This is a classic read by a classic author. Although probably not as good as 'How to win friends and influence people' it is still a very useful book. The style of writing is a bit antiquated and it seems that 85% of the book are stories of different people, but the gist is there, and it is useful. The book is wonderfully organized, with chapter summaries and bullet points, which can be read in one breath when one wants to refresh his knowledge of the material.
I like Dales common sense advice, which might be obvious when read in a book, but it is very hard to remember when you are actually engrossed in worry. I also like very much his approach to religion and prayer, which he as a former atheist, doesn't see as a primarily religious duty and ritual, but more of a psychologically beneficial process where one can relinquish control over problems, in which case help often comes from the most unexpected places. Much of the moder worry habit comes from perfectionism and insistence on having control of all the circumstances in ones life, and constant pondering and worrying until one finds a solution, when the best way sometimes is to relinquish control, let go of the problem and admit that there is nothing one can do about it, and then, usually in a most amazing way, something comes along that helps the problem, solves it or makes it irrelevant. Whether this relinquishing of control should be done through belief in God and prayer, or through some other methods, is completely irrelevant, but the prayer has proven its positive psychological benefits for many centuries now.
The writing down of the worries might be an obvious thing to do today, and many psychologists recommend it as a way to organize the thoughts and separate the real concerns from the 'worry noise' in the head, but in the 1930s when Dale wrote this book must have been absolutely revolutionary. Recommendation for one hour nap in the afternoon of each day is probably one of the best ways to extend longevity, and has been long practiced on the Iberian peninsula under the name of Siesta. Not only the body and mind need rest mid-day, but by the very act of relaxing enough to fall asleep we reduce stress and induce a meditative state for stress relief and regeneration.
This is a wonderful book full of 'common sense' advice that is not common at all. The chapter summaries and bullet points should be re-read constantly and used to live by.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
"Why Do I Love These People?" by Po Bronson
Since I read his other book I thought I should give it another chance and read this one as well. It was more entertaining than the first, although most reviewers said the first one looks like pulitzer material compared to this one. I was mostly attracted by the story of the woman who has near death experience which changed her life and made her a better person. This story is an outlier compared to the other stories of the book, and although I was not offended by his preaching that everyone should procreate, nor I thought that he has no credentials to preach parenting after only a few years of having a child, but I really did not get the significance of most stories in the book. Don't get me wrong they are nice stories, and nicely written, very sweet and cozy and leave you with a good feeling, but I really did not get anything life changing out of it.
If anything I was immensely grateful that Po did not do the reading on the audio book like on his previous book 'What should I do with my life' because his voice doesn't have the quality for the audio book narration, and sounds squeaky, paltry and distracting.
If anything I was immensely grateful that Po did not do the reading on the audio book like on his previous book 'What should I do with my life' because his voice doesn't have the quality for the audio book narration, and sounds squeaky, paltry and distracting.
"What Should I Do with My Life?" by Po Bronson
I read this book an a recommendation of a friend who's opinion I value, however I was disappointed with its contents. The title is completely inappropriate for the book as it is more of a career change advice and examples than anything about the meaning of life itself. Many reviewers at amazon pointed out that the book is mostly concerned with over-privileged, over-educated, reasonably wealthy elite of the Bay Area and West Coast in general. I tend to somewhat agree with this opinion, although I don't want to downgrade their troubles, efforts and pains.
The book tells short bios of 55 people who have made more or less unconventional career change choices. I liked the story about the Harvard graduate turned catfish farmer. Most of the stories are fairly forgettable. I did not get much out of this book, both from advice and insight points of view. Many reviewers at amazon are right about saying that most of the people reviewed in the book never had any real troubles in life and did not have to take any big risks or make really hard choices.
The book is an entertaining read. The only distracting thing are Bronson's ramblings and musings about life, meaning, etc. where he overdoes it in driving some very obvious and common sense points home. One has to wonder about the quality of his spiritual and social life if such simple points impress him so much. Also I found the ever-present parallels he makes with his own life, and how things apply to him, distracting and plain annoying.
Other than that, a good, entertaining and forgettable book.
The book tells short bios of 55 people who have made more or less unconventional career change choices. I liked the story about the Harvard graduate turned catfish farmer. Most of the stories are fairly forgettable. I did not get much out of this book, both from advice and insight points of view. Many reviewers at amazon are right about saying that most of the people reviewed in the book never had any real troubles in life and did not have to take any big risks or make really hard choices.
