Review: Beartown

Beartown by Fredrik Backman
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

Hooter: Residents of a middling town pin all their hopes on their junior hockey team

Coincidently I actually read bulk of this book during my backpacking trip to Sweden without realising Backman is Swedish and the fictional town of Beartown is based in Sweden. As I read this in the snow packed towns of Abisko and Kiruna, I could relate to Beartown and its residents. Also with NHL promos in the country whilst I was around implied the next important component of this book was abuzz around me - ice hockey and its fans.

Ignoring that ambience and immersion, Fredik has a way with character development and he truly fleshes them out here and even the town and its vibes. You feel transported to this desolate town clinging on past glory until the junior hockey team starts making a splash.

What is just a junior hockey game suddenly means a whole lot more to a lot of people and to what extreme can people go to , when they are worried about hope being snuffed out. The human drama, emotion and conflict are beautifully expressed as you join these characters on a rollercoaster journey called life through their trials and tribulations and task of taking tough decisions.

The passion for ice hockey and how everything revolves around it is very relatable to the euphoria around cricket in India and hence those emotions translated across really well.

"People round here don't always know the difference between right and wrong. But we know the difference between good and evil"

One of those books you read wrapped under a blanket with a hot mug of cocoa by your side.

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Review: Loonshots: How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas That Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries

Loonshots: How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas That Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries by Safi Bahcall
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hooter: Real life anecdotes from history where crazy ideas saved the day.

Whilst the concept of loonshots and the framework around it feels trite and a forced setup, the anecdotes to fortify the approach make for fun reading. Right from Ikea's Do It Yourself concept to Science winning the World War for America and establishing its dominance for the decades after, courtesy someone pushing for an idea bordering on lunacy in its contemporary times.

The ideas are retro fitted into the narrative of two types of loonshots - P and S depending on how flashy and big bang one is versus the other being a slow transition that catches everyone off guard and both have their own space. Also the concept of water and ice in dynamic equilibrium at near freezing point where you have both states co-existing.

Also how its equally important to give equal importance to innovators and soldiers in an organisation - those who go against the grain to come out with something new and those who streamline and efficiently run the current state as both can help. He gives the example of Wozniak and Tim Cook in Steve Jobs era of Apple as one of those.

Overall, Id have rated this higher if it just marketed the collection of business trivia and anecdotes it packages without the narrative at play.

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Review: Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology

Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology by Chris Miller
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Hooter: How the evolution of microprocessors has shaped politics and economics of the world

In a very relatable manner, Chris is able to explain the rise of Silicon Valley through entrepreneurs / scientists and the evolution that went beyond a mere business / industry to playing a critical role in geo political torrents that went across the world. From the start of Fairchild, AMD, Intel, Micron and numerous players we have heard of as businesses to the generations of microprocessors and related technology advancements for fabrication and lithography to their uses primarily driven by military and then civilian - there is a pot pourri of it all in an easy paced manner.

Gordon Moore of Moore's Law fame and a lot of innovators get a sizeable presence in the start of the book as they move around spinning off new companies that are now giants or legends in their own rights. The transition of that journey through the Cold War and how South East Asia has not only joined but overtaken the race in a lot of aspects make for interesting reading on how closely connected the world is especially when economics and politics come head to head.

A key pattern that does emerge is how the race for military might has usually seen the faster evolution of technology which then follows through to the civilian space - From DARPA to how Microsoft helped Intel really become the giant they have been.

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Review: The Intelligence Trap: Why Smart People Make Dumb Mistakes

The Intelligence Trap: Why Smart People Make Dumb Mistakes by David Robson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hooter: A break down of Intelligence bias when you are too smart for your own good.

Sharing ample examples of intelligent people like Conan Doyle - the man who created Sherlock Holmes believing in the fairies hoax to companies with the subject matter experts and pioneers falling short when it mattered most. Implicit to all of these are biases , usually cognitive and the fact that smarter people find creative ways to justify it to themselves. Like the copy pasta influencer quote - people half as smart as you are achieving 10x more because they aren't smart enough to see why can't ."

From how organisations shut down feedback mechanisms because everyone is smart enough to do no wrong to the propagation of fake news, there are some narratives that add value to the book. Otherwise yet another self help book.

