I read all kinds of books, fiction, non-fiction. I just read a non-fiction book by Bill Bryson which is his travelogue across America.

The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America is a book by travel writer Bill Bryson, chronicling his 13,978 mile trip around the United States in the autumn of 1987 and spring 1988. He begins his journey, made almost entirely by car, in his childhood hometown of Des Moines, Iowa, heading from there towards the Mississippi River, often reminiscing about his childhood in Iowa. The journey was made after his father's death, and so is in part a collection of memories of his father in Des Moines while he was growing up.

He (Bill Bryson) is very famous for A Short History Of Nearly Everything, it’s a great book. It’s a book on science essentially and the history of the world. But he has written it in a very entertaining style and it’s a very humorous read... A Short History of Nearly Everything is also a book that you can certainly read again.

A Short History of Nearly Everything by American author Bill Bryson is a popular science book that explains some areas of science, using easily accessible language that appeals more so to the general public than many other books dedicated to the subject. It was one of the bestselling popular science books of 2005 in the United Kingdom, selling over 300,000 copies. One of the world’s most beloved writers and bestselling author of One Summer takes his ultimate journey—into the most intriguing and intractable questions that science seeks to answer.

I love history, I’ve read a number of books on the subject. I recently read Lustrum (by Robert Harris), a book set in ancient Rome. It’s a fictional historical account of what happened in 55BC or thereabouts, and Caesar.

The second book in the stunning Roman Empire trilogy by Robert Harris, author of the acclaimed bestsellers Fatherland, Enigma, Archangel, Pompeii, Imperium and The Ghost. It is 63 BC, the year when Cicero is consul. Most of his time in office is devoted to uncovering and thwarting a violent conspiracy to overthrow the state, ostensibly led by Crassus and a group of disaffected senators. Underlying it all is the great rivalry between Cicero and Caesar who represent two different types of ambition: one orthodox, the other revolutionary. As Caesar’s power grows, Cicero must face the inevitable compromises that come with power; is it justifiable to use illegal methods in order to save the Republic? Robert Harris yet again proves himself a master of historical fiction as he takes the reader to the heart of republican Rome with a novel that is at once brilliantly researched and utterly gripping.

There are a number of books which I could go back and read. One of them is the Mahabharat ...

Originally composed in Sanskrit sometime between 400 BC and 400 AD, The Mahabharata-with one hundred thousand stanzas of verse-is one of the longest poems in existence. At the heart of the saga is a conflict between two branches of a royal family whose feud culminates in a titanic eighteen-day battle. Exploring such timeless subjects as dharma (duty), artha (purpose), and kama (pleasure) in a mythic world of warfare, magic, and beauty, this is a magnificent and legendary Hindu text of immense importance to the culture of the Indian subcontinent.

There are a number of books which I could go back and read... the other is A Confederacy Of Dunces (by John Kennedy Toole). On his blog: Watching Withnail And I reminded me of one of my favourite books, A Confederacy Of Dunces, written by John Kennedy Toole. Again a piece of work that I find supremely funny and tragic. Absolutely brilliant. A must read, but again I don’t know how many of you will like it. Have read the book twice and plan to read it once every couple years.

Also recommended by: Colin Quinn, Harry Shearer

A Confederacy of Dunces is a picaresque novel by American novelist John Kennedy Toole which appeared in 1980, eleven years after Toole's suicide. Published through the efforts of writer Walker Percy (who also contributed a foreword) and Toole's mother, the book became first a cult classic, then a mainstream success; it earned Toole a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1981, and is now considered a canonical work of modern literature of the Southern United States. Toole's lunatic and sage novel introduces one of the most memorable characters in American literature, Ignatius Reilly, whom Walker Percy dubs "slob extraordinaire, a mad Oliver Hardy, a fat Don Quixote, a perverse Thomas Aquinas rolled into one." Set in New Orleans, A confederacy of Dunces outswifts Swift, one of whose essays gives the book its title. As its characters burst into life, they leave the region and literature forever changed by their presence-Ignatius and his mother; Miss Trixie, the octogenarian assistant accountant at Levi Pants; inept, wan Patrolman Mancuso; Darlene, the Bourbon Street stripper with a penchant for poultry; Jones the jivecat in spaceage dark glasses.

Sometimes if I’ve liked an author, I might pick up another book by the same person. Like there is this one author, Eoin Colfer who wrote the Artemis Fowl series. I wait for his books and I have read all of them.

Eoin Colfer is an Irish author of children's books. He worked as a primary school teacher before he became a full-time writer. He is best known for being the author of the Artemis Fowl series.

I wait for Eoin Colfer’s books, I have read all of them. My son and I both read Artemis Fowl.

Also recommended by: Shahrukh Khan

Twelve-year-old Artemis Fowl is a millionaire, a genius-and, above all, a criminal mastermind. But even Artemis doesn't know what he's taken on when he kidnaps a fairy, Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon Unit. These aren't the fairies of bedtime stories; these fairies are armed and dangerous.

I'm currently reading 'Phantoms In The Brain' by V.S. Ramachandran. Its a book about the human mind.

Neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran is internationally renowned for uncovering answers to the deep and quirky questions of human nature that few scientists have dared to address. His bold insights about the brain are matched only by the stunning simplicity of his experiments -- using such low-tech tools as cotton swabs, glasses of water and dime-store mirrors. In Phantoms in the Brain, Dr. Ramachandran recounts how his work with patients who have bizarre neurological disorders has shed new light on the deep architecture of the brain, and what these findings tell us about who we are, how we construct our body image, why we laugh or become depressed, why we may believe in God, how we make decisions, deceive ourselves and dream, perhaps even why we're so clever at philosophy, music and art.

First mentioned in a cover story in Man's World, Aug 2005. In a comment on his blog: The book you mention is called 'When Neitzche Wept', another cracker of a book.

When Nietzsche Wept is a 1992 novel by Irvin D. Yalom, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at Stanford University, an existentialist, and psychotherapist. The book takes place mostly in Vienna, Austria, in the late 19th century (during the year 1882, concretely), and relates a fictional meeting between the famous doctor Josef Breuer and the extraordinary philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. The novel is an excellent review of the history of the philosophy and the psychoanalysis, and also of some of the main personalities of the last decades of the 19th centur

First mentioned in a cover story in Man's World, Aug 2005. In a comment on his blog: Akbar's mentor was Behram Khan.

Bairam Khan also Bayram Khan (Persian: بيرام خان‎) (died 1561) was an important military commander, among top generals, later commander in chief of the Mughal army, a powerful statesman and regent at the court of the Mughal emperors Humayun and Akbar, also guardian, chief mentor, advisor, teacher and most trusted person of Humayun. Humayun honored him as Khan Khanan,means king of kings.

In a comment on his blog: (refering to The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo trilogy) Have read both of Larssonn's books. Throughly enjoyed them.

Also recommended by: Marina Sirtis

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (original title in Swedish: Män som hatar kvinnor, "Men Who Hate Women") is a crime novel by the late Swedish author and journalist Stieg Larsson. It is the first book of the Millennium trilogy, which, when published posthumously in 2005, became a best-seller in Europe and the United States.