Robert Lacey - Ford: The Men and the Machine

This was a biography of not just Henry Ford, but of the Ford dynasty till the late 1980s. The book starts off from Henry Ford I's childhood and finishes with the fall of Lee Iacocca, the former president of the Ford Motor Company, and there are fascinating stories between these two incidents; how the legendary Model T came into being, the spectacular achievements of the Fords like the Rouge and the Renaissance Center etc.

However, the most interesting stories were those of personalities and conflicts between them. The book shows how Henry Ford I's intention of making life better for the people change little by little over the years to focused on achieving his personal interests, not necessarily monetary wise, but over things like anti-semitism(the book talked about how Henry's anti-semitic propaganda could have moulded Hitler) and making himself famous. He was a genius in some ways(obviously shown in his creation of the moving production line) but a fool in many ways(his obstinacy over the Model T, the Peace Ship etc.).

The life of Edsel Ford, Henry Ford I's son, was pretty much overshadowed by Henry's dominance over him. The stories of Henry Ford II, Edsel's son, are much more interesting; how he revives the Ford Motor Company and releases the company into the public, how he marries 3 wives, how he gets rid of Lee Iacocca simply because "he doesn't like him" etc. Henry Ford II also had something of a dual personality like his grandfather; he treated the waiters and maids like Dukes and Duchesses while he screamed obscenities when he was drunk.

One aspect of the book which interested me especially was how a single person could change the fate of something so big as the Ford Motor company; Henry Ford I and his grandson, Ernest Breech and Lee Iacocca. It made me think that doing business and managing the companies wouldn't be such a bad idea after all, especially when those people got paid so well!

Michael L. Brown - Whatever Happened to the Power of God?

Scavenging my father's bookshelves again, I tried to find a book which would explain Christianity with less emphasis on the Bible and more on secular ideas. I wanted to know how Christians should explain things like homosexuality, the contradictions in Christianity etc.

As it turned out, the book was solidly founded on the Bible, and the author was pretty much a hard line Christian - which wasn't what I was looking for. However, some accounts of the working of God and various testimonies were indeed convincing, for example how John Wesley was able to attract thousands of people to listen to his preaching. Also, by constantly referring to the Bible, it proved the integrity of the Bible while justifying his arguments very convincingly.

The book laments the decline of the contemporary Church and Christians, and mentions the "real" revivals some time back. The book admonished the Christians to be disciplined, and concentrate only on God. Which is true really; either you should be a die hard Christian, or not at all. But I have yet to read what skeptics think about Jesus.

Charles Dickens - David Copperfield

I've always wanted to read at least one book by Charles Dickens, given his fame, and at every attempt, I never progressed more than 50 pages. However, this time, I managed with sheer determination to read 800 pages of tiny letters and complex eloquence which Charles Dickens is famous for, I believe.

The book is, apparently, Charles Dickens' "favourite child"; their initials, DC and CD, is somewhat similar. The book is also more or less a biography of Dickens, where he put some of his childhood experiences into the novel. The basic plot is, a boy grows into a man, marries a rather fragile lady called Dora, grieves at her death, becomes a respected author, and marries a childhood friend called Agnes. Happy ending.

After finishing the book, I was left much in doubt as to why one should read novels. Yes, David Copperfield was interesting, it had a lovely story, wonderfully laid out and conveyed, with hints of humour here and there. But it was too time consuming to read, and feel that I haven't "gained" as much as I would have if I had read something else. Did it teach me how to live a life? All it told me was to live inside a world of limited number of acquaintances(which might be a good thing considering so much relationships are so shallow nowadays) and to check one's impulses when one falls in love. It's not that I haven't learnt anything useful; it wasn't "efficient".

I think I'll stay away from novels for now, and concentrate on non-fictions to develop my thinking.

Nicky Gumbel - ALPHA Questions of Life

I came across this book as a chance; I had left my David Copperfield at school on Friday, and faced a weekend without a book to read, so I went to my father's bookcase and searched for something to read. This book happened to have the most fashionable cover.

The contents of the book isn't as grand as the title suggests, as it covers just the basics of Christianity. Most of the things I read I knew, and too often I was reading cliches; nonetheless, I read about some interesting anecdotes of various miracles and work of God, which somewhat convinced me of God's existence.

Short book, and nothing much to say, really. But its references to various Christian authours, like C.S.Lewis, urges me to pick up Christian books which I am not bothered at the moment to read.