First it was about not being consistent enough to justify the style.
Then it was about not breaking Pete's record.
Then it was about not enough competition.
Then it was about not hitting volleys.
Then it was about not hitting aces.
Then it was about not enough mental strength.
Then it was about not winning on all kinds of surfaces.
Now it's about not winning against that bullfighter in the finals ( even if he can't manage to reach the finals).
Then it will be about not winning all 4 finals in the same year.
Then it will be about not winning all the finals in straight sets.
Then it will be about not controlling your emotions when you win or lose.
Then it will be about not making loud grunting noises.
Then it will be about not winning with one eye closed and both hands tied together.
You people, do you just want to keep debating because you love debating or are you seriously blind/dumb.
Greatest Ever?..hmm.. How? Are you joking? Tuesday, July 07, 2009
31 songs Tuesday, June 09, 2009
Yes, I found my alter ego. It is the English author Nick Hornby. And this one isn't the Fight Club type everything-that-I-am-not alter eg0 but a perfect substitute, a similar-traits alter ego. He thinks like me. He loves his football and football club. He loves his music. To be very frank, I am not a die-hard fan of Nick Hornby's writings. He is witty and intelligent and passionate , but his books are not what I'll kill for. I have read only 2 of his books - Fever Pitch and 31 songs/ Songbook ( this one I am still reading) and I have seen 2 movies based on his books - High Fidelity and About a Boy- that's about it. Moreover, our choices don't match - he loves Arsenal and he loves mediocre music. But we think alike. If I had written a book on my favorite music it would have read pretty much exactly the same( except obviously the songs). Obviously , I don't have those kind of writing skills - that's why I let my alter-ego do the hard work. When I said I am still reading "31 songs", it's because I haven't heard many of his favorite songs( remember I told you his music choice is mediocre), so everyday I have to listen to 1 song from the book, try to like it and then read the chapter on it. But the way he writes makes you want to fall in love with music all over again. And we think alike.
He says, "All I have to say about these songs is that I love them, and want to sing along to them, and force other people to listen to them, and get cross when these other people don't like them as much as I do" . That's not him, that's me.
He also says, " If people remember songs only because they have some memories attached to them, then they don't love music at all." I agree.
He says many other things in the book which I wholeheartedly agree with.
Now, the cheapest and most cliched thing to do would be to make my own list of 31 songs which is exactly what I'm going to do. As I have told you , I am not as good a writer as Nick Hornby so I can't write chapters , but I'll write small paragraphs on the songs I like.Again, it is impossible for me to select my favorite 31 songs( as it would have been for Nick Hornby), so I'll just write about some great songs and why I consider them great.
In no particular order:
Spoon - The Way We Get By
Unfortunately, this song is associated very strongly with OC. Yes, I am talking about that crappy drama of/for teenagers which had nothing going for it except for some seriously good looking female actors. Anyway thanks to OC people noticed this song, people noticed Spoon. I heard this song 6-7 years back and it appealed to me then. Why wouldn't it? It's damn catchy and talks about getting high and listening to Iggy Pop( What's the deal with Iggy Pop. I mean, why do so many people tell us to listen to Iggy Pop?) OR if we don't take words just for face-value, basically living a carefree life. If more people had listened to it, it could have easily replaced "Another Brick in the Wall 2" as the college anthem. What's the big deal of not wanting education,isn't it granted anyway? "The Way We Get By" is more insightful /apt that way. It reminds me of another great song by Smashing Pumpkins, "1979",which has a similar theme and on some other day would have been on the list instead of this song.The way we get by is so universal in its playable quality that you can play it in parties, you can play it during a road trip, you can play it in your headphones in the repeat mode, you can play it anywhere. And what a wonderful use of piano!
Why should this song appeal to me now? Why shouldn't it? I still crave for a carefree life or as Iggy Pop would say I still have a "Lust for Life".
"We go out in stormy weather
We rarely practice discern
And that's the way we get by"
Who wouldn't have done this sometime?
Who wouldn't want to do this forever?
You would be crazy to think that I'll be crazy enough to write about all 31 songs right now. I'll probably would, in due course of time.But not now.
