en-US Sat, 28 Sep 2024 14:42:21 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 4937197
Volume I includes the early novel A Study in Scarlet, which introduced the eccentric genius of Sherlock Holmes to the world. This baffling murder mystery, with the cryptic word Rache written in blood, first brought Holmes together with Dr. John Watson. Next, The Sign of Four presents Holmes’s famous “seven percent solution�� and the strange puzzle of Mary Morstan in the quintessential locked-room mystery. Also included are Holmes’s feats of extraordinary deception in such famous cases as the chilling “The Adventure of the Speckled Band,�� the baffling riddle of “The Musgrave Ritual,�� and the ingeniously plotted “The Five Orange Pips.��

Volume II begins with The Hound of Baskervilles, a haunting novel of murder on eerie Grimpen Moor, which has rightly earned its reputation as the finest murder mystery ever written. The Valley of Fear matches Holmes against his archenemy, the master of imaginative crime, Professor Moriarty. In addition, the loyal Dr. Watson has faithfully recorded Holmes’s feats of extraordinary detection in such famous cases as the thrilling “The Adventure of the Red Circle,�� Holmes’s tragic and fortunately premature farewell in “The Final Problem,�� and the twelve baffling adventures from The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes.

Conan Doyle’s incomparable tales bring to life a Victorian England of horse-drawn cabs, fogs, and the famous lodgings at 221 B Baker Street, where for more than forty years Sherlock Holmes earned his undisputed reputation as the greatest fictional detective of all time.]]> 1796 Arthur Conan Doyle 0553897446 Narayana 5 favorites 4.56 1915
author: Arthur Conan Doyle
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.56
book published: 1915
rating: 5
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date added: 2024/09/28
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]]> 54479 252 Jules Verne 014044906X Narayana 4 3.95 1872
author: Jules Verne
name: Narayana
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1872
rating: 4
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date added: 2024/08/07
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]]> 59833387
Bharat’s carefree life in Kekeya is turned upside down by the death of his father Raja Dashratha and the exile of his brother and crown prince Rama. Untrained in statecraft and unsure of himself, Bharat begins his rule over Kosala by tackling an audacious rakshasa attack on Ayodhya.

There’s more trouble brewing. As the magic that sustains the kingdom starts weakening and a drought looms over Kosala, Ayodhya’s citizens begin to disappear mysteriously. Ambitious aristocrats manipulate the inexperienced king to their ends, while fickle allies seize the opportunity to assert their independence. And unknown to Bharat, the Lord of Lanka has put a cunning plan into action that will break the back of Ayodhya’s resistance.

Beset by challenges, will Bharat lose Ayodhya so early in his reign?

Crackling with characters overlooked and forgotten by the Ramayana, Warlord of Ayodhya is a thrilling spinoff by bestselling fantasy author Shatrujeet Nath.]]> 408 Shatrujeet Nath 939101979X Narayana 4 4.52
author: Shatrujeet Nath
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.52
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/28
date added: 2024/03/30
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]]> 39964740
After having suffered some sort of mental collapse and no longer able to keep up with his farm chores, Emmett Farmer is sent to the workshop of one such binder to live and work as her apprentice. Leaving behind home and family, Emmett slowly regains his health while learning the binding trade. He is forbidden to enter the locked room where books are stored, so he spends many months marbling end pages, tooling leather book covers, and gilding edges. But his curiosity is piqued by the people who come and go from the inner sanctum, and the arrival of the lordly Lucian Darnay, with whom he senses a connection, changes everything.]]> 437 Bridget Collins 0008272115 Narayana 0 currently-reading 3.86 2019
author: Bridget Collins
name: Narayana
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/01/02
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> 6919962

Nick Ash does research for the FBI in New York. Six months ago his girlfriend Gillian walked out and broke his heart. Now he’s the only person who can save her �� if it’s not too late. Within hours of getting her message, Nick finds himself on the run, delving deep into the past before it catches up with him.

Hunted across Europe, Nick follows Gillian’s trail into the heart of a five-hundred-year-old mystery. But across the centuries, powerful forces are closing around him. There are men who have devoted their lives to keeping the secret, and they will stop at nothing to protect it.


From the Paperback edition.]]> 585 Tom Harper 0099545578 Narayana 3 3.63 2009
author: Tom Harper
name: Narayana
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2009
rating: 3
read at: 2023/12/22
date added: 2023/12/22
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]]> 221302 Adaptuota versija. Kitus lietuviškus leidimus žr. apačioje

Tada dar nebuvo lėktuvų ir kitų greito keliavimo priemonių, kai anglų džentelmenas Filijus Fogas susilažino iš 20000 svarų sterlingų, kad jis apkeliaus pasaulį per 80 dienų. Savo kelionėje jis sutinka gražuolę indų princesę, apsirinka patikėjęs pagarsėjusiu nusikaltėliu, yra persekiojamas leidimą jį areštuoti turinčio detektyvo. Pasekite jo fantastišką kelionę per keturis žemynus, drąsiai įveikiant laiko spąstus. Tai kupina veiksmo, nuotykių ir pavojų, įtempta ir labai romantiška kelionė.

***

Žr. taip pat kitus lietuviškus leidimus:
+ Martynas Yčas, 1921
+ Spaudos fondas, 1937
+ Valstybinė grožinės literatūros leidykla, 1949
+ Vaga, 1977
+ Rosma, 2008 (perdirbtas vaikams)
+ Nieko Rimto, 2014]]> 239 Marian Leighton 0866119523 Narayana 0 4.02 1977
author: Marian Leighton
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1977
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/11
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]]> 45304985 Acclaimed mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik demystifies the Hanuman Chalisa for the contemporary reader. His unique approach makes the ancient hymn accessible, combined as it is with his trademark illustrations.

Every time we experience negativity in the world and within ourselves, every time we encounter jealousy, rage and frustration, manifesting as violation and violence, we hear, or read, the Hanuman Chalisa. Composed over four hundred years ago by Tulsidas, its simple words in Awadhi, a dialect of Hindi and its simple metre, musically and very potently evoke the mythology, history and mystery of Hanuman, the much-loved Hindu deity, through whom Vedic wisdom reached the masses. As verse follows verse, our frightened, crumpled mind begins to expand with knowledge and insight and our faith in humanity, both within and without, is restored.]]> 5 Devdutt Pattanaik Narayana 4 4.17 2017
author: Devdutt Pattanaik
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2019/06/20
date added: 2023/08/01
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]]> 359375
Set in contemporary Moscow, where shape shifters, vampires, and street-sorcerers linger in the shadows, Night Watch is the first book of the hyper-imaginative fantasy pentalogy from best-selling Russian author Sergei Lukyanenko.

This epic saga chronicles the eternal war of the “Others,�� an ancient race of humans with supernatural powers who must swear allegiance to either the Dark or the Light. The agents of the Dark �� the Night Watch �� oversee nocturnal activity, while the agents of the Light keep watch over the day. For a thousand years both sides have maintained a precarious balance of power, but an ancient prophecy has decreed that a supreme Other will one day emerge, threatening to tip the scales. Now, that day has arrived. When a mid-level Night Watch agent named Anton stumbles upon a cursed young woman �� an uninitiated Other with magnificent potential �� both sides prepare for a battle that could lay waste to the entire city, possible the world. With language that throbs like darkly humorous hard-rock lyrics about blood and power, freedom and responsibility, Night Watch is a chilling, cutting-edge thriller, a pulse-pounding ride of fusion fiction that will leave you breathless for the next instalment.]]> 455 Sergei Lukyanenko 1401359795 Narayana 4 4.00 1998
author: Sergei Lukyanenko
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1998
rating: 4
read at: 2023/06/30
date added: 2023/06/30
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]]> 62691821
In this extraordinarily moving book, fifteen Indians from across the country tell their stories of their first Independence Day �� some were no more than four or five, others, young adults about to enter college. Some lived in far-off places without the newspaper or the radio to give them the news; some had never seen an Englishman and didn’t know what freedom meant. Others lived in fear of communal riots and their lives being destroyed.

These stories, each utterly different, make history come vividly alive, reminding us that behind the facts and the big dates lie the beating hearts of countless Indians who created history together.

Deeply inspiring and totally gripping, Independence Day will make 15 August 1947 �� and a slice of India’s history �� come wholly alive.
"]]> 188 Veena Venugopal Narayana 0 to-read 4.25
author: Veena Venugopal
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.25
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/04/29
shelves: to-read
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]]> 23947089 Return to #1 New York Times bestseller Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn world of Scadrial as its second era, which began with The Alloy of Law, comes to its earth-shattering conclusion in The Lost Metal.

For years, frontier lawman turned big-city senator Waxillium Ladrian has hunted the shadowy organization the Set—with his late uncle and his sister among their leaders—since they started kidnapping people with the power of Allomancy in their bloodlines. When Detective Marasi Colms and her partner, Wayne, find stockpiled weapons bound for the Outer City of Bilming, this opens a new lead. Conflict between the capital, Elendel, and the Outer Cities only favors the Set, and their tendrils now reach to the Elendel Senate—whose corruption Wax and his wife, Steris, have sought to expose—and Bilming is even more entangled.

After Wax discovers a new type of explosive that can unleash unprecedented destruction and realizes that the Set must already have it, an immortal kandra serving Scadrial's god, Harmony, reveals that Bilming has fallen under the influence of another god: Trell, worshipped by the Set. And Trell isn't the only factor at play from the larger Cosmere—Marasi is recruited by offworlders with strange abilities who claim their goal is to protect Scadrial . . . at any cost.

