3 Mini Reviews – Non-fiction

The forced “stay-at-home” situation has turned out to be a blessing in disguise for book bloggers like us. I recently read three non-fiction books – two self-help and one memoir. Here are my thoughts on them:

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson

The two things I was able to understand from this book were firstly, prioritize your f*cks. Instead of running behind every material thing that makes your life, well, material, care about only two or three material things. This way you give less f*cks to things unworthy of receiving f*cks.

Secondly, average is good. Average is successful too. Instead of running behind the extraordinary, appreciate the ordinary.

In my humble opinion, the book could have been more engaging and shorter.

A Century is Not Enough by Sourav Ganguly

A Century is Not Enough by Sourav Ganguly with Gautam Bhattacharya

Sourav Ganguly is one of India’s greatest cricket captain. He re-energized the Indian cricket team, brought back their confidence and led them to marvelous overseas victories. This memoir looks back on Ganguly’s glorious and tumultuous cricketing career. It sheds light on why he is known as the comeback king.

The memoir emphasizes the fact one must keep proving oneself no matter what. No one can afford to sit on their laurels. Even if you reach the stars, be prepared to crash back to Earth. During trying times, it’s our attitude that matters. A never-give-up attitude. Written with candor, I will heartily recommend this memoir to anyone looking for an inspiring read.

Men are from Mars Women are from Venus by John Gray

Men are from Mars Women are from Venus by John Gray

It’s supposedly a self-help book to decode the opposite sexes so that they can understand each other better and have intimate relationships. However, I had the impression the author simply straitjacketed both the sexes into stereotypes and passed a sweeping order, “Deal with these stereotypes”. Men do these, women do that. When men do these, there are tons of “advice” what a women should do to placate her man, but when the tables are turned, the book provides far less advice to the people from Mars. I would not recommend it at all.