en-US Sat, 10 May 2025 12:05:53 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 221827038 The fiercest wars are fought between siblings.

Tara, a successful Dehli lawyer, is everything her younger brother isn't: dedicated, independent, thriving. When their beloved father retires, he summons them to a meeting. But what he has to say threatens to tear the family apart.

Tara's friend Lila has it all: a great job, a lovely home, a beautiful family. But when Lila's father dies unexpectedly, her brother wastes no time in claiming what he thinks is his.

Together, Tara and Lila are forced to confront the challenge that their ambition poses to patriarchal Delhi society. Set against a backdrop of ecological collapse and political unrest, The Tiger's Share is both a family and a state-of-the-nation novel unlike anything else in contemporary Indian fiction.]]> 256 Keshava Guha 1399813382 Krishna 5 4.00
author: Keshava Guha
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 5
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date added: 2025/05/10
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]]> 41816 275 Isaac Asimov 067149404X Krishna 0 to-read 4.05 1978
author: Isaac Asimov
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1978
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 944994 Marcus Berkmann 0349107424 Krishna 4 4.00 1995
author: Marcus Berkmann
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1995
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/12/29
shelves:
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]]> 213140782 This nuanced portrait delves deep to paint a candid picture of a cricketer’s life before cricket—his struggles with health issues as a child, a middle-class family’s unwavering fight and determination to give him the resources he needed for a professional career in the sport, and the little joys of growing up in a cricket-mad gully.
How does a champion sportsman view the world? What drives him on and off the field? One of the more articulate and thoughtful cricketers, in this book, R. Ashwin tells his story with Sidharth Monga.]]> 234 R. Ashwin 9357086102 Krishna 4 4.20
author: R. Ashwin
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.20
book published:
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/11/02
shelves:
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]]> 195610206 It is not often that an author and his editor strike up a relationship which survives forty years of epistolary exchanges and intellectual sparring.

The strangely enduring and occasionally fractious friendship which developed between the famously outspoken historian Ramachandra Guha and his reticent editor Rukun Advani is the subject of this quite eccentric and thoroughly compelling literary memoir.

It started in Delhi in the early 1980s, when Guha was an unpublished PhD scholar, and Advani a greenhorn editor with Oxford University Press. It blossomed through the 1990s, when Guha grew into a pioneering historian of the environment and of cricket, while also writing his pathbreaking biography of Verrier Elwin. Over these years Advani was Guha’s most constant confidant, his most reliable reader. He encouraged him to craft and refine the literary style for which Guha became internationally known � narrative histories which have made vast areas of scholarship popular and accessible.

Four decades later, though he no longer publishes his books, Advani remains Guha’s most trusted literary adviser. Yet they also disagree ferociously on politics, human nature, and the shape of their commitment to India. They usually make up � because it just wouldn’t do to allow such an odd relationship to die.

Built around letters and emails between an outgoing and occasionally combative scholar and a reclusive editor prone to private outbursts of savage sarcasm, this book is never short of the kind of wit, humour, and drollery that has been strangled by contemporary political correctness.]]> 273 Ramachandra Guha 0008670161 Krishna 4 4.27
author: Ramachandra Guha
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.27
book published:
rating: 4
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date added: 2024/02/11
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]]> 19546759
This entertaining travelogue around ten conducted tours contains myriad riches: of hanging on to a camel in the Thar; rediscovering music on the trail of Kabir; joining an ancient pilgrimage; and hunting for sex in Tashkent.]]> 284 Srinath Perur 0670087017 Krishna 5 "The Indian Railways website is a Rude Goldberg machine that throws one back to the login page if any no. of technical variables and cosmic forces are not in alignment. It came through on the first attempt. And after I'd thrown into a backpack all the white and off-white clothes I possessed, I was ready to leave. For the first time in years my mother looked at her refractory son with approval, even a touch of reluctant admiration. 'Some people plan for years to go to Pandharpur and you've planned it in 2 days'. I'd barely begun to bask in the glow of such rare approbation when she, on further reflection, decided that even if credit were due, it could not be to this edition of me. 'You must have accumulated some punya', she said......I'd shown up there ponytailed, clad in jeans, severely handicapped in the bhakti department and hoping they'd allow me on the pilgrimage".

Waiting for the next edition!]]> 4.04 2013
author: Srinath Perur
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2023/06/17
date added: 2023/06/17
shelves:
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This book is Bill Bryson on steroids. ROTFL funny. Here's an excerpt describing the beginning of the author's Pandharpur Wari -
"The Indian Railways website is a Rude Goldberg machine that throws one back to the login page if any no. of technical variables and cosmic forces are not in alignment. It came through on the first attempt. And after I'd thrown into a backpack all the white and off-white clothes I possessed, I was ready to leave. For the first time in years my mother looked at her refractory son with approval, even a touch of reluctant admiration. 'Some people plan for years to go to Pandharpur and you've planned it in 2 days'. I'd barely begun to bask in the glow of such rare approbation when she, on further reflection, decided that even if credit were due, it could not be to this edition of me. 'You must have accumulated some punya', she said......I'd shown up there ponytailed, clad in jeans, severely handicapped in the bhakti department and hoping they'd allow me on the pilgrimage".

Waiting for the next edition!
]]> 34536488 Ray Dalio, one of the world’s most successful investors and entrepreneurs, shares the unconventional principles that he’s developed, refined, and used over the past forty years to create unique results in both life and business—and which any person or organization can adopt to help achieve their goals.

In 1975, Ray Dalio founded an investment firm, Bridgewater Associates, out of his two-bedroom apartment in New York City. Forty years later, Bridgewater has made more money for its clients than any other hedge fund in history and grown into the fifth most important private company in the United States, according to Fortune magazine. Dalio himself has been named to Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Along the way, Dalio discovered a set of unique principles that have led to Bridgewater’s exceptionally effective culture, which he describes as “an idea meritocracy that strives to achieve meaningful work and meaningful relationships through radical transparency.� It is these principles, and not anything special about Dalio—who grew up an ordinary kid in a middle-class Long Island neighborhood—that he believes are the reason behind his success.

In Principles, Dalio shares what he’s learned over the course of his remarkable career. He argues that life, management, economics, and investing can all be systemized into rules and understood like machines. The book’s hundreds of practical lessons, which are built around his cornerstones of “radical truth� and “radical transparency,� include Dalio laying out the most effective ways for individuals and organizations to make decisions, approach challenges, and build strong teams. He also describes the innovative tools the firm uses to bring an idea meritocracy to life, such as creating “baseball cards� for all employees that distill their strengths and weaknesses, and employing computerized decision-making systems to make believability-weighted decisions. While the book brims with novel ideas for organizations and institutions, Principles also offers a clear, straightforward approach to decision-making that Dalio believes anyone can apply, no matter what they’re seeking to achieve.

Here is a rare opportunity to gain proven advice unlike anything you’ll find in the conventional business press.]]> 16 Ray Dalio 1508243247 Krishna 4 4.09 2017
author: Ray Dalio
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/06/11
shelves:
review:
500 pages about Ray Dalio’s approach to life and work. His principles around the idea meritocracy, radical transparency and honesty and his pursuit of meaningful work and meaningful relationships resonated. Very long but very wise
]]> 54898389 244 Eric Jorgenson Krishna 4 4.39 2020
author: Eric Jorgenson
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/06/10
shelves:
review:
This book is very gyaany and can be a little annoying at times. But I still learnt a ton - so I’d recommend it.
]]> 58009109
Named a Best Book of 2022 by The Economist

“A gripping fly-on-the-wall story of the rise of this unique and important industry based on extensive interviews with some of the most successful venture capitalists.� - Daniel Rasmussen, Wall Street Journal

“A must-read for anyone seeking to understand modern-day Silicon Valley and even our economy writ large.� -Bethany McLean, The Washington Post

"A rare and unsettling look inside aĚýsubculture of unparalleled influence.â€� —Jane Mayer

"A classic...A book of exceptional reporting, analysis and storytelling.� —Charles Duhigg

From the New York Times bestselling author of More Money Than God comes the astonishingly frank and intimate story of Silicon Valley’s dominant venture-capital firms—and how their strategies and fates have shaped the path of innovation and the global economy

Innovations rarely come from “experts.� Elon Musk was not an “electric car person� before he started Tesla. When it comes to improbable innovations, a legendary tech VC told Sebastian Mallaby, the future cannot be predicted , it can only be discovered . It is the nature of the venture-capital game that most attempts at discovery fail, but a very few succeed at such a scale that they more than make up for everything else. That extreme ratio of success and failure is the power law that drives the VC business, all of Silicon Valley, the wider tech sector, and, by extension, the world.
ĚýĚý
In The Power Law , Sebastian Mallaby has parlayed unprecedented access to the most celebrated venture capitalists of all time—the key figures at Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins, Accel, Benchmark, and Andreessen Horowitz, as well as Chinese partnerships such as Qiming and Capital Today—into a riveting blend of storytelling and analysis that unfurls the history of tech incubation, in the Valley and ultimately worldwide. We learn the unvarnished truth, often for the first time, about some of the most iconic triumphs and infamous disasters in Valley history, from the comedy of errors at the birth of Apple to the avalanche of venture money that fostered hubris at WeWork and Uber.
Ěý
VCs� relentless search for grand slams brews an obsession with the ideal of the lone entrepreneur-genius, and companies seen as potential “unicorns� are given intoxicating amounts of power, with sometimes disastrous results. On a more systemic level, the need to make outsized bets on unproven talent reinforces bias, with women and minorities still represented at woefully low levels. This does not just have social justice as Mallaby relates, China’s homegrown VC sector, having learned at the Valley’s feet, is exploding and now has more women VC luminaries than America has ever had. Still, Silicon Valley VC remains the top incubator of business innovation anywhere—it is not where ideas come from so much as where they go to become the products and companies that create the future. By taking us so deeply into the VCs� game, The Power Law helps us think about our own future through their eyes.]]> 496 Sebastian Mallaby 052555999X Krishna 4 4.41 2022
author: Sebastian Mallaby
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2022
rating: 4
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date added: 2023/06/10
shelves:
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An interesting history of venture capital. Got a little boring towards the end. But nevertheless a good easy read.
]]> 13601144 240 Jerry Pinto 8192328023 Krishna 5 4.20 2012
author: Jerry Pinto
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2012
rating: 5
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date added: 2023/06/10
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The story of a family whose lives revolve around a mentally ill mother. Jerry Pinto’s dry wit is a real treat. Only he can make such a storyline so funny
]]> 8198781
WG Karunasena, a man who spent 64 years drinking arrack and watching cricket decides to find out ...If you have never seen a cricket match; or if you have and it has made you snore ...If you can’t understand why anyone would watch, let alone obsess over this dull game ...... then this IS the book for you]]> 416 Shehan Karunatilaka 9555236003 Krishna 5 4.17 2010
author: Shehan Karunatilaka
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2010
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/06/10
shelves:
review:
An absolutely delightful book for a cricket lover who grew up in the 90s. Sri Lankan culture. Match fixing. Militancy. All woven into the quest for the story of a mystery spinner.
]]> 11089 ĚýA New York Times and million copy bestseller, the classic handbook on reading aloud to children—revised and updated



