Book Review: Who was George Washington? By Roberta Edwards

This book on George Washington, America’s first President, is a brief account of his life and his achievements. Born in Virginia to a tobacco farmer, George grew up in the country side where he loved riding horses and was later known as the best horseman in Virginia. He had a bossy mother. Lawrence his half-brother was very close to George. Unlike George, Lawrence was taught at home and not send to England. At Mount Vernon George took fencing...

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Book Review: Reveries of the Solitary Walker by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Rousseau's last great work, Reveries of the Solitary Walker is a work of the French philosopher who seeks to find happiness in solitude and nature. This new translation is accompanied by an introduction that explores the nature of the work and its historical and intellectual settings. Besides that this book is a compilation of the ten walks that Rousseau undertook. He chose to live in Paris where he kept himself busy by gazing...

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Book Review: Truth Always Prevails by Sadruddin Hashwani

Truth Always Prevails is a memoir of Sadruddin Hashwani, a renowned businessman of Pakistan and also the chairman of the Hashoo group.  In this book he has mentioned major events in his life which led him to become one of the most prominent businessmen in Pakistan. Dedicating this work to the youth of Pakistan, he believes that his enterprise development is the enemy of dictatorship. Marking this as the reason he further mentions about...

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Book Review: The Confessions of Elisabeth Von S- Nazi Lady by Gillian Freeman

Elisabeth is the daughter of an innkeeper who marries Hugo, a film director at the ministry of propaganda. From 1933 to 1945 she records different events of her life in Germany, in her diary. In this novel various phases of her life; as a wife, mother and as a German national are covered. It covers the time period when Hilter comes to power in Germany and is bent on expanding the German empire. At some places in the book she could not...

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Book Review: The Cossacks by Leo Tolstoy

Written in 1863 by Leo Tolstoy, this novel is believed to be based on Tolstoy's experiences in Caucasus,the remote Russian country side, during the last stages of the Caucasian War. Olenin a nobleman joins the army as a cadet because he is disenchanted with his privileged life in the Russian society. Olenin befriends an old man named Eroshka. They hunt and drink together. There at the remote post Olenin falls in love with a young Cossack...

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Book Review: The Story of Gilgit Baltistan and Chitral by F.M Khan

Being a veteran of war and later a successful businessman F.M Khan wrote the story of Gilgit Baltistan and Chitral. This was about the war of freedom of Northern Areas of Pakistan. Khan in his book has described the various events leading to the change of government in Gilgit. The night of Oct 31 and 1 Nov 1947 has been discussed in particular, which led to the overthrow and arrest of the Dogra governor at Gilgit. Quoting from various...

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Book Review: A Short History of the Ismailis by Farhad Daftary

Ismailis are one of the major Shia Muslim communities of the world. Currently they are present in 25 countries of the world in Asia, Africa, Europe and North America. Until recently the Ismailis were studied on the accounts of their enemies. In 1930’s the study of Ismailism started to revolutionize, as the recovery of a large number of Ismaili text in private collections proved to be a catalyst. Daftary’s book is part of the modern scholarship...

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Book Review: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Mrs. Bennet is a mother of five daughters. She is keen to get her daughters married. Always in search of men for her daughters, she comes across two rich young men, Mr .Bingley and Mr. Darcy.  Mr. Bingley friendly in nature and Darcy is too proud as every one notices him to be. Mr. Darcy meets Elizabeth Bennet and gets shocked by her family's behavior while Mr Wickham is believed to be true gentlemen whom Mr. Darcy has wronged. Relations...

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Book Review: The Gilgit Game by John Keay

The Gilgit game is a book about the exploration of Dardistan and of its virgin lands, by the hands of the British Empire.  Dards were neither Indians, nor Tibetan nor of Turkish stock of Central Asia. Dardistan had various regions governed by different rulers. Strategically it had and still has an importance as many routes through this land are conducive for trade, business and military purposes. The British saw this...

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Book Review: The AKRSP- A Journey Through Grassroots Development by Shoaib Sultan Khan

Writen by Shoaib Sultan Khan,this book basically gives an account of events leading to the intiation of AKRSP in Pakistan.Khan who had previously worked with international development agencies was now called to explore one of the most remote and inaccesible regions in Pakistan. He had experience in working to improve the livelihoods of people of different regions. This involved many projects in the underdeveloped world. His experience of work...

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Book Review: Barack Obama Our 44th President by Beatrice Gormley

Barack Obama our 44th President gives the reader an outlook of Barrack Obama’s life. It reflects upon Obama’s early life as a child, as a student at Harvard, as how rose to the position of President of United States. Highlighting Obama’s life in Hawaii, Indonesia and US, the author explains the discrimination against the blacks, which was itself a subject of interest for Obama. Working as a community organizer in the slums of Chicago shows...

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Book Review: The Iron Wall-Israel and the Arab World by Avi Shlaim

Avi Shlaim's book gives the reader an insight to the creation of the so called state of Israel, which has still survived for more than 60 years after its creation, despite the several wars with the Arab world.  The Zionist foundations are highlighted, who claim living in the sacred land of Israel, to be their indigenous right .It further gives details of the leaders involved in the negotiations held at various points in Middle East. The...

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Book Review: You Can Excel in Times of Change by Shad Helmstetter

This book is basically an attempt by the writer, to force upon the reader the importance of change in an indivual’s life.  He explains the practical steps to overcome the problems which any change can bring along with it.The change could be in any form. It could be regarding one’s health, education, job, relationship and any other kind of loss.  Accepting change, and dealing with it positively has been stressed upon .The plan involved...

