Sunil Sethi: Five books that saved me in 2006

AL FRESCO

. For me, it was these five books gilded the year. I will turn to them again and again like old trusted friends. Curiously, they are all works of non-fiction:

The Last Mughal. By William Dalrymple. Penguin. Rs 695: Dalrymple's triumphs in his latest, and best work of history, are multiple""and only too true. First, he shows up professional Indian historians to be a dull, unimaginative and largely unreadable lot. Second, he ascribes reappraisals of Mughal history to a decline in Persian and Urdu studies, in particular the widespread reading of the shikast script that was commonly understood two generations ago. Third, he strikes a blow for the amateur over the academic""in line with eccentric independent historians such as Steven Runciman, and Harold Nicolson""he thrillingly evokes the drama and tragedy of a heart-rending moment in history. Every source is listed in 100 pages of back notes, so what are the Indian bores going on about?

The God Delusion. By Richard Dawkins. Bantam Books. Rs 1,500: Imagine no 9/11, no 7/7, no Crusades, no-witch-hunts, no Indian partition, no Israel/Palestinian wars ... who, anyway, is at the root of this evil? God, of course""or ugly manifestations of religion. Why should one believe in the existence of God? Richard Dawkins, professor of science at Oxford, has produced a splendidly argued""hard-hitting, impassioned and delightfully anecdotal""manifesto for atheism in our globalised world. Unsurprisingly, it is one of the bestsellers of the year.

The Complete Taj Mahal. By Ebba Koch. Bookwise. Rs 2,500: An outstanding and ambitious work of original scholarship. Ebba Koch, professor art history at Vienna University, came to India as wife of the Austrian Trade Commissioner in the 1970s. So began her obsession with Mughal art and architecture. After several studies comes her opus""on how Shah Jahan conceived, planned and constructed the Taj, not just as a great funerary monument but as the centrepiece of a riverfront garden city. Prof. Koch's work, with intricate plans and photographs, conjures a marvel of 17th century urban planning. This book should be mandatory reading for modern-day ministers, planners and administrators who have destroyed our urban heritage and turned Agra into the filthiest hole in "Incredible India!"

Trees of Delhi. By Pradip Krishen. Dorling Kindersley. Rs 799: Produced in collaboration with INTACH and Delhi Tourism, Pradip Krishen's knowledgeable, compact, witty and reader-friendly field guide is not just restricted to the capital's flora. Many of the 252 species of trees and shrubs with 1,100 photographs are to be found in many parts of north and central India. For the self-taught naturalist and former film-maker it was a labour of love of many years of observation and documentation. Greatly to the publisher's surprise the first edition flew off the shelves within weeks of its appearance; a new one was out by year-end. The author now promises a bigger tree guide to India's varied climate zones.

Making Globalization Work. By Joseph Stiglitz. Penguin Allen Lane. Rs 1,500: The Nobel laureate won his prize in information economics""in particular the "informational asymmetries" that afflict the marketplace. After serving as chief economist at the World Bank and chair of President Clinton's council of economic advisers he spilled the beans by arguing how the rich nations and institutions that govern globalisation have scandalously failed the world's poor. Here are his solutions and recipes for a more equitable world. Admirers of the bestselling Globalization and its Discontents should get a copy.

Happy reading and a happy 2007!