Recommended by “Dear Abby�, The New York Times and The Washington Post, for three decades, millions of parents and educators have turned to Jim Trelease's beloved classic to help countless children become avid readers through awakening their imaginations and improving their language skills. Now this new edition of The Read-Aloud Handbook imparts the benefits, rewards, and importance of reading aloud to children of a new generation. Supported by delightful anecdotes as well as the latest research, The Read-Aloud Handbook offers proven techniques and strategies—and the reasoning behind them—for helping children discover the pleasures of reading and setting them on the road to becoming lifelong readers.]]> 340 Jim Trelease 0143037390 Krishna 0 to-read 4.39 1982
author: Jim Trelease
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.39
book published: 1982
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/07/14
shelves: to-read
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]]> 60374537 'What is India's future? I deeply believe in India's promise, in our potential for great achievement. I am also old enough to appreciate our ability to snatch failure from the jaws of success.'


THE Our diverse culture has something for everyone. Our young population is thirsty for education and achievement. And a strong private sector is our engine of growth. We can lead the world in the future.

THE We struggle to create a business-friendly environment. We lag in innovation. Education, public health and quality of jobs demand attention. Our governments control some things too much and neglect others.

How can the government, citizens and firms turn our struggle into promise and enable India to lead? How can we fix things by learning from best practices elsewhere? How can we ensure openness, inclusivity and innovation? How can independent institutions make up for low state capacity? How can our culture deliver leadership?

In ­The Struggle and the Promise, Naushad Forbes answers these and other critical questions concerning India's progress. He provides a logical, actionable blueprint for getting the balance right between industry, institutions and policy. Backed by rigorous research and copious data, here's a book that shows how to fulfil India's potential.]]> 388 Naushad Forbes 9354893961 Krishna 0 to-read 4.33
author: Naushad Forbes
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.33
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/07/14
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]]> 55625811
Rarely can a rain delay in a cricket match have led to anything like the moment when Holding spoke out in the wake of the #BlackLivesMatter protests about the racism he has suffered and has seen all around him throughout his life. But as he spoke, he sought not only to educate but to propose a way forward that inspired so many. Within minutes, he was receiving calls from famous sports stars from around the world offering to help him to spread the message further. Now, in Why We Kneel, How We Rise, Holding sharesĚýhis story together with those of some of the most iconic athletes in the world. He delivers a powerful and inspiring message of hope for the future and a vision for change, and takes you through history to understand the racism of today. He adds:Ěý'To say I was surprised at the volume of positive feedback I received from around the world after my comments on Sky Sports is an understatement. I came to realise I couldn’t just stop there; I had to take it forward â€� hence the book, as I believe education is the way forward.']]> Michael Holding 1398503592 Krishna 0 to-read 4.43 2021
author: Michael Holding
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/01/02
shelves: to-read
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]]> 4808763
En un relato aparentemente sencillo sobre un asunto sobrecogedor, el fin de los días, Asimov demuestra, una vez más, una mente preclara y una mano maestra para sobrecoger al lector y dejarlo en vilo, incluso después de la lectura.]]> 9 Isaac Asimov 1884214495 Krishna 0 to-read 4.56 1956
author: Isaac Asimov
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.56
book published: 1956
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/01/01
shelves: to-read
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]]> 174713 119 Will Durant 1567310249 Krishna 0 to-read 4.05
author: Will Durant
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.05
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/01/01
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]]> 268266 Thinking Physics is a perfect beginner’s guide to an amazingly wide range of physics-related questions. The book targets topics that science teachers and students spend time wondering about, like wing lift. Epstein elucidates the familiar but misunderstood � such as how tides work � along with more obscure but fascinating phenomena like the “Bernoulli sub� and the “artificial aurora� created by hydrogen bombs. Broken into many short sections and peppered with Epstein’s own playful hand-drawn illustrations, the book does not simply give the right answer: It also goes into the answers that seem right but are wrong and shows why they are wrong � a rarity in science books. Thinking Physics is a rigorously correct, lighthearted, and cleverly designed Q and A book for physicists of all ages.]]> 582 Lewis Carroll Epstein 0935218084 Krishna 0 to-read 4.44 1989
author: Lewis Carroll Epstein
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.44
book published: 1989
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/01/01
shelves: to-read
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]]> 6779 Six Easy Pieces (published in 1995) resulted in a worldwide clamor for “More Feynman! More Feynman!� The outcome is these six additional lectures, drawn from the celebrated three-volume Lectures on Physics. Though slightly more challenging than the first six, these lectures are more focused, delving into the most revolutionary discovery in twentieth-century physics: Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. No single breakthrough in twentieth-century physics (with the possible exception of quantum mechanics) changed our view of the world more than that of Einstein’s discovery of relativity. The notions that the flow of time is not a constant, that the mass of an object depends on its velocity, and that the speed of light is a constant no matter what the motion of the observer, at first seemed shocking to scientists and laymen alike. But, as Feynman shows so clearly and so entertainingly in the lectures chosen for this volume, these crazy notions are no mere dry principles of physics, but are things of beauty and elegance. No one—not even Einstein himself—explained these difficult, anti-intuitive concepts more clearly, or with more verve and gusto, than Richard Feynman.]]> 184 Richard P. Feynman 0465023932 Krishna 0 to-read 4.26 1963
author: Richard P. Feynman
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1963
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/01/01
shelves: to-read
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]]> 5553 138 Richard P. Feynman 0465023924 Krishna 0 to-read 4.22 1994
author: Richard P. Feynman
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1994
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/01/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 23692271 512 Yuval Noah Harari Krishna 0 to-read 4.33 2011
author: Yuval Noah Harari
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/01/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 944652 512 Charles T. Munger 157864366X Krishna 0 to-read 4.38 2005
author: Charles T. Munger
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/01/01
shelves: to-read
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]]> 3450744 From the winner of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Economics, Richard H. Thaler, and Cass R. Sunstein: a revelatory look at how we make decisions

New York Times bestseller
Named a Best Book of the Year by The Economist and the Financial Times

Every day we make choices—about what to buy or eat, about financial investments or our children’s health and education, even about the causes we champion or the planet itself. Unfortunately, we often choose poorly. Nudge is about how we make these choices and how we can make better ones. Using dozens of eye-opening examples and drawing on decades of behavioral science research, Nobel Prize winner Richard H. Thaler and Harvard Law School professor Cass R. Sunstein show that no choice is ever presented to us in a neutral way, and that we are all susceptible to biases that can lead us to make bad decisions. But by knowing how people think, we can use sensible “choice architecture� to nudge people toward the best decisions for ourselves, our families, and our society, without restricting our freedom of choice.]]> 260 Richard H. Thaler 014311526X Krishna 4 3.86 2008
author: Richard H. Thaler
name: Krishna
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 2021/12/30
date added: 2021/12/30
shelves:
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]]> 41881472 242 Morgan Housel 0857197681 Krishna 4 4.27 2020
author: Morgan Housel
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2021/09/26
shelves:
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]]> 54120408
In Klara and the Sun, Kazuo Ishiguro looks at our rapidly changing modern world through the eyes of an unforgettable narrator to explore a fundamental question: what does it mean to love?]]> 303 Kazuo Ishiguro 059331817X Krishna 0 to-read 3.71 2021
author: Kazuo Ishiguro
name: Krishna
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/08/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 54494984 As a fan, player, writer, scholar, controversialist and administrator, Ramachandra Guha has spent a life with cricket.


In this book, Guha offers both a brilliantly charming memoir and a charter of the life of cricket in India.


He traces the game across every level at which it is played: school, college, club, state and country. He offers vivid portraits of local heroes, provincial icons and international stars.


Following the narrative of his life intertwined and in love with the sport, Guha captures the magic of bat and ball that has ensnared billions.]]> 336 Ramachandra Guha 0008422508 Krishna 5
If you don't care too much for cricket, you should give this book a skip. ]]> 4.02
author: Ramachandra Guha
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.02
book published:
rating: 5
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date added: 2020/11/29
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If you are a (test) cricket tragic like me, you'll love this breezy read. Brought back so many lovely childhood memories - from dreaming of playing for India to dreaming about our cricketers all through my teenage years.

If you don't care too much for cricket, you should give this book a skip.
]]> 42118073
Bill Campbell played an instrumental role in the growth of several prominent companies, such as Google, Apple, and Intuit, fostering deep relationships with Silicon Valley visionaries, including Steve Jobs, Larry Page, and Eric Schmidt. In addition, this business genius mentored dozens of other important leaders on both coasts, from entrepreneurs to venture capitalists to educators to football players, leaving behind a legacy of growing companies, successful people, respect, friendship, and love after his death in 2016.

Leaders at Google for over a decade, Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg, and Alan Eagle experienced firsthand how the man fondly known as Coach Bill built trusting relationships, fostered personal growth—even in those at the pinnacle of their careers—inspired courage, and identified and resolved simmering tensions that inevitably arise in fast-moving environments. To honor their mentor and inspire and teach future generations, they have codified his wisdom in this essential guide.

