Head First - Software Development

[Authors: Dan Pilone & Russ Miles ; Publisher: O'Reilly; Paperback: 516 pages]

The software development approach described in this book is primarily based on Agile development principles and the Scrum framework (though not explicitly mentioned as such). It also introduces the concepts underlying technical practices like Test Driven Development (TDD) and Continuous Integration (CI) in a very elegant manner using a single case study , code snippets, illustrations and exercises. Pure Agilists may disagree with some of the points made in this book for e.g. definition of velocity , suggestion of a separate QA team for team for testing.
Read the extended summary of this book in my business blog.

False Impression

[Author: Jeffrey Archer,  Publisher:Pan Books , Paperback:  464 pages ]

Read a book by Jeffrey Archer after a long long time. Can't remember when I read him last.

Fenston is an an unscrupulous New York based investment banker whose strategy is to  drive his debtors to bankruptcy and also get them killed if it serves his end.
Fenston who is also an art collector is desperate to acquire one of Van Gogh's highly valued painting - Self-portrait with Bandaged Ear from his debtor Lady Victoria Wentworth after getting her killed. How his former employee Anna Petrescu  and the FBI agent Jack Delaney foil his plans is what the story is all about.
Though not one of Jeffrey Archer's best books (I liked his Kane and Abel the best), still it is a fast moving page turner and keeps you interested throughout.

Links:

• Author's Website  
• Goodreads Review  -  3.51/5.0; 4,197 ratings;341 reviews 
• Read Online 

Trivia:

I appreciate Western Art, so I have compiled the following list of Paintings mentioned in this book. I will be providing links to their images one of these days.

• Turner -  Sunset Over Plymouth
• Van Gogh - Self-portrait with Bandaged Ear, Geishas in a Landscape, Sunflowers, The Red Vineyard, Reapers in the Field
• Degas-  Dancing Class with Mme Minette, Dancer before a Mirror, The Dancing Instructor
• Warhol- Black Marilyn, Shot Read Marilyn
• Michelangelo- Study of a Mourning Woman
• Romney-Mrs Siddons as Portia
• Stubbs-Actaeon Winner of the Derby
• Picasso - Guernica
• Monet - Willows at Vetheuil
• Renoir - Madame Duprez and her Children (The Reading Lesson),
• Manet - Dinner at the Cafe Guerbois
• Rembrandt - The Polish Rider, The Beresteyn Family, Titus - The Artist's Son
• Raphael - The Madonna of the Pinks
• Munch- The Scream
• Matisse - View from the Bedroom
• Caillebotte - Street Sweepers
• Carvaggio -The Marriage at Cana
• Tintretto-  Perseus and Andromeda

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The Map

[Author: T.S. Learner, Published:  2012, Publisher:Sphere , Paperback:  608 pages ]

August Winthrop has come into possession of an ancient Jewish scroll and has been tasked with a mission to return it to the descendants of its author.  August who had been an Oxford Classic scholar becomes fascinated by the mysterious Kabbalistic writings in the scroll which provides clues about the whereabouts of a great treasure - a great mystical gift that could change the future of mankind itself. He is relentlessly pursued by spies and secret agents who want to lay their hands on the scroll and acquire the treasure. The book is all about how August gets to solve the puzzle of the great treasure.

The book's plot had all the potential of turning out to be a great thriller and mystery novel. Narration is fast moving and fairly interesting too.
Unfortunately the desultory writing style with too many loose ends and no clear-cut description of the clues in the scroll (ala Dan Brown's da Vinci code) does not allow the book to rise beyond an average thriller.  Sort of an OK read.
Links:

• Author's Website  
• Website of the  Book  -  Check out the Video Trailer of this book and the Video Interview with the Author T.S. Learner
• Prolog of the book
• GoodRead Reviews : 2.94  ·  rating details  ·  53 ratings  ·  16 reviews  

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Newton and his Falling Apple

Author:         Kjartan Poskitt
Illustrator:     Philip Reeve 

Published    2011

Publisher:    Scholastic

Paperback:  192  pages

Any school student would have definitely come across - Newton's Laws of Motion, Newton's Law of Gravity, Newton's Law of Cooling, Newton Rings and so on.
But how many of us know the man - Newton - behind these laws that have given sleepless nights to so many students  while they prepared for the exams. How they  wish that Newton was never born !
This  little book meant primarily meant for students (that includes me too an eternal student , though I am over ....well never mind!) is a delightful humorous, illustrated biography of Newton. I came to know many facts about Newton which I was not aware of.