The concept that having more than 60% of your team being all star can actually be detrimental and 60% is a sweet spot using some cherry picked examples from American sports. Similarly, making learning tough makes it more sticky especially with context switching - probably why our academic schedule works around periods of 40-45 minutes with topics changing and concept of revision.

Also how near misses creep into the safe operating procedure rulebooks and capturing that info could also help prevent disastrous results when we wonder why something worked fine 5 times and went horribly wrong the 6th even though we did the same thing. The author ties up all the points with cherry picked real world examples.

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Review: I Came Upon a Lighthouse: A Short Memoir Of Life With Ratan Tata

I Came Upon a Lighthouse: A Short Memoir Of Life With Ratan Tata by Shantanu Naidu
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hooter: A memoir on interacting with Ratan Tata - the friend rather than the business tycoon.

Everyone has heard of Shantanu especially after Humans of Bombay did a piece on how this GenZ is Ratan Tata's best friend through their love of animals. Shantanu takes it a step further sharing his background and how he met Ratan and how their friendship blossomed , whilst he shared his guarded apprehensions of meeting a tycoon who is worshipped in his fifth generation Tata family.

Light, heart warming and a unique perspective about Ratan Tata as a friend rather than the professional successful tycoon we usually read of. The book is a breezy read in comfortable language like a warm blanket of a cold night.

Rather than a chronological order of events for the history book, it focusses more on the relationship like any two friends - just that one friend is the Ratan Tata.

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Review: Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It

Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It by Chris Voss
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Hooter: The tips and tricks of negotiation from a retired FBI negotiator

Any conversation between two humans is a negotiation at some degree. Chris Voss through his years as a professional negotiator usually in life and death situations takes the learnings from his experience and shares it in a simple to digest manner often linking the true case studies on where it worked or not. Leveraging concepts like active listening, tactical empathy and not sympathy to using the power of no or mirroring or setting the fairness of a negotiation - there are multiple aspects he shares that can be incorporated into the real world as the average person.

Open ended questions, summarising through the power of 3 what the other side is asking for are some simple techniques that can help a hostile negotiation turn into win-win for both sides with the pivot set by you and also facts like compromise / reaching half way is like wearing a black and a brown shoe on each foot.

This is a good book to be aware about both as a negotiator and someone who is on the receiving end of the negotiation.

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Review: The Hero with a Thousand Faces

The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Hooter: Leveraging many mythological sources, A psychoanalysis on the hero journey that binds all epic stories we have heard or seen.

A must read recommendation and also in film school curriculums especially in the US, this book goes down to the core of storytelling leveraging epics that have survived centuries and breaking it down to the fundamentals and commonalities across the globe. Whether Assirian, Greek, Indian or Oriental, he does a comparative analysis across these to come up with his archetype of the "hero's adventure".

Whilst extremely academic in its nature, the examples make for a vivid reading session as he breaks up the common hero goes for a departure, hits near magical obstacles , overcomes them and returns to a reward above his/her station and how this has been relatable to cultures around the world and across centuries. An interesting thought he leaves behind is Symbols are vehicles of communication and shouldn't be considered as the literal end product. This thought should be enough to ruffle a lot of feathers in the broader world.

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Review: Midwinter Murder: Fireside Mysteries from the Queen of Crime

Midwinter Murder: Fireside Mysteries from the Queen of Crime by Agatha Christie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Hooter: A collection of short stories across the various Agatha Christie's crafted characters.

The stories in this collection are from around 1920-23 , hence celebrating 100+ years since the first print but still got the thrills in play showcasing the mastery Agatha Christie has had in this genre of mysteries - murder or not. The short stories make for a quick read without you having to pull your hair out whilst capturing multiple skills at play as her star cast of Hercule , Mrs Marple use their distinct styles to solve mysteries. From the case that Hercule states as his only failure to Mrs Marple solving a random murder sitting at home. For a bit of Agatha nostalgia or if you want someone started in this , a good read.

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Review: Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen

Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Hooter: An adventure tale with nuggets of information to get you back into running.

From the back stories of the Tarahumara tribe who can run for miles for the heck of it without breaking a sweat and their urge to remain secretive and away from the rest of mankind in the Copper canyon makes for a great Indiana Jones setting as one fights scorpions, desert heat and mafiaso and drug dealers and what not in that terrain. Interesting anecdotes of government agencies letting lawless bandits disappear into the canyon knowing survival there is tougher than being in a jail.

