Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

                               

  I came to know about this book  (Fahrenheit 451) from an article   in  another book  ‘The View from the Cheap Seats’  by Neil Gaiman.  Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury  (1953)  is about  a time when  books are outlawed and  firemen are engaged to burn books. It was written ,not long  after  Nazis burned books , and eventually human beings.   McCarthyism  brought political repression in America. This brought censorship of  literature and art. These anxieties permeate the novel.

                             Bradbury  called the Los Angeles fire department and asked them  at what temperature  paper burned. Fahrenheit 451 , somebody told him   from the Fire department. This gave Bradbury the  title for his book. It did not matter if it was true or not. It is a book about  how we as humans begin by burning books  and end by burning people.

                    Its first film version   by Francois Truffaut  came in 1966. The second  film version   by Ramin Bahrani   came in 2018. Guy Montag  , a fireman whose job is  to burn books  and people who keep and read  books ( in stead of preventing things from  fire)    is the protagonist  of the book. There are powerful , kerosene –spitting flamethrowers  which are used to torch books.

               But after spending some time in burning books ,  Montag begins to question  his  job  and  beliefs and turns against his mentor and boss , Captain Betty  . He starts keeping and reading books. In a turn of events which bring fire men to his house , Montag kills his boss Beatty, two firemen and also the robotic hound. The rest is the story of Montag’s   running and escaping from  the  government , its helicopters , its media and its hounds.

                                         Censorship,   Internet , television , technology and    social media  are the real challenges to books  and to serious thought. Do people still care about physical books? In Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury was warning us  about the threat of mass media  to reading , about the  flooding of digital sensations that could substitute for critical thinking. 

            This book  seems frighteningly relevant even today , about 67 years  after its publication. The mechanical Hound of the fire department , armed with a lethal hypodermic , escorted by helicopters , is ready to track down  those dissidents  who defy society  to preserve and read books. It is a  prophetic account of  civilization’s enslavement  by the media , drugs and conformity. It gives an uncanny insight into the  potential of technology. The questions Bradbury raises remain as valid and important today as they were when the book was written.

         This book is  a classic taught in high schools across America  , though  it appears more a book for  grown ups. This book was a winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize Special Citation. I recommend you to read this book.

            

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

                          

      The Handmaid’s Tale (320 pages)  was first published as a novel in 1985, and so far,  its 8 million copies have  been sold. Recently , Margaret Atwood  has written  and published a sequel to  this book     with  the title ‘The Testaments’.

  The book is  a mixture of history and literature. It reminds us    that  totalitarianism  can happen   in the USA and  any where in  the world. Totalitarian regimes  rely on collusion  with  some of  their own people . Gilead is  an imaginary   totalitarian , theocratic state in the USA .In Gilead,  women  are classified as Wives, Handmaids, Aunts, Marthas  and   Econowives . Illegitimate women are  Unwomen  and  Jezebels. Men are classified as Commanders , Eyes, Angels, Guardians.

             In Gilead,  there is a severe limitation  of people’s rights , especially those of women . Women are forbidden to read or  write , handle money or to  hold property. A Handmaid  is indoctrinated  into life by  the government- trained  Aunts. She is assigned to produce children  for a Commander, one of  the ruling class of men  . The protagonist  is given a name Offred ( Of Frederick). Handmaids  are forbidden to use their birth names  and   must echo  the master whom they serve. The Commanders’ Wives  dress in blue , the handmaids in red  with   white veils  around their faces.

          At her new home, Offred  is  treated poorly by  the Commander’s wife  Serena Joy.  The Commander  and Offred  begin an illegal relationship  where they play Scrabble. He takes her to  a government-run  brothel  called  Jezebel’s  .She learns there that  those women who are found breaking the law  are mostly sent to  the Colonies  to clean up  toxic waste , women are also allowed to work at  Jezebel’s as punishment. After a few months,  Offred is pregnant.     Shortly afterward, men arrive  at the house  wearing the uniform of  the secret police.  (the Eyes), to take her away.  Offred is unsure if  leaving will result  in her escape  or her capture. Still, she enters the van.

