The author is currently the President of India.
Born on 15th October 1931 at Rameswaram, in Tamil Nadu, Dr Kalam specialised in Aero Engineering from Madras Institute of Technology. He initially worked in DRDO in 1958 and then joined ISRO in 1963. As project Director, SLV-III, he contributed for the design, development and management of India's first indigenous Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-III) to inject Rohini satellite in the near earth orbit. He was responsible for the evolution of ISRO's launch vehicles programme and configurations. He rejoined DRDO in 1982 and conceived the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP) for indigenous missiles. He was Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister and Secretary, Department of Defence Research & Development from July 1992 to December 1999.
Dr Kalam has made significant contribution to Indian satellite and launch vehicles. Through SLV-III and Guided Missile Programme, a solid foundation has been laid for indigenous design and development of high technology aerospace projects. As Chairman, Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC), which generated the Technology Vision 2020 documents, he provided overall guidance to a number of Homegrown Technology Projects and major technology missions such as Sugar, Advanced composites and fly ash utilization.
Dr Kalam has served as the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, in the rank of Cabinet Minister, from November 1999 to November 2001, He was primarily responsible for evolving policies, strategies and missions for generation of innovations and support systems for multiple applications. Also, generating science and technology task in strategic, economic and social sectors in partnership with Government departments, institutions and industry. Dr Kalam was also the Chairman, Ex-officio, of the Scientific Advisory Committee to the Cabinet (SAC-C).
Kalam offers no formulaic prescription in Ignited Minds. Instead, he takes up different issues and themes that struck him on his pilgrimage around the country as he met thousands of school children, teachers, scientists and saints and seers in the course of two years: the necessity for a patriotism that transcends religion and politics; for role models who point out the path to take; and for confidence in ourselves and in our strengths. Who was he to write on so large a theme, he wondered as he started writing this book. But at the end, Kalam's humility notwithstanding, this may well prove to be the book that motivates us to get back on the winning track and unleash the energy within a nation that hasn't allowed itself full rein. 'Though his speeches do not rise to heights of oratory, they do manage--like Mahatma Gandhi's mumblings--to get to the hearts of the common people...Ignited Minds will fire minds of the young to whom it is primarily addressed. It is written in very simple prose: like a school textbook the contents of each chapter are summarised in a few sentences.' --Khushwant Singh, Outlook 'Genius, it is said, is the ability to reduce the complex into the simple.
The strength of Ignited Minds, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam's latest assay at book-writing, lies in the scientist's ability to present some of the most tangled issues that confront the nation in easily digestible packages of information...Kalam's can-do approach even at his age (he turns 71 in October) is a lesson for all those who curl their lips at any talk of India achieving greatness in the near future.' --Raj Chengappa, India Today ' Ignited Minds is a feel-good book that can serve as a true patriot's self-help guide to a better nation.' --The Pioneer