Sunday, September 4, 2011
Came across this series while browsing bookstores in India. Thanks to vacation time, I could polish off the first and second parts in four days, just like old times! The first book is titled “The Immortals of Meluha” and the second is “The Secret of the Nagas”. I can’t remember the last time I’ve finished [...]
I hadn’t read fantasy fiction in quite a while and decided to give this book a spin based on many recommendations. The first of a series, the novel is about an accomplished but world-weary magician, Kvothe, who has all but retired and become an innkeeper in an insignificant little town, to all intents and purposes [...]
A great book of insights, history and reasoning about the process of innovation. I think Scott Berkun chooses the perfect way to go about describing innovation — debunking the myths and half-truths that have cropped up about it since the term became overly abused in corporate and business communication. The work is far from merely [...]
Who could resist reading a book called Less by an author called Lesser? The book’s subtitle is “Accomplishing more by doing less”. The focus is to try and resolve what the author calls the “busyness” problem — having so much to do in life that we do none of it deeply enough or satisfyingly enough. [...]
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Most of the economic literature that I read tends to fall into two neat categories — dense and nearly incomprehensible, or overly simplistic soundbite material. Fortunately, I’m getting better and picking up books that go into depth but are still understandable. Raj Patel’s brilliant book falls into this category. The main thrust of the book [...]
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Set in the mysterious, dangerous and constantly changing terrain of the Sunderbans in East India and Bangladesh, this gripping tale of young woman’s journey unfolds spectacularly with all the drama of a Shakespearean play and mythological echoes of the great Indian epics. A young Indian born American marine biologist, Piyali Roy journeys to the Sunderbans [...]
Thursday, October 21, 2010
“There are no good stories in Kashmir. There are only difficult, ambiguous, and unresolved stories.” This line from Curfewed Night perfectly captures the message of the book. Basharat Peer tells an enchanting, if sad, tale of his childhood and youth in the Kashmir valley. The struggles of its people walking a thin line between two [...]
A marvelous story told in (almost) classic British comic style by Hugh Laurie, who played Bertie Wooster in the “Jeeves and Wooster” TV series. A review I read before reading the book spoke of this as a mix of P. G. Wodehouse and Fredrick Forsyth and I didn’t believe it. I won’t say I buy [...]
I’ve been reading quite a bit lately, but with a new job and tons of other things; writing reviews hasn’t kept up. Here are a couple of quick reviews of recent reads. More later. Game Change John Heilemann and Mark Halperin A great inside look at all aspects of the 2008 US Presidential election. It [...]
You’ve heard the old joke right? When mankind first went into space, the only computers available were used to control the spacecraft. And so, humans needed, you know, pen-and-paper. Unfortunately, pens rely on the downward flow on ink, which in turn relies on gravity, which isn’t a given in space. And so the Americans apparently [...]
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