There are very few non-fiction books which I have managed to read till the end. Most of the time I just leave them half way. Unlike all those book, The Promise of Pencil by Adam Braun is one such non fiction book, not only I resonated but also finish till end.
The book made me recalled my college days when we used to volunteer to teach under privileged children on weekends organized by our college. We pledge to literate at least one such child every year after leaving college. But in the helter-skelter of life somehow that pledge was left behind. But thanks to The Promise of Pencil I’m again charged to follow my dreams.
Talking about the book, The Promise of Pencil, it is a memoir of Adam Braun. He was living a comfortable life when suddenly all the materialistic things which were source of his happiness cease to be so. He started searching for the real purpose of life which he found on the streets of India with a simple answer “a pencil” when Adam asked a boy what thing he most want in life. This answer changed the life of Adam and provided him a purpose and dream.
There are total 30 chapters in the book which are his 30 mantras we learned in the course of his life. Each of his mantras are thought provoking and inspiring in themselves enabling you to give some purpose to your life for larger masses and how to fulfill that impossible dream.
The book has the power to fill the ordinary eyes with extra ordinary dreams of bringing about positive changes in our surrounding and willingness to pursue them with a relentless and undivided attention.
Adam has presented the 30 mantras through instructive, insightful and interesting stories of his grandparents, parents, his own childhood and other incidents of his and others life. It is an invaluable resource for how-to start something, change something, or build something.
Verdict: It is a truly empowering book. I highly recommend the book. The book might have drained in emotionally but it has filled in with a new vigour to pursue my dreams of bringing a change may be how small it is. A must Read. Do buy the book as you will be contributing to education of a child.
