Incarnations: India in 50 Lives - Tapa dura

Beautifully written with both scholarship and an enviably light touch, thoughtfully constructed and enviably erudite in its wide-ranging references, and as much at ease discussing higher mathematics and philosophy as politics and art, Incarnations is a major work by one of India's most impressive minds, and the best possible introduction to both the complexities and the charms of Indian history. (William Dalrymple The Guardian)

Defies historical conventions...scholarly and accessible, lively and deeply serious. I confess I recognised only about 20 of the names and what I thought I knew was wrong or incomplete... revelatory, bold and contemplative. (Yasmin Alibhai-Brown The Independent)

A majestic sweep of 2,500 years of Indian history...Khilnani is a rare blend of scholar and cracking travel writer, and his book is replete with distinguished characters little known in the West. (Tarquin Hall The Sunday Times)

A tour de force of intellectual history, engagingly written and peppered with wry personal anecdotes. (James Crabtree Financial Times)

Scholarly and playful (The Telegraph)

Khilnani is a warm, personable voice on the radio and in this beautifully illustrated book his personal touch has been preserved. It is hard to think of this mammoth task being executed any better.... Superb, ***** (Sameer Rahim The Telegraph)

An exceptionally liberating intellectual journey to take. Mr Khilnani's prose is light and fast-paced... [and his] ability to empathise with people long dead is also astonishing (Nilanjana S Roy Business Standard, New Delhi)

I enjoyed everything about this book (Charles Allen Literary Review)