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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