BRAToSPHERE

Category: Review

  • 60 Minutes – Book Review

    About two years back, on my way Home for Diwali, I picked up a book, on sheer impulse, at the airport. I just could not resist the out-of-the-box name of the book and the interesting blurb behind the book. The book is 31 by Upendra Namburi.

    The latest book by the author, 60 minutes is in the same corporate Thriller/Drama genre and the setting this time over is FMCG, so I had to pick it up.

    The story primarily revolves around two seasoned corporate rivals – Agastya and Saliesh. How they take their professional rivalries to every realm of their lives – personal, romantic, financial, to settle scores, forms the crux of the story.

    The book touches upon multiple relevant subjects – competitive corporate dynamics, ruthless ambitions, day trading games, domestic violence and love.

    The entire episode occurs from 2:30 PM to 3:30 PM on what seems like a normal working day. The screenplay, interspersed with flashbacks, forms a compelling read.

    The blackberry messenger chats, game of chess and the constant flashing ticker of the stock market, makes one feel that the protagonist is unnecessarily complicating stuff. At the end it just ends up in confusion, making one wonder the real reason of the actions!

    Also, the detailing at many places felt like it could have been avoided. Also, the characters spend too much time in their own thoughts, motives and intentions, taking away from the main plot. The book has too many details, making the plot complex and boring at times.

    One interesting technique used by the author is the haiku at the beginning of each chapter. It pretty well tells you the core of what is in store. Example this,

    a battle turns to war
    we wash our dirty linen 
    with sweat and blood

    The narrative is pretty fast paced and it sometimes feels too unreal for so much action to be happening in so little time.

    Overall, a good read, more so for lack of options in this genre in Indian writing scene.

    Of course, this stands nowhere close to the first book by the author.

  • Half Girlfriend – Book Review

    Many years ago, in my early teens, I had bought a audio cassette of a movie. Yes, you heard it right. An audio cassette of a Hindi movie, with all the dialogues, back ground music and the songs. The complete movie without the video. It surprised me, making me wonder why anyone would listen to a movie?

    What surprised me even more were books of movie screenplays. A book with the complete dialogues of a movie, sentence after sentence. Like reading a play. Why would anyone want to read that?

    Chetan Bhagat’s latest offering, Half Girlfriend, is exactly like that. The screenplay of a movie script. Every page of the book feels like it has been written to be made into a movie. So much that the book is separated into three sections called Acts. Like a play!

    Well, that I suppose is the real intent of the book anyways, and no harm there. Who knows, it could probably catch up as a fad pretty soon. Big production houses releasing book versions of the movie before the actual release of the movie, additional source of revenue to the projects. (They have stopped calling them films anyways)

    Talking about the book, it is very much in the genre of the author’s previous offerings. Boy meets girl in a cool campus (moving away from the IIT/IIM to Stephens, probably in an attempt to widen the reader base), and falls in love. Add some drama, a little sex, whole lot of daily life situations and lo! You have a story ready.

    There is not much relevance of the title in the book, and it seems more a ploy to fulfil the authors fetish obsession with numbers (all his books have a number in them).

    Also, as it was touted in the media, there is not much relevance of the “Language divide” – those who know English and those who don’t. This again seems like a concept that has been force fitted into the theme of the book, to make it relevant to the present day reader. (The ongoing UPSC imbroglio makes it good timing)

    Relevance, yes. This is one thing that Chetan Bhagat needs to be given complete credit for. He knows the pulse of the nation and what the present day youth is thinking. He knows their fears and the dreams, and the daily challenges they face. English today is a big debate, and many young in the country are waking up to the fact that it is the language skills that matter the most.

    English does give nightmares to many, and its importance is only increasing with the increasing number of MNC’s coming into the country. Every young person, from a small town would completely relate to the main protagonist of the book, due to the language embarrassment that he is shown to face.

    Also, the author has a knack for fleshing out the daily observations in the most comic manner possible. Gems like,

    “I think when rich guys say something, girls find it extra funny”

    “When two women don’t share the right vibe, a peaceful hour together is a minor miracle”

    Overall, this book, like other books from the author, is an easy read, and pretty run of the mill kinds,

    Though many “elitists” would deny having read this book, I am sure everyone would go ahead and read it.

    Like it is rightly said about Chetan Bhagat, he truly is the Salman Khan of the literary world.

    Happy reading!!

  • The Journey Home – Book Review

    I am a frequent visitor to the ISKCON temple in Juhu, Mumbai and I love the vibes in the air in the temple premises. I love the simplicity in the affairs of the temple, and at the same time, the quest to achieve the inner most peace of the body and the mind.

    I must have read most of the books available in the book store attached to the temple, and insist to all to compulsorily read “BHAGWAD GITA.. As it is”. With this lineage, I was very excited to lay my hands on “The Journey Home”.

    photo Journey-Home-Book_Radhanath_Swami2_zpsc89a775c.jpgThis book is the transformation of the nineteen year old, Richard Slavin to Radhanath Swami. Like most of the teenagers of that time, Richard was immersed in the hippy counter culture and started off on a quest to find himself.

