Oh, The Places You’ll Go! | Dr Seuss A childhood favourite, Dr Seuss’s heavily-illustrated book opens on a cheery note ‘Congratulations! Today is your day’... that sets the stage for a story about finding success in all its forms. Read it before taking any major life-altering decision. Stumbling on Happiness | Daniel Gilbert Using complex theories from psychology, neuroscience and philosophy, the author (a professor of psychology at Harvard university) helps you understand how your brain, and your imagination work. A must read for future scientists. THE HAPPINESS PROJECT | GRETCHEN RUBIN Humankind has been obsessed with the idea of happiness for thousands of years. In fact, Aristotle called achieving happiness, the sense and purpose of life itself. But how does one ‘get happy’? Armed with this question, Gretchen Rubin spent a year test-driving principles, tips, theories, and sci- entific studies on happiness. She documented this quest in a blog, which subsequently became the book ‘The Happiness Project’. Her findings? Happiness is pres- ent in all aspects of life (if you know where to focus); making resolu- tions and working towards them steadily (in small steps) helps foster a sense of well being; and working on yourself con- stantly, pre- vents nega- tive experi- ences. 03 Books! Books! Books! There is no end to knowledge. All you need to do is flip through the pages to get that extra dose of infotainment. So simply read on... ■ WHERE TIGERS RULE, ANIMAL PLANET, 3.00 PM: Hunters combine centuries-old techniques and state- of-the-art tools to hunt for a man- 1888: Theophilus Van Kannel received a patent for the revolving door. 1905: Indian National Congress declared boycott of British goods. 1933: The Iraqi Government slaugh- tered over 3,000 Assyrians in the vil- lage of Sumail. The day became known as Assyrian Martyrs Day. 1934: The US Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling striking down the government's attempt to ban the controversial James Joyce novel "Ulysses." 1941: Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore passed away. 1942: U.S. forces landed at Guadalcanal, marking the start of the first major allied offensive in the Pacific during World War II. 1961: Cosmonaut Gherman Titov cir- cled Earth for a full day in Vostok 2. 2007: "Eclipse" third book in Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight Saga" was published. 2018: China banned release of Winnie the Pooh movie "Christopher Robin", after character used to mock Chinese President Xi Jinping. eating tigress that has killed and eaten ten people in Northern In- dia. ■ SCIENCE ICONS, DISCOVERY SCI- ENCE, 5.00 PM: The stability of any global power depends on high- speed digital communication and the dependence on global inter- activity may be placing humans in grave danger. ■ INDIA'S WILDEST, NAT GEO WILD, 7.00 PM: From giant grazers to Asian elephants, India is home to numerous unique and exotic species of animals. ■ THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2, &FLIX, 4.25 PM: Bel- la is now a vampire and lives hap- pily with Edward and her daugh- ter, Renesmee. When someone mis- informs the Volturi that Renesmee was turned, the latter set out to kill the child and the culprit. ■ TITANIC, STAR MOVIES, 4.45 PM: Seventeen-year-old Rose hails from an aristocratic family and is set to be married. When she boards the MOVIES ON TV TELEVISION THIS DAY THAT YEAR MUST DO MUST SEE AUGUST 07, 2019 Titanic, she meets Jack Dawson, an artist, and falls in love with him. ■ WONDER WOMAN, HBO, 8.00 PM: Princess Diana of an all-female Amazonian race rescues US pilot Steve. Upon learning of a war, she ventures into the world of men to stop Ares, the god of war, from de- stroying mankind. BOOKS A CORNER FOR BOOK FANS Hemingway Days Festival T he Hemingway Look-Alike Contest was held in Key West, Florida in July. The competition was part of the activities during the yearly Hemingway Days Festival that honours author Ernest Hemingway, who lived in Key West during the 1930s. AP STUDENT SPEAK THIS BOOK IS MY KIND OF HAPPY Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s ‘Love in the time of Cholera’ is magical in its simplicity. An exquisite piece of litera- ture, this book is a must read for all. SANGHAMITHRA, class XII, Toc H Public School, Vyttila, Ernakulam I enjoyed reading Sarah J Maas’s ‘A Court of Thorns and Roses’ – a trilogy that will fire your imagination like no other. CHAITRA ABHIJEET VARTAK, class IX, SSPM’s Sri Sri Ravishankar Vidya Mandir, Borivali East Rhonda Byrne’s ‘The Secret’ taught me that one can apply the law of attraction (as spo- ken about in the book) to ‘find’ happiness in everything. GURALAM S DHILLON, class XII, St John’s High School, Chandigarh In Dan Gemeinhart’s ‘The Honest Truth’, a boy decides to climb a mountain despite suffering from cancer. It is an incredible story of the power of the human spirit. HARSHITA GUPTA, class X, Mahadevi Birla World Academy, Kolkata The late scientist Stephen Hawking’s ‘Brief Answers to Big Questions’ is one of the most interesting, and percep- tion-altering books that one will ever read. BHOOMIKA N H, class X, St Claret School, Bengaluru THE ART OF HAPPINESS | HIS HOLINESS THE DALAI LAMA This book, on the philosophy of peace and com- passion, is for those who agree that the purpose of life is to seek happiness, but don’t know how to do so. According to His Holiness Dalai Lama, external circumstances cannot create lasting happiness – the right state of mind can. In fact, one of his most memorable quotes says “If you want others