That is one aspect, the Tarahumara and the reason why they can run for so long with no pain is another aspect the author delves into - apart from genetics and conditioning, the love of doing it being second nature is one major takeaway he tries to underline.

Taking up ultra marathoners and their stories and journeys forms another dimension the storyline paces through and how the Tarahumara have been made to cross paths through these with mixed success and usually human greed getting the better of their kind hearted and simple souls.

The evolution of shoes for profit of corporates than our long term safety is another angle the author brings in as he also suggests the benefits of barefoot running.

Overall, if you have stopped running or been looking for motivation, this is the book to get the juices flowing again.

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Review: Anne of Green Gables

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Hooter: 1908 classic coming of age of an orphaned girl in small town Canada

Over a century old but there is timeless value in living the world through the eyes of a kid with a large imagination. In an era where things seemed a lot more simpler, the straight talking story of cultural norms and nuances obviously made for good reading as a kid, but the innonence makes for wholesome content as an adult.

Anne Shirley is that talkative kid who can charm everyone even whilst making mistakes and faux pas with the same ease with which we order food and groceries online. From her taken in by a couple, to making new friends , excelling in school and dealing with life's challenges , her optimism keeps her going through.

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Review: Red Rising

Red Rising by Pierce Brown
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Hooter: A double agent taking part in the Hunger Games equivalent to prove his worth

Darrow, the sixteen year old miner and the protagonist is a Red- the lower castes in this world toiling away in Mars for the greater good of humanity. His whole world turns topsy turvy when a resistance movement saves his life and explains how he is living a big lie. Through genetic manipulation, they are able to give him a new identity as a gold - the topmost class so that he can infiltrate their ranks and help with the planned revolution of the Reds.

With that baseline, he gets into the institute where Golds are trained to take up leadership roles in the future and here is where the similarities with Hunger Games begins as folks are sorted into different houses /groups and then have to survive and win in a hostile environment. Nothing new in terms of how such survival games tend to go, but Pierce does a good job of creating engaging content as multiple dimensions of loyalty, wit, pride and other human emotions are layered in through the various interactions making for a fun fast paced read.

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Review: Tale of the Horse: A History of India on horseback

Tale of the Horse: A History of India on horseback by Yashaswini Chandra
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Hooter: A rundown on Indian history from the ecosystem around horses

A unique perspective of running through Indian history with the aspect of horses, from foreign bred omes to the local ones, cross breeding to create unique ones to the game of polo and conquests in the search for the best horses to historical past as spoken of in mythological epics.

From Banjaras to Rajputana history to Afghan tradesmen who turned Indian royalty, horses have been centre to a lot of cultural nuances our country has evolved over the years including the hindi saying of "ghode bech ke sona" makes for an interesting read and a different perspective to viewing our history.

Whilst numerous facts litter the book, the structure felt all over and was different to gallop through the book.

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Review: The Richest Engineer

The Richest Engineer by Abhishek Kumar
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hooter: A 101 on personal financial planning from an Indian context

Using a conversation between two friends, Abhishek tries to bring about the concepts of personal financial planning. I think this is a good starter kit for anyone with zero background - a college student entering the workforce and so on. It does drive home some important messages for those who have missed out on the basics of financial literacy through concepts like

1) Pay yourself first - we tend to pay everything else (bills, tax etc) and have nothing to save for ourself.
2) Income is not wealth / net worth.
3) A rupee saved is 1.5 rupees earned (considering income tax)
4) Multiple streams of income and concept of assets and liabilities.
5) How taxation works across different types of income and how active income is taxed the most.

What I found jarring was the tone deaf nature of poor people versus rich people being the difference of application. I guess it's more of financially literate and fiscally prudent versus actually poor is what he would have wanted to highlight.