Based on interviews with over eighty people who knew and loved Bill Campbell, Trillion Dollar Coach explains the Coach’s principles and illustrates them with stories from the many great people and companies with which he worked. The result is a blueprint for forward-thinking business leaders and managers that will help them create higher performing and faster moving cultures, teams, and companies.]]> 240 Eric Schmidt 0062839268 Krishna 3 3.94 2019
author: Eric Schmidt
name: Krishna
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2020/11/17
shelves:
review:
A quick read that highlights the role that trust, love and coaching play in building effective teams. Would have rated it higher if it had more depth (fewer but more detailed anecdotes).
]]> 324750
The essential skill of creating and maintaining new businesses—the art of the entrepreneur—can be summed up in a single word: managing.ĚýBorn of Grove’s experiences at one of America’s leading technology companies (as CEO and employee number three at Intel), High Output Management is equally appropriate for sales managers, accountants, consultants, and teachers, as well as CEOs and startup founders. Grove covers techniques for creating highly productive teams, demonstrating methods of motivation that lead to peak performance.Ěý

"Generous enough with advice and observations to be required reading."Ěýâ€� The Wall Street Journal]]> 272 Andrew S. Grove 0679762884 Krishna 5 4.27 1983
author: Andrew S. Grove
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.27
book published: 1983
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2020/11/17
shelves:
review:
I can't believe I eschewed this book for so many years (I've always struggled to get beyond 10 pages of a management book). The number of insights packed into this small book - on mundane things like 1-on-1 meetings, hybrid organisations and how a manager should spend his/her time - just blew my mind. If you are embarking on your first managerial role, please invest a few hours in reading this management bible.
]]> 42925495
Ira is now a journalist on the civic beat, unearthing stories of corruption and indolence, and trying to push back memories of a lost love. Kartik works a corporate job with an MNC, and leads a secret, agonising, exhilarating second life. Between and around them throbs the living, beating heart of Mumbai, city of heaving inequities and limitless dreams.

Milk Teeth is subtle, incisive, unputdownable.]]> 311 Amrita Mahale 9387894320 Krishna 5 3.76 2018
author: Amrita Mahale
name: Krishna
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/12/27
shelves:
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]]> 48747212 240 Keshava Guha Krishna 5 3.27
author: Keshava Guha
name: Krishna
average rating: 3.27
book published:
rating: 5
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date added: 2019/12/13
shelves:
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]]> 42619818
All through his playing years, Laxman was known to be a soft-spoken man who kept his distance from controversy. Which is what makes this autobiography truly special. It’s candid and reflective, happy and sad by turns, and deeply insightful. He writes of dressing-room meltdowns and champagne evenings, the exhilaration of playing with and against the best in the world, the nuances of batting in different formats and on various pitches, the learnings with John Wright and the rocky times under Greg Chappell.

In 281 and Beyond, Laxman lays bare the ecstasy and the trauma of being one of the chosen XI in a country that is devoted to cricket.]]> 318 V.V.S. Laxman 9387578771 Krishna 4 4.00 2018
author: V.V.S. Laxman
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2018
rating: 4
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date added: 2018/12/11
shelves:
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]]> 40390173 No Spin is that very story. It will offer a compelling intimate voice, true insight and a pitch-side seat to one of cricket’s finest eras, making this one of the ultimate must-have sports autobiographies.

Shane is not only one of the greatest living cricket legends: he is as close as the game has had since Botham to a maverick genius on the field and a true rebel spirit off it, who always gives audiences what they want. Despite being the talismanic thorn in England’s side for nearly two decades of regular Ashes defeats, he was also much loved in the UK where he played cricket for Hampshire. He’s also a much-admired figure in India and South Africa.

Alongside his mesmerising genius as a bowler, Shane has often been a controversial figure, and in this book he's talk with brutal honesty about some of the most challenging times in his life as a player. Honest, thoughtful, fearless and loved by millions, Shane is always his own man and this book is a testament to his brilliant career.]]> 432 Shane Warne 1785037706 Krishna 4 3.87 2018
author: Shane Warne
name: Krishna
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2018/11/15
shelves:
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]]> 38435528
At a time when free expression and individual liberty in India appear to be under serious threat, Ravish Kumar is one of our bravest and most mature public voices. Few journalists today have as keen an understanding of Indian society and politics and as strong a commitment to the truth. Fewer still can match him in eloquence and integrity.
In this necessary book, he examines why debate and dialogue have given way to hate and intolerance in India, how elected representatives, the media and other institutions are failing us and looks at ways to repair the damage to our democracy.]]> 176 Ravish Kumar 9387164780 Krishna 4 4.12 2018
author: Ravish Kumar
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2018/05/30
shelves:
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]]> 37500863
This book is about me, my cricket career, my life. My strengths and weaknesses, my successes and failures. Every individual lives a uniquely different life. Life stories are always interesting. No one leads an uneventful life. Having been a sportsman, I also want young, aspiring sportsmen to learn from my career. Like a father once said to his 'I made twenty mistakes in my life, you'll make twenty new ones.' In Imperfect, Sanjay Manjrekar uses his famous analytical powers to look back on his own career as a cricketer. His photographic memory takes the reader along on his journey from the dusty maidans of Mumbai to the world stage as the combative batsman faces up to the fearsome West Indian and Pakistani pace attacks. In his precise plainspeak, Sanjay reflects on his father Vijay Manjrekar and the effects of his personality on his game. He comments on the complex equations with the India greats with whom he shared the dressing room, and on the lessons learnt from his opponents. He also reveals his own excruciating obsession with batting technique, the quest for perfection, and the battle to shake off his mental shackles. Imperfect sets a new standard for cricket writing in India, with significant life lessons even for those who aren't cricket fans.]]> 224 Sanjay Manjrekar 9352774523 Krishna 4 3.88
author: Sanjay Manjrekar
name: Krishna
average rating: 3.88
book published:
rating: 4
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date added: 2018/04/09
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]]> 6289283 Born to Run is an epic adventure that began with one simple question: Why does my foot hurt? In search of an answer, Christopher McDougall sets off to find a tribe of the world’s greatest distance runners and learn their secrets, and in the process shows us that everything we thought we knew about running is wrong.

Isolated by the most savage terrain in North America, the reclusive Tarahumara Indians of Mexico’s deadly Copper Canyons are custodians of a lost art. For centuries they have practiced techniques that allow them to run hundreds of miles without rest and chase down anything from a deer to an Olympic marathoner while enjoying every mile of it. Their superhuman talent is matched by uncanny health and serenity, leaving the Tarahumara immune to the diseases and strife that plague modern existence. With the help of Caballo Blanco, a mysterious loner who lives among the tribe, the author was able not only to uncover the secrets of the Tarahumara but also to find his own inner ultra-athlete, as he trained for the challenge of a lifetime: a fifty-mile race through the heart of Tarahumara country pitting the tribe against an odd band of Americans, including a star ultramarathoner, a beautiful young surfer, and a barefoot wonder.

With a sharp wit and wild exuberance, McDougall takes us from the high-tech science labs at Harvard to the sun-baked valleys and freezing peaks across North America, where ever-growing numbers of ultrarunners are pushing their bodies to the limit, and, finally, to the climactic race in the Copper Canyons. Born to Run is that rare book that will not only engage your mind but inspire your body when you realize that the secret to happiness is right at your feet, and that you, indeed all of us, were born to run.]]> 287 Christopher McDougall Krishna 5 4.29 2009
author: Christopher McDougall
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2009
rating: 5
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date added: 2018/04/03
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]]> 38337485
What does it take to perform when the pressure is skyhigh? How do you fight back and win? How do you make a name for yourself when you are young and have started the journey which is closest to your heart? As Sourav takes you through his life, he looks at how to overcome challenges and come out a winner. Time and time again]]> 258 Sourav Ganguly 9386228564 Krishna 4 3.94 2018
author: Sourav Ganguly
name: Krishna
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2018
rating: 4
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date added: 2018/03/05
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]]> 25541028 392 Ashlee Vance 0062301233 Krishna 5 4.12 2015
author: Ashlee Vance
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2018/01/09
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]]> 631243 264 Sunil Khilnani 9351184544 Krishna 3 3.86 1997
author: Sunil Khilnani
name: Krishna
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1997
rating: 3
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date added: 2017/08/26
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]]> 34953084 differently�, especially among the young.

Drawing upon his own experiences and more than 100 interviews with Indian entrepreneurs � representing traditional leading business houses (Tata, Mahindra and Godrej), established first-generation entrepreneurs (Sunil Mittal, Kishore Biyani and Narayana Murthy, among others) and new-generation start-ups (including Sachin Bansal, Bhavish Aggarwal and Vijay Shekhar Sharma) � as well as forces of the government, Rosling provides an incisive and in-depth analysis of the opportunities and challenges, both traditional and contemporary, of doing business in India.

Yet, the growing uncertainty of global trends and India’s own record of under-performing despite its massive potential lead him to one vital question: Can the current upsurge in entrepreneurial activity � imperfect and early as it may be � really reshape India’s economy and propel it towards becoming a true boom country for new enterprise?]]> 312 Alan Rosling 9351950808 Krishna 4 3.96
author: Alan Rosling
name: Krishna
average rating: 3.96
book published:
rating: 4
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date added: 2017/06/11
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Enjoyed the book - breezy read with an interesting overall perspective of India's start up scene. Only didn't rate it 5 because it didn't have any insights I wasn't already aware of.
]]> 33818099 387 S. Giridhar 9386228076 Krishna 5 4.23
author: S. Giridhar
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.23
book published:
rating: 5
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date added: 2017/04/04
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]]> 25817524 304 Duncan Clark 0062413406 Krishna 5 3.86 2016
author: Duncan Clark
name: Krishna
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2017/03/20
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]]> 27220736
In 1962, fresh out of business school, Phil Knight borrowed $50 from his father and created a company with a simple mission: import high-quality, low-cost athletic shoes from Japan. Selling the shoes from the trunk of his lime green Plymouth Valiant, Knight grossed $8,000 his first year. Today, Nike’s annual sales top $30 billion. In an age of startups, Nike is the ne plus ultra of all startups, and the swoosh has become a revolutionary, globe-spanning icon, one of the most ubiquitous and recognizable symbols in the world today.

