In an Antique Land by Amitav Ghosh

So this took a bit longer than I expected to finish, and not because the length of the book but due to me committing less time to reading.

I completed the book but there seems to be no ending to it. The book revolves around two larger disjointed narratives one from the personal experience of the hero, and the other one where our hero is doing research for his doctoral thesis.

The narrative keep moving between the two plots, and there are times when the reader can get lost what he was reading (happened to me couple of times actually when I didn't realise that this was a different plot).

The book is full of warmth, and nostalgia. There are some really funny instances of our hero trying to answer the questions from the locals. And this actually highlights the point that we all have our natural curiosity, and prejudices when we heard of the things we're not acquainted with.

Well it was a good read but a lot of the people may not enjoy this style of writing.

If you're an Amitav fan, than just go for it.

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

This one I opted to read because I was looking for something from a Nobel prize winner, and this came around at the right time. However, this one is quite old.

This is one of the amazing read I had. The narrative was so soft, and this remains beautifully poised between a love story and a life story.

The plot revolves around a butler from England Stevens who dedicated all his life to served his master with honor. The whole narrative flows around his life, and the housekeeper Miss Kenton.

There were clear incidences where we can see that Miss Kenton admires or even romanticize her time with Stevens, of course with some tension around it. However, Stevens was so much serious about his duties that he forgot to take note of things around him. His whole life was to keep his duties, and dignity.

Later in his life he starts on a journey post getting a letter from Miss Kenton. When he slowed down a bit in life, and looked back, he realized that he had a chance to be happy, and be with somebody whom he loved/liked but couldn't realize.

He ends up with a thought that taking a pause is actually not that bad, and it gives you an opportunity to look, enjoy, and appreciate things in your life which make it worth one.

Trillion Dollar Coach: The Leadership Playbook of Silicon Valley's Bill Campbell by Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg, Alan Eagle

I picked up this book after listening to some real good reviews from the people in my work group.

This is a quick read, and can be labelled as leadership, management etc book from the very first page.

The whole narration revolves around Bill Campbell who was a mentor/coach to almost all the large organizations in Silicon Valley.

Well the whole book is filled with superlatives for Bill, and I couldn't find a single thing which is not so good about him. In a larger perspective this sounds like a eulogy to Bill, and unfortunately doesn't throw much light on Bill's leadership style. The book is mostly filled with all the possible big names of Silicon Valley. It sometimes amazes how he was able to reach out to so many people with equal zeal but than you realize that's why a book was written about him. People came forward to talk about him, and how he influence their lives.

The one thing which comes out really strong is that empathy is the strongest leadership skill. But than this is the single strongest trait to have irrespective which line of work you're in.

For a long time it was believed that only a care giver or NGO worker or humanitarian need empathy but now this has become one of the key ingredient to be successful in anything you do.

A quick read but if you're not much into leadership books, better skip it.

Gods and Robots: Myths, Machines, and Ancient Dreams of Technology by Adrienne Mayor

Another book picked out of curiosity.

Artificial Intelligence is a buzzword, and the whole world is talking about it. Science has made a huge success in cracking it, and if we look around we can see a lot of devices are building intelligence on it's own. We even hear that machines are going to take over the world much before than expected. There are different school of thoughts who are arguing about it but that is not the focus here.

The book is full of ancient myths from Greek, Roman, Indian, and Chinese literature. The oldest reference is the Greek myth of Talos created by Hephaestus, the Greek god of invention. Surprisingly, Pandora was also a female robot. The broader uses of such inventions were slave, security, spectacle, sex, and punishment.

The movies related to artificial life, and robots are also extensively quotes. Not a bad thing but could have avoided the overkill.

In a lot of cases the mythic inventions were compared to the latest inventions. There were even some cases where a detailed design is available was replicated by the modern scientists.

Artificial intelligence, and robots has fascinated the human imagination since long. In different era it has been designed to serve different purposes but the main object was the spectacle, and saving the human efforts. Which still holds good with more sophistication added to it. The scientific researches have made a lot of things possible which was just a myth in early days. We heard the stories of fascinating inventions but don't really have a proof if it really existed which is why the lines between science, and myth gets blurred. It is quite possible that the ancient workman might have imagined the possibilities of things like airplane, and might have even came up with some working models but it was definitely not a success otherwise some remains might have been available.

Well, if you're interested in myths, and would like to have a modern retelling than this is where you can start!

Less by Andrew Sean Greer

I picked this one up when I saw a coverage of it getting the Pulitzer Prize, and it was just there when I was looking to start a new one.

So, the first impression is not so great. I've not read much stories with a gay man as the main character, and this is definitely the first one where the man is getting about to turn fifty.

This is a story of Arthur Less an ageing writer who recently split with his long time boyfriend, who is getting married, and to avoid the invitation Less starts on a journey around the globe. This is a story of journey to unlikely places, and reflections of all your life.

You may escape the events (the whole journey is actually an escape to avoid the wedding of his boyfriend) but you can't escape the thoughts. The idea is to grow over them, and move on.

Not the best one but it's a prize winning for sure.

Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari

I picked this book just because the previous one was a really good one.

I enjoyed reading "Sapiens" a lot, and I was expecting something similar.

However, the book focuses mostly on what lies ahead of us. The fundamental theme of the book is about how the recent developments in life sciences, and technology are going to change the humanity in the near future.

The book has good efforts but I recently finished "Thank You for Being Late" which is also on similar lines, and I felt that "Homo Deus" fall behind.

It has a lot of historical facts, and figures, and you can actually check the mistakes on their website.

