Book Review of Being Hindu Rishi Agarwal, July 21, 2016 Being Hindu is a book written by Hindol Sengupta. The author has put forward his ideas properly with a solid research. He also expresses his personal life honestly which engages the reader from time to time. On a personal note, I agree to most or all of the views expressed by the author in the book. In fact, I had similar observations that Hindol has mentioned in one of his chapters. Example: I never understood why there would ever be a conflict between Hinduism and Science. I know that the Church did not like Galileo for his views but I don’t think that our temples would ever deny the statements made by the scientist. I also don’t think Hindu’s view of creation would ever conflict with the Big bang theory or evolution. In fact the 10 avatars of Vishnu are in line with the evolution of the world (fish, tortoise, boar, lion-human, human). It could be more than coincidence that earth was formed 4.6 billion years ago and a day of Brahma is 4.32 billion years. As Hindol mentioned in the book, Hinduism would in fact welcome new scientific discoveries as these will strengthen what was written in Hindu scriptures ages ago. I have read Vamsee Juluri’s Rearming Hinduism and Being Hindu reminds a lot about that book. Its good to see lot of content by authors young and old on the rich history of Hinduism. Would definitely recommend Being Hindu for a light reading on the topic. I am have observed that many books published recently look more like a collection of articles or blogs written by the author. This book also reminds me of that. I think that’s how the reader prefers reading a book these days because we are used to reading short essays or blogs online. I still have nothing to complaint about this format. But I prefer the start and end to be connected and a flow from one chapter to another. My next book is India: A Sacred Geography by Diane L. Eck and I think this book will exceed my expectations. References: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Earth https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_units_of_time http://www.amazon.in/Being-Hindu-Hindol-Sengupta/dp/0143425323/ Related Book Reviews