The book is an entertaining read. The only distracting thing are Bronson's ramblings and musings about life, meaning, etc. where he overdoes it in driving some very obvious and common sense points home. One has to wonder about the quality of his spiritual and social life if such simple points impress him so much. Also I found the ever-present parallels he makes with his own life, and how things apply to him, distracting and plain annoying.
Other than that, a good, entertaining and forgettable book.
Monday, January 28, 2008
"Ocean of Theosophy" by William Quan Judge
This book is usually presented as the best introduction to the overall teachings and principles of Theosophy. As such it has it's value, as it spares the reader hundreds of hours in reading the Theosophical bibles like 'The Secret Doctrine' and 'Isis Unveiled'. Judge, who was the president of the Theosophical Society after the death of Blavatsky, is known to write more clearly than HPB, but shares her contempt for science, and the assumed superiority, bordering on snobbery, which can be annoying to the reader.
The book explains Blavatsky's ideas in more clear language, and the chapters were originally articles Judge wrote as answers to questions from theosophists. As most theosophical work, it draws mainly on Hindu scriptures and tradition, with lots of 'original' work by Blavatsky. It is openly resentful to institutionalized religion, mostly Christianity and Judaisms, while Islam is not even mentioned except as not worthy of discussion. The phantasmagoric tales of the 'Ascended Adepts' and races and continents preceding ours, which are offered purely on fate, or for 'examination' by people who can see the Astral Light, are intermixed by constant warnings and cautions about doing anything practical, as the powers you (seemingly automatically) get by any kind of practical work will immediately corrupt one's soul and mind, turning one into a power-hungry, super villain reminiscent of the ones in Marvel comics.
Judge tries to joke about the limited reach of science and how it doesn't have explanation for many phenomena, for which Theosophists have perfectly good explanations coming from the 'highest' source, i.e. Ascended Adepts, through their earthly mediators like Blavatsky and other high ranking Theosophists. He explain gravity as a form of electricity, and thus making levitation possible by 'changing the polarity' of an object or a person. Although it might have been common in the late 1800 to speculate about the electrical nature of gravity, such thoughts have been disproved soon afterwards, and it makes such statements laughable today. Judge tries to poke fun at science in many similar cases, basking in his imagined superiority of Theosophical thought, but the joke is ultimately on him, and on Theosophy, which hasn't updated its views of the world and science significantly in the last 120 years, while science has leaped forward in advances and understanding to the point where the Theosophical allegations and explanations seem like a relic from the past.
While Theosophy has had significant positive social impact, especially under the guidance of Annie Besant, and includes such cosmopolitan ideas like universal brotherhood of all men, the teachings and theories on which it is based, and especially the methods by which Blavatsky and other high ranking Theosophists claim to have obtained such knowledge, casts very strong doubt on its credibility, even questioning the basis for its existence.
The book explains Blavatsky's ideas in more clear language, and the chapters were originally articles Judge wrote as answers to questions from theosophists. As most theosophical work, it draws mainly on Hindu scriptures and tradition, with lots of 'original' work by Blavatsky. It is openly resentful to institutionalized religion, mostly Christianity and Judaisms, while Islam is not even mentioned except as not worthy of discussion. The phantasmagoric tales of the 'Ascended Adepts' and races and continents preceding ours, which are offered purely on fate, or for 'examination' by people who can see the Astral Light, are intermixed by constant warnings and cautions about doing anything practical, as the powers you (seemingly automatically) get by any kind of practical work will immediately corrupt one's soul and mind, turning one into a power-hungry, super villain reminiscent of the ones in Marvel comics.
Judge tries to joke about the limited reach of science and how it doesn't have explanation for many phenomena, for which Theosophists have perfectly good explanations coming from the 'highest' source, i.e. Ascended Adepts, through their earthly mediators like Blavatsky and other high ranking Theosophists. He explain gravity as a form of electricity, and thus making levitation possible by 'changing the polarity' of an object or a person. Although it might have been common in the late 1800 to speculate about the electrical nature of gravity, such thoughts have been disproved soon afterwards, and it makes such statements laughable today. Judge tries to poke fun at science in many similar cases, basking in his imagined superiority of Theosophical thought, but the joke is ultimately on him, and on Theosophy, which hasn't updated its views of the world and science significantly in the last 120 years, while science has leaped forward in advances and understanding to the point where the Theosophical allegations and explanations seem like a relic from the past.