Meanwhile I'll force you to listen to "The Way We Get By", and get cross if you don't like it as much as I do.
Greatness Thursday, May 28, 2009
Too bad that you need a resume to prove that you are too good.
But then,nothing can be too bad for those who are too good.
Quite possibly the greatest team to have EVER played football. I believe it today. I believed it even a month back.
PS: I can slaughter 1000 lambs right now if it would please Xavi, Iniesta or Messi.
PPS: I just wanted to add this VIDEO. As Phil Ball from ESPN- Soccernet would put it - pure romance.
From CIA files Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Two North Koreans - Xing Zoohoo (x) & Yang Ponguin (y) having a breakfast conversation. (Translated to English for the benefit of the readers)
x: You know what I feel like doing today?
y: What?
x: I feel like stealing an atom-bomb from the Kilju facility.
y: And do what?
x: Nuke the bloody Great Wall.
y: That China one?
x: Yup
y:And how do you plan to steal this bomb?
x: Oh it's easy. I'll just bribe the security guards.I don't even need to spend money.I have lots of southie( South Korean) videos and movie CDs! Sure they can't resist those.
y: Hmm.. yeah. But how will you take it from here? Won't they catch you at the airport?
x: Oh they'll catch but I'll bribe again. You wouldn't think that I am naive enough to use all my rare CD collection on the kilju security guards alone! But I think, that sucker may be very heavy for my backpack. Sometimes these economy class airlines can be pretty strict on their weight rules.
y: So?
x: I won't steal the ready-made bomb. I'll steal plutonium.I've heard there are lots of factories in China which do this bomb-making stuff at very low cost! And with a 2-day delivery guarantee too!
y: And what if they catch you at the Chinese airport?
x: Oh, that's no problem. I'll just say that plutonium is for the ultra-confidential next generation power generation technology to be first tested in Shanghai.
y:Pretty cool. But why Great Wall of China? I mean, it's been there for years! It's one of the wonders of the world! Why would you want to destroy it?
x: What purpose is it fulfilling now? I mean, it's just there. Like the Appendix. Like the wisdom teeth. It's not even a pretty sight.
y: Oh, what are you saying! you can even spot Great Wall from space!
x: Which idiot would like to go to space and spot earthly things and that too a bloody brick & stone wall. Aren't there enough mindboggling stuff in the space itself? It's like going to India and searching for North Korean Lizard noodles instead of enjoying Hyderabadi Biryani!
y: But isn't it a waste of a nuclear bomb?
x: Waste? What do you mean? You'll rather kill people?
y: No, no. I mean why waste a bomb to destroy a wall. And anyway it's like 7000 kms . I don't think one bomb would be enough.
x: Sure it won't be enough. But it will surely develop some cracks in the bitch. Moreover, it's symbolic.We don't want barriers. We don't want WALLS . I think even Chinese people will welcome this act of mine.
y: Oh, what a noble thought.You inspire me.
Movie List Tuesday, April 21, 2009
10 MUST WATCH cult movies:
28 days later
What is scary: Waking up and finding yourself in midst of chaos or waking up and finding yourself totally alone? The bloodthirsty disease-infected "zombies" or the "sane" army personnel who are supposed to protect you?
The brilliant shots of deserted London streets, the breathtaking soundtrack, the bit of gore or the edgier, non-crowd pleasing Danny Boyle; everything about this movie is pure classic.
The Descent
I'll just say that this is the best horror movie I have EVER seen. Yes I liked it better and I found it scarier than than Shining and Exorcist and Halloween and Omen and Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Psycho and Rosemary's baby and Blair Witch Project. If the creatures don't kill you, claustrophobia will.
The Blair Witch Project
OK, the handy cam may be the only reason why this has achieved the cult status. But quite frankly, the "true story" feel it gave, the very palpable desperation and fear it contained, the torch on the face, the horrific ending, everything blew me away when I saw it for the first time.
Clerks
Enough of horror movies. For those who can't tolerate a generous helping of foul language, twisted jokes or Kevin Smith( read bordering to toilet) humour even clerks is a horror movie. For others like me , watching these two people talking crap for 1.5 hours at a grocery store is a laugh riot.