You can pick the book, and maybe build your own thoughts. If not, you're not missing much.

The Rise and Fall of Nations by Ruchir Sharma

I've never been interested in economy works but I always look for numbers, and how it can be interpreted to define a real time situation.

Hence, I picked this book. It was a pleasant switch between this, and the previous book which I was reading in parallel. And I must say this has expanded my horizon of understanding how the things lead to a particular result. We can see a lot of things happening around us, and the innovation is keep on adding the pace to our lives which leads to a lot of changes.

One thing which always gets my attention is how factual the book is. There are no crystal ball readings but some profound conclusions from the trends. Not all trends end in same way but they definitely gave us a fair idea of the direction the needle is moving to.

The book broadly gives the 10 rules of  identifying the political, social, economic changes which can predict how the country is going to perform in next five years. It is clearly said that anything beyond five years will be more like a guess work. The forecasts or trends should not be for really long duration. We can work on policies or the basic tenets of the policy but it is better to avoid a long term prediction.

Time is one of those factors which we can't really measure in terms of how much is good enough. But a short term prediction based on historical trends can give us really close results.

The book is filled with a lot of data but not in a overwhelming way. If you're not a data person you can focus on the outcomes, and predictions. In fact, with the help of data you can actually put your thoughts around it, and connect with your own experience/facts from other sources.

Thank you for Being Late by Thomas Friedman

Thomas Friedman was not a new name to me. I've already read The World is Flat so I knew the kind of writing I should expect.

One thing which I was not aware, and which I realized after finishing the book was that there was so many updates from the latest tech world. These updates might have sounded a fairy tale to many readers but I could relate to a lot of these things.

Anyways, the book is more around how rapidly we've increased our knowledge in science which actually transformed to real world. These innovations have immensely affected our daily lives. The changes have been so fast that the human beings are not able to adjust to such speed. This has given rise to inequality in many ways within the society, and country.

These innovations have also hurt the natural resources which we're exploiting on a similar exponential trend. In the recent years the attitude towards such issues has changed as there are more and more researches happening which are trying to help us maintain the equilibrium with mother nature. The consequences of imbalance will be fatal.

Thomas has suggested a framework around how we can maintain the balance with nature, and also how we can create an all inclusive society which works toward the goal of common welfare, and connects the people to build a long lasting bonds which ultimately brings the harmony in the society.

Given the larger topics are covered the book is a bit fat but worth the read.

Peace

Casanova: The World of a Seductive Genius by Laurence Bergreen

Finished two books which I was reading in parallel (one hard copy, and one ebook, this one).

Picked up this book as I wanted some true accounts on the fabled Giacomo Casanova who is said to be greatest lover of all time. So much so that Casanova has moved from a Noun to an Adjective.

The book is based upon the accounts written by Casanova himself (12 volumes in total). So this one is like a quick story but not so quick, about 500+ pages fat.

The chapters are loosely based on different girls Casanova was able to seduce. The original list seems to 100+ but there are 20 chapters in this book.

I read the book, and there were a lot many moments when I felt like not going ahead but finally finished it. The Italian adventurer, as he is called, was established as a poet, writer, gambler, seducer, and what not. The narrative is so set in tone that it kind of started taking the enjoyment in describing all the events in the life of a seducer. All the chapters start with a new woman, and the book moves to the next with a new one. And do mind that there are lot many women coming, and going in between.

I couldn't keep a track of age of all but can safely say that these narratives are enough to establish him as a pedophile, and not really the lover as known in common folklore. A man who always keep a trick up his sleeves, the out right liar, petty cheat, and what not.

And to quote him in his own words, "I have never been able to understand how a father could tenderly love his charming daughter without having slept with her at least once,”.

Venice is portrayed in the most debauched state as full of libertine, gambling, and whoring. I've not read much about European history but on the basis of this one book I can say that Casanova was either super exaggerating his life, or he was actually a serial rapist (pedophile). More like a parasite who lived on sucking life from others monetary or otherwise.

In many instances (girls we say) he has projected himself as the most charming of the man whom no girl can say no. But you read a bit close, and you realize that this was not charm, this was money, lie, deceit, and poverty at it's best.

Don't be fooled by what you hear about Casanova in the pop culture. Casanova, is not a compliment, it's a disgraced title. Watch out when the next time you hear it from somebody or for somebody..

Peace.

And Quiet Flows the Don by Mikhail Sholokhov

Another heavy read from Russian literature about war, and life.

The book is really long so not for the faint hearted or the readers looking for a quick satisfaction. This really needs a lot of attention, and involvement while reading.

As always with the Russian writers the book is very detailed, and covers a very long span of time just prior to World War 1. Surprisingly, the book doesn't have a hero figure, and mostly runs among Melekhov family, war, love, and more war.

Grigori can be considered as the main character but there are many other characters which move in, and out of narrative as the plot moves to sub plots, and further.

The basic theme of the novel is war. Looking at it from the people on whom it has been thrust upon. The people who were busy living their simple/complicated lives were pushed into a senseless war. Eventually, people question the relevancy of it, and how it is going to change their life.

The another plot is of love between, husband and wife or man and a woman. This question the definition of love but gives no answer. A married man/woman having multiple partners in a war torn country for all the different reasons is a situation which can't be right or wrong. This situation stays there, and the life just flies by all the people involved.

We make a lot of choices but our choices depend on our circumstances. We choose family, love, work or war, and each of the choices come with it's own burden. It doesn't matter how well thought or prepared your selections are, the end is not in your hand. You can just choose it, and hope it to work out somehow.

This is the whole struggle.

Happy reading.

Love.