Wings of Fire Book Review 2.pptx

review

1. BOOK REVIEW

2. TITLE : WINGS OF FIRE AUTHOR : DR. A P J ABDUL KALAM PUBLISHER : UNIVERSITIES PRESS PUBLICATION YEAR : 1 JANUARY 1999 AVABILITY : WIDELY AVAILABLE PAGE : 180

3. THE WINGS OF FIRE An Autobiography of Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam

4. INTRODUCTION Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam is a renowned indian scientist who went on to 11 th president of india(2002-2007). He is very well known across india and he is recipient of india’s three highest civilians awards – Padma bhusan, padma vibhusan, bharat ratna.

5. WINGS OF FIRE is an autobiography of Dr. A P J Abdul kalam written jointly by Abdul kalam and arun tiwari. It covers the life of Abdul Kalam before he became president of India.

6. BOOK REVIEW The book covers early life of abdul kalam and his work in indian space research and missile programs. It is a story of a boy from a humble background and became the key player in indian space research and missile programs and became the president of india. The initial chapters of the WINGS OF FIRE gives vivid picture of india in 1930 – 1950.

7. Kalam was born in rameshwaram a religious town in tamilnadu. The initial chapters provides glimpse of religious harmony which exist before partition of india. Kalam in younger years wanted to be an air force officer, however he couldn’t clear the interview. He met swami sivananda after his failure his words to kalam is interesting and prophetic.

8. Sivananda says “ Accept your destiny and go ahead with your life. you are not destined to become an air force pilot. What you are destined to become is not revealed now but it is predetermined. Forget this failure, as it was essential to lead you to your destiny path. Search, instead, for the true purpose of your existence. Become one with yourself, my son ! Surrender your self to the wish of god. “

9. In the book, how Kalam started his career in Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) and was involved in the design of a hovercraft is described. Later he moved to Indian Space Research which was the brain child of Vikram Sarabhai. In 1963, Kalam went to NASA facility in Maryland(USA) as part of a training program on sounding rocket launching techniques. There he came across a painting which depicted Tipu Sultan’s rocket warfare against the Britishers.

10. This is the picture which Abdul Kalam saw in NASA.

11. The book covers a lot of "behind the scene" information and technical details about India’s satellite and missile program (SLV-3, Prithvi, Agni, Thrisul, Akash and Nag). Space and missile programs are huge complex projects and managing them is extremely challenging. The book does give a glimpse of the participatory management technique adopted by Kalam, but at the same time it doesn’t go into details.

12. Kalam is a poet and is a huge fan of poems. The book contains many of his own poems and his favourite poems. Here is an example, – Do not look at Agni as an entity directed upward to deter the ominous or exhibit your might. It is fire in the heart of an Indian. Do not even give it the form of a missile as it clings to the burning pride of this nation and thus is bright.

13. One of the things that stands out throughout the book is Kalam’s positive thinking. He held many high ranking positions in various organizations. In the book he rarely mentions anything about lethargy/corruption of bureaucracy or politicians. The secret to his success seems to be his ability to ignore negative things around him. The book also gives a clue to his popularity in India. Kalam is a simple, secular, inspiring humanitarian.