Office Space
A movie with the tagline : "Work Sucks" has to be a cult movie, isn't it?
Peter Gibbons: Well, I generally come in at least fifteen minutes late, ah, I use the side door - that way Lumbergh can't see me, heh heh - and, uh, after that I just sorta space out for about an hour.
Bob Porter: Da-uh? Space out?
Peter Gibbons: Yeah, I just stare at my desk; but it looks like I'm working. I do that for probably another hour after lunch, too. I'd say in a given week I probably only do about fifteen minutes of real, actual, work.
Pink Floyd: The Wall
What have we here, laddie? Mysterious scribblings? A secret code? No! Poems, no less! Poems, everybody!
Barton Fink
One of the best Coen Brothers movie. Definitely the weirdest.
It's got everything : Broadway, Hollywood, writers, murderers, mutilated corpses, very fine acting, confusing ending and your own interpretation.
Dark, surreal and exquisite.
Pi
Maths and mystery of the universe.
Dazed and Confused
It was the last day of school in 1976, a time they'd never forget... if only they could remember.
All those who love 70s, raise your hand!
Adaptation
It may sound blasphemous but I liked this better than the legendary "Being John Malkovich".( From the same Spike Jonze-Charlie Kaufman combination).
Even Nicolas Cage couldn't make me like it less.
Enlightenment Saturday, April 04, 2009
I thought I understood the meaning of treachery and deception, politics and power struggle, murders and suicides, good and evil, grandmothers and relationships, marriages and infidelity, entertainment and cruelty, family and kingdom, slavery and freedom, monarchy and tyranny, fear and loyalty, reason and treason, kings and gods, food and poison,own blood and cold blood.
And then I read "I, Claudius".
Messiahs are not Gods after all Tuesday, March 24, 2009
There was a moment in the Barca - Malaga match on Sunday when Messi was in a one-on-one situation with the Malaga goalkeeper. And he missed. There was a stunned silence in Camp Nou. Even TV commentators stopped talking for few seconds. Pep Guardiola sat there with his mouth open. It wasn't that Barca was in a desperate need of a goal - they were already 3-0 up. It's not uncommon for strikers to miss such chances. This chance probably won't even qualify as a sitter.
Still, people were speechless.It wasn't anger. It wasn't surprise. It wasn't even shock. It was sheer disbelief that struck everybody.
Anyway, coming back to the missed opportunity. Actually, goalkeeper made a decent save and it was a clear-cut corner. Probably referee too was too stunned to notice that; he whistled away for a goal kick. Under normal circumstances, a normal player would show his disgust , even hurl a Latin version of motherfucker towards the referee( if he can afford to take a yellow card). But well, Messi was so very disappointed with his own mistake that he couldn't care less about mistakes made by other lesser mortals.
Messi's mistake was not the only speechless moment at Camp Nou that night. One came before that. That was when Messi scored a goal, well, which only Messi can. Crowd went silent for a moment. And only after the brilliance of the goal had sunk in, that the stadium went into ruptures.
Godzilla Monday, March 02, 2009
He pulls the spitting high tension wires down
Helpless people on a subway train
Scream bug-eyed as he looks in on them
He picks up a bus and he throws it back down
As he wades through the buildings toward the center of town
Oh no, they say he's got to go go go Godzilla
Oh no, there goes Tokyo go go Godzilla
History shows again and again
How nature points up the folly of men
One fine day Friday, January 23, 2009
I'll be brutally honest and say that I was not born with a burning desire to join a sports management company. In fact, I don't think anybody in India knows what a sports management company does ( even now, I am not sure). Some knowledgeable people may disagree, but I bet even they didn't know much 15 months back. IPL did not exist then. Also, economy was doing pretty good.
Anyway it was just a regular night. 3 of us were sitting in a restaurant , having dinner, gulping beer. We always had(still have) arguments in general on random topics. Beer just made the discussions much more passionate & uninhibited. Anyway the topic for the day was : "Future of Indian Sports."
If I remember correctly, Indian youth football team had won something important that day( important from Indian perspective but utterly inconsequential in the larger scheme of things).
