the brook

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 into that description, but I understand what they meant.

The book tells the tale of retired British military serviceman Thomas Lang, who accidentally gets involved with a dangerous crowd involving British politicians, Middle Eastern terrorists and the American military-industrial complex. The plot is actually not too bad, and certainly hangs together; even if there are a few somewhat incredible parts to it. I won’t give it the highest praise for suspense and thrill, but that is more than made up for by the way the yarn is spun — in the first person of T. Lang. The language is dry, self-deprecating, dripping with sarcasm, and outright funny. I’d forgotten how rarely one reads books that have laugh-out-loud moments. Certainly not to be missed.

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 covers both the Democratic and Republican nominations as well as the general election. The book is fast paced and perfectly embodies the theme of truth being stranger than fiction. In parts thriller, and in parts soap-opera, the book contains quite a few surprises for a political outsider or novice.

The biggest surprise is that the major drivers of the successful candidates were seemingly small “mistakes” by others — a chance misstatement here by a spokesman or spouse, the focus of the press on one particular story instead of another. If you believe the book’s causality chain, this book will leave you feeling quite disturbed about the workings of democracy.

Elsewhere, the book speaks of the various dramas that unfolded over the course of the election — Hilary and Obama’s bitter fight with the surprise ending of Hilary becoming SecState, the unexpected selection of Sarah Palin as McCain’s running mate, the McCain campaign’s recovery from a near-death spiral into oblivion, Obama’s embarrassment by his preacher Jeremiah Wright and more. Pretty much like the juicy part of the West Wing, with not much emphasis on policy. That’s one thing the book does not deal with… I do know that there were proper policy debates on issues like health care and so on but they’re rarely discussed and if so, only in a political context. Fair enough, I guess, given that the book is meant to be a thriller.

Your Brain at Work

David Rock

I decided to read this book after watching a wonderful presentation by the author at Google (here’s the video). The book and the author’s work is aimed at improving and optimizing mental performance. The central theme of this book is to explain various kinds of ‘blocks’ to clear thinking, insight and mental productivity to the reader, and to provide strategies for avoiding or getting around them.

I found approach in the book to be unique. At the beginning of every chapter, the author describes a scene from the life of a couple at work and sometimes at home — usually a scene where mistakes by the characters lead to them making poor decisions. The author then explains the issue, presents solid research about his point, and ends the chapter with a ‘take two’ — how the story might have unfolded if the characters had followed the right strategies.

A sample of the issues discussed — external distractions, internal mental competition among tasks that we must perform, interactions with emotions, the nature of mental insights. I could pretty much relate to every single chapter. In any book like this, it’s quite easy to get lost in the nitty-gritties of the research material presented as you go through it; so the author very helpfully provides a clear summary of the points discussed and improvement steps at the end of each chapter. I picked up this book from the library, but this is one that I’ll buy and read again and again.

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 spent millions on research to develop a pen that would work in space. The Russians, who spent their millions on the spacecraft, used pencils.

The story isn’t true (more here). Regardless, the reason it sticks around in anyone’s head is it matches a lot of real life situations. Simple solutions don’t always get implemented first. Which brings me to the topic on my mind today, Amazon’s Kindle. Not the device, but the ecosystem.

Amazon is basically a retailer. While they’ve probably made a lot of money selling Kindle devices, their real interest is in selling books to people through their store, and redefining the publishing market. The proof’s in the pudding – they now have apps to read Kindle content via PCs, Macs, iPhones, iPads, BlackBerries, with “more reading apps on the way”. And you can buy Kindle books and read them on these devices without ever buying a Kindle. Clearly, the Kindle device itself isn’t central to this ecosystem.

I have to applaud the effort. Especially when they have a device as brilliant as the Kindle, opening up the ecosystem to include more devices is a commendable vision and a fascinating idea. It’s the first time a user can have an entire library of books available at the press of a button or the touch of a screen on so many devices. But, to truly transform that vision into reality, they’d need an Android app, a Palm app, a symbian app, a Chrome OS app, a Linux app… the list goes on. Wouldn’t it just be simple to — make a web app that’s accessible for any net-enabled device?

That will go farther, I’d argue, than any other reading-app effort in keeping users with the Kindle platform. Of the phones, you only have so much market penetration; and people just don’t have their computers with them all the time. While it’s probably too much to hope that Amazon or any other retailer will ever convince publishers to remove DRM completely from books, having a web app truly means your Kindle library is as open as possible. Go for it, Amazon.

