With a 3 day break from office work, I decided to catch up on the books which I had piled up with the expectation that I would read them ( and I bought into the fact that reading fiction is a waste of time, and now I see myself surrounded by non-fiction books, mostly dealing with globalization, flattening, roundening and all kinds...). First in line was the semi-autobiography of my alumni - the great APJ. Having bought the book back in August-08 at a book fair in my office, I had been reading this book in fits and starts. I graduated from the same institution from where APJ found his calling, and naturally I expected to get an insight into his college life from this memoir. This time I did end up finishing the book and was glad I started off with a simple, but powerful and informative piece of non-fiction.
"Wings of Fire" is very simple in what it covers :
His personal life - 20%
His professional life - 60%
His philosophical leanings - 10%
His managerial learnings - 10%
Unique features :
Haiku type poems, either quoted or self-scripted.
A summary of the inception and progress of Indian space and missile programs
Simplified way of building a team and motivating them
APJ pays ode to his parents, close family, his mentors at college and work, his colleagues and all. He traces his humble beginnings, and how that laid the foundation for his quest to achieve rarefied heights. However, he does make a brief mention about his colleagues who envied the success which he achieved in his work sphere, but with no vitriol. At times one might not be able to really feel his inner urge to reach out to the Almighty.
This book has a very Indianness feel in its writing, in the sense that there arent too many fancy words to confuse the non-literati ( if ever there is such a word ) ;-). However, it caters to definitely 3 groups of people :
Youth - It is a must read for the youth of this country, who would have the time on their side to implement or follow the learnings outlined by APJ
The Curious - Has a narrative running through the length of the book chronicling the development of the Indian space and missile programs
Managers and Leads - A distilled version of management mantra for building and fostering an ultra-productive team.
