Book: Thinking Aloud
Author: Prasoon Joshi
Publisher: Rupa
Pages: 193; Price: Rs 500
During my post-graduation days, I remember coming across a very strange incident. Most of us in class had dislike towards one particular subject along with the professor who taught us. Even today, I am not clear whether we hated the subject because of the professor or vice versa. But there was this one boy in our class who not only liked the subject, but also helped us revise it just a day prior to the exam with simple and clear explanations that were much easy to understand.
On the day of the results, we all cleared that paper but the boy who helped us overcome our hurdle had failed. When he went to the professor asking where he had gone wrong, the professor giving him a blank look asked, “Tell me where you have gone right?” We thought he could never fail, professor thought he did not deserve to pass and the boy could not express his thought aloud.
Thinking Aloud by Prasoon Joshi is all about various mind-sets that make this country what it is. Every reader is bound to find an instant connect to some of their life instances irrespective which field one belongs to. Collection of articles written by the author over his illustrious span of creative pursuits into various fields, Joshi has laid a platter of interesting happenings and equally varied thought process.
With great knowledge of creativity and uniqueness, the author has smartly tried to grab readers’ attention on every turn of the page, with a voice bubble carrying an interesting quote or line from that chapter. Placement of it is also so accurate that one cannot ignore it even one wish to do so.
Book is smartly divided into segments, first one been titled ‘Cultural Layers’. And to each segment, there is an opening paragraph that explains why this segment is essential, such as: A life sans culture will be mechanical. Culture gives us a context for life.
With simplicity of language in even handling some of the most contentious issues, Joshi has once again proved to be a man of perfection. No wonder, the chapter number 14 under segment ‘Thinking Unplugged’ he clearly highlights upon the fact that artistic licence should not be up for sale and freedom is not a blank cheque. Rather it comes with a fair barter of responsibility. That is exactly what the author has kept in mind throughout his writings in the book.
From being a poet, author, screenwriter and internationally acclaimed communication specialist, Prasoon Joshi as an author has been at his selective best in choosing the content for this book. At no point, one professional element seems to overshadow the other, which makes this book even more an academic resource material. In today’s era of marketing and branding, Thinking Aloud is certainly going to make every reader sit back and ponder upon several ideas that otherwise would have gone unnoticed.