Ajitabh Pandey's Soul & Syntax

Exploring systems, souls, and stories – one post at a time

Tag: non-fiction

  • Wise and Otherwise by Sudha Murthy

    Wise and Otherwise Book CoverThis book is a memoir and it contains 51 different experiences penned by Sudha Murthy. These experiences are from her engagement with the Infosys Foundation and her interaction with various people at various places. Some of the experiences really make you think about how complex we have made our lives and still we are chasing the unknown.

  • Fermat’s Last Theorem by Simon Singh

    Fermat's Last Theorem Book CoverFermat’s Last Theorem by Simon Singh is not a book which details out the proof. The actual proof manuscript by Andrew Wiles is 200 pages long and consists of beautiful blend of mathematical concepts with modern mathematics.

    Simon Singh has very beautifully explained the various approaches and attempts made to prove this theorem by mathematicians for over 350 years. She has step by step taken the reader to the times preceding the Fermat’s time, to the time of Pythagoras, wherein lies the roots of this theorem. In this process she has taken us through brief life, time and works of various mathematicians whose work proved valuable in order for Andrew Wiles to proof this theorem.

    The book is written in a very interesting and catching style and surprisingly does not include any complex mathematics. And hence a person with basic high school understanding of mathematics can understand and grasp the concepts in this book.

    A must read for any mathematics fan.

  • The Great Arc – A Dramatic Tale of How India was Mapped and Everest was named by John Keay

    The Great Arc Book CoverThis book covers the story of trigonometrical survey carried out in India during the most part of 19th Century. The project was started by a British surveyor William Lambton and after his death the chief surveyor position was taken over by George Everest. However, surprisingly, people do not remember Lambton at all and Everest was only remembered because Mount Everest was named after him.

    The book covers the hardship faced by the surveyors in the then prevailing geographic conditions. A good amount of surveyors died due to various diseases,  more specifically malaria and attacks by tigers and scorpios. The survey team also faced mobility problems as the survey instrument of those times weighed in tons and were difficult to transport.

    If you are instructed in history and most specifically geographical history, then this book is a worth read.