         Atwood has explained  that  The Handmaid’s Tale  is a response to those  who claim the oppressive , totalitarian , and religious governments  that have taken hold  in other countries  throughout the years “can’t happen here”—but in  this work , she has tried to show  how such a takeover might play out.  Many scholars have  placed this book  in the same category of   dystopian fiction  as Nineteen Eighty  -Four  and Brave New World. Atwood  does not see the  Republic of Gilead as a purely  feminist dystopia, as not all men have  greater rights than  woman .The Handmaid’s  Tale is “ a study of power , and how it  operates  and how it deforms  or shapes the people who  are living  within  that kind of re regime”.

     I decided to read this novel 35 years after its publication .I have no hesitation in saying that it has become more relevant to read it now than perhaps earlier. If you have not read it , please do read it .I recommend it.

Beloved by Toni Morrison

         Toni Morrison  died at the age of 88 years on August 5,2019. She was the first African –American  woman to  win the Nobel Prize in Literature,.” In her  memory , I decided to read  her book  “Beloved”  (1987)   which  had won the Pulitzer  Prize  in 1988. I had read this novel in  2005  but  had forgotten  it almost completely in 14 years . It is a book of the systematic torture that ex-slaves had to deal with after the  Emancipation Proclamation .

      Beloved is a multi-layered story  about the life of an  ex-slave Sethe  and others   in the USA  in  post civil war period (1865-75). Sethe killed her two year old daughter  to protect her from slave traders.

               Earlier ,Sethe had lived with her husband  Halle  and other slaves in a place called  Sweet Home . They escape from  Sweet Home  and get separated . After great difficulty , Sethe reaches (with her younger daughter)   her mother-in-law’s home in Cincinnati. Her two sons and her elder daughter also manage to reach there. The owner of Sweet Home  (School Teacher )  comes after Sethe  following her escape but is unsuccessful to recapture her and her  children. But she kills her infant  daughter to protect her from suffering the same abuses   she had as a slave. After this killing, her mother in law   takes to her death bed and dies. Her two sons  flee  because they feel  the  house is haunted . She stays with her  younger daughter Denver.  Later, she is joined by  an ex –slave Paul D who was earlier with her at Sweet Home.

                  Beloved is a young woman  who appears near Sethe’s house. She wants to stay with Sethe and Denver, and they take her in . They believe that Beloved is  the  daughter whom Sethe had killed. The haunting of house stops  after Beloved joins them. But slowly , Beloved  completely  makes Sethe  dependent on her. Denver reaches out to black community   to help , and they  arrive to exorcise  Beloved,  who finally disappears.

             Beloved  reflects forcefully a concern for the poor and the powerless, justice for ex-slaves   and a  need for  a free society. It  depicts  faithfully how pitiable the life of slaves was. The slaves could not keep a family with security because either of the spouses and children could be sold by the slave-owners. The book shows clearly how freedom and dignity  are essential for every human-being.

    Beloved is   a  short  book  ( about 280 pages)which  needs more than one reading  for  good understanding .In my views , it should be read  once every few years  to remind ourselves  of the need to   reaffirm  equality , dignity and  freedom from exploitation  of all human beings.

            

Water Management in India

    First of all , we have to understand the magnitude of problem  related to fresh water in India. Is there water- stress in India or is it water scarcity? The reports available are contradictory and confusing. Central Water Commission report ,  prepared with inputs from ISRO  says that we have  a condition of water stress in India , which if not controlled  may  result  into a state of water scarcity in a few decades. But Niti Aayog ‘s Report released  in June ,2018  said;” 21 major cities will have zero Ground water level  by 2020”. In other words , it is a state of water scarcity , a crisis situation.

   Which Report to believe ? I was in a state of quandary when  I stumbled on the  scrutiny done on Niti Aayog’s report by  Joanna Slater of Washington Post . In 22 tweets that she published on June 28,2019, she mentioned “ Zombie Statistics  given by Niti Aayog tell a tale”. Briefly  ,Niti Aayog  cited in a footnote three sources of data;

1.     World Resources Institute.

2.     World Bank.

3.     The Hindu; The Hindustan Times.    Both the World Resources Institute

and the World Bank  had not published any such data. Even the Central Ground Water Board  denied having published any data  leading to the conclusions drawn by Niti Aayog.   In other words, Niti Aayog had  not quoted its sources correctly . In other words, It is not correct to say that 21 major cities of India will have zero water level by 2020.