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Review: Romancing the Balance Sheet

Romancing the Balance Sheet by Anil Lamba
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Hooter: A jargon free novice friendly look at accounting concepts

Whether you are a beginner or someone looking to refresh your concepts, found this as a great guide book to get your basics right in accounting right from the concept of double bookkeeping to examining a balance sheet and making sense as an investor or an owner of it all. Using simplifed examples that help set the foundations and philosophy around terminologies rather than filling them up with all the corner cases and exceptions which make the world of accounting complicated, Anil Lamba makes it easy to digest and assimilate these concepts. Whilst it states that its targeted towards entrepreneurs , I'd say anyone dealing with money would find this a good read to understand the world of business from a purely accounting perspective and why profits and cash flows are a nuanced that can't be derived from simple mathematics.

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Review: The Magadh Mystery

The Magadh Mystery by Christopher C. Doyle
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hooter: A treasure hunt for relics from mythology

Invoking the mighty Jarasandha from Mahabharat - based in Magadh, this story entails a brother and sister duo who follow up on a family heirloom that plays a role in the identification of a treasure of Jarasandha himself. Mixing a wild goose chase, some villains, a sizeable portion of mythology and a good natured cop for good measure, the book makes for a time pass read. Its entertaining enough to not keep your bored but predictable enough to not keep you on your toes or edge of your seat.

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Review: The Hyderabad Heist

The Hyderabad Heist by Sharmishtha Shenoy
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hooter: The retelling of the biggest museum heist in Hyderabad

This is one of the first in the Indian domain to be a replay of a solved museum robbery mystery. Researching from the police records , interviews and probably the criminals - Sharmishtha plays back the entire robbery and the process the police go through to solve this mystery in record time. Whilst the planning and background of the two robbers is a delightful set up like any fiction mystery caper - the way the cops go about the details also makes for a good read. I somehow felt the ending was abruptly quick and tame - which is fine because that is how the true story unravelled but the writing pace and tepidness towards that ending slowed down the wonderful momentum the initial setup provided.

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Review: Independence

Independence by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Hooter: The distinct journey of 3 sisters in partition bound Bengal as they deal with life under the macro conditions of Independence.

Based in a small village Ranipur, three sisters have to deal with so many different challenges as the country looks to gain independence. Inter faith marriages, personal ambitions competing with societal misogyny and selflessness and its true value in a selfish society are few human aspects captured around a broader macro environment of the tensions of partition specifically around religious lines. There are a lot of aspects that Chitra tries to cover in this book and whilst it is difficult to delve deep into so many threads, Chitra tries to keep each of the threads engaging enough - leveraging the classic round robin protagonist based chapter approach to keep all the threads moving ahead. Again - with historical fiction being my Achilles heel, this book probably scores higher for the same reason. Chitra spends time on relationships between the various characters which adds to the depth of us understanding each character rather than an essay on each one's background but the situations that make them is the focus.

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Review: The Dhandho Investor: The Low-Risk Value Method to High Returns

The Dhandho Investor: The Low-Risk Value Method to High Returns by Mohnish Pabrai
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hooter: A view into value investing from a marwadi/gujarati dhandho perspective

Taking a few case studies before drilling into his philosophy for his fund Pabrai does leave with a catch phrase of "heads I win, tails I don't lose much" as a philosophy when evaluating a deal. He brings in Abhimanyu from Mahabharata battling the Chakravyuh, drawing parallels to an equity investor. WIth key concepts in value investing from his viewpoint, makes for an interesting read. He clearly has tuned his book to identify trends and retrofitting concepts to taglines that have a high recall.

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Review: The Courage to Be Disliked: How to Free Yourself, Change your Life and Achieve Real Happiness

The Courage to Be Disliked: How to Free Yourself, Change your Life and Achieve Real Happiness by Ichiro Kishimi
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Not sure about Adlerian philosophy but the sense I got was you own everything - even the fact that you are unhappy is your choice. Similarly being angry is our choice. The concepts are misinterepreted as Japanese origins. It is a Japanese person's understanding of western philosophy of Adler. The format is very painful amongst philosopher and student setup making it irritatingly painful to get through. Personal insults are a power struggle for an individual aiming to keep the power equation handy when they run out of ideas and other trite perspectives.

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Review: My Life in Full: Work, Family, and Our Future

My Life in Full: Work, Family, and Our Future by Indra Nooyi
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hooter: An Autobiographical account of the journey of a first generation Indian American woman moving to the zenith of corporate America as CEO of PepsiCo

Straight and simple, Indra goes through her journey starting from the swing in her Chennai home to landing up in the Americas breaking stereotypes and setting a trend at every step from education, higher education and so on. The humility shows for she always attributes a strong support system that helped her soar which ties back to her often out of context quote that is printed - women can't have it all. She means humans can't have it all and we need a village to achieve success and she was blessed to have one as per her.

