I am not a big reader. Most of my reading occurs during my travel or vacation on an aeroplane. Lately, exhaustion induced sleep and work has robbed me of the precious airtime reading. Reading has never come easy to me. I am neither a fast reader, nor do I comprehend things quickly. As reading a book represents a major effort, I expect some value addition in return. Hence over the last few years, I have been reading only non-fiction as I believe there is much more information in them than in an investigative murder thriller or a fictitious political scandal. 3 weeks of vacation in India presented me an opportunity to read these 3 (long overdue) wonderful books.
The World is Flat - Thomas Friedman
This book is an eye-opening account of how technology, globalization and certain political events have leveled the playing field for the entire world. If you are an American or West European, be afraid, be very afraid because the Indian and Chinese are going to mother you unless you start innovating and creating more value added special jobs. The book dwells on important questions like why the largest exporter to US is China, situated 8000 miles away from US, and not Mexico which is across the border and pays no taxes courtesy NAFTA and has abundant cheap labor like the Chinese. It would have been better if the 600 pages of the book had been condensed into 300, but nevertheless the book packs mountains of information.
Wise and Otherwise - Sudha Murthy
This book is a compilation of about 50 simple experiences in the author's life which teach us great lessons in various human virtues. Most importantly it shows how certain attributes are not privy to a particular class or caste of people. This humbling tale is written in a language that even a fifth grader can understand. But the same simple language packs a very powerful tale. It made me realize that once doesn't need special vocabulary and sophisticated language to make an impactful story. Being a CEO's wife, Sudha Murthy could have chosen a life of leisure involving shopping, day spas and high society partying, but she chose to dedicate her life to something more noble. I have always had great respect for her social endeavors and more importantly her vocal support for woman's liberation. Now, I respect her as a writer too. May her tribe increase!
Omnivore's Dilemma - Michael Pollan
If you live in America, and if you eat, you must read this book. I am not sure how I picked up this book, probably the title seemed interesting, but this book is definitely one of the best I have read in a long time. It dwells into the fact that how increasingly what we have for lunch and dinner is not necessarily our choice, but something which is forced upon us by profit hungry greedy corporations and government regulations. More importantly, I realized that food is no longer simple and natural, everything is chemically processed and in America , everything is CORN!! Most shocking is the fact that how we have manipulated nature and changed nature forever. If you are vegetarian this refers to the chemicals in form of fertilizers and pesticides that goes into your produce. If you are a meat eater, it only gets worse, cause courtesy corporate farming, animals today are raised on stuff which goes beyond evolution and reason. And before anyone screams organic, it might make sense to investigate the company and see how they define organic.
PS: If you read this blog and know of a good non-fiction title, I would appreciate if you could put it down in the comments section.
The World is Flat - Thomas Friedman
This book is an eye-opening account of how technology, globalization and certain political events have leveled the playing field for the entire world. If you are an American or West European, be afraid, be very afraid because the Indian and Chinese are going to mother you unless you start innovating and creating more value added special jobs. The book dwells on important questions like why the largest exporter to US is China, situated 8000 miles away from US, and not Mexico which is across the border and pays no taxes courtesy NAFTA and has abundant cheap labor like the Chinese. It would have been better if the 600 pages of the book had been condensed into 300, but nevertheless the book packs mountains of information.
Wise and Otherwise - Sudha Murthy
This book is a compilation of about 50 simple experiences in the author's life which teach us great lessons in various human virtues. Most importantly it shows how certain attributes are not privy to a particular class or caste of people. This humbling tale is written in a language that even a fifth grader can understand. But the same simple language packs a very powerful tale. It made me realize that once doesn't need special vocabulary and sophisticated language to make an impactful story. Being a CEO's wife, Sudha Murthy could have chosen a life of leisure involving shopping, day spas and high society partying, but she chose to dedicate her life to something more noble. I have always had great respect for her social endeavors and more importantly her vocal support for woman's liberation. Now, I respect her as a writer too. May her tribe increase!
Omnivore's Dilemma - Michael Pollan
If you live in America, and if you eat, you must read this book. I am not sure how I picked up this book, probably the title seemed interesting, but this book is definitely one of the best I have read in a long time. It dwells into the fact that how increasingly what we have for lunch and dinner is not necessarily our choice, but something which is forced upon us by profit hungry greedy corporations and government regulations. More importantly, I realized that food is no longer simple and natural, everything is chemically processed and in America , everything is CORN!! Most shocking is the fact that how we have manipulated nature and changed nature forever. If you are vegetarian this refers to the chemicals in form of fertilizers and pesticides that goes into your produce. If you are a meat eater, it only gets worse, cause courtesy corporate farming, animals today are raised on stuff which goes beyond evolution and reason. And before anyone screams organic, it might make sense to investigate the company and see how they define organic.
PS: If you read this blog and know of a good non-fiction title, I would appreciate if you could put it down in the comments section.
8 comments:
- World is flat is a nice book but it probably is a little outdated by now.
- Read Freakonomics if you haven't yet read it. Throws mind boggling analysis at you.
- Who moved my cheese also is a short but interesting read.
Subbu.
@Subbu...I have read Freakonomics..it is an amazing book...who moved my cheese is also a good quick read.
If you get a chance read "Oil on the Brain"..amazing insight into power and politics of the energy industry. Another favorite of mine is "Guns, Germs and Steel"
I will look up wise and otherwise, love the title already, besides that I live in hitchikers world so no non fiction recommendations, but yea besides khalid hosseini, last good read was curious incident of dog at night time..
1.) The Peter Principle -- Lawrence J. Peter, Raymond Hull
2.) American Theocracy -- Kevin Phillips
If you don't know already, check out:
http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page
-- R.S.
Try Maverick by Ricardo Semler, one of the few fiction books I have successfully completed
@SS...I might read "curios incident...". I heard its pretty interesting
@R.S.. Thanks for those recommendations, will try to read if I get a chance
@Rohan..Long time no c..hope you are doing great...will check out your recommendation
Pointy you are missing out on a lot of fun. cmon, how can you say fiction isn't value add- read white tiger- fantastic !!! For that matter I hadn't thought much about the differences between older pagan religions as opposed to Christianity and Islam - till I read none other than 'DaVinci Code'.
@Ramya...Heard good things abt 'White Tiger', but the next book in my queue is
'Hot, Flat & Crowded...' by Friedman
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