Spark Notes / Rama Brothers / Coles Notes - Going beyond reading

 Book haul is the act of showing off books one just bought on the internet. This can be a video.

The science or an anatomy of a book haul is having old books with a specific crowd or an audience and sharing your ideas. This will even lead to paid sponsorships.

I as a lover of books follow 'Book leo', 'Emmie reads', 'Carolyn Marrie reads', 'Benjamin Macovoy' and other Sri Lankan booktubers as entertainment. 

There is a certain following to this dying hobby.

I am trying to control my book buying and my last book haul was from Sarasavi Bookshops - Online store. They were English literature study guides.

They were printed by 'Spark Notes', 'Rama brothers' and 'Coles Notes'.

I was exposed to Rama Brothers books through a 'Bargain Books Sale' in Gampaha Sarasavi Bookshop. 

After that I ordered all the Rama Brothers study guides from the Sarasavi online bookstore. 

Rama brothers are the publishers of the 'Coles Notes' as well.

I got hold of Spark Notes when I searched for 'Brave New World' book duology in Sarasavi online bookstore.

https://www.sarasavi.lk/

I was addicted to book buying since 2017 and this is how it ended with me a large pile of books and nothing to do.

I purchased a lot of Penguin classics as physical copies due to love of book collecting and unawareness caused by knowing that there are now free pdf's available in the internet.

Spark notes web is an interactive web site that contains most of the study guide materials online in the web for free which reflects my incapabilities in investment and my tendency to waste money, because the physical copies I purchased have the same content as the web for free. Though that's the case it supports literature and I'm okay with it.

https://www.sparknotes.com/

To be honest when I read the 1984 Spark Notes web and compare it with the book web provides additional information about movie adaptations etc.

Spark Notes was founded by a set of students at Harvard (1999). They earned an income through the number of visits to the site. From literature study guides to later expanded to other subjects as well.

I also read the 'Brave New World' and '1984' spark notes book which was a good addition to my collection.

The chapter "How to write literary analysis" is repeated in every book which is a bad sign for spark notes since it degrades the value.

And also one of the other aspects I found as misleading is the books having same number of pages despite there actual size in 'Spark Notes'. (Old man and the sea and Les Miserables)

Unlike spark notes Rama brothers is not available in the internet for free. We have to purchase them for money as physical copies. They are the ones who are publishing 'Coles Notes' as well.

https://ramabrothers.in/

They are written by Indian authors and are analysed well. These are tailor made for south asian region.

Rama brothers books, does not contain Russian literature like 'Spark Notes' but the books have more content and cheaper in value. Coles notes like Spark Notes are smaller in size and was founded in 1948. They are currently printed by Rama brothers. But on the negative side Rama brothers have a very bad cover design strategy.

When I searched for other websites related to Internet literature study guides following was able to be found.

https://www.cliffsnotes.com/

Only exposure I have of English literature as a student is doing English Literature for my G.C.E. O/L in 2007 and getting an 'A' for it. 

One of the main things I like about literature is there updated nature in providing religious and philosophical concepts to the contemporary readers.

When I asked 'Chat GPT' about these literature study guides following was the advantages and disadvantages it provided.

Advantages

(01) Accessibility

(02) Study aid

(03) Time-saving

Disadvantages

(01) Oversimplification

(02) Over-reliance

(03) Academic dishonesty

As a final note using English literature study guides expands your horizons in reading experience.

මල් කිණිත්තක පුරාවෘත්තය - Forget me not - මා අමතක කරන්න, එපා : Charitha Prawardhi Bandara / Chathuri Damayanthi : A public phenomenon

 

මා මෙම කෘතිය කියවුයේ නොවැම්බර් 12 වැනි දින 2023ය. එම සමයෙදී අතිශය ජනප්‍රිය වූ මෙම කෘතිය මා මිලදී ගත්තේ නැත. මාගේ කාර්යාලයේ ( බැංකුවේ ) සේවය කළ ලේකම්වරියකුගෙන් ඉල්ලගෙන කියෙව්වෙමි. එම මුද්‍රණයේ ඇතුළත වර්ණ මුද්‍රණ තිබුණු අතර පොතට සහයක් ලෙස 2024 අප්‍රේල් සරසවි වෙබ් අඩවියෙන් මෙය මිලදීගෙන ඇතුළත තිබුණේ කළු සුදු මුද්‍රණයක්ය. නමුත් Goodreads හි පැවති පිටු ගණන 224 නිසා මා එතරම් වෙනසක් නොවී ඇතැයි සිතමි.