One of the most impactful books I’ve read about photography. Very little words, except the thousands in the photographs. Any number of gurus, books, lectures on photography will tell you how important it is that a photograph tell a story; but until I read this book, I really didn’t understand.

I can give no better testimonial to the book than tell you a little story that the book inspired in my own photographic efforts soon after I read it.

We were in Yosemite with friends a couple of weeks ago, on the cusp of winter and spring. It was still snowed in, and the views were breathtakingly beautiful. An hour before sunset, a posse of photographers gathered on Sentinel Bridge to capture the majestic Half Dome bathed in the last rays of the sun. Unfortunately, nature had other ideas; and we waited in vain while a cloud obscured half dome all the way till darkness. If I hadn’t read Abell’s book, I might have gone back disappointed. Instead I made this photo, the pros with their cameras and the amateurs with theirs – there’s even a phone camera in the mix – all restless and, by this time, resigned to not making that ideal sunset photograph. There’s a sense of irony and bemusement that I’ll always remember. Click on the image for a larger version.

Almost a decade and a half ago, a friend and I did something many considered somewhat batty. We walked from Juhu to Versova along the beach. It isn’t really much of a challenge, the distance being about four or five kilometers. For some reason, large swathes of the beach were empty, deserted and relatively far from the touch of civilization (I’m sure that has changed now). We had never walked there before, nor knew anyone who had, nor in fact knew that there would be a way to get from Juhu beach to Versova (where I lived).

We encountered many things, but what I remember is a solitary camel sitting across a shallow creek that we had to pass; I remember deliberating over our safety in case the animal decided to be unfriendly. We went through; all we got was a quizzical stare.

This delightful ramble of words celebrates walking for walking’s own sake. I walk these days to reach places, to exercise, to photograph; but I cannot remember a recent time when I walked just for the sake of walking, and seeing what would show up – both within and without.

The book is many things – a collection of trivia about walking, wonderful descriptions of walks that the author has taken, an argument that walking works wonders for mental health, but most of all, to me, it was a reminder that walking is not just an abstraction. Walking can be a screen on which life is projected — obvious when you compare the way people walk in New York with those in a small town. Walking can be a wellspring of creativity – many greats, from Dirac to Dickens, have been inspired during walks.

Reading this brought back some fond memories and taught me to try and not treat walking as only a means to an end.

Decided to give the Dresden Files series a try based on the recommendation of friends. It’s a fantasy series, only set in modern Chicago. The main character, Harry Dresden, is a wizard, master of spells and deals with demons and the like.

I’ve always been interested in what a fantasy story in the modern setting would look like. This book, however, isn’t exactly what I was looking for. There’s little character development, no clear belief system for the magic being used, and no major philosophical exploration. In short, this isn’t a book by Tolkien or Robert Jordan. It could hardly be one at just over 250 pages.

Having said that though, it’s a great read. It’s fast paced, witty and you can quickly identify with the protagonist, who pretty much narrates the story. Lots of action and a decent plot kept the pages turning for me. I’ll move on to the next few books in the series and hope it doesn’t get boring!

This wonderful novel explores personal stories behind religious fundamentalism in India. A young man, Vijay, brought up in South India, comes to Bombay to be a journalist in a little known magazine. The magazine’s editor, portrayed as a staunch believer in secularism and a deep thinker, heavily influences him. Vijay ends up getting involved in the riots in Bombay soon after the Babri Masjid incident.

To recover from his trauma, the editor sends Vijay back to South India to a town in the Nilgiri mountains. In many ways the retreat is a paradise, yet what awaits there is a reflection of what he has just been through – potential sectarian violence and fundamentalist rhetoric being propagated to achieve political ends. Being who he is, and spurred on by a short piece which he’s reviewing for his editor, Vijay cannot help but get involved and the story recounts the tale of his findings and efforts and their ultimate consequences.

One highlight is the piece which the protagonist is reviewing for his editor – which happens to be titled “The solitude of emperors” – and is about how three great men of India – Ashoka, Akbar and Gandhi – brought massive change in the country. This work, recounted piecewise during the novel briefly describes the beliefs and actions of each of these men, and ends with a wonderfully inspiring call to imbibe and contribute to the greatness of India.

