Deepak Jaisinghani (Author of The Girl Who Did Not Break)

Deepak Jaisinghani rated a book liked it In Other Words by Jhumpa Lahiri	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Less of a memoir, more of a mirror. I have spent the past few years deliberately distancing myself from fiction. Consequently, whenever a celebrated novelist whose work I've neglected because of this self-imposed constraint releases a non-fiction book ...more
Jun 24, 2026 09:10PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of In Other Words by Jhumpa Lahiri. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — In Other Words by Jhumpa Lahiri <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Deepak Jaisinghani rated a book really liked it The Race of My Life: An Autobiography by Milkha Singh	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Mita de apni hasti ko agar koi martaba chahe, Ki daana khaak me milkar hi gul-e-gulzar hota hai pyaare..
Jun 12, 2026 04:57AM · like · see review
Deepak Jaisinghani rated a book did not like it Faster than Lightning: My Autobiography by Usain Bolt	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Aren't autobiographies meant to inspire people? This book was not about motivating readers at all. It was about arrogance. I this, I that, I am, I will, I, I, I... After a point, I lost the comprehension completely and was actively betting with my co ...more
Jun 12, 2026 01:42AM · 1 like · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Faster than Lightning by Usain Bolt. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Faster than Lightning by Usain Bolt <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Deepak Jaisinghani wants to read In Other Words by Jhumpa Lahiri	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jun 02, 2026 09:52PM · 1 like · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of In Other Words by Jhumpa Lahiri. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — In Other Words by Jhumpa Lahiri <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Deepak Jaisinghani rated a book really liked it The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
A novel that outgrows the boundaries of the novel. The opening chapter of this book is so gut-wrenchingly powerful I was convinced it'll overshadow the entire book. How wrong I was! It was the first time I felt compelled to write an independent post o ...more
Jun 01, 2026 11:37AM · 1 like · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Deepak Jaisinghani rated a book really liked it Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future by Elizabeth Kolbert (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
A book about people trying to solve problems created by people trying to solve problems. If The Sixth Extinction was akin to Silent Spring, conscious-awakening works of their eras, Kolbert's Under a White Sky can be likened to Carson's The Sea Around ...more
May 27, 2026 11:12AM · 1 like · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Under a White Sky by Elizabeth Kolbert. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Under a White Sky by Elizabeth Kolbert <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Deepak Jaisinghani wants to read The Worlds I See: Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of AI by Fei-Fei Li	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Deepak Jaisinghani rated a book it was amazing The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Dinosaurs had an asteroid. We have ourselves. It left me shaken, it left me heartsick. It was fascinating to read; it was dreadful to read. It was wondrous, it was grim. It left me wanting for more, it repelled me to read even a page more of it. The S ...more
May 23, 2026 10:34AM · 1 like · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Deepak Jaisinghani rated a book liked it Free Ride by Noraly Schoenmaker	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Eat, Pray, Ride. What makes someone take so drastic a decision? Where do you find the courage to execute these lifelong life-altering journeys? What does Noraly's seven year-long (and counting) worldwide journey on a bike has in common with Dhruv Bogr ...more
May 23, 2026 10:27AM · 1 like · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Free Ride by Noraly Schoenmaker. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Free Ride by Noraly Schoenmaker <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Deepak Jaisinghani rated a book it was amazing The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Dinosaurs had an asteroid. We have ourselves. It left me shaken, it left me heartsick. It was fascinating to read; it was dreadful to read. It was wondrous, it was grim. It left me wanting for more, it repelled me to read even a page more of it. The S ...more
May 17, 2026 09:35PM · 1 like · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">

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Less of a memoir, more of a mirror.

I have spent the past few years deliberately distancing myself from fiction. Consequently, whenever a celebrated novelist whose work I've neglected because of this self-imposed constraint releases a non-fiction book Less of a memoir, more of a mirror.