So Pranil said, "I see a great future for Indian football and Indian sports in general". Pranil was/is the optimistic type. We(me & Meka, pessimistic,cynical type) said " what nonsense". And hence, the discussion began.
Facts were quoted. History was misquoted. Passions rose. Even tempers rose.Naturally, volumes also rose. So much so that everybody else in the restaurant stopped eating and started staring at us. It seemed, some of them even wanted to join the conversation ( who wouldn't?).
Meka had slowly phased out of the discussion because he thought watching two people fight over something that doesn't affect anyone of them was much more amusing. He just made sure that argument didn't die down by carefully voicing his opinions now and then.
Noisy BLAH.BLAH.
Mellowed out BLAH.BLAH.
"Indians lack skills, strength and stamina required for football. You can acquire one or two of those but not all three. You have to be born with at least something."
"Not true man. Have you seen kids playing football in the park in front of our building. They are damn good."
"Have you seen Brazilian or even Japanese kids play?"
"I bet if there is an excellent academy here in Bangalore , excellent football players can be produced."
"Why don't you open a fucking academy?"
"Oh. Actually a good idea. Let 's start an academy."
"Huh? I was just kidding. Anyway we(you) don't have resources to start an academy. Why don't you start with a small football tournament or something. Probably for schools. You'll know what talent we have here."
"Right. We can field our own team! Getting funds for kids shouldn't be a big problem."
"Yeah it shouldn't be."
"Let's do it."
"Ok. Although I am not convinced about the talent, it can still turn out to be a good business idea. We can even start a club!"
BLAH. BLAH.
"Waiter. Bill."
Normally these grand plans which start at the table, end at the table itself. But not this time. Next day emails were exchanged.Definite plans were made.Time lines were decided.
And after a week of not doing anything, we reached a grand conclusion :
"We don't know anything."
So we pondered over the fact if there was someone who knew. I decided to do some research and was pleasantly surprised to find some companies in India who did something in sports. And one of them was located very close to my house!We thought we could get them as our partner, or still better- tactfully extract some gyan and do our own thing.
So, I went to meet them. And here I am working for them. For the past 14 months.
We still can't/don't even contemplate opening up an academy.
Pranil is still working in his old tech-startup. He sometimes tells me, "Dude!A beer changed your life!"
A philosophical take on Life & Universe Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Somewhere some scientists are perspiring over the fact that they underestimated the mass of Milky Way and that our beloved galaxy will "collide" with the big daddy Andromeda much earlier than what was predicted earlier. And hold your breath, collision will happen in less than Seven billion years. Holy Cow! I have already started preparing my bucket list. Have you? Moreover the dude says, "One thing we don't know yet is whether Andromeda will hit us square on, or whether it will be a glancing blow."
SERIOUSLY, who pays these guys? Recession anyone?
By the way, I am not exactly opposed to all these scientific studies. I believe only curiosity & exploration(no matter how misplaced it may be) can make life on earth worth living. Yeah yeah I have heard the argument on why waste money on sending rockets to moon when you can spend the same money on building roads or distributing food. I am in no mood to point out flaws in that argument right now. But well, the argument is flawed.
My only grudge is that despite this focus on scientific research and all, the advancement in the technology has been nowhere close to what we had expected in 1950s and 1960s.
We thought that man would be traveling to Jupiter and beyond in 2001. And what do we know, we clap like infants when we watch Neil Armstrong jump on moon. On MOON? Distance between Earth and Jupiter is like 900 million kilometers. And moon is just a stone throw away. Last time I checked pictures from one of the satellites I could spot the ball which went missing when Yuvraj was molesting Broad.
That too happened in 60s & 70s. That too probably never happened.
We thought that we would have cocktail parties with aliens. And what we have are some people getting orgasm on sighting some ice on Mars which ain't enough even for 1 whiskey on the rocks.
We thought that we would have pet robots who'll wash our clothes, do our homework, tell jokes to us or even assassinate people for us. What we have is an aluminum box which mumbles 1 of the 10 pre-recorded messages after measuring our body temperature and we think that we have got the friend we had been waiting for whole our life.
