In The Earth In Custody: Verses of Lament and Comment, a collection of poignant poetry, Subhash S. Naik delves into the urgent and unsettling theme of our planet's decline due to pollution. Following a complementary foreword and engaging preface, Naik explains his motivation and inspiration for the book. The verses are structured into thematic groupings. The poetry offers various themes including the portrayal of pollution as a menacing antagonist, the poet's sadness, anger toward governance, and reflective conclusions. The anthology showcases a diverse array of verse forms from across the globe, occasionally prefacing them to educate readers about their stylistic nuances. While not aligned with any specific faith, many poems draw from religious and philosophical traditions, underscoring the global commonality of the subject matter.

The Earth In Custody's many verses can be consumed in bite-sized portions, akin to a coffee table book. The book's organization and presentation are well laid out. The writing itself is passionate, heated, and symbolic for anyone feeling helpless about the state of our planet. The verses offer varying degrees of depth, ranging from humorous and light-hearted to literary and evocative, making the collection relatable to readers with any level of interest in poetry. By including references to the numerous poetry styles, Naik further engages the reader to look at the poetry format as well as the content. Subhash S. Naik has used a unique approach to channel his frustrations and anger at our declining planet into something beautiful and engaging and should be applauded for that.

The Earth in Custody by Subhash S. Naik is a collection of poems that discuss problems associated with the environment and society. It begins with a short introduction by R. Gopalakrishnan, who talks about the main idea of the collection and Naik's special viewpoint as an engineer exploring poetry. The poems cover different kinds of pollution and how the weather is changing due to human activities. The poet combines different cultural elements uniquely, using Hindi-Urdu and Sanskrit words to make the poems more meaningful and to show cultural identity. This mix of languages makes the poems more emotional and easier for a wider range of people to understand and connect with. He talks about global issues like global warming and ozone layer depletion.

The Earth in Custody encourages us to think about how we can protect our planet. It helped me understand that if we all work together, we can make a bigger impact. Subhash S. Naik’s writing style is interesting and engaging, making complex topics understandable to readers of all backgrounds. His unique way of looking at things and thoughtful study shows how important it is to work on conserving the environment. The poems in this collection encourage people to take care of the earth and work toward creating a sustainable future. Naik's message made me realize that every little thing we do helps the environment. I highly recommend this book to people who want to keep the earth safe and bring about positive change for our future generations.

The Earth In Custody by Subhash S Naik is a collection of poems that aim to raise awareness about pollution and the importance of environmental protection. Our planet is experiencing extreme weather changes, depletion of natural resources, and the extinction of animal and plant species. If these changes are not addressed, they can lead to the end of the human race. Therefore, it is crucial to educate people on the actions they can take to save our planet for future generations. The poems in this book describe pollution as an epidemic, a virus, a scoundrel, or a demon that humans have allowed to take over the world. The author paints a vivid picture of the warnings we have ignored and the damage our greed is still causing.

The Earth In Custody is a collection of captivating poems, with profound messages that will appeal to every reader's emotions. Subhash S Naik uses his creative, artistic skills to write thought-provoking poetry and his technical expertise to educate readers about pollution. He includes Sanskrit and Hindi words in his works, giving them a traditional feel, and provides their definitions at the end of every poem. The use of mythological creatures and deities was a welcome surprise that added more dimension to the book. I appreciated that he mentions people of all religions, ethnicities, and classes to emphasize that pollution is a global problem affecting everyone. This added diversity and made the messages more impactful. If you love reading poetry that educates and raises awareness, then this book is for you. Overall, it is great work.

The Earth in Custody (Verses of Lament and Comment) by Subhash S Naik is an educational poetry collection that would appeal most to a diverse audience of young adults and adults interested in the health of the planet and its state of pollution. Unlike most environmental health books, this one conveys the damage and risk the planet is enduring in verse. The author uses poetry as a lens to convey the state the planet is in and the way it may harm the lives of everyday people if fast action is not taken. Are you ready to learn the true danger our planet is currently facing?

The Earth in Custody by Subhash S Naik is a well-written compilation that features more than one hundred different poems on various topics related to the health of planet Earth. This is the first time I have read a poetry collection on such a topic and I was blown away because of the emotions it evoked in me. This is not another dry statistics-based book, but rather an emotionally moving collection of poems. Many of the poems disturbed me because they offered a true view of what pollution is doing to our planet, like the poem titled “Pincer Attack,” which says there is no hope for one to fight such an enemy. While many of the poems felt fatalistic, they also really brought home the danger our planet faces, and thus the quality of our lives, much more than any statistics ever have. Overall, I am glad to have read this collection and it has made me want to look into ways that I can help combat pollution.