Thus our  first  question is settled . Going by the report of Central water Commission , we can say that India is in a state of water stress and needs  better water management,  failing which we shall have water scarcity. We also need to do something about  the growth of our population.

Our water is  of poor quality and is contaminated at various places. India ranked 120 out of 122 countries in Water Quality Index. This again  is a cause for concern.

       It is not that no efforts were made in the past towards water conservation. In fact , U.P. Soil and Water Conservation Act of 1963  shows the  concern of our legislators  since about 56 years ago. It envisaged watershed development, intensive afforestation,  renovation of bore-well structures, renovation of water bodies and tanks and rain water harvesting. But still, there is an urgent need to conserve water  more now. There is a need to reclaim , maintain and improve water resources. Rain water harvesting  in India is only about 10 percent and this needs to be increased to 100 percent, as is prevalent in many countries.

         Government of India has  created a new ministry called Jal Shakti (Water Power) in May ,2019  integrating the departments of water resources , river development , Ganga rejuvenation , drinking water and sanitation . The U.P. state government has followed  by creating a new Jal Shakti ministry on August 22,2019. Let us hope , other states will also take similar steps and these ministries become integrated and powerful enough to take the country out of the problem of water stress and poor water quality.

         In India, agriculture consumes 90 percent of fresh water. We have to pay more attention to save water use in agriculture. One way is to improve water use efficiency through drip and sprinkler irrigation. Other is to grow water consuming crops like wheat and rice in Eastern India ( where we have abundant rainfall) and  maize and millets in North western India. In addition , we should review our policy of exporting rice , which amounts to exporting fresh water.

      Singapore  reclaims water from   waste water and reuses it. It has also installed energy efficient  desalination  plants. We have to follow  these  practices.

     Most important is  the creation of public awareness that  we  have to conserve water. We have to develop better technologies than present water  purifiers (R.O. based) which waste  three litres of drinking water to purify one litre. We have to take care of leaking pipes and leaking taps. We have to obey the laws and policies related to water conservation. And last but not the least, we have to control our population growth.

Stephen Hawking and his last book

The  book  ‘Brief Answers to the Big questions ‘  was published in July ,2018  while Stephen Hawking died  in Cambridge , U.K.  on March 14,2018.

      Stephen hawking maintained  a personal archive of  his speeches , interviews and essays  which contained his responses to some of the big questions  of the day , asked by  scientists, entrepreneurs ,  political leaders and the general public  from him. The Stephen Hawking Estate , with the help of others ,compiled  and published this book, after  Hawking’s  death. The Afterword of the book  was written by  Lucy  Hawking , his daughter.

       I am inspired by  Stephen Hawking for his courage  .He suffered from Motor Neuron Disease since 1963 , but  he persevered  till his death at the age of  76 years.” At the age of seventy-five ,  completely paralysed   and able to move only  a few facial muscles , he still got up every day , put on a suit , and went to work. He had stuff to do  and was not going to let  a few trivialities get in his way”, wrote his daughter in the Afterword.

    The Big questions dealt within this book are ten , as below:

1.     Is there a God?

2.      How did it all begin?

3.     Is there other intelligent life in the universe?

4.     Can we predict the future?

5.     What is inside a black hole ?

6.     Is time travel  possible?

7.     Will we survive the Earth?

8.     Should we colonise space?

9.     Will artificial intelligence outsmart us?

10.                          How do we shape the future?

His answers  as recorded in this book  display deep wisdom and creativity , especially his answer to the last question, ’How do we shape the future?’Hawking’s questions   themselves  will keep on generating break-throughs  in times to come.

I recommend you to read this book by one of the most admirable  scientists of our time.

A Mind for Numbers : How to Excel at Math and Science by Barbara Oakley

   This outstanding book by Barbara Oakley  is about learning how to learn. Though the subtitle gives an impression that it is a book about  learning Math and  Science  but it applies to learning  in any  field.