The book doesn't delve much into the challenges she went through but speaks more of the ideas she tried out in Pepsico - the PwP - performance with purpose which she attributes to her claim to fame gets sizeable coverage in the book. One interesting fact is being true to oneself - she wore sarees in her consulting role because she didnt have budget for a proper suit and she didnt shy away from getting her job done. That's one thing she iterates through the book - people worked with her for what she brought to the table and not who she was.

One of the most hardest hitting lines is when she is made President of PepsiCo and she comes home to tell her mom - her mom chides her for not getting milk to the home along the lines of "You may be the President of PepsiCo but you are my daughter at home."

Whether there are takeaways from the book that I can apply, not too sure - but an interesting read into the journey of an individual who broke a lot of stereotypes to get where they are.

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Review: Magnificent Delusions: Pakistan, the United States, and an Epic History of Misunderstanding

Magnificent Delusions: Pakistan, the United States, and an Epic History of Misunderstanding by Husain Haqqani
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Hooter: The history of Pakistan-America relations from a Pakistani ambassador's perspective

An interesting perspective on the history of Pakistan and US relations as they have swung decade over decade from its creation to date and how individuals and organisations have used it to their benefit, often relationships winning over logic. The use of some common concerns of not receiving US funding and backing - moderates being toppled over by extremists, Russia taking over the subcontinuent or the Pakistan being the figurehead of Islamic nations especially in the intial boom of petrodollars.

He shared how Pakistan always tried to punch over its weight expecting the US to treat it on par with India after 1971 too and how a lot of geo-political strategies were played out driven by the country's army backed unwritten rule of using US funding to keep a disproportionate defence budget under the concern that India was slighting on the partition and would do anything to erase Pakistan from the world.

Till he isnt involved, the book seems factual and neutral in the description of personalities and the situations but the last leg involving him and the souring of his relationship with Pakistan establushment gets a bit muddled up and doesn't invoke the level of fluency seen earlier in the flow of events.

The complex US-Pakistan relationship in an ever evolving world stage over 70+ years from an almost insider's prism makes this an interesting read.

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Review: The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times

The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times by Michelle Obama
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hooter: A self help motivational book in the form of a memoir

Continuing from her first book "Becoming" which gave us her background more so in a chronological order to becoming the first lady of United States of America, this book captures around the pandemic and after presidency but also showcases her thought processes formalised by childhood events and upbringing. So there is celebrating small wins in the quest for the bigger victory to her taking up knitting to be at peace and in control of things when everything else seems out of control.

What differs from other self help books is her style of sharing her journey and experiences to come to that advice which adds a ring of authenticity versus the academic approach most self help books may use based out of collected wisdom which anonymises the individual.

The philosophical aspects , her style of realistically setting up the daunting challenges around her whilst keeping a positive outlook provide that balance of how reality works whether you are a regular person or the former first lady of USA. I still pity the guy who dressed up as Chewbacca though at the White House party.

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Review: Justice For The Judge: An Autobiography

Justice For The Judge: An Autobiography by Ranjan Gogoi
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hooter: Autobiography of a former Chief Justice of India

For a legal layman, the first half of this book provided me insights into the working of the legal system as Gogoi traces the journey from Dibrugarh to Delhi - college days to entering the law profession. Through his journey, he highlights the working of the court and reasons why certain things happened in a certain manner - like how he missed out on making it to High Court before hitting 40 and finally did around the average age a HC judge usually falls under for elevation.

There is privilege at play through his journey for having come from a politically connected family which often people with privilege don't realise for that's the world they have been in and assume as baseline. The second half of the book seems like Ranjan Gogoi providing his justifications across all the controversies that surrounded him and his thought process through some of the landmark cases he handled as CJI including the Ayodhya Ram Mandir / Babri masjid one, followed by the CAA one and some very high profile ones. Interesting trivia was the introduction of single bench Supreme Court hearings with Sushant Singh/ Rhea Chakraborty one being the first case heard by a single SC judge.