Want to know more about this book ? Well get hold of a copy  and read it. Too good to be missed !
4 out of 5 !


Links:

• Author's Website   
• Good Read Reviews - 3.99  ·  rating details  ·  71 ratings  ·  7 reviews

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Understand Psychology

Author:        Nicky Hayes

Published    2010

Publisher:    Hodder Education

Paperback:  480 pages

For effective interactions with  people we meet in our day-to-day life understanding their psychology is very essential.
This well-written, easy to understand and systematically structured book serves as a great introduction to the subject of psychology.
I particularly liked the sections  Insight and 10 Things to Remember found in each chapter.
See below for the chapter wise summary of contents.
Though it seems slightly dated (psychological aspects of internet, websites, net surfing  not being covered ) it is surely the first book anyone should read on this subject.
I rate it  4 out of 5 !


Links:

• Author's Website  
• Website of the  Book
• Good Read Ratings  3.75  ·  rating details  ·  16 ratings  ·  4 reviews 

Summary of  Contents
Chapter 1 - Introducing psychology : Understanding the mind,levels of explanation,areas of psychology.
Chapter 2 - Self and others: The first relationships,the self-concept,cultural and social influences.
Chapter 3 -Understanding other people: Co-operation , compliance and obedience,social representations.
Chapter 4 - Emotional living: Emotions, negative emotions, stress and coping,positive psychology.
Chapter 5 - Consciousness and the brain:  Biological rhythms, drugs and consciousness, sleep and dreaming
Chapter 6 - Motivation: Physical motives, behavioural motives,cognitive motives,social motivation
Chapter 7 - Cognition: Thinking, perception, memory
Chapter 8 - Evolution, genetics and learning: Evolution, genetic mechanisms,levels of learning
Chapter 9 - Learning and intelligence: Forms of learning, social learning,intelligence
Chapter 10 - Childhood and adolescence: Childhood,adolescence
Chapter 11- Adulthood, retirement and ageing: Adulthood, retirement, ageing
Chapter 12 - Working life: Why do people work, human resource management,organizational culture
Chapter 13 - Leisure: Watching television, computer games,sport psychology
Chapter 14 - Education and health: The psychology of teaching and learning.counselling and therapy, health psychology
Chapter 15 - Living in the world: Proxemics and privacy, sources of environmental stress, disasters and accidents
Chapter 16 - Developing psychological understanding: What do psychologists do,developing psychological knowledge, conducting psychological research

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Sea of Poppies

Author:        Amitav Ghosh

Published   2008

Publisher:    Penguin India

Paperback: 528 pages. 

This fascinating historical fiction takes you back 175 years ago around the time when the British East India company transported  Indians in ships from India  to Mauritius to serve as a laborers (coolies as they were called) in their plantations.
Ibis is one such ship where we have a motley crowd consisting of a  - widowed village woman, a bankrupt Raja now a prisoner framed for forgery, a half-white American, a Bengali Babu, a French orphan girl  among  others, all heading towards  their destiny in the distant Mauritius, either by choice or due to compulsions.
This book forms the first part of the Ibis trilogy and almost four-fifths of the book describes the circumstances in which these people landed up on Ibis.
Even though there are too many characters, each one of them is vividly and realistically portrayed. We are able to empathize with them though there are shades of grey in their characters.
There are several humorous narrations too especially revolving around Babu Nob Kissen who somehow has got into his head that the American Zachary is reincarnation of Lord Krishna.
The only drawback according to me in this book is that it ends rather abruptly in the middle of Ibis's voyage at a very interesting turn of events. However that leaves the readers something to look forward to in its sequel "River of Smoke".
Sea of Poppies is a well researched book which is based on the writings of many 19th century scholars, dictionarists, linguists and chroniclers. It runs through over 500 pages in small print,
yet it is a fairly fast read without compromising on literary merit anywhere. After all the author Amitav Ghosh has earned a doctorate from Oxford.
This book was also shortlisted for  the Man Booker Prize 2008.
An engrossing read right from the page one till the end !

