6 Best Books I have read in 2019

2019 was a year when I read a lot of books and so many of them influenced my life for good! Here's me sharing my best and most loved books.

1. Autobiography of a Yogi

Although I had first read it a long time ago, this book is a forever gem, making it impossible to not re-read it every year. It never fails to influence me, making my mind more focussed on what's truly important. Sri Paramahansa Yogananda's belief in God and the passion with which he writes about his journey of life is absolutely amazing. If you believe in God, this book is going to touch your soul.
Paramahansa Yogananda was a great saint born during the close of the 19th Century, and he lived till 1952, leaving his body in America amongst his many disciples who he initiated into the famous Kriya Yoga.
No one is born enlightened. But few are born with such love and passion for God. His Autobiography is not all chants and miracles. It talks about Love and how different its forms can be, and Will Power and how no one understands the power of the mind. It talks about the science behind various Hindu Sciences such as Astrology, something which many believe to be hokum. Most importantly, it talks about the power of Meditation and the importance of Godliness in our lives.

2. Mejda

The biography of Sri Paramahansa Yogananda in the words of his little brother, Sananda Lal Ghosh. Unbelievable, right? Two books about the same person featuring in my top 6?! Hear me out. Reading this book made me realize the subtle difference between reading Biographies and Autobiographies.
Even if you are asked to talk about your life, you will present a different picture than that of what your closed one would do so for the same question. We ignore certain aspects of our life since the events related to them aren't as etched in our memory as they are for others. To understand those aspects, a third perspective presents a better study.
This makes a very interesting case. A person can never be defined by one perspective alone, even if it is their own.
Mejda highlights the young life of Sri Paramahansa Yogananda and how he used his gifts of Will Power and Passion as a young boy, then as a man, and then to truly become the transformer of lives he was in the 1930s and 40s.

3. Elon Musk

Moving towards stuff a little less spiritual, here's a book that shook me to the core. The biography by Ashlee Vance on Elon Musk covers almost all his life, and it's literally full of innovation, and working day and night to create a better world. There is no one thing that keeps Elon Musk going. It's just in his nature, he innovates and makes the world a better place. No matter if the cost is hours of his sleep and social life, all he cares about is building what's on his mind.
His journey from being bullied in South Africa, to being a millionaire through Paypal, to being broke with 2 failing companies, is nothing short of a roller coaster.
Fun fact: I got so inspired by the book that for the next 4 days, I worked for the entire day and slept just for 4-5 hours, until I fell sick heavily, losing all the motivation in the sick week. Clearly being Elon is not a normal job!

4. Steve Jobs

By this time, you might be sure that I'm a biography lover. Isn't it beautiful to look at the paintings people paint over their lifetime? We are making our materpieaces in our own ways, with our ingredients of Knowledge, Emotions and Ambitions. And yet, the masterpiece is built only by the unpredictability of time.

Everyone knows what they will paint, but no one knows how the masterpiece will look like.

The biography of Steve Jobs taught me that creativity was as important as logic. That attention to detail matters the most, no matter if anyone's looking at it or not. Steve Jobs' most famous quote:

You cannot connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backward.

This book inspires you to try out new things. To be successful, you can have a great plan, but to be exceptional, you need to live the present. You don't know when will the habits of today might come in handy tomorrow. So just do what you have always wanted to do.

5. Raavan - Orphan of Aryavarta

My favourite novel fiction writer, Amish Tripathi never disappoints. 2019 was the year he released the Third book of his Ram Chandra Series, and this was THE BEST character sketch of Raavan I have ever seen, even including the actual mythology versions. The story of Raavan was so beautifully outlined, it was as if watching a movie. Raavan is a character who is brave and extremely strong, at the same time exceptionally passionate, particularly sensitive and insanely artistic!
It's one thing to just name qualities and another to justify and make people believe that such a person truly exists! I will just put my review of this book for you to get excited about it.

6. Intuition

Intuition is a quality that is truly mysterious, yet so miraculous when witnessed in reality. Osho, in this book talks less about Intuition, and more about the obvious qualities that most of us miss out on: Being in touch with the emotional side. There are 2 things that govern our thoughts - Logic, Emotions. The balance between both these extremes, the parts of our mind that make us - Intellect, Instinct and Intuition are some of the few amazing topics which have wonderful insights by the author. A must read for people who are curious about creativity and intuition.