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Book Review: Some Questions on Feminism and Its Relevance in South Asia by Kamla Bhasin, Nighat Said Khan

This forty six page book highlights the role of women in our society. In addition to that it informs the readers about the neglected women in the society as a whole. It answers different questions about feminism. Freedom, equality and independence are the topics under discussion in this book reagrding women. At places it compares man and woman, according to their responsibilities and part played in our society.  At one instance, it...

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Book Review: Talks of Akhter Hameed Khan

This Eighty-five-page book outlines the dialogue sessions that took place between Akhter Hameed Khan and the NRSP staff. AHK shares his own experiences in the field of rural development ranging from the Orange Pilot project in West Pakistan and Comilla project East Pakistan. At various places he mentions and explains the problems faced by various community development projects mostly in the developing world. In Pakistan’s case, he compares...

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Book Review: Nepal's Biodiversity and Protected Areas

The 1997 protected areas management workshop -Department of national parks and wildlife conservation with assistance of the UNDP This book consisting of 73 pages is an outcome of workshop held in 1997 for the betterment in management of protected areas in Nepal. Accounts of various national parks in Nepal have been mentioned.  Endangered mammals, reptiles, birds and their respective habitats have also been included in this book....

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Book Review: State of the World 1993 by Lester Rubdown

This volume of state of the world reflects upon the critical relationship between environment and business around the world. Various themes have been gone through in this book, such as scarcity of water, energy in developing countries, gender gap in development, trade and environment and the indigenous people. Every theme has been elaborated with examples of various regions, ranging from Americas to Asia. Problems such as air pollution,...

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Book Review: Changing Perspectives on Forest Policy by Javed Ahmed,Fawad Mahmood

This book gives an overview of the state of forestry and forest policies in Pakistan. At relevant places examples of successful completion of projects are mentioned. It gives a view of the government and other stakeholders involved in the forestry activities in Pakistan. Stress has been given on the involvement of mafia and other elements that influence forest policies and activities. Environmental, social and economic benefits could be taken...

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Book Review: World Wide Fund - Environmental Guide Book

While going through this 64 page handbook, I noticed that it is a very basic guide book, featuring environment related topics. The reader may be any one, starting from a school going child to a grown up of any age.  Basically the book has been divided into 5 themes. Environmental problems have been highlighted and explained with examples, with special focus to Pakistan.  The repercussion of these environmental problems on our...

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Critical Writing on Leo Tolstoy's How Much Land Does a Man Need

The physical surrounding is a country side where the land is vast and beautiful. It is situated in Europe. The land of Bashkir community seems to have a tribal setup. This time period is the 19th century in Eastern Europe where the Baskhirs live. It was a summer day with high intensity of heat as the protagonist felt the heat when he was ascending the hill.   A peasant by the name of Pakhom travels in search of land to a country side...

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Book Review: Ancient Futures by Helena Norberg-Hodge

The author Helena Norbeg-Hodge, a foreigner spent many of her years in Ladakh studying the ladakhi people, their culture, religion and their activities. She points out the difficulties which Ladakh is facing due to the increase in developmental activities.  Furthermore she compares the past and the present conditions, mentioning the change in attitude, clothing and lifestyle of the youth. In addition to that she is very apprehensive...

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Critical Writing on Salman Rushdie's Midnight’s Children

The novel midnights children is written by Salman Rushdie who is enormously famous for writing Satanic verses which is mostly condemned by Muslims all over the world as Muslims regard it as a falsification and critique of their religion Islam and it’s Prophet. Midnights children is one of the most well-known yet narrative stories that is contented by people all over the world.  It is a novel based on from British colonialism to partition...

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Book Review: Animal Farm by George Orwell

Animal farm, a satire written by George Orwell tries to portray the Bolshevik revolution of 1917 in the setting of an animal farm. Where the animals are considered to be enslaved by humans, as does the elite dominate the masses in the pre revolution society.Orwell sees failure on part of the farm animals as they thought of animalism as a complete form of system for the animals welfare. The communist society after the revolution also...

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Book Review: The Wandering Falcon by Jamil Ahmad

                                                Jamil Ahmad's novel revolves around a character named Tor Baz who wanders in the tribal areas of Pakistan adjoining the Afghan border. The narrator tells us about different stories which are loosely linked with each other. In some stories Tor Baz comes to surface and in...

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Book Review: The Autobiography of Malcolm X

The Autobiography of Malcolm X introduces the reader to the Black Nationalist leader of America. Malcolm X fought for the rights of black people in America when they were being persecuted on racial grounds. He himself was an example of the poor socio-economic conditions of the black population.  Events have been reflected upon, leading from his early childhood when he lost his father through the hands of Ku Klux Klan, to his performing...

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Critical Writing on Ismat Chugtai's Lihaf

English Translation by M.Asaduddin In this short story, the author dwells upon the social depicts drawn on the independence of women in the pre-partitioned subcontinent. It emphasizes on the earlier Muslim society when women were deprived of their degree of freedom. In the era where women had no right to express their opinion or to have an opinion of their own, in the era where a woman's will was nothing but a question mark.  Here the...

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Book Review: My Feudal Lord by Tehmina Durrani

Tehmina Durrani, the ex-wife of Mustafa Khar, a strong political figure in Pakistan has written this book about the events in her life and about her relation with Mustafa Khar. In this writing Tehmina reflects her memories at school and her life before marrying Khar. Belonging to a Pakhtuun clan, she married the Punjabi flamboyant Mustafa Khar, much older than her. She explains role of her husband in political, social, religious,...

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