Aims and Objectives: Anil Aggrawal's Internet Journal of Book Reviews

(N.B. 1. This journal is best viewed at a resolution of 1600 x 1200 pixels or more, in a 17" or bigger monitor.)

This journal has been started by Dr Anil Aggrawal, Professor of Forensic Medicine at the Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi - 110002. Dr. Aggrawal is quite keen to interact with people who are interested in books.

Dr. Aggrawal adores books and literally thrives on them. Though being a medical doctor specializing in forensic medicine, he loves books on all subjects encompassing such diverse ranges from astronomy and zoology to paleontology, history, occult science, philosophy, mathematics, and classical literature, et al.

His penchant for books was conceived quite early in life. Even as a three year old he always pined for books instead of toys-as his siblings did.

There is a legend about the Greek mathematician and engineer Archimedes (ca. 287 B.C. - ca. 212 B.C.). When Roman armies sacked Syracuse in 212 B.C. he was busy studying a geometrical figure made in sand. When a Roman soldier commanded him to come along, he motioned to him imperiously, "Don't disturb my circles". The soldier felt so insulted that he killed Archimedes on the spot! In a similar situation Dr. Aggrawal would probably say, "Don't disturb my books!"

Writers and thinkers have always been his idols. Some of the people who have inspired him are (i)Lord Buddha (he remains first on his list) (ii)Albert Einstein (iii)Robert James Fischer (The only American who has been an official World Chess Champion) and (iv)Isaac Asimov (he wrote close to 500 books, and is reputed to be the only author to have published books in all ten categories of the Dewey Decimal System! Oh, well, we all know it's not true, but he has really written so widely, it seems cruel to challenge this statement.)

Aggrawal is no Asimov, but like him, he loves writing books. He has written nine books so far (till 2006 end). Four of them are quiz books, which reflect his morbid passion for quizzes. The books, in order they were published are (i) 1000 Crime Quiz (published 30 March 1992) (ii)1000 Love & Sex Quiz (published 13 August 1992) (iii) Some Common Ailments (Published 27 January 1993)(iv)The Book of Medicine (Published 5 February 1994) (v)Narcotic Drugs (Published on 2 May 1995) (vi) 1000 Biology Quiz (Published on 29 August 1995) (vii)Modern Diagnostics (Published on 8 March 2001) (viii) Health Quiz Book (Published on 5 August 2002) (ix) Self Assessment and review of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology (the first book related to his profession). And since we all love statistics, here is a detailed statistics of these books. Here they are:

Book Statistics
S.no.	Book	Started on	Completed on	Submitted on	Published	Publisher	Cost
1.	1000 Crime Quiz	1.2.91	31.5.91	31.5.91	March 1992	Rupa	30
2.	1000 Love & Sex Quiz	1.6.91	5.1.92	7.1.92	August 1992	Rupa	30
3.	Some Common Ailments	1.6.91	28.11.91	28.11.91	January 1993	NBT	25
4.	The Book of Medicine	Nov 92	Jan 93	15.1.93	February 1994	Rupa	30
5.	Narcotic Drugs	1.1.93	9.5.94	9.5.94	May 1995	NBT	46
6.	1000 Biology Quiz	6.1.92	17.3.93	19.3.93	August 1995	Rupa	80
7.	Modern Diagnostics	1995	1995	1996	March 2001	NBT	80
8.	Health Quiz Book	Feb 2002	July 2002	July 2002	August, 2002	Ocean Books	200
9.	Self Assessment and review of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology	2005	2006	April 2006	May, 2006	PeePee	295
(Books published till 2007 end)

N.B.
1. NBT stands for National Book Trust, India.
2. Dates mentioned are in this format: day/month/year.
3. The cost is in Indian Rupees.
4. Some Common Ailments has been translated in Assamiya, Bangla, Hindi, Kannada, Konkani, Marathi, Nepalese, Oriya, Punjabi, Telugu and Urdu (Total 12 languages).
5. Narcotic Drugs has been translated in Assamiya, Bangla, Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu (Total 6 languages).
6. Health Quiz Book has been translated in Hindi (Total 2 languages).

Why is Dr. Aggrawal interested in writing book reviews? Whenever he reads a book he tries to discover its strong points. There is a subconscious effort on his part perhaps, to incorporate those points in his own writings. He then wants to share his findings with everyone. In the year 2000, he started an Internet Journal of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, and out of his sheer interest in books, he included a book review section to it. The unprecedented popularity of the review section took him by complete surprise. He received books from authors and publishers in thousands. And they belonged to all subjects-not only forensic medicine and toxicology, which he had intended at the inception of the above journal. With time he and his group realized that they must conjure another journal devoted solely to Book Reviews for books of all genre. In this all-new journal they would accommodate all kinds of books, and hence the present Anil Aggrawal's Internet Journal of Book Reviews.

Dr. Aggrawal fondly cites the examples of many regular journals (not devoted to book reviews), which have come out with issues especially devoted to book reviews. One pertinent example is Archives of Sexual Behavior, which came out with an issue (Volume 28, Number 5 / October, 1999, pages 377-467) especially devoted to book reviews in 1999. Readers can access this issue by clicking here.

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