Here lies the elixir that thou seeketh !

At the age of 14, I fell in love with physics, maths and with ideas in general. I was desperately in search of inspiration; for influences. To my utter frustration at the time, I couldn't find anyone to guide me, or the right books to uncover the magic that lay hidden. I didn't realize that the books I picked up then were not appropriate for my age(such as the Feynman lectures). Over the years, I scoured many a store and book fair, and discovered some gems. Were I to meet my 14 year old wide-eyed self again , these are the books I would thrust firmly into his hands, with the instruction 'This is the elixir that thou seeketh. Drink deep'. I believe each one of these books can change a youngster's life, especially if he/she is exposed to them early enough. To exaggerate a little( only a little), these books will leave you wishing you were stranded on a desert island where you can  read them in peace :-)

1) Mathematical circles : Russian experience by Fomin, Genkin.and Itenberg - Written for high school students, this book of elegant math problems can flummox even graduate students in math ! It has the range to address students of varying mathematic maturity, and working through this book can vault you into a whole new league of problem solving. Alas I found this too late, but still hope to work through this at some point. The other highly acclaimed related book is 'The art and craft of problem solving' by Paul Zeitz  ,of which an Indian edition is not available. I am planning to buy the international edition anyway, for it promises to a treat well worth its price.


2)Godel Escher Bach : An eternal golden braid - Written by Douglas Hofstadter during a torrid time in his life when he ended up taking about ten years to do his phd, with its writing distracting him from his work, this is a groundbreaking book that combines the works of 3 giants with a whole lot more. The section on the Crab canon which consists of a dialogue that can be read either from beginning to end, or the other way round was, by his admission , fiendishly difficult to write. For some, this might the first time they encounter the magic of Escher. ( I first got to know him in one of Martin Gardener's books).  As an additional tidbit, he describes Tamil script as an 'an elegant curvi-linear language' ! :-) This book would certainly be hard reading for a 14 year old, but even browsing through it can help add more connections between your neurons !

3) The Art of looking sideways by Alan Fletcher - This is a book that's even harder to describe than 'Godel Escher Bach. Compiled over a period of 18 years by a man who calls himself a 'visual jackdaw', each one of its pages has a different design! Filled with bewitching images, and with hundreds of quotes,metaphors and other witticisms sprinkled all over, this book is truly 'one of a kind'. If there can be such a thing as a textbook for creativity for it, this would be it. 'All seagulls look like they should be called Emma'. Does that leave a smile in your mind ? If so , go grab this book !

4) 1, 2, 3 ..... Infinity by George Gamov - This delighful book written by the eminent physicist is eminently readable and meant for a teenager. With the first print being dedicated to his 'Son Igor , who wants to be a cowboy' , to the second where sadly Igor took to computer science, this book can actually coax a youngster to admit that ' Science is not all bad' .

5)Creativity: Flow and psychology of discovery and invention,  by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi - I highly recommend this book for a simple reason. It reproduces verbatim, interviews with some of the most creative people in the last few decades. As they recount their thought process, their apprehensions, and perseverence, this book can inspire you too to reach for your best ! And like hope, inspiration is a good thing !