Wax must choose whether to set aside his rocky relationship with God and once again become the Sword that Harmony has groomed him to be. If no one steps forward to be the hero Scadrial needs, the planet and its millions of people will come to a sudden and calamitous ruin.]]> 507 Brandon Sanderson 0765391198 Narayana 0 to-read 4.46 2022
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/01/02
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]]> 18739426
The Bands of Mourning are the mythical metal minds owned by the Lord Ruler, said to grant anyone who wears them the powers that the Lord Ruler had at his command. Hardly anyone thinks they really exist. A kandra researcher has returned to Elendel with images that seem to depict the Bands, as well as writings in a language that no one can read. Waxillium Ladrian is recruited to travel south to the city of New Seran to investigate. Along the way he discovers hints that point to the true goals of his uncle Edwarn and the shadowy organization known as The Set.]]> 455 Brandon Sanderson 146686267X Narayana 0 to-read 4.42 2016
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/01/02
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]]> 10803121
Kelsier, Vin, Elend, Sazed, Spook, and the rest are now part of history—or religion. Yet even as science and technology are reaching new heights, the old magics of Allomancy and Feruchemy continue to play a role in this reborn world. Out in the frontier lands known as the Roughs, they are crucial tools for the brave men and women attempting to establish order and justice.

One such is Waxillium Ladrian, a rare Twinborn who can Push on metals with his Allomancy and use Feruchemy to become lighter or heavier at will.

After twenty years in the Roughs, Wax has been forced by family tragedy to return to the metropolis of Elendel. Now he must reluctantly put away his guns and assume the duties and dignity incumbent upon the head of a noble house. Or so he thinks, until he learns the hard way that the mansions and elegant tree-lined streets of the city can be even more dangerous than the dusty plains of the Roughs.]]> 325 Brandon Sanderson 0765330423 Narayana 0 to-read 4.20 2011
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/01/02
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]]> 27833670 A mindbending, relentlessly surprising thriller from the author of the bestselling Wayward Pines trilogy.

Jason Dessen is walking home through the chilly Chicago streets one night, looking forward to a quiet evening in front of the fireplace with his wife, Daniela, and their son, Charlie—when his reality shatters.

"Are you happy with your life?"

Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the masked abductor knocks him unconscious.

Before he awakens to find himself strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits.

Before a man Jason's never met smiles down at him and says, "Welcome back, my friend."

In this world he's woken up to, Jason's life is not the one he knows. His wife is not his wife. His son was never born. And Jason is not an ordinary college physics professor, but a celebrated genius who has achieved something remarkable. Something impossible.

Is it this world or the other that's the dream?

And even if the home he remembers is real, how can Jason possibly make it back to the family he loves? The answers lie in a journey more wondrous and horrifying than anything he could've imagined—one that will force him to confront the darkest parts of himself even as he battles a terrifying, seemingly unbeatable foe.

Dark Matter is a brilliantly plotted tale that is at once sweeping and intimate, mind-bendingly strange and profoundly human--a relentlessly surprising science-fiction thriller about choices, paths not taken, and how far we'll go to claim the lives we dream of.]]> 342 Blake Crouch 1101904224 Narayana 4 4.13 2016
author: Blake Crouch
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2022/12/31
date added: 2023/01/02
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]]> 21413662 xkcd comic ask Munroe a lot of strange questions: What if you tried to hit a baseball pitched at 90 percent the speed of light? How fast can you hit a speed bump while driving and live? If there was a robot apocalypse, how long would humanity last? What if everyone only had one soulmate? What would happen if the moon went away?

In pursuit of answers, Munroe runs computer simulations, pores over stacks of declassified military research memos, solves differential equations, and consults with nuclear reactor operators. His responses are masterpieces of clarity and hilarity, complemented by his signature xkcd comics. (They often predict the complete annihilation of humankind, or at least a really big explosion.)

In celebration of 10 years of unusual insight, Randall Munroe has revised his classic blockbuster to ask what if? x 10. The result is 10x the adventure of scientific inquiry. Featuring brand-new 2-color annotations and illustrations, this special anniversary edition is far more than a book for geeks, What If? explains the laws of science in operation in a way that every intelligent reader will enjoy and feel much smarter for having read.]]> 303 Randall Munroe 0544272994 Narayana 0 to-read, tobuy 4.13 2014
author: Randall Munroe
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/12/08
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]]> 6596 The Four Agreements, don Miguel Ruiz reveals the source of self-limiting beliefs that rob us of joy and create needless suffering. Based on ancient Toltec wisdom, the Four Agreements offer a powerful code of conduct that can rapidly transform our lives to a new experience of freedom, true happiness, and love. The Four Agreements are: Be Impeccable With Your Word, Don't Take Anything Personally, Don't Make Assumptions, Always Do Your Best.]]> 152 Miguel Ruiz 1878424505 Narayana 0 to-read, tobuy 4.20 1997
author: Miguel Ruiz
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1997
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/12/08
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]]> 68427
Arelon's new capital, Kae, crouches in the shadow of Elantris. Princess Sarene of Teod arrives for a marriage of state with Crown Prince Raoden, hoping—based on their correspondence—to also find love. She finds instead that Raoden has died and she is considered his widow. Both Teod and Arelon are under threat as the last remaining holdouts against the imperial ambitions of the ruthless religious fanatics of Fjordell. So Sarene decides to use her new status to counter the machinations of Hrathen, a Fjordell high priest who has come to Kae to convert Arelon and claim it for his emperor and his god.

But neither Sarene nor Hrathen suspect the truth about Prince Raoden. Stricken by the same curse that ruined Elantris, Raoden was secretly exiled by his father to the dark city. His struggle to help the wretches trapped there begins a series of events that will bring hope to Arelon, and perhaps reveal the secret of Elantris itself.

A rare epic fantasy that doesn't recycle the classics and that is a complete and satisfying story in one volume, Elantris is fleet and fun, full of surprises and characters to care about. It's also the wonderful debut of a welcome new star in the constellation of fantasy.]]> 638 Brandon Sanderson 0765350378 Narayana 0 to-read, tobuy 4.16 2005
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2005
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/12/08
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]]> 21 544 Bill Bryson 076790818X Narayana 0 to-read, tobuy 4.21 2003
author: Bill Bryson
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2003
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/12/08
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]]> 944073
Nobleman Captain Jezal dan Luthar, dashing officer, and paragon of selfishness, has nothing more dangerous in mind than fleecing his friends at cards and dreaming of glory in the fencing circle. But war is brewing, and on the battlefields of the frozen North they fight by altogether bloodier rules.

Inquisitor Glokta, cripple turned torturer, would like nothing better than to see Jezal come home in a box. But then Glokta hates everyone: cutting treason out of the Union one confession at a time leaves little room for friendship. His latest trail of corpses may lead him right to the rotten heart of government, if he can stay alive long enough to follow it.

Enter the wizard, Bayaz. A bald old man with a terrible temper and a pathetic assistant, he could be the First of the Magi, he could be a spectacular fraud, but whatever he is, he's about to make the lives of Logen, Jezal, and Glokta a whole lot more difficult.

Murderous conspiracies rise to the surface, old scores are ready to be settled, and the line between hero and villain is sharp enough to draw blood.

]]> 515 Joe Abercrombie 0575079797 Narayana 0 to-read, tobuy 4.21 2006
author: Joe Abercrombie
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2006
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/12/08
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]]> 59740806
Fuelled by a surge of migration to cities, the country's growth appears to be defined by urbanisation and by its growing, prosperous middle class. It is also defined by progressive and liberal young Indians, who vote beyond the constraints of identity, and paradoxically, by an unchecked population explosion and rising crimes against women. Is it, though?

In 2020, the annual population growth was down to under 1 per cent. Only thirty-one of hundred Indians live in a city today and just 5 per cent live outside the city of their birth.

As recently as 2016, only 4 per cent of young, married respondents in a survey said their spouse belonged to a different caste group. Over 45 per cent of voters said in a pre-2014 election survey that it was important to them that a candidate of their own caste wins elections in their constituency. A large share of reported sexual assaults across India are actually consensual relationships criminalised by parents. And staggeringly, spending more than Rs 8,500 a month puts you in the top 5 per cent of urban India.

In Whole Numbers and Half Truths, data-journalism pioneer Rukmini S. draws on nearly two decades of on-ground reporting experience to piece together a picture that looks nothing like the one you might expect. There is a mountain of data available on India, but it remains opaque, hard to access and harder yet to read, and it does not inform public conversation. Rukmini marshals this information—some of it never before reported—alongside probing interviews with experts and ordinary citizens, to see what the numbers can tell us about India. As she interrogates how data works, and how the push and pull of social and political forces affect it, she creates a blueprint to understand the changes of the last few years and the ones to come—a toolkit for India.

This is a timely and wholly original intervention in the conversation on data, and with it, India.]]> 324 Rukmini S. 9391234674 Narayana 0 to-read, tobuy 4.20
author: Rukmini S.
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.20
book published:
rating: 0
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]]> 36510196
The good news is that humanity finally made it into interstellar space. The bad news is that planets fit to live on are scarce-- and alien races willing to fight us for them are common. So: we fight. To defend Earth, and to stake our own claim to planetary real estate. Far from Earth, the war has been going on for decades: brutal, bloody, unyielding.

Earth itself is a backwater. The bulk of humanity's resources are in the hands of the Colonial Defense Force. Everybody knows that when you reach retirement age, you can join the CDF. They don't want young people; they want people who carry the knowledge and skills of decades of living. You'll be taken off Earth and never allowed to return. You'll serve two years at the front. And if you survive, you'll be given a generous homestead stake of your own, on one of our hard-won colony planets.

John Perry is taking that deal. He has only the vaguest idea what to expect. Because the actual fight, light-years from home, is far, far harder than he can imagine--and what he will become is far stranger.]]> 318 John Scalzi Narayana 0 to-read, tobuy 4.25 2005
author: John Scalzi
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2005
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/12/08
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]]> 31625636 Prepare to learn everything we still don't know about our strange, mostly mysterious universe.

PHD Comics creator Jorge Cham and particle physicist Daniel Whiteson have teamed up to spelunk through the enormous gaps in our cosmological knowledge, armed with their popular infographics, cartoons, and unusually entertaining and lucid explanations of science.

In We Have No Idea, they explore the biggest unknowns in the universe, why these things are still mysteries, and what a lot of smart people are doing to figure out the answers (or at least ask the right questions). While they're at it, they helpfully demystify many complicated things we do know about, from quarks and neutrinos to gravitational waves and exploding black holes. With equal doses of humor and delight, they invite us to see the universe as a vast expanse of mostly uncharted territory that's still ours to explore.