While Theosophy has had significant positive social impact, especially under the guidance of Annie Besant, and includes such cosmopolitan ideas like universal brotherhood of all men, the teachings and theories on which it is based, and especially the methods by which Blavatsky and other high ranking Theosophists claim to have obtained such knowledge, casts very strong doubt on its credibility, even questioning the basis for its existence.
Friday, January 25, 2008
"Ultimate Book of Mind Maps" by Tony Bulzan
This is a very interesting book. My only gripe with it is how did the author manage to spend 256 pages explaining a very simple idea? Apparently he has written 82 books on pretty much the same idea, which is astounding. I guess it only goes as a monument to the consumer mentality of the world today.
The ideas in this book are neither new, nor overly original. Although Mr. Bulzan claims copyright over the idea and method, mind maps in their earliest incarnations have been used by Porphyry of Tyros, who lived in 3rd century AD. Mind maps are very similar to cognitive maps or semantic networks, but with less rules and limitations.
Mind mapping is basically a visualization technique for organization of ideas, note taking or decision making. It basically starts from a central problem statement, usually represented as an image, and works radially from it attaching branches with ideas that stem from the previous points. Images and color are used extensively as this makes the map more attractive and interesting to the brain, and research has showed that retention is best when the mind is interested in what is being presented.
The book promotes the old fashioned, and now discredited idea, that people only use one half of the brain, business and engineering and general logical reasoning people using the left brain, while artists, musicians and general creative people using the right brain. The book builds on this by claiming that mind maps force you to use both sides of your brain, the words and concepts coming from the left, and colors and images coming from the right side of the brain. Modern research has shown that we used both sides of the brain simultaneously and in conjunction for accomplishing various tasks, and the increased retention of information using mind maps can be attributed to making the cognitive process more interesting and exciting.
The book is filled with success stories and examples, some of them pretty loosely connected to the main topic of mind mapping, like the full chapter on physical exercise. One gets a feeling that the author did a mind map about the content of the book, and he kind of went wild with the number of branches he considered good ideas. Mind mapping is an interesting idea which might have good use in note taking, and knowledge organization, and thus could be very useful in appropriate situations, but is definitely not a panacea.
The ideas in this book are neither new, nor overly original. Although Mr. Bulzan claims copyright over the idea and method, mind maps in their earliest incarnations have been used by Porphyry of Tyros, who lived in 3rd century AD. Mind maps are very similar to cognitive maps or semantic networks, but with less rules and limitations.
Mind mapping is basically a visualization technique for organization of ideas, note taking or decision making. It basically starts from a central problem statement, usually represented as an image, and works radially from it attaching branches with ideas that stem from the previous points. Images and color are used extensively as this makes the map more attractive and interesting to the brain, and research has showed that retention is best when the mind is interested in what is being presented.
The book promotes the old fashioned, and now discredited idea, that people only use one half of the brain, business and engineering and general logical reasoning people using the left brain, while artists, musicians and general creative people using the right brain. The book builds on this by claiming that mind maps force you to use both sides of your brain, the words and concepts coming from the left, and colors and images coming from the right side of the brain. Modern research has shown that we used both sides of the brain simultaneously and in conjunction for accomplishing various tasks, and the increased retention of information using mind maps can be attributed to making the cognitive process more interesting and exciting.
The book is filled with success stories and examples, some of them pretty loosely connected to the main topic of mind mapping, like the full chapter on physical exercise. One gets a feeling that the author did a mind map about the content of the book, and he kind of went wild with the number of branches he considered good ideas. Mind mapping is an interesting idea which might have good use in note taking, and knowledge organization, and thus could be very useful in appropriate situations, but is definitely not a panacea.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
"In Search of the Miraculous: Fragments of an Unknown Teaching" by P. D. Ouspensky
I approached this book with skepticism, based on my previous knowledge and readings about Gurdjieff and Ouspensky, their lives and their (pitiful) deaths. However, after the first few dozen pages, I started to get more and more interested and involved in the material. It was something that you obviously deviates from the standard 'New Age' teaching, both in form and in function, and it actually sounded like something that could be true. Of course, there was plenty of borrowings from Theosophy, especially about the cosmology of the world and the organization of the 'higher planes' for which I couldn't care less. Things like 'The Ray of Creation' , the 'Law of Octaves', the angels and archangels that govern each plane did not interest me the least, since their practical value in modifying my life and everyday experience was next to none. Nowadays I judge the teachings by their fruits, not by how elegant and elaborate they are, but by how do the improve the quality of my life.
