Indica: A Deep Natural History of the Indian Subcontinent

very factual, good buy. very easy to read and one of the best books I have read.

This book is unique considering the 'popular science' genre is completely missing in India. Though India may have many accomplished scientists, geologists, paleontologists, archaeologists, their research and knowledge largely remains constrained to academic journals and rarely reaches the lay reader. Other than Jayant Narlikar, I am unable to name any other Indian who has popularized science. The best selling popular science books in India are global best sellers written by Western Writers, Professors who may not have an incentive to write on India specific themes. Young Indians are caught in a chicken-egg problem - since there are no good popular science books on India, they don't develop much interest which further reduces incentive to write such a book. There used to be journals like 'Science Today' when I was growing up in the 80s, but unfortunately they shut shop for falling readership. I cannot think of any Science related publication that young Indians read today, which is hugely concerning as future of a country in 21st century lies in STEM.Indica by Pranay Lal is, however, a shining star. Solid ray of hope towards the future of Science in India. Pranay seems to be extremely curious, passionate discoverer and a thorough researcher (50 odd pages in 'Notes' section attest to the amount of research he has done), who has been exploring this topic for 22 years and committed last 4 years to writing this book. And what a masterpiece it has turned out to be! I would compare it with the works of people like Carl Sagan, David Attenborough, Jared Diamond, Carl Zimmer.Besides research, Pranay seems to have traveled all over India to explore sites of importance from a geology or paleontology perspective. Places he mentioned are all over India, Pakistan, as well as around the world. For someone like me who has no prior interest in studying rocks or fossils, this book has changed the way I would see mountains, rivers, and landscapes of India, which is a priceless gift to the reader.His writing is smooth and often witty. Loved tidbits like where he reminded the reader of a rock in Karnataka being the one where character called Sambha sat in a Bollywood mega-hit movie of 70s called 'Sholay' that every Indian can relate to. There are several such instances. I cannot think of any page that was not gripping.I plan to read/refer to this book again and this would make a prized possession for a long time.Highly recommend, even if you never thought highly of fossils or dinosaurs or rocks or atmosphere. You will be surprised.One minor quibble I have is to do with the generous usage of exclamation marks, which could have been avoided. I would have expected the editor to catch it, because the words and sentences by themselves are exciting enough.

Its rarely that we get to hold and cherish a book thats such a delight - well researched, thoughtfully laid out, artfully narrated, and with a flourish of stunning photographs, endearing drawings, illustrations, and chronological maps. Indica is that one rare book that fascinatingly walks you through the sub continents rich legacy, their tumultuous and eventful evolution, the various global extinction cycles, life’s subsequent revival, and our shared legacies with other continents, species, and inhabitants.Pranay Lal’s genius lies in explaining and providing a fantastic perspective on the geological and evolutionary process in the sub continent (India)- and the vast scales on which they operate. The rise and fall of various plant, fungal, and animal species, the breakup of continents, their journeys, and their subsequent break up again. The book sheds light on our neighbourhood stones and soil formation, and provides a 1000 foot view on the why and how India has ended up with all of the natural resources. We might never be able to look at an animal, plant, tree, or even a stone in the sub-continent the same way again!That India was the dramatic stage that witnessed evolutions every nook, turns, and quirks, and their records in turn are all set around us, does leave us with an amusing smile. And once you put down the book, you can’t but skim through the dense pages again, feeling richer, and with a sense of gratitude!

what a book!every once in a while, a book like this comes along and throws so much light on all the stuff that you see right around you; what joy!have even started storing most of the offbeat locations mentioned in the book in a specific gMaps Location/Place List ("Indica by Pranay LAL") so that any time i am in their vicinity (they show up starred), can just pop across for a gander

I chanced upon this book.A religious speaker made a reference to the book.The genre of this book is not new to me having read many good works on the subject.But this book is special.I never realised that there is so much natural history in the sub continent.The author combines evolution of life forms with natural history to create this wonderful work.The author has created a fictional 46 years old Earth woman to help us understand time lapse.This is gem of an idea and this kept me rivetted to the book.Sometimes this subject can become dry and boring but the writing is lucid and free of jargons.Anyone interested in evolution of life forms and natural history must read this book.Every young child must be made aware of the facts covered in the book.Maybe this book in comics style would be a good idea!Go for it!

Indica is a book of a voyage on the sea of life! A story of our 46 years old Mother Earth.It is a supernova like ‘primal supernova’, a bacteria like ‘Cyanobacteria’, a gene like ‘hox-gene, a forest of ‘Glossopteris’, an event like ‘The Great Dying’, a sea like ‘Tethys’, a supercontinent like ‘Pangaea’, land mass like ‘Gondwana’, an age like ‘Jurassic’, a range like ‘Himalayan’, a Dynosaur like ‘Barapasaurus’,...anthropoids like ‘hominids’ and finally hominids like ‘sapiens’, that makes her story worth listening.Do you have some time??Please listen what she has to tell you, she has a thrilling experience to share, she has sacrificed a lot so that you may thrive, what she asks in return is some time.Do listen once!Thank you author for such an engrossing book!