Dharmabum's bookshelf: all en-US Sat, 05 Apr 2025 23:55:33 -0700 60 Dharmabum's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption]]> 8664353
The lieutenant’s name was Louis Zamperini. In boyhood, he'd been a cunning and incorrigible delinquent, breaking into houses, brawling, and fleeing his home to ride the rails. As a teenager, he had channeled his defiance into running, discovering a prodigious talent that had carried him to the Berlin Olympics and within sight of the four-minute mile. But when war had come, the athlete had become an airman, embarking on a journey that led to his doomed flight, a tiny raft, and a drift into the unknown.

Ahead of Zamperini lay thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, a foundering raft, thirst and starvation, enemy aircraft, and, beyond, a trial even greater. Driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor; brutality with rebellion. His fate, whether triumph or tragedy, would be suspended on the fraying wire of his will.]]> 475 Laura Hillenbrand 1400064163 Dharmabum 0 to-read 4.38 2010 Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption
author: Laura Hillenbrand
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2010
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: to-read
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]]> Vaadivaasal: Arena 21414510 Captures the tremors of a life-and-death battle between man and animal

N. Kalyan Raman is widely recognized as one of the best Tamil-English translators

Vaadivaasal, a novella published in 1949, is considered as a modern literary classic in Tamil. It describes the events of an afternoon in Periyapatti, a village in southern Tamil Nadu, where a jallikattu-contest involving the traditional sport of bull taming-is under way. The novella opens with the arrival of bulls in the village from near and far, excitement and anticipation from the crowd of onlookers, and tales of past heroics being exchanged among the villagers. Through the afternoon, Picchi, a young man from distant Usilanoor, displays his prowess at bull-taming, triumphing against several bulls. The highlight of the day is his encounter with the Kari bull, prize animal fielded by the Periyapatti zameendar, which he defeats in a show of great ingenuity and courage. After being driven mad by the frenzy of defeat, the animal is shot dead by its owner as a means of salvaging the zameendar's pride. It is revealed gradually in the course of the novella that the Kari bull had killed Picchi's father, a legendary bull-tamer, in a jallikattu held many years ago and that Picchi has come to Periyapatti with the express intention of avenging his father's death through a contest where he will be risking his own life.

The contest in a jallikattu is always between the bull tamer and a man of power, who is represented by the bull. Vaadivaasal is a masterful account not only of a traditional sport and the people who engaged in it, but also of the relations of power and how they played out in a bygone era. As a work that captures the tremors of a life-and-death battle between man and animal, it is an outstanding achievement in the annals of Tamil prose fiction.
Readership: General readers and students and scholars of Indian writing in translation, comparative literature, translation studies, and gender and cultural studies]]> 120 C.S. Chellappa Dharmabum 0 to-read 4.18 1959 Vaadivaasal: Arena
author: C.S. Chellappa
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1959
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/03
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Today We Die a Little!: The Inimitable Emil Zátopek, the Greatest Olympic Runner of All Time]]> 27409861
For a decade after the Second World War, Emil Zápek -- "the Czech locomotive" -- redefined the sport of distance running, pushing back the frontiers of what was considered possible. He won five Olympic medals, set eighteen world records, and went undefeated in the 10,000-metre race for six years. His dominance has never been equaled.

In the darkest days of the Cold War, he stood for a spirit of generous friendship that transcended nationality and politics. Zápek was an energetic supporter of the Prague Spring in 1968, championing "socialism with a human face" in Czechoslovakia. But for this he paid a high price. After the uprising was crushed by Soviet tanks, the hardline Communists had their revenge. Zápek was expelled from the army, stripped of his role in national sport, and condemned to years of hard and degrading manual labor.

Based on extensive research in the Czech Republic, interviews with people across the world who knew him, and unprecedented cooperation from his widow, fellow Olympian Dana Zápkovájournalist Richard Askwith's book breathes new life into the man and the myth, uncovering a glorious age of athletics and an epoch-defining time in world history.]]> 496 Richard Askwith 1568585497 Dharmabum 0 to-read 4.25 Today We Die a Little!: The Inimitable Emil Zátopek, the Greatest Olympic Runner of All Time
author: Richard Askwith
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.25
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Golden Gate 149622
A ROLLING FORT KNOX

is how the journalists describe the Presidential motorcade as it enters San Francisco across the Golden Gate. Even the ever-watchful FBI believe it is impregnable—as it has to be with the President and two Arab potentates aboard.

