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ajju_315's review
2.0
Writing a book about India is not at all easy given her complexity, legacy and rich history. This book too struggles on this front as there were way too many facts without much connection between them. The author couldn't stick to a particular line of thought to describe something and sometimes he went too much into the details. Some parts were about way of life, some philosophy, some debauchery, symbolims and so on. There wasn't a common thread connecting the parts. Also though I agree that there aren't any indigenous accounts, I feel that observing India through a foreigners' lens adds no observational value. I felt that the narrative was a bit jumbled and needed better editting. 2 stars for the effort and facts compilation though. Overall, not a book worthy of recommendation!
keetabi_keeda's review
3.0
Indians : A Brief History of a Civilization
Author : Namit Arora
Published by : Penguin Vikings
Book Cover by :
Disclaimer: I have received the Review copy of this book by the Author in exchange of an honest review. Neither the publisher , the author nor any third party pay any fee or otherwise offer compensation in exchange for this coverage , and no company was given a preview of the content or given copy approval rights concerning the same.
This review is going to be divided in a pros and cons system , after reading which , you can decide for yourselves if this book is worth your time and money , or not.
The Good:
The author , in the introduction itself , makes it clear that he has a political bias . I really do not like some historians , who claim to be unbiased but are the farthest thing from it (Some of whom , the author has referenced , but we will get to that later).
The book is very informative and the author has obviously done a tremendous amount of research. This is evident but the subject matter, some of which i may not necessarily agree with , but i have to appreciate the author for this. He has personally visited the places like Dholavira , Nagarjunakonda , (what used to be )Nalanda etc , and seem the places themselves , unlike many so called "historians" who will just "google" stuff up.
The book is well written and fairly easy to understand. Again , unlike several historians , who use Tharoorian vocabulary , to try and impress the reader. His writing style is quite good to . Reading " A stroll though Vijayapura " , you will actually feel that you are taking a stroll through the place, Vijayapura , to the readers who dont know , was an archaeological wonder , but had to be manually submerged underwater , due to unavoidable circumstances.
The chapter about of Faxian , Xuanzang ,and Yijing is brilliantly written (I just might be biased on this one , because I actually have read Journey to the West and i actually was always interested in the topic of how Buddhism spread all across China and faded away from India)
The Underwhelming aspects :
To much present day socio-political commentary. I mean I get it , you have to put something here or there . Maybe once or twice in the book , but in the book , the author has something to say at least once or twice in every chapter. This is not limited to just Mr. Arora , but in fact most of the historians. He just had the decency to call his bias beforehand. And i would have been perfectly fine if the book hadn't been called a brief "History" of a civilization .
The Author is pro Aryan migration theory. Feel free to count this as a pro if you too have similar thoughts as the author.
Some , I repeat , some of the sources in the book , in MY opinion , are not credible enough , those include the likes of Tony Joseph , Pankaj Mishra and many more.
Well , those were my two cents about the book , if the Pros outbid the cons for you , you can definitely check out the book . Even if they don't , but you think you can ignore those parts of the book , I will still recommend you read the book , if you have the chance to.
If you are too lazy to read the book , the author has summarized the book in an hour long zoom call video that is available to watch for free on YouTube on the Avid Learning channel.
Author : Namit Arora
Published by : Penguin Vikings
Book Cover by :
Disclaimer: I have received the Review copy of this book by the Author in exchange of an honest review. Neither the publisher , the author nor any third party pay any fee or otherwise offer compensation in exchange for this coverage , and no company was given a preview of the content or given copy approval rights concerning the same.
This review is going to be divided in a pros and cons system , after reading which , you can decide for yourselves if this book is worth your time and money , or not.
The Good:
The author , in the introduction itself , makes it clear that he has a political bias . I really do not like some historians , who claim to be unbiased but are the farthest thing from it (Some of whom , the author has referenced , but we will get to that later).
The book is very informative and the author has obviously done a tremendous amount of research. This is evident but the subject matter, some of which i may not necessarily agree with , but i have to appreciate the author for this. He has personally visited the places like Dholavira , Nagarjunakonda , (what used to be )Nalanda etc , and seem the places themselves , unlike many so called "historians" who will just "google" stuff up.
The book is well written and fairly easy to understand. Again , unlike several historians , who use Tharoorian vocabulary , to try and impress the reader. His writing style is quite good to . Reading " A stroll though Vijayapura " , you will actually feel that you are taking a stroll through the place, Vijayapura , to the readers who dont know , was an archaeological wonder , but had to be manually submerged underwater , due to unavoidable circumstances.
The chapter about of Faxian , Xuanzang ,and Yijing is brilliantly written (I just might be biased on this one , because I actually have read Journey to the West and i actually was always interested in the topic of how Buddhism spread all across China and faded away from India)
The Underwhelming aspects :
To much present day socio-political commentary. I mean I get it , you have to put something here or there . Maybe once or twice in the book , but in the book , the author has something to say at least once or twice in every chapter. This is not limited to just Mr. Arora , but in fact most of the historians. He just had the decency to call his bias beforehand. And i would have been perfectly fine if the book hadn't been called a brief "History" of a civilization .
The Author is pro Aryan migration theory. Feel free to count this as a pro if you too have similar thoughts as the author.
Some , I repeat , some of the sources in the book , in MY opinion , are not credible enough , those include the likes of Tony Joseph , Pankaj Mishra and many more.
Well , those were my two cents about the book , if the Pros outbid the cons for you , you can definitely check out the book . Even if they don't , but you think you can ignore those parts of the book , I will still recommend you read the book , if you have the chance to.
If you are too lazy to read the book , the author has summarized the book in an hour long zoom call video that is available to watch for free on YouTube on the Avid Learning channel.
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