I have spent the past few years deliberately distancing myself from fiction. Consequently, whenever a celebrated novelist whose work I've neglected because of this self-imposed constraint releases a non-fiction book, I seize the opportunity to finally acquaint myself with their writing.

In this case, however, things proved a little more complex. Much like my reading, Lahiri had imposed a constraint upon her writing. Since the book chronicles her long pursuit of the Italian language, she resolved to write it in Italian. That immediately complicated my purpose. I had picked up the book hoping to encounter Lahiri in her native literary habitat, to see what she could do in the language that had earned her acclaim. Now I had to deal with a writer deliberately working outside her comfort zone.

The problem did not end there. Lahiri also refused to translate the book into English, since she feared translating it herself would've tempted her to make it stronger by means of her stronger language, by smoothening out its rough edges, neutralizing its oddities. In order to avoid manipulating the essence of its character, she entrusted the translation to a more objective and experienced hand.

I found myself reading Lahiri through two layers of gauze. Not exactly the ideal way to make an acquaintance with a writer. But what could I do? You play the cards you're dealt. So in I went.

Lahiri is fond of metaphors, though she keeps shifting them at full tilt. At various points, learning Italian is likened to swimming across a river, an arduous crossing from one shore to another. Turn enough pages, and even the triangle becomes a metaphor. Lahiri becomes fascinated by the ways her languages overlap, compete, and illuminate one another - English offers mastery, Bengali inheritance, and Italian aspiration. Elsewhere, it becomes a one-sided love affair, with Lahiri hopelessly enamoured with a language that neither needs her, nor it ever will.

Soon after, the metaphor shifts again. English and Italian become her two children, and Italian, being the weaker and more demanding of the pair, naturally commands a disproportionate share of her attention. Well, children are the inevitable end result of a love story. Even her metaphors have a certain logic to their progression.

Though I have never felt the need to learn a new language, no book has ever reflected my experience with words so closely. It felt as though the author had put words to thoughts I already possessed. She constantly hunts for new words. She gathers words that seem obscure, and ones that she could easily understand, but would like to know better. She gathers beautiful words that have no exact equivalent in English, she gathers countless adjectives to describe thousands of situations. She gathers novel idioms and novel ways to use them, she gathers countless nouns and adverbs that she'll likely never use.

The only difference is what she's doing with Italian, I've been doing with English since time immemorial. My words have always been more valuable to me than money. My basket of words overflows with such abandon I fear I'd lose them if I don't use them. It's a self-defeating exercise; memory only has a certain space, and it doesn't always hold up. Sometimes when I need them, they remain elusive, ungraspable. I know they lurk somewhere in my brain, I know I've diligently recorded them in a file, but the stubborn words won't come. And yet, I don't think my project is a waste of time. I know that its beauty lies in the act of gathering, not in the result.

But it isn't all wine and roses. The book circles the same handful of ideas with such persistence that one begins to suspect repetition is not a literary device but the entire point. Italian fascinates her. Italian liberates her. Italian humbles her. Italian frustrates her. Italian saves her. By the halfway mark, the reader is tempted to respond: yes, we know.

A brief instruction on how to enhance your experience of reading this book before I sign out - I picked up the dual-language edition of the book. In the digital version, there is a dotted icon placed regularly between the paragraphs. You could click on them to move back and forth between the English and Italian versions if Lahiri's effervescence seeps out into you and makes you want to check out the language.

If I have made it sound too good to be true, I admire your cynicism. But it's also too good to pass up (even after the self-imposed constraints). Take it out for a spin. Let it make its case to you. Your verdict may differ, but there's only one way to find out. ...more

Deepak Jaisinghani rated a book really liked it

The Race of My Life: An Autobiography
by Milkha Singh

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Mita de apni hasti ko agar koi martaba chahe,
Ki daana khaak me milkar hi gul-e-gulzar hota hai pyaare..

