My fascination with the Project Apollo Moon landing missions started in 1992 when my father handed me a book titled The Story of Apollo 11. Over the last 20+ years, I have read every book, every NASA publication and every astronaut biography I could get; and yet, two of the best books I read were just last two weeks. "Apollo: The Race to the Moon" by Catherin Cox / Charles Murray and "A Man on the Moon: Voyages of Apollo" by Andrew Chaikin are two most comprehensive, detailed accounts of what is widely considered one of the most notable achievements of human race.
The two books, each running 500+ pages cover the same subject, but from two different perspectives. Chaikin interviewed all the astronauts, and he focuses on their careers, their selection into NASA, the fierce competition among them, rigorous training and details each Moon mission in detail. Cox and Murray provide a detailed account of the NASA technology management for Apollo program, development of Saturn V, Apollo spacecraft and the art & science of mission control. There is practically no overlap between the two books, and each one stands as a must-read book on its own.
There are books; there are good books, and then there are masterpieces. But "The Making of Atomic Bomb" by Richard Rhodes is a not just an ordinary masterpiece; it's a magnum opus of epic proportions.
There are scores of tomes written about the Manhattan Project, but this book is universally acknowledged as THE definitive history of the subject. And rightfully so, because it is multiple books rolled into one: Scientific discoveries, political intrigue, technological and engineering difficulties, and the thoughts and actions of political leaders, scientists and military staff associated with the project. It's a beast of a book, 800 pages of text (set in small typeset) plus 60 pages of photos, and it covers a huge time span, from the beginning of 20th century culminating in the atomic bombs that literally obliterated the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. While you feel a sense of wonder and excitement reading about giants of physics, such as Einstein, Fermi, Oppenheimer and many others and how they solved complex issues, the last hundred pages make you weep reading about the immense suffering of civilians that were slaughtered by bomb. Like a true historian, the author narrates actions and events in a non-partisan way, without taking sides or assigning blame. It should come as no surprise that the book has won a number of literary awards, including Pulitzer Prize for Non-Fiction .
This was a book, which, after I finished reading it, filled me with an overwhelming sense of regret: I should have read this 20 years ago... Never mind the fact that the book was only published last year (2015)
From nuclear bombs, computer data centers to tectonic plates, from dishwashers, space shuttles to Large Hadron Collider, from animal cells to skyscrappers... This book explains more than 60 complex technical, physical or biological phenomena using just a thousand common words, and beautiful line drawings. It distills the essence of each of these topics to its bare bones and teaches us about them without using incomprehensible jargon.
And, what makes it even more enjoyable is the wry humor that fills every page. For example, consider this entry for the Saturn V rocket, describing its rocket nozzles: "Fire comes out of here. These should point to the ground when you're going to space. If they start pointing to space, you're having a bad problem, and you will not go to space today."
This book is truly one of its kind, and worth every penny. I love pizza and often use it as a standard to compare prices. Skip a medium-size pizza and buy this book; the knowledge gained will last a life time, for you and your kids.
Just finished reading "O Jerusalem!" by Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins; and also its Marathi counterpart "इस्रायेल छळाकडून बळाकडे" .
Both these books portray a chilling, intriguing story of how the state of Israel came into being; its struggle to maintain its independence against the wrath of Arab countries and its victory in the Sixty Day War. Reading this history reveals a stark contrast between the iron will and pragmatic vision of Israeli leaders as against the ghastly errors of judgement made by the Indian national leadership at the time of our independence. These books are not an easy read; but exactly for this reason, they should be read.
Pandit Jitendra Abhisheki in his prime years, performing two bandishes (ए री सखी आज मोहे व रंग से रंग दि) for a Mumbai Doordarshan programme in early 1980s. He is accompanied by my mama Pdt Raghunath Phadke on taanpura.And it turns out that the other person on taanpura is also my mama: Jayant Phadke! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8zxusv04OM
Pdt Prabhakar Karekar
"प्रिये पहा, रात्रीचा समय सरुनी येत उष:काल हा!".... 'संगीत सौभद्र' मधील हे एक अजरामर नाट्यगीत. अनेक गायक -- गायिकांनी आपल्या गान-वैशिष्ट्यानुसार ते सादर केले आहे. पण पं. प्रभाकर कारेकर यांच्या खुल्या, दाणेदार आवाजात हे गाणे एक आगळावेगळा अनुभव देऊन जाते. जरूर ऐका.