       If you are trying to  understand or figure out something new , your best bet is to turn off  your precision –focused thinking  and turn on your  ‘big picture’ diffuse mode. Then set  a timer for 25 minutes and put yourself towards doing a  25minute interlude of work  on a task. Don’t worry about finishing the task –just worry about  working on it .Then reward yourself  by checking your phone or doing  any other thing that you like. Try to complete at least  three such 25 minute sessions in a day on that task  or any important task . Get into flow by focusing on process , not product.  Spend 25 minutes on working and  not on completing the assignment. The point is that you put  forth your best effort  for a short period in the process.  Space it. Spread out your learning in any subject a little  every day. Randomly flip through your book , pick out a problem  ,and see whether you can solve it  cold. A little study every day  is much better than  a lot of study all at once. Take breaks.

     Write  a few key things  that you would like to work on the next day. This will help your diffuse mode to begin to think about  how you will get  those tasks done the next day . Usually , a few hours is long enough  for the diffuse mode to  make significant progress  but it need not be longer than a day.

 Sleep is vital part of memory  and learning. If you are sleep deprived , it is best to go to sleep and  do your reading and learning  early next morning.  That is why sleep  the night before  a  test is  so important.Also,take a short power nap . Usually it should be for 21 minutes.

      Chunking is the mental leap  that helps you unite  bits of information together through meaning.  Repeat and practice with problems so that  you see not only  when to use chunk  but when not to use it . Learning takes place in two ways. There is a bottom-up chunking  process  where practice and repetition can  help you both build  and strengthen each chunk , so you can easily gain access to  it when needed. And there is top-down ‘big picture’ process that allows you  to see where  what you are learning fits. Both processes are vital in gaining   mastery over the material. Context is where bottom-up and top-down  learning meet .

        Attempting to recall the  material you are trying to learn  is far more effective  than simply re-reading the material. Don’t wait too long for the recall practice. If possible, rewrite your notes  during the evening after a lecture.  Highlight very little. An ability to recall  is   one of the key indicators of good learning.

           Practice and repeat.  In the same amount of time , by simply practicing  and recalling the material , students learn far more  and at a much deeper level  than they do using any other approach , including  re-reading. Practice ignoring distractions. The  biggest lie ever  told is that practice makes  perfect.  Not true – practice makes you better.

   Give yourself   little mini-tests  constantly.  Testing in itself is a powerful learning  experience.  It changes and adds to what you  know , also making dramatic improvements in  your ability to retain  the material. Active test of recall is  one of the best learning methods – better than just sitting passively and re-reading!

Writing is the foundation of learning .Understand  and write each step of  what you really want to learn. One of the best online system  for keeping task lists and  random pieces of information(replacing little notebooks) is  evernote. ( http://evernote.com).   But , there is a connection  between your hand your brain. In stead of typing online  ,it is better start writing in hand .

   Get started on a problem. Let the problem marinate. Pausing and reflecting are key. Pausing gives you time to  access your library  of chunks. Waiting is also important  in a broader context.

    Once you grasp a chunk in  one subject ,it is much easier for you to grasp  or create a similar chunk  in another subject. Combine passion for art   with a passion for science.

   Often , understanding arises  as a consequence of  attempts to explain to  others and yourself  rather than the explanation  arising out of your previous understanding.  Ask yourself ‘How can I explain this so that  a 10-year-old could understand it’.

  In one of the most cited papers  in sociology “ The Strength of Weak Ties”, the sociologist  MARK GRANOVETTER  describes how the  number of acquaintances  you have—not the number of friends –predicts your access to  the latest ideas  as well as your success  on the job market.

Always check what you have done.“Often it takes   way less time to check your work  than to solve a problem. It is a pity to spend 20 minutes  solving a problem and  then get wrong because  you did not spend two minutes to check it.”

  Testing is itself an extra ordinarily powerful  learning experience. When you start working problems , start first with what appears to be  the hardest one. But steel yourself to pull away  within the first minute or two  if you get stuck  or get a sense that  you might not be at the right track. This is called ‘Hard-start-jump-to –easy’ technique. Taking test is a serious business. Going  through your own  test preparation checklist  can vastly improve your chances of success.

      Move past the simplistic idea that  memorization is always bad. Deep, practiced internalization  of well-understood chunks  is essential to mastering   math and science.  Memorization is a critical aspect of  acquiring expertise.

               This  book  should be read and used by every student and more so by every teacher. Based on  latest researches in cognitive  sciences  and experience , it takes us through various steps in learning smarter. Highly recommended.