Inhale the genius of this country. Do not discount anything, the transcendent poetry of the Sufi and Bhakti poets, the architecture of Hampi and Fatehpur Sikri and Mount Abu, the teachings of Ramana Maharshi and the Shirdi Sai Baba. Let the plaintive wail of the shehnai fill your senses, the plangent notes of the sarod and the sitar slice through the dullness of your waking life…

…do not neglect to absorb the poverty and violence and savagery of this country of extremes. Experience the despair of the coal miner in Dhanbad, where the very land is on fire, understand the hopelessness of the marginal cotton farmer in Andhra Pradesh, mourn with the widow of the Sikh garage owner who witnessed her husband being burnt alive in the Delhi riots of 1984. Let their pain become yours.

The other highlight is the characters in the book who represent a spectrum of actors in the play of sectarian violence in India and their personal stories. The idealistic and far-thinking editor who realized late in life that the nation needs every bit of help fighting off fundamentalists. The suave politician who can cleverly, even reasonably, argue for the need of religious glory in a country like India. The charismatic misfit and loner who has seen the world and seems to have given up fighting for it. And of course the protagonist who starts off apathetic, but is shaped by circumstances to care about something greater than himself.

A gripping tale, and yet more than a tale because it touches reality so deeply, and leaves the reader with a lot to think about.

Something went wrong with this post. I suspect wordpress was hacked somehow.

Looking into it.

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I read this book about a month ago. Off the bat I can tell you that Bryan Peterson is an amazing writer, and when it comes to teaching photography technique, I’ve not read a better author (I highly recommend his other book as well, titled “Learning to see creatively”).

I wanted to wait till I’d tried out a few techniques before posting a review. Today, I can confidently tell you that this book is a winner. It has taught me some of the most important things I’ve ever learned about photography. I was slightly embarrassed after reading this book because I realized how little care or thought I put in for most of my photography.

Since I’ve always dealt with automatic cameras (even my film camera half a decade ago was an automatic), I’ve never thought much about exposure – how much light is captured by the camera and in what way – something that is determined by the triplet of aperture size, shutter speed and sensor sensitivity (ISO). Understanding Exposure offers a wealth of insight into the subject, divided by two main themes.

The first theme describes a “correct” exposure is and how to get it. This is mainly about determining the correct amount of light that’s captured in each shot. The automatic metering of a camera can often be wrong for complex scenes – especially those that involve both sky and land – which used to often result in washed out scenes that didn’t look too impressive. The biggest change this book induced in my shooting: I now mostly shoot in manual mode. Even on my compact Canon Powershot A570 IS. And I can tell the difference.

The second theme is about getting the “creatively correct” exposure – and this describes making the right choice of shutter speed and aperture size to enhance your composition. These concepts I was more or less aware of but its still very well explained, and it was good to go through it again.

Of course, the ideas are explained with the help of many photographs from the author’s portfolio. The photographs are relevant and often breathtaking. Overall, this is an inspiring book and has certainly changed the way I shoot. I’d heartily recommend it to anyone who’s getting serious about photography.

One the one hand, I’d say Great Britain owes Bill Bryson a ton for this amazing book and travelogue across Britain. On the other, the book is so well written that it’s a toss up to say whether an actual trip would be more enjoyable.

Kidding, of course, but not too much. Bryson captures more than just the scenery or culture of Britain – having lived there for a long time, his writing captures the essence of the people, the history, and the stories that define the place.

The book is a commentary as Bryson traveled around Britain just before he was moving back to the USA. What I loved about the book is that it’s not merely a summary of the high points of Britain – Bryson writes about every situation he found himself in, whether good or bad, and makes it interesting using a wonderful sense of humour and his signature dry wit. One can’t help but appreciate and connect with a book in which the boring conversations on trains make you laugh as much as the descriptions of grand views and cathedrals make you daydream in wonder.

The personality of the writing (and writer) is charming as well. Self-deprecating at many occasions, and very human, the Bryson isn’t afraid to admit that his opinion about a particular county changed overnight – for three nights running. And some of the personal incidents he narrates are hilarious. Here’s a gem:

Eventually, a voice annouced that because of faults further up the line this train would terminate at Stockport, which elicited a general groan. At each station the voice apologized for the delay and announced anew that the train would terminate at Stockport. When at last we reached Stockport, ninety minutes late, I expected everyone to get off, but no-one moved, so neither did I. Only one passenger, a Japanese fellow, dutifully disembarked, then watched in dismay as the train proceeded on, without explanation and without him, to Manchester.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you – this book will make you laugh out loud. An absolutely delightful read.