Author: Shailendra Singh
Publisher: Rupa
ISBN: 978-81-291-2388-6
Number of Pages: 234
Price [INR] : 195
Genre: Non-Fiction
Review : I have a love-hate relationship with non-fiction and/or self help books. It is not that I don’t like reading these books, I like them, after all you get to learn a thing or two. But it is just that reading a non-fiction book requires more concentration. Also, they tend to be a bit more heavy with some complex concepts when compared to a fiction which is usually a light breezy read.
When I read the overview of the book and about the author my curiosity was piqued. F?@k Knows is a debut book of Shailendra Singh who is the Joint Managing Director of Percept Limited. I have read about him in newspapers and magazines, so this further added to my interest level in reading this book. But when I read the book summary, I knew that this book is different. And after reading the Disclaimer and How to read this book and Preface, all the remaining doubts just vanished out of the window.
A smile, a chuckle, nodding of head in agreement, Hmmm, Aha!, Yess!!…. these were the only expressions my face had while reading this book. Written in a simple and lucid language, the hard hitting facts of life are laced with humour and wit. The light hearted tone adopted to share the profound gyaan and every such gyaan being explained with the author’s personal life example makes the gyaan easy to accept and understand.
The 234 paged book has some 73 chapters with the average length of a chapter being just 3 pages. The life’s lessons packed with humour and interesting anecdotes, makes F?@k Knows a page turner with some thought provoking messages.
Some of the takeaways from this book..
- Make a Yearly/Monthly/Daily F?@k It List : Plan every moment of your life in a manner that gives you maximum happiness and maximum satisfaction. Monitor the P&L account of your life as diligently as you balance the P&L account of your company. Get life, before it gets you.
- Your gut is always right. Follow your gut.
- You better speak up, before you are eaten up.
- Who are your two and a half friends?
- Khud khushi or self happiness. Our happiness is in our control. Here the author mentioned that ‘he is always smiling and you can see it in all the photos.’ I immediately googled him and Bingo! All the pictures on Google Images showed a smiling Shailendra Singh! Was I impressed!
- Just Do it! vis-a-vis Just Done It! Stop thinking, start doing.
- Replace ‘Have to’ with ‘Want to’.
- Answer “Who are you? And what do you want?”. You can even send in your answers to your these 2 questions at [email protected]. The author won’t judge you or even comment but will remind you at appropriate time about your goals! How cool is that!
Overall, the book has some very interesting and important learnings which can be applied in our daily life very easily. The book is not at all stuffy or preachy. Go for it, to understand some of the life’s lessons and wisdom in a fun and an entertaining way.
Rating : 4/5
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39 Responses
4.5?
Hmmmm still, not my kind of book!
Oops! 4/5… a typing error! Non-fiction is usually not my kind too… but this book is such a fun read! I enjoyed reading it!
Sounds interesting. I have to read Anujas new book first. Have read her Shilpa ? Those Pricey Thakur Girls.?
It sure is, Alka! Check it out! No, I havent read this one, though have read The Zoya Factor and Battle for Bittora. I loved The Zoya Factor more as compared to Battle for Bittora! Would love to know your verdict for Those Pricey Thakurs!
I read the review somewhere else as well and that blogger had also given a good rating to the book. I am gonna pick this up. Thanks for the review 🙂
It is a good one… talks about a lot of things without preaching and the way it is written, you will enjoy it completely! Go for it!!
I saw the gist of the book but for some reasons it did’nt appeal to me, may be because it was a self help book from a newbie.
But this is a very crisp review and a good rating too. I like self-help books only from Robin Sharma and Dale carnegie.
Will try to lay my hands
I have not read Robin Sharma while Dale C I had read looong back!! What I liked about this book that all the things that are suggested and so easy to do… just a bit of adjustments of our attitude and you can do it! For eg, instead of saying, ‘I have to go to work. I have to brush my teeth’… if we say, ‘I want to go to work, it’s going to be a beautiful day! or I want to brush my teeth so that I feel fresh’… changes the entire essence of our actions and the spirit in which we make it happen. Do check it out, you’ll not be disappointed! 🙂
The book is loaded with wonderful examples and analogies! I simply loved the Cheesecake experiment.
Let me know when you read it! 🙂
Your gist is well written. And what would make us pick this book up is your promise its humorous and serious at the same time. Another great review by you ! Your blog is serving a great niche.
Much Love
The Heiress Blog
Yes, it is…learning something in a fun and an interesting way! Thanks Heiress, glad you liked it! 🙂
i enjoyed the book too shilpa; nice review 🙂
Thanks Priya. Glad you enjoyed it too 🙂
This books looks totally my cup of tea.I added it to my list. 🙂
Cool! Check it out! 🙂
your review piqued my interest Shilpa:) Gotta check this now…
Great! Do share your feedback! 🙂
looks like a fun book to read! lemme chk..
Yeah! Check it out! 🙂
I wonder how he made a genre like this into a fun read!! Kudos to the author for that effort. Even though I read a lot of non-fiction books, I don’t read self-help books nowadays. I’ve had my share of them during college.
Destination Infinity
That’s being ingenious, isn’t it!?! The book has some nice old gyaan but packed in a new cool bottle! That makes it interesting without being preachy! 🙂
Some good lessons shared. Thanks!
:))
The gyaan looks good in here.. yet to lay my hands on this one…
The review makes me want to read it. Thanks!
Do check it out, you’ll love it, Manjulika 🙂
i totally agree with ” You better speak up, before you are eaten up.”
have seen it too many times personally and professionally…your review has sparked an interest yar!! maybe i will buy myself a copy!
http://www.myunfinishedlife.com/
Oh yes! That’s so very true… if you can’t protest, you’re fair game! So, it is best to speak up!
That’s great… do check it out! 🙂
Love the gyaan you’ve shared. I didn’t have much hope when I saw the title, glad the contents were better! 🙂
I know, the title can put off some of us, but the book has some fantastic learnings!
Hi, nice review. Interesting title ! Cool…
Thanks Rajiv 🙂
Loved the bullet point summary! The book cover definetely aint promising but the review seems interesting
Glad you liked reading the review, Meena!
I cannot bring myself to read a non-fiction no matter how good it is. Mindset hai. Stupid sa. 🙂
I can understand, even I have some reservations but I can read only interesting non-fiction 😀
I have been reading more non-fiction these days. Will check this book. Sounds interesting to me.
Do check it out and share your experience, A 🙂
I read about this book in newspapers too. And I also prefer fiction to non-fiction for the same reasons as you. Though I was also thinking of ordering this one but haven’t exactly done it.
Do that… you’ll love it!! 🙂