1. Wings of Fire
Wings of Fire: An Autobiography of APJ Abdul Kalam (1999), former President of India. It was written by Dr. Kalam and Arun Tiwari. Kalam examines his early life, effort, hardship, fortitude, luck and chance that eventually led him to lead Indian space research, nuclear and missile programs. Kalam started his career, after graduating from Aerospace engineering at MIT (Chennai), India, at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and was assigned to build a hovercraft prototype. Later he moved to ISRO and helped establish the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre and pioneered the first space launch-vehicle program. During the 1990s and early 2000, Kalam moved to the DRDO to lead the Indian nuclear weapons program, with particular successes in thermonuclear weapons development culminating in the operation Smiling Buddha and an ICBM Agni (missile). Kalam died on 27 July 2015, during a speech at Indian Institute of Management in Shillong, Meghalaya.
2. Ignited Minds
gnited Minds: Unleashing the Power Within India (2002, ISBN 0-670-04928-X) is a book written by scientist-patriot Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam, who was the President of India from 2002 to 2007.[1][2] Ignited Minds is a logical step forward from Dr. Kalam's earlier book, India 2020: A Vision for the New Millennium (1998, ISBN 0-670-88271-2). This book consists of many inspirational messages by A P J Abdul Kalam.
Dr. Kalam has dedicated Ignited Minds to an intermediate school child, named Snehal Thakkar, whom he met at a school ( named Anandalaya in Anand, Gujarat, Anandalaya Education Society ) and while talking to her students, a question had come up: "Who is our enemy?". Kalam recalled that many answers came up, but the answer on which all agreed came from her (Snehal Thakkar): "Our enemy is poverty". The small book of 205 pages contains dynamic and original ideas, examines attitudes afflicting the Indians, and present prescriptions for rapid growth of India to enable the country to emerge as a developed country. The scientist and the seer inside Kalam has addressed the book to young citizen(s) of India. This book has been the most wanted and demanded all over the world after the death of Abdul Kalam.
3. Turning Points: A journey through challenges
It was like any other day on the Anna University campus in Chennai. I had delivered a lecture 'Vision to Mission' and the session got extended from one hour to two. I had lunch with a group of research students and went back to class. As I was returning to my rooms in the evening the vice-chancellor, Prof. A. Kalanidhi, fell in step with me. Someone had been frantically trying to get in touch with me through the day, he said. Indeed, the phone was ringing when I entered the room. When I answered, a voice at the other end said, 'The prime minister wants to talk with you ...' Some months earlier, I had left my post as principal scientific adviser to the government of India, a Cabinet-level post, to return to teaching. Now, as I spoke to the PM, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, my life was set for an unexpected change. Turning Points takes up the incredible Kalam story from where Wings of Fire left off. It brings together details from his career and presidency that are not generally known as he speaks out for the first time on certain points of controversy. It offers insight not only into an extraordinary personality but also a vision of how a country with a great heritage can become great in accomplishment, skills and abilities through effort, perseverance and confidence. It is a continuing saga, above all, of a journey, individual and collective, that will take India to 2020 and beyond as a developed nation.
4. Indomitable Spirit
ndomitable Spirit is a book authored by A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, the former president of India. The cover page of the book says it "brings together the values, thoughts and ideas of President Kalam as reflected in his speeches and addresses. Interspersed with interesting anecdotes and observations, Indomitable Spirit represents the quintessential APJ Abdul Kalam - the man, the scientist, the teacher and the President."
The book begins with reproduction of a sentence from President's address to the nation on the eve of 57th Republic Day: "The basis of all systems, social or political, rests upon the goodness of men. No nation is great or good because parliament enacts this or that, but that its men are great and good."[ The book ends with these words of Sir C. V. Raman, the Nobel laureate from his address to a group of young graduates in 1969: "I can assert without fear of contradiction that the quality of the Indian mind is equal to the quality of any Teutonic, Nordic or Anglo-Saxon mind. What we lack is perhaps courage, what we lack is perhaps the driving force which takes one anywhere. We have, I think, developed an inferiority complex. I think what is needed in India today is the destruction of that defeatist spirit."The President Kalam winds up the spirit of the Indomitable Spirit from these words of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore:
- Give me the strength never to disown the poor
- Or bend my knees before insolent might.
- Give me the strength
- To raise my head high above daily trifles.
- And give me the strength
- To surrender my strength to Thy will with love.
- 5.Forge your Future
- Despite the fact that I spent my childhood in Rameswaram, an isolated island in the south of India, I could get educated, find a job and overcome many obstacles to become the President of my country. If I could overcome all the hardships and achieve what I have, so can you or anyone else. It does not matter where you start from or what you have achieved till date, the important thing is that from this point onwards, you decide what you want and work towards creating your own future. This is the message I want to convey through this book and if it can inspire even one young person to achieve his or her dream, I will feel that my effort has been truly worth it.
- Your life should be a manifestation of your dreams. That is why I always call upon the youth to dream lofty dreams and invoke in them a vision of their future. And in achieving your dreams, you are bound to face difficulties and obstacles, but with determination and discipline you can always overcome them, just as I have been able to do.”
- It is remarkable that how, APJ Abdul Kalam, the 11th president of India continues to be such a popular public figure even seven years after demitting office. Much sought, much admired, he is an inspiration for the Indian youth and they turn to him for advice, guidance, inspiration, or simply just seeking to be in touch with him. The mentoring, the solutions, the direction, the philosophy he provides are based on the wisdom of his own experiences, as he knows well the trials and tribulations of the hard rocky road of life that he has walked from Rameswaram to the Rashtrapati Bhawan.
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