The White Tiger

The White Tiger is a novel by Aravind Adiga, a former correspondent of Time magazine who evinces India at its most realistic state as a nation. It is a piece of literature written very creatively from start to finish giving the reader the roller-coaster emotions of rage, delight, pride and the lack thereof. The author artistically made use of a WANTED sign to bring to light the history behind a gruesome murder. Although the story revolved around the main character, the author slowly unwrapped other key persons who played roles which consciously and unconsciously contributed to Balram's (the main character) frame of mind.

I personally found amusing how the first few pages of the narrative were written in such a way that a common Indian would have spoken the lines. It was very easy to drift into the feeling that all around you were glimpses of India. In fact, I got fixated that I never once thought the author was talking about another country other than that. The further I flipped through, the farther my imagination exposed me to the
caste system and into a deeply set culture that obstructed and limited success for certain groups of people in India. At one point, I was caught in thick road traffics and then ran into people who've been trafficked. There were times your nostrils had its fill of the sweet aroma of tea and candy while other times the stench of fresh spits of paan.

Balram was witness to the dirty tricks businessmen pull from their sleeves to buy immunity from government taxes. Little did he know, his frequent exposure to the unjust ways of the rich caused his ambition, once innocent and pure, to gradually evolve into lust and covetousness.

But Balram was very peaceable. He was kind and hardworking. He has gained the respect of his young boss, Ashok, who frequently had to come to his defense at blows of maltreatment. Was he unfairly set up to take responsibility of a crime he didn't commit? Was the murder out of self-defense? Or a product of a grown intention?

Buy yourself a new copy now or my only copy at P100. Contact me.

Predictable Tendencies - A Book Review

Knowledge through education produces and multiplies reasons. Suddenly, people who had no say on several matters now begin to learn assertion. It has leveraged self-esteem enough for most to finally say “No” on subjects that do not jibe to personal reasons and “Yes” to those that are rational. People have become logical and analytical through education. In effect, standards, rules, and guidelines were penned and posted on walls to keep our kind from unreasonable blunders. Be it good or bad, it has at some point created a pattern in our action and reaction, thus, the emergence of predictability in human behavior.  For example, a glass labeled “CLEAN” would most likely be used over one labeled “DIRTY”, or a rim of BRIGHT white bond paper will be preferred over DIRTY white;  even the simplest illustration of wearing thick, warm clothes over silky clothing on a cold rainy day is rational.

Despite what seemed to have already been an established notion, that humans are REALLY rational beings, quite a number of people tend to disagree. Perhaps, because apparently being rational is not absolute. Although our brain makes the decisions, it does not solely source inputs from agreed norms or test results. It is in fact frequently influenced by our feelings and other inputs coming from other sensors like our eyes, nose, skin, and ears.

Dan Ariely is one of the authors who publish personally conducted researches which bring light to how equally irrational a person is as he is rational. His book, Predictably Irrational  (cover  shows the latter word inverted and read from right to left), details some of the studies and social experiments he conducted in various locations that depicted how people tend to deviate from standards and react unconventionally either in the absence or presence of certain stimuli or factors.

Some of his experiments uncover social issues like the level of distrust in people on products that are marketed publicly as free.  The experiment showed that these days, people do not think that things come absolutely for free. Oftentimes, they are prejudiced, thinking that it must be a promotional event in the interest of getting people to purchase products and services. Apparently, the level of distrust in our society is increasing as ads and marketing strategies become cleverer and intentionally misleading. These come in the form of finely printed surcharge details in flyers, or even exaggerated images of products that show the actual items in surreal graphics.

The book also introduces behavioral economics concepts like “placebo” and “free lunches”. Other than that, it contains ideas that can be helpful against overspending or unrestricted credit card usage.

One observation that’s hard to miss while reading through is the way the material is packed with lots of illustrative experiments that support the author’s hypotheses. Although the amount of effort put in the creation of the material can be astounding, the details and statistics can also be overwhelming for some readers. While science junkies (addicts) could find it entertaining, a regular guy may find it puzzling.

Overall, I will recommend this book primarily because it is a pill for obsessive compulsion (my preferred terminology for over-idealism).  I am for rational-mindedness but against boxing human behavior in a single definition. I think humans were created a complex being and therefore, potentially creative. We don’t settle on established standards alone but sees room for better versions. Unless we degrade, we should always welcome changes and improvements. It’s good to be idealistic but try not to be trapped in it too much. It narrows our life outlook. Instead achieve some sort of balance and understand that there will always be things in and about us that breaks from normal. Like God’s mercy and grace to us go beyond comprehension, so is man’s occasional irrationality. Some big things do come from out-of-the-box ideas conceived in minds of crazy (unlikely), curious individuals. Come to think of it and you better agree, in more ways than one, we are predictably irrational.


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Personal Review Rating: 7 of 10

SUPERFREAKingly Nice Read

“SuperFreakonomics is a humdinger of a book: page-turning, 

politically incorrect, and ever-so-slightly intoxicating, 

like a large swig of tequila.” – The Times (London)

Anyone who’s drank shots of tequila would have a feel of what that statement meant. SuperFreakonomics is a book I chanced once when out of boredom in the office, I decided to pay Fully Booked a visit. I often go to that bookstore because you know that if you’re just good at eyeing a quiet spot, nobody is going to look you in the eye sharply while you slide your fingers in the book pages on display.

The paperback SuperFreakonomics book I read until the pages curled and the cover ripped at the edge... woops!

Mr. Levitt and Mr. Dubner, whose first names sort of sound alike (Ste”v”en), Steven and Stephen, respectively, did a great job in collaborating for the completion of this phenomenal book. It felt so good and sounded so right the moment I turned the first few pages of the sacrificial item on display. It must have been the straightforward and candid writing style that kept me glued to it. They write it like they speak it in a casual conversation. This style makes reading smooth such that you wouldn’t know that you’ve in fact flipped the last page of the first chapter already.

While my colleague at work was convinced to buy it after reading the first line of the explanatory note: “The time has come to admit that in our first book, we lied. Twice.”, mine was influenced after learning that both authors considered themselves civil writing adversaries at first before they decided to collaborate. Further onwards, I learned that they’ve decided to pair up for this project, besides the financial incentives, for the reason that when summoned to answer about how much share each of them should get, they both blurted “60-40”, the bigger percentage in favor of the other. As to what was eventually agreed upon, it remained undisclosed.

The book was such a delight that it can indeed pass for a Chicken Soup for the Freakonomics Soul or a Coffee Mate (like sugar to bitter coffee is a sweet blend). It makes reading dull science,economics, and statistics books fun. It was likened to a ‘swig of tequila’ by The Times in London, because it is the kind of book that breaks the barriers of categories. It has a genre of its own. The topics are interestingly varied that it touches most of the real and current issues our world is facing at present: Prostitution, Terrorism, Global Warming, Drinking Drunk, Apathy and Altruism. Your acquaintance, after reading the book, can range from a prostitute, who goes by the name LaSheena, to huge names in politics like Al Gore, and Microsoft personalities like Nathan Myhrvold. Its scientific explanations and statistical data makes reading feel like you are just watching news on TV.

My most liked part of the book is Chapter 5 which tackled the commonality of Al Gore’s advocacy with the historic eruption of Mt.Pinatubo in relation to global warming-- both views quite identical objective-wise but different when cost is concerned. I will not go into the details so as to leave you with a whole lot of surprises to enjoy.

You can purchase a copy of the book in many bookstores Nationwide or buy it online via Amazon.com. Book price varies depending on book size and type. My friend now owns a paperback at roughly 8 USD.