An Examined Life

Foreword by Manmohan Singh

Introduction by Shashi Tharoor

An Interview with Karan Singh

‘I Believe’

Dialogue with Daisaku Ikeda

On Hinduism

Essays

Travelogues

Poems[6]

In Memoriam

(written in 1964, on the passing of Jawaharlal Nehru )

Now you are gone, to join the ranks of those

whose names will ever live in every heart

with joyous fragrance, like the budding rose

that was of you so intimate a part;

you fought and strove to give our nation light,

to bring it freedom, break its binding chain,

you warred against a vast, imperial might

you suffered grief and anguish, loss and pain;

but yet you fought, and when at last we won

and took our place in freedom’s glowing light

you did yourself become the nation’s sun

and for her welfare laboured day and night:

Now you are gone, and we who stay behind

will cherish our sweet memories of you

and strive with every power of heart and mind

to make your dreams of glory come out true.

Letters

Memoir

Novella

Farewell Speech to Rajya Sabha[7]

Indian social activist and writer Harsh Mander, reviewing the book in The Indian Express, calls out Karan singh to not address the "profound critique of Hinduism by Ambedkar" and points out that the book is "silent about the massacre of Muslims in Jammu in 1947, the traumatic expulsion of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley, and decades of militancy."[8]

"He records his conviction that what he did was for the “national good”, and that “all the risks and dangers were worth taking if it served the country”. But history would require much more searching self-critical introspection with hindsight, of unhealed wounds left by these momentous political decisions, destined to cast their long shadows for decades."[8]

Historian Harbans Singh has called the book "a must read".[9]