The teachings about 'self-remembering', self-observation, intentional suffering, about the fact that humans are machines, always under the Law of Accident, that they cannot do anything of their own free will, because they have none, they are asleep, constantly in a lucid dream where they only think they are free, but in fact all they do is caused by external influences and accident; these teachings resonate strongly, almost as if becoming aware of The Matrix. Also here we must mention the teachings about the complete mechanicalness of the human-machine, and the fact that no one is born with higher bodies, and they have to be earned by hard work, and the right kind of work, otherwise nothing outlast the death of the physical body, the dust returns to the dust from which it was created and the machine disappears, with no trace or any kind of entity outliving it. This discouraging view resonates much more truthfully than the fairytale teachings of most New Age groups, and is almost the same as the teachings found within Peter Carroll's Chaos Magick, i.e. humans are not born with a soul, they have to work hard all their lives to create a soul, which might have a fleeting chance of eternal life or even only outliving the death of the physical body for a certain period of time.
The teachings of Gurdjieff also bear close semblance to the teachings of Castaneda's Don Juan, especially in the parts about self-remembering, and the lack of self-consciousness or self-awareness in humans. Don Juan says that the human consciousness is eaten by creatures from other planes, which Gurdjieff is saying that it is being sucked by the Moon, which uses it to become a planet itself, while reducing the meaning of human existence to yet another parasite whose by-product is useful to the wider world in general, much like the oceanic fito-plancton which produces oxygen. While these claims might be classified as outrageous or bombastic by people who like to believe in their own special and privileged place in the universe the ladder of living beings (as all major religions teach), it does infuse a refreshing perspective that is not egocentric and megalomaniac, and while the exact metaphors used might not be extremely accurate, the significance might be.
Further similarities between Gurdjieff's system and Castanedas 'Tensegrity' can be found in both teacher's insistence on use of moves for achieving higher states of consciousness. Castaneda has his 'Magical Passes' while Gurdjieff has the 'Sacred Dances' both being used for raising one's awareness and focusing attention. Similarities to Osho's system have been pointed as well, though Osho places much more emphasis on traditional systems like Yoga, Tantra and Buddhism. However, while Osho had no problem revealing and describing his system in great detail and with minute explanations, so that the greatest number of people can understand and practice it, neither Castaneda, and even less Gurdjieff did this, but quite the opposite. Gurdjieff was especially cryptic, and always let the students know that he is not telling them everything, which some people have equated with insincerity, even sadism, to complement many methods that Gurdjieff recommended to his students, which would look like masochism to an outside observer. Gurdjieff even goes further by saying that it is neither possible nor desirable to initiate many people in his system and thus increase their awareness, since then the initial purpose of the human beings of being parasitic converters of energy for the moon would be damaged. This goes in stark contrast to all major religions which claim salvation is for everyone and that spiritual evolution is the ultimate goal for all human beings.
Critics point out that after the demise of the teachers, both Castaneda's and Gurdjieff's teachings have not produced new enlightened followers and teachers, but have mostly fallen into obscurity, which is true and disturbing, as no matter how truthful and powerful one teaching sounds , if it is being unable to enlighten the students and bring them to the level of the teacher eventually, then it is useless, and becomes just another exciting fairytale. It is questionable that even Gurdjieff's best student, Jean De Saltzman, who died in 1990 at an age of 101, has achieved the permanent 'objective consciousness' which Gurdjieff pointed out is the goal of his teaching on individual level. It is a pity that Gurdjieff never wrote a clear and complete explanation of his teachings, both theoretical and practical, but left it to the students to record and publish scraps, bits and pieces, and supplemented that with convoluted, unreadable books like 'The Tales of Belzebub to his Grandson'. He pointed many times that the teachings are 'out there' and people either have no interest or capability to understand them, but in the same time never published a single clearly written book of his own teachings that would be 'out there' for the people to try to understand, but fall back into the errors of the teachers and teachings of the time past, wrapping it with allegories and metaphors for the 'initiated'.
