Review of A Dream For Peace

[Sushan Ekanayake]

[Following is a volunteer review of "A Dream For Peace" by Dr. Ghoulem Berrah.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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Several men are born with multiple abilities. Occasionally some of them succeed in each and every field that they are capable of. An extremely rare amount from them becomes world renowned by successes that they achieved. But only a handful of them out of the whole world direct their capabilities to the betterment of the other humans without expecting any personal gains. A Dream For Peace: An Ambassador Memoir by Dr.Ghoulem Berrah tells us the story of such a rare human being, Dr. Ghoulem Berrah, the scientist who became the world renowned diplomat, who had a big heart and a dream for world peace.

Hardships make great men. But are hardships a must to the above result? Dr. Ghoulem Berrah's childhood cannot be labeled as prosperous, but it was not a hazardous one as well. Though he lost his father at a young age, he did not loose love, care, or shelter since his tribe provided all. His mother was the driving force of his life, and he was the apple of her eye. He finally ended up in university as a bright student. There too he excelled himself and published a hypothesis regarding DNA reverse transcriptase enzyme, which was a major breakthrough in science those days. Though he showed the budding features of a great scientist with a great future, his true calling was not there. So he stepped into a diplomatic career. He began by addressing the issues of his own country and the region, got involved himself in world famous matters like the Cold war, conflict between Israel and Palestine, etc. He finally ended up as a world renowned diplomat who played a part in almost all diplomatic missions around the world.

The thing that I most liked about this book was its simplicity. Though it was written by a well-educated diplomat the book was written in simple English, using short sentences, letting anyone to read it easily and understand. Among many other skills of Dr. Berrah, he has shown his ability to tell stories through this book. The photographs included made it easy to relate the things in the book to the actual scenarios. Another thing I would like to highlight is the balancing of the content. Though it was an autobiography, the author has put more weight into the diplomatic interventions rather than his personal life, because the former details are more important to the readers. The editing was done exceptionally well, and he has written the book in a professional way without disrespecting any political belief, religion, or country, though all these aspects were dealt with in his job as well as his book.

I would like to mention a personal feeling as a negative aspect regarding the book, though no other reader might have felt so. Dr. Berrah hs mentioned many 'behind the curtain' scenes regarding various famous diplomatic issues. And I found no way to confirm such details since none of them were mentioned in popular and accessible references. So I often got the feeling, "have this man really done things like this?". Being a renowned person I do not think Dr. Berrah had any reason to lie. But I thought it was worth mentioning in my review.

So, all in all, I would like to give this a rating of 4 out of 4 stars (I see no reason to give a lower rating depending on my personal negative thoughts). This will be a great read for those who prefer autobiographies as well as historical books, especially related to the African history. I would like to end my review with a question to you all. Did he fulfill his dream for peace? In my opinion, he may not have fulfilled it, but he contributed his maximum to the course.

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A Dream For Peace
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[Kasun Perera]

What a thoughtful review. I too read this and reviewed but I did not think the way you did. Good job, and thank you for the insight.

[Sushan Ekanayake]

What a thoughtful review. I too read this and reviewed but I did not think the way you did. Good job, and thank you for the insight.

Thank you very much for the kind appreciation