WASTED in ENGINEERING – An engineer’s take on it

What makes you pick up a book and start reading it? What is it that catches your attention so much that you decide to invest a lot of your time in it? For me, it is the subject. I don’t believe in judging the book by its cover but what most of my friends and I do is to read what the book is about from the description on the back cover and DECIDE.

When I was contacted to review the book, I immediately wanted to read WASTED in ENGINEERING – Story of India’s Youth by Prabhu Swaminathan. Why? Well, this question seems a bit redundant. Every engineer in India would want to read the book by looking at the title itself and my facebook friends’ response towards the picture I posted on my timeline are the proof for this statement.

What WASTED in ENGINEERING is about?

The book has something really interesting scribbled at the back…

“If you study engineering, you will have a good future.”

“There is a difference between calling yourself as an engineering graduate and an engineer.”

“Many of us graduate with an engineering degree, with an artistic dream in mind.”

According to the back cover, the book is a story of India’s youth.  The book is about millions of engineering graduates in India who feel that they wasted four years of their life preparing to go in a profession they never wanted to be in. The book is an attempt to explain why one should pursue ones passion, instead of an engineering degree.

Does the book really talk on the same subject? Is it really worth reading? Check out the review to know more…

Review of WASTED in ENGINEERING by Prabhu Swaminathan

Before beginning this book, I must tell you that I am myself an engineering graduate who feels like a wasted engineer. And maybe that’s why my views towards what author said in the book would be biased. This means I agree to each of the word which he said in the book because I have myself tasted the medicine and know how it affects a person’s life.

First thing one should know about this book is that it is not a fiction. So, you won’t find any dramatic story where Harry is forced to do engineering while he actually wanted to be a photographer. There is no love story or any interesting sneak peek into what goes in big engineering colleges in India. Basically, this book is nothing like a Chetan Bhagat or a Durjoy Dutta story. And so, it deserves a +1 for that.

So, what’s in the words of the book? What does the author talk about in the 169 pages of the book? The book is more sort of a self-help guide which presents a picture of what goes on in India when it comes to pursuing an under-graduate course. And all of it is completely true. The first few chapters of the book are really intriguing and glue you with the book.

Why did I say first few chapters? What about the others? Well, the book is really good and I say this because this presents the right picture of engineering graduation in India but once you go on reading it… you feel you already know all of this. Basically, if you are already an engineering graduate or a WASTED in ENGINEERING graduate, you would find that you already know all of it so there is no point in reading about it again. What I feel is the book’s target audience is quite different. The book is a must read for people who are still studying in school and trying to figure out what course should they pursue after they are done with their 12^th.

The book has a lot of advice for young people. The author has successfully analyzed all sides of the picture in the book and has given a good advice over it. I don’t think he left out any scenario in this book which might be related to pursuing engineering or being a WASTED in ENGINEERING graduate. Another +1 to the author for that. But at the same time, I feel his advice could have been more elaborate. The target audience wouldn’t have minded if there were few more pages in the book with a little more detailed advice on what to do. As far as trying to inspire the hopeless engineers who have already wasted the four years of their life is concerned, the book wouldn’t really help that much. That’s what I think.

In a nutshell, this book is a good read for the people who are yet to step into the ‘being an engineer’ pool. The book has a good potential to save the future of number of students who haven’t entered college yet. The people who are already done with their engineering might like the book moderately.

But at the same time, the back cover of the book is a bit misguiding for the reader feels he didn’t really get what he was presented in the selling pitch. So, all those people who would read this book without reading the back cover would like it more than the other ones.

Also, a little more polishing on the book would have greatly enhanced the target audience of the book. Right now, I would recommend it to only the people who haven’t joined any engineering course yet.

My ratings for WASTED in ENGINEERING by Prabhu Swaminathan:  3/5