It is a pity that even in the modern day people still fall back to methods of secrecy and allegories, as did the Pythagoreans and alchemists, the latter having good reason, fearing the persecution of the Church, while the former doing it from pure egotism and vanity, thus retarding mathematics for hundreds of years, and even resorting to murder like in the case of Hippasus of Metapontum. This insistence on secrecy and 'veiled knowledge' serves only to increase the egos and sense of exclusivity for those who think they have it, and is just as ridiculous as the Theosophist's paralyzing fear of developing 'powers' that can be used for evil. Secrecy and allegories are, and should be things of the past. All knowledge should be exposed clearly and comprehensively for the evaluation, acceptance or rejection by all of the human community, and until all self-appointed teachers and self-righteous students accept this, we will all continue to live in our own squalid little matrices.
The teachings about 'self-remembering', self-observation, intentional suffering, about the fact that humans are machines, always under the Law of Accident, that they cannot do anything of their own free will, because they have none, they are asleep, constantly in a lucid dream where they only think they are free, but in fact all they do is caused by external influences and accident; these teachings resonate strongly, almost as if becoming aware of The Matrix. Also here we must mention the teachings about the complete mechanicalness of the human-machine, and the fact that no one is born with higher bodies, and they have to be earned by hard work, and the right kind of work, otherwise nothing outlast the death of the physical body, the dust returns to the dust from which it was created and the machine disappears, with no trace or any kind of entity outliving it. This discouraging view resonates much more truthfully than the fairytale teachings of most New Age groups, and is almost the same as the teachings found within Peter Carroll's Chaos Magick, i.e. humans are not born with a soul, they have to work hard all their lives to create a soul, which might have a fleeting chance of eternal life or even only outliving the death of the physical body for a certain period of time.
The teachings of Gurdjieff also bear close semblance to the teachings of Castaneda's Don Juan, especially in the parts about self-remembering, and the lack of self-consciousness or self-awareness in humans. Don Juan says that the human consciousness is eaten by creatures from other planes, which Gurdjieff is saying that it is being sucked by the Moon, which uses it to become a planet itself, while reducing the meaning of human existence to yet another parasite whose by-product is useful to the wider world in general, much like the oceanic fito-plancton which produces oxygen. While these claims might be classified as outrageous or bombastic by people who like to believe in their own special and privileged place in the universe the ladder of living beings (as all major religions teach), it does infuse a refreshing perspective that is not egocentric and megalomaniac, and while the exact metaphors used might not be extremely accurate, the significance might be.
Further similarities between Gurdjieff's system and Castanedas 'Tensegrity' can be found in both teacher's insistence on use of moves for achieving higher states of consciousness. Castaneda has his 'Magical Passes' while Gurdjieff has the 'Sacred Dances' both being used for raising one's awareness and focusing attention. Similarities to Osho's system have been pointed as well, though Osho places much more emphasis on traditional systems like Yoga, Tantra and Buddhism. However, while Osho had no problem revealing and describing his system in great detail and with minute explanations, so that the greatest number of people can understand and practice it, neither Castaneda, and even less Gurdjieff did this, but quite the opposite. Gurdjieff was especially cryptic, and always let the students know that he is not telling them everything, which some people have equated with insincerity, even sadism, to complement many methods that Gurdjieff recommended to his students, which would look like masochism to an outside observer. Gurdjieff even goes further by saying that it is neither possible nor desirable to initiate many people in his system and thus increase their awareness, since then the initial purpose of the human beings of being parasitic converters of energy for the moon would be damaged. This goes in stark contrast to all major religions which claim salvation is for everyone and that spiritual evolution is the ultimate goal for all human beings.