Deepak Jaisinghani rated a book did not like it

Faster than Lightning: My Autobiography
by Usain Bolt

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Aren't autobiographies meant to inspire people? This book was not about motivating readers at all. It was about arrogance. I this, I that, I am, I will, I, I, I... After a point, I lost the comprehension completely and was actively betting with my co ...more

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In Other Words
by Jhumpa Lahiri

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The Ministry for the Future
by Kim Stanley Robinson

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A novel that outgrows the boundaries of the novel.

The opening chapter of this book is so gut-wrenchingly powerful I was convinced it'll overshadow the entire book. How wrong I was! It was the first time I felt compelled to write an independent post o ...more

Deepak Jaisinghani rated a book really liked it

Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future
by Elizabeth Kolbert (Goodreads Author)

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A book about people trying to solve problems created by people trying to solve problems.

If The Sixth Extinction was akin to Silent Spring, conscious-awakening works of their eras, Kolbert's Under a White Sky can be likened to Carson's The Sea Around A book about people trying to solve problems created by people trying to solve problems.

If The Sixth Extinction was akin to Silent Spring, conscious-awakening works of their eras, Kolbert's Under a White Sky can be likened to Carson's The Sea Around Us, less popular books but as hard-hitting as the authoresses' chef d'oeuvre. Kolbert is yet again at her seraphic best. Reading her feels like reading Michael Crichton, if all the human-induced disasters had already escaped the laboratory. To offer yet another indulgent analogy, if Darwin chronicled how species emerge, Kolbert chronicles how they disappear.

This book unofficially reads like The Sixth Extinction's sequel, but there's a crucial difference here that gives it its own identity. It not only explores extinctions, it also dabbles in topics like invasive species (Asian carp, cane toads, to name the prominent few) and solutions the mankind has dreamt up for fighting them and climate change. At its core, the point is to lay bare the recursive and repulsive logic of the Anthropocene - more control to solve a problem of control.

First you change the course of a river, then you dam or electrify it to avoid damage. First you ship a species around the world, then you spray poison on it from helicopters to protect native species. First you speed up ice streams by melting glaciers, then you try to slow it down by erecting ginormous concrete-topped embankments.

First you hunt a species into oblivion, then you try to yank it back from the brink of extinction by investing billions. In addition to supplemental feeding and captive breeding, these are some of the methods of 'assisted evolution': double-clutching, artificial insemination, enclosures, exclosures, head-starting, managed burns, chelation, hand-pollination, predator-avoidance training, conditioned taste aversion, the list keeps growing every year. It's so easy to destroy an ecosystem than nurturing it!

Books like these make me wonder if GDP should really be the North Star to aim for. Isn't it a fundamentally iniquitous, grossly myopic view to hold some number sacrosanct at the cost of, literally and figuratively, everything? Even our revanchist policies to sequester carbon are framed so that we can be free to emit even more carbon! Even our anxiety about rising temperatures is cloaked in terms of protecting the number, as in we should rein in climate change, or the numbers would fall. Numbers are the reason we are in this goddamn mess in the first place! It's just another instance of the misguided, circuitous logic of the Anthropocene.

Kolbert warns us to be careful what we wish for. Heat waves, rising sea levels, ocean acidification, deglaciation, eutrophication, desertification, these are just some of the by-products of our species' success, and they will only get more intense with every passing year. So too are the legion of supposedly earth-saving technologies we've dreamt up.

In the penultimate chapter, Kolbert goes into detail in one such technology - solar geoengineering. First you explode the atmosphere with carbon, then you try to cloud-seed aerosols in the stratosphere to avoid warming. "We are as gods and might as well get good at it," Stewart Brand famously wrote. With the whole-earth transformation that's under way, he sharpened his statement to "We are as gods and have to get good at it."

Pissing in your pants will only keep you warm for so long, a Danish saying goes. The positive effects of geoengineering, if any, will last for only two years, Kolbert informs us, and then humanity will experience what scientists call 'termination shock', a cute way of saying we'll all be cooked inside our own bodies. Besides, you never know the Pandora box of problems that will undoubtedly emerge when humans intervene to try to solve a pre-existing problem. Our track record in this matter is worse than abysmal. Besides, the whole enterprise of geoengineering aims to ameliorate the symptoms, not the cause of global warming.