But Knight, the man behind the swoosh, has always remained a mystery. Now, for the first time, in a memoir that is candid, humble, gutsy, and wry, he tells his story, beginning with his crossroads moment. At 24, after backpacking around the world, he decided to take the unconventional path, to start his own business—a business that would be dynamic, different.

Knight details the many risks and daunting setbacks that stood between him and his dream—along with his early triumphs. Above all, he recalls the formative relationships with his first partners and employees, a ragtag group of misfits and seekers who became a tight-knit band of brothers. Together, harnessing the transcendent power of a shared mission, and a deep belief in the spirit of sport, they built a brand that changed everything.]]> 400 Phil Knight 1501135910 Krishna 5 4.45 2016
author: Phil Knight
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2016
rating: 5
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date added: 2017/03/20
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]]> 26889576 The #1 New York Times bestseller: "It is the work of our greatest financial journalist, at the top of his game. And it's essential reading."—Graydon Carter, Vanity Fair

The real story of the crash began in bizarre feeder markets where the sun doesn't shine and the SEC doesn't dare, or bother, to tread: the bond and real estate derivative markets where geeks invent impenetrable securities to profit from the misery of lower- and middle-class Americans who can't pay their debts. The smart people who understood what was or might be happening were paralyzed by hope and fear; in any case, they weren't talking.




Michael Lewis creates a fresh, character-driven narrative brimming with indignation and dark humor, a fitting sequel to his #1 bestseller Liar's Poker. Out of a handful of unlikely-really unlikely-heroes, Lewis fashions a story as compelling and unusual as any of his earlier bestsellers, proving yet again that he is the finest and funniest chronicler of our time.]]> 291 Michael Lewis 039335315X Krishna 4 4.34 2010
author: Michael Lewis
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2010
rating: 4
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date added: 2017/01/31
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Great book to understand what happened in the sub prime crisis. Only rated it a 4 because the stories got a little repetitive and boring halfway through the book
]]> 32047146 The book covers a wide range of from the varying national projects of India’s neighbours to political debates within India itself, from the responsibilities of writers to the complex relationship between democracy and violence. It has essays critically assessing the work of Amartya Sen and Eric Hobsbawm, essays on the tragic predicament of tribals in India—who are, as Guha demonstrates, far worse off than Dalits or Muslims, yet get a fraction of the attention—and on the peculiar absence of a tradition of conservative intellectuals in India.
Each essay takes up an important topic or an influential intellectual, as a window to explore major political and cultural debates in India and the world. Democrats and Dissenters is a book that is certain to be widely read, and even more widely discussed.]]> 312 Ramachandra Guha Krishna 5 3.92 2016
author: Ramachandra Guha
name: Krishna
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2016
rating: 5
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date added: 2016/12/29
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]]> 30817292
Josy Joseph draws upon two decades as an investigative journalist to expose a problem so pervasive that we do not have the words to speak of it. The story is big: that of treacherous business rivalries, of how some industrial houses practically own the country, of the shadowy men who run the nation's politics. The story is small: a village needs a road and a hospital, a graveyard needs a wall, people need toilets.

A Feast of Vultures is an unprecedented, multiple-level inquiry into modern India, and the picture it reveals is both explosive and frightening. Within these covers is unimpeachable evidence against some of the country's biggest business houses and political figures, and the reopening of major scandals that have shaped its political narratives. Through hard-nosed investigations and the meticulous gathering of documentary evidence, Joseph clinically examines and irrefutably documents the non-reportable.

It is a troubling narrative, but also a call to action and a cry for change. A tour de force through the wildly beating heart of post-socialist India, the book is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the large, unwieldy truth about this nation.]]> 256 Josy Joseph 9350297515 Krishna 4 4.27 2016
author: Josy Joseph
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2016
rating: 4
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date added: 2016/12/08
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]]> 10854908 422 Aravind Adiga 1848875169 Krishna 4 3.54 2011
author: Aravind Adiga
name: Krishna
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2011
rating: 4
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date added: 2016/10/28
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]]> 18050143
The great secret of our time is that there are still uncharted frontiers to explore and new inventions to create. In Zero to One, legendary entrepreneur and investor Peter Thiel shows how we can find singular ways to create those new things.

Thiel begins with the contrarian premise that we live in an age of technological stagnation, even if we’re too distracted by shiny mobile devices to notice. Information technology has improved rapidly, but there is no reason why progress should be limited to computers or Silicon Valley. Progress can be achieved in any industry or area of business. It comes from the most important skill that every leader must master: learning to think for yourself.

Doing what someone else already knows how to do takes the world from 1 to n, adding more of something familiar. But when you do something new, you go from 0 to 1. The next Bill Gates will not build an operating system. The next Larry Page or Sergey Brin won’t make a search engine. Tomorrow’s champions will not win by competing ruthlessly in today’s marketplace. They will escape competition altogether, because their businesses will be unique.

Zero to One presents at once an optimistic view of the future of progress in America and a new way of thinking about innovation: it starts by learning to ask the questions that lead you to find value in unexpected places.]]> 195 Peter Thiel 0804139296 Krishna 4 4.15 2014
author: Peter Thiel
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2014
rating: 4
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date added: 2016/10/28
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]]> 545030
Permanent Black]]> 276 Ramachandra Guha 0520248058 Krishna 4 3.67 2006
author: Ramachandra Guha
name: Krishna
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2006
rating: 4
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date added: 2016/10/08
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]]> 1768603
Balram Halwai is a complicated man. Servant. Philosopher. Entrepreneur. Murderer. Over the course of seven nights, by the scattered light of a preposterous chandelier, Balram tells us the terrible and transfixing story of how he came to be a success in life—having nothing but his own wits to help him along.

Born in the dark heart of India, Balram gets a break when he is hired as a driver for his village's wealthiest man, two house Pomeranians (Puddles and Cuddles), and the rich man's (very unlucky) son. From behind the wheel of their Honda City car, Balram's new world is a revelation. While his peers flip through the pages of Murder Weekly ("Love -- Rape -- Revenge!"), barter for girls, drink liquor (Thunderbolt), and perpetuate the Great Rooster Coop of Indian society, Balram watches his employers bribe foreign ministers for tax breaks, barter for girls, drink liquor (single-malt whiskey), and play their own role in the Rooster Coop. Balram learns how to siphon gas, deal with corrupt mechanics, and refill and resell Johnnie Walker Black Label bottles (all but one). He also finds a way out of the Coop that no one else inside it can perceive.

Balram's eyes penetrate India as few outsiders can: the cockroaches and the call centers; the prostitutes and the worshippers; the ancient and Internet cultures; the water buffalo and, trapped in so many kinds of cages that escape is (almost) impossible, the white tiger. And with a charisma as undeniable as it is unexpected, Balram teaches us that religion doesn't create virtue, and money doesn't solve every problem -- but decency can still be found in a corrupt world, and you can get what you want out of life if you eavesdrop on the right conversations.

The White Tiger recalls The Death of Vishnu and Bangkok 8 in ambition, scope, and narrative genius, with a mischief and personality all its own. Amoral, irreverent, deeply endearing, and utterly contemporary, this novel is an international publishing sensation —and a startling, provocative debut.]]> 276 Aravind Adiga 1416562591 Krishna 4 3.76 2008
author: Aravind Adiga
name: Krishna
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2008
rating: 4
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date added: 2016/09/19
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]]> 28277145 CSI and curious and interesting scientific facts. But there are many things, about himself and about the world, that he doesn't know . . . Everyone around him, it seems, has a clear idea of who Manju should be, except Manju himself.

But when Manju begins to get to know Radha's great rival, a boy as privileged and confident as Manju is not, everything in Manju's world begins to change and he is faced by decisions that will challenge both his sense of self and of the world around him.

As sensitively observed as The White Tiger -- Winner of the Man Booker Prize 2008 -- was brilliantly furious, Selection Day reveals another facet of Aravind Adiga's remarkable talent.]]> 330 Aravind Adiga 1509806237 Krishna 5 3.18 2016
author: Aravind Adiga
name: Krishna
average rating: 3.18
book published: 2016
rating: 5
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date added: 2016/09/17
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]]> 66857 ĚýĚýĚýĚýĚýĚýĚýĚý
Fry has already given readers a taste of his tumultuous adolescence in his autobiographical first novel, The Liar , and now he reveals the equally tumultuous life that inspired it. Sent to boarding school at the age of seven, he survived beatings, misery, love affairs, carnal violation, expulsion, attempted suicide, criminal conviction and imprisonment to emerge, at the age of eighteen, ready to start over in a world in which he had always felt a stranger. One of very few Cambridge University graduates to have been imprisoned prior to his freshman year, Fry is a brilliantly idiosyncratic character who continues to attract controversy, empathy and real devotion.]]> 366 Stephen Fry 1569472025 Krishna 3 3.96 1997
author: Stephen Fry
name: Krishna
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1997
rating: 3
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date added: 2016/09/15
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]]> 61536 The first collection of essays from renowned scientist and best-selling author Richard Dawkins.

