Skip to main content

Best books of the year

These are the best books I read this year - they may well have been published in 1900...but these are what I read and enjoyed...

A Stroke of Insight - worth reading if you want to understand a little more on how the brain functions

The Second machine age - has a very pertinent take on the age of machines - and it makes you think. I plan to read the sequel to this in the coming year.

The Leadership moment - 9 stories on leadership - not your usual leadership stories and that makes it a rivetting read

Alan Mullaly and the fight to save Americas Icon - has some good insights on corporate culture in the  fight to turnaround Ford

The Box - is a fabulous story of the Container - yes, something as simple as a container and it is such a great story to read

A man called Ove - a fictional bittersweet story about an old man from a different generation...

Call of the wild - an old classic about a dog, but a heartwarming read

Wonder - its a childrens book, but my, does it make you think!

Eragon - again a childrens book, loosely modelled on LOTR? I lost interest after the first one...

Divergent - sci fiction - starts on a strong premise - then I got bored of the book

Wonder why there are so many childrens books, it is because they get these books home and I get curious enough to read some of them...

Apart from this, Mindset - by Carol Dweck - this is a classic read.

Anywhere but home - the story of Anu Vaidyanathan - is a candid read on the world of long distance running by Indias first Ironman (yes, a woman)

Ingenius (Tina Seelig): the worst book I read this year

A general theory of love: This is a neuro biological explanation of the process of love - and I loved it for the explanation of the brain

Behave: A deeper explanation of why we behave, how we behave - not an easy read, but if you are interested, this is a book worth reading...

Irrestible: easily my most thinking book of the year - because it opens the window into the dangerous new world of behavioural addiction - the internet

Homo Sapiens - a little late to the party, but easily my best read of the year...

And as for the coming year, the reading list is already lined up...

, 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Be Civil. Make nice!

Popular posts from this blog

The man who saved Pumpelsdrop

This was a story we had in college if I am not mistaken. Perhaps it was in school, but a delightful story it was. The story goes somewhat like this ( reproduced from here ), but the college version we had was slightly different from this.  I t was a dull, gloomy and a depressing morning in a town named Pumpelsdrop in northern England. The Great Depression had brought all the businesses to a standstill. The bored automobile dealer was spending time alone, as usual. But, this seems to be an unusual morning as an odd entity (customer) appeared on the horizon. A man in a bright suit walks up to the dealer and says, "I need to buy a Rolls Royce Phantom II. We have a business conference coming up and I need to impress my customers". Then proceeds to pay 10% of the deal with a single check for 2000 pounds. The rest he says will pay when he takes the delivery.   The auto dealer was stunned. He was delighted to hear that someone is holding a business conference of some kind and ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Most Powerful Idea in the World

The above titled book by William Rosen (and I am still reading it) has set me thinking. As it goes through the industrial revolution (rather, the beginning of it) - it explores as to why the industrial revolution happened when it happened. Rather, how a lot of factors came to play in making it happen. For that alone this book is worth a read. It is worth reading how a 'dotcom' kind of ecosystem existed in England with the combination of tinkerers, rich patrons, correspondence and of course, the right kind of institutions. When one studies engineering, or even science, what we hear are the rock star stories. For instance, we know that Archimedes had a 'Eureka' moment. Likewise, in this book, I realized how a 'Eureka' moment helped James Watt resolve the problematic steam engine into a workable design. While it is very romantic to believe that discoveries happen accidentally, the fact remains that somebody like a James Watt (or others) slogged through many man...
Post a Comment
Read more

Narendra Modi, Presentation Skills

This is the latest speech by Narendra Modi which was delivered yesterday at the India Today Conclave. Much analysis has been carried out on this speech, but here is a different perspective. I have written about Presentation skills - and to me this is a video that touches upon almost all aspects of presentation skills. For someone who wants to learn public speaking, presentation skills this speech is a great example. It is well worth your time, if you want to see presentation skills in action (and the bonus of a great speech). The speech is largely in Hindi, though there are parts in English as well.  Mr. Modi uses a video at the start (which is missing here) - so the speech uses other media as well - surprising the audience - since politicians arent generally given to videos. That initial video has made the audience look forward to more. The speech is extempore - which can only happen when one knows the subject thoroughly. I personally don't know how much Mr. Modi practices...
1 comment
Read more