DOMAIN -- Steve Alten

I am not sure how many of you have heard of the Mayan doomsday prophesy of Earth coming to an end on Dec 21st 2012 or in Mayan calender format 13.0.0.0.0.
This sci-fi book by the author Steve Alten is all about it. Why did the Mayans turn to cannibalism and kill their own towards the end? Why were those huge pyramids built? Let alone building it, how were the rocks lifted several feet above the ground when some of them weighed in excess of 20 tonnes?
What is the purpose of those lines (The Astronaut, The humming bird, The monkey) drawn on the Nazca desert? Why are these lines and structures built pointing precisely to the Orion belt? Are they telling us something? Are they warning the human race to prepare for the worst?
Read this book and if you like read it's sequel, Resurrection.
Both of these books are fiction neatly woven with scientifically accurate facts.

A writer's nightmare : selected essays -- R.K. Narayan.

R K Narayan has been one of my favorite writers for a long time. Not much I need to say about him. A writers nightmare is collection of essays with topics ranging from casual narrations of his lost umbrella to "next sunday" syndrome (on how we put of all things we want to do to sundays) to more serious subjects of Nobel prizes given away every year to a more personal account of his acquaintance with celebrities of yesteryears like Mrs Indira Gandhi, the flamboyant Devv Anand et al.

This book like most of his other works carries the simplicity in language, richness in content and has quiet undercurrent of humor which hits rough surfaces at times and you can't resist a chuckle or two. A good read on a bright afternoon while you are cooling down yourself and need a refreshing view of trivial things in your everyday life.

You can get it from :
Amazon.com
Seattle Public Libraray