This entertaining illustrated science primer is the perfect book for anyone who's curious about all the big questions physicists are still trying to answer.]]> 354 Jorge Cham 0735211515 Narayana 0 to-read, tobuy 4.28 2017
author: Jorge Cham
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/12/08
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]]> 25499718
WHO WILL INHERIT THIS NEW EARTH?

The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home among the stars. Following in the footsteps of their ancestors, they discover the greatest treasure of the past age—a world terraformed and prepared for human life.

But all is not right in this new Eden. In the long years since the planet was abandoned, the work of its architects has borne disastrous fruit. The planet is not waiting for them, pristine and unoccupied. New masters have turned it from a refuge into mankind's worst nightmare.

Now two civilizations are on a collision course, both testing the boundaries of what they will do to survive. As the fate of humanity hangs in the balance, who are the true heirs of this new Earth?]]> 608 Adrian Tchaikovsky 1447273281 Narayana 0 to-read, tobuy 4.29 2015
author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/12/08
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]]> 36216959 This is an alternate Cover Edition for ASIN: B06ZY9T5Y5.

If you liked the authenticity of The Martian, the page-turning pace of Da Vinci Code, and the inspirational world view of Arthur C. Clarke, you'll love Quantum Space.

High above the windswept plains of Kazakhstan, three astronauts on board a Russian Soyuz capsule begin their reentry. A strange shimmer in the atmosphere, a blinding flash of light, and the capsule vanishes in a blink as though it never existed.

On the ground, evidence points to a catastrophic failure, but a communications facility halfway around the world picks up a transmission that could be one of the astronauts. Tragedy averted, or merely delayed? A classified government project on the cutting edge of particle physics holds the clues, and with lives on the line, there is little time to waste.

Daniel Rice is a government science investigator. Marie Kendrick is a NASA operations analyst. Together, they must track down the cause of the most bizarre event in the history of human spaceflight. They draw on scientific strengths as they plunge into the strange world of quantum physics, with impacts not only to the missing astronauts, but to the entire human race.]]> 352 Douglas Phillips Narayana 0 to-read, tobuy 4.01 2017
author: Douglas Phillips
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/12/08
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]]> 7235533 From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings, book one of The Stormlight Archive begins an incredible new saga of epic proportion.

Roshar is a world of stone and storms. Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Animals hide in shells, trees pull in branches, and grass retracts into the soilless ground. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter.

It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars were fought for them, and won by them.

One such war rages on a ruined landscape called the Shattered Plains. There, Kaladin, who traded his medical apprenticeship for a spear to protect his little brother, has been reduced to slavery. In a war that makes no sense, where ten armies fight separately against a single foe, he struggles to save his men and to fathom the leaders who consider them expendable.

Brightlord Dalinar Kholin commands one of those other armies. Like his brother, the late king, he is fascinated by an ancient text called The Way of Kings. Troubled by over-powering visions of ancient times and the Knights Radiant, he has begun to doubt his own sanity.

Across the ocean, an untried young woman named Shallan seeks to train under an eminent scholar and notorious heretic, Dalinar's niece, Jasnah. Though she genuinely loves learning, Shallan's motives are less than pure. As she plans a daring theft, her research for Jasnah hints at secrets of the Knights Radiant and the true cause of the war.

The result of over ten years of planning, writing, and world-building, The Way of Kings is but the opening movement of the Stormlight Archive, a bold masterpiece in the making.

Speak again the ancient oaths:

Life before death.
Strength before weakness.
Journey before Destination.

and return to men the Shards they once bore.

The Knights Radiant must stand again.]]> 1007 Brandon Sanderson 0765326353 Narayana 0 to-read, tobuy 4.66 2010
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.66
book published: 2010
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/12/08
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]]> 38256629
In 1930, the American historian and philosopher Will Durant wrote that Britain s conscious and deliberate bleeding of India... [was the] greatest crime in all history . He was not the only one to denounce the rapacity and cruelty of British rule, and his assessment was not exaggerated. Almost 35 million Indians died because of acts of commission and omission by the British in famines, epidemics, communal riots and wholesale slaughter like the reprisal killings after the 1857 War of Independence and the Amritsar massacre of 1919. Besides the deaths of Indians, British rule impoverished India in a manner that beggars belief. When the East India Company took control of the country, in the chaos that ensued after the collapse of the Mughal empire, India's share of world GDP was 23 per cent. When the British left it was just above 3 per cent.

The British empire in India began with the East India Company, incorporated in 1600, by royal charter of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth I, to trade in silk, spices and other profitable Indian commodities. Within a century and a half, the Company had become a power to reckon with in India. In 1757, under the command of Robert Clive, Company forces defeated the ruling Nawab Siraj-ud-Daula of Bengal at Plassey, through a combination of superior artillery and even more superior chicanery. A few years later, the young and weakened Mughal emperor, Shah Alam II, was browbeaten into issuing an edict that replaced his own revenue officials with the Company s representatives. Over the next several decades, the East India Company, backed by the British government, extended its control over most of India, ruling with a combination of extortion, double-dealing, and outright corruption backed by violence and superior force. This state of affairs continued until 1857, when large numbers of the Company s Indian soldiers spearheaded the first major rebellion against colonial rule. After the rebels were defeated, the British Crown took over power and ruled the country ostensibly more benignly until 1947, when India won independence.

In this explosive book, best-selling author Shashi Tharoor reveals with acuity, impeccable research, and trademark wit, just how disastrous British rule was for India. Besides examining the many ways in which the colonizers exploited India, he demolishes the arguments of Western and Indian apologists for Empire on the supposed benefits of British rule, including democracy and political freedom, the rule of law, and the railways. The few unarguable benefits of the English language, tea, and cricket were never actually intended for the benefit of the colonized but introduced to serve the interests of the colonizers.

Brilliantly narrated and passionately argued, An Era of Darkness will serve to correct many misconceptions about one of the most contested periods of Indian history.]]> 13 Shashi Tharoor Narayana 5 history 4.31 2016
author: Shashi Tharoor
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2019/04/24
date added: 2022/10/13
shelves: history
review:
I really enjoyed the narration as well as the contents of this book.
]]> 39286682
In this riveting book, Isro scientist S Nambi Narayanan - who was falsely accused of espionage in ISRO spy case of the 1990s - and senior journalist Arun Ram meticulously unpick the ISRO spy case, revisit old material and discover new details to expose the international plot that delayed India's development of a cryogenic engine by at least a decade.

It took four years for the CBI to exonerate Nambi, but his fight for justice to ensure action against the officers who faked the case and tortured him in custody continues.

This book is as much a history of the early days of India's ambitious space programme as it is a record of one of the most sensational cases that enthralled the nation long before the era of online updates and 24-hour news cycles.]]> 372 Nambi Narayanan 9386826267 Narayana 0 currently-reading 4.37
author: Nambi Narayanan
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.37
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/09/12
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 56185639 About the BookIt appears that Hinduism is fast losing its relevance except for the limited purpose of glorification of the ancient past. The modern concept of secularism has debarred the study of ancient Hindu texts in the formal system of primary and secondary education. The English-speaking historians have elbowed out the Sanskrit scholars, and Hinduism is presently taught as the history of an ancient civilization. A large percentage of Hindus and non-Hindus, with a scientific bent of mind, is curious to know about Hinduism. However, no literature defining the core concepts of Hinduism is readily available. The priestly class has arisen to fill the void by promoting Hinduism as a ritualistic religion. Most of the Hindus are practising these rituals out of sheer respect for their traditions.This book is an endeavour to compile the various concepts that broadly define Hinduism. The ancient Hindu texts and Upanishads have been explained succinctly without any lengthy commentary. The book makes no effort to reconcile the various Hindu philosophies and it is left to the readers to make their interpretations. There are no exaggerations of any sort and there is no attempt to build logic to influence the reader in any way. At the end of each chapter there are multiple-choice questions on the core concepts.About the AuthorVineet Agarwal is an author of the modern genre who has an acclaimed style of critical writing. He is an engineer from IIT Delhi with a post-graduate degree in Management. After a brief stint in the corporate sector, he went on to become an IPS officer. He has held various important posts in the Government of Maharashtra, Central Bureau of Investigation and Government of India; he is also the proud recipient of the prestigious President’s Police Medal for meritorious services. His first novel, Romance of a Naxalite, is based on his experiences in Gadchiroli, where he fought Naxalism as Superintendent of Police. This book has been widely reviewed in the media as it has refuted the popular notion of Naxalism. His second book, On the Eve of Kalyug, is a poetry-drama. It is considered to be a well-researched book on the Mahabharata, bringing to the fore an altogether different perspective of the great epic. This book has been awarded by the Poiesis Society and has been adapted into a popular television serial. Hinduism beyond Ritualism is his third book.]]> 285 Vineet Agarwal Narayana 0 to-read 4.22
author: Vineet Agarwal
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.22
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/08/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 188506 496 Mary Sheedy Kurcinka 0060739665 Narayana 5 parenting 4.19 1991
author: Mary Sheedy Kurcinka
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1991
rating: 5
read at: 2022/08/07
date added: 2022/08/10
shelves: parenting
review:

]]> 29430725
A must-have resource for anyone who lives or works with young kids, with an introduction by Adele Faber, coauthor of How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk , the international mega-bestseller The Boston Globe dubbed “The Parenting Bible.��

For over thirty-five years, parents have turned to How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk for its respectful and effective solutions to the unending challenges of raising children. Now, in response to growing demand, Adele’s daughter, Joanna Faber, along with Julie King, tailor How to Talk’s powerful communication skills to children ages two to seven.

Faber and King, each a parenting expert in her own right, share their wisdom accumulated over years of conducting How To Talk workshops with parents and a broad variety of professionals. With a lively combination of storytelling, cartoons, and fly-on-the-wall discussions from their workshops, they provide concrete tools and tips that will transform your relationship with the young kids in your life.

What do you do with a little kid who…won’t brush her teeth…screams in his car seat…pinches the baby...refuses to eat vegetables…throws books in the library...runs rampant in the supermarket? Organized according to common challenges and conflicts, this book is an essential emergency first-aid manual of communication strategies, including a chapter that addresses the special needs of children with sensory processing and autism spectrum disorders.

