The Silkworm - Robert Galbraith

Private investigator Cormoran Strike returns in a new mystery from Robert Galbraith, author of the #1 international bestseller The Cuckoo's Calling.

When novelist Owen Quine goes missing, his wife calls in private detective Cormoran Strike. 

At first, Mrs. Quine just thinks her husband has gone off by himself for a few days--as he has done before--and she wants Strike to find him and bring him home.

But as Strike investigates, it becomes clear that there is more to Quine's disappearance than his wife realizes. 

The novelist has just completed a manuscript featuring poisonous pen-portraits of almost everyone he knows.

 If the novel were to be published, it would ruin lives--meaning that there are a lot of people who might want him silenced.

When Quine is found brutally murdered under bizarre circumstances, it becomes a race against time to understand the motivation of a ruthless killer, a killer unlike any Strike has encountered before...

A compulsively readable crime novel with twists at every turn, THE SILKWORM is the second in the highly acclaimed series featuring Cormoran Strike and his determined young assistant, Robin Ellacott.

[Book Description Source: www.amazon.com ] 



Ratings
Goodreads Rating - 4.02 out of 5 (122,451 Ratings; 12,225 Reviews - As on October 30 2016)
My Rating:  3 out of 5
My Comments:  Not as good as the first book in Coromoran Strike series "The Cuckoo's Calling".


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The Power of Compassion - The Dalai Lama

“Genuine compassion is based on a clear acceptance or recognition that others, like oneself, want happiness and have the right to overcome suffering. On that basis one develops concern about the welfare of others, irrespective of one’s attitude to oneself. 
That is compassion.” - THE DALAI LAMA

Many people have asked the Dalai Lama to address the current difficulties facing humanity. 
In these talks given in London he speaks about a wide range of issues including: Bosnia, racial hatred, gender and environmental protection.
Modern life is so full of confusion and suffering that people need the courage to face their anger and hatred, in order to transform their lives and relationships.
The Dalai Lama describes in a clear and simple style how to live and die well and how to bring wisdom and compassion into our everyday lives.
[Book Description Source: www.amazon.in ] 

Ratings
Goodreads Rating - 4.13 out of 5 (150 Ratings; 14 Reviews - As on October 11 2016)
My Rating:  4 out of 5
My Comments: Very thought provoking and inspiring talks by  Dalai Lama on following topics:
1) Contentment, Joy and Living Well
2) Facing Death and Dying Well
3) Dealing with Anger and Emotion
4) Giving and Receiving: A Practical Way of Directing Love and Compassion
5) Interdependence, Inter-connectedness and the nature of Reality
6) The Challenge for Humanity: An Interfaith Address


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Visual Meetings - David Sibbet

How Graphics, Sticky Notes and Idea Mapping Can Transform Group Productivity

Use eye-popping visual tools to energize your people!
Just as social networking has reclaimed the Internet for human interactivity and co-creation, the visual meetings movement is reclaiming creativity, productivity, and playful exchange for serious work in groups.
Visual Meetings explains how anyone can implement powerful visual tools, and how these tools are being used in Silicon Valley and elsewhere to facilitate both face-to-face and virtual group work. 
This dynamic and richly illustrated resource gives meeting leaders, presenters, and consultants a slew of exciting tricks and tools, including

• Graphic recording, visual planning, story boarding, graphic templates, idea mapping, etc.

• Creative ways to energize team building, sales presentations, staff meetings, strategy sessions, brainstorming, and more
• Getting beyond paper and whiteboards to engage new media platforms
• Understanding emerging visual language for leading groups

Unlocking formerly untapped creative resources for business success, Visual Meetings will help you and your team communicate ideas more effectively and engagingly.

   
[Book Description Source: www.amazon.com ] 

Ratings
Goodreads Rating - 3.79 out of 5 (783 Ratings; 22 Reviews - As on October 9 2016)
My Rating:   2 out of 5
My Review: Lots of interesting ideas but too much of self-promotion. Felt like I was reading a  long and dry brochure of the author's company. OK for people who have never been exposed to the concept of Visual Meeting but the rest can look elsewhere.


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The Art of Happiness - Dalai Lama XIV and Howard C. Cutler

Nearly every time you see him, he's laughing, or at least smiling.
And he makes everyone else around him feel like smiling. 
He's the Dalai Lama, the spiritual and temporal leader of Tibet, a Nobel Prize winner, and a hugely sought-after speaker and statesman. 
Why is he so popular? 
Even after spending only a few minutes in his presence you can't help feeling happier.

If you ask him if he's happy, even though he's suffered the loss of his country, the Dalai Lama will give you an unconditional yes. 
What's more, he'll tell you that happiness is the purpose of life, and that the very motion of our life is toward happiness. 
How to get there has always been the question. 
He's tried to answer it before, but he's never had the help of a psychiatrist to get the message across in a context we can easily understand.

The Art of Happiness is the book that started the genre of happiness books, and it remains the cornerstone of the field of positive psychology.

Through conversations, stories, and meditations, the Dalai Lama shows us how to defeat day-to-day anxiety, insecurity, anger, and discouragement. 
Together with Dr. Howard Cutler, he explores many facets of everyday life, including relationships, loss, and the pursuit of wealth, to illustrate how to ride through life's obstacles on a deep and abiding source of inner peace. 
Based on 2,500 years of Buddhist meditations mixed with a healthy dose of common sense, The Art of Happiness is a book that crosses the boundaries of traditions to help readers with difficulties common to all human beings. 
After being in print for ten years, this book has touched countless lives and uplifted spirits around the world.
 
