The five best books in my book. Review on 5 Best Books

'Just the knowledge that a good book is awaiting one at the end of a long day makes that day happier'. This quote by Kathleen Norris is nothing like your run-of-the-mill quotes; it is not short and witty, it doesn't knock you down with its clever use of pun, it is not profound and philosophical, nor are you likely to remember it after the next half an hour. But what this quote does have going for it is how true it is. The sentence accurately captures my feeling on those busy days at the university working on ridiculously long projects. The fact that I was going to go home to read a book gave me something to look forward to and consequently made my day a lot happier. So I would like to introduce you to a few of my friends who kept me going over the last ten years, never talking to me, but somehow always being there for me.

The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov

Humanity has finally found the perpetual energy source - free, non-polluting, recyclable and readily available. The energy crisis which was the point of every conversation is now non-existent. But the problem is, nobody knows how the process occurs. Tungsten-186 is occasionally replaced by plutonium-186 which can be used in power generators until it slowly transforms back into the more stable tungsten-186, which is again mysteriously replaced by plutonium-186. So everyone is happy until it is discovered that the plutonium is being transferred from another universe with different physical laws to ours, a universe where tungsten is unstable. It is also discovered that every time a transfer occurs, due to exchange of electrons between the two universes, some of the properties of the'other' universe start to leak into ours.

Asimov does a great job describing a totally different universe in plain, lucid English. Emotionals, rationals, parentals, left-lings, triads, soft ones, hard ones - these are only few of the terms you come across when reading about the parallel universe. But Asimov uses them in such a way that comprehension is no problem at all. You lose yourself in his universe so much that you almost become friends with the alien characters, and when you come out of it you gape wide-mouthed at the sheer creative imagination of a writer capable of casting such a spell. Brilliant stuff.

The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov

The galaxy is totally populated by humans, all the habitable planets forming the galactic empire controlled by the Imperial government in Trantor, the city of metal, the centre of the galaxy. Using his predictive science psychohistory, Hari Seldon foresees the fall of the Galactic Empire and the barbarism that would result, but no one listens. So Seldon sets up two foundations and formulates a plan by which the barbaric age will only last one millennium long. The first foundation is set up publicly on the outer rim of the Galaxy on a small world called Terminus, while the second is hidden; only known to exist at'Star's End'. The novel follows the fortunes of these two foundations and how they bring back the glory of the Galactic Empire.

This is one story which is unlike anything you will ever read because it is set far into the future, so far in fact, that Earth itself is a myth. We meet strange scientific theories like the hyperspace which made interstellar travel possible, heroes like Salvor Hardin, Hober Mallow, Bayta Darrell and Hari Seldon, villains like the mule, and of course, Galactic Standard, the language of the Galaxy. And we are left with a realisation that no matter how much our science advances, however far and wide we expand our horizons, we remain as human as ever.

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rnd

The Fountainhead describes a few years in the lives of five main characters - Peter Keating, the bright, young architect, Ellsworth Toohey, the crippled art critic, Dominique Francon, an architectural critic, Gail Wynand, the publisher of The New York Banner, and Howard Roark, a classmate of Keating's. The story is really about how Roark stands up and sticks to what he believes in inspite of struggling to live while Keating, his intellectual opposite, advances in his career.

Rnd uses this story to portray her philosophy of objectivism which took the world by storm when the novel first came out. This is a book that will definitely affect you, one way or the other. The story just seems like an excuse to showcase her ideas and though you might not agree with everything she says, you find yourself admitting that most of what she says sounds convincing. All in all, this is a book which will probably get you thinking about a lot of things. A must read.'Atlas Shrugged' is also a very similar book; so if you like this one, go for that one too.

Sherlock Holmes novels and short stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Well, I am cheating a bit here because this one is not technically one book. There are four novels and fifty-six short stories about Sherlock Holmes, all of them great reads. They track the adventures of a private detective Sherlock Holmes and his friend and chronicler Dr Watson as they solve crimes in Victorian England from their famous quarters at 221B Baker Street. Be it hunting down supernatural beasts like in'The hound of the Baskervilles' or shooting wooden legged men like in'The Sign of the Four', Holmes, with the aid of good old Dr Watson, uses his unique powers of observation, deduction and imagination to solve some of the most bizarre and clueless crimes ever.

What makes these books interesting is that we get a clear insight into Holmes the man in addition to Holmes the detective. While we marvel at his almost superhuman powers of deduction, we also chide him for his eccentricity, we loathe his cocaine addiction, we laugh at his modest admissions of himself as an artist, and we thank God he explains his approach at the end of each case! All in all, when Holmes, with the loyal Dr Watson on his side and a rabbit hat on his head, sets out on a hot trail in the foggy streets of London, you know everything is going to be all right with the world.

Since I cheated with the Sherlock Holmes collection, I have decided to end this piece here. These are by no means the best books ever written - I can think of other books I have read which will rank right up there with these, not to mention those that I have NOT read - but for me, these four will always be special. Besides as Bertrand Russell once said, 'There are two motives for reading a book: one, that you enjoy it; the other, that you can boast about it'. So read all the above books, if not for enjoyment, at least for some bragging rights!