This user-friendly guide will empower parents and caregivers of young children to forge rewarding, joyful relationships with terrible two-year-olds, truculent three-year-olds, ferocious four-year-olds, foolhardy five-year-olds, self-centered six-year-olds, and the occasional semi-civilized seven-year-old. And, it will help little kids grow into self-reliant big kids who are cooperative and connected to their parents, teachers, siblings, and peers.]]> 385 Joanna Faber 1501131656 Narayana 0 currently-reading 4.38 2017
author: Joanna Faber
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/08/10
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 33631744 BOOKS 208 Anonymous 0143333895 Narayana 4 3.75 1000
author: Anonymous
name: Narayana
average rating: 3.75
book published: 1000
rating: 4
read at: 2019/07/29
date added: 2022/07/03
shelves:
review:

]]> 54493401
Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery—and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone.

Or does he?]]> 476 Andy Weir 0593135202 Narayana 5 4.49 2021
author: Andy Weir
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2022/02/27
date added: 2022/02/27
shelves:
review:
One of the best scifi stories ever!
]]> 177068 390 David Deutsch 014027541X Narayana 0 currently-reading 4.12 1996
author: David Deutsch
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1996
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/01/31
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 29635542 43 P. Djèlí Clark 0765389444 Narayana 3 fantasy 3.96 2016
author: P. Djèlí Clark
name: Narayana
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2022/01/25
date added: 2022/01/25
shelves: fantasy
review:

]]> 37946554
A daring attempt to go back a split second in time to destroy Kim Jong-un. A discovery so consequential it dwarfs even time travel. And a treacherous enemy bent on revenge.

Lee Cargill is the head of Q5, a secret organization that can send objects a split second back into the past. And while this seems utterly useless, it turns out to be the most powerful capability the world has ever known. Those who control it can transform civilization—or destroy it entirely.

When Cargill sends Aaron Blake, his most formidable operative, on an unauthorized mission to destroy Kim Jong-un, all hell breaks loose. As Blake battles for his life, his chances of thwarting the North Korean tyrant plummet. But they’re about to get far worse. Because China has learned of Q5 technology, and they’ll stop at nothing to hunt Blake down . . .

And all the while, a powerful enemy has reemerged. An enemy who seeks to use time travel technology to achieve a twisted, psychopathic vision that will leave millions dead—starting with Lee Cargill and the entire Q5 team.

TIME FRAME is a roller-coaster ride of a thriller, one packed with fascinating concepts that readers will be contemplating long after they've read the last page.]]> 430 Douglas E. Richards Narayana 0 to-read 4.19 2018
author: Douglas E. Richards
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/01/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 26216031
What if you found a way to send something back in time? But not weeks, days, or even minutes back. What if you could only send something back a fraction of a second? Would this be of any use? You wouldn't have nearly enough time to right a wrong, change an event, or win a lottery.

Nathan Wexler is a brilliant physicist who thinks he's found a way to send matter a split second back into the past. But before he can even confirm his findings, he and his wife-to-be, Jenna Morrison, find themselves in a battle for their very lives. Because while time travel to an instant earlier seems useless, Jenna comes to learn that no capability in history has ever been more profound or far-reaching.

Now, as Jenna fights to defeat the powerful forces arrayed against her, nothing less than the fate of humanity hangs in the balance. . .

SPLIT SECOND is a roller-coaster ride of a thriller, one that will have readers pondering the nature of time, and of reality, long after they've read the last page.

"Richards is a worthy successor to Michael Crichton." (SF Book.com)

"Richards is an extraordinary writer," (Dean Koontz) who can "keep you turning the pages all night long." (Douglas Preston)

Near Future Science Fiction Thrillers by Douglas E. Richards
WIRED (Wired 1)
AMPED (Wired 2)
MIND'S EYE (Nick Hall 1)
BRAINWEB (Nick Hall 2)
MIND WAR (Nick Hall 3) -- New in 2016
SPLIT SECOND (Split Second 1)
TIME FRAME (Split Second 2) -- New in January, 2018
QUANTUM LENS
GAME CHANGER -- New in 2016
INFINITY BORN -- New in 2017

Kids Science Fiction Thrillers (9 and up, enjoyed by kids and adults alike)
TRAPPED (Prometheus Project 1)
CAPTURED (Prometheus Project 2)
STRANDED (Prometheus Project 3)
OUT OF THIS WORLD
THE DEVIL'S SWORD]]> 365 Douglas E. Richards Narayana 5 3.96 2015
author: Douglas E. Richards
name: Narayana
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2022/01/23
date added: 2022/01/23
shelves:
review:
One of the most entertaining time travel books out there...
]]> 1842
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and a national bestseller: the global account of the rise of civilization that is also a stunning refutation of ideas of human development based on race.

In this "artful, informative, and delightful" (William H. McNeill, New York Review of Books) book, Jared Diamond convincingly argues that geographical and environmental factors shaped the modern world. Societies that had a head start in food production advanced beyond the hunter-gatherer stage, and then developed writing, technology, government, and organized religion—as well as nasty germs and potent weapons of war—and adventured on sea and land to conquer and decimate preliterate cultures. A major advance in our understanding of human societies, Guns, Germs, and Steel chronicles the way that the modern world came to be and stunningly dismantles racially based theories of human history.

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science, the Rhone-Poulenc Prize, and the Commonwealth Club of California's Gold Medal]]> 498 Jared Diamond 0739467352 Narayana 0 to-read 4.04 1997
author: Jared Diamond
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1997
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/01/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 1963638 The Untethered Soul offers simple yet profound answers to these questions.

Whether this is your first exploration of inner space, or you’ve devoted your life to the inward journey, this book will transform your relationship with yourself and the world around you. You’ll discover what you can do to put an end to the habitual thoughts and emotions that limit your consciousness. By tapping into traditions of meditation and mindfulness, author and spiritual teacher Michael A. Singer shows how the development of consciousness can enable us all to dwell in the present moment and let go of painful thoughts and memories that keep us from achieving happiness and self-realization.

Copublished with the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) The Untethered Soul begins by walking you through your relationship with your thoughts and emotions, helping you uncover the source and fluctuations of your inner energy. It then delves into what you can do to free yourself from the habitual thoughts, emotions, and energy patterns that limit your consciousness. Finally, with perfect clarity, this book opens the door to a life lived in the freedom of your innermost being.]]> 183 Michael A. Singer Narayana 0 to-read 4.19 2007
author: Michael A. Singer
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/01/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 40121378 Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving—every day. James Clear, one of the world's leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results.

If you're having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn't you. The problem is your system. Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don't want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Here, you'll get a proven system that can take you to new heights.

Clear is known for his ability to distill complex topics into simple behaviors that can be easily applied to daily life and work. Here, he draws on the most proven ideas from biology, psychology, and neuroscience to create an easy-to-understand guide for making good habits inevitable and bad habits impossible. Along the way, readers will be inspired and entertained with true stories from Olympic gold medalists, award-winning artists, business leaders, life-saving physicians, and star comedians who have used the science of small habits to master their craft and vault to the top of their field.

Learn how to:
-��Make time for new habits (even when life gets crazy);
-��Overcome a lack of motivation and willpower;
- Design your environment to make success easier;
- Get back on track when you fall off course;
...and much more.

Atomic Habits will reshape the way you think about progress and success, and give you the tools and strategies you need to transform your habits--whether you are a team looking to win a championship, an organization hoping to redefine an industry, or simply an individual who wishes to quit smoking, lose weight, reduce stress, or achieve any other goal.]]> 319 James Clear Narayana 5 4.34 2018
author: James Clear
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2021/12/31
date added: 2021/12/31
shelves:
review:

]]> 40383078 The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying] is an inestimable gift.��
��San Francisco Chronicle

A newly revised and updated edition of the internationally bestselling spiritual classic, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, written by Sogyal Rinpoche, is the ultimate introduction to Tibetan Buddhist wisdom. An enlightening, inspiring, and comforting manual for life and death that the New York Times calls, “The Tibetan equivalent of [Dante’s] The Divine Comedy,�� this is the essential work that moved Huston Smith, author of The World’s Religions, to proclaim, “I have encountered no book on the interplay of life and death that is more comprehensive, practical, and wise.��
]]> 425 Sogyal Rinpoche Narayana 0 to-read 4.20 1992
author: Sogyal Rinpoche
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1992
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/12/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 50364458
Michael J. Sandel argues that to overcome the polarized politics of our time, we must rethink the attitudes toward success and failure that have accompanied globalisation and rising inequality. Sandel highlights the hubris a meritocracy generates among the winners and the harsh judgement it imposes on those left behind. He offers an alternative way of thinking about success - more attentive to the role of luck in human affairs, more conducive to an ethic of humility, and more hospitable to a politics of the common good.]]> 272 Michael J. Sandel 0241407605 Narayana 0 to-read 4.18 2020
author: Michael J. Sandel
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/12/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 56269264
For generations, our remote ancestors have been cast as primitive and childlike—either free and equal innocents, or thuggish and warlike. Civilization, we are told, could be achieved only by sacrificing those original freedoms or, alternatively, by taming our baser instincts. David Graeber and David Wengrow show how such theories first emerged in the eighteenth century as a conservative reaction to powerful critiques of European society posed by Indigenous observers and intellectuals. Revisiting this encounter has startling implications for how we make sense of human history today, including the origins of farming, property, cities, democracy, slavery, and civilization itself.

Drawing on pathbreaking research in archaeology and anthropology, the authors show how history becomes a far more interesting place once we learn to throw off our conceptual shackles and perceive what’s really there. If humans did not spend 95 percent of their evolutionary past in tiny bands of hunter-gatherers, what were they doing all that time? If agriculture, and cities, did not mean a plunge into hierarchy and domination, then what kinds of social and economic organization did they lead to? The answers are often unexpected, and suggest that the course of human history may be less set in stone, and more full of playful, hopeful possibilities, than we tend to assume.