Richard Dawkins's essays are an enthusiastic testament to the power of rigorous, scientific examination, and they span many different corners of his personal and professional life. He revisits the meme, the unit of cultural information that he named and wrote about in his groundbreaking work The Selfish Gene. He makes moving tributes to friends and colleagues, including a eulogy for novelist Douglas Adams; he shares correspondence with the evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould; and he visits with the famed paleoanthropologists Richard and Maeve Leakey at their African wildlife preserve. He concludes the essays with a vivid note to his ten-year-old daughter, reminding her to remain curious, to ask questions, and to live the examined life.]]> 263 Richard Dawkins 0618485392 Krishna 3 3.99 2003
author: Richard Dawkins
name: Krishna
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2003
rating: 3
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date added: 2016/09/15
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]]> 493371 The Bottom Billion, Paul Collier reveals that fifty failed states--home to the poorest one billion people on Earth--pose the central challenge of the developing world in the twenty-first century. The book shines much-needed light on this group of small nations, largely unnoticed by the industrialized West, that are dropping further and further behind the majority of the world's people, often falling into an absolute decline in living standards. A struggle rages within each of these nations between reformers and corrupt leaders--and the corrupt are winning. Collier analyzes the causes of failure, pointing to a set of traps that ensnare these countries, including civil war, a dependence on the extraction and export of natural resources, and bad governance. Standard solutions do not work, he writes; aid is often ineffective, and globalization can actually make matters worse, driving development to more stable nations. What the bottom billion need, Collier argues, is a bold new plan supported by the Group of Eight industrialized nations. If failed states are ever to be helped, the G8 will have to adopt preferential trade policies, new laws against corruption, new international charters, and even conduct carefully calibrated military interventions. Collier has spent a lifetime working to end global poverty. In The Bottom Billion, he offers real hope for solving one of the great humanitarian crises facing the world today.]]> 205 Paul Collier 0195311450 Krishna 0 to-read 3.85 2007
author: Paul Collier
name: Krishna
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/09/13
shelves: to-read
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]]> 18077903 “What does it mean to manage well?�
From Ed Catmull, co-founder (with Steve Jobs and John Lasseter) of Pixar Animation Studios, comes an incisive book about creativity in business—sure to appeal to readers of Daniel Pink, Tom Peters, and Chip and Dan Heath. Creativity, Inc. is a book for managers who want to lead their employees to new heights, a manual for anyone who strives for originality, and the first-ever, all-access trip into the nerve center of Pixar Animation—into the meetings, postmortems, and “Braintrust� sessions where some of the most successful films in history are made. It is, at heart, a book about how to build a creative culture—but it is also, as Pixar co-founder and president Ed Catmull writes, “an expression of the ideas that I believe make the best in us possible.� For nearly twenty years, Pixar has dominated the world of animation, producing such beloved films as the Toy Story trilogy, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Up, and WALL-E, which have gone on to set box-office records and garner thirty Academy Awards. The joyousness of the storytelling, the inventive plots, the emotional authenticity: In some ways, Pixar movies are an object lesson in what creativity really is. Here, in this book, Catmull reveals the ideals and techniques that have made Pixar so widely admired—and so profitable.
Ěý
As a young man, Ed Catmull had a dream: to make the first computer-animated movie. He nurtured that dream as a Ph.D. student at the University of Utah, where many computer science pioneers got their start, and then forged a partnership with George Lucas that led, indirectly, to his founding Pixar with Steve Jobs and John Lasseter in 1986. Nine years later, Toy Story was released, changing animation forever. The essential ingredient in that movie’s success—and in the thirteen movies that followed—was the unique environment that Catmull and his colleagues built at Pixar, based on philosophies that protect the creative process and defy convention, such as:
Ěý
� Give a good idea to a mediocre team, and they will screw it up. But give a mediocre idea to a great team, and they will either fix it or come up with something better.
� If you don’t strive to uncover what is unseen and understand its nature, you will be ill prepared to lead.
� It’s not the manager’s job to prevent risks. It’s the manager’s job to make it safe for others to take them.
� The cost of preventing errors is often far greater than the cost of fixing them.
� A company’s communication structure should not mirror its organizational structure. Everybody should be able to talk to anybody.
� Do not assume that general agreement will lead to change—it takes substantial energy to move a group, even when all are on board.]]> 368 Ed Catmull 0812993012 Krishna 0 to-read 4.19 2014
author: Ed Catmull
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2016/09/13
shelves: to-read
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]]> 11375457
Drawing inspiration from spirituality, and of all things, fast food franchises, Dr.V and his Ěýteam (which now includes 21 ophthalmologists across three generations of his family) haveĚýcreated a global phenomenon. Infinite Vision is the first book to probe Aravind's historyĚýfor the distinctive practices and values that unleashed its improbable success. It reveals theĚýpower of a model that integrates innovation with empathy, service with business principles,Ěýand inner change with outer transformation. It shows how choices that seem naĂŻve orĚýunworkable, can, when executed with wisdom and integrity, yield powerful results - resultsĚýthat light the eyes of millions]]> 336 Pavithra K. Mehta 1605099791 Krishna 5 4.20 2011
author: Pavithra K. Mehta
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2011
rating: 5
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date added: 2016/09/11
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]]> 25990102 WINNER OF THE CRICKET SOCIETY AND MCC BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2016SHORTLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD'I doubt there will be a better book written about this period in West Indies cricket history.' Clive LloydCricket had never been played like this. Cricket had never meant so much. The West Indies had always had brilliant cricketers; it hadn’t always had brilliant cricket teams. But in 1974, a man called Clive Lloyd began to lead a side which would at last throw off the shackles that had hindered the region for centuries. Nowhere else had a game been so closely connected to a people’s past and their future hopes; nowhere else did cricket liberate a people like it did in the Caribbean.For almost two decades, Clive Lloyd and then Vivian Richards led the batsmen and bowlers who changed the way cricket was played and changed the way a whole nation � which existed only on a cricket pitch - saw itself. With their pace like fire and their scorching batting, these sons of cane-cutters and fishermen brought pride to a people which had been stifled by 300 years of slavery, empire and colonialism. Their cricket roused the Caribbean and antagonised the game’s traditionalists. Told by the men who made it happen and the people who watched it unfold, Fire in Babylon is the definitive story of the greatest team that sport has known.]]> 372 Simon Lister Krishna 5 4.48 2015
author: Simon Lister
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2015
rating: 5
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date added: 2016/08/12
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]]> 11084145 630 Walter Isaacson 1451648537 Krishna 5 4.15 2011
author: Walter Isaacson
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2011
rating: 5
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date added: 2016/07/08
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]]> 26252586
With his infectious enthusiasm for the game, David ' Bumble ' Lloyd blends immense knowledge and experience with an eye for the quirky detail and an unending fund of brilliant stories .

This definitive autobiography recalls his childhood in Accrington, Lancashire, when, after a long day playing cricket in the street, he would get his chance to wash himself in his family's bath - but only after his parents and uncle had taken their turn first. From being last in the tin bath, he moved on to make his debut for Lancashire while still in his teens, eventually earning an England call-up, when he had to face the pace of Lillee and Thomson - with painful and eye-watering consequences. After retiring as a player, he became an umpire and then England coach during the 1990s, before eventually turning to commentary with Sky Sports.

After spending more than 50 years involved with the professional game , Bumble's memoir is packed with hilarious anecdotes from the golden age of Lancashire cricket through to the glitzy modern era of T20 cricket . He provides vivid behind-the-scenes insight into life with England and on the Sky commentary team. Last in the Tin Bath is a joy to read from start to finish and was shortlisted for the British Sports Book Awards Autobiography of the Year .]]> 331 David Lloyd 1471150461 Krishna 4 3.76 2015
author: David Lloyd
name: Krishna
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2015
rating: 4
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date added: 2016/06/28
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]]> 11468377 Thinking, Fast and Slow, Kahneman takes us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. Kahneman exposes the extraordinary capabilities—and also the faults and biases—of fast thinking, and reveals the pervasive influence of intuitive impressions on our thoughts and behavior. The impact of loss aversion and overconfidence on corporate strategies, the difficulties of predicting what will make us happy in the future, the challenges of properly framing risks at work and at home, the profound effect of cognitive biases on everything from playing the stock market to planning the next vacation—each of these can be understood only by knowing how the two systems work together to shape our judgments and decisions.

Engaging the reader in a lively conversation about how we think, Kahneman reveals where we can and cannot trust our intuitions and how we can tap into the benefits of slow thinking. He offers practical and enlightening insights into how choices are made in both our business and our personal lives—and how we can use different techniques to guard against the mental glitches that often get us into trouble. Thinking, Fast and Slow will transform the way you think about thinking.]]> 499 Daniel Kahneman 0374275637 Krishna 4 4.17 2011
author: Daniel Kahneman
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2011
rating: 4
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date added: 2016/06/18
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]]> 17660462 The definitive story of Amazon.com, one of the most successful companies in the world, and of its driven, brilliant founder, Jeff Bezos.

Amazon.com started off delivering books through the mail. But its visionary founder, Jeff Bezos, wasn't content with being a bookseller. He wanted Amazon to become the everything store, offering limitless selection and seductive convenience at disruptively low prices. To do so, he developed a corporate culture of relentless ambition and secrecy that's never been cracked. Until now. Brad Stone enjoyed unprecedented access to current and former Amazon employees and Bezos family members, giving readers the first in-depth, fly-on-the-wall account of life at Amazon. Compared to tech's other elite innovators--Jobs, Gates, Zuckerberg--Bezos is a private man. But he stands out for his restless pursuit of new markets, leading Amazon into risky new ventures like the Kindle and cloud computing, and transforming retail in the same way Henry Ford revolutionized manufacturing.

The Everything Store will be the revealing, definitive biography of the company that placed one of the first and largest bets on the Internet and forever changed the way we shop and read.]]> 384 Brad Stone 0316219266 Krishna 5 4.12 2013
author: Brad Stone
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2013
rating: 5
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date added: 2016/05/23
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]]> 6480781
Agassi’s incredibly rigorous training begins when he is just a child. By the age of thirteen, he is banished to a Florida tennis camp that feels like a prison camp. Lonely, scared, a ninth-grade dropout, he rebels in ways that will soon make him a 1980s icon. He dyes his hair, pierces his ears, dresses like a punk rocker. By the time he turns pro at sixteen, his new look promises to change tennis forever, as does his lightning-fast return.

And yet, despite his raw talent, he struggles early on. We feel his confusion as he loses to the world’s best, his greater confusion as he starts to win. After stumbling in three Grand Slam finals, Agassi shocks the world, and himself, by capturing the 1992 Wimbledon. Overnight he becomes a fan favorite and a media target.

Agassi brings a near-photographic memory to every pivotal match and every relationship. Never before has the inner game of tennis and the outer game of fame been so precisely limned. Alongside vivid portraits of rivals from several generations—Jimmy Connors, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer—Agassi gives unstinting accounts of his brief time with Barbra Streisand and his doomed marriage to Brooke Shields. He reveals a shattering loss of confidence. And he recounts his spectacular resurrection, a comeback climaxing with his epic run at the 1999 French Open and his march to become the oldest man ever ranked number one.

