Review on the book Wings Of Fire An Autobiography of Dr. Abdul Kalam

       In college, I had got an opportunity of reviewing a book through book review competition. I wanted to review a book and I took advantage of that opportunity and participated for it. Also I thought even if I lose in the competition, it will be beneficial for me because I would get a chance of reading a book and gaining knowledge from it. So only gain and no loss. I saw the list of the books suggested for the competition and they were all written by great personalities, so I chose Dr Abdul Kalam's autobiography book because I wanted to know more about his childhood and his journey throughout his life.

An incredible piece of art at Kala Ghoda Festival

       The competition was in a presentation form and I stammered first but then it went out great. And I won first prize for this review given below. The experience was great and I was delighted because I got my hands on an absolutely beautiful and inspiring book of a very influential individual. I hope you would like it and please do comment below. :)

Title:- Wings of Fire: An Autobiography of APJ Abdul Kalam (1999)

Author:- APJ Abdul Kalam with Arun Tiwari

Publisher:- Universities Press

"If you want to leave your footprints in the sands of time, do not drag your feet."

Coming up from the 11^th president of our country, this book is a treasure of inspirational and motivational quotes and stories which will leave you speechless and spell bound. The life of the legendary scientist also referred to as “spiritual scientist”  is full of knowledge, inspiration, failures and successes. From his life in the Muslim Tamilian household residing near the holy Rameshwaram Temple with people living in religious harmony to receiving Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan, Kalam’s journey is pretty tough and we get to learn a lot from it.

The book starts with a beautiful poetry Kalam wrote for his mother. The book has 16 chapters divided into 4 parts. The first part is Orientation which shows a vivid picture of his childhood, how he gained technological knowledge from his relative, spirituality from his father and value of his first salary by working in his brother’s shop. Kalam narrates his experiences of staying away from his house, graduating at MIT ,getting rejected at an interview for Air force which was his dream “ I was convinced that one day I, too, would soar up into the skies” which is the turning point of his life and in the book but then he chose DTDP&P(Air) after Swami Sivanandan motivating words.He was then posted in many organisations and build SLV-3, Agni, Nandi hovercraft in his career.  When visiting to NASA, Kalam was stimulated by the Tipu Sultan’s painting depicting rocketery at that period. In the ending, Kalam talks about how technology advancement is important for prosperity of a nation. Kalam is notably known for giving impetus to indigenious technology over imported.The book has many influential things that can be quoted:-

“Happiness, satisfaction & success in life depends on making the right choices, the winning choices”

The book consist of many phases of Kalam’s life where he is struggling hard and he definitely gets succeeded but after some failures..The language used here is easy to understand and it reaches the heart of the reader. In the 2^nd chapter of the book there is a significant usage of scientific and technical terms which is a little drawback. One can derive tremendous motivation and stimulation from reading it. I would recommend it to all the demotivated souls and also everyone as it has a bit of everything for everyone to learn. The person who is full of things which we get inspired from and loved India more than anything else deserves a salute from everyone.