මා වැනි මැදිවියට පාතබන අහුවෙන පොතක් කිසිදු ශානරිය වෙන්කිරිමකින් තොරව කියවන පොත් එකතුකරන පිස්සකුට මෙය නැවුම් කියවීම් අත්දැකීමක් විය. ( මාගේ වයස අවුරුදු තිස් තුනකි.) මා වැනි අධික ලෙස මානසික ආතතිය නිසා බැට කැමට ලක්ව වෘත්තීය ජීවිතය පවා අසාර්ථක කර ගත් පුද්ගලයකුට මෙය ඉතාමත් හොඳ කියවීම් අත්දැකීමක් විය.

මෙම බ්ලොග් පෝස්ටුව මෙම ග්‍රන්ථයට සහයෝගයක් ලෙස ලියා තබමි.

'Forget Me Not' was a public phenomenon in Sri Lanka. And it touches many modern trends in the world and analyses them in a simple manner which is a good thing for young readers.

I highly recommend this book for Sri Lankan Sinhalese book lovers. 

Elon Musk : How the billionaire CEO of SpaceX and Tesla is Shaping our future - Ashlee Vance : 'Muskology' for life

In 2022 Sri Lanka was suddenly declared as a default nation due to inability to fight through the post pandemic economic conditions and was facing dire economic conditions with long fuel queues due to insufficient dollar reserves and many more issues lead to cyclical power cuts and hyperinflation. People were angry and it lead to protests requesting the then president of the country to resign. Eventually it happened and the country with a new president but with the same parliament is on road to recovery but with many problems at hand. During the fuel crisis one of the leading English literature book sellers marketed 'Elon Musk', Ashlee Vance biography read in a car staying in a fuel queue triggered me negatively to avoid the book during that period. But later I purchased the book from a different seller out of curiosity which is a betrayal of my own conscience. I purchased the book from Sarasavi online bookstore. 

Elon is a fast runner to be the first in the number one billionaire list of the world and is also a news maker by doing weird things in public. These aspects lead me to read this biography of a leading business man in the modern world. 

I've read the biography of 'Warren Buffet', The Snow Ball and it reflects a complete different business man from the persona of Elon Musk. 

Elon is not the Sri Lankan style billionaire and as an introvert his hyperactive and eccentric behaviour is definitely not my style of living and leadership I like. But the curiosity to know what the world he is trying to change as the richest man alive lead me to read the book. Definitely this is a puff piece of a book but it did unlock me to understand the thinking of silicon valley billionaires and how they are jaded by the world around them. 

Under the post covid 19 economic conditions in Sri Lanka there are lot to learn from him. First thing is to leave third world and join first world if you can. And always take dangerous and fearless risks in business. 

As a person in his thirties who should stop reading and start exercising this book did showed me some of the things to learn about life and risk taking which clearly I missed in my life time. But I can at least read about Musk and learn from him. 

'Millennium Falcon' from the 'Star Wars' franchise was the inspiration for branding of 'Falcon 1'. 

The Sri Lankan sinhalese television series 'Koombiyo' comes to my mind when reading this biography since his style of management structures in his business organizations and leadership is quite actually the same. 

EM is Breaking the status quo by being a transformational leader in all round business decision making and leadership styles. 

Concept of reverse engineering is highly emphasised in this biography as a methodology of cost cutting techniques of 'SpaceX' and 'Tesla'. 

This biography is about unconventional businesses and how to achieve dreams through networking, modernising and hard work. Though EM and his personal and public life is a bit Paradoxical and weird the man can get things done. 

Zip2, PayPal, Tesla, Solar City, SpaceX are Musk's fruits of labour. 

By giving primary focus to cost reduction and lean management Musk was able to modernise the space exploration and global car industry. 

He is a rich snob and a very inhuman leader with tough traits. But he can get things achievable. 

Elon Musk's latest biography was released by Walter Isaacson revealing the weird and eccentric business leader's new facts which created kind of a buzz in the literature industry. 

Ashlee Vance's biography contains chunks of paragraphs with science and cost cutting techniques related to car and space exploration industry. But I rather give a summarised and superficial
Analysis of this rising business tycoon than a broader analysis. 