In clear, taut prose, Agassi evokes his loyal brother, his wise coach, his gentle trainer, all the people who help him regain his balance and find love at last with Stefanie Graf. Inspired by her quiet strength, he fights through crippling pain from a deteriorating spine to remain a dangerous opponent in the twenty-first and final year of his career. Entering his last tournament in 2006, he’s hailed for completing a stunning metamorphosis, from nonconformist to elder statesman, from dropout to education advocate. And still he’s not done. At a U.S. Open for the ages, he makes a courageous last stand, then delivers one of the most stirring farewells ever heard in a sporting arena.

With its breakneck tempo and raw candor, Open will be read and cherished for years. A treat for ardent fans, it will also captivate readers who know nothing about tennis. Like Agassi’s game, it sets a new standard for grace, style, speed, and power.]]> 388 Andre Agassi 0307268195 Krishna 5 4.29 2009
author: Andre Agassi
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2009
rating: 5
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date added: 2016/03/20
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]]> 27841009
Can these hyper-funded; technology driven companies become global superpowers? Or is it an unsustainable phenomenon? The Golden Tap gives you the answers.

In a remarkably honest, no holds barred account; Kashyap—himself a serial entrepreneur —demystifies the technology ecosystem that exists in India today. From the origins of Amazon and Google, to the remarkable growth of Flipkart and Ola, he meticulously plots and chronicles a connected global sequence of events.

Set in this background he recounts his personal roller coaster of a life. A story filled with ambition, greed, vanity, fear and success that all young entrepreneurs can relate to.

Is this the business model of the future? Or merely a game of poker played by master investors? The answers pour out of The Golden Tap.]]> 267 Kashyap Deorah 9351941574 Krishna 5 4.20
author: Kashyap Deorah
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.20
book published:
rating: 5
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date added: 2016/01/05
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]]> 18176747
In The Hard Thing About Hard Things, Ben Horowitz, cofounder of Andreessen Horowitz and one of Silicon Valley's most respected and experienced entrepreneurs, draws on his own story of founding, running, selling, buying, managing, and investing in technology companies to offer essential advice and practical wisdom for navigating the toughest problems business schools don't cover. His blog has garnered a devoted following of millions of readers who have come to rely on him to help them run their businesses. A lifelong rap fan, Horowitz amplifies business lessons with lyrics from his favorite songs and tells it straight about everything from firing friends to poaching competitors, from cultivating and sustaining a CEO mentality to knowing the right time to cash in.

His advice is grounded in anecdotes from his own hard-earned rise—from cofounding the early cloud service provider Loudcloud to building the phenomenally successful Andreessen Horowitz venture capital firm, both with fellow tech superstar Marc Andreessen (inventor of Mosaic, the Internet's first popular Web browser). This is no polished victory lap; he analyzes issues with no easy answers through his trials, including demoting (or firing) a loyal friend;
whether you should incorporate titles and promotions, and how to handle them;
if it's OK to hire people from your friend's company; how to manage your own psychology, while the whole company is relying on you; what to do when smart people are bad employees; why Andreessen Horowitz prefers founder CEOs, and how to become one; whether you should sell your company, and how to do it.

Filled with Horowitz's trademark humor and straight talk, and drawing from his personal and often humbling experiences, The Hard Thing About Hard Things is invaluable for veteran entrepreneurs as well as those aspiring to their own new ventures.]]> 304 Ben Horowitz 0062273205 Krishna 5 4.20 2014
author: Ben Horowitz
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2014
rating: 5
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date added: 2015/12/09
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]]> 88815
Changez is living an immigrant's dream of America. At the top of his class at Princeton, he is snapped up by an elite valuation firm. He thrives on the energy of New York, and his budding romance with elegant, beautiful Erica promises entry into Manhattan society at the same exalted level once occupied by his own family back in Lahore.

But in the wake of September 11, Changez finds his position in his adopted city suddenly overturned, and his relationship with Erica shifting. And Changez's own identity is in seismic shift as well, unearthing allegiances more fundamental than money, power, and maybe even love.

"Extreme times call for extreme reactions, extreme writing. Hamid has done something extraordinary with this novel." —Washington Post

"One of those achingly assured novels that makes you happy to be a reader." —Junot Diaz

"Brief, charming, and quietly furious . . . a resounding success." —Village Voice

A Washington Post and San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year
A New York Times Notable Book]]> 184 Mohsin Hamid 0151013047 Krishna 4 3.69 2007
author: Mohsin Hamid
name: Krishna
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2015/11/12
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]]> 23960905 227 Vinod Mehta Krishna 3 3.65 2014
author: Vinod Mehta
name: Krishna
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2014
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2015/11/11
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]]> 22432237
'Christophe Jaffrelot's range of scholarship is amazing, and his new book ... co-edited with Laurent Gayer, illustrates well his wide-ranging interests. The contributions are instructive and insightful and cover a much-neglected theme in contemporary South Asia' - Mushirul Hasan

Numbering more than 150 million, Muslims constitute the largest minority in India, yet suffer the most politically and socio-economically. Forced to contend with severe and persistent prejudice, India's Muslims are often targets of violence.

In India's cities, these developments find contrasting expressions. While the quality of Muslim life may lag behind that of Hindus nationally, local and inclusive cultures have been resilient in the south and the east. In the Hindi belt and in the north, Muslims have known less peace, especially in the riot-prone areas of Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Jaipur and Aligarh, and in the capitals of former Muslim states - Delhi, Hyderabad, Bhopal and Lucknow. These cities are rife with Muslim ghettos and slums. However, self-segregation has also played a part in forming Muslim enclaves, such as in Delhi and Aligarh, where traditional elites and a new Muslim middle class have regrouped for physical and cultural protection.

Combining first-hand testimony with sound critical analysis, this volume follows urban Muslim life in eleven Indian cities, providing uncommon insight into a litde-known subject of immense importance and consequence.]]> 415 Christophe Jaffrelot 9350295555 Krishna 5 4.33 2013
author: Christophe Jaffrelot
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2013
rating: 5
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date added: 2015/10/31
shelves:
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]]> 38315 Fooled by Randomness is a standalone book in Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s landmark Incerto series, an investigation of opacity, luck, uncertainty, probability, human error, risk, and decision-making in a world we don’t understand. The other books in the series are The Black Swan, Antifragile,and The Bed of Procrustes.]]> 368 Nassim Nicholas Taleb 0812975219 Krishna 3 4.08 2001
author: Nassim Nicholas Taleb
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2001
rating: 3
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date added: 2015/10/31
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]]> 5969770
The Blue Sweater is the inspiring story of a woman who left a career in international banking to spend her life on a quest to understand global poverty and find powerful new ways of tackling it. It all started back home in Virginia, with the blue sweater, a gift that quickly became her prized possession―until the day she outgrew it and gave it away to Goodwill. Eleven years later in Africa, she spotted a young boy wearing that very sweater, with her name still on the tag inside. That the sweater had made its trek all the way to Rwanda was ample evidence, she thought, of how we are all connected, how our actions―and inaction―touch people every day across the globe, people we may never know or meet.
From her first stumbling efforts as a young idealist venturing forth in Africa to the creation of the trailblazing organization she runs today, Novogratz tells gripping stories with unforgettable characters―women dancing in a Nairobi slum, unwed mothers starting a bakery, courageous survivors of the Rwandan genocide, entrepreneurs building services for the poor against impossible odds.
She shows, in ways both hilarious and heartbreaking, how traditional charity often fails, but how a new form of philanthropic investing called "patient capital" can help make people self-sufficient and can change millions of lives. More than just an autobiography or a how-to guide to addressing poverty, The Blue Sweater is a call to action that challenges us to grant dignity to the poor and to rethink our engagement with the world.]]> 272 Jacqueline Novogratz 1594869154 Krishna 4 3.99 2009
author: Jacqueline Novogratz
name: Krishna
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2009
rating: 4
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date added: 2015/10/01
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]]> 15898640
Like many innovators, Khan rethinks existing assumptions and imagines what education could be if freed from them. And his core idea - liberating teachers from lecturing and state-mandated calendars and opening up class time for truly human interaction - has become his life's passion. Schools seek his advice about connecting to students in a digital age, and people of all ages and backgrounds flock to the site to utilise this fresh approach to learning.

In THE ONE WORLD SCHOOLHOUSE, Khan presents his radical vision for the future of education, as well as his own remarkable story, for the first time.

More than just a solution, THE ONE WORLD SCHOOLHOUSE serves as a call for free, universal, global education, and an explanation of how Khan's simple yet revolutionary thinking can help achieve this inspiring goal.]]> 272 Salman Khan 1619697777 Krishna 5 4.34 2012
author: Salman Khan
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2015/09/10
shelves:
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]]> 2418533 368 Philip P. Pan 1416537058 Krishna 5 4.10 2008
author: Philip P. Pan
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2008
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2015/06/08
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]]> 23160531 328 Naseeruddin Shah 0670087645 Krishna 5 3.82 2014
author: Naseeruddin Shah
name: Krishna
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2015/03/29
shelves:
review:

]]> 80035 320 Matt Ridley 1841157465 Krishna 4 4.06 2003
author: Matt Ridley
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2003
rating: 4
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date added: 2015/03/29
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]]> 2657 "Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."

A lawyer's advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee's classic novel - a black man charged with the rape of a white girl. Through the young eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee explores with exuberant humour the irrationality of adult attitudes to race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s. The conscience of a town steeped in prejudice, violence and hypocrisy is pricked by the stamina of one man's struggle for justice. But the weight of history will only tolerate so much.

"To Kill A Mockingbird" became both an instant bestseller and a critical success when it was first published in 1960. It went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and was later made into an Academy Award-winning film.]]> 323 Harper Lee 0060935464 Krishna 4 4.25 1960
author: Harper Lee
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1960
rating: 4
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]]> 9791 A Walk in the Woods will make you long for the great outdoors (or at least a comfortable chair to sit and read in).]]> 397 Bill Bryson 0307279464 Krishna 4 4.07 1998
author: Bill Bryson
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1998
rating: 4
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date added: 2014/10/08
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]]> 440777
Desperate to reverse his fortunes, Daru embarks on a career in crime, taking as his partner Murad Badshah, the notorious rickshaw driver, populist, and pirate.
When a long-planned heist goes awry, Daru finds himself on trial for a murder he may or may not have committed. The uncertainty of his fate mirrors that of Pakistan itself, hyped on the prospect of becoming a nuclear player even as corruption drains its political will.