                                                           

   

The Moths of Manchester

The  excellent  novel  ‘A Gentleman in Moscow’  by Amor Towles  quotes this beautiful  story about  adaptation. In Manchester , for thousands of years , most of the moths  had white wings and black  flecking. Pitch black varieties  were less than ten percent  of the  total moths . The lighter colouring(  of white  variety )provided them  with camouflage  against  the region’s trees, and they survived.

      But when a large number of factories  started operating in Manchester from 1800 onwards , the barks of the trees  got   covered in black suit.  The  peppered moths with pitch black wings  were camouflaged much better  than those with white wings.  The  moths with white wings were  consumed by predator birds, being highly visible. Within a    hundred years , over 90 percent of moths had  pitch  black  wings in Manchester.

     Moths are the symbols  of  our  ability to adapt to  our circumstances. We should be able to use our skills and traits  which we already have,  to adapt ourselves to the changes in society. Nature has designed  forces of evolution  to ensure that moths and men  have a chance to adapt  over a few decades. Natural selection does not need thousands of years to take place .It has been observed unfolding over the course of a few decades.

The Body Keeps The Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk , M.D.

The  book , ‘The Body Keeps The Score’  by  Bessel Van Der Kolk, M.D. is about trauma and its healing.(Penguin Books ;2015;445 pages).Psychological trauma can befall any one. Traumatic experiences leave  traces on  our minds and emotions , on our capacity for joy and intimacy , and even on our biology and immune systems. Long after  a traumatic experience is over , it may be reactivated  at the slightest hint of  danger , mobilize disturbed brain circuits  and secrete  massive amounts of stress hormones.  This precipitates  unpleasant emotions , intense physical sensations , and impulsive and aggressive actions. The inner disconnections  keep us  trapped in the past  and cascade  into ruptures  in social relationships  and disastrous effects  on relationships and  friendships. We now know  that the behaviours of traumatized persons are not the result of moral feelings  or signs of lack of  will power or bad characters --- they are caused by  the actual damages in the brain.

            The body keeps the score. The memory of trauma is encoded  in the viscera , emotions ,autoimmune disorders, skeltel or muscular problems  and this  demands a radical shift  in our therapeutic assumptions. Ignoring the  body’s messages  is being unable to  detect what is truly dangerous  or harmful to  us. Migraine , headaches, asthma attacks , back and neck pain, chronic fatigue , digestive problems , irritable bowel  syndrome are some of body’s messages. Self regulation depends  on having a  friendly relationship with our body.

After trauma, the world becomes sharply divided between  those who know and those who don’t. People who have not shared  the traumatic experience  cannot be trusted , because they can’t understand it. Trauma  results in  a fundamental reorganization  of the way mind and brain manage perceptions. It changes  not only how we think  and what we think about, but also our very capacity to think. Helping victims of trauma  to describe what has happened to them  is quite meaningful  , but usually it is not enough .For real change to take place ,  the body needs to learn  that the danger has passed  and to live in the reality of the present.

      There are three ways to help the  trauma survivors.

1.     By talking , connecting with others and allowing ourselves  to know and understand  what is going on with us , while processing the  memories of the trauma.

2.     By taking medicines

3.     By allowing the body to have  experiences that  deeply contradict  the helplessness, rage , or collapse  that result from trauma. Using a combination of  traditional therapy techniques and alternative treatments such as yoga, neuro-feedback, EMDR  and theatre , patients can regain  control of their bodies  and revive their brains  so that they can  rebuild  their lives .

          Psychiatric medications have a serious downside, as they may deflect attention from  dealing with underlying issues.  Restoring  relationships and community  and connecting with others  is  central to restoring  well-being.     Being able to  feel  safe with other people , is probably  the single most important aspect  of mental health ;safe connections are  fundamental to meaningful  and satisfying  lives. Social support is the most powerful  protection against  becoming overwhelmed by  stress and trauma. Isolating oneself into  a narrowly defined victim  group promotes a  view of others  as irrelevant  at best and  dangerous at worst , which eventually leads to  further alienation. While  there is a need to  be able to stand up  for oneself ,  it is also  an equally important need to recognize  that other people have  their own agendas. Trauma can make all that hazy. Adults who were abused  or neglected as children  can still learn the beauty  of intimacy  and mutual trust  and have a deep spiritual experience  that opens them to  a large universe.    Study after study shows  that having a good support network   constitutes the single most powerful protection against  becoming traumatized. Recovery from trauma  involves reconnecting with  our fellow human beings.

