Let’s cat(ch) you a book

JSPF Recommends — Books for the New Year 2022 — Part 3

The end is here! To keeping your neurons buzzing into the new year, here’s a crack-a-lacking collection of books in English and Tamil hand-picked by the Jitheshraj Scholarship for promising freshmen team. Happy reading!

You can click on the book covers to find reviews and details.

Radical Compassion by Tara Brach

Radical Compassion

Tara Brach

Genre: Mental health

Recommended by: Lakshmi S., JSPF panelist, team member, and past mentor

Tara Brach’s Radical Compassion focuses on her signature RAIN technique to develop self-compassion. Her work is nothing short of transformational.

“Just being a sponge, you see, tends to make you feel helpless and useless, because you aren’t doing something, you’re just being there, doing nothing (or so it seems).”

The Anatomy Of Hate by Revati Laul

The Anatomy of Hate

Revati Laul

Genre: Journalistic non-fiction

Recommended by: Siddhant Chandra, JSPF team member and past mentor

This book is an excellent insight into what constitutes violence, what are the different types of violence, what factors lead to hate crimes and mass violence etc. Most importantly I liked this book because of the rationale of the author behind taking up this 14–15 years long project. I have always been thinking about how to take conversations forward and not stay forever at a deadlock. We see that all the time in all kinds of negotiations — a prime example being between governments and activists. There is a tinge of antagonism on both sides in such conversations and no one side seems to budge. They continue to ‘bash’ one another. So, what do we do then? How do we take conversations forward, really? Revati shows a way out — in this book project she goes and talks to the people who were in the mob that inflicted violence. This is a marked departure from other accounts where only the mob victims and their perspectives are shown. Hence, this is a very insightful book especially to understand different perspectives and take debates forward. One of the most important concepts I grasped from this book is of the different KINDS of violence — violence isn’t always physical — it can be emotional, social, mental etc. And the gravest of inequalities amount to violence.

“There is an unconscious assumption that, once an act of mass violence takes place, the changes it effects are permanent. But that would be to undermine history, time and the nature of forging. For every new piece of metal, once laid out to cool and dry, starts to acquire a new life, new hues, new patinas, heat, dust, dirt and rust. And so it was with each of our protagonists over the fifteen years that followed.”

Silent Spring by Rachel Carson

Silent Spring

Rachel Carson

Genre: Science, environment

Recommended by: Ashwini Petchiappan, JSPF mentor

Silent Spring inspired the environmental movement that led to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Carson spun lyrical prose and scientific acumen together to document the insidious effects of indiscriminate use of pesticides — with such potency that it galvanised the imagination of the general public, and made ‘ecology’ a household word.

“We stand now where two roads diverge. But unlike the roads in Robert Frost’s familiar poem, they are not equally fair. The road we have long been traveling is deceptively easy, a smooth superhighway on which we progress with great speed, but at its end lies disaster. The other fork of the road — the one less traveled by — offers our last, our only chance to reach a destination that assures the preservation of the earth.”

“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature — the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.”

Shoe Dog by Phil Knight

Shoe Dog

Phil Knight

Genre: Memoir

Recommended by: Vishnu, JSPF panelist

This book has helped me improve when I’ve been down and anguished at some stage in life. I recommend it for the variety in thought and the meaning it brings into your life.

“Like books, sports give people a sense of having lived other lives, of taking part in other people’s victories. And defeats. When sports are at their best, the spirit of the fan merges with the spirit of the athlete.”

Deshandri by S. Ramakrishnan

Deshanthiri — The Traveller (Tamil/English)

S. Ramakrishnan

Genre: Science fiction

Recommended by: Nandhakishore C. S., JSPF finalist and team member

S. Venkatesan is a Sahitya Akademi award-winning writer. Deshanthiri is among his most famous books.

Heroes by Stephen Fry

Heroes

Stephen Fry

Genre: Mythology

Recommended by: Lakshmi S., JSPF panelist, team member, and past mentor

Heroes is absolutely delightful. Fry’s exceptionally engaging storytelling ability apart, the joy of uncovering the richness of another culture’s stories was a delightful experience.

“You see?’ said Prometheus. ‘It is your fate to be Heracles the hero, burdened with labours, yet it is also your choice. You choose to submit to it. Such is the paradox of living. We willingly accept that we have no will.”

Man’s Search For Meaning by Victor E. Frakl

Man’s Search For Meaning

Viktor E. Frankl

Genre: Memoir

Recommended by: Vishnu, JSPF finalist

This memoir has riveted readers with its descriptions of life in Nazi death camps. Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, based on his own experience and the stories of his patients, argues that we cannot avoid suffering but we can choose how to cope with it, find meaning in it, and move forward with renewed purpose.

”Those who have a ‘why’ to live, can bear with almost any ‘how’.”

Origin by Dan Brown

Origin

Dan Brown

Genre: Thriller, mystery

Recommended by: Nandhakishore C. S., JSPF finalist and team member

Robert Langdon, professor of symbology and religious iconology at Harvard University, arrives at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao to attend a stunning announcement — a discovery that “will change the face of science forever.” Chaos erupts. And Langdon, facing an imminent threat, is forced into a desperate bid to escape Bilbao.

“Historically, the most dangerous men on earth were men of God…especially when their gods became threatened.”

Born A Crime by Trevor Noah

Born A Crime

Trevor Noah

Genre: Memoir

Recommended by: Vishnu, JSPF panelist

Born A Crime is the memoir of a man’s coming-of-age, set during the twilight of apartheid and the tumultuous days of freedom that followed.

“People love to say, ‘Give a man a fish, and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he’ll eat for a lifetime.’ What they don’t say is, ‘And it would be nice if you gave him a fishing rod.’ That’s the part of the analogy that’s missing.”

You Can Do All Things by Kate Allen

You Can Do All Things: Drawings, Affirmations and Mindfulness to Help With Anxiety and Depression

Kate Allen

Genre: Mental health, comics

Recommended by: Ashwini Petchiappan, JSPF mentor

Mental health is a topic people often shy away from, but Kate Allan approaches it with gentleness, empathy, and loads of floofiness. In You Can Do All Things, Allan talks about her own struggles with mental health, and tells you ways to help broach these complex issues. Her cute illustrations and mental affirmations are soothing and incredibly effective.

“”The future will not be a disaster. You just have anxiety, sorry.”

If you missed our previous book recommendations, find them here: Part 1 and Part 2

If you feel bedazzled by the brilliance of all these books and need help picking one, here’s the JSPF Librarian to your rescue. You can select books based on their setting (time or location), genre, publication year, or author details.

About the Author:

Ashwini Petchiappan is the JSPF Librarian and a JSPF Mentor for 2020–21 application cycle. A graduate of NIT Trichy and TU Delft, Ashwini brings an unparalleled creativity and a hand-drawn flair to all her works. When she is not at JSPF (or writing about penguins), she is a sea turtle researcher at the Dakshin Foundation.