to be happy, practise compas- sion. If you want to be happy, practise compassion.” In the book, the spiritual leader advises that practising compassion; building long lasting relationships; and being spiritual can offer everyone an opportunity to lead a happier life. THE GIFTS OF IMPERFECTION | BRENE BROWN Brene Brown is one of the most important sociologists in the world. Her research on vul- nerability, shame and empathy has shone a new light on what shapes our self worth. Brown’s most recent book, ‘The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are’, offers 10 principles that you can follow to live a fulfilling life, defined by courage, connection and compassion towards oth- ers. Brown believes that leading a happy, fulfilling life is not an impossible task, and offers insights on how to be an emotionally healthy person. NITYA.SHUKLA@TIMESGROUP .COM READ MORE F or some people, life begins when you turn 18. Whether you choose to leave the nest or you are kicked out, it is a time when you are expected to ex- perience the world. In ‘Reasons to Be Cheerful’, author Nina Stibbe of- fers an intimate look at this uncertain time as the protago- nist transforms into a young adult. In this story, Lizzie Vogel ignores the part of an advertisement that asks for a ‘mature lady’ and applies for a job to work in a local dentist’s office. She doesn’t mention the fact that she isn’t qualified for dentistry. Her boss is gruff and firm, and her only other co-work- er, Tammy, is a hyper person. Lizzie enjoys this odd work group and also manages to learn a few dentistry skills. When she is not assisting in the surgery room, or answering phones, Lizzie watches for Andy Nicolello. Andy is peculiar, but Lizzie does not mind. She develops a friendship with him and as the months pass, she falls head over heels for him. Along with navigating through teen romance, Lizzie learns to manoeuvre other milestones that are part of becoming an adult. She learns to drive, hosts her first dinner party and takes her first step into maturity when chal- lenges arise. Stibbe proves she can channel the mind of a young woman and takes the reader on a coming-of-age journey that plucks at the heartstrings of every emotion. AP Ruskin Bond, the Padma Bhushan award winning author, shares his best tips on writing T hose who want to make a liv- ing out of writing need to write regularly and be mind- ful of time limits. This is popular author Ruskin Bond’s advice to bud- ding authors. The message from the master storyteller came during an interaction with young students dur- ing the launch of his latest book ‘Words From My Window - A Journal’. Here is what he advises: Before you start writing a book, first write it in your head. Visualise the plot and the char- acters, before you put it into words. If you lose interest in something that you are writing, put it aside and do something else or write something else. After some time come back to it with a fresh mind. You need to consistently pro- duce work of a certain quality. If you want to make a living out of writing, you need to write regu- larly and be mindful of time lim- its. It is important to be disci- plined. BASED ON PTI INPUTS “Write regularly, be disciplined” This bittersweet British satire takes readers on a coming-of-age journey BOOK CORNER Nina Stibbe’s ‘Reasons To Be Cheerful’ clinched the 2019 Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction. The Leicester-born Stibbe had made this short- list twice before. HOW LIZZIE GREW UP 1. Lemony Snicket’s ‘Horseradish’ 2. Douglas Adams’ ‘The Long Dark Tea- Time of the Soul’ 3. Bill Bryson’s ‘The Lost Continent:Travels in Small-Town America’ 4. Seth Grahame-Smith and Jane Austen’s, ‘Pride And Prejudice And Zombies’ 5. Colin Meloy’s ‘Wildwood’ ANSWERS Which book has this quote? 1. “Everyone should be able to do one card trick, tell two jokes, and recite three poems, in case they are ever trapped in an elevator.” 2. “It can hardly be a coincidence that no language on earth has ever produced the expression ‘As pretty as an airport.’” 3. “I come from Des Moines. Somebody had to.” 4. “It is a truth universally acknowl- edged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.” 5. “How five crows managed to lift a twenty-pound baby boy into the air was beyond Prue, but that was certainly the least of her worries.” SNOWDEN’S FIRST EVER MEMOIR TO BE PUBLISHED IN SEPTEMBER: Edward Snowden’s memoir ‘Permanent Record’ will be published globally on September 17. In 2013, the former CIA agent and NSA contractor shocked the world when he broke away from the American intelligence establishment and revealed the extent of information, including phone calls, text messages and emails, the US government was secretly gathering. THE BOOKS HITTING THE LATEST SAHITYA AKADEMI INVITES ENTRIES FOR 2020 YUVA PURASKAR: Sahitya Akademi, the nation- al academy of let- ters, has opened entries for Yuva Puraskar 2020 for publishers and young Indian authors in all 24 languages it recognises. The Akademi is inviting books from appli- cants aged below 35 on January 1, 2020. The last date to apply is August 30, 2019. The Yuva Puraskar was introduced in 2011 to encourage young people writ- ing in Indian languages. The award com- prises an amount of Rs 50,000, a plaque and a citation. IANS INPUTS: TEAM NIE There is no one path to happiness. But if you, like us, have been wondering how you could foster a sense of well being within yourself, try any of these illuminating reads. Use the paths suggested to chart your own journey to your unique happy space