Review: Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End

Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hooter: Modern day medicine helps delay death, not extend life.

The above statement summarises my take on the book by Dr. Atul Gawande as he looks at geriatric and palliative care in the United States with statistics and stories, underlining how those numbers are people. When mortality hits closer to his home, Dr. Atul Gawande shares his father's story. He also takes a look at how mortality as a subject has changed over centuries and is medicine solving the right problem at hand or more importantly approaching it in the right way. The topic is something no one in my age group ponders upon atleast if they believe themselves to be healthy "physically" or "mentally" and are labelled otherwise if they do. Some eye opening statements on how as a social policy, we have some safety nets for healthy old age but not for the final stages of mortality and also the utopian expectations we have from medical processes whereas the reality could be different and that mismatch extends the misery for the one in question and their family often with the family carrying the weight of life decisions of their loved ones. A rich mix of dry academia and emotional human connect makes this a breezy read even while being weighed down by an existential topic.

View all my reviews

Review: Tales of Mystery and Terror

Tales of Mystery and Terror by Edgar Allan Poe
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Hooter: Collection of Poe's macabre and gory short stories that make you Halloween ready

Part of Puffin's collection aimed at young adults, this is a great introduction to the world of Edgar Allan Poe. Reading his back story, you realise with how much ease he could spin this stuff up. His true life story is as macabre as his writings. Having said that, I found the language a mouthful to read and painful at times. Considering this is an abridged version of his writings to make it more palatable, I feel the reverse with the complex writing style being implemented that you lose the impact of the gripping terror that Poe wants to engulf you with. In some essence, the mystery and terror does reach out but doesn't really envelop you.

View all my reviews

Review: Calvin and Hobbes

Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Hooter: a series of comic panels starring a young kid Calvin and his stuffed toy tiger which is alive and kicking as per him.

Bill Watterson reminds me of RK Laxman common man. Leveraging a young brat protagonist to portray share his witty observations and social commentary on the way of life from an unconstrained perspective. He's battling monsters under in his bed one moment and contemplating live after death in the next. A woke adult would not provide the same sharp insights as Calvin and his stuffed toy coming to life Hobbes can.. the book is a collection from a lot of his syndicated work so provides a wide range of 3 -4 panel stories bunched together - kinda like paani puri. You don't know when one tingling sensation starts and love ends and that blows your mind. This is a must read and mood lightener in this current #lockdown environment along with it being on the all time recommendation list.

View all my reviews

Review: Trailblazer: The Power of Business as the Greatest Platform for Change

Trailblazer: The Power of Business as the Greatest Platform for Change by Marc Benioff
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hooter: A look at running the world from Marc Benioff's perspective and passions. Part Biography, part perspectives, part gyaan lot of Salesforce fanfare.

If you are intertwined with the Salesforce world like me, as someone who works there or is a client of their products or a partner, this book will be of more interest to you than any layman. It doesn't focus so much on the step by step journey of how Salesforce became a giant that it is today but focuses on how Marc stayed vocal to his belief system that values are more important to a company than profits. In the long run, those values will bring the talented woke employee and woke customers and keep the profits churning was the baseline. He does set the baseline that by getting a college degree, hes already an outlier amongst Bay Area Tech CEOs. His love for Bay Area and values to give back to community make for strong passionate reading and now becoming a norm across industries as companies try to keep the millenial workforce engaged. The influence of role models - his father, his grandfather, Albert Einstein and Steve Jobs provide a human touch to a business mind.

A collection of those thoughts and perspectives often with examples within the Salesforce organisation are littered through the book as anecdotal evidence adding color to it all. I won't call it the most engaging business book I have read but provides fresh insight into the minds of one of the biggest business legends in today's time.

View all my reviews

#InstantPoem: To Do List

Credits: Unsplash

He stared at the crumpled piece of paper
Wondering how'd he make that list taper.
Astronaut, Movie star or would he be a teacher
TIME magazine or CRICINFO, where would he feature?

He stared at the crumpled piece of paper
Wondering how'd he make that list taper.
Meenakshi in Chemistry or Jaya in English class
Rakshita from dance or Hetal from dandiya raas

He stared at the crumpled piece of paper
Wondering how'd he make that list taper.
Good grades meant he should apply for higher studies
Or get a job and live the good life with his buddies.

He stared at the crumpled piece of paper
Wondering how'd he make that list taper.
He could run the rat race and win it all
Think too much and behind he would fall.

He stared at the crumpled piece of paper
Wondering how'd he make that list taper.
His eyesight and body had started giving up on him
His chances of finishing that list growing dim.

She stared at the crumpled piece of paper
Wondering how'd she make that list taper.
Her father had treasured it all his life
Responsibilities winning over dreams in this life long strife.