Links:

• Author's website  
• Reviews in Good Reads -  3.88  ·  rating details  ·  5,498 ratings  ·  996 reviews

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The Krishna Key

Author:         Ashwin Sanghi

Published    2012 

Publisher:    Westland

Paperback: 485 pages. 

I had read good reviews about Ashwin Sanghi's previous  novels - "The Rozabal Line" and "Chanakya's Chant" and was planning to read them soon. And then  last week  BlogAdda offered to send his latest book "The Krishna Key" for my review. I could not resist the temptation even though their expectation to submit a 500-word review is no less tougher than meeting a project deadline at work. Fortunately, I received the book on a Friday and I managed to start and finish reading this book over a weekend. It was a time well spent.

The plot is strikingly similar to Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code and the Lost Symbol. And we even have a Robert Langdon like main character in form of the historian Ravi Mohan Saini in this 460-odd page thriller.

While Dan Brown in his fictions explores the mysteries and secrets surrounding Jesus Christ and Biblical themes our  Desi Dan Brown, Ashwin Sanghvi, has chosen Lord Krishna and  Mahabharata for this book. But then it is always nice to read about things closer to home.

Here is the plot of the story.
The whereabouts of a jewel called Syamantaka Mani, which was once in custody of Lord Krishna is now shrouded in secrecy. Varshney a famous symbolist is the only person who has got clues to unravel this secret. Fearing a threat to his life he  distributes these clues among four persons whom he trusts most viz; - an archaeologist Dr. Nikhil Bhojaraj , a nuclear scientist Prof.Rajaram Kurkude, a genetics expert Devendra Chhedi and the historian Ravi Mohan Saini. There is a gang which is in wild pursuit of Syamantaka Mani, which is actually a philosopher's stone that turns iron into gold. Mataji an ex-school teacher and a key member of this gang has brainwashed her student Taarak into believing that he is the tenth reincarnation of Lord Vishnu i.e. the Kalki Avatar. In order to secure the clues she convinces Taarak  to eliminate Varshney, Bhojraj, Kurkude, Chedi and Saini. Tarak kills all of them except Saini, our hero who manages to survive. After many twists and turns , Saini manages to outwit Tarak and his gang and solve the mystery of Syamantaka Mani.

The plot  may seem rather run-of-the mill. But the highlights of the story are the theories, puzzles, clues and mysteries woven into it. And they are all pretty interesting though some of them are purely fictitious and outrageous. To mention just a few examples - Sumerian civilization being founded by people who migrated from Indus Valley; significance of the number 108 in Hindu philosophy; the design of modern nuclear power stations having a striking resemblance to Shiva linga; Mohd. Ghazni the Afghan invader who looted Somnath temple being a descendant of  Lord Krishna's clan - the Yadavas.

The book is profusely illustrated with pictures, maps and diagrams of clues and symbols to explain the details within the story. In fact, the author advises us in the beginning not to flip through the book prematurely since it may  result in unintended viewing of these pictures that could act as spoilers.

The writing style though not of great literary merit is racy, down-to-earth and kept me fully engaged throughout the weekend. And I am impressed by the research the author undertook to weave the mind-boggling clues within the story plot. He has provided an exhaustive list of 135 references to books, articles, blogs and You Tube audio/videos that he referred to while writing this book.

This book has served as an appetizer  for Ashwin Sanghvi's earlier novels which I plan to read soon.

All in all a very entertaining read for all mystery and thriller lovers !
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Links:

• Author's website
•  First 5 Chapters of the book 

[This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com. Participate now to get free books!  ]

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