Critics point out that after the demise of the teachers, both Castaneda's and Gurdjieff's teachings have not produced new enlightened followers and teachers, but have mostly fallen into obscurity, which is true and disturbing, as no matter how truthful and powerful one teaching sounds , if it is being unable to enlighten the students and bring them to the level of the teacher eventually, then it is useless, and becomes just another exciting fairytale. It is questionable that even Gurdjieff's best student, Jean De Saltzman, who died in 1990 at an age of 101, has achieved the permanent 'objective consciousness' which Gurdjieff pointed out is the goal of his teaching on individual level. It is a pity that Gurdjieff never wrote a clear and complete explanation of his teachings, both theoretical and practical, but left it to the students to record and publish scraps, bits and pieces, and supplemented that with convoluted, unreadable books like 'The Tales of Belzebub to his Grandson'. He pointed many times that the teachings are 'out there' and people either have no interest or capability to understand them, but in the same time never published a single clearly written book of his own teachings that would be 'out there' for the people to try to understand, but fall back into the errors of the teachers and teachings of the time past, wrapping it with allegories and metaphors for the 'initiated'.
It is a pity that even in the modern day people still fall back to methods of secrecy and allegories, as did the Pythagoreans and alchemists, the latter having good reason, fearing the persecution of the Church, while the former doing it from pure egotism and vanity, thus retarding mathematics for hundreds of years, and even resorting to murder like in the case of Hippasus of Metapontum. This insistence on secrecy and 'veiled knowledge' serves only to increase the egos and sense of exclusivity for those who think they have it, and is just as ridiculous as the Theosophist's paralyzing fear of developing 'powers' that can be used for evil. Secrecy and allegories are, and should be things of the past. All knowledge should be exposed clearly and comprehensively for the evaluation, acceptance or rejection by all of the human community, and until all self-appointed teachers and self-righteous students accept this, we will all continue to live in our own squalid little matrices.
Monday, December 10, 2007
"In the Line of Fire: A Memoir" by Pervez Musharraf
This is a very interesting book to read right now (December 2007), although it was written more than a year ago, as Mr.Musharraf is all over the news again, having stepped down as a military dictator and holding the first democratic elections in Pakistan in years. Probably the single worst thing about the book is that most of it follows an apologetic tone, defending the actions of Musharraf and portraying them the best and only right ones to take at that moment, a statement with which many independent observers would thoroughly disagree. Another distracting thing is the style in which it is written. It is obvious that the book was dictated to a scribe, and not directly by Musharraf, as the sentences are simplistic and colloquial, with a very basic grammatical structure, and yet we find quite a few 'GRE' words scattered around, which stand out and distract the reader, being obviously placed there by the subsequent editors who wanted the book to sound more scholarly.
The book starts with Musharraf describing his family's escape from Delhi during the first Indo-Pakistani war, and reaching Karachi safely, which could not be said for many who were massacred right on the trains, both Indians and Muslims, going in both directions. He describes his early childhood in Karachi and after that in Turkey very vividly, and probably this is the best and least controversial part of the book. He describes himself as not particularly book-smart (an honor which was reserved for his brother), but street smart kid, who got into lots of fights, did lots of mischief, and was even a gang leader in Karachi.
After the return from Turkey Musharraf embarks on a military career, and progresses quickly through the ranks, mostly based on his physical strength, stamina, and comradeship with his soldiers. He is very emotional about the wars with India, and never misses a chance to point out how Pakistan beats India all the time, in all kinds of conflict, which gets kind of repetitive and boring after the first few time, regardless of if it is true or not. A very emotional and crucial formational moment for him is the separation of East Pakistan and it's independence as the state of Bangladesh, for which he rightfully blames the then Pakistani leader, but most of his rancor is directed towards India, and their role in the process. This very open hostility pervades the whole book, starting from cricket matches and ending with the Kashmir question, which Musharraf always refers to as the 'Kashmir's fight for freedom' and calls the Kashmir's mujahedeens, which the whole world sees as terrorists, "freedom fighters".
Musharraf had problems with authority and discipline and was expecting to retire as a Brigadier-General, if it wasn't for the last Pakistan's Prime Minister decision to make him Army Chief of Staff, in order to change and anger the previous Chief of Staff. However, the relations between the new chief of staff and prime minister did not develop well, and the Prime Minister tried to prevent the landing of Musharraf's plane, on a return from foreign visit, thus nearly killing him due to lack of fuel. This was used as a pretext for Musharraf and his supporters withing the army to execute a coup d'etait and take over power in Pakistan.
