MY LAST 10 REVIEWS (Courtesy: Goodreads)

Raju Chacko's favorite books »

Here’s a book to read if you want to know what really led Jack Stapleton (of the Sherlock Holmes novel The Hound of the Baskervilles) to kill his uncle Sir Charles Baskerville.

Posted: 27-Mar-2025

If the The Hound of the Baskervilles is one of your favorite novels, you surely remember its sinister, sordid end, don’t you? It was an inside job traced to Jack Stapleton (alias Rodger Baskerville II). Jack proved to be the knave who killed his own uncle, Sir Charles Baskerville, in an attempt to inherit Baskerville's estate.

But what was Jack’s motive? Was he just an indolent aristocrat who didn’t want to work for a living, preferring instead to live on inherited riches? Did he do it suddenly, without warning or out of desperation, after all attempts to get his share by just means had failed?

Read this book to find out.

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Seeking success, what to do when you find yourself stuck in the ‘carrot at the end of the stick’ illuson of toxic positivity.

Posted: 13-Mar-2025

You aren’t successful, but want to be. In your struggles, how far will the rant “Be positive!,” “Be positive!?” take you? The self-help industry wants you to believe that being positive, even more positive, unwaveringly positive, etc. will see you through in some time. No, it won’t, this author (who prefers to keep anonymous) says! Using satire on the life of a “Mr Positive,” he debunks the myth of excessive positivity and exposes the emptiness, and pain inside when it turns toxic. You need to accept life with its flaws, limitations, ups, and downs, not force a facade of infallibility by being toxically positive.

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They live in the shadow of death.

Posted: 16-Feb-2025

Deforestation, along with other dark forces such as environmental pollution, extinction of biodiversity, dwindling drinking water supplies, power scarcity, and global warming are choking our planet to death. And what does deforestation contribute to the mayhem? Mainly, the killing of wildlife by destroying their habitats. Trees act as ‘carbon sinks’ by absorbing carbon dioxide during photosynthesis, thus holding global warming in check. Millions of forest trees are lost every year due to deforestation with the result that the capacity of the ‘carbon sink’ they afford depletes drastically, and global warming gets off the hook!

About 10,000 years ago, forests covered one-third of Earth’s land (or 57%). Today, it’s fallen to 31%— about 6 billion hectares then, about 4.06 now.

What wiped out so much of the forests? We did it for agriculture, roads, infrastructure, mining, etc. Currently, 10 million hectares of forest disappear every year.

The bell tolls often for the loss... will we take note and act before it’s too late?

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If you like the ‘Suspense & Thriller” genre of stories, this may be a good choice for your next read.

Posted: 27-Jan-2025

This book, written during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, contains 13 thrillers, one story corresponding to each month between March 2020 and March 2021, when COVID-19 forced people worldwide into seclusion. It’s the fruit of the time the author spent in those 13 months of seclusion.

Evil, ominous, ghostly, deadly and/or chilling are some words I’d use to describe the stories it contains. It’s guaranteed not to disappoint, if you’re a fan of the ‘Suspense & Thriller” genre, but it's not for the faint-hearted.

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So, you think you know all there is to faith? Read this compelling short story to see if you really do!

Posted: 26-Jan-2025

Many believe the trust they’ve developed in some trustworthy individual(s)/system(s) is faith. The more the number of people who have faith in a person/system you trust, the greater the extent of your faith. While there isn’t a 100% assurance they won’t fail you the next time, you’ll readily engage with them again without thinking twice: you’ll be more surprised/shocked if they fail rather than if they deliver the same response! Why is this so?

Actually, faith is an amazing gift God has endowed us with since birth. It’s a kind of antenna that helps us find and connect with him, particularly when the killing feeling of worthlessness and purposelessness inside drives us to look for that higher power (if he exists) who can give us the roadmap of life, and more importantly, where we, personally belong on it.

This story is an analogy that explains how faith works. You can use your faith and know God today! But that can’t happen unless you believe in his existence, and, assuming he’s speaking, you’re ready to strike up a conversation with him with your antenna of faith.

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Can you see the Designer hidden behind His creation? Maybe we’ll be able if we go via a study of synchronicity!