Most of the Sri Lankan businessmen are like Warren Buffet mildly, but actually worse. And Elon Musk is quite the strack contrast of the leadership style and public persona of Sri Lanka would love to see. But it is a much needed revelation to the Sri Lankan reader to understand the relevant leadership styles. 

EM was able to have a streak of biographies published with alot media backing since 2015 to 2023. That is a lot of publicity for a billionaire and it is changing the way how world perceive leadership and businessmen. 

EM is like the peak point of the capitalistic world. He has the best technology and he is transforming the world specially the western world in to a world like in the film 'Elysium' (2013). As a third world dweller that's how I feel. 

As a failure in both career wise and academically this biography is a real eye opener to understand how to motivate yourself and understand leadership. Many of the aspects are actually missed in my life time. 

Seeing around 5 Tesla cars in Sri Lanka, Colombo shows the impact of EM to the world. 

Ashlee Vance biography have different versions of the same book I guess since the title is different but the cover is the same. 

EM was awe inspired by 'Apple's' use of Business and technological methodologies and it lead him to use many of the aspects in 'Tesla' business model. He is an ardent follower of Steve Jobs. 

Table of contents of the book is as follows.

01. Elon's world

02. Africa

03. Canada

04. Elon's first start up

05. Paypal Mafia Boss

06. Mice in Space

07. All electric

08. Pain, suffering, and survival

09. Liftoff

10. The revenge of the electric car

11. The unified field theory of Elon Musk

Epilogue

Some of the positive aspects of EM's vision in business is as follows,

Unified theory - 323 to 324 PG.

"What's more, SolarCity is a key part of what can be thought of as the unified field theory of Musk. Each one of his businesses is interconnected in the short term and the long term. Tesla makes battery packs that SolarCity can then sell to end customers. SolarCity supplies Tesla's charging stations with solar panels, helping Tesla to provide free recharging to its drivers. Newly minted Model S owners regularly opt to begin living the Musk Lifestyle and outfit their homes with solar panels. Tesla and SpaceX help each other as well. They exchange knowledge around materials, manufacturing techniques, and the intricacies of operating factories that build so much stuff from the ground up." 

Elon Musk is personified like Iron Man and Howard Hughes. It is quite amazing living in the 21st Century to witness this via media and news. 

Mars colonisation and Hyperloop 332 - 336 pg 

"And then I think for each flight that departs to Mars you want to sort of launch the spacecraft into the orbit and then have it be in a parking orbit and refuel its tanks with propellant....... I think SpaceX will have developed a booster and spaceship in the 2025 time frame capable of taking large quantities of people and cargo to Mars."

How tech is impacting the ordinary, a perspective from Ashlee Vance referring to many newly published books. 347 - 348 PG. 

" In The Great Stagnation, Cowen bemoaned the lack of big technological advances and argued that the American economy has slowed and wages have been depressed as a result"

"In his next book, Average is Over, Cowen predicted an unromantic future in which a great divide had occurred between the Have and the Have Nots. In Cowen's future, huge gains in artificial intelligence will lead to the elimination of many of today's high-employment line of work."

Living in a Socialist Democracy and having partly a free education which is an aspect of socialism to see the new world thrive with such a personality and also as a person who (Myself obviously) respected socialism blindly as a child my curiosity to read and understand the front running billionaire of the capitalistic world did not disappoint. But EM is not a good person. 

There was a updated article of EM with a title 'Muskology' giving information related to Twitter take over and many crisises related to it. 

EM biography by Ashlee Vance is like an innovative text since the book has a new structure internally. There are footnotes, end notes and appendixes with alot of info. Of EM. It seems like the book is a living thing since to the last page EM is doing something new to earn profits and innovate any industry. 

Learnings for the personal life 

Stay occupied. 

Work hard. Play hard. 

Work hard. Work smart. 

Always be ahead in the game. Be the best negotiator. 

Who moved my cheese ? - Dr. Spencer Johnson - A parable, A fable, and power of allegory redefined

 

This self-help book is a change management handbook that contains fiction, non-fiction, and a mixture of both of them.

This writing style reminds me of 'Animal Farm' by George Orwell, 'Rich Dad Poor Dad' by Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter, 'A Speech to the Academy' by Franz Kafka, and other old fables and parables from ancient times.

This book analyzes human mental conditions such as depression, ego, and overthinking and how to overcome such situations.

The best thing about this is its simple approach with over just 95 pages the writer covers many aspects of change management in business management and many aspects of human mental conditions.