Fast-paced and unexpected, Moth Smoke portrays a contemporary Pakistan as far more vivid and disturbing than the exoticized images of South Asia familiar to most of the West. This debut novel establishes Mohsin Hamid as a writer of substance and imagination.]]> 256 Mohsin Hamid 0312273231 Krishna 5 3.85 2000
author: Mohsin Hamid
name: Krishna
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2000
rating: 5
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date added: 2014/10/08
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]]> 17976294
* A woman paralyzed on the left side of her body who believes she is lifting a tray of drinks with both hands offers a unique opportunity to test Freud's theory of denial.
A man who insists he is talking with God challenges us to ask: Could we be "wired" for religious experience?
A woman who hallucinates cartoon characters illustrates how, in a sense, we are all hallucinating, all the time.

Dr. Ramachandran's inspired medical detective work pushes the boundaries of medicine's last great frontier -- the human mind -- yielding new and provocative insights into the "big questions" about consciousness and the self.]]> 328 V.S. Ramachandran Krishna 5 4.54 1998
author: V.S. Ramachandran
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.54
book published: 1998
rating: 5
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date added: 2014/05/17
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]]> 1196329
The events at Godhra and the ensuing communal carnage in Gujarat, like the Babri Masjid demolition and the 1984 massacres, constitute an ugly chapter of our contemporary history. For the sheer brutality, persistence and widespread nature of the violence, especially against women and children, the complicity of the State, the ghettoization of communities, and the indifference of civil society, Gujarat has surpassed anything we have experienced in recent times. That this happened in one of India's most 'well off' and 'progressive' states, the home of the Mahatma, is all the more alarming.

This book is intended to be a permanent public archive of the tragedy that is Gujarat. Drawing upon eyewitness reports from the English, Hindi and regional media, citizens' and official fact-finding commissions - and articles by leading public figures and intellectuals - it provides a chilling account of how and why the state was allowed to burn.

With an overview by the editor, the reader covers the circumstances leading up to Godhra and the violence in Ahmedabad, Baroda and rural Gujarat. Separate sections deal with the role of the police, bureaucracy, Sangh Parivar, media and the tribals, the economic and international implications of the violence, the problems of relief and rehabilitation of the victims, and, above all, their quest for justice. The picture that emerges is deeply disturbing, for Gujarat has exposed the ease with which the rights of citizens, and especially minorities, can be violated with official sanction. The lessons of the violence ought to be heeded and acted upon by the public. For, in the absence of this, can another Gujarat be prevented from happening elsewhere?]]> 472 Siddharth Varadarajan 0143029010 Krishna 5 4.26 2002
author: Siddharth Varadarajan
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2002
rating: 5
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date added: 2014/03/17
shelves:
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]]> 16164872 Aman Sethi Krishna 5 3.75 2011
author: Aman Sethi
name: Krishna
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2011
rating: 5
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date added: 2014/01/12
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]]> 10538
Bill Bryson was born in the middle of the American century�1951—in the middle of the United States—Des Moines, Iowa—in the middle of the largest generation in American history—the baby boomers. As one of the best and funniest writers alive, he is perfectly positioned to mine his memories of a totally all-American childhood for 24-carat memoir gold. Like millions of his generational peers, Bill Bryson grew up with a rich fantasy life as a superhero. In his case, he ran around his house and neighborhood with an old football jersey with a thunderbolt on it and a towel about his neck that served as his cape, leaping tall buildings in a single bound and vanquishing awful evildoers (and morons)—in his head—as "The Thunderbolt Kid."

Using this persona as a springboard, Bill Bryson re-creates the life of his family and his native city in the 1950s in all its transcendent normality—a life at once completely familiar to us all and as far away and unreachable as another galaxy. It was, he reminds us, a happy time, when automobiles and televisions and appliances (not to mention nuclear weapons) grew larger and more numerous with each passing year, and DDT, cigarettes, and the fallout from atmospheric testing were considered harmless or even good for you. He brings us into the life of his loving but eccentric family, including affectionate portraits of his father, a gifted sportswriter for the local paper and dedicated practitioner of isometric exercises, and OF his mother, whose job as the home furnishing editor for the same paper left her little time for practicing the domestic arts at home. The many readers of Bill Bryson’s earlier classic, A Walk in the Woods, will greet the reappearance in these pages of the immortal Stephen Katz, seen hijacking literally boxcar loads of beer. He is joined in the Bryson gallery of immortal characters by the demonically clever Willoughby brothers, who apply their scientific skills and can-do attitude to gleefully destructive ends.

Warm and laugh-out-loud funny, and full of his inimitable, pitch-perfect observations, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid is as wondrous a book as Bill Bryson has ever written. It will enchant anyone who has ever been young.]]> 288 Bill Bryson 076791936X Krishna 3 3.92 2006
author: Bill Bryson
name: Krishna
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2006
rating: 3
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date added: 2013/12/30
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]]> 5253844 256 John Wright 0285637959 Krishna 3 3.94 2007
author: John Wright
name: Krishna
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2007
rating: 3
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date added: 2013/12/30
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]]> 33600
So begins this epic, mesmerizing first novel set in the underworld of contemporary Bombay. Shantaram is narrated by Lin, an escaped convict with a false passport who flees maximum security prison in Australia for the teeming streets of a city where he can disappear.

Accompanied by his guide and faithful friend, Prabaker, the two enter Bombay's hidden society of beggars and gangsters, prostitutes and holy men, soldiers and actors, and Indians and exiles from other countries, who seek in this remarkable place what they cannot find elsewhere.

As a hunted man without a home, family, or identity, Lin searches for love and meaning while running a clinic in one of the city's poorest slums, and serving his apprenticeship in the dark arts of the Bombay mafia. The search leads him to war, prison torture, murder, and a series of enigmatic and bloody betrayals. The keys to unlock the mysteries and intrigues that bind Lin are held by two people. The first is Khader Khan: mafia godfather, criminal-philosopher-saint, and mentor to Lin in the underworld of the Golden City. The second is Karla: elusive, dangerous, and beautiful, whose passions are driven by secrets that torment her and yet give her a terrible power.

Burning slums and five-star hotels, romantic love and prison agonies, criminal wars and Bollywood films, spiritual gurus and mujaheddin guerrillas—this huge novel has the world of human experience in its reach, and a passionate love for India at its heart. Based on the life of the author, it is by any measure the debut of an extraordinary voice in literature.]]> 936 Gregory David Roberts 192076920X Krishna 4 4.27 2003
author: Gregory David Roberts
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2003
rating: 4
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date added: 2013/12/30
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]]> 4477 270 Atul Gawande 0312421702 Krishna 4 4.27 2002
author: Atul Gawande
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2002
rating: 4
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date added: 2013/12/30
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]]> 213233 Salon). Gawande's investigation into medical professionals and how they progress from merely good to great provides rare insight into the elements of success, illuminating every area of human endeavor.]]> 288 Atul Gawande 0805082115 Krishna 4 4.24 2007
author: Atul Gawande
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2007
rating: 4
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date added: 2013/12/30
shelves:
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]]> 4591 344 Matt Ridley 0060894083 Krishna 4 4.05 1999
author: Matt Ridley
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1999
rating: 4
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date added: 2013/11/03
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]]> 38412
"I have discovered a truly marvelous demonstration of this proposition which this margin is too narrow to contain."

With these words, the seventeenth-century French mathematician Pierre de Fermat threw down the gauntlet to future generations.ĚýĚýWhat came to be known as Fermat's Last Theorem looked simple; proving it, however, became the Holy Grail of mathematics, baffling its finest minds for more than 350 years.ĚýĚýIn Fermat's Enigma--based on the author's award-winning documentary film, which aired on PBS's "Nova"--Simon Singh tells the astonishingly entertaining story of the pursuit of that grail, and the lives that were devoted to, sacrificed for, and saved by it.ĚýĚýHere is a mesmerizing tale of heartbreak and mastery that will forever change your feelings about mathematics.]]> 315 Simon Singh 0385493622 Krishna 4 4.27 1997
author: Simon Singh
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.27
book published: 1997
rating: 4
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]]> 547573
The poor in India are, too often, reduced to statistics. In the dry language of development reports and economic projections, the true misery of the 312 million who live below the poverty line, or the 26 million displaced by various projects, or the 13 million who suffer from tuberculosis gets overlooked. In this thoroughly researched study of the poorest of the poor, we get to see how they manage, what sustains them, and the efforts, often ludicrous, to do something for them. The people who figure in this book typify the lives and aspirations of a large section of Indian society, and their stories present us with the true face of development.]]> 470 Palagummi Sainath Krishna 5 4.34 1996
author: Palagummi Sainath
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.34
book published: 1996
rating: 5
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date added: 2013/11/03
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]]> 74121 India remains a mystery to many Americans, even as it is poised to become the world’s third largest economy within a generation, outstripping Japan. It will surpass China in population by 2032 and will have more English speakers than the United States by 2050. In In Spite of the Gods, Edward Luce, a journalist who covered India for many years, makes brilliant sense of India and its rise to global power. Already a number-one bestseller in India, his book is sure to be acknowledged for years as the definitive introduction to modern India.

In Spite of the Gods illuminates a land of many contradictions. The booming tech sector we read so much about in the West, Luce points out, employs no more than one million of India’s 1.1 billion people. Only 35 million people, in fact, have formal enough jobs to pay taxes, while three-quarters of the country lives in extreme deprivation in India’s 600,000 villages. Yet amid all these extremes exists the world’s largest experiment in representative democracy—and a largely successful one, despite bureaucracies riddled with horrifying corruption.

Luce shows that India is an economic rival to the U.S. in an entirely different sense than China is. There is nothing in India like the manufacturing capacity of China, despite the huge potential labor force. An inept system of public education leaves most Indians illiterate and unskilled. Yet at the other extreme, the middle class produces ten times as many engineering students a year as the United States. Notwithstanding its future as a major competitor in a globalized economy, American. leaders have been encouraging India’s rise, even welcoming it into the nuclear energy club, hoping to balance China’s influence in Asia.