The Dawn of Everything fundamentally transforms our understanding of the human past and offers a path toward imagining new forms of freedom, new ways of organizing society. This is a monumental book of formidable intellectual range, animated by curiosity, moral vision, and a faith in the power of direct action.]]> 692 David Graeber 0374157359 Narayana 0 to-read 4.20 2021
author: David Graeber
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/10/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 53200 NY Times bestseller. 13 extraordinary essays shed new light on the mysteries of the universe & on one of the most brilliant thinkers of our time.
In his phenomenal bestseller A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking literally transformed the way we think about physics, the universe, reality itself. In these thirteen essays and one remarkable extended interview, the man widely regarded as the most brilliant theoretical physicist since Einstein returns to reveal an amazing array of possibilities for understanding our universe. Building on his earlier work, Hawking discusses imaginary time, how black holes can give birth to baby universes, and scientists�� efforts to find a complete unified theory that would predict everything in the universe. With his characteristic mastery of language, his sense of humor and commitment to plain speaking, Stephen Hawking invites us to know him better—and to share his passion for the voyage of intellect and imagination that has opened new ways to understanding the very nature of the cosmos.]]> 182 Stephen Hawking 0553374117 Narayana 0 to-read 4.20 1993
author: Stephen Hawking
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1993
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/10/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 150131
Our universe has been growing for nearly 14 billion years. But almost everything about it, from the elements that forged stars, planets, and lifeforms, to the fundamental forces of physics, can be traced back to what happened in just the first three minutes of its life.

In this book, Nobel Laureate Steven Weinberg describes in wonderful detail what happened in these first three minutes. It is an exhilarating journey that begins with the Planck Epoch - the earliest period of time in the history of the universe - and goes through Einstein's Theory of Relativity, the Hubble Red Shift, and the detection of the Cosmic Microwave Background. These incredible discoveries all form the foundation for what we now understand as the "standard model" of the origin of the universe. The First Three Minutes examines not only what this model looks like, but also tells the exciting story of the bold thinkers who put it together.

Clearly and accessibly written, The First Three Minutes is a modern-day classic, an unsurpassed explanation of where it is we really come from.]]> 224 Steven Weinberg 0465024378 Narayana 0 to-read 4.11 1977
author: Steven Weinberg
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1977
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/10/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 17362 Ever since Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity burst upon the world in 1915 some of the most brilliant minds of our century have sought to decipher the mysteries bequeathed by that theory, a legacy so unthinkable in some respects that even Einstein himself rejected them.

Which of these bizarre phenomena, if any, can really exist in our universe? Black holes, down which anything can fall but from which nothing can return; wormholes, short spacewarps connecting regions of the cosmos; singularities, where space and time are so violently warped that time ceases to exist and space becomes a kind of foam; gravitational waves, which carry symphonic accounts of collisions of black holes billions of years ago; and time machines, for traveling backward and forward in time.

Kip Thorne, along with fellow theorists Stephen Hawking and Roger Penrose, a cadre of Russians, and earlier scientists such as Oppenheimer, Wheeler and Chandrasekhar, has been in the thick of the quest to secure answers. In this masterfully written and brilliantly informed work of scientific history and explanation, Dr. Thorne, the Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics at Caltech, leads his readers through an elegant, always human, tapestry of interlocking themes, coming finally to a uniquely informed answer to the great question: what principles control our universe and why do physicists think they know the things they think they know? Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time has been one of the greatest best-sellers in publishing history. Anyone who struggled with that book will find here a more slowly paced but equally mind-stretching experience, with the added fascination of a rich historical and human component.]]> 624 Kip S. Thorne 0393312763 Narayana 0 to-read 4.22 1994
author: Kip S. Thorne
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1994
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/10/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 58623491 36 Devdutt Pattanaik Narayana 3 3.94
author: Devdutt Pattanaik
name: Narayana
average rating: 3.94
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2021/10/15
date added: 2021/10/15
shelves:
review:
A really short read, can be finished in one sitting. I did expect it to have some commentary at least. Hence a bit disappointed.
]]> 36310035
Without any intention from our side, children can pick up distorted messages about their own self- worth from our day -to-day interactions with them. This affects their beliefs about themselves and they can make shaky on the inside and defensive on the outside. 'Upset', 'angry 'or 'super good' behaviors manifest.

When we adults realise that these behaviors are not deliberate and are a symptom of this shaky internal state, we adjust our attitude to the children in our lives. we can stop focusing in their behavior and we can step away from 'fixing' or 'rewarding' behavior. We can start to understand how children experience and interpret the world, and we can interact differently and reduce the distorted messages that get through to them.

In time children start feeling less shaky and more secure. Their self-worth grows. They manifest behaviors that show us they have skills of self-reflection, self-confidence and an ability to live responsibly in this world. Childhood does not become 'baggage' carried into their adult lives.

The author, Sudha Kudva, is a registered and licensed Counsellor, Certified Play Therapist and Supervisor for Play and Creative Art Therapies. In addition she has trained in Couple Therapy, Trauma Work, Regression Therapy and NLP. She has worked with children presenting various behavioral issues including bed-wetting, stealing, lying , pooping inappropriately , sexual abuse and psychosomatic issues. She works systemically with adults- individuals, couples, families and children ranging from 3-81 years old. She also supervises trainees wishing to become play therapists or practitioners of therapeutic play. She also facilities workshops to support adults understand children and speak the language of the child.]]> 352 Sudha Kudva 9671452329 Narayana 5 4.43
author: Sudha Kudva
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.43
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2021/08/31
date added: 2021/08/31
shelves:
review:
What a simple and amazing book! It has taught me more about myself than any other book. I now have to read it again and take notes. Maybe those who have read other psychology books will find the contents simple, but for a newbie, this book gave so many new perspectives.
]]> 11987 212 Albert Camus Narayana 0 to-read 4.23 1942
author: Albert Camus
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1942
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/08/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 18423 The Left Hand of Darkness tells the story of a lone human emissary to Winter, an alien world whose inhabitants spend most of their time without a gender. His goal is to facilitate Winter's inclusion in a growing intergalactic civilization. But to do so he must bridge the gulf between his own views and those of the completely dissimilar culture that he encounters.

Embracing the aspects of psychology, society, and human emotion on an alien world, The Left Hand of Darkness stands as a landmark achievement in the annals of intellectual science fiction.]]> 304 Ursula K. Le Guin Narayana 4 sci-fi 4.11 1969
author: Ursula K. Le Guin
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1969
rating: 4
read at: 2021/07/22
date added: 2021/07/22
shelves: sci-fi
review:
For a book published in 1969, this must have been ground breaking, almost revolutionary. Reading in 2021, the book is still good, though the ideas are no longer new. The part where Ai and Estravan pass through the Ice was surprisingly refreshingand enjoyable. (I normally find such Tolkienish descriptions of mountains dreary). This is a good book for a sci-fi beginner too.. And read Mieville's and Le Guin's introductions after reading the book.. it will make more sense :)
]]> 5129 Brave New World is a searching vision of an unequal, technologically-advanced future where humans are genetically bred, socially indoctrinated, and pharmaceutically anesthetized to passively uphold an authoritarian ruling order–all at the cost of our freedom, full humanity, and perhaps also our souls. “A genius [who] who spent his life decrying the onward march of the Machine�� (The New Yorker), Huxley was a man of incomparable talents: equally an artist, a spiritual seeker, and one of history’s keenest observers of human nature and civilization. Brave New World, his masterpiece, has enthralled and terrified millions of readers, and retains its urgent relevance to this day as both a warning to be heeded as we head into tomorrow and as thought-provoking, satisfying work of literature. Written in the shadow of the rise of fascism during the 1930s, Brave New Worldd likewise speaks to a 21st-century world dominated by mass-entertainment, technology, medicine and pharmaceuticals, the arts of persuasion, and the hidden influence of elites.

"Aldous Huxley is the greatest 20th century writer in English." —Chicago Tribune]]> 268 Aldous Huxley 0060929871 Narayana 0 to-read 3.99 1932
author: Aldous Huxley
name: Narayana
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1932
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/07/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 41795733
Plenty of experts argue that anyone who wants to develop a skill, play an instrument, or lead their field should start early, focus intensely, and rack up as many hours of deliberate practice as possible. If you dabble or delay, you'll never catch up to the people who got a head start. But a closer look at research on the world's top performers, from professional athletes to Nobel laureates, shows that early specialization is the exception, not the rule.

David Epstein examined the world's most successful athletes, artists, musicians, inventors, forecasters and scientists. He discovered that in most fields--especially those that are complex and unpredictable--generalists, not specialists, are primed to excel. Generalists often find their path late, and they juggle many interests rather than focusing on one. They're also more creative, more agile, and able to make connections their more specialized peers can't see.

Provocative, rigorous, and engrossing, Range makes a compelling case for actively cultivating inefficiency. Failing a test is the best way to learn. Frequent quitters end up with the most fulfilling careers. The most impactful inventors cross domains rather than deepening their knowledge in a single area. As experts silo themselves further while computers master more of the skills once reserved for highly focused humans, people who think broadly and embrace diverse experiences and perspectives will increasingly thrive.]]> 339 David Epstein 0735214484 Narayana 5 4.12 2019
author: David Epstein
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2021/07/14
date added: 2021/07/14
shelves:
review:

]]> 10483171
In our search for truth, how far have we advanced? This uniquely human quest for good explanations has driven amazing improvements in everything from scientific understanding and technology to politics, moral values and human welfare. But will progress end, either in catastrophe or completion - or will it continue infinitely?

In this profound and seminal book, David Deutsch explores the furthest reaches of our current understanding, taking in the Infinity Hotel, supernovae and the nature of optimism, to instill in all of us a wonder at what we have achieved - and the fact that this is only the beginning of humanity's infinite possibility.

'This is Deutsch at his most ambitious, seeking to understand the implications of our scientific explanations of the world ... I enthusiastically recommend this rich, wide-ranging and elegantly written exposition of the unique insights of one of our most original intellectuals' Michael Berry, Times Higher Education Supplement

'Bold ... profound ... provocative and persuasive' Economist

'David Deutsch may well go down in history as one of the great scientists of our age' Scotsman]]> 487 David Deutsch 0670022756 Narayana 0 to-read 4.16 2011
author: David Deutsch
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/07/07
shelves: to-read
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]]> 55817621
Shukracharya's plan to break the unity of Vikramaditya’s Council has borne bitter fruit. Friends have become sworn enemies, and brother has turned against brother, setting Avanti on the path to self-destruction.

