I agree, the review is really good. There seem to be some printer's errors that I noticed (In the AT piece). One is McGraw-Hill publishers in the last para. Hopefully, it hasn't carried over to the book itself.
I congratulate both you and Dr.Sarma and look forward to reading the book when available. I will ask Alpana to purchase a copy in India. Thanks Barua. On 12/29/05, Chan Mahanta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Well written review. > > cm > > > > > At 4:44 PM -0600 12/29/05, Rajen Barua wrote: > The following review by me was recently published in Assam tribune. The book > is not available in the USA at present. One will have to write to the > publisher. > RB > ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > BOOK REVIEW > TEA TECHNOLOGY - By Gokul Sarma, P. Eng. > Published by Assam Review Publishing Co > 27A, Waterloo Street; Calcutta - 700069 > Phone: 248-2251 > 1st Edition 30th June 2000 > ISBN No 81-901169-1-6 > Price Rs 260 or US$16.00 > ------------------------------ > > There are probably dozens of books written on the romance of the tea, the > tea industry or the tea culture and their historical, cultural and > economical impacts on various societies and countries. However there has not > been an up-to-date book, so far, written on the tea technology, the > manufacturing process of tea itself. By publishing exactly such a book, Mr. > Gokul Ch Sarma of Canada has indeed made history and fulfilled a long needed > demand in the industry. Before we go into a review of the book, it is > important to know how he came about writing such a book in Canada. > > Mr. Gokul Ch Sarma is a resident of Toronto, Canada and presently works in > the Telecommunication company Nortel Networks. He received his Bsc Eng in > Mechanical Engineering from the USA. Before coming to the USA for higher > studies, Mr. Sarma was in the tea industry where he started his career as a > trainee in Doom Dooma Tea Estate in Assam. Later, he joined the Assam > Agricultural University (AAU), Jorhat, as an Asst Professor in the newly > formed Department of Tea Technology. During his six years of teaching Tea > Technology at the University, he spent much of his time in Tocklai Research > Centre, Jorhat and was engaged in developing the first ever Tea > Manufacturing course at University level. During that time, he traveled > widely in various tea factories in Assam, Darjeeling and also visited some > tea gardens and factories around Caspian Sea in North Iran. Later while he > was settled in Canada, the then Vice Chancellor of Assam Agricultural > University, Dr. Prafulla Ch Bora requested him if he would undertake to > write the much needed book on Tea Technology for the University level > classes. And that is how he got into writing the book. Besides his text > material from teaching Tea Technology at the AAU, Mr. Sarma acknowledges the > help taken from Tocklai Research Centre where he used numerous reports, > journals and magazines. While writing an Introduction to the book, Dr > Pafulla Ch Bora stated, "The teaching experience early in his career has > given Mr. Sarma the knowledge base to make this book a worthwhile treatise, > It covers all aspects of tea manufacture, tea machinery and the principles > of their working, tea testing for assessment of qualities etc..." > > The book is about 230 pages long, and one does not have to be a tea > technocrat to see that it is a professionally well written technical book on > the technology of tea manufacturing. The process of tea manufacturing is > very sophisticated and involves various processes like withering, > rolling.crushing, sifting, fermentation, drying, sorting/grading, storing, > packing etc. All these processes have been improved over time through > research done by Tocklai Tea Research Center in Jorhat in collaboration with > various member gardens. The book include all of these with latest updates > and much more. Mr. Sarma also included technical information on tea > characteristics and common defects, the principle and process of tea testing > as well as application of engineering principles in designing tea factories, > tea garden roads etc. At the end of the book, there is also recipes for > preparing various types of tea. > > Needless to say that the book is a valuable contribution to the industry. > This is a thorough and complete book which will be useful to many even > outside the tea industry. The book has already been sent to some tea > producing countries outside India, where the book is receiving good review > and is being used a text book for training tea technology. > > We congratulate Mr. Sarma for completing the much needed book out of his > busy schedule. The modern tea industry started and developed in Assam in the > early nineteenth century, and the first tea garden was opened in Chabua in > 1837. Since then Assam has been playing a major role in the world tea > industry and producing about one fifth of world's tea. It is in Assam that > we have the world's only tea research centre at Tocklai. As such we are > glad to see that book on Tea Technology has been written by someone from > Assam. As a way of improvement for future editions, we have only one > suggestion. Inclusion of an introductory chapter on the process of tea > plantation and tea plucking would make the book more complete. We are sure > future editions will see further improvements. We also suggest that Mr. > Sarma should seek some international book publisher like Penguin, Mc Grew > Hill and others to get the book published so that the book will get the > world wide distribution. > > Rajen Barua, Houston, Texas > 2nd November 2005 > > > _______________________________________________ > assam mailing list > assam@assamnet.org > http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org > > > _______________________________________________ > assam mailing list > assam@assamnet.org > http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org > > > _______________________________________________ assam mailing list assam@assamnet.org http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
