Book Review: English Bites!

English Bites! My Fullproof English Learning Formula by Author Manish Gupta

Rather than English Bites, I would love to call it English Bytes and Mega Bytes.

My Story…

English was never a threatening subject for me, rather I am fond of it. Thanks to my parents and teachers for this. My father had done his share of struggles with the subject hence he wanted to make it easy for me. My parents ensured that they used maximum English words in their conversation and secondly they made me converse in English to whatever extent it was possible. If they had to say ‘chakku’ or ‘chammach’, they always mentioned them them as knife and spoon. Childhood is the most impressionable age and that was the time when I learnt both English and Hindi words for every article in my house. Another great thing that my dad did was that he inculcated a wonderful habit in me through an everyday assignment when I was merely eight. I was supposed to read the English newspaper and find five new words with their meanings and jot them in my diary everyday. When I look at my diaries, I feel proud of them. Thus in school, I was good at it, if measured with the yardstick of examination scores. But more than marks, my aim was to ensure that I could converse effectively and fluently like my principal who was a foreigner. I was in absolute awe of her. To achieve it or be somewhere near her, I did quite many things to build on my strength like the author in here…

Views about the book…

The book reinstates an old proverb in our life… Where there is a will, there is a way!

One sentence:  A gem of a book.

Cover page— I liked the animated caricature, the burdened guy with too many books all around.

Blurb: If learning English has been a pain in the ass, it definitely makes you curious and hopeful to a large extent. The blurb also sets high expectations for those who really wanna pull up their socks in this subject.

Story:  The author, Manish Gupta has put forth his own story of learning and mastering English, a subject so vast, in a unique style. I must say, I never thought a self help book on a subject could be written so smoothly and effectively.  Just by relating his own story in an orderly fashion, he introduces several nuances and intricacies of the subject. The blend of humor and sarcasm has been played off well. The anecdotes are funny and entertaining. While reading about his college days and later about his life, the reader learns scores of words and their origins. Suddenly, the subject reads interesting and amazing. And the author wants to let each one of us know that the alien subject does not actually bite.

Thumps Up:  The footers are the USP of the book. They contain the elaborate meanings of the difficult words turning out extremely helpful. In fact I have always wanted books like this, which  share more about the words something in similar pattern. Once you go for a dictionary, the momentum of book reading is lost. Thus having the meaning just on the very page of the tricky word is a win-win situation for the reader. One really takes the best of it.

My penchant for the subject made me enjoy the book in full vigor. This attempt of Mr. Manish Gupta is applaudable and  will serve as a great help for those preparing for GRE/GMAT/CAT. He has extolled the subject with perfection.

I loved the story-building and articulation style of the author. He has put his observations, conversations and reservations to the best use. I chuckled at the anecdotes and jokes. And last but not the least, I learnt huge number of words on the way till the last page.

Last but not the least-– In today’s age where English is becoming quite a mandate, this book deserves a definite read. I bet it is going to inspire you, teach you and the best of all, it will help you evolve in the subject, which does not BITE at all… Go for it… Cheers!!!

This will definitely be read along with Word Power Made Easy and Barrons.

Smileys Won:   🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

Happy Reading!!

Happy Blogging!!