Book Review: Evolution of Insanity by Haresh Daswani

Photo taken from Goodreads

 Book Info

 
Title:  Evolution of Insanity 

Author:  Haresh Daswani
Publisher:  CreateSpace
Publication Date:  January 27, 2011
Language: English

Format:  Advanced Digital Copy

Pages:  158 pages

Source:  From the Author

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Summary

From Goodreads: 

"An author having a conversation with his fictional character, or losing control of his character, mind numbing points leading one twists and turns spinning the mind of the reader with hallucinogenic colors, concepts, and eurekas. The short stories begin simplified, and walks together with the author as he takes a personal journey deep within the universe of his own consciousness, dwelling, prodding, dissecting, and creating... This book is a play on different writing styles uniquely conjured by the writer from random inspiration and experimentation with poetry as prior experience. This is a chronological anthology spanning the imagination and sanity of the writer. This book is a collection of humour, satire, and philosophy, with the most unique writing style and twists. This books evolves as one reads, from basic and simple stories of humor, to deeper and more profound satire best savored twice"

Review

First of all, I would like to thank the author of this book, Mr. Haresh Daswani, for giving me a copy of this book, and the opportunity to read it and give my thoughts about it.

And now, for the review.  Obviously, I would not be thanking the author as publicly if I had not enjoyed this book.  It is witty, entertaining, filled with crackling anecdotes, and hilarious commentary.  Best of all, it is fraught with intelligent observations of how we humans live.

Let me go so far as to say that this book is best read when you are in your most intellectual mood, as it would dare you to think beyond the words of what is written and delve into the author's mind about how he views things.  In a way, I felt that this was not just a book created from the author's imagination, but a reflection of how the author views the world.  One would laugh at the humor-filled statements, the comic scenes and settings, but once one understood the essence of such remarks, one could not help but nod and say, "Yes, that is quite true.  Why did I not think of that myself?"  Or maybe even add one's own ideas, maybe disagree with what has been said?  Either way, one is challenged to agree or refute the author's ideology and rationalize one's own beliefs.

Reading through Daswani's book, I could not help but be reminded of those times in Philosophy class in college.  His writing makes the reader think that they are having a conversation with someone else, probably a very favorite teacher, a smart friend, or better yet, the author himself.  Which reminded me of those times when we studied Socrates and how he conducted his discussions with his students.  Now I am not saying that Daswani is a modern-day Socrates, but what he talked about in this book could spark a lively debate in any Philosophy class and if I were still in college right now, I'd probably bring Evolution of Insanity to school and make our professor torture the whole class with intense conversations about the things talked about in this book.   

Which is not to say that this book is only good for super-intelligent conversations or musings.  You can also read this solely for its entertainment value, and probably use a few lines from this book as your new joke or ice breakers.  The possibilities are endless.

His writing style is also one for the books.  In one chapter, he would go all narrative-like and describe in witty detail a funny story and in another, he would abandon all thought for story-telling and write ideas, observations in prose - straightforward and directly addressing readers, oftentimes even issuing a challenge.

Simply put, this book is a good one to have on your shelf to read during moments of boredom, moments of severe bursts of intellect, moments of good conversations, and practically any moment that you would prefer to read.  Which, in my case, is very often.

Rating

If you have any questions on this particular rating, please refer to my ratings system here.

Notice 

I received this book free of charge from the author, Haresh Daswani, in exchange for an honest and truthful review. This, in no way, affected my opinion or review of this book.
 
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