 Communicating  fully is opposite  of being traumatized . The object of writing is  to write to yourself  , to let yourself know  what you have been trying to avoid.

             A central  task  for recovery from trauma  is to learn to live  with the memories of the  past without being  overwhelmed by  them in the present.  The challenge of  trauma treatment is not  only dealing with past  ( by not desensitizing the past)  but also enhancing the quality of  day to day experience .This means  living  fully  and securely   in the present , having satisfaction in  ordinary everyday things like  taking a walk , cooking or playing . Exiles hold the memories , sensations , beliefs and emotions  associated with trauma. It is hazardous to release them. Exiles must not be locked up. Usually , these are our most  sensitive, creative, intimacy-loving , lively  playful and innocent parts. By exiling them  when they get hurt , the insult of our rejection  is added to their original  injury. Keeping exiles hidden and despised  condemns us  to a life without intimacy  or genuine joy. Chronic  emotional abuse  and neglect can be just  as devastating as  physical abuse and sexual molestation.  The painful work of  facing the demons of the past  has to be done.

        Mindful practice which strengthens  the MPFC is a  cornerstone of recovery from trauma.    Ten weeks of yoga practice  markedly reduce the PTSD  symptoms of patients  who had failed to respond  to any medication or any other treatment.

 Trauma robs  us of the feeling that  we are in charge  of ourselves, of what is called self- leadership. Neuroscience  research  shows that  the only way we can change  the way we feel  is by becoming  aware of our  inner experience  and learning to befriend  what is going in inside ourselves.    Cultivation of mindful  self-leadership  is the foundation for  healing from trauma .Mindfulness increases  our control  over the emotional brain.

  This book ‘The Body Keeps The Score’   by  Bessel Van Der  Kolk , M.D. fundamentally changes the way we look at the world. It tells  us how  to  face the reality of trauma, take charge  of the healing process , gain a sense  of safety  and find way out of suffering, and as a society , use every means we have to prevent it. I strongly recommend you to read it.

Educated by Tara Westover

                                 

Educated (Penguin Random House ,UK,2018, 384 pages) is a memoir  by   twenty nine years old Tara Westover. Born in Idaho to parents who   believe  that  schools , hospitals , medicines and government  have a corrupting influence on the children , she has a  childhood full of struggles and  restraints. She is  a victim of  physical violence by one of her brothers  but  her parents  support her brother against her .Her father has a bipolar disorder  and commits all kinds of brutalities but her mother  supports her husband,  and  practices healing with herbs , energy and oils. Her father makes her work hard , in  very risk prone jobs in his junkyard.

            Tara wants to go to school and then  to college and university but she has to choose between her family and education. She also has to struggle to get herself accepted by her class mates for whom she is an  odd person,  brought up  in an extremely conservative way. During her college days , she is exposed to the study and  evolution of religion and society.  Her memoir  describes Tara’s struggles, defeats and victories, vacillating between  the bonds of family ( however  conservative, cruel and unsafe) and the urge to get education .With many ups and downs , Tara  learns to believe in herself .She manages to win  Gates Scholarship to study at Cambridge and then to study for  getting   Ph. D. from Cambridge University, with the help and support of a few enlightened Professors. Her father disapproves of her going to Cambridge but she goes. Her  parents disown her and tell others that she is possessed  by evil spirits.

    Education becomes  a  means to her transformation and metamorphosis. The book shows how this  transformation comes about  in stages as she progresses in her education .Educated is a powerful story beautifully told,  of a young girl  who tries and succeeds in making a place for herself in the world  , without losing her connection to her family.

      It is worth your time to read it. Highly recommended.

      

Personality ,what makes you the way you are, by Daniel Nettle

This  book on personality by Daniel Nettle , published by Oxford University Press in 2007 (298 pages)  is one of the oxford Landmark Science books. It cer  helps you to know your self , understand  better those around you and also  tries to answer the question if we can change our personality.

