This is 'Nishkama-Karma', the way to eternal glory! Go into it without attachment: this is the way of the Kshatriya. Do not think of the likes you are going to get: do not worry whether the author is going to find you out and conk you on the head: do not trouble your mind about whether people will be put off from reading the book because of your review. So your karma, O Kaunteya, is to do the review without worrying about its fruits. The narrative cannot be destroyed by weapons: it cannot be burnt by fire (read Fahrenheit 451!), it is not drowned in water. But the story never dies: like human beings change worn clothes, it only changes publishers and dust jackets. Those reviewers who think that they are destroying books, and those authors who believe their books are getting destroyed through reviews, both are equally mistaken: for books are neither created nor destroyed through reviews.įor the book which is published, oblivion is certain: and for that which goes out of print, rebirth is certain. O Partha! Such faintheartedness is not worthy of a warrior like you! Do you think that you destroy books through your reviews? Banish such foolishness from your mind! How will I use my cruel pen to tear into these dear ones? How will I lay bare their plots, deconstruct their sentences, and take their grammar apart? No, I do not want the glory and likes obtained by such a heinous act! Better a brain-death, reading trash, than such sin! And he threw his pen down. O Kesava! Take me to the middle of the battlefield, between the opposing armies of Authors and Reviewers, so that I may see who I am fighting against.īut Arjuna, seeing all his favourite authors arrayed against him, was suddenly loath to fight. On the battlefield of GoodReads, the mighty reviewer Arjuna picked up his trusty pen, Gandeeva, and addressed his charioteer (who was none other than Lord Krishna): How will I use my cruel pen to tear into these d But Arjuna, seeing all his favourite authors arrayed against him, was suddenly loath to fight. On the battlefield of GoodReads, the mighty reviewer Arjuna picked up his trusty pen, Gandeeva, and addressed his charioteer (who was none other than Lord Krishna): - O Kesava! Take me to the middle of the battlefield, between the opposing armies of Authors and Reviewers, so that I may see who I am fighting against.

Bhagavad gita online read book