    He takes off to the most exotic locations in Europe with a bunch of friends, hitchhiking through Amsterdam, Florence, Rome, and all of this with literally no money. During this journey, a vision directs him towards India, which he reaches via Cholera infected Turkey, Afghanistan and Pakistan over a journey more than six months.

    In India, Richard describes his brushes with various spiritual personalities he encountered, and his genuine curiosity to learn the secrets of a fulfilling life from them. His troubles evoke empathy many a times, and his little triumphs make you feel warm and happy.

    The mentions of the internal conflicts faced by him, and the inner voice communicating to him in all his dilemmas are all detailed out in detailed manner. It makes the reader feel that you are actually present there as a silent spectator watching the adventurous journey the author goes through.

    The experience that he has with baba Ram Dass and Neem Karoli Baba (Who I had earlier heard of in Steve Jobs autobiography), explain a lot of dilemmas faced by him, and the internal battles he was going through.

    After all the interesting interactions with himself and varies personalities in terms of teachers, social workers, cult leaders, Richard found his calling in Bhakti Yoga, and a guru in his holiness Srila Prabhupada of ISKCON.

    Overall, anyone, with even a faint interest in Spirituality should compulsorily read this book. It is a heavy book, and I suggest pacing it out over a month to grasp the maximum out of it.

    This journey needs to be made into a movie to spread the message, and to bring out the confusion all of us face when it comes to spirituality.

    Disclaimer: This book was sent to me for a review.

  • Think like a freak – Book Review

    I read the book, Freakonomics sometime in the beginning of this year, and it got me hooked to this way of thinking. The simplicity and the clarity brought in by the authors to explain real life incidents were fascinating.  Unexpected insights on topics as varied as abortion related to crime rates and Sumo wrestling made this book a winner, leading to subsequent sequels.

    Needless to say, I was looking forward to reading the remaining books by this author duo. I gave their third instalment, Think like a Freak priority over the second, SuperFreakonomics due to the catchier name, and also due to its recency.

    The Author duo – one an Economist and the other, a Journalist form a wonderful combination to perfectly blend the bland with the interesting. They have made the word Freakonomics, which started off as a book, into a complete brand. There is a movie, the Podcast, the blog and the occasional consultancy they do on similar lines of thought.

    The book delves into many interesting episodes, and continues from where it left off. The rational of the whole “why suicide bombers should get an insurance” , which is touched upon in their previous book is now explained in detail. The case where the link between the “Englishman tasting the sweat of the African slave” and the “high levels of heart disease in this community” is established very pictorially and convincingly.

    The pitfall of this book is that it seems a little like self-help. It sometimes gets into preachy mode, provoking the non-intuitive minds a trick or two. The whole book gives a very instruction manual feel, which makes it very preachy.

    The lessons that are offered are surely valuable but obvious. Common thoughts like, “Ask the right questions”, “Admit your shortcomings”, “Tell Stories to convince a strong opponent” are given as tools to think freakishly.

    Also, as someone who frequently listens to their podcast, it very much seemed like a repetition of the same at many places.

    Overall, this book does have some content, but on the whole it looks like a hurried affair to cash in on the previous success.

  • The Everything Store – Book Review

    e-commerce has always been a sector close to my heart, and when I heard of this book, I knew instantly that I had to read it. This book is a detailed coverage of Amazon and is an unflinching outsider’s view to the same. The author Brad Stone has done a wonderful job in creating a well rounded story of how Amazon has become, what it is today.

    Amazon is very well on its way for dominance on everything we buy. The recent launch of its phone is one more hint in that direction.

    Initially, it started off as a bookseller, but it was always designed for bigger things. Jeff Bezos, it’s founder, always seemed to have this grand plan of making it “The Everything Store”, which enables people to buy literally anything sold on the planet, and beyond.

    Being featured Recently on the front page of The Economist newspaper shows its ever growing popularity and its ability to stay relevant.

    One very important lesson to learn from Amazon is its relentless focus on Customer Service. (Interesting piece of nugget: Jeff was initially contemplating naming his company relentless.com and had even registered the name, but I guess better aesthetic sense prevailed). The author talks about Jeff’s exceptional drive and obsession and his journey in providing the best possible experience to his consumers. Customer first, is reflected throughout the book.

    The book also gives a very deep look into the behavior of its rather eccentric founder, Jeff Bezos. How he managed pressures, and cynics who have multiple times written him and his company off. Every time that Amazon’s obituary is talked about, it pulls out the proverbial magical rat from its hat.

    Any biography of a business leader is tough. Especially if it about a person who is still very much in his prime, and more so if it is about a company that is still growing ahead of the industry. An industry that it has created. Also, the author not being the founder, or an ex-employee makes it more difficult, but Brad has done a remarkable job. It shows the amount of research gone into the book.

    Brad tries to make it a parallel running between Amazon’s illustrious run so far, and a semi-biogrpahical account of its inspiring founder. That I think is a big weak point of the book, for readers like me who expected it be a story of Amazon.com and not its founder.

    Overall, this book is a must read for anyone aspiring to build a company, or interested to know how a clear long term vision supersedes everything else, and results into a great company. Here, the long term vision being, Amazon needs to be “The Everything Store”