Even as Vikramaditya prepares to counter a Huna invasion, a rebellion brews within Ujjayini, while a devious conspiracy is hatched to humiliate him. With Indra’s spies swarming the palace and Shukracharya making a bold bid to take the Halahala, the king is dangerously close to the brink of defeat.

Alone and abandoned by those dear to him, fighting to protect his wife and his people, trying his best to keep his promise to Shiva, will the samrat rise one last time to defend his love, his city and his honour?

As the asura and deva forces muster in a final, desperate gamble to claim the Halahala, The Wrath of the Hellfires brings an explosive conclusion to Vikramaditya’s epic tale of action and adventure.]]> 556 Shatrujeet Nath 9389305675 Narayana 5 4.60
author: Shatrujeet Nath
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.60
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2021/02/28
date added: 2021/02/28
shelves:
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]]> 34511154 As the invader advances relentlessly and wins bloody battles in quick succession, as local rulers fall over each other to shake hands with the enemy and as the students of Takshashila University break into open revolt, one young man is faced with a terrifying choice, a choice that threatens to tear his carefully constructed world apart. for Aditya is the boy from Pataliputra, the boy who was once a reckless and carefree aristocrat, but who has now been forced to become a man with a purpose to fight for honour and love.
With a sweeping narrative and interesting everyday characters like the smelly old dhaba owner Tanku, Philotas the unlucky Greek soldier, the no-nonsense medical student Radha, Pandi the hard drinking mercenary and the lovely Devika, the Boy from Pataliputra is the mesmerizing story of a young man’s growth to maturity, but also, equally, a story about the rise of a nation.]]> 384 Rahul Mitra 8175994371 Narayana 4
PS- The book does not provide closure to all threads in the story, a epilogue about the different characters like Philotas and Partha would have been nice.]]> 3.73
author: Rahul Mitra
name: Narayana
average rating: 3.73
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2020/12/30
date added: 2020/12/31
shelves:
review:
A highly refreshing read, beautiful language. Waiting for more books from the author..

PS- The book does not provide closure to all threads in the story, a epilogue about the different characters like Philotas and Partha would have been nice.
]]> 19202596 396 Mahatma Gandhi 8122206638 Narayana 0 to-read 4.50
author: Mahatma Gandhi
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.50
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/12/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 25733573 Matt Haig’s accessible and life-affirming memoir of his struggle with depression, and how his triumph over the illness taught him to live.

Like nearly one in five people, Matt Haig suffers from depression. Reasons to Stay Alive is Matt’s inspiring account of how, minute by minute and day by day, he overcame the disease with the help of reading, writing, and the love of his parents and his girlfriend (and now-wife), Andrea. And eventually, he learned to appreciate life all the more for it.

Everyone’s lives are touched by mental illness: if we do not suffer from it ourselves, then we have a friend or loved one who does. Matt’s frankness about his experiences is both inspiring to those who feel daunted by depression and illuminating to those who are mystified by it. Above all, his humor and encouragement never let us lose sight of hope. Speaking as his present self to his former self in the depths of depression, Matt is adamant that the oldest cliché is the truest—there is light at the end of the tunnel. He teaches us to celebrate the small joys and moments of peace that life brings, and reminds us that there are always reasons to stay alive.]]> 256 Matt Haig 0143128728 Narayana 5 4.04 2015
author: Matt Haig
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2020/12/19
date added: 2020/12/19
shelves:
review:

]]> 23168817 512 Liu Cixin Narayana 0 2020-toread, to-read 4.39 2008
author: Liu Cixin
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/12/05
shelves: 2020-toread, to-read
review:

]]> 21531503 O, The Oprah Magazine's widely popular "What I Know For Sure" column, a monthly source of inspiration and revelation.

Now, for the first time, these thoughtful gems have been revised, updated, and collected in What I Know For Sure, a beautiful cloth bound book with a ribbon marker, packed with insight and revelation from Oprah Winfrey. Organized by theme—joy, resilience, connection, gratitude, possibility, awe, clarity, and power—these essays offer a rare, powerful and intimate glimpse into the heart and mind of one of the world's most extraordinary women—while providing readers a guide to becoming their best selves. Candid, moving, exhilarating, uplifting, and frequently humorous, the words Oprah shares in What I Know For Sure shimmer with the sort of truth that readers will turn to again and again.]]> 228 Oprah Winfrey 1250054052 Narayana 0 to-read 4.13 2014
author: Oprah Winfrey
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/12/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 11036870 344 Kalki 0333935519 Narayana 4 4.65 1954
author: Kalki
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.65
book published: 1954
rating: 4
read at: 2015/12/22
date added: 2020/11/22
shelves:
review:
One of the best historical fictions ever, the first one I've read on South Indian history.
]]> 51171377
It’s fall 2007. A well-timed leak has revealed that the US government might have engaged in first contact. Cora Sabino is doing everything she can to avoid the whole mess, since the force driving the controversy is her whistleblower father. Even though Cora hasn’t spoken to him in years, his celebrity has caught the attention of the press, the Internet, the paparazzi, and the government—and with him in hiding, that attention is on her. She neither knows nor cares whether her father’s leaks are a hoax, and wants nothing to do with him—until she learns just how deeply entrenched her family is in the cover-up, and that an extraterrestrial presence has been on Earth for decades.

Realizing the extent to which both she and the public have been lied to, she sets out to gather as much information as she can, and finds that the best way for her to uncover the truth is not as a whistleblower, but as an intermediary. The alien presence has been completely uncommunicative until she convinces one of them that she can act as their interpreter, becoming the first and only human vessel of communication. Their otherworldly connection will change everything she thought she knew about being human—and could unleash a force more sinister than she ever imagined.]]> 384 Lindsay Ellis 1250256739 Narayana 0 to-read 3.68 2020
author: Lindsay Ellis
name: Narayana
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/11/14
shelves: to-read
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]]> 48829708 move.

As war erupts among the stars, Kira is launched into a galaxy-spanning odyssey of discovery and transformation. First contact isn't at all what she imagined, and events push her to the very limits of what it means to be human.

While Kira faces her own horrors, Earth and its colonies stand upon the brink of annihilation. Now, Kira might be humanity's greatest and final hope...]]> 880 Christopher Paolini 1250762847 Narayana 0 to-read 3.77 2020
author: Christopher Paolini
name: Narayana
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/11/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 39679015 320 Brian Clegg 1844039498 Narayana 5 4.40
author: Brian Clegg
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.40
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2020/10/09
date added: 2020/10/09
shelves:
review:

]]> 18469148 History Of Cholas 448 Balakumaran Narayana 0 to-read 4.22 2000
author: Balakumaran
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2000
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/09/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 180 Wrinkles in Time is the story of Smoot's search to uncover the cosmic seeds of the universe.

Wrinkles in Time is the Double Helix of cosmology, an intimate look at the inner world of men and women who ask. "Why are we here?" It tells the story of George Smoot's dogged pursuit of the cosmic wrinkles in the frozen wastes of Antarctica, on mountaintops, in experiments borne aloft aboard high-altitude balloons, U-2 spy planes, and finally a space satellite. Wrinkles in Time presents the hard science behind the structured violence of the big bang theory through breathtakingly clear, lucid images and meaningful comparisons. Scientists and nonscientists alike can follow with rapt attention the story of how, in a fiery creation, wrinkles formed in space ultimately to become stars, galaxies, and even greater delicate structures. Anyone can appreciate the implications of a universe whose end is written in its beginnings - whose course developed according to a kind of cosmic DNA, which guided the universe from simplicity and symmetry to ever-greater complexity and structure. As controversial as it may seem today, Wrinkles in Time reveals truths that, in an earlier century, would have doomed its proclaimers to the fiery stake. For four thousand years some people have accepted the Genesis account of cosmic origin; for most of this century, scientists debated two rival scientific explanations known as the steady state and big bang theories. And now, Wrinkles in Time tells what really happened.

The personal story behind astrophysicist George Smoot's incredible discovery of the origin of the cosmos, hailed by Stephen Hawking as "The scientific discovery of the century, if not of all time."]]> 360 George Smoot 0380720442 Narayana 0 to-read 4.04 1993
author: George Smoot
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1993
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/08/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 40277241
Within these pages, he provides his personal views on our biggest challenges as a human race, and where we, as a planet, are heading next. Each section will be introduced by a leading thinker offering his or her own insight into Professor Hawking's contribution to our understanding.]]> 256 Stephen Hawking 1984819194 Narayana 0 to-read 4.28 2018
author: Stephen Hawking
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/06/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 31428792 402 Colin Beveridge Narayana 0 to-read 3.91
author: Colin Beveridge
name: Narayana
average rating: 3.91
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/06/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 35133887 537 Brian Clegg Narayana 0 to-read 4.14
author: Brian Clegg
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.14
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/06/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 33623338
3800 BC. The city of Meluhha is on the brink of a revolution and Iaf and his coterie of corrupt priests will do anything to maintain their power. Jaya is the only one who can read the Bloodstone, the heart of the Goddess Shakari, and divine the future. But with her daughter under Iaf’s control, will Jaya be able to prevent what is to come?

Inspired by the legends surrounding the lost Indus Valley city, The Curse of Mohenjodaro is a gripping thriller about a powerful relic, a sinister cult, and family secrets that haunt generations.

Maha Khan Phillips is a multiple award-winning financial journalist, and the author of Beautiful from This Angle and The Mystery of the Aagnee Ruby. She grew up in Karachi, Pakistan. She has a bachelors degree in Politics and International Relations and a masters in International Conflict Analysis from the University of Kent at Canterbury. In 2006, she completed a masters degree in Creative Writing from City University in London, where she currently lives with her husband and son.]]> 448 Maha Khan Phillips Narayana 4 3.56
author: Maha Khan Phillips
name: Narayana
average rating: 3.56
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2020/06/27
date added: 2020/06/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 18951633 488 Ashwin Sanghi Narayana 4 3.91 2012
author: Ashwin Sanghi
name: Narayana
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2020/06/05
date added: 2020/06/05
shelves:
review:

]]> 136251
In this final, seventh installment of the Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling unveils in spectacular fashion the answers to the many questions that have been so eagerly awaited.]]> 759 J.K. Rowling Narayana 5 favorites 4.61 2007
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.61
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 2020/05/11
date added: 2020/05/11
shelves: favorites
review:
6/5 on my 3rd read.. Until next time...
]]> 52036 152 Hermann Hesse Narayana 3 2020-toread 4.07 1922
author: Hermann Hesse
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1922
rating: 3
read at: 2020/04/25
date added: 2020/04/25
shelves: 2020-toread
review:

]]> 40526
Science fiction, mystery, a passionate love story, and a detailed history of Old New York blend together in Jack Finney's spellbinding story of a young man enlisted in a secret government experiment.