Above all, In Spite of the Gods is an enlightening study of the forces shaping India as it tries to balance the stubborn traditions of the past with an unevenly modernizing present. Deeply informed by scholarship and history, leavened by humor and rich in anecdote, it shows that India has huge opportunities as well as tremendous challenges that make the future “hers to lose.�

]]> 400 Edward Luce 0385514743 Krishna 4 3.86 2006
author: Edward Luce
name: Krishna
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2006
rating: 4
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]]> 8411695
In this highly personal narrative, A Fistful of Rice, Akula reveals how he pieced together the best of both philanthropy and (to his surprise) capitalism to help millions of India's poor transition from paupers to customers to business owners.

As thoughtful as Barack Obama's personal journey in Dreams from My Father, as harrowing as Paul Farmer's battle against infectious disease in Mountains Beyond Mountains, and as gripping as Greg Mortensen's fight for education in Three Cups of Tea, Akula's story shows how traditional business principles can be brought to bear on global problems in new ways.

A Fistful of Rice offers not only inspiration but also lessons for anyone seeking to transform tenacity, creativity, and innovation into potent tools for fighting even the most seemingly intractable human burdens.]]> 208 Vikram Akula 1422131173 Krishna 4 3.73 2010
author: Vikram Akula
name: Krishna
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2010
rating: 4
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]]> 88061 453 Barack Obama 1921351438 Krishna 4 3.93 1995
author: Barack Obama
name: Krishna
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1995
rating: 4
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date added: 2013/11/03
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]]> 732482
Offering rare insight into the complexities of Indian middle-class society, R. K. Narayan traces life in the fictional town of Malgudi. The Dark Room is a searching look at a difficult marriage and a woman who eventually rebels against the demands of being a good and obedient wife. In Mr. Sampath, a newspaper man tries to keep his paper afloat in the face of social and economic changes sweeping India. Narayan writes of youth and young adulthood in the semiautobiographical Swami and Friends and The Bachelor of Arts. Although the ordinary tensions of maturing are heightened by the particular circumstances of pre-partition India, Narayan provides a universal vision of childhood, early love and grief.

"The experience of reading one of his novels is . . . comparable to one's first reaction to the great Russian the fresh realization of the common humanity of all peoples, underlain by a simultaneous sense of strangeness—like one's own reflection seen in a green twilight."—Margaret Parton, New York Herald Tribune

"The novels of R.K. Narayan are the best I have read in any language for a long time. . . . His work gives the conviction that it is possible to capture in English, a language not born of India, the distinctive characteristics of Indian family life."—Amit Roy, Daily Telegraph]]> 190 R.K. Narayan 0226568318 Krishna 5 4.23 1935
author: R.K. Narayan
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1935
rating: 5
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]]> 34
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkeness bind them

In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, The Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it remained lost to him. After many ages it fell into the hands of Bilbo Baggins, as told in The Hobbit.

In a sleepy village in the Shire, young Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with an immense task, as his elderly cousin Bilbo entrusts the Ring to his care. Frodo must leave his home and make a perilous journey across Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the Ring and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose.
--back cover]]> 398 J.R.R. Tolkien 0618346252 Krishna 5 4.36 1954
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.36
book published: 1954
rating: 5
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]]> 2612 The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire. Just as a single sick person can start an epidemic of the flu, so too can a small but precisely targeted push cause a fashion trend, the popularity of a new product, or a drop in the crime rate. This widely acclaimed bestseller, in which Malcolm Gladwell explores and brilliantly illuminates the tipping point phenomenon, is already changing the way people throughout the world think about selling products and disseminating ideas.]]> 301 Malcolm Gladwell 0316346624 Krishna 4 4.01 2000
author: Malcolm Gladwell
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2000
rating: 4
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]]> 4671 The only edition of the beloved classic that is authorized by Fitzgerald’s family and from his lifelong publisher.

This edition is the enduring original text, updated with the author’s own revisions, a foreword by his granddaughter, and with a new introduction by National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward.

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s third book, stands as the supreme achievement of his career. First published by Scribner in 1925, this quintessential novel of the Jazz Age has been acclaimed by generations of readers. The story of the mysteriously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s.]]> 180 F. Scott Fitzgerald 0743273567 Krishna 3 3.93 1925
author: F. Scott Fitzgerald
name: Krishna
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1925
rating: 3
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]]> 1743581 278 Mukul Kesavan 0670999539 Krishna 4 3.91 2007
author: Mukul Kesavan
name: Krishna
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2007
rating: 4
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date added: 2013/11/03
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]]> 677168 Video Night in Kathmandu comes this intriguing new book that deciphers the cultural ramifications of globalization and the rising tide of worldwide displacement.

Beginning in Los Angeles International Airport, where town life-shops, services, sociability-is available without a town, Pico Iyer takes us on a tour of the transnational village our world has become. From Hong Kong, where people actually live in self-contained hotels, to Atlanta's Olympic Village, which seems to inadvertently commemorate a sort of corporate universalism, to Japan, where in the midst of alien surfaces his apartment building is called "The Memphis," Iyer ponders what the word "home" can possibly mean in a world whose face is blurred by its cultural fusion and its alarmingly rapid rate of change.]]> 302 Pico Iyer 0679776117 Krishna 3 3.52 2000
author: Pico Iyer
name: Krishna
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2000
rating: 3
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date added: 2013/11/03
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]]> 124430 City of Djinns peels back the layers of Delhi's centuries-old history, revealing an extraordinary array of characters along the way—from eunuchs to descendants of great Moguls. With refreshingly open-minded curiosity, William Dalrymple explores the seven "dead" cities of Delhi as well as the eighth city—today's Delhi. Underlying his quest is the legend of the djinns, fire-formed spirits that are said to assure the city's Phoenix-like regeneration no matter how many times it is destroyed. Entertaining, fascinating, and informative, City of Djinns is an irresistible blend of research and adventure.]]> 350 William Dalrymple 0142001007 Krishna 4 4.12 1993
author: William Dalrymple
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1993
rating: 4
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date added: 2013/11/03
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]]> 1202
These may not sound like typical questions for an economist to ask. But Steven D. Levitt is not a typical economist. He is a much heralded scholar who studies the stuff and riddles of everyday life -- from cheating and crime to sports and child rearing -- and whose conclusions regularly turn the conventional wisdom on its head. He usually begins with a mountain of data and a simple, unasked question. Some of these questions concern life-and-death issues; others have an admittedly freakish quality. Thus the new field of study contained in this book: freakonomics.

Through forceful storytelling and wry insight, Levitt and co-author Stephen J. Dubner show that economics is, at root, the study of incentives -- how people get what they want, or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing. In Freakonomics, they set out to explore the hidden side of ... well, everything. The inner workings of a crack gang. The truth about real-estate agents. The myths of campaign finance. The telltale marks of a cheating schoolteacher. The secrets of the Ku Klux Klan.

What unites all these stories is a belief that the modern world, despite a surfeit of obfuscation, complication, and downright deceit, is not impenetrable, is not unknowable, and -- if the right questions are asked -- is even more intriguing than we think. All it takes is a new way of looking. Steven Levitt, through devilishly clever and clear-eyed thinking, shows how to see through all the clutter.

Freakonomics establishes this unconventional premise: If morality represents how we would like the world to work, then economics represents how it actually does work. It is true that readers of this book will be armed with enough riddles and stories to last a thousand cocktail parties. But Freakonomics can provide more than that. It will literally redefine the way we view the modern world.
(front flap)]]> 268 Steven D. Levitt 0061234001 Krishna 4 4.01 2005
author: Steven D. Levitt
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2005
rating: 4
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]]> 14743
With rigor and wit, Dawkins examines God in all his forms, from the sex-obsessed tyrant of the Old Testament, to the more benign (but still illogical) Celestial Watchmaker favored by some Enlightenment thinkers. He eviscerates the major arguments for religion, and demonstrates the supreme improbability of a supreme being. He shows how religion fuels war, foments bigotry, and abuses children, buttressing his points with historical and contemporary evidence.

The God Delusion makes a compelling case that belief in God is not just wrong, but potentially deadly. It also offers exhilarating insight into the advantages of atheism to the individual and society, not the least of which is a clearer, truer appreciation of the universe's wonders than any faith could ever muster.]]> 374 Richard Dawkins 0618680004 Krishna 3 3.89 2006
author: Richard Dawkins
name: Krishna
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2006
rating: 3
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]]> 913199 352 Rahul Bhattacharya 0330439790 Krishna 5 4.23 2005
author: Rahul Bhattacharya
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2005
rating: 5
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]]> 76193
Nothing has been known of those missing years until Jamyang Norbu's discovery, in a rusting tin dispatch box in Darjeeling, of a flat packet carefully wrapped in waxed paper and neatly tied with stout twine. When opened the packet revealed Huree Chunder Mookerjee's (Kipling's Bengali spy and scholar) own account of his travels with Sherlock Holmes.

Now for the first time, we learn of Holmes's brush with the Great Game and the world of Kim. We follow him north across the hot and duty plains of India to Simla, summer capital of the British Raj, and over the high passes to the vast emptiness of the Tibetan plateau. In the medieval splendor that is Lhasa, intrigue and black treachery stalk the shadows, and Sherlock Holmes confronts his greatest challenge.
(back cover)]]> 280 Jamyang Norbu 1582343284 Krishna 4 4.13 1999
author: Jamyang Norbu
name: Krishna
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1999
rating: 4
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]]> 27 The Lost Continent, was unanimously acclaimed as one of the funniest books in years. In Neither Here nor There he brings his unique brand of humour to bear on Europe as he shoulders his backpack, keeps a tight hold on his wallet, and journeys from Hammerfest, the northernmost town on the continent, to Istanbul on the cusp of Asia. Fluent in, oh, at least one language, he retraces his travels as a student twenty years before.

Whether braving the homicidal motorist of Paris, being robbed by gypsies in Florence, attempting not to order tripe and eyeballs in a German restaurant, window-shopping in the sex shops of the Reeperbahn or disputing his hotel bill in Copenhagen, Bryson takes in the sights, dissects the culture and illuminates each place and person with his hilariously caustic observations. He even goes to Liechtenstein.]]> 254 Bill Bryson 0380713802 Krishna 4 3.87 1991
author: Bill Bryson
name: Krishna
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1991
rating: 4
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