I as a business management graduate this book reminded me of 'Kurt Lewin's Change Management theory'.

The story depicted in the book uses four characters to show four types of people who face change and their responses which is very insightful and inspiring.

As a person and a student who failed my tertiary education related to law, who stopped two MBA's and also didn't do well career-wise this book's content reminds me of "Hem", who everyone should avoid being. But I'm trying to change and this book helped me to recognize myself as a person in many roles in society.

"Just when he thought he was getting ahead, he would get lost in the corridors. It seemed his progress was two steps forward and one step backward. It was a challenge, but he had to admit that being back in the maze, hunting for cheese, wasn't nearly as bad as he feared it might be."

- Pg. 50 -

This book is a global phenomenon. By tackling famous socialist concepts in the above quote the book provides a guiding light to the post-socialist world.

Thambi Mudiyanse : Dharma Sri Kariyawasam ( තම්බි මුදියන්සේ : ධර්ම ශ්‍රී කාරියවසම් ) - Betrayals, Culture, Internationalization and the repetitive plight of 75 years

 

The book "Thambi Mudiyanse" contains a collection of information on the cunning and shrewd decision-making of one of the oldest families of Sri Lanka to grab power and the 75 years old shadow of the plight of a nation related to it.

The political leadership Sri Lanka had after and before independence from the British is cruel. They supported racial hatred and also the crimes of socialist political groups in Sri Lanka in a very bad way. Therefore the current bad state of Sri Lanka is an extension of many betrayals. Sri Lankan politicians don't want to serve their country or do their jobs right. They want to misuse power and earn money through corruption.

This book has a valid point related to the betrayals of Sri Lanka that happened over the past 75 years, but what I can't stand is the plight of internationalization and the destruction of culture which is a rant I have been hearing since 1997 for 25 years in Sri Lanka which actually makes me angry about our collective stupidity and blind following of the myths and cultural heritage. The process the author followed to gather information is very valuable but it is the concept of "DoubleSpeak" in the '1984' novel by George Orwell comes to my mind when thinking that modern technology of the modern world used to criticize the very foundations of the modern world is very confusing.

The doubtful question that arose in my mind when reading the book was from whom Sri Lanka should be protected? from time-wasting research by these journalists or corrupted politicians.

In the first chapter of this book, there is a reference to James T. Ratnam's two articles about the two histories of leading families in Sri Lanka. These two articles reveal facts about these families and their roots. My analysis and perception of these two articles were that they reflected freedom of speech, a victory of democracy, and a scenario where racism was lost. This book is also in the same category in achieving those objectives. But delving into the culture and internationalization impacted me negatively increasing my disgust towards the book, listening to these types of sermons for 25 years in schooling and other lectures.

The author of the book references many books related to the colonial and post-colonial eras. By this, it is evident that the author is attempting to solidify the role of the Jayawardena family in the history books of Sri Lanka. This was the role of many historians and journalists in Sri Lanka. My doubt is the author 'Dharma Sri' like 'O'brian' in '1984' is creating a 'Goldstein' in Sri Lanka by this unnecessary mudslinging. Unnecessary heroes and villains are created in Sri Lanka. 'Jayawardena' political leadership is cruel. But what is required is current solutions. Not the roots of his family. I have observed this as a main weakness of Sri Lankan authors and journalists.

But exposing the ruling class of Sri Lanka which was a few families whose power was exchanged among each other during the 75 years after independence from the British is very valuable.

It is not a secret that this book in nature is revolutionary and populist.

තම්බි මුදියන්සේ : ධර්ම ශ්‍රී කාරියවසම් - පාවදීම්, සංස්කෘතිය, විදෙශියකරණය හා වසර 75ක අදෝනාව

 

"තම්බි මුදියන්සේ" ග්‍රන්ථය තුළ ඇතුළත් වන්නේ වසර 75ක අදෝනාවාක හෙවනැල්ලෙන් බිහිවූ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ පාලනය හෙබවූ එක්තරා බලවත් පවුලක පරම්පරාගත බලයට කරන ලද සටකපටකම් ඇතුළත් තොරතුරු එකතුවකි.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ පෙර සහ පසු බ්‍රිතාන්‍යය නිදහසින් බිහිවූ දේශපාලන නායකත්වය දුෂ්ඨය. ඔවුන් ජාතිවාදය වපුරවමින්, සමාජවාදය හරහා බිහිවන මැර දේශපාලනය නංවාලමින් ක්‍රියාකළේ ඉතා අදම ලෙසටය. එම නිසා වර්තමානයේ පවතින ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ දුක්බර වර්තමානය සංකීර්ණ පාවාදීම් වල දිගුවකි. ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ දේශපාලඥයින්ට රටට සේවයක් කිරීමට අවශ්‍යතාවයක් නොමැත. ඔවුන්ට අවශ්‍යය වන්නේ බලය රැස් කිරීමට හා දුෂණ ක්‍රියා හරහා මුදල් රැස් කිරීමටය.

