7 books from Sushant Singh Rajput’s Library

Sushant Singh Rajput, an inquisitive mind, a polymath, a wonderful actor who always wanted to learn new things in life, whose versatility is ubiquitous whichever field he dived into and a philanthropist who was subject to reason and wisdom, left us with mist in our eyes in a strange way on 14th of June, 2020. When Sushant played MS Dhoni’s character in his biopic, we were all taken aback by his surreal performance and exemplary resemblance with cricketer Dhoni.

His love for cosmos was what always drove his interest and zeal to venture into astronomy and fly an aircraft someday. He had so many dreams and also the courage to chase and achieve them. In an attempt to live his love for cosmos, he had owned Meade LX600 telescope which is one of the most advanced telescopes in the world. Being a Selenophile, he used to watch the land he purchased on the moon with this telescope. His #SelfMusing techniques were influential and many of his fans adopted them in their lives.

This multifaceted personality with enormous ever-growing dreams was an inspiration to many. He interacted with his fans via social media platforms and personally replying to them on their comments which were one of many reasons why his fans were so contented with the kind of ideal they have chosen in him. His acting and dancing skills became a means to carve his way out in the film industry. However, the film industry, unfortunately, could never explore his full potential by not giving him adequate opportunities to present himself and this was mainly due to prevalent nepotism, unacceptability for outsiders and film mafia-politics in the industry.

He came from a small town in Bihar and despite being an outsider, he rose to popularity owing to his excellent acting skills and charming persona. He started his career as an actor from a TV series Kis Desh Mein hai meraa dil (2008) as a side actor. This role worked in his favour as Ekta Kapoor witnessed his performance and cast him as a leader in her TV series – “Pavitra Rishta” hosted by channel Zee TV. He made his way from TV to Bollywood with a hit “Kai Po Che!” and then became an inspiration for young TV actors who wanted to shine in Bollywood too.

The life as a Bollywood actor with gleam and glitters was just supplemented to adorn his already fascinating way of life. His way of life was mirrored in how he visualized goals for himself and realized them with his greatness. He was an avid reader as well, in fact, his profoundness was the result of his incessant habit of reading and learning. The genres that he preferred plunging into were quantum physics, philosophy, metaphysics, psychology and mathematics. He often shared the images of new books on social media that he had brought or the ones he was reading at the time. His library was ostensibly a pool of insightful works from around the globe. The gems of literature such as “Chaos and Fractals: New frontiers of science” by Heinz-Otto Peitgen, “The Physicist And Philosopher: Einstein, Bergson, And The Debate The Changed Our Understanding Of Time” by Jimena Canales, “Meditations” by Marcus Aurelius and “ How Your Brain Works: Inside The Most Complicated Object In The Known Universe” by New Scientist were among his favourites, to name a few.

The mystery of his death has become a playing ground for many elements who were involved in his life. The investigation keeps taking quirky turns and the whole country is gawking at the Law and Justice machinery of our country with hopes of procurement of justice. The whole Bollywood has shaken after late actor’s girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty has been arrested by India’s NCB (Narcotics Control Bureau) on allegedly buying drugs for Sushant and in the ongoing development, she has revealed more names (Bollywood celebrities) who were involved in the drug case.

The internet has become quite a platform of appeal for justice, earlier for Sushant with the hashtags like #justiceforSushant and now for Rhea with #justiceforRhea against the barbaric media. The media is being blamed for misleading public and diverting their attention from the real and major issues of India by giving excessive coverage to this particular case. The case has become complex and dicey which has led to the intoxication of social media with so many theories and misconceptions.

To bring back the positivity and remember Sushant’s little yet valuable endeavours of making the world a great place, we’ve looked into his library and the kind of books he has read for detoxification of mind. The list of books is drawn from the images he had posted on social media; however, he had put them in archives later so they are not visible on his accounts anymore.

1. Meditation – by Marcus Aurelius  

His day started with a therapeutic morning with listening to Nusrat Fateh Alai Khan’s soulful music and sipping coffee. One morning he posted an image on Instagram with a caption “A great day starts with a great morning, Nusrat, Stoicism and some coffee can work wonders, try it today. 😊”. The image also shows his Five-minute journal in which he used to write famous motivational verses, his goals and songs he loved. Here, when he mentions stoicism, he is shedding light upon the Stoic philosophy that Marcus has put forth in his book “Meditations”. It deals with spiritual exercises that need to be practised like humbleness, patience, generosity etcetera to lead a happy life. The book was dear to Sushant as its components reflected in his character.

2. Chaos And Fractals: The New Frontiers Of Science – By Heinz Otto Peitgen, Dietmar Saupe, Hartmut Jurgens 

3. The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform The World – By David Deutsch, and

4. The Ancient Secret of Flower of Life – By Drunvalo Melchizedek, Margaret Pinyan

The above three books were his top picks. He writes in the caption of the instagram post, “I’ve been amazed by these 3 books lately. Please read them if you find some time. Love & Peace.”

These books are enriched with the wisdom of science. The Ancient secret of flower talks about the 4th dimension and the secrets of the past and future. It reconnects humans with the beliefs of having multiple possibilities of life. “The Chaos and Fractals” talks about the chaos theory and is digestible for non-math people too. The Beginning of Infinity deals with many theories of science and bizarre concepts of physics. Such kind of reading interest makes Sushant a polymath.

5. Thinking fast and slow – by Daniel Kahneman

This book by Daniel Kahneman explains the way a human mind thinks. There are two systems, one which is fast and emotional and another which is deliberative and logical that help us in forming ideas. When Sushant posts this book, he writes, “If you think you have got yourself and the world around you completely figured out, please do yourself a favour, read this book.”. It implies that he believed that learning never ends.

6. Intuition Pumps and other Tools for Thinking – by Daniel C. Dennett

He writes, “I would request you to go through this book for adding invaluable cognitive tools to drastically improve thinking processes. #MindHack 15.0” while posting another reading suggestion on Instagram. This book also indicates the level of efforts he had put in to develop rationality. The book is all about Author’s preferred philosophical thoughts and their experiments about evolution, free will, artificial life etc.

7. How Your Brain Works: Inside the Most Complicated Object in The Known Universe – By New Scientist 

How Your Brain Works talks about the anatomy of the brain and explains its various functions. Another manifestation of an intelligent brain to understand itself by reading a book like this. Book explains many neuroscience concepts and the role of the amygdala in dealing with anxiety. The language of the book is easy and can be digested by a non-science reader as well.

There are several other books like “Charles Bargue and Jean-Leon Gerome: Drawing Course”, “From Bactria to Bach and Back: The evolution of mind” by Daniel C. Dennett and “The Extended Selfish Gene” which has become great suggestions for voracious readers by Sushant.