The further chapters of the book describe the self-proclaimed achievments that Mushrraf achieved since his coming to power, which include some less controversial ones like improving the economy and the corruption situation, but others that are highly disputed like another war with India that he lost according to all observers except himself, and shady dealings with the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and its own religious extremists at home. This part of the book would probably be most burdensome to a western reader as it is written in openly bombastic and self-laudatory style that can hardly pass even for good Public Relations effort.
The War on Terror and Pakistan's role in it is another part which is very interesting to the western reader, and although there is much valuable information, lots of things are left unsaid or distorted, like the statement from the US saying that if Pakistan doesn't cooperate with the war they will 'bomb them back to the stone age' which some observers point out was formulated because of the Pakistani intelligence agency's involvement in the 9/11 attacks. Musharraf writes on in great detail about the hunt for suicide bombers networks in Pakistan, and attempts on his life, but glosses too lightly over the wider Muslim extremists elements in Pakistan which make the country such a fertile ground for wannabe martyrs.
The book concludes with an optimistic view of the future of Pakistan, of course, under Musharraf's leadership, and somewhat disparaging diatribe about democracy and why the western-style democracy is not applicable to Pakistan. Although an amusing read, this is not the best written book, or full of objective information, but it gives a curious window into the mindset and personal views of one of the last modern dictators.
The book starts with Musharraf describing his family's escape from Delhi during the first Indo-Pakistani war, and reaching Karachi safely, which could not be said for many who were massacred right on the trains, both Indians and Muslims, going in both directions. He describes his early childhood in Karachi and after that in Turkey very vividly, and probably this is the best and least controversial part of the book. He describes himself as not particularly book-smart (an honor which was reserved for his brother), but street smart kid, who got into lots of fights, did lots of mischief, and was even a gang leader in Karachi.
After the return from Turkey Musharraf embarks on a military career, and progresses quickly through the ranks, mostly based on his physical strength, stamina, and comradeship with his soldiers. He is very emotional about the wars with India, and never misses a chance to point out how Pakistan beats India all the time, in all kinds of conflict, which gets kind of repetitive and boring after the first few time, regardless of if it is true or not. A very emotional and crucial formational moment for him is the separation of East Pakistan and it's independence as the state of Bangladesh, for which he rightfully blames the then Pakistani leader, but most of his rancor is directed towards India, and their role in the process. This very open hostility pervades the whole book, starting from cricket matches and ending with the Kashmir question, which Musharraf always refers to as the 'Kashmir's fight for freedom' and calls the Kashmir's mujahedeens, which the whole world sees as terrorists, "freedom fighters".
Musharraf had problems with authority and discipline and was expecting to retire as a Brigadier-General, if it wasn't for the last Pakistan's Prime Minister decision to make him Army Chief of Staff, in order to change and anger the previous Chief of Staff. However, the relations between the new chief of staff and prime minister did not develop well, and the Prime Minister tried to prevent the landing of Musharraf's plane, on a return from foreign visit, thus nearly killing him due to lack of fuel. This was used as a pretext for Musharraf and his supporters withing the army to execute a coup d'etait and take over power in Pakistan.
The further chapters of the book describe the self-proclaimed achievments that Mushrraf achieved since his coming to power, which include some less controversial ones like improving the economy and the corruption situation, but others that are highly disputed like another war with India that he lost according to all observers except himself, and shady dealings with the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and its own religious extremists at home. This part of the book would probably be most burdensome to a western reader as it is written in openly bombastic and self-laudatory style that can hardly pass even for good Public Relations effort.
The War on Terror and Pakistan's role in it is another part which is very interesting to the western reader, and although there is much valuable information, lots of things are left unsaid or distorted, like the statement from the US saying that if Pakistan doesn't cooperate with the war they will 'bomb them back to the stone age' which some observers point out was formulated because of the Pakistani intelligence agency's involvement in the 9/11 attacks. Musharraf writes on in great detail about the hunt for suicide bombers networks in Pakistan, and attempts on his life, but glosses too lightly over the wider Muslim extremists elements in Pakistan which make the country such a fertile ground for wannabe martyrs.
The book concludes with an optimistic view of the future of Pakistan, of course, under Musharraf's leadership, and somewhat disparaging diatribe about democracy and why the western-style democracy is not applicable to Pakistan. Although an amusing read, this is not the best written book, or full of objective information, but it gives a curious window into the mindset and personal views of one of the last modern dictators.
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