The importance of dates in legal profession especially for promotions was not lost in this book as numerous judges who make the roll call in this book have their dates of joining and retirement highlighted to again justify their elevations at the time that they were. What I probably need to read more on is the dismissal of elevations on the basis of average income being 7 LPA .

Overall, if you are complete layman, you get some hints on the workings of the system and his justifications to media headlines that surrounded his career all through.

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Review: Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hooter: A regular day in the life of institutionalised patriarchy and misogyny.

Taking the life of Kim Jiyoung - middle of 3 siblings through her childhood where her granny had hoped she'd be a boy. Living though the challenges of a patriarchial society makes it globally relatable on the opportunities the average woman loses out on due to how society has set up expectations whether it is education or career or just living life. This Korean translation is pretty straightforward in hitting that message home. What I didnt quite get was the reason she relapsed into her mother - was that metaphorical to explain nothing has changed or something more direct to bring the psychologist into the script since he is the one narrating this story interspersed with facts and the set up of society - like the roll number in classrooms being boys and then girls to the lax dress code in schools to a similar setup in the corporate world. What works for the book is its a relatively short read so by the time it could get dry, you are done with it.

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Review: The Complete Yes Minister

The Complete Yes Minister by Jonathan Lynn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Hooter: A witty satire on the relationship between civil services and politics

You have to see the TV series! Even if the politics is dated, the dialogues and the premises are timeless. The wit, the humour and the acting is brilliant. I decided to try the audible version of the series and was not disappointed at all even though I had already seen the entire series twice before.

The concepts are still relevant in today's day and age and the use of wit and puns is brilliantly done. There are some instances when you feel the lack of the video for some of the body language but the general comic timing makes up for it. Sir Humphrey and Jim Hacker's exchanges are good fun.

A must read, watch or hear - whichever format suits you.

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Review: The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World

The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World by Andrea Wulf
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hooter: Biography of Nature's Indiana Jones

Humboldt is a name that hasn't really made the front page of science and history in recent times but Andrea Wulf's take on him provides insight into this scientist and adventurer who unlike his predecessors went around the world in quest of gold, glory and god, Humboldt probably focused on glory in the pursuit of science and nature. Travelling across South America, Europe and Russia, his adventures along with his great oratory skills and writing skills made him a toast of the populace in his prime - amply helped by a rich inheritance his father had left behind.

The book dedicates chapters to individuals who were heavily inspired by Humboldt like Thoreau, Darwin, Haeckel and Marsh to name a few. He was probably one of the first to talk about the interconnectedness of the entire planet and the ecosystem and how an ecological disaster was a ticking time bomb as humans played against nature - for eg: deforestation in place for cash crops and the long term side effects of monoculture being one such example- just maybe not in so many words and jargon as these were concepts ahead of his time.

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Review: The Magicians of Mazda

The Magicians of Mazda by Ashwin Sanghi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Hooter: Fast paced thriller rooted in the history of Zoroastrianism

My first Ashwin Sanghi and I see why they call him desi Dan Brown. the protagonist in this book Jim (Jamshed) Dastoor is a Parsi American scientist who seemingly figures out an antidote that can prevent and protect against a lot of diseases using what is rumored to be the famous Atravan star in Zoroastrian history. Soon there is international espionage, mythological antecedents, historical conjectures and a multi continent set up which includes recent affairs.

Being a historical fiction junkie, this was right up my alley as he grounds a lot of his conjectures using history of Parsis, Zoroastrians in Iran and in India , the interweb between ISI, Taliban, Mossad, R&AW, NSA and other agencies and timing it with the Americans leaving Bagram base in recent history. For me, whilst the main storyline was a run of the mill thriller with a wide array of friends with benefits helping push the storyline forward , the way the author pushes in a wide range of religious, political and mythological history into the narrative is what makes it an informative and entertaining read. Whilst the whole aspect of common antecedents of Zoroastriasm and Hinduism is very much debatable, he leverages linguisitic commonalities to highlight the same roots. Confirmational bias could be another way of potentially looking at that.

Irrespective of that agenda, the run of the mill thriller with a lazy ending is a fast read but not a strong storyline, its the wonderful mix of varying histories that really make this an enjoyable read.

