masterwork cannot be touched in terms of the completeness of individual descriptions, but this volume is amazing in that it draws together all the subcontinent's spp. into one book. Even so, the tome is too heavy to carry to the field. The taxonomy is updated, as is the species list. The colour illustrations are of a very high quality; my quibble is that the individual species are too small to be very useful. The maps are miniscule and that limits their utility; the use of two colours would have helped under the circumstances. Otherwise, this book is a long-awaited treasure.

The book arrived very quickly and was in excellent condition (brand new?). Thank you!

This is an absolutely fantastic introduction to the complexities of ayurveda. The narration is clear and concise and more importantly it is easily accessible to those with little or no understanding of the subject. From the outset Dr Godagama highlights the importance of ayurveda in the modern western world, and provides practical advice and tips which can be incorporated into the modern lifetsyle. In addition, throughout the book Dr.Godagama's draws on his own personal wealth of experience in treating patients with numerous conditions, stemming from irritable bowel syndrome to diabetes. This is a must read book for anyone requiring an easy to understand introduction to this fascinating science.....I found it a pleasure to read.

I am an alternative practitioner and have been interested in ayurveda for a number of years. Out of the numerous books I have explored in the field, this has to be one of the most concise introductions. The first few chapters lay the foundation to what turned out to be a very fascinating read. The book demonstrates the importance of ayurveda in a modern lifestyle which makes it all the more relevant in this day and age. Included are numerous case studies and preactical tips. The book is well illustrated and included contact details for further information.

The Harmony of Emptiness and Dependent Arising is a commentary to Tsong Khapa's The Essence of Eloquent Speech, Praise to the Buddha for Teaching Profound Dependent-Arising. The subject of the work concerns two important themes of Buddhist philosophy: emptiness and dependent-arising.

All schools of Buddhism expound theories of emptiness and dependent-arising, but their interpretations vary greatly and are even contradictory. Here, Ven. Lobsang Gyatso, very skillfully explains these two theories through logical analysis combined with simple and wonderful illustrations.
--- from book's back cover

This is indeed a little gem, a wonderful explanation addressing the underlying unity of "The Two Truths", the Conventional Truth of dependent arising, and the Ultimate Truth of emptiness. This is the essence of the profound wisdom teachings of Mahayana Buddhism, and nowhere have I seen it presented better for the typical student/practitioner.

This is not a deep philosophical treatise. It is much more practical and accessible than such a treatise would be. First, it presents a simple and straightforward translation of a short text by Je Tsongkhapa, The Essence of Eloquent Speech, Praise to the Buddha for Teaching Profound Dependent-Arising. Then the main body of the book is a very well done, concise, verse by verse commentary on this text by Ven. Lobsang Gyatso. It consistently hits just the right tone and depth. It might be a helpful summary for someone well versed in these ideas from more in-depth study and meditation, but it will also be a marvelous introduction for a student/practitioner just beginning to get their feet wet in this difficult area. Of course, only someone of this author's great wisdom and experience could distill the essence of these teachings into a form so light and readily accessible. You will be fortunate indeed to find and read this pith teaching.

Years ago when I practiced Hindu spirituality, before I became a Buddhist, I used to love to find small, old, quaint volumes in English of the great Hindu scriptures, printed in India. I loved the juxtaposition of the most sublime teachings with the most primitive printing and binding technology. This book is printed in India: It does not disappoint! While the binding is almost up to Western standards, the typos are so frequent that I often had to play detective to figure out the meaning. If you don't sort of already know what the book is talking about, you may occasionally be a bit lost at such moments, but if you find that this sort of thing makes the book more lively, you'll enjoy yourself. I laughed long and hard when I read about "the emptiness of the elf", which really does go a long way towards adopting the proper attitude towards the SELF we all take so seriously!

If you should be fortunate enough to run across this obscure, little book, you hold in your hands a valuable treasure. Backed by personal experience as well as sound scholarship, Lobsang Gyatso brilliantly fleshes out Je Tsongkhapa's views on emptiness in a far more understandable manner than many other contemporary scholars, such as Elizabeth Napper and Jeffrey Hopkins. This book is an excellent complement to the Theravadan Bhuddadasa Bhikkhu's "Heartwood of the Bodhi Tree," and is highly, highly recommended.