Encyclopaedia of Everything

Reviewer: Saikh Md. Sabah Al-Ahmed

There have been books written earlier that have been like compendiums
 of a particular subject or topic, as, for instance, the Thesaurus, an encyclopaedia, or a dictionary. But these were mostly either subject-specific or provided us with word meanings or synonyms. But here comes a gigantic compilation of literally anything and everything that one needs to know. A young Guwahati-based artist and poet, Chiranjib Barooah, has come with this unique book titled Envision The Wisdom. It’s one of its kind, as the topics are not only varied and interesting, but some of them are out-of-the box topics as well. Some of the topics in the compilation, such as ‘Sports’ and ‘Assamese Cuisine’, are like North Pole-South Pole, topics covering two extremes. And if this wasn’t enough, hold your breath—there’s Leonardo Da Vinci, chemistry, martial arts, and even ‘poo power’ that throws light on the benefits of human excreta. That’s quite a mouthful for anyone’s curiosity. Apart from this, the topics in history are not only highly informative but thoroughly researched as well. Then the ‘local topics’ covering Assam and its socio-cultural milieu are also an interesting read, especially the one on Mobile Theatre. The more sombre topics on spirituality, philosophy, Hinduism, God, Advaita Vedanta, etc. give us a glimpse into his maturity and seriousness. Again, one comes across extremely diverse topics such as stem cells and mutual funds—a book that literally could be called a storehouse of information and a mini-encyclopaedia of everything.

Another refreshing aspect of Chiranjib’s book is that the information that the topics cover is crisp and short. This to-the-point information also allows easy and quick access to the desired information. On being asked about the central theme of the book, Chiranjib says, “Documenting the entire knowledge, known/unknown to mankind, on diverse disciplines in chronological order so that anyone can be enlightened with everything about the microcosm and macrocosm.” On the book’s USP, Chiranjib says, “The USP of this book that makes it special is the diversity and richness of accumulated wisdom from over 100 books merged into one, enriched with jaw-dropping artworks, and introduced with a poem as a perfect representation of the book.” Being an acclaimed artist himself, the illustrations, including the one on the cover page, are simply brilliant. Published by Wissen Monk Publications, Panbazar, Guwahati, this unique book is spread over 230 pages, divided into 116 crisp and highly informative chapters.

On being asked about the inspiration behind writing this book, Chiranjib opens up, “Curiosity is the sole driving force behind writing the book.” Finally, while talking about the challenges that he had faced while finishing this book, Chiranjib opines, “The challenge of completing the book within the stipulated time, that too while working the whole day in the finance sector with ‘n’ number of other things to be taken care of, is not a joke.”