The Hindu Business Line : Something to do on the third anniversary of 9/11

WITHIN less than a fortnight it would be three years since 9/11 happened. A big blot that can't be erased from history books. To take you back in time and compile the proceedings of inquiry that happened thereafter, hot on shelves is The 9/11Investigations, edited by Steven Strasser, and published by Public Affairs Reports (www.publicaffairsbooks.com).

Craig R.Whitney of the New York Times writes in his intro: "Armed with a highly experienced investigative staff of more than eighty, the 9/11 Commission began hearings in the spring of 2003, but it had to fight every step of the way against bureaucratic resistance to full disclosure." No different from what we are familiar with here. "The White House promised full cooperation but resisted the commission's demands for files and documents, finally agreeing to provide only the excerpts that it judged relevant." So much for the right to information, yet the Commission built evidence. Quite unusually, it began making reports of its findings public in advance of the hearings — "so that the public as well as the commissioners could be well informed when questioning of important government witnesses started."

A must read book, because "staff reports, written in accessible and compelling style rather than bureaucratese, are included in this book."

Shed weight in two weeks!

LOOKING for `a doctor's plan for fast and lasting weight loss'? Try Dr Arthur Agatston's The South Beach Diet, from Headline Book Publishing (www.headline.co.uk). It is not low carb, nor low fat, explains chapter one, before taking you through a plan that can let you shed "8 to 13 pounds in the next two weeks alone." It will be your job to eat so that your hunger is satisfied, assures the author, because "nothing undermines a weight-loss plan more than the distressing sensation that you need more food."

Taboos for the fortnight are bread, rice, potatoes, pasta, baked goods, sweets, cake, biscuits, ice cream, sugar, beer, alcohol and fruit. Phase I is the strictest period, cautions the author. You'd notice the difference in your clothes: "It will be easier to zip your jeans than it's been for some time. That blazer will close without a bulge." Also, you'd change `internally'. Want to try?

A showcase of civilisations

INDIA is a sort of history museum, writes Alain Danielou in A Brief History of India, published by Inner Traditions India (www.InnerTraditions.com). "In this strange country, we may even today encounter Stone Age people — mariners who sew their boats because they are unfamiliar with the use of metals, civilisations whose technology has remained at what we usually term prehistoric levels — and yet these civilisations have preserved their languages, customs, traditions, philosophy, and religion down to our own time."

The author talks of `a curious phenomenon of the Indian spirit': "The various currents meeting on Indian soil — instead of destroying or replacing each other — become fixed on their arrival in this magic land. They remain unchanging, side by side, in an extraordinarily eternal environment, where evolution appears to have halted and where events belong to civilisations elsewhere separated by thousands of years appear to be almost contemporary." Worth a read.

Ordinary people do matter

TO EXPOSE "oily politicians, war profiteers, and the media that love them", Amy Goodman writes The Exception to the Rulers, published by Hyperion (www.HyperionBooks.com). "Media should not be a tool only of the powerful," argues the book. "The media can be a platform for the most important debates of our day: war and peace, freedom and tyranny." A democratic media would chronicle the movements and organisations that are making history today. "When people hear their neighbours given a voice, see their struggles in what they watch and read, spirits are lifted. People feel like they can make a difference." Change starts with ordinary people working in their communities, remember. "And that's where media should start as well." A book your rulers may not like you to read.

Travel before it's too late

PLANNING a holiday? Grab a copy of Patricia Schultz's 1,000 Places to See Before You Die, from Workman Publishing (www.workman.com). "Guaranteed to give travellers the shivers," says the back cover. "This book represents travel opportunities in an ideal, peaceful world," notes the intro. "However, that's not the world we actually live in... Therefore, before making plans to travel to destinations with which you're not familiar, be sure to do your homework."

The India section includes Palace on Wheels ("The private toy train of the Maharajas"), Top Tables (in Maurya Sheraton Hotel), Chapslee (in Simla, "a relic of the Raj"), Ladakh ("a glimpse of Tibet against a lunar landscape"), backwaters of Kerala ("an exotic labyrinth of canals and lagoons"), temples of Khajuraho ("erotic tableaus in the middle of nowhere"), cave temples of northern Maharashtra ("an architectural achievement of mysterious power"), Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai, Palace of Winds in Jaipur ("where royal concubines watched the world go by"), Jaisalmer ("A giant sand castle in the heart of the great Indian desert"), Umaid Bhawan Palace in Jodhpur, Pushkar camel fair ("a tribal gathering unlike any other"), trekking in Sikkim, Taj Mahal, ghats of Varanasi, Marble Palace in Kolkata and the Darjeeling highlands. Book for the backpack.

Books courtesy: Fountainhead (fhbooks@satyam.net.in)

Tailpiece

"I'm sure the code of conduct would stipulate how... "

"Politicians should talk in meetings?"

"Also, how papers should be thrown on table."

ReadingRoom@TheHindu.co.in

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