Indianomix - Making Sense of Modern India

Authors:       Vivek Dehejia and Rupa Subramanya

Published:   2012

Publisher:    Random House India

Hardcover:  228 Pages

Economics is not one of my favorite subjects. But this book was  pressed into my hands by a book lover who was sure that I will enjoy it. And she was absolutely right. 
I had never expected that such a dry subject like economics could be applied to understand the behavioral patterns of Indians in various situations. 
In the introductory chapter the authors who are well qualified economists, explain how in India the everyday scenarios like - people not turning up on time for an appointment; an auto driver not willing to go where you want him to go; politicians or bureaucrats  making you wait without rhyme or reason - are actually manifestations of several economic theories in action.

In the remaining six chapters of the book they explore issues like :

• Why the public is indifferent to the plight of an accident victim ?
• Why did Nehru ignore the Chinese threat in the lead-up to the 1962 war ?
• Why people take life-threatening risks while crossing a busy road or a railway track ?
• Do seatbelt laws really save lives in India ?
• Will India be better off under an autocratic rule as compared to a democratic setup ?
• What  was the reason for BJP's defeat in 2004 General Elections ?
• What role does myths and superstitions play in influencing the economics and politics of a country like India ?

This book is not a conventional economics book since it borrows liberally from other disciplines like history, political science, psychology, sociology, anthropology, evolutionary biology, religion etc.to explain these issues. This is because the authors firmly believe that the "richness of India - which to some people may appear as mere messiness - deserves, indeed demands, such an interdisciplinary approach. When you dig below the apparent chaos of India, and get to the deeper mechanisms hidden below the confusing patterns on top, India makes sense after all".

A very entertaining  and enlightening read ! I am glad that I read this book.

Links: 
Goodreads Rating - 3.50  ·  rating details  ·  16 ratings  ·  4 reviews 

•  Excerpts from the following chapters of the book
• What if...?
• Heads or Tails ? 
• Mythical or Modern
   

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Teach Yourself Astronomy

Author:      Sir Patrick Moore

Published: 2008

Publisher: Hodder Education

Paperback: 256 pages

My first attempt to learn  Astronomy was when I enrolled myself in Coursera's free online course "Introduction to Astronomy" . That was a disaster. The lectures were overwhelming and too fast paced for my comfort . So one fine day I just dropped out of the course.
And then a month later I picked up from the library  this book by the world renowned astronomer Sir Patrick Moore. This time my experience was definitely better.
The book is written in a very simple easy to understand manner with a sense of humor at places. Many of the concepts are well explained.
However you tend to loose your way in the maze of  jargons and names of countless stars, constellations and galaxies. 
It seems to me the subject of astronomy is such that it can't be grasped in a single reading, however much the author tries to simplify it.

But overall a fairly good book to get started on astronomy.

Contents: 
Chapter 1: Introducing Astronomy - Basic facts about astronomy; definitions of  the most important terms.
Chapter 2: The Spinning Sky - The celestial sphere; how the positions of celestial bodies are given in the sky; the celestial equivalents of latitude and longitude on the Earth.
Chapter 3: Sky-watchers - The history of astronomy from the old sky-watchers to the huge telescopes and space-probes of today.
Chapter 4: The Astronomer's Telescope - The various types of astronomical telescopes; how the telescopes work; how to choose a telescope for yourself.
Chapter 5: Into space - Space-craft, from early Earth satellites to international space-stations
Chapter 6: The Sun - How the Sun's distance was measured; the Sun itself and how it produces energy; solar eclipses.
Chapter 7: The Moon - The Moon, its phases an its effects on our tides; the Moon's surface and how lunar craters were formed; the eclipses of the Moon.
Chapter 8: The Sun's Family - The members of the Solar System; how the members of the Solar System move and how they differ from each other.
Chapter 9: The Inner Planets - The three planets which, together with Earth, make up the inner part of the Solar System viz; Mercury, Venus and Mars.
Chapter 10: The Outer Planets - Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
Chapter 11: Minor Members of the Solar System - Asteroids, Comets, Meteors and Meteorites.
Chapter 12: The Stars - The stars, and what they are; how we measure the stars' distances; how stars are divided up into constellations.
Chapter 13: Pattern of Stars - How to identify the various constellations at different times of the year.
Chapter 14: Double and Variable Stars - About double stars and variable stars.
Chapter 15: The Life and Times of a Star - Stellar evolution for low-mass and high-mass stars.
Chapter 16: The Star-clusters and Nebulae - Clusters of stars, both loose and globular; planetary nebulae.
Chapter 17: The Depths of the Universe - Galaxies; how the whole universe is expanding.
Chapter 18: Into the Future - New investigations into the possibility of life on other worlds. 