So there, you have it.

We are not as gods. We are not sentient or intelligent enough to be much of anything.

Only if Thanos were a real person. ...more

Deepak Jaisinghani wants to read

The Worlds I See: Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of AI
by Fei-Fei Li

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The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert

The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History
by Elizabeth Kolbert (Goodreads Author)

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Dinosaurs had an asteroid. We have ourselves.

It left me shaken, it left me heartsick. It was fascinating to read; it was dreadful to read. It was wondrous, it was grim. It left me wanting for more, it repelled me to read even a page more of it. The S ...more

Deepak Jaisinghani rated a book liked it

Free Ride
by Noraly Schoenmaker

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Eat, Pray, Ride.

What makes someone take so drastic a decision? Where do you find the courage to execute these lifelong life-altering journeys? What does Noraly's seven year-long (and counting) worldwide journey on a bike has in common with Dhruv Bogr Eat, Pray, Ride.

What makes someone take so drastic a decision? Where do you find the courage to execute these lifelong life-altering journeys? What does Noraly's seven year-long (and counting) worldwide journey on a bike has in common with Dhruv Bogra's Grit, Gravel and Gear (a man chooses to ride a bicycle from the Arctic to Andes for 400 days) and Wild by Cheryl Strayed (a woman hikes more than a 1000 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California to Washington State)? What drives these individuals, what tips them off to the point of no return, a conviction so determined that not making such a dangerous journey seems a more dangerous option to them than embarking on it?

Noraly Schoenmaker, the rugged, beautiful and humble creator of Itchy Boots, the YouTube channel where she regularly posts videos of her journeys for posterity, finds a rare moment of solace to pen down her beginnings. The book only covers what amounts to the first season of her videos, some 129 episodes, from New Delhi in India to Austria in Europe through Middle East and Central Asia. The channel has spawned eight seasons since, averaging around 100 episodes a season.

What you don't see in the videos is her modest beginnings, her past life. In this case, the catalyst turns out to be a heartbreak. She's not a writer, but she manages to convey her emotions strongly. Her words, atleast in that particular section, will make you feel what she's feeling. Turns out heartbreak needs premium fuel. She took 'I need space' very literally.

One frustrating limitation of the book is that the scale of what she describes often does not fully register while reading. For instance, when she writes about riding the Pamir Highway in Tajikistan, collapsing mountain roads, terrifying isolation and near-impossible terrain, you understand the danger intellectually. But you do not fully appreciate it. My mind was visualising something else and the corresponding video I saw was totally different. It hit harder when you actually see the danger with with your eyes.

Perhaps some things are simply meant to be seen, not read about. Or perhaps this is where Noraly’s writing falls short. The prose is functional rather than literary, which is understandable, given that she is a geologist-turned-biker, not a professional writer. A stronger stylist might have made these landscapes feel visceral and mythic.

Still, I'd say the book succeeds at what it set out to do. It was never really meant to be some sort of ambitious literary project, so expecting that level of stylistic flair seems a fault on the part of the reader, not the writer. She's honest, she doesn't swing for the fences, but why would she need to, when her whole life is a swing? I admire her for the fact that people like her exist. That's enough. ...more

Deepak Jaisinghani rated a book it was amazing

The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History
by Elizabeth Kolbert (Goodreads Author)

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Dinosaurs had an asteroid. We have ourselves.

It left me shaken, it left me heartsick. It was fascinating to read; it was dreadful to read. It was wondrous, it was grim. It left me wanting for more, it repelled me to read even a page more of it. The S ...more

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	The Girl Who Did Not Break (Arc of a Soldier trilogy, #1) 4.20 avg rating — 10 ratings — published 2021	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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