We thought we would travel through time. But all we have is lack of time. *****
We thought we would develop advanced telepathy. What we've got here is a failure to communicate.
( I could not resist that :))
I can go on and on. But what's the point ? It will just add to the frustration.
I don't know what the reasons are for this utter failure. Is it that the Cold War is over? ( Which idiot said peace and development go hand in hand). Or is it due to the invention of internet?( We have porn and social networking, what else do we need?)
Maybe in 7 billion years..........
***** Socrates would have been proud of this line!
4+43+25+28 Wednesday, December 17, 2008
If you are so used to excel sheets that it is taking you more time to calculate the sum of the numbers in the header than to read this sentence, you are on your way to prove all those scientists,filmmakers, songwriters and authors who talked about machines taking over us in future right. (OK, sentence was too long. No need to get optimistic).
Anyway the point is: Sum = 100. 4,43,25,28 is not a random combination of numbers and if you look towards the right side of the page under "Blog Archive" you will see the same numbers.
This is my 100th post!
And my first post was on the same day : Dec 17. (Coincidence eh? I swear to god I did not plan this).
December 17,2005 - 3 fucking years and I believed I get bored with things quickly. I am not sure why I believed what I believed 'coz I have also watched every episode of That 70s show thrice ( on an average). And I suspect that thrice is a very conservative estimate.
That makes it about (8 * 24 * 3 * 22 / 60) = 211.2 HOURS on That 70s show alone. How much free time have I had in life ? Scary.Satisfying at the same time.
Make some noise Camp Nou Monday, December 08, 2008
Can you spot the lowest point in the graph? That was when FC Barcelona bought a young Brazilian called Ronaldinho.Although he was injured for the first half of the season, he came back later when Barca was languishing in the 2nd half of the table and almost single-handedly led to an astonishing turnaround. Barca finished 2nd .That was when world took notice of Ronaldinho. Me too. That was also the time when my love affair with FC Barcelona started. Next two seasons Barca won the Liga.In style. They won Champions League too. 2006-07 & 2007-08( yeah that extended line I made in paint) were two seasons when Barca woefully underperformed and even then I was unwavering in my devotion for them. That is when I realized that my football club loyalty had come of age.
Ronaldinho is gone. Barca is back. Camp Nou is back too. When we were becoming used to the sight of the half empty stadium ( that would still be 50,000 people) with people waving white handkerchiefs(Traditional way to show disgust in Spain) Barca decided to start playing well. Obscenely well.And Saturday night when I started watching Barca-Valencia at 2.30 A.M. in a half-asleep state I was completely awakened in few minutes. I am not sure what it was - scintillating display of football or the packed & noisy Camp Nou. There were roars, there were chants. Yes Messi still has the largest share of chants & understandably so, but Xavi, Eto'o, Alves,Bojan, Puyol and now even Henry are frequently being vociferously praised by the Camp Nou crowd- and that defines Barca this season. Everyone is genuinely contributing. Everyone is hungry.Even the coach.
To give you some idea of how well Barcelona is playing:
- FCB is currently top of the league with a 6 points difference between them and 2nd placed Villarreal
- FCB has been unbeaten in last 20 games!
- FCB has scored 44 goals in14 league matches; much more than any other team. You can calculate the average. Including the Champions league games in the analysis will only push the average up.
- If FCB has scored the most they have conceded the least too. Only 9 goals in 14 matches. Cheers to Valdes!
- This makes the goal difference of FCB equal to a mindblowing 35 which is exactly equal to the sum of goal differences of next 4 teams namely - Villarreal, Valencia, Sevilla & Real Madrid.
- Samuel Eto'o is the leading scorer of the league with 14 goals.
Oh and what about Real Madrid? Funny to recall the statement that Great Bern Schuster ( RM coach) made when they produced some enterprising wins earlier this season : "Real Madrid is so good that we toy with other teams." Now look who is being toyed?
Currently Real Madrid is 5th in the league. Currently Real Madrid is pissing in their pants - because they are going to face Barcelona in Camp Nou THIS WEEK.
