Ai Weiwei, Weiwei-Isms Book Review

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Ai Weiwei, Weiwei-isms

This book is an assemblage of quotes that shows the simple but elegant nature of Ai Weiwei in terms of art, life, and politics. He expresses brilliant ideas using few words. He also uses social media to express his views. This book’s organization involves six categories. They include Freedom of expression; Government, power, and Making moral choices; the digital world; Personal reflections; History, Historical Moment and the Future; Art and Activism.

There are various famous quotes concerning the different distinctions. On the Freedom of expression, he uses quotes like “Say what you need to say plainly and then take responsibility of it” (Ai and Larry 3). On Art and Activism, “Life is art. Art is life. I never separate it. I do not feel that much anger. I equally have a lot of joy (Ai and Larry 24).” On the digital world: “The internet is the best thing that could have happened to China (Ai and Larry 69)”. These are the few examples of the many quotes that Ai Weiwei uses in his book.

Although the book has various dimensions, it represents the rights that the humankind possesses. The book is inspirational due to the simplistic nature it is written and since it helps bring the feeling of complicity to people. Ai Weiwei manages to create a pool of obsessed readers of his quotes. This is because he understands how to pass his message across. He has an expertise in using artful circulation of ideas. The physical nature of this book is very conducive since it is small and easy to carry around. People who are limited in ideas may not find the book meaningful to read. However, this book would make one compelled to read it repeatedly. One might end up not needing to carry the book since the repetition makes it stick in the head.

Eknath Easwaran: Gandhi the man

The book is written to show the biography of one legend, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. The book was first published in 1973 in the United States of America.

When I first looked at the book, the first glance seemed to be pure hagiography, widely notable due to the amazing photographs it has. Later, after reading, I noticed that it is not only a picture book. In a couple of words, the book shifts more to giving some sense of the ways Gandhi had perceptions of his life as compared to any other book or journal I have personally read. I also noticed that when taking an outside look at the book, Gandhi’s life looks more like a somewhat political drama. On reading it carefully, I noticed how much Easwaran tries to argue quite persuasively and that gave me a rather different perception of the book. Gandhi was the master of his very own life and took full charge of both his