Of travel, history and a good measure of science (IANS Books This Weekend)

What is it like to live out of a backpack, in budget lodgings, and travel along the coastline of the Indian peninsula for over six months? Experience British India get an insight into how Albert Einstein acquired a cult status or clue yourself about exciting careers like robotics. There's much the IANS bookshelf has for you this weekend. Happy reading!

1. Book: 1400 Bananas, 76 Towns and 1 Million People; Author: Samir Nazareth; Publisher: Wordizen books; Pages: 378; Price: Rs.399

The author cheerily puts in his papers to free himself from his desk and takes off on a half-year-long trip along the coastal necklace of the Indian peninsula. This travelogue combines adventure, serendipity, food and sheer joie de vivre. The tour diary starts from the northwestern coastal tip of the country and, in a diversion,ends way above sea level at the India-Tibet border. It chronicles discoveries about the desires, views, tribulations, joys and sheer zest for living of the teeming millions of India. The book also offers recipes for some of the gastronomic delights offered in the places traversed.

2. Book: The Himalaya Club; Author: John Lang; Publisher: Speaking Tiger; Pages: 135; Price: Rs.199

With a foreword by Ruskin Bond, this book is a selection of the author's sketches of life in 19th-century British India: the scandals of the summer season in Mussoorie; a farcical court-martial conducted in the sweltering Indian summer; the curious case of an inebriated valet occupying Lord Jamleigh's bed in Bijnore; sundry diversions in Kussowlie (Kasauli) and Simlah (Shimla); and a hilarious account of the author's drunken travels in the interiors of Kumaon with a party of Europeans.

The author, with a waspish sense of humour, brings to life the early years of British India.

3. Book: Innovation: The Einstein Way; Author: Virender Kapoor; Publisher: Rupa; Pages: 114; Price: Rs.195

In this book, the author analyses every facet of Einstein's life and personality to capture the essence of his brilliance and motivates readers to imbibe his creativity and innovation. The book depicts how Einstein's contributions were far beyond the field of science - as an active supporter of human rights, as a generous donor and remarkably detached from material possessions. Einstein also knew how to use his imagination productively, above all, to keep his sense of humour intact.

Containing powerful truths in simple, lucid words, the book helps people, irrespective of their fields of interest, to understand how to utililze their strengths to the fullest.

4. Book: Reignited: Scientific Pathways to a Brighter Future; Author: A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and Srijan Pal Singh; Publisher: Penguin; Pages: 258; Price: Rs. 199

The book features exciting careers in areas such as robotics, aeronautics, neurosciences, pathology and material sciences; in other words, careers that make a difference in the future. The book offers a plethora of groundbreaking ideas that will make the young think out of the box.

With anecdotes, conversations, experiments and inputs from leading scientists, this is the handbook for science enthusiasts, regardless of age.