December was being touted as the "Horror Month", "The Grand Slam" or "The Month of Misery" because the big 5 teams in La Liga were supposed to play each other. Well by the looks of it , misery is only for the teams who have faced or about to face Barcelona. FCB defeated Sevilla away 3-0, FCB defeated Valencia home 4-0. FCB to face Real Madrid and Villarreal in coming weeks.
Sure this Barca is not the dream team of early 90's ( with Guardiola, Koeman, Hagi, Laudrup, Romario etc). Sure Messi is still not what Ronaldinho was. But they are getting there.
I am obviously thrilled. And plan to remain the same in the second half of the season too.
There's still time Wednesday, November 19, 2008
to save Music.
Start listening to Kings of Leon. Please.
For further help:
Best Albums :
Because of the Times
Aha Shake Heartbreak
Youth & Young Manhood
Only by the Night
Best Songs:
Fans
Milk
Knocked Up
Taper Jean Girl
Arizona
My Party
King of the Rodeo
Molly's Chambers
The Bucket
The Runner
Sex on Fire
Dial C for Cricket Wednesday, October 22, 2008
The title for the post has been directly lifted from the cricket show being aired on NEO Cricket nowadays. Not that I was awestruck by the name and decided to use it for my blog post, but because I watched the show just now. Well here I have to say that this caller/talk show is nowhere as cheesy as its name. In fact I am very impressed by the NEO cricket's coverage of the Test series. And I really love Dial C for Cricket. I am normally not a big fan of these caller shows mainly because the questions asked are too generic and the answers given are more so. Something like :
Caller: " What should India do to win the Test match"
Answer from an expert: "Hmm.. lets see... they should bat well and they should bowl well. Oh yes they have to concentrate on the fielding too."
Caller is almost crying with enlightment by now.
But not on Dial C for Cricket. They have non-vague questions which they discuss ,say " Who is better: Mishra or Chawla?" and they have all the historical records - one days, test, ranji, India A, Irani etc to provide some meat to the discussion. They properly involve the callers in the discussion,even multiple-callers at the same time. The show is informative - for example now I know that Cheteshwar Pujara is the upcoming hotshot batsman and Mounish Parmar is the Indian Murlitahran - both due to the spin and controversial action.I like the presenter guy. He knows what he is speaking - unlike almost all the other anchors. As far as experts are concerned we don't have many options, do we? This show involves Lalchand Rajput, Ramiz Raja, Arun Lal & Ian Chappell which are conveniently rotated.
I am glad that there is no Sunil Gavaskar on the show. I respect him and all that but his extreme patriotism gets on to my nerves. Don't get me wrong. I am a fairly patriotic guy but not at the expense of all conceivable logic. If Zaheer Khan abuses someone its just good natured bantering, but if some other team player does it, its outright disgusting and a shame for the game of cricket. If Saurav Ganguly is causing a huge amount of delay because he is waiting for the 12th man to bring him new gloves - thats understandable and completely natural but if Shane Watson has problems with his run-up its dirty delaying tactics. Give me a break.
Ok coming back to NEO cricket , commentary is as good/bad it can get. Surprisingly and unfortunately the commentary hasn't changed much in last 20 years. It's like a set of statements that new commentators inherit from the old commentators. Say, taking a single run after hitting a four is the greatest thing a cricketer can do. I mean what the fuck? Why is taking a single run on a ball which was an innocent full toss, or a flighted lolly , or a delicious over-pitched delivery SO great? or say, Straight Drive is mindboggingly classy shot even if it hit the stumps on the other side. Now we are not talking about placement , are we?
Anyway. Tendulkar broke Lara's record and I am really happy for him. Yes there were times when I had bets with friends on who will score more, Azhar or Tendulkar and I invariably put my money on the traitor. Yes there were times when there were angry calls from all ( even bongs) - get the fuck Ganguly out of the team. And I was one of the few who said , Tendulkar goes first and only then goes Dada. But well Tendulkar is Tendulkar. Nobody can deny that,not even me. And people complain - he is just playing for the records. Oh, I am still thankful to him. You can be the most selfish guy on the earth if you are that talented. You have earned that.
