u/pranphy

Waay back when, I found a book in a dusty rack in my uncle's house. I took that book and read it back then. I was so moved by the book. Few years later I wouldn't find the book again in my house.

I was so moved by the book that I tried to find the book again and read. That book was in Nepali and it was based on Vietnamese revolution and I remember that it was translated. I could only recall excerpts from the book, and did not remember the title of the translation, the translator or the original author.

Now with LLM magic, I can just tell it a broken story and tell all that I know about that book and LLM tells me that the book must be अजम्बरी बाटो which is translated from this book "DAT NUOC DUNG LEN" by author "NGUYEN NGOC". The english translation is apparently "The villaget that would not die" which I can't find anywhere.

I was hoping if anybody has read this book or has any idea if I can find the english translation or nepali translation, they could help me.

Thanks.

Got three new (old) books.

1. पागल बस्ती - सरू भक्त : Just for nostalgia's sake. Read this book a long time ago, still want to have a go at it again.
2. प्रयोगशाला - Had been in my bucket list for a long time, finally got it.
3. Doctor Sally : Got it off used book store. Impressed by the plot in the back cover. Should be a quick read.

In this book the writer glosses over many topics of economy, alternative politics, and issues of social justice. It is basically a collection of his short excerpts on topics on few topics.

For the most part he tries to argue that neither socialism nor capitalism is the way forward. Him being one of the main perpetrators of the 10-year long armed conflict, in the name of communist party, by association he should have been a staunch socialist if not hardliner communist. He tries to concoct some form of middle ground between socialism and capitalism. He argues of a welfare state but also accepts that free market economy is inevitable.

A minor argument in this book is his attempt to draw parallel between quantum physics and Dialectical materialism (द्वन्द्वत्मक भौतिकवाद). He correctly identifies major concepts like wave particle duality and probabilistic nature of quantum physics but it feels weird that he makes that parallelism. Also, he attributes much higher praise on Prof. Steven Hawking than I felt was necessary.

On alternative politics in Nepal, he has correctly identified that the mainstream political parties in Nepal have degraded to the point that within a few years a new alternative party is going to completely overtake the scene, which in retrospect has turned out a massive success of a prediction. He also warns of such new force being just "populist" and that it may only be ephemeral.

Overall I'd say this book will give you a good insight into at least the thinking of Dr. Bhattarai. I would have expected it to me a bit more coherent and less redundant than it is.