I happened to meet Khalil at Broadway Books who gave me a book named 'Inside Out'. This book is NOT the rather famous anthology Inside/Out by a group called Goa Writers which includes Amitav Ghosh that has been getting a lot of notice recently, but is one written by a veteran of epistolatory duels on goanet - Dr U. G. Barad
Anyway, I took it (I love freebies ;-) and dumped it on a shelf somewhere when I reached home with no intention to do anything more with it. That's because Inside Out belongs to the self-help / motivational genre. I used to be of the opinion that this genre of books by the Agony Uncles and Aunties that authors of such books tend to be were not meant for me. And that the authors were just in it for the money that suckers like us would dole out to them when we bought these books. Also that they were not really profound and anyone could churn out one if one read a few other books in this genre. But when I was feeling a little low recently I happened to pick up Dr. Barad's book and began reading. As expected it had a lot of common sense packed in it, But when one is not in a good frame of mind, common sense flies out of the window. And I found that it had just the right recipe for someone down in the dumps who is clutching at straws, if I may mix my metaphors. The writing is by and large very readable and it is filled with ideas.I think Dr Barad did a wise thing by getting Les Menezes former Head of Communications at the Canberra Institute of Technology to edit the book 'Inside Outside: From Within You to the World Outside' consists of three sections: The first section is 'Personal Perspectives'; the sub-sections of which are self-explanatory - Self-Confidence, Success, Self-Regulation, Motivation, Self-Control, Perfectionism and Persuation and Power. The other chapters are about Social Skills and Management Mandates. It is a book which can be read by anyone anywhere in the world and yet is at the same time a Goan book. What makes it Goan are the examples he cites of his wife, son and daughter and others who are just like us. I don't think this little post is meant as a review for I've only read the first chapter so far. Even so I can readily recommend it as a book that certainly can't do any harm. It is likely to be a book that may do you some good; and even if it does nothing else you'll have a good read. It's a pity that Dr. Barad has not done much to publicize his book. Maybe the folks at goanet could help. Cheers Augusto -- Augusto Pinto 40, Novo Portugal, Moira, Bardez, Goa, India E [email protected] or [email protected] P 0832-2470336 M 9881126350
