1 out of 4 stars
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There are many books that deal broadly with the subject of inspiration. Some study the concept while others directly attempt to offer inspiration to the readers. For authors, this leads to a new challenge. Not only does an exemplary book of this type need to deliver a well formed and effective message, but it also needs somehow to stand out from the crowd of similar works.
Creative Intelligence is a Part of Inspiration by Karnati Kiran initially appears to attempt this uniqueness by prominently displaying the name of the company run by Mr. Kiran (GKTecvision, Inc.). This suggests that the contents of the book will reflect either the guiding principles that enabled Mr. Kiran to find success or lessons he learned that he wishes to pass along to others. Unfortunately, Mr. Kiran never takes the opportunity to explain how the company is related to the content of the book. In his preface, he writes that most of the content is inspired by conversations with his wife.
The content of the book is highly informed by Mr. Kiran’s Indian culture. In fact, he dedicates whole sections to creation stories, temple structure, and thoughts on India. For those interested in pursuing these subjects, this may be an interesting look at one man’s impressions. For those looking either to be inspired or to understand inspiration, though, these sections may feel irrelevant or off-topic. Another challenge related to the overwhelming focus on Indian culture is that some statements Mr. Kiran makes feel de-contextualized. In a section called “What Living Richly Means”, Mr. Kiran mentions “the articles of constitution”. Without any prior knowledge of the author’s culture, I have no idea what document (if any actual document, since the phrase is not capitalized) Mr. Kiran is referencing and therefore, no concept of what lesson I should learn.
The most challenging part of reading this book is certainly the editing. There are plenty of basic mistakes, such as inconsistent lists, missing commas, subject-verb disagreement, and typing errors. What is more confusing for the reader, though, is the word choice. The author chooses to use a highly sophisticated vocabulary, but the words don’t often make sense, as if he had paged through a thesaurus and crammed as many fancy words as possible into the book. Sometimes, the words are clearly wrong, as in “opportunistic” and “subjugated”, both found on page 15 of my copy. Granted, some mistakes are fairly common in spoken language, such as the phrase “negatively reinforcing” (page 23) instead of “not reinforcing”. Throughout most of the book, the attentive reader will try to wade through this miasma of advanced vocabulary and esoteric concepts in order to divine the message the author is trying to communicate. While some concepts will shine through, the author would have been better served to use less sophisticated language effectively rather than attempt to impress the reader and lose the ability to communicate well.
When the book opened with an inspirational poem, I had very high hopes. In that poem alone, there were so many interesting concepts brought to the fore, and I looked forward to the author’s explanation of how he found inspiration within. As the book continued, though, I found it increasingly difficult to understand the author’s message, and the book felt very disjointed due to the poor editing. I don’t feel that I can recommend this book because it is more likely to frustrate than inspire its readers. Saddened and disappointed, I rate Creative Intelligence is a Part of Inspiration by Karnati Kiran 1 out of 4 stars.
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Creative Intelligence is a part of inspiration
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