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Review: Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets

Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hooter: A contrarian view on the world of markets and economics

Whilst Taleb has made his name for his contrarian views especially the term "black swan" is now broadly associated with him, he does set the basis that luck has shaped a lot of trading geniuses rather than any key fundamentals over the long run or instincts. A lot of "in hindsight" justification from folks to retrofit their successes to their strategies is the bottom line he gets to taking the various examples of individuals he has interacted with. Whilst he is extremely self centred and his "the rest of the world doesn't know stuff" tone gets irritating, it also gets in the way of him presenting his points as the writing gets tedious at times and repetitive at others. Some crisp editing might have made it an easier read for sure.

There isn't anything new to take away especially if you have been around the financial world for some time. Maybe a new comer might learn a thing or two and not set their baseline on what the market thinks. The thing with contrarians just like the mainstream viewers in the financial world is that they'll be right once in their lifetime.

His academic approach of breaking up the types of individuals in the industry, their philosophies and strategies are good 101 for individuals understanding personalities and diverse styles of traders and trading strategies we have at play.

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Review: South vs North: India’s Great Divide

South vs North: India’s Great Divide by Nilakantan RS
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Hooter: A statistics based approach to the positives of the federalism approach of the Indian Union

"One tshirt size truly doesn't fit all" is the summary the author takes to by setting the baseline using 1/3 of the book to read the statistics across various indicators of education, health and economy to showcase how wide a chasm that exists across the different states of India which haven't converged after 75 years of Independence. With Tamil Nadu getting a special mention in each graph, its neighbour Kerala not too far behind , the author has them representative of South India. He then highlights how the standardisation across the nation actually hurts those who are ahead on the curve as it incentivises them to be complacent so that the laggards can catch up.

This goes back to the debate of equity v/s equality in terms of approaches that we usually hear in DEI conversations, but applied at a state level. Not sure if its me but a lot of the book has this heavy tinge of why we Tamilians are paying the price of the rest of the country being unable to catch up hypothesis.

So whilst the statistics make for an interesting reading and baseline framework towards developmental politics, I was hoping for a more forward looking constructive set of examples on how to push the boundaries for everyone to move forward on this developmental front rather than stop at showcasing whose ahead and who isn't and engaging in thought experiments.

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Review: Nice Girls Still Don't Get the Corner Office: Unconscious Mistakes Women Make That Sabotage Their Careers

Nice Girls Still Don't Get the Corner Office: Unconscious Mistakes Women Make That Sabotage Their Careers by Lois P. Frankel
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hooter: 101 mistakes the author feels women make in a patriarchy leaning workplace.

Whilst it is a very click baity title, with a couple of eyeballs staring at me with quizzical looks at the cafe, the mistakes whilst stereotypically associated with women from a patriarchical lens, they are gender agnostic. Rather than a book you sit and read through, this feels like an encyclopedia with handy tips on specific issues and lots of follow up reading resources. If you are becoming a career coach, this is a handy book to have to direct folks to follow up reading.

This is a good refresher for everyone to be aware of mistakes that they make and others also make around you. Some key learnings are around mentors/sponsors, networking in terms of building deeper relationships, just because you can multitask doesn't mean you have to, reluctance to negotiate and numerous other simple behaviorial tips to engage further in the workplace.


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Review: Doglapan: The Hard Truth about Life and Start-Ups

Doglapan: The Hard Truth about Life and Start-Ups by Ashneer Grover
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hooter: Yeh book bhi doglapan hai - his autobiography of life so far

Post Shark Tank India S1, BharatPe controversy and Kotak controversy, what does a PR team bail out its client? Writing a justification or my side of the story and releasing it as a book on life and start-ups from my personal experience seems like a solid idea. The book shares his insights and the thought process around what he saw and what he built which is no doubt spectacular and straight forward without mincing of words. His frankness and honesty when stating facts and chronological order in his life makes it very relatable. His justification and how the world around him was always wrong does bring up questions since life and interactions are never black and white. Seeing his personality from Shark Tank India, it does make sense that he can rub people off the wrong way and maybe that constant friction might be the reason why he feels he gets the short end of the stick with people around him. Credit where due as he does have unique insights on day to day affairs of the world from his single minded focus of running a profitable business.

