Kalam offers no formulaic prescription in Ignited Minds. Instead, he takes up different issues and themes that struck him on his pilgrimage around the country as he met thousands of school children, teachers, scientists and saints and seers in the course of two years: the necessity for a patriotism that transcends religion and politics; for role models who point out the path to take; and for confidence in ourselves and in our strengths. Who was he to write on so large a theme, he wondered as he started writing this book. But at the end, Kalam's humility notwithstanding, this may well prove to be the book that motivates us to get back on the winning track and unleash the energy within a nation that hasn't allowed itself full rein. 'Though his speeches do not rise to heights of oratory, they do manage--like Mahatma Gandhi's mumblings--to get to the hearts of the common people...Ignited Minds will fire minds of the young to whom it is primarily addressed. It is written in very simple prose: like a school textbook the contents of each chapter are summarised in a few sentences.' --Khushwant Singh, Outlook 'Genius, it is said, is the ability to reduce the complex into the simple. book-writing, lies in the scientist's ability to present some of the most tangled issues that confront the nation in easily digestible packages of information...Kalam's can-do approach even at his age (he turns 71 in October) is a lesson for all those who curl their lips at any talk of India achieving greatness in the near future.' --Raj Chengappa, India Today ' Ignited Minds is a feel-good book that can serve as a true patriot's self-help guide to a better nation.' --The Pioneer