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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