[Book Description Source: www.amazon.com ] 

Ratings
Goodreads Rating - 4.13 out of 5 (54,666 Ratings; 1620 Reviews - As on Aug 20 2016)
My Rating:  4 out of 5
My Comments:  This book makes it to most of the lists of Top 10 happiness books that I found in the internet. Though Dalai Lama has been credited as the main author, the book is actually an interpretation of the views expressed by Dalai Lama when interviewed by the co-author Dr. Cutler, a psychologist.


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Simplicity - Edward de Bono

Simplicity is the classic work about making the complicated simple, from world-renowned writer and philosopher Edward de Bono. 
From confusing manuals to uninterpretable jargon to bureaucratic red-tape, modern life can be highly complicated and frustrating. 
For many of us it is almost impossible to make sense of. 
In Simplicity, lateral-thinking guru Edward de Bono shows us how to bring simplicity into our increasingly complicated lives. 
Through his ten rules of simplicity, he encourages us to be creative and break down the complex into manageable and recognisable parts. 
By making the complicated simple, you will free up time, reduce stress and make better decisions.
[Book Description Source: www.amazon.com ] 

Ratings
Goodreads Rating - 3.7 out of 5 (297 Ratings; 23 Reviews; as on Aug 13 2016)
My Rating:  3 out of 5
My Comments: Though there are no path breaking techniques taught in this book, the concept of Simplicity and the general approaches to achieve is well explained in a concise manner. 
The book is "Simple" and light read, living up to its title. 
Liked it more than than the previous book of Edward de Bono  (Lateral Thinking) which was rather an insipid read, though the technique "Lateral Thinking" was path breaking.


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हिन्दी हास्य व्यंग्य संकलन (Hindi Hasya Vyangya Sankalan) - श्रीलाल शुक्ल, प्रेम जनमेजय (editiors: Srilal Shukla, Prem Janmejaya)

भारतेन्दु काल के पहले का काल मूलतः कविता पर केन्द्रित है। 

उसमें हास्य-व्यंग्य की स्फुट रचनाओं का सर्वथा अभाव नहीं है, पर वहाँ हास्य के स्रोत और स्वरूप उतने वैविध्यपूर्ण तथा उन्मुक्त नहीं हैं जितने कि वे आधुनिक साहित्य में पाये जाते हैं।

 भारतेन्दु काल से लेकर आज तक के हिन्दी व्यंग्य की गुणवत्ता के विकास का ग्राफ चकित करने वाला है। 

इस दीर्घ अन्तराल में हिन्दी व्यंग्य के कई आयाम खुले। कई पीढ़ियों के प्रतिभा संपन्न रचनाकारों ने अपने सृजन से इस विधा को पुष्ट किया। 

हिन्दी हास्य व्यंग्य का यह संकलन इस विकास यात्रा की बानगी है। 

इस काल के प्रायः सभी प्रमुख लेखकों, हर पीढ़ी और रचनाधारा के वैविध्य का प्रतिनिधित्व हो सके तथा पाठकों के सामने हिन्दी हास्य-व्यंग्य की एक मुकम्मल तस्वीर प्रस्तुत हो सके - संपादकों ने इसका पूरा-पूरा ध्यान रखा है। इसके संपादक श्रीलाल शुक्ल तथी प्रेम जनमेजय हिन्दी हास्य व्यंग्य के क्षेत्र में ख्यातिप्राप्त रचनाकार हैं। 

(Source:  Book Cover)

My Rating: 3 out of 5

The Principles of Product Development Flow - Donald G. Reinertsen

Second Generation Lean Product Development

"...the dominant paradigm for managing product development is wrong. Not just a little wrong, but wrong to its very core." 
So begins Reinertsen in his meticulous examination of today's product development practices. 
He carefully explains why invisible and unmanaged queues are the underlying root cause of poor product development performance. 
He shows why these queues form and how they undermine the speed, quality, and efficiency in product development.
Then, he provides a roadmap for changing this. 
The book provides a well-organized set of 175 underlying principles in eight major areas. 
He shows you practical methods to:

• Improve economic decisions
• Manage queues
• Reduce batch size
• Apply WIP constraints
• Accelerate feedback
• Manage flows in the presence of variability
• Decentralize control

The Principles of Product Development Flow will forever change the way you think about product development. 
Reinertsen starts with the ideas of lean manufacturing but goes far beyond them, drawing upon ideas from telecommunications networks, transportation systems, computer operating systems and military doctrine. 
He combines a lucid explanation of the science behind flow with a rich set of practical approaches. 
This is another landmark book by one of the foremost experts on product development.

[Book Description Source: www.amazon.com ] 

Ratings
Goodreads Rating - 4.25 out of 5 (767 Ratings, 63 Reviews)

My Rating:  4 out of 5 
My Comments: A very useful and concise guide on effective product development in a very complex and dynamic business environment. 


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(Anybody can read Kindle books—even without a Kindle device—with the FREE Kindle app for smartphones and tablets.)