Posted: 25-Jan-2025

Have you heard of ‘synchronicity’ before? It’s the magic of rare coincidences that are so striking you won’t be able to dismiss them as occurring randomly. On the other hand, it may seem tailor-made for you—a message from nowhere pointed straight at you! Like, when you were walking down a road thinking of an old school friend, and just as you began thinking of him, he appeared before you, coming out of a shop! Could it be that one-in-a-million, rare, random occurrence that you thought of your friend and he was there, right before you? How many times has it happened in the past? And how many times do you think it will happen in the future?

If we investigate synchronicity more deeply, applying mathematical probability to analyze it objectively, we will unmistakably conclude that God exists. Synchronicity is the messaging system by which He sends subtle messages to us. These messages always capture our attention because of the magical experience caused by the rare coincidences!

Come, let’s discover God and other great things through this thrilling, scientific study of synchronicity.

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For Diabetics: a cookbook of delight desserts! 50 assorted home-tested recipes for cakes, cookies, pies, doughnuts, etc. that you can enjoy, guilt-free!

Posted: 15-Jan-2025

“Naturally” sweetened, but without sugar! 50 delight recipes for diabetics that may rival their sugar sweetened counterparts, but sugar-free, developed by a mom for her school-going diabetic son. These recipes have been home tested and found safe against blood glucose spikes and hypogylcemia. Instead of sugar, she has used thoughtfully blended combinations of xylitol, erythritol, stevia, date syrup, birch sugar, etc. The combos are stated to effectively rival sugar's sweetness.

Will you try it? Go ahead, check it out now!

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If magical realism, surrealism, sci-fi, or art history be your cup of tea, could Timeless Form: The Tale of Michelangelo’s Model be a promising choice for a book to read?

Posted: 07-Jan-2025

Robots are turning more powerful by the day, portending a time in the not-too-distant future when they’ll surpass humans and become (nearly) masters of the Earth. And suppose that happens! Then, the robots will possess all the knowledge in the world, the blazing speed of future-age computers, and mastery over space and time. They’ll obviously have an edge over inferior humans. However, humans’ trump card is the gift of creativity that they alone possess. The robots lack it and cannot progress—they’re doomed to a life where nothing changes!

In a race for dominance over Earth, the robots need to copy and replicate humanity’s gift of creativity among their kind to surpass humans forever!

A perfect human exists at that time. He’s timeless and ethereal. What if they capture him and try to steal his creativity, but he refuses to cooperate? They cannot force him because of the risk of accidentally killing him and then having no perfect human source left to copy creativity from.

Can humans escape or will the robots win? Read this brilliant, captivating tale to find out!

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How to stand your ground and fight chronic pain right back!

Posted: 06-Jan-2025

Did you know? More than one-quarter of the US population suffers from chronic pain. That this disease, on which the nation spends over $100 billion annually, costs more than the healthcare expenses for cancer, diabetes, and heart disease COMBINED? That chronic pain claims nearly 9% of lives taken by suicide? The statistics leave little doubt it’s still a major health issue in the USA today.

Chronic pain kills by appearing invincible, forcing mental defeat on you by ruining your quality of life, emotional distress, isolation, etc. You shouldn’t get to the point of feeling helpless! There are many fellow travelers on your path and lots of ways today to make a comeback.

Let this author who conquered the enemy show you how.

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A return gift of love to man’s best friend by a dedicated dog lover

Posted: 04-Jan-2025

When everything else fails to bring healing, love succeeds! Yes, Sigmund Freud’s quote, “How bold one gets when one is sure of being loved” is true. How else can you explain how a totally lost dog made a marvelous turnaround in life when he received showers of patient love from a caring dog lover?

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Get kids started right with the Bible? Here’s a nice resource book for today’s Sunday school student to learn from.

Posted: 09-Dec-2024

Do your kids think that God is an awesome giant sitting somewhere high up in the skies? That he breathes out fire when He’s angry? And angels sing around His throne? Imaginative young minds are full of questions like these. For Christian kids, they meet reality when they learn the Bible.

Here’s a instructional resource book with fresh insights to meet the needs of today’s Sunday’s school student and get them started right in life.

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