Links:

• Goodreads Rating - 4.17 of 5 stars  (25 ratings)
• The Sky at Night - Video clips  -  Sir Patrick Moore presented this program in BBC TV from 1957 till his death last year (2012).  ·
  

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Stories We Need to Know

Author:          Allan G. Hunter

Published:    2008

Publisher:     Findhorn Press

Paperback: 240 pages

There are many people who suffer from soul starvation at some point of time in their lives. Soul starvation is a continuous feeling of boredom, discontentment and a sense of disengagement from the world.  

According to the author the remedy to overcome this malaise lies in reading and benefiting from the wisdom embedded in our literature - folk tales, stories,myths, legends.

 

These literature through their characters,  suggest that as we go through our lives each one of us can expect to come across six distinct stages of personal development, which always occur in the same order. Each stage needs to be well understood to achieve peace of mind. 

 

The six stages along with their main attributes are:

1. Innocent - defenseless, undefending, trusting, accepting, loving and feeling loved
2. Orphan - sense of abandonment, looking for someone to take care of us, or someone to identify with
3. Pilgrim - trying to find out what one's capabilities are
4. Warrior-Lover - passionate commitments to one's own interests,values, family, etc. and fighting to sustain them.
5. Monarch Pair (the King and Queen) - serving and protecting something larger than one's immediate turf with a balanced mix of pride and humility; toughness and softness.
6. Magician - making things happen while seeming not to do anything much at all

 

In this book the author discusses how each one of us can embark on our own journey through these six stages and what are the pitfalls to watch out for as we do so.

To support his discussion, he explains the archetypes of each of these stages drawing examples from three thousand years of Western literature.

 

Just to cite a few of those - 

• The Odyssey, The Illiad - Homer
• Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus - Sophocles
• Oresrteia - Aeschylus
• The Bible
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
• Plays of  William Shakespeare
• Dr.Faustus - Christopher Marlowe
• Novels of Charles Dickens
• Books in the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowlings

The book is structured systematically and  well written in a manner which fairly easy to understand. But it may not appeal to those who are on the lookout for a conventional self-help book or to those who are not much interested in English Literature.

It was an  interesting read for me nevertheless !

Links:

• Goodreads Reviews - 4.24  ·  rating details  ·  17 ratings  ·  6 reviews 
• Author's Website 

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Practices of An Agile Developer

Authors: Venkat Subramaniam and Andy Hunt 
In this book the authors present 45 practices which a software developer need to follow to derive maximum benefit out of the Agile way of working. The book is written in a very elegant, reader friendly manner, peppered with case studies drawn from authors' experience and garnished with ample doses of humor. 
An indispensable book for every developer starting on their agile journey and a sanity check for everyone who claims to be Agile !
Read more details about this book in my business blog.
  (Price : Rs 300/- only) 

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Game Writing Handbook

Authors:      Rafael Chandler 
Published:  2007 
Publisher:   Charles River Media ;
Paperback: 316 pages.

This book imparts the know-how of game writing for today’s competitive video game market. It provides hands-on techniques for designing storyline, creating characters, writing dialogue, and testing story content.
A well-written book which has resulted in my developing a better appreciation for the Game Design and Writing !
For chapter-wise summary of the contents of this book visit my business blogsite.