Transported from the mid-twentieth century to New York City in the year 1882, Si Morley walks the fashionable "Ladies' Mile" of Broadway, is enchanted by the jingling sleigh bells in Central Park, and solves a 20th-century mystery by discovering its 19th-century roots. Falling in love with a beautiful young woman, he ultimately finds himself forced to choose between his lives in the present and the past.

A story that will remain in the listener's memory, Time and Again is a remarkable blending of the troubled present and a nostalgic past, made vivid and extraordinarily moving by the images of a time that was ... and perhaps still is.]]> 400 Jack Finney 0575073608 Narayana 4 3.94 1970
author: Jack Finney
name: Narayana
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1970
rating: 4
read at: 2020/04/19
date added: 2020/04/19
shelves:
review:
A very fine book, though someone from New York would have appreciated it more.
]]> 8908
Ranging from the now infamous village of New Dachang in the United Federation of China, where the epidemiological trail began with the twelve-year-old Patient Zero, to the unnamed northern forests where untold numbers sought a terrible and temporary refuge in the cold, to the United States of Southern Africa, where the Redeker Plan provided hope for humanity at an unspeakable price, to the west-of-the-Rockies redoubt where the North American tide finally started to turn, this invaluable chronicle reflects the full scope and duration of the Zombie War.

Most of all, the book captures with haunting immediacy the human dimension of this epochal event. Facing the often raw and vivid nature of these personal accounts requires a degree of courage on the part of the reader, but the effort is invaluable because, as Mr. Brooks says in his introduction, "By excluding the human factor, aren't we risking the kind of personal detachment from history that may, heaven forbid, lead us one day to repeat it? And in the end, isn't the human factor the only true difference between us and the enemy we now refer to as 'the living dead'?"

Note: Some of the numerical and factual material contained in this edition was previously published under the auspices of the United Nations Postwar Commission.]]> 342 Max Brooks 0307346609 Narayana 0 to-read 4.02 2006
author: Max Brooks
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/03/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 51040221

Indra Soundar Rajan, one of the stalwarts of the Tamil pulp fiction scene, has been writing his unique brand of supernatural mystery thrillers for over 30 years. He's also known for his television screenplays, such as the long-running superhit serial Marmadesam (Land of Mystery). He lives in Madurai.]]> 0 Indra Soundar Rajan Narayana 0 to-read 3.81
author: Indra Soundar Rajan
name: Narayana
average rating: 3.81
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/02/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 40097951
Alicia’s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London.

Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations—a search for the truth that threatens to consume him....

The Silent Patient is a shocking psychological thriller of a woman’s act of violence against her husband—and of the therapist obsessed with uncovering her motive.]]> 336 Alex Michaelides 1250301696 Narayana 0 to-read 4.17 2019
author: Alex Michaelides
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/01/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 12634669 536 Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa 0143100130 Narayana 0 2020-toread 4.06 -400
author: Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.06
book published: -400
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/01/02
shelves: 2020-toread
review:

]]> 22822839 THE THRILLING ADVENTURES OF LOVELACE AND BABBAGE . . . in which Sydney Padua transforms one of the most compelling scientific collaborations into a hilarious series of adventures.

Meet Victorian London’s most dynamic duo: Charles Babbage, the unrealized inventor of the computer, and his accomplice, Ada, Countess of Lovelace, the peculiar protoprogrammer and daughter of Lord Byron. When Lovelace translated a description of Babbage’s plans for an enormous mechanical calculating machine in 1842, she added annotations three times longer than the original work. Her footnotes contained the first appearance of the general computing theory, a hundred years before an actual computer was built. Sadly, Lovelace died of cancer a decade after publishing the paper, and Babbage never built any of his machines.

But do not despair! The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage presents a rollicking alternate reality in which Lovelace and Babbage do build the Difference Engine and then use it to build runaway economic models, battle the scourge of spelling errors, explore the wilder realms of mathematics, and, of course, fight crime—for the sake of both London and science. Complete with extensive footnotes that rival those penned by Lovelace herself, historical curiosities, and never-before-seen diagrams of Babbage’s mechanical, steam-powered computer, The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage is wonderfully whimsical, utterly unusual, and, above all, entirely irresistible.

(With black-and-white illustrations throughout.)��]]> 317 Sydney Padua Narayana 0 to-read, comics, 2020-toread 4.02 2015
author: Sydney Padua
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/01/02
shelves: to-read, comics, 2020-toread
review:

]]> 8306857 In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue--Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is--she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are--and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

]]> 487 Veronica Roth 0062024027 Narayana 0 to-read, 2020-toread 4.28 2011
author: Veronica Roth
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/01/02
shelves: to-read, 2020-toread
review:

]]> 18143977
In a mining town in Germany, Werner Pfennig, an orphan, grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find that brings them news and stories from places they have never seen or imagined. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments and is enlisted to use his talent to track down the resistance. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, Doerr illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another.

From the highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning Anthony Doerr, the stunningly beautiful instant New York Times bestseller about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.

An alternate cover for this ISBN can be found here]]> 544 Anthony Doerr 1476746583 Narayana 0 to-read, 2020-toread 4.31 2014
author: Anthony Doerr
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/01/02
shelves: to-read, 2020-toread
review:

]]> 724666 224 Isaac Asimov 0345346041 Narayana 0 to-read, 2020-toread 4.17 1959
author: Isaac Asimov
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1959
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/01/02
shelves: to-read, 2020-toread
review:

]]> 3869
Told in language we all can understand, A Brief History of Time plunges into the exotic realms of black holes and quarks, of antimatter and “arrows of time,�� of the big bang and a bigger God—where the possibilities are wondrous and unexpected. With exciting images and profound imagination, Stephen Hawking brings us closer to the ultimate secrets at the very heart of creation.]]> 226 Stephen Hawking 0553380168 Narayana 0 to-read, 2020-toread 4.22 1988
author: Stephen Hawking
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1988
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/01/02
shelves: to-read, 2020-toread
review:

]]> 34066798 The mega-bestseller with more than 2 million readers—Now a Paramount+ with Showtime series starring Ewan McGregor as Count Alexander Rostov

From the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of The Lincoln Highway and Rules of Civility, a beautifully transporting novel about a man who is ordered to spend the rest of his life inside a luxury hotel

In 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, and is sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin. Rostov, an indomitable man of erudition and wit, has never worked a day in his life, and must now live in an attic room while some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history are unfolding outside the hotel’s doors. Unexpectedly, his reduced circumstances provide him entry into a much larger world of emotional discovery.

Brimming with humor, a glittering cast of characters, and one beautifully rendered scene after another, this singular novel casts a spell as it relates the count’s endeavor to gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be a man of purpose.]]> 462 Amor Towles Narayana 0 to-read, 2020-toread 4.28 2016
author: Amor Towles
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/01/02
shelves: to-read, 2020-toread
review:

]]> 38212 145 Chris Prentiss 0943015537 Narayana 0 to-read 4.05 2006
author: Chris Prentiss
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/01/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 10353369
In this pioneering, practical book, Daniel J. Siegel, neuropsychiatrist and author of the bestselling Mindsight, and parenting expert Tina Payne Bryson demystify the meltdowns and aggravation, explaining the new science of how a child’s brain is wired and how it matures. The “upstairs brain,�� which makes decisions and balances emotions, is under construction until the mid-twenties. And especially in young children, the right brain and its emotions tend to rule over the logic of the left brain. No wonder kids can seem—and feel—so out of control. By applying these discoveries to everyday parenting, you can turn any outburst, argument, or fear into a chance to integrate your child’s brain and foster vital growth. Raise calmer, happier children using twelve key strategies, including
��
�� Name It to Tame It: Corral raging right-brain behavior through left-brain storytelling, appealing to the left brain’s affinity for words and reasoning to calm emotional storms and bodily tension.
�� Engage, Don’t Enrage: Keep your child thinking and listening, instead of purely reacting.
�� Move It or Lose It: Use physical activities to shift your child’s emotional state.
�� Let the Clouds of Emotion Roll By: Guide your children when they are stuck on a negative emotion, and help them understand that feelings come and go.
�� SIFT: Help children pay attention to the Sensations, Images, Feelings, and Thoughts within them so that they can make better decisions and be more flexible.
�� Connect Through Conflict: Use discord to encourage empathy and greater social success.
��
Complete with clear explanations, age-appropriate strategies for dealing with day-to-day struggles, and illustrations that will help you explain these concepts to your child, The Whole-Brain Child shows you how to cultivate healthy emotional and intellectual development so that your children can lead balanced, meaningful, and connected lives.]]> 192 Daniel J. Siegel 0553807919 Narayana 0 to-read 4.25 2011
author: Daniel J. Siegel
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/01/02
shelves: to-read
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]]> 769016 Recently revised and updated with fresh insights and suggestions, How to Talk so Kids Will Listen & Listen so Kids Will Talk is full of practical, innovative ways to solve common problems and build foundations for lasting relationships.]]> 286 Adele Faber 0380811960 Narayana 0 to-read 4.26 1980
author: Adele Faber
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1980
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/01/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 23346740 Homo sapiens.

How did our species succeed in the battle for dominance? Why did our foraging ancestors come together to create cities and kingdoms? How did we come to believe in gods, nations and human rights; to trust money, books and laws; and to be enslaved by bureaucracy, timetables and consumerism? And what will our world be like in the millennia to come?