"තම්බි මුදියන්සේ" කෘතියේ පාවාදීම් පිළිබඳව ඇති වසර 75ක් පැරණි අදෝනාව සැලකිය හැකි නමුත් සංස්කෘතිය හා විදේශියකරණය පිළිබඳව අදෝනාව 1997 පාසල් යන සමයේ සිට වසර 25ක් පුරාවට අසා සිටීමෙන් මට ශ්‍රී ලාංකීය මිනිසුන්ගේ මුල්සිඳීගිය මෝඩ සංස්කෘතික අන්ධ විශ්වාස පිළිබඳව මට ඇති කළ කිරීම ඉහළ යවයි. මෙම කතුවරයා තොරතුරු පෙළගස්වා ඇති ආකාරය වැදගත් වුවද නුතන තාක්ෂණය ( බටහිර රටවලින් ලැබුණු ) හරහා නිර්මාණය කරන පොත් හරහා මෙවන් සංස්කෘතික සෝදාපාළුවක් ගැන කතා කිරීම හරහා මට ලෝ ප්‍රකට ජෝර්ජ් ඔර්වෙල්ගේ '1984' නවකතාවේ 'ද්විත්ව කථනය' සිහි වේ. ( ආරියවංශ රණවීර - පරිවර්තනය )

ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ආරක්ෂා කළ යුත්තේ මෙවන් අනවශ්‍ය ඉතිහාසයක් හාර අවුස්සන ලේඛකයින්ගෙන්ද නැත්නම් දේශපාලකයින්ගෙන්ද යන ප්‍රශ්ණය මෙම පොත කියවන විට නැගෙන ප්‍රශ්ණයකි.

මෙම කෘතියේ පළමු පරිච්චේදය තුළ ජේම්ස් ටී. රත්නම් ගේ ප්‍රකට ලිපි දෙකක් පිළිබඳව සදහන් වේ. එම ලිපි දෙක 1950 දශකයේ පළවූ ශ්‍රී ලංකාව පාලනය කරන ලද ප්‍රධාන පවුල් දෙකක මුලයන් හෙළිකරයි. එම ලිපි දෙක පරිවර්තනය කර පල කරන ලද 'රාවය' ප්‍රකාශකයින්ගේ කුඩා පොත් පිංච පිළිබඳව මා පළකරන ලද මතවාදය වුයේ එය අදහස් නිදහස්ව පළ කිරීමේ නිදහස පිළිබඳව හෙළිකරන අවස්ථාවක්, ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදයේ ජයග්‍රහණයක් හා ජාතිවාදයට එරෙහිවන අවස්ථාවක් ලෙසිනි. මෙම ග්‍රන්ථයද එම අවස්ථාවලට හා ජයග්‍රහනයින්ට අදාළ වේ. නමුත් මෙම ග්‍රන්ථය තුළ ඇති සංස්කෘතිය, විදෙශියකරණය හා වසර 75ක අදෝනාව තරමක් දුරට හිත කලකිරිවෙන හා වසර 25ක් තිස්සේ ඇසි මා හට එපාකරවන සුළු හැඟීමක් ඇති කළේය.