• Goodreads Reviews and Ratings – 4.00  (3 Ratings, 1 Review)

 

   
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Madhushala

Author:     Harivansh Rai Bachchan

Published: 1935

Publisher: Hind Pocket Books (39th Edition)

Paperback: 162 pages

Madhushala (The Tavern/ The House of Wine)  is perhaps the most popular work of the renowned poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan (better known to the masses as the father of the Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan).
If I remember correctly, I had bought a copy of this book way back in 1993 but inexplicably never got down to read it cover to cover till this month.
And when I read it I realized what I had been missing all these years.
On surface Madhushala is a collection of 135 quatrains extolling the virtues of a tavern where wines are sold. But each and every verse of this poem has a deep mystical, spiritual and philosophical thought underlying it. The poet brilliantly employs the words - madhu, madira or haala (wine), saaki (server), pyaala (cup or glass)  madhushala, madiralaya (pub/bar) - as metaphors to convey Soul's longing to be united with the Divine.
Really a gem of a collection of verses  which one needs to dive into  multiple times and enjoy its beauty !

Links:

• Goodreads Reviews - 4.48/ 5 (307 ratings, 8 reviews) 
• Read Madhushala Online   (Original in Hindi)
• Madhushala (Translation) - A selection of 20 verses translated into English
• Madushala Song - Set to tune by Jaidev and sung by Manna Dey . Available at You Tube in 4 parts (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4). The first verse in the first part is recited by the poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan himself.
• Madhushala Recital by Amitabh Bachchan - You Tube Video

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7 Secrets of Shiva

Author:     Devdutt Pattanaik

Published: 2011

Publisher: Westland Ltd.

Paperback: 234 pages

I was really impressed with the author's book 7 Secrets of Vishnu which I  read last year. I have even written a summary of it in this  blog.

So I ordered for this book when one of my Flipkart coupons was about to expire.

This book intends to clarify for the readers the implicit patterns in the stories, symbols and rituals of Lord Shiva.

There are seven chapters in this book.

The first chapter,Lingeshwara's Secret - Imagination makes us human, explains the meaning of the Shiva-linga going beyond its conventional interpretation as a phallic symbol. 

The second chapter ,Bhairava's Secret- From fear comes all corruption, focuses on Shiva's violent disdain for territorial behavior amongst humans.
The third and fourth chapters - Shankara's Secret - Without empathy there is no evolution and Bholenath's Secret - Culture is a human delusion - deal with how the Goddess Shakti, Shiva's consort gets him to compassionately engage with the world.
The next two chapters - Ganesha's Secret - Food alone does not satisfy hunger and Murugan's Secret - Face fear to outgrow it -  revolves around these two son's of Shiva who, through whom he connects with the world.
The final chapter, Nataraja's Secret - Destruction is deconstruction, presents Shiva as the wise teacher who expresses wisdom through dance.

All the legends , rituals and symbols are very well interpreted, though I am not sure whether it is author's own interpretation or whether it is based on his research.
The writing style is more coherent and simpler as compared to the author's other book 7 Secrets of Vishnu.

The book has an attractively designed cover and profusely illustrated. Every alternate page has an illustration of a classic painting  or a calendar art or a temple sculpture. The illustrations are well supported by explanations in call-out bubbles which point to the exact part of the illustration being explained. See below a sample of such illustrations.

A few suggestions for the author and the publisher to be taken care of in the next edition:

• A glossary for non-English terms used in this book.
• An index to easily locate the interesting pieces of information.
• A consolidated list of all the illustrations along with their sources. 
• A hardcover version of this book with glossy illustrations in color will make this an excellent coffee table book.

I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in religious mythology, spirituality or philosophy. At just Rs. 250/- this book is a real bargain. 

Links:

• Visit the Author's website for interesting articles on mythology.
• Goodreads Reviews - 3.91/ 5 (113 ratings, 11 reviews)

Sample illustrations from this book: 

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