The Sunday Haul (on 30-01-2022)

It was a foolish of me not to have picked up a copy of ‘Guns, Germs and Steel’ by Jared Diamond when I first saw it in a pile of books at Abids a couple of years back. I was not aware it was such a good book so it was just ignorance that made me skip buying the book the first time I saw it. After some time I read somewhere about ‘Guns, Germs and Steel’ and began to look for it at Abids and other places but I could never come across it until last Sunday when I finally found it again. This time I did not hesitate but just swooped on it and picked it up. I got it for hundred and fifty rupees.

The next find too was something I did not think twice before buying it because the title itself was enough for me to want to buy it. It was a copy of ‘The Weekenders: Travels in the Heart of Africa’ and the word ‘Africa’ was enough to make me grab it right away. ‘The Weekenders’ contains a couple of short stories and travel essays by writers like Alex Garland, Giles Foden, Victoria Glenndinning, and Irvine Welsh who were sent to Sudan to write about the place and the conditions there. This was commissioned by Daily Telegraph and all proceeds from the sale of this book would be spent on aid in Sudan.

The next find too turned out to be a travel title. I saw a copy of ‘Far Horizons’ by Frank Gardner. I hadn’t heard of Frank Gardner till I saw the name on the cover of ‘Far Horizons.’ On the back cover and inside it says that Frank Gardner is the security correspondent for the BBC and has travelled widely covering many events, and places all over the world. The title further says ‘Unusual Journeys and Strange Encounters from a Travelling Life’ which was enough for me to buy it.

The last find was another interesting book. This is the second dictionary related non-fiction book that I found recently, the first one being ‘The Professor and the Madman’ by Simon Winchester and it was a title on the making of the Oxford English Dictionary. Coincidentally,  ‘Satisdiction’ by Ammon Shea is a compilation of some unusual words he came across in the Oxford English Dictionary. I love words and always want to know more about them so I didn’t think twice before picking up the book for fifty rupees. I started reading the book right after I got home. One of the words I liked was ‘Agelastic’ meaning someone who never laughs. It seems the right word to describe me.