In Sapiens, Dr Yuval Noah Harari spans the whole of human history, from the very first humans to walk the earth to the radical �� and sometimes devastating �� breakthroughs of the Cognitive, Agricultural and Scientific Revolutions. Drawing on insights from biology, anthropology, palaeontology and economics, he explores how the currents of history have shaped our human societies, the animals and plants around us, and even our personalities. Have we become happier as history has unfolded? Can we ever free our behaviour from the heritage of our ancestors? And what, if anything, can we do to influence the course of the centuries to come?

Bold, wide-ranging and provocative, Sapiens challenges everything we thought we knew about being human: our thoughts, our actions, our power ... and our future.]]> 498 John Purcell Narayana 5 4.42 2011
author: John Purcell
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at: 2019/12/31
date added: 2019/12/31
shelves:
review:
Unlearn all that you have assumed and believed, and look at the world with news eyes. As you read, sometimes you laugh out loud, sometimes you are scared, angry, or sick... an explosive book for the open minded and the brave hearted. This book can change your outlook of life.
]]> 8855321
Jim Holden is XO of an ice miner making runs from the rings of Saturn to the mining stations of the Belt. When he and his crew stumble upon a derelict ship, the Scopuli, they find themselves in possession of a secret they never wanted. A secret that someone is willing to kill for—and kill on a scale unfathomable to Jim and his crew. War is brewing in the system unless he can find out who left the ship and why.

Detective Miller is looking for a girl. One girl in a system of billions, but her parents have money and money talks. When the trail leads him to the Scopuli and rebel sympathizer Holden, he realizes that this girl may be the key to everything.

Holden and Miller must thread the needle between the Earth government, the Outer Planet revolutionaries, and secretive corporations—and the odds are against them. But out in the Belt, the rules are different, and one small ship can change the fate of the universe.]]> 592 James S.A. Corey 1841499889 Narayana 0 to-read 4.30 2011
author: James S.A. Corey
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/12/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 11644253 274 Kalki 0333933087 Narayana 5 4.58 1954
author: Kalki
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.58
book published: 1954
rating: 5
read at: 2015/12/12
date added: 2019/12/22
shelves:
review:

]]> 25988220
Who will wear the crown?

"...Now, the number of days can be counted on one's fingers. News has come that Aditha Karikalan has left Kanchi, in spite of Malayaman's efforts to prevent him leaving."

"How sure can we be that nobody will stop him on the way?"

"Once he takes a step forward Aditha Karikalan never turns back. He won't listen now to anybody who tries to stop him."

"What if his sister's message reaches him?"

"How can it? We tied up the youngster who brought it and left him in the forest."

"Very funny , I saw him this morning on the north bank of the Kollidam. Our other enemy was also with him ."

"Who?"

"That Vaishnavite impostor."]]> 284 Kalki 9351382230 Narayana 5 4.33 1954
author: Kalki
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.33
book published: 1954
rating: 5
read at: 2015/07/29
date added: 2019/12/22
shelves:
review:
It is all coming together in this book. Fast moving, can't wait for the last part
]]> 11036911 314 Kalki 033393301X Narayana 4 4.55 1950
author: Kalki
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.55
book published: 1950
rating: 4
read at: 2015/08/01
date added: 2019/12/22
shelves:
review:

]]> 25863819
Who will wear the crown?

"Appa! Suppose we discover that one of these factions is disloyal to you, is plotting against you."

"What are you saying, my daughter? A conspiracy against me! Who are the conspirators?"

"Appa! People who pretend to be your loyal servants are secretly plotting against you. They want to deny your sons the kingdom and crown somebody else instead."

"Who? Whom are they trying to crown, instead of your brothers?"

"My uncle, Maduranthakar, Appa. This is what they've been plotting, while you've been confined to bed."]]> 331 Kalki 9351382222 Narayana 5 4.44 1954
author: Kalki
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.44
book published: 1954
rating: 5
read at: 2015/07/14
date added: 2019/12/22
shelves:
review:

]]> 25863765
Who will wear the crown?

“Which of the two should rightfully ascend the throne? What is the law of the clan? What is right, what is wrong, according to the Law of Manu? What is the ancient Tamil practice? Should Maduranthakar, the son of the older brother, or Adithar, the grandson of the younger, be crowned? Each one of you should say what he thinks.��

Kalki’s majestic historical romance �� a masterfully woven epic of fact and conjecture set against the backdrop of 10th century peninsular India under the Chozha kings.

The setting is brought to life with unforgettable descriptions of the corruptions of high office, its acceptance or rejection, the political ambitions and personal motives of the rulers, and their impact on the ruled.]]> 313 Kalki 9383828684 Narayana 5 4.42 1954
author: Kalki
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.42
book published: 1954
rating: 5
read at: 2015/07/06
date added: 2019/12/22
shelves:
review:

]]> 6702418 Transported from the mid-twentieth century to New York City in the year 1882, Si Morley walks the fashionable "Ladies' Mile" of Broadway, is enchanted by the jingling sleigh bells in Central Park, and solves a 20th-century mystery by discovering its 19th-century roots. Falling in love with a beautiful young woman, he ultimately finds himself forced to choose between his lives in the present and the past.
A story that will remain in the listener's memory, "Time and Again" is a remarkable blending of the troubled present and a nostalgic past, made vivid and extraordinarily moving by the images of a time that was...and perhaps still is.]]> 399 Jack Finney 0684801051 Narayana 0 to-read 3.92 1970
author: Jack Finney
name: Narayana
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1970
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/12/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 8762337

Leo Tolstoy was born in the year 1828 and died in the year 1910, at the age of 82. A writer from Russia, he mainly wrote short stories and novels. He also wrote essays and plays later in life. His most popular novels are Anna Karenina and War and Peace, and these are regarded as some of the best novels in the field of literature. He is often honored as one of the best novelists of all time. His book on the non-violent form of resistance, The Kingdom of God is Within You, inspired great reformers like Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi. He is also well known for his criticism of William Shakespeare. (From Flipkart.com)]]> 384 Leo Tolstoy 8184950314 Narayana 3 4.17 2008
author: Leo Tolstoy
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at: 2019/12/08
date added: 2019/12/08
shelves:
review:
A decent collection of short stories, easy read.
]]> 28264135 1137 Manu S. Pillai 9351776433 Narayana 4 history 4.27 2016
author: Manu S. Pillai
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2019/11/09
date added: 2019/11/09
shelves: history
review:

]]> 17184 192 H.G. Wells 0451528522 Narayana 3 3.63 1897
author: H.G. Wells
name: Narayana
average rating: 3.63
book published: 1897
rating: 3
read at: 2019/10/21
date added: 2019/10/21
shelves:
review:

]]> 716925 Through step-by-step instructions and helpful schematic diagrams, The Baby Owner s Manual explores the common concerns of every first-time What s the best way to swaddle a baby? How can I make my newborn sleep through the night? When should I bring the baby to a doctor for servicing? Whatever your question, you ll find the answer here courtesy of celebrated pediatrician Dr. Louis Borgenicht and his son, Joe Borgenicht. Together, they provide plenty of useful advice for anyone who wants to learn the basics of childcare.]]> 228 Louis Borgenicht 1931686238 Narayana 5 3.78 2003
author: Louis Borgenicht
name: Narayana
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2003
rating: 5
read at: 2019/10/20
date added: 2019/10/20
shelves:
review:

]]> 38820046 In Sapiens, he explored our past. In Homo Deus, he looked to our future. Now, one of the most innovative thinkers on the planet turns to the present to make sense of today's most pressing issues.

How do computers and robots change the meaning of being human? How do we deal with the epidemic of fake news? Are nations and religions still relevant? What should we teach our children?

Yuval Noah Harari's 21 Lessons for the 21st Century is a probing and visionary investigation into today's most urgent issues as we move into the uncharted territory of the future. As technology advances faster than our understanding of it, hacking becomes a tactic of war, and the world feels more polarized than ever, Harari addresses the challenge of navigating life in the face of constant and disorienting change and raises the important questions we need to ask ourselves in order to survive.

In twenty-one accessible chapters that are both provocative and profound, Harari builds on the ideas explored in his previous books, untangling political, technological, social, and existential issues and offering advice on how to prepare for a very different future from the world we now live in: How can we retain freedom of choice when Big Data is watching us? What will the future workforce look like, and how should we ready ourselves for it? How should we deal with the threat of terrorism? Why is liberal democracy in crisis?

Harari's unique ability to make sense of where we have come from and where we are going has captured the imaginations of millions of readers. Here he invites us to consider values, meaning, and personal engagement in a world full of noise and uncertainty. When we are deluged with irrelevant information, clarity is power. Presenting complex contemporary challenges clearly and accessibly, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century is essential reading.]]> 372 Yuval Noah Harari 0525512179 Narayana 0 to-read 4.16 2018
author: Yuval Noah Harari
name: Narayana
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/10/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 17185 The violence... the rampages...the killing.
An obscure scientist named Griffin had found a way to turn skin, flesh, blood, and bones invisible - and tried the formula on himself. He could go anywhere; spy; steal; menace anyone. The Invisible Man had only two problems.
He couldn't turn visible again.
And he had gone quite murderously insane.]]> 178 H.G. Wells 0812504674 Narayana 0 3.45 1897
author: H.G. Wells
name: Narayana
average rating: 3.45
book published: 1897
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/10/18
shelves:
review:

]]> 7624 182 William Golding 0140283331 Narayana 2 what-a-waste-of-time 3.70 1954
author: William Golding
name: Narayana
average rating: 3.70
book published: 1954
rating: 2
read at: 2019/10/12
date added: 2019/10/12
shelves: what-a-waste-of-time
review:

]]> 33080122
Elma York’s experience as a WASP pilot and mathematician earns her a place in the International Aerospace Coalition’s attempts to put man on the moon, as a calculator. But with so many skilled and experienced women pilots and scientists involved with the program, it doesn’t take long before Elma begins to wonder why they can’t go into space, too.

Elma’s drive to become the first Lady Astronaut is so strong that even the most dearly held conventions of society may not stand a chance against her.]]> 431 Mary Robinette Kowal Narayana 0 to-read 3.91 2018
author: Mary Robinette Kowal
name: Narayana
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/10/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]>