This is by far, the best book I have ever read. I know I may sound impulsive claiming this, as I just finished reading it yesterday. It took me a whole 1 month to complete it and it was not boring or anything but because I got dragged into plenty of other things along the way. In retrospect, there's no doubt in me, the 1 month spent with the book were really fruitful :)
It is the story of John Wood and how he quit his job at Microsoft, to establish an award-winning non-profit organisation called 'Room to read', narrated by himself. When I first bought this book, around 2 months back, I was kind of disappointed. The reason being that I saw the word 'entrepreneur' mentioned on the cover page and thought perhaps this book focused more on his entrepreneurship skills than say, his travels and adventures. But, after finally reading it, I can proudly say, the age-old dictum 'Don't judge a book by its cover' was proven right, once again.
The stimulus to finally start reading it came, after I returned from my recent trek on the Manaslu circuit. I had heard about this book for a long time and also knew about its Nepali version, which was known as 'Microsoftdekhi Bahundandasamma'. While returning from the trek on the last day, we passed a sign-board on the way in Lamjung district (Between Dharapani and Besisahar) that read - 'Way to Bahundanda'. This was the sole reason why I started reading this book and I'm so glad that I did.
Talking about the book itself, it is a wonderful tale of John Wood, who like most of us was not happy with his job (Though high-paying and luxurious in his case) and wanted to do something meaningful with his life. It is divided into 3 parts -
1) Discovering Nepal, leaving Microsoft - It tells us about his first trek into the Annapurna region of Nepal, in the late nineties and how it led to the idea, for the birth of 'Room to read'. (I myself trekked into the Annapurna region, 2 years back and believe me, it is indeed, a life changing experience!! :))
2) Starting over - Deals with the early days in the life of 'Room to read' and how John Wood and his team utilized the tricks, that Wood learnt during his Microsoft days, to run a non-profit organisation.
3) Hitting our stride - The last part is about the team expanding the organisation from Nepal to five other developing countries in Asia - (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, India and Sri Lanka) and how they secure funding from wealthy people, who are eager to help.
The book is full of interesting anecdotes, thorough description of the places and people like you would expect in a travelogue, some really insightful quotations, human drama, even some witty humor at times and of course lots of tips and tricks for aspiring entrepreneurs (which I so much detested in the beginning and regretted for it later :))
On a personal level, this book has made me realize, how lucky I am to have got the opportunity to go to school and receive the life-long gift of education. In this busy world and our even busier lifestyle, it is true that we sometimes take this gift for granted. It also made me aware about the responsibility in each one of us, to contribute something from our side, which will bring a positive change in this world. Though it might not be practical for us to quit our job like Wood did, we can surely help in our own way, be it by donating a book to our local school library, encouraging girl children to go to school in our society and if possible, even giving money for charity. I would like to end this post with one of my favorite excerpts from the book:
'...Much of human advancement depends on overcoming setbacks and making progress despite obstacles and tragedy. My personal heroes are the doctors and journalists who throw themselves into war zones, famine-stricken nations, and areas hit by natural disasters such as earthquakes. They are aware that they cannot control or change the past, but believe strongly that they can have an influence over the future. Rather than being paralyzed by tragedy, they are catalyzed into action.'
*Here's the link to the video, showing introduction of the book, by John Wood himself - http://youtu.be/qbcNuaatFRA
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