The Great Railway Bazaar by Paul Theroux

Its a dream ride, hop on a train from London and go around Asia before coming back where you started in four months time. Paul needs to be given credit for putting up with pretty ordinary trains in many places. Almost 40 years on, this book has now become a historical journey, capturing the ethos of the many countries traversed. Surprisingly the most interesting cultural ride for me was in Japan, where Paul contrasted the Japanese love for pornographic voyeurism and great manners. Its a pity that Paul was not able to go through China for it would have made the book much more interesting. I also enjoyed the train rides through a war torn Vietnam. I think this is a great book for anyone interested in learning about different cultures.

maybe I can retrace his steps one day as well?

Weird life by David Toomey

The author has done a pretty commendable job in sufficiently dumbing down a very scientific topic to a novice level. Trouble for me was that I was so far away from any Genesis of life theories that at time I had difficulty picking up the thread but on the positive side I picked up a lot. The book challenges all assumptions and definitions pertaining to life in the Universe and successfully posits the phenomenon of weird life along existing familiar life. I am now open to all forms of life as a result, whether carbon based, silicon based or hydrogen based. Who says science is mundane? Books like these are very important in interconnecting disparate sciences like biology, astronomy etc, not afraid to delve with the imagination. I particularly enjoyed the coverage of science fiction novels and even movies. Credit should be given to the author for mixing up the narrative between the know a and the unknowns so fluidly. Donald Rumsfeld would be a proud man.... 

The Terror factory by Trevor Aaronson

If you have any doubts about Muslim victims and Islamophobia, please have a good read of this book. Did the Muslim world have any realistic chance, starting from the Balfour agreement after the First World War till the aftermath of the Russian misadventure in Afghanistan. How can the meek resist the overwhelming coercing of the might US, goading them into battle against the evil Communists? The once mighty Mujahideen fall from grace to evil terrorists is well documented but the treatment netted out to ordinary hardworking Muslim citizens of the US in the aftermath of the 9/11 disaster is only now coming to the fore, starting from this very well researched book on how the FBI is reacting to the menace of Islamic terrorism on homeland. The book is very aptly named as the whole operation is run like a manufacturing plant, complete with informers, often hapless and idiotic victims, willing jurists and judges who are directed to be stern with the threat of Islamic terrorism.
I salute the author for presenting the sorry plight of a subdued Islamic minority in the USA, who cannot even raise voice against this constant threat of sting operations against them. Unfortunately no Muslim author in US could have written a book on this subject because he would have been behind bars in no time, such is the belligerent atmosphere in the US.

Alakh Nagri by Mumtaz Mufti

Great read, second in the series after Alipur ka Ali. Mufti sahib has a certain magical pull and certainly tell a story. I think the strongest effect after reading this book is the quest for truth. Mufti should certainly be given a great amount of credit for cataloging his life story as he saw it, as it gives certain very important details of a lost era. One small incident with Allama Mashriqi's Khaksars in Lahore was very illuminating indeed as his movement has been completely white washed from the Pakistani history very similar to the Badshah Khan's Khudai Khidmatgars. Both these movements were heavily influenced by Ghandi's pacifist ideology in the India of the time. But I digress...

This book can be divided into two sections, one is autobiographical and the other is Sufi oriented experiences which the author had with Qudrat Ullah Shihab, which is sort of portrayed as the author's alter ego. Mufti has great faith into the hallucinatory/revelatory uttering of Qudrat Ullah Shihab who seems to place Pakistan as a special present of the Almighty to the Muslim Ummah. So Pakistan according to the book's definition has a special purpose, a unique role to play in the Muslim revival, and Qudrat is specially placed in close proximity with the president Ayub to deliver. Trouble with this narrative is that Mufti seems to loose the thread when it comes to the constant failure of the Pakistani state to deliver and blames the non-Islamic leanings of the Western influenced government servants for this failing. At the same time there are very romanticized stories of Pakistanis in the Europe and America making a great impression. For me this is the starting of the great love/hate relationship of the Pakistanis with the West, this notion that West is mesmerized with the very righteous and virtuous Islami Pakistani people. Whether Mufti sahib is guilty of starting this trend or recording it I don't know, but this very wrong reading of the relationship has cost the Pakistani nation in my opinion. Instead of following the West and acknowledging their strengths the Pakistanis have instead wasted a lot of time thinking the West is actually enamoured by them!

Maybe I blame him for too much?

The General by Ahmed Errachidi

This book should come with a cautionary note attached. If you want to keep on believing in a 'free' and 'just' West than you are better off not reading this very moving tale. How someone as innocent as this author undergo such heinous and demeaning treatment by the all mighty United State of America is a very bitter pill to swallow. Indeed, this makes Osama Bin Ladin a most merciful dispatcher in comparison! I once read a book which was eventually made into a movie as well called 'The men who stare at goats' by Jon Ronson which seemed like complete fantasy stuff, with Pentagon funding huge projects in phys-ops projects designed to overcome enemies by playing heavy metal music, sleep deprivation, water boarding etc. The full extent of which can be read in this very lucid tale of Ahmed's incarceration. Why the might US and British intelligence agencies not able to find out Ahmed's innocence early through his ordeal is proof for me that these Arabs and Muslims were there as an example. What they signified to the US is beyond my comprehension though. were they meant to send a message to the Muslim fundamentalists or their Western sympathizing heads of state?

What especially moved me were the tales of torture by ordinary American soldiers, doctors, lawyers who willingly and passionately cooperative in the daily routines of prisoner torturing. As a Muslim reader, I was thrilled with the very noble reaction and fightback by the brother Muslims in the face of such a determined and all powerful adversary. Ahmed and his fellow prisoners are not only wonderful ambassadors for Islam, but for the spirit of humanness as well. How they managed to deal with the constant torture is indeed a great testament of the human spirit's determination and adaptability. Actually the vicious treatment displayed by American soldiers is an exact opposite, signifying the dredge of human beings. So Gitmo seemed to have opposite effects, Bush's good guys turned out to be evil and his evil people turned out to be good.

As a Pakistani I felt very ashamed at the way Arabs were maltreated in my country during the USA bombing of Afghanistan. It fully explains the strange comments I received (upon finding out that I belonged to Pakistan) when I went to Tangier as a tourist last year.

I would highly recommend this book to all so that the real dangers which propaganda can induce even in a democratic countries like USA and UK. The book is summed up pretty well when Ahmed makes a straight inference to President Bush's speech and the same sort of comments made by Ahmed's interrogator's and soldiers in Gitmo which again shows how much an impact a leader can make in even free democratic societies like USA.

For me, the real lesson to take away is always foster a healthy dose of skepticism when it comes to media and government narrative. Its not always easy to do so, but till we know for sure we should not give government and media the benefit of doubt automatically.

Democracy died a death for me after reading this very touching story. It needs to be reincarnated again, and Gitmo needs to be converted into a tourist site like Auschwitz.