        The book starts with  a request to fill up a brief questionnaire  of 12 questions  to assess yourself on the big five  personality  dimensions..(The  Newcastle Personality assessor).The dimensions are:

1.     Extraversion.

2.     Neuroticism.

3.     Conscientiousness.

4.     Agreeableness.

5.     Openness.

You assess your self , with  your scores in respect of each of the five dimensions. Only by the time you reach near the end of the book , you get to realize the full meaning of these dimensions , and  you begin  to look afresh at your self.

         What is personality?  It is not just what we do repeatedly  in the large-scale narratives of our lives- love , career , friendships- which tend to be somewhat consistent over time , it is also what we do in tiny interactions  which shows the same kind of patterns over our whole life. Naturally , we want to know about our own personality, and also about the personality of other people .

     The big  five  personality dimensions are  extraversion, neuroticism, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness and openness.

1.     Extraversion is responsiveness of positive emotions. In the high scorer , the responsiveness is great , and so the person is prepared   to work hard  to get the buzz of company , excitement , achievement , adulation and romance. For an introvert ,  the psychological benefits of getting these things are fewer.

An introvert  is not motivated  to go out , put in efforts or fight out for them.

     2.Neuroticism:Neuroticism is to negative emotions what extraversion is to positive emotions. Negative emotions  are an interconnected group including fear, anxiety, shame, guilt , disgust , and sadness  that are deeply unpleasant to experience. High scorers on neuroticism  have    more groundless worries  and  more negative emotions. They have low self esteem, higher rates of depression. They are workaholics and  get better academic results. Neuroticism is a (weak) positive predictor of success for professional occupations.

3.Conscientiousness: They are able to control impulses. Very low Conscientiousness means an addictive personality  that can’t stop doing  things  even when they are damaging. The smarter people are , the less conscientious they are. It is not true that conscientiousness brings only benefits. High Conscientiousness  in an extreme form  is called obsessive –compulsive personality disorder.( not related to  obsessive-compulsive disorder).It is preoccupation with orderliness,  perfectionism, and mental control  at the expense of flexibility, openness and efficiency. Sticking to the plan and schedule  becomes the main issue and the actual  point of activity is entirely lost. Inter personal relationships are badly affected by OCPD , as a result. There is no spontaneity. Perfectionism is just very high Conscientiousness.

4. Agreeableness:   High scorers on agreeableness  are cooperative , trusting  and empathetic , while low scorers are  cold-hearted, hostile and non-compliant. Such    high scorer   people have ‘other-regarding preferences’. They are quick to forgive and slow to anger. At the very extreme low-Agreeableness  are psychopaths  who are completely egocentric , remorseless, dishonest, incapable of love , and disposed to  use others entirely to forward their own ends.  When degree of agreeableness is so high that  a person completely sacrifices  his or her own needs, values, options , pleasures and goals in order to serve the desires of others , it is ‘dependent personality disorder’. Research shows that the less Agreeable  the executive, the better they do; or, nice guys finish last. Personal success  tends to mean low Agreeableness. In general , women are higher in Agreeableness  than men are. This implies that the share of women in top positions  will not be 50 percent but less because of Agreeableness factor.

5. Openness: It  means broad associations of meaning, restless unconventionality, supernatural beliefs  and psychosis-like experiences. Openness  predicts creativity and innovative ness.

     Personality traits have  50 percent heritable component. The other half is environmentally induced  personality  variation. Can we change our personalities , or are we just stuck with them? You can choose to avoid certain people  who bring out the worst in you. You can keep yourself away from contexts where aspects of your personality  that you are unhappy with  will surface.  You  all carry useless and outdated notions  of what we should be and why. From time to time ,  you  should shed these notions.  You  should reframe our story. Also , you need to change your behaviour. But it  does not mean that we can change our personality. It means understanding your personality and using this information to make wise choices.

     Personality is a very clear and comprehensive book .It has certainly helped me to know my self and has increased my self awareness. I highly recommend  the readers to read this book .In fact, you should not miss it.

Becoming by Michelle Obama

                                             

An autobiography of Michelle  Obama , published by  Penguin Random House ( 426 pages;2018)  is  the story  of a woman  who rose from very humble beginnings  to become  the first lady of the USA, overcoming  all obstacles of  race , resources and gender.

