Review: A Nest of Vipers

A Nest of Vipers by Harini Nagendra
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hooter: Our lady detective stumbles onto a case of a disappearing magician.

Harini Nagendra continues to build on her Bangalore Detectives Club series at consistent pace with the third book out in the series. Sticking to the premise of early 20th century Bengaluru with our protagonist Kaveri and her regular crew that grow on you, the book continues to give you a flavour of Indian history and cultural nuances of the yester year. Well researched, the author does let you know when she has taken civil liberties with history for the storyline.

Coming back to the main theme of mysteries and crime capers - this wouldn't stand out as the most exciting mystery you have stumbled onto just as the protagonist stumbles onto the plotline helped by the author as things coincidentally line up. That said, Harini is trying to drive multiple storylines (introducing the freedom movement) in her current offering which is a bold attempt and a decent one at that. I'll leave it to the reader so I don't ruin it with any potential spoilers.

For me, its like Swami and friends from Malgudi Days - PG version of adventure set in historical Bengaluru.

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Review: Kamal Haasan: A Cinematic Journey

Kamal Haasan: A Cinematic Journey by K. Hariharan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hooter: Unraveling Kamal through his movies

The author through stories and anecdotes around the movies along with the portrayal in the movies and paints a picture of Kamal Haasan's journey in the real and reel life. He also provides the context to political undercurrents being portrayed in the movies keeping in mind the current affairs of the time. Whilst he points most of it as speculation to prevent any controversies erupting from the book, it provides a unique insight which Kamal - who is known to be extremely bold, risk taking and innovative film maker who has always pushed the limits of creativity and impact in the various roles he has played could have been appealing to his intelligentsia and elite audiences whilst being loved by the masses.

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Review: City as Memory: A Short Biography of Srinagar

City as Memory: A Short Biography of Srinagar by Sadaf Wani
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Hooter: Journal of Sirinagar residents' relationship with the city

A short look at the life and times of Srinagar from conversations with various folks who have stayed in Srinagar in their childhood or later as the author shares her experiences and the contrast the city has seen over the years. Starting off with the history of the region , the challenges with local dynasties and the upheaval and pains the citizens have gone through.

She adds the lens of the women in Srinagar in the public spaces is a unique perspective we dont see a lot in written literature. The book is dusty but it helps remove some of the cobwebs from the living history of Srinagar the rest of the world has buried under political and macro factors.

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Review: Elon Musk

Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Hooter: An intimate inside look into the madly chaotic world called Elon Musk

The five ratings is for Walter Isaacson - having firmed up the art of writing biographies that don't become hagiographies. They celebrate the flaws and finesse of the individual in question and you can sense the amount of research that has gone in when there are moments - you feel you are sitting in the room when that monumental moment is playing out. I have been a fan since I read Leonardo Da Vinci by him - because there were no interviews just copious amounts of notes that he shaped into a beautiful biography.

Moving back to the protagonist of this book - Elon Musk. From a troubled childhood and its shadows playing into his adulting days , we move on to the numerous projects and initiatives he has run often bordering on the impossible. He is not in the race to win most popular manager award but as an innovator who dares to dream, he has helped pushed the envelop amongst everyone around him.

His approach to question everything man made (regulations as an example) and only believing in the law of physics, high calculated risk taking attitude and a vision for multi-planet species called the humans tie all his initiatives into that big picture. His penchant to court drama and attention is visible through his reach in Twitter and the drama around its acquisition.

You tend to believe between Tesla and Twitter - he has positioned himself with a massive data repository that sets him up well for the AI revolution happening around us. Without spelling it out, you know Walter leaves you hanging with the knowledge that a lot more rabbits are waiting in the magician's hat that Elon holds.

For a man who has proven his business acumen multiple times - he has led 5+ huge companies in a time where we celebrate doyens of one, he has matched business with science - generally considered two parallel swim lanes and changed the approach to working.

Concept of having designers, engineers, product working together is common place today but a rarity when he inculcated that culture back in Tesla and SpaceX. Solarcity was an interesting segue working with family before buying it and integrating into Tesla.

I had no clue the downtime we noticed on X right after Elon coming onboard around Christmas had to do with him actually switching off servers and porting them over to another location. Whilst I still am not a fan of Elon, I respect him more as a human having read his journey from Walter's perspective.

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Review: How Prime Ministers Decide

How Prime Ministers Decide by Neerja Chowdhury
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Hooter; Sharing the inner workings of every Indian PM till Manmohan Singh on the biggest challenges / wins attributed to them

The book is a pretty well researched collective of every Prime Minister till Manmohan Singh - the prevailing circumstances in which they came to power, the other players in the field, the run up to a major decision / event / win they had that has sorta defined them in the annals of history. This could have been extremely dry but she does a good job of setting the narrative through conversations and interviews which make you feel you are part of the conversation as the historical situation unravels in front of you. From Manmohan's camaraderie with George Bush and the tensions with Sonia Gandhi to Vajpayee's relationship with Narasimha Rao and L K Advani to the Pokhran tests and the fight for peace with Pakistan including how V P Singh's Mandal move and its impact that continues to resonate in India. The Gandhian family gets most of the coverage in this book from Nehru, Indira, Sonia, Rajiv, Sanjay and Rahul getting time as major movers and shakers in a lot of political decisions that took place whether in power or not.

History often gets painted black and white in our books but when viewed through the lens of the present - there are a lot more shades at play that lead to those outcomes and Neerja does a great job at delivering the same.

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Review: A Tale for the Time Being

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Hooter: A philosophical existential view shared through the life of two protagonists separated by an ocean.

From a Japanese American writer Ruth living in British Columbia who stumbles onto a bag that has washed ashore from Japan across the ocean, possibly after the earthquake. The owner of the bag and the letters is a 16 year old Nao who moved to Tokyo from America after her father was caught up in the dot com bubble and had to head back home to make ends meet. Not fitting in, she moves to her grandmother's - a nun turning 104 who is her rock of wisdom and guidance. Through these parallel storylines - the author tries to capture so much - Zen buddhism, quantum physics, kamikaze pilots and the chaos of Tokyo juxtaposed with the calmness of Vancouver island. Finally it is an ode to living in the present but knowing the past is going to stick around forever.

Overall the blandness of Ruth's story adds more flavour to Nao's and thats the balance I had to toil through at times especially the ending leaves the book on a low after the brilliant expectations it set at the start.



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