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Archive for the ‘Book Review’ Category

Get Enchanted by Guy Kawasaki

Posted in Book Review, Internet, Leadership, Silicon Valley, Startups, tagged , , , on March 7, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Guy Kawasaki has had a remarkable career, gaining notoriety first as Chief Evangelist at Apple followed by successful stints as an entrepreneur and venture capitalist. Given his background as a product visionary, when I had the chance to read his new book Enchantment (subtitled The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions), I suspected it would yield the key to creating enchanting products.   To my delight, it was so much more than that- it was in fact, more of a blueprint to a lead better life, and first and foremost, offer ways to positively change your own heart, mind, and actions. (more…)

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India Calling by Anand Giridharadas- the next great book about India?

Posted in Book Review, India, tagged , , , , on January 30, 2011| Leave a Comment »

India Calling, An Intimate Portrait of a Nation’s Remaking is a recently released book by Anand Giridharadas (a columnist for the International Herald Tribune and New York Times online) which has been receiving overwhelming positive reviews from various media outlets (NY Times Article review here, NPR Interview here, an appearance on the Daily Show, which you can see here).   I haven’t read the book, but it’s now on the top of my to read list.   (more…)

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Reading List from Foreign Policy’s Top 100 Global Thinkers

Posted in Book Review, Economics, India, Internet, Public Policy, Technology, tagged , , on December 31, 2010| 3 Comments »

In my previous post, I mentioned the recommended book list from Foreign Policy’s Top 100 Global Thinkers of 2010.   Here’s a slide show version the book list on Foreign Policy’s site.   For a quick glance at Top 20 books, here’s the full list in one spot with the book description offered by Foreign Policy magazine.

  1. Fault Lines by Raghuram Rajan– Rajan’s look at the fissures that brought about the global financial crisis — and which are still at work today.
  2. Too Big to Fail by Andrew Ross Sorkin– As the Wall Street crisis went global, Sorkin updated his account of the crisis’s ground zero to include more recent events. (more…)

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My favorite books of the decade

Posted in Book Review, Pop Culture, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on January 24, 2010| 2 Comments »

Earlier, I wrote about the many lists of top moments and events of the decade that just passed (2000-2009) and I joined in on the fun with my list of the top sporting moments of the decade.   Now, inspired by the theme of my blog, I’d like to do my last recap- my favorite books of the decade. These are the books I find myself most often bringing up in conversation and referencing to others and overall have had the most impact on my thinking.

As a reader of this blog may know, my interests center around these primary categories (in no particular order): Globalization, Sports, Thrillers, Technology, Business, fiction about India, non-fiction about India, and Pop Culture. The books I’ve read also fall into those categories and since it’s often difficult to compare such different genres, I’m going to list my favorite it in each category, along with close runner-ups.  Some of these books may have actually been published in the 1990’s, but I didn’t actually read them until the 2000’s. (more…)

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The decline of baseball amidst a changing society

Posted in Book Review, Pop Culture, Sports, tagged , , , , , , on December 13, 2009| 7 Comments »

Last month, I watched part of Game 2 of the World Series between the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Yankees with a colleague.  While watching, it dawned on me that this was the first game of this year’s baseball post-season that I’d seen.  To me, that is a significant revelation regarding the plight of Major League Baseball and its trajectory for the future.  I’d consider myself one of baseball’s more hardcore fans, one who has unfailingly watched postseason baseball games for more than 30 years, even if my team, the Cincinnati Reds, are not in the postseason (which unfortunately has been the case most of the nineties and in the 2000’s).  I’m the type of fan who can still recite most of the uniform numbers of Reds players and their main rivals since the 80’s and also can mimic the batting stances of most of those players as well. (more…)

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Beyond Freakonomics…it’s Superfreakonomics

Posted in Book Review, Pop Culture, tagged , , , , , on November 25, 2009| 4 Comments »

A few years ago, the book Freakonomics written by economist Steven D. Levitt and journalist Stephen J. Dubner came out.  I found that book to be ground-breaking and fascinating, a book in many ways that has inspired me to take my natural analytical inclination and apply it to a diverse set of topics and document it in this very blog (examples such as Internet Freedom by Country and Corruption Rankings, Steroids and Game Theory, and Will Facebook improve or worsen High School Reunions).   For me, Freakonomics helped ignite curiosity and evaluation of both every day and unusual, rare events.

Now four years later, Levitt and Dubner have released their follow up book—the aptly named SuperFreakonimcs.  I just completed reading the book.  Here’s my review of the book.

Summary (more…)

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India and the US in the 21st Century- An evening with former Ambassador Teresita Schaffer

Posted in Book Review, India, tagged , , , , on October 7, 2009| 4 Comments »

Earlier this week, I attended an enjoyable lecture by former Ambassador Teresita Schaffer about India- US relations at Stanford University.  Schaffer is currently the Director, South Asia Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies and formerly held a long diplomatic career which included serving as U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka and as Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs.   In her role as Director, South Asia Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies, her regional expertise includes India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the rest of South Asia.  She is the author of the book, India and the U.S. in the 21st Century – Reinventing Partnership.

The lecture was co-sponsored by the India Community Center, Bay Area, The Center for South Asia Stanford University, The Asia Foundation & World Affairs Council of Northern California. (more…)

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Shantaram and The White Tiger: A stark contrast

Posted in Book Review, Entertainment, India, tagged , , , , on September 26, 2009| 5 Comments »

Two recent fiction books set in and depicting life in India that have become internationally acclaimed are Shantaram and The White Tiger.  Shantaram, written by Gregory David Roberts, is a semi-autobiographical fiction book based upon some of Roberts’ real life experiences as a fugitive from an Australian prison who flees to Bombay in the 80’s and has a wide range of experiences there including living in a Bombay slum and a small rural village, joining the Indian mafia, fighting in Afghanistan against the Russians, and acting in Bollywood movies.   The White Tiger was written by journalist, Aravind Adiga, and tells a fictional story of a driver in modern day India who serves an upper class businessman and ultimately becomes a successful entrepreneur in Bangalore after escaping what he calls life in the Darkness through, what most would say, the worst way possible. (more…)

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Daniel Silva’s The Defector- A Review

Posted in Book Review, Entertainment, tagged , , , on August 12, 2009| 1 Comment »

I just finished reading the recently released book The Defector, by Daniel Silva.  Silva is the best selling author of thriller and espionage books, having written 12 thriller novels, many of which have reached the New York Times best selling list.   A fan of the thriller genre, I’ve read and enjoyed Silva’s previous 11 books and as usual, quickly purchased The Defector when it was released in July.   The Defector continues the Gabriel Allon series, the Israeli intelligence hero that Silva has used in his last 8 books.   Here are a couple of initial thoughts, without giving away the entire story. (more…)

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The Power of the Indian head wiggle

Posted in Book Review, India, Travel, tagged , , , , , , on April 30, 2009| 9 Comments »

I recently read the wildly entertaining book, Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. It’s a fiction book, but semi-autobiographical, based upon some of Roberts’ real life experiences as a fugitive from an Australian prison who flees to Bombay and has a wide range of experiences there including living in a slum, joining the Indian mafia, fighting in Afghanistan against the Russians, and acting in Bollywood movies.

In one passage in the book, he writes about the Indian gesture, the head-wiggle (also commonly called the head bobble).

From Shantaram

“No discovery pleased me more, on that first excursion from the city, than the full translation of the famous Indian head-wiggle.  (more…)

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