ධර්ම ශ්‍රී කාරියවසම්ගේ මෙම ග්‍රන්ථයේ බොහෝ යටත් විජිත යුගයේ ලියවුණු ඉංග්‍රීසි ජාතිකයින්ගේ කෘති රැසක් ගැන විමසීමට ලක් කරයි. එමඟින් ධර්ම ශ්‍රී මහතා ගොඩනගන මේ කතාව තුළ ජයවර්දන පවුලේ ශ්‍රී ලංකා ඉතිහාසය තුළ භූමිකාවහි බලවත් බව ඉස්මතු කිරීමට තැත් කරන්නේදැයි සිතේ. එය ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ බොහෝ ඉතිහාසකරුවන් හා මාධ්‍යවේදීන්ගේ කාර්යභාරය විය. මගේ කුකුසත් ධර්ම ශ්‍රී මේ සිදුකරන්නේ අනවශ්‍ය මඩ ගැසීම් හරහා '1984' හි 'ඕ'බ්‍රයන්' සිදුකරන 'ගොල්ඩ්ස්ටින්' කෙනෙකු ශ්‍රී ලංකාව තුළ නිර්මාණය කිරීමකි. ජයවර්දන නායකත්වය දුෂ්ඨය. එයට අවශ්‍යය වන්නේ ඔහුගේ පවුලේ මුලයන් නොව වර්තමාන විසදුම්ය. මෙය ශ්‍රී ලාංකීය සාහිත්‍යකරුවන් මෙන්ම ජනමාධ්‍යවේදීන්ගේ ප්‍රධාන දුර්වලතාවයක් ලෙස මා දුටුවෙමි.

නමුත් ශ්‍රී ලංකාව වසර 75ක් පුරාවට පවුල් කිහිපයක් පාලනය කිරීමත් ඒ හරහා බලය සීමිත පිරිසක් අතර හුවමාරු වෙමින් පැවති අසාධාරණ හා දුෂිත තත්ත්වය ජනතාවට හෙළිකිරීම වැදගත් තත්ත්වයක් ලෙස හැඳින්විය හැක.

මෙම ග්‍රන්ථය විප්ලවකාරී මෙන්ම ජනප්‍රියවාදී ස්වභාවයක් ගන්නා බව නොරහසකි.

Glimpses of World History - Jawaharlal Nehru (JN) - ලෝක ඉතිහාස සිහිවටන - ශ්‍රී ජවහර්ලාල් නේරු - Loka Ithihasa Sihiwatana - Sri Jawaharlal Nehru - Translation by David Karunaratne - A thousand page journey into the world history

 

I started reading this book in May 2022. 

Published in 1931 and later amended in 1949, this book reflects the anti-imperialist and pro-socialist sentiment of the then politicians and thinkers.

But all these thoughts and concepts failed, and in the new world, capitalism won. With the end of the USSR (United of Soviet Socialist Republics) dismantling their socialist regime into a capitalist state and India still being a developing nation since independence (1947) shows that the first prime minister of India JN and his thinking and concepts have lost their roots.

Anyhow the gathered knowledge in the book is incomparable and very valuable.

When reading this book and comparing it with historic films watched it makes me very ecstatic. Kingdom of Heaven (2005), 300 (2006), Gladiator (2000), Troy (2004), Apocalypto (2006), Braveheart (1995), 1917 (2019), and Mongol (2007) and many films aroused my knowledge about book's content.

I read this book prior to reading Dr. Yuval Noah Harari's book trilogy to get an understanding of the way how knowledge is expressed in two generations.

The first part of this book which is titled "Letters from a Father to his daughter" contains information from the beginning of the universe to the earlier civilizations. It's a small book that contains 30 letters.

But "Glimpses of World History" contain 196 letters and it exceeds 1000 pages.

From the beginning of written history to the seventy-year-old Arabic and West Asian crisis caused by the Israel-Palestine issue is exposed in this book.

The first world war, the Russian Revolution, the Inception of Turkey, India's struggle for freedom, world literature, science, and art's role in the global setting are analyzed by the author of this book.

Films like Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and Doctor Zhivago (1965) directed by David Lean came to my mind when reading the relevant book.

And also other films like Testament of Youth (2014), Gandhi (1982), The Last of the Mohicans (1992), and The Patriot (2000) came to my mind when reading this book.

Foreign intellectuals consider this book as the first instance where a South Asian Politician interpreted world history.

Though the first prime minister of India was unable to build a developed country or a nation with ethics and discipline this book is a milestone in history book publications.

Though the first three decades of the twentieth century are explained with biases toward Socialism this book contains a lot of history of that period.

A book of great hard work and magnitude.

I read both the English and Sinhalese translations of this book which improved my knowledge significantly.

The book had minor translation errors. The English copy of the book was found on the "Internet Archive" website and it had missing five pages from one chapter. Overall around 95% of the book was well translated into English. The main errors were the mentioning of the Steppes grass valley as a wasteland or the Sinhalese word "Mudubim" (මුඩුබිම්). Some sentences were also deducted from the Sinhalese translation from the original English book.