Jonathan Livingston Seagull -Richard Bach

This is one of the books whose effect has remained with me from a long time.

Read it for the first time when in 8th std and then again in college and just again today.

This book is about:let me say what is written on the back cover matches it perfectly.

"People who make their own rules when they know they are right...people who get a special pleasure out of doing something well(even if only for themselves)..people who know there's more to this whole living thing than meets the eye."

The whole book written on the life of a seagull Jonathan Livingston about how he loved to fly and wanted to perfect his art,learn to fly from heights ,at low heights,dive at high speed and so on and how his flock mocked him that he was born as a seagull and that the reason he flies is to eat .If he were meant to fly like that,his body and wings will have been different.They outcast him from the flock and how his life goes from there.The messages are beautifully given through the story of the bird.

Messages given

Everything that limits us we have to put aside.

Break the chains of your thought and you break the chains of your body too.As one's body being nothing more than thought itself.

We are free to go where we wish and to be what we are.

Heaven is not a place,and it is not a time as they (time and place are meaningless).Heaven is being perfect and perfection doesn't have limits.

The best line from book

"We went from one world into another that was almost exactly like it,forgetting right away where we had come from,not caring where we were headed,living for the moment.Do you have any idea how many lives we have gone through before we even got the first idea that there is more to life than eating,or fighting for power?A ten thousand lives!And then another hundred lives until we began to learn that there is such a thing as perfection,and then another hundred again to get the idea that our purpose of living is to find that perfection and show it forth.

we choose our next world through what we learn in this one.Learn nothing,and the next world is the same as this one,all the same limitations to overcome."

One more really good one:

"Overcome space and all we have left is Here.Overcome time,and all we have left is Now."

Application to life

• We complain about our limitations stopping us from achieving.This book sets an example that if a seagull can overcome his body limits to fly at such speeds,then what are the other physical limitations (money,time) that can stop us humans??


• Why people are scared to do what they love and know it is right.Just because others will mock us??


• The mundane,small things in life,we just do it to complete the job and not think if i could have done it in a more better,perfect way.


• There will never be a perfect time or place to do what we want.It should always be here and now.

Isn't It Obvious? Eliyahu Goldhart

This book is about retail business:textiles.

Got to learn a lot about how they operate,about how inventory,investment and sales relate to profit.

The ultimate line to take from this book

"I divide people into two camps.Those who measure themselves by how they do relative to some reference,and those who couldn't care less about what others have achieved.These individuals measure themselves according to the inherent potential of the situation they are in Everybody compares themselves to their competitors and as a result are satisfied with what they are achieving.And it is so difficult,impossible to open their eyes to the fact that there is so much more;that the solid potential that they had created,(have) can be used to dwarf whatever they had already achieved."

Application to life

You know if I apply this to daily life,whenever I get up late at weekends like around 9.00 and Arjun scolds or makes fun of me that I have wasted 3 hours of the day,I argue that "There are people who get up at 11,12 in the afternoon,I am so much better off".He says "It does not matter when other people get up,whether you wanted to get up or not is the question and whether you can or not.Never complain that you do not have time to do this or that again"Even when my parents point out something I just give reasons that my other friends are much worse in this,I atleast did only this.

So,now I resolved that I will join the second group of people and never compare myself to others whether it is for achievement or my faults.I have a sense of what is good,bad,my capabilities and dreams and will measure myself by targets I set for myself.

Other messages to be taken

The other message this book gives is--

The protagonist of the book has a hard time convincing the other people in his company that the ideas he has to improve profits will work,though he had results,figures to show them .

How people are scared to venture on new procedures,think,try new methods,implement their new ideas.They follow old,traditional methods with the reasoning that this is how the system works,this is what everyone follow ,and it works for everyone,so why I should I adapt to something else which I am not sure whether it will help or not.People are scared to change,any kind of change.

So I can say in a nutshell

"Inertia is not good,try new things,dare to change,bring the change and see what you can achieve"

Why is the title so?

The ideas of the protagonist were just based on simple rules which are so obvious that everyone are surprised that if it is so simple and obvious why business units never used them before.

Answers to any problem can be obtained by just attacking the root cause and solution will stare into our face and we shall say "It was so obvious"

Hence the title of the book "Isn't It Obvious".

Thought a lot as to on which book shall be my post,the one I finished reading last or the one that has been with me,influenced me a lot among all the books I have read so far.

Could not decide,so will post both.

What is this blog about

I was always fascinated with books.And always wondered how will I finish the million books that exist.Every book I read,I get to learn so much regardless of the kind of genre of book-be it a mystery novel,classic literature books,sci-fi novel,romantic novel,self-help boo,management books...So much to learn about how life treats you,places across the world,people....what not.

So,each time I pick a book and am fascinated by it and what I learnt,I want to treasure it with me and cherish it forever.So a small step towards this is creating this blog.

And am very lucky that my soon to be better-half,life partner too is with me on this and feels the same about books encouraged me to take this step.


May-2015:
Well,I did not update the blog for a really long time but I did read a lot of books during the time.
I will not able to write down more details about the book but I remember the feeling I had when I think about the book .Just want some place to list the books I have  read  lost the dairy I was noting down the list of books ( while shifting).Thought for the books read in the past,I shall just list them atleast.