Not the Whole Truth My Life and Times

Tariq Rahman’s autobiography can be enjoyed for its accessible and humorous style of writing. It reads like a story of a certain sub-culture of Pakistani society which touches upon lived life in the armed forces and universities of the country. It also touches upon life in other countries and some of the world’s top universities: University of California, Berkeley, Cambridge, Oxford and Heidelberg. It is also of interest for both social and academic historians since they can cross check certain accounts of trends, fashions and attitudes in different walks of life in Pakistan and abroad. It provides valuable insights into the way universities functioned and how research was done in Pakistan between the 1980s till 2024. The author’s way of functioning may not be the typical way in which most academics functioned but still it provides some understanding of the processes of conducting research, publishing and teaching. It is relevant to mention that there is paucity of biographical accounts of academics in Pakistan. This autobiography, therefore, is an attempt to fill in this gap in biographical literature.