ThinkerViews – Views And Reviews Personal views and reviews for books, magazines, tv serials, movies, websites, technical stuff and more.
Monsoon is running in full-throttle showing its diverse effects at various places. We expect an article about Monsoon or health care in this season, in Reader’s Digest magazine’s July issue (however if there is no such article found, there is nothing to disappoint). Let us get a quick look at the content of the same.
This time it is a black background cover page, with the announcement of central article – Animals that act like people. Well, it is up to you to decide whether it is good or bad (that animals behave like people). It is a 12 page article with many full page photos and some short yet interesting behavioral facts which follow the article theme. Here are some of the interesting titles form the tale.
- Lions care about their hair
- Whale says thanks
- Pandas like to cavort
- Bear does yoga
- Horses are picky eaters
- A cat honours its owner
- Pigeons serve their country
- Dogs drive cars
- All animals think
- and more…
The details are one or two paragraphs average for each point. It is nice consolidation.
What I like the most is the title of the editorial which is quite opposite the themed article’s title – Can we behave like animals? Actually if you give it a deep thought you will find it very philosophical yet factual.
Usually, we do not mention quotes from the magazine, this time, have an exception. Here is one nice quote by Shaquille O’Neil, “Excellence is not a singular act; it’s a habit. You are what you repeatedly do.“.
Reader’s reaction section have usual replies (or should we say reactions) for the articles in the past issue. One interesting reaction was about the time of Ramayana and Mahabharata, “We can’t believe they knew that“. There are a lot more points can be added to the list mentioned there like, people knew about nuclear fusion and fission – the atomic science (the Divyastras), the flying planes (and might be even something like jetpacks, possible) did exist, the astronomy was well known (Krishna’s act at the time Arjuna killed Jayadratha), there were no cast barriers to prevent love-marriages (which still do exist in this so called modern times)…
Here and now section mentions many happenings around the world. There is a special baby perfume released! A Microbiologist from USA created a portrait of Albert Einstein – well it is created using bacteria! Who says scientists are boring and have no expertise in arts.
The following are the books briefly reviewed in this issue (plus the books whose author is the answer of the quiz).
There comes our favorite segment – Kindness of strangers – If you have heart, you can help anybody.
Here are the real humanity acts mentioned in the article
- Saving my daughter: is an incident told by a mother from Pune, that how a stranger couple helped her reaching to doctor, when her one year daughter needed medical attention immediately, resulting into saving her life. Kudos to the stranger couple.
- Meal Deal: is about how a girl mistakenly drops her food on a stranger in the restaurant when he was about to take first byte. Waiting for the anger and fury from him, the girl was replied calmly and even given cash to buy new food!
- Caring Hands: is about how a couple got help from an engineer named Mohammed Ali from J&K in hard times. Nice fellow Mohammed Ali deserves thank you note from us as well.
Praveen Swami comes with a question – In a free country, must the state hound those who question religious dogma?. It is a thoughtful read, and you can send your replies to the editor.
My Stroy – segment brings a brief tale named – Forgetting War, Finding Peace.
There is an article about how a bad day can affect your mood and result into affecting your digestion and immunity both.
Second time right – is the tale of the music star – Shania Twain. How her first marriage was resulted into nearly breaking her down, and how she came out of it stronger. And in the course of life she found love again. An inspiration tale.
There is a very brief history of the BarCode is mentioned.
From Russia With Love – is an article which is a kind of city information guide for St. Petersburg.
A city divided – is about Sweden, and what is the tension being developed there despite of having one of the most progressive immigration policy.
Deepa Malik was (actually she is still practicing regularly, so we have so say – is) an athlete. She has been paraplegic for 14 years. Now she is active again, showing her hard work and determination. A nice and inspirational real life tale.
A nice read about Multitasking and how to avoid multi-tasking madness is inside this issue.
It is a well balanced issue with diverse stuff explored. This time there are more motivational tales found. It is a worth read issue and it is much better then spending on some skin show oriented magazine, which actually doesn’t offer any stuff. Our personal verdict is: a good read, not to miss.