India- Australia series is as interesting as it was supposed to be. I could do with more on field/off field abuse though. Oh come on. Nobody is watching India-Pakistan these days because of all the friendship bullshit. Indians may say all that - Australians are arrogant, unsportsmenlike, abusive and all that. Australians may say all that for Indians too. But the fact is they can't wait to play each other. Its like angry sex.Some people say people so keenly follow India-Australia series because of excellent quality of cricket and close matches. Hmm, I am sure you remember the Bhajji-Symonds "Maa Ki" incident but can you tell me how much did India score in that innings? Can you? CAN YOU?
Funny sighting: An ad featuring Lalit Modi where he says I had this vision..blah blah... What vision are you talking about? The vision which BCCI couldn't see for so many decades of existence with all the money and all the fanaticism or the vision about the game which you rubbished only few months earlier or the vision which was served to you in a platter by a "rebel"?
Phew. My Champions League Football matches are about to start. Good Night.
A(N) (IN)COMPLETE GUIDE TO SCI-FI LITERATURE Tuesday, September 30, 2008
These are the greatest science fiction books ever written. Almost.
( Not in any particular order)
1984 - George Orwell
Grim, Disturbing, Claustrophobic ,one of the best books ever written. THE ONE on totalitarianism future. You don't need to read Fahrenheit 451 after this.
Childhood's End - Arthur C. Clarke
A classic from probably my favorite sci-fi author. Human Race , better take heed.
2001: A Space Odyssey - Arthur C. Clarke
Although the movie has a special place in my heart , book itself was brilliant and well more straightforward than the movie.
Rendezvous with Rama - Arthur C. Clarke
Physics, Geometry, Exploration. This one is not for cheap thrills, this one is for the sheer spirit of adventure.
The Sirens of Titan - Kurt Vonnegut
Arguably almost all Kurt Vonnegut books are sci-fi but not for me. You don't want to miss a science fiction masterpiece from an author who is Douglas Adams, Philip Dick, George Orwell, Mark Twain all combined and more. The Absurd. The Purpose of Human Life.
Complete Short Story Collection - Isaac Asimov
You don't need any full length novel to discover the genius of the master. In fact, these are better than anything else.
I, Robot - Isaac Asimov
No, the movie WAS NOT based on the book. Read this and be blown away.
Foundation Trilogy - Isaac Asimov
I'm not AS big a fan as countless others. But this started it all. So, how can you NOT read this?
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - Robert A. Heinlein
This was not science ONLY. It was much more. That may be precisely the reason I am not a big fan of some of his other books like the revered Stranger in a Strange Land - which may be the perfect book for those who are not big on hard sci-fi.
Collection of short stories - Philip K. Dick
Philip K. Dick probably had the greatest imagination of all. He will present you the future with such immaculate details that you will wonder if he has traveled back in time. You can't imagine what scope these numerous stories (on which numerous movies have been made) cover. Start with a few.
UBIK - Philip K. Dick
A comedy on reality gone wrong!
Do Paranoids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Philip K. Dick
The book on which Blade Runner was only loosely based. But the fun is in the details.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
Since everybody on the planet seems to have read it, what are you waiting for?
Hyperion - Dan Simmons
This is one of the few contemporary( read post 80s) sci-fi books in the list. Perhaps I haven't read many. But i am not taking anything away from this complex, grand, awesome book. NOT for easy reading.
Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
Probably one of the most widely loved books - and I am not talking only about science fiction here. And there's a reason to it. If any science fiction book could provide great entertainment to anyone and everyone,this is it. You may forget it as soon as you have read it, but you'll have one hell of a time while reading it.
Notable Omissions:
Dune - Frank Herbert
I have thought of reading it so many times, but somehow never actually did. I don't think I ever will.
The Time Machine - H.G. Wells
I remember reading it as a kid. I didn't like it then. I don't think I will like it now.
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
An acclaimed classic on dystopian future. My problem with this book is that it explains futuristic things like biological engineering which I can hardly relate to. It was an extremely difficult read for me.
Neuromancer - William Gibson
A cult novel. But then cyberpunks and hacking is too real now to be interesting :)
The Man in the High Castle - Philip K. Dick
Probably because I am reading it NOW!!