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Review: Numbers Don't Lie: 71 Things You Need to Know About the World

Numbers Don't Lie: 71 Things You Need to Know About the World by Vaclav Smil
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Hooter: A view of the world through statistics

Remember the "this meeting could have been an email" series? This "book could have been an article" is the analogy. Each chapter tries to throw numbers at you and brush a broad stroke to what it implies without any deeper details or correlations (I am thinking Freakonomics here).

Whilst he covers a wide breadth of ideas, the lack of depth put me off.

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Review: Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future

Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hooter: A brain dump from a serial startup guru

As it says in the title - notes on startups and so the book is a quick read with summary points across various aspects that Peter has experienced and believes is important in the start up ecosystem. Whilst might be a bit rosy around his fellow co-founders which is fair , he does make for some good points to think about like if you aren't bringing atleast 10x change in the market, the cost of moving is not worth it. Similarly jumping on the hype gravy train due to macro trends isn't going to help you stand out. Also defining your niche is an extremely important thing not just for your marketing pitch but for your own growth plans. Whilst this book wouldn't stand against academic rigour type of research expected of a business book, it falls more into the semi autobiographical memoir with advice genre and should be taken as the same. Though ironically the book was synthesized from the copious notes of his class that one of the students had taken and had gone viral in the old school fashion.

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Review: Dark Matter

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Hooter: Sci Fi thriller dealing with the multiverses.

The book started off really strong, got predictable in the middle and picked up its pace towards the end, sorta like a 3 season TV series. Whilst multiverses have had a lot of literature around them now thanks to Marvel Cinematic Universe also, Blake Crouch takes a slightly different take on it and makes it a thriller keeping you glued at certain points.

The characters are uni-dimensional and not fleshed out enough even for the romancing scenes which remind you of Penthouse letters for beginners. Focus on the premise though balances out the lack of depth of characters and makes it a good read for the start of the year in the Science fiction genre.

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Review: MegaThreats: Ten Dangerous Trends That Imperil Our Future, And How to Survive Them

MegaThreats: Ten Dangerous Trends That Imperil Our Future, And How to Survive Them by Nouriel Roubini
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hooter: An Op-ed converted into a book on key risks that could lead to the next Financial crisis

Nouriel is racing against time to in a way state the obvious but also consolidate the focus on the types of risk we deal with as a world today that could/would directly impact the financial system. Whether it is war conflict like Russia-Ukraine, the climate change all over or the probability of recurring pandemics are one side of the story. He also looks back at anecdotal history with respect to fiscal policies around the world and how cheap debt has always fueled a economic balloon waiting to burst.

He does put in a reality check that stand alone , each of the risks can be absorbed by society but a combination of them could play havoc with our world. You'd say stating the obvious Mr. Doomsday but as an economist, this book articulates his thoughts and perspectives from his experience in this space. Is there research highlighted in the book for his theories? Nope! and hence I like to call this an extended op-ed on what he thinks are items top of his mind that can precipitate the next financial crisis.

The current layoffs in the Tech industry provide an ominous sign to the near future he foretells. Then again the thing with being consistently pessimistic in a cyclical industry is that you will be right at some point.

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Review: The Republic of Thieves

The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Hooter: A adventure thriller as two best friends continue to battle all odds against love, magic and politics .

This is third in the series of Gentleman B*stards and I am surprised no one had tried making a movie on this series. It has all the elements Hollywood would requiref for a blockbuster and maybe that's why. It has an extremely rich tapestry to try and recreate. Locke is close to his death bed and given up hope but Jean continues to be the best friend he never deserved. The super secretive love interest of Locke Sabetha finally gets her grand entrance. In a mix of alternating between two parallel story lines - the current task of rigging elections along with a back story with Sabetha back as kids makes for a good mix up as Locke continues to get fleshed out more and more as a character along with Jean.

A mix of Tom Sawyer, Merlin, Lancelot, Huckleberry Finn, Bonny and Clyde and few more and you get this series. The background premise of politics though remains in the background so compared to the previous books, this wouldnt count as the best in the series but I still think it does a pretty good damned job of being a fast paced action and adventure series as they con, thieve and fight to get through all the misfortune headed their way. Unlike the prior ones, the ending seems a lot more tame and you get the closure even before you get to the end.

Overall, a great read stand alone and as a part of the series that really has grown onto me.

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