ME & MY SHELF

Journalist Sopan Joshi has worked in a science and environment framework for nearly three decades. His book Mangifera indica: A Biography of the Mango (Aleph Book Company) synthesizes the sensory appeal of India's favourite fruit with its elaborate cultural roots and natural history. He writes in English and Hindi.

- Sopan Joshi

Divaswapna BY GIJUBHAI BADHEKA, Gujarati Books, ₹185

A lawyer by training, Badheka began to research education after the birth of his son in 1913. This 1931 Gujaratilanguage book is a fictionalized account of his actual experiments as a teacher in Gujarat. Its value has only increased with the rapid commercialization of education in India.

Psychotic Reactions and Carburettor Dung BY LESTER BANGS, Serpent’s Tail, ₹629

We are inundated today by opinions posing as fact. Why not read Lester Bangs, a writer reputed for over-thetop, opinionated text on music! America’s greatest rock writer never wanted to be taken seriously, however. Sample his takedown of Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson, “... who played long, violent, echo-chambered flute solos as if he were boxing with the instrument—the Eric Clapton of wind.”

The Sixth Extinction BY ELIZABETH KOLBERT, Picador, ₹599