                   I admire Michelle for each of her four initiatives which she took as the First lady---Let’s Move! , Reach Higher , Let Girls Learn , and  Joining Forces. Let’s Move! Was a public health campaign led by Michelle .Its aim was to reduce  childhood obesity and encourage a healthy lifestyle in children.The Reach Higher Initiative  was her effort as a first Lady to inspire  every student in the US to take charge of  her/his future by completing their education past high school, whether at a professional  training programme , a community college , or a four-year college or university.Let Girls Learn was  launched by Michelle Obama ,as  a  US government initiative  aimed at helping adolescent girls  attain a quality education  that empowers them to reach  their full potential.Joining Forces  was a nationwide initiative  by Michelle Obama  and Dr. Jill Biden  calling all Americans to rally around  service members, veterans , and their families  and support them through wellness, education and employment opportunities.

           Michelle  majored from Princeton in sociology and law  , pulling good grades. Her code in life is  to keep making  efforts     till you   get the  answer to the most important question. “Am I good enough? as “Yes, in fact  I am”.

She met Barack at a law firm Sidley and Austin.  Barack wanted to be effective far more than he wanted to be rich. They fell in love there. From Becoming me , came the stage of Becoming Us. Throughout the book, Michelle is full of praise and pride for Obama.”His money largely went towards books” . He often asked: “ Do we settle for the world  as it is ,  or do we work for the world as it should be?”When she was in Sidley and Austin ,she started keeping a journal. It was a habit she picked in part  from Barack ,  who viewed writing as therapeutic  and clarifying,  and had kept journals on and off over the years.    Barack and Michelle got married in October ,1992.

 Barack joined an organization  called Project VOTE!. “There was power in voting. If you wanted change, you couldn’t stay home on Election Day”. In 1993, he wrote and published  a book  “dreams from My Father”. She joined a new job as the executive director for the new Chicago chapter of an organization  called Public Allies. Its purpose was to help more people find their way into careers in public service and non-profit work.

Barack can flip  between the six and seven  books he’s reading simultaneously. He  would inhale books , newspapers  and ideas.  He had a serious faith in democracy. He wrote his second book “The Audacity of Hope” – thinking through his beliefs and his vision  for the country.He called for hope over cynicism. He spoke with hope. Both served on the boards of several nonprofits. Michelle did not have much taste for politics .She brought up their two daughters, Malia and  Sasha,  to grow strong  and also un-accommodating to any form of old-school patriarchy.

       In all , there were  a total of nine Democrats  for the election to President.  Barack  made his announcement on February 10, 2007.Voting took place on November4, 2008.Barack Hussein  Obama became the  forty-fourth president  of the United States (POTUS) and Michelle became the First Lady of the united States.(FOTUS).

        Michelle  is a great advocate of mentoring.”I knew from my own experience  that when some one  shows genuine interest in   your learning and development , even if only for  ten minutes in a busy day , it matters”. With this in mind , she started a leadership and mentoring program  at the White house  for girls. The students were nominated by their Principals. Each student was paired with a female mentor. Mentors  were  volunteers from the  staff.

      During the regime of Obama, Osama bin Laden was killed by an elite team of US Navy  in Abbottabad, Pakistan. According to Michelle , this was  one of the most important events in  Obama’s  first  tenure as President.

Barack was re-elected as president of the USA  on November6, 2012. “We had managed two terms in office  without a major scandal. We had held ourselves and the  people who worked with us  to the highest standards  of ethics and decency , and we had made it all the way through”.They walked out of the White House  on January , 2017, accompanying  Donald and Melania trump to the inauguration ceremony.

Michelle met Nelson Mandela .”There was no one alive who’d a more meaningful impact  on the world  than Nelson  Mandela  had, at least by my measure”. I liked to mention that I was the great-great –granddaughter of a slave  named Jim Robinson. She sees optimism in surprising places.

   She ends the book with these lines:” There’s power in allowing yourself  to be known and heard, in owning your unique story , in using your authentic voice .And there’s grace in being willing to know  and hear others. This , for me, is how we become.”

     I liked  very much reading this inspiring  book by Michelle Obama. I recommend  everyone to read this book , especially the young girls of India.