But halfway across the bridge the unthinkable happens. Before the eyes of the world a master criminal pulls off the most spectacular kidnapping in modern times…]]> 368 Alistair MacLean 0006144942 Dharmabum 5 3.70 1986 The Golden Gate
author: Alistair MacLean
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 3.70
book published: 1986
rating: 5
read at: 2019/10/07
date added: 2025/02/13
shelves:
review:
The President of the USA and two Arab potentates are kidnapped by a suave criminal mastermind, and they're held hostage by a crew bang in the middle of the Golden Gate bridge. He's got all angles covered, and ensures the whole world is watching the proceedings live. With very little to maneuver is pitted against him the equally devious FBI Agent in the guise of a journalist. The frenzy of action, as is imaginable, in an absolutely incredulous yet thrilling situation like this, in the next 24 hours or so is the rest of this book. Unputdownable and slick stuff, this. My second and I couldn't have been more excited.
]]> <![CDATA[The Case of the Long-Legged Models (Perry Mason, #56)]]> 1990334 184 Erle Stanley Gardner 0671755560 Dharmabum 0 currently-reading 3.78 1958 The Case of the Long-Legged Models (Perry Mason, #56)
author: Erle Stanley Gardner
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 3.78
book published: 1958
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/20
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> <![CDATA[The Case of the Drowsy Mosquito (Perry Mason, #23)]]> 1836227 222 Erle Stanley Gardner 0884114252 Dharmabum 3 3.71 1943 The Case of the Drowsy Mosquito (Perry Mason, #23)
author: Erle Stanley Gardner
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 3.71
book published: 1943
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/20
date added: 2025/01/20
shelves:
review:
A little more complicated than his cases are. This one involves company shares and what not, a subject that I understand very little of.
]]> <![CDATA[The Case of the One-Eyed Witness (Perry Mason, #36)]]> 627325
The only clues: a newspaper clipping about a blackmail case, and the combination to a safe scrawled on a paper. The case: a tangled web indeed, strung between an eccentric widower with something to hide, a sexy cigarette girl with plenty to cry about, a real estate broker with his own home on the selling block, a wife, a lover, and too many loose ends. The common denominator: murder, of course.]]> 240 Erle Stanley Gardner 0345392256 Dharmabum 3 Not like his other books. 3.84 1950 The Case of the One-Eyed Witness (Perry Mason, #36)
author: Erle Stanley Gardner
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 3.84
book published: 1950
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/13
date added: 2025/01/13
shelves:
review:
Not like his other books.
]]> <![CDATA[The Case of the Fenced-in Woman (Perry Mason, #81)]]> 1439559 224 Erle Stanley Gardner 034539223X Dharmabum 3 3.77 1972 The Case of the Fenced-in Woman (Perry Mason, #81)
author: Erle Stanley Gardner
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 3.77
book published: 1972
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/24
date added: 2024/12/24
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]]> <![CDATA[Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI]]> 198678736 **A New York Times Bestseller**

'Co-Intelligence is the very best book I know about the ins, outs, and ethics of generative AI. Drop everything and read it cover to cover NOW' Angela Duckworth

Consumer AI has arrived. And with it, inescapable upheaval as we grapple with what it means for our jobs, lives and the future of humanity.

Cutting through the noise of AI evangelists and AI doom-mongers, Wharton professor Ethan Mollick has become one of the most prominent and provocative explainers of AI, focusing on the practical aspects of how these new tools for thought can transform our world. In Co-Intelligence, he urges us to engage with AI as co-worker, co-teacher and coach. Wide ranging, hugely thought-provoking and optimistic, Co-Intelligence reveals the promise and power of this new era.]]> 243 Ethan Mollick 075356078X Dharmabum 0 to-read 3.98 2024 Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI
author: Ethan Mollick
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/23
shelves: to-read
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]]> Requiem for a Wren 664947
Sidelined by a wartime injury, fighter pilot Alan Duncan reluctantly returns to his parents� remote sheep station in Australia to take the place of his brother Bill, who died a hero in the war. But his homecoming is marred by the suicide of his parents� parlormaid, of whom they were very fond. Alan soon realizes that the dead young woman is not the person she pretended to be. Upon discovering that she had served in the Royal Navy and participated along with his brother in the secret build-up to the Normandy invasion, Alan sets out to piece together the tragic events and the lonely burden of guilt that unravelled one woman’s life. In the process of finding the answer to the mystery, he realizes how much he had in common with this woman he never knew and how “a war can go on killing people long after it’s all over.”]]> 296 Nevil Shute 1842322869 Dharmabum 3 4.00 1955 Requiem for a Wren
author: Nevil Shute
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1955
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/12
date added: 2024/12/12
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]]> The Rainbow and the Rose 107307 312 Nevil Shute 1842322834 Dharmabum 5 3.84 1958 The Rainbow and the Rose
author: Nevil Shute
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 3.84
book published: 1958
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/10
date added: 2024/12/10
shelves:
review:

]]> Integral Healing 1370578 264 Sri Aurobindo 8170587743 Dharmabum 0 to-read 4.41 2005 Integral Healing
author: Sri Aurobindo
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/28
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[[Finding Ultra, Revised and Updated Edition: Rejecting Middle Age, Becoming One of the World's Fittest Men, and Discovering Myself] [By: Roll, Rich] [May, 2013]]]> 136196166 0 Rich Roll Dharmabum 0 to-read 4.28 [Finding Ultra, Revised and Updated Edition: Rejecting Middle Age, Becoming One of the World's Fittest Men, and Discovering Myself] [By: Roll, Rich] [May, 2013]
author: Rich Roll
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.28
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/26
shelves: to-read
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]]> A Manual of Self Unfoldment 170572716 191 Chinmayananda Dharmabum 4 vedanta 4.00 1993 A Manual of Self Unfoldment
author: Chinmayananda
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1993
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/03
date added: 2024/11/03
shelves: vedanta
review:
This was not the first time I read the book, and was going back to the the perhaps a decade. As Swamiji calls it, it's quite literally a manual. And a simple one at that for the beginner in his / her Vedantic quest. For anyone interested in being introduced to the Vedantic ideal and way of life, I would recommend this book as a great place to start.
]]> The Clicking of Cuthbert 2702752 Product No Defects. 224 P.G. Wodehouse 0140017720 Dharmabum 0 to-read 3.87 1922 The Clicking of Cuthbert
author: P.G. Wodehouse
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1922
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/03
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor]]> 105189 106 Gabriel García Márquez Dharmabum 0 to-read 3.85 1955 The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor
author: Gabriel García Márquez
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1955
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Illustrated History of South India - From Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar]]> 7744217 The Illustrated History of South India , an adapted and illustrated version of the original book, aims to sensitize young readers to the country's historic past and rich cultural heritage, and the need to preserve it. Key chapters discuss the coming of the Aryans, the Mauryan Empire, the rise of Vijayanagar, social and economic conditions, literature, religion and philosophy, and the art and architecture of South India. The volume includes an Introduction by renowned historian R. Champakalakshmi, written especially for this edition, and a Prologue by eminent historian P.M. Rajan Gurukkal. Interspersed with photographs and line drawings, including maps and genealogical charts, this illustrated edition will be invaluable for students and teachers of history, in particular, history of South India, as well as general readers. India, which over the years has achieved a near-classic status, this illustrated edition provides a comprehensive account of the history of South India from the
prehistoric times to the fall of the kingdom of Vijayanagar in 1565 AD. This volume includes a new Introduction by renowned historian R. Champakalakshmi, and a Prologue by eminent historian P.M. Rajan Gurukkal.]]> 357 K.A. Nilakanta Sastri 0198063563 Dharmabum 0 to-read 4.00 The Illustrated History of South India - From Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar
author: K.A. Nilakanta Sastri
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/06/15
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life]]> 44595007
What would be possible if you followed through on your best intentions? What could you accomplish if you could stay focused and overcome distractions? What if you had the power to become "indistractable"?

International best-selling author, former Stanford lecturer, and behavioral design expert, Nir Eyal, wrote Silicon Valley's handbook for making technology habit-forming. Five years after publishing Hooked, Eyal reveals distraction's Achilles' heel in his groundbreaking new book.

In Indistractable, Eyal reveals the hidden psychology driving us to distraction. He describes why solving the problem is not as simple as swearing off our devices: Abstinence is impractical and often makes us want more.

Eyal lays bare the secret of finally doing what you say you will do with a four-step, research-backed model. Indistractable reveals the key to getting the best out of technology, without letting it get the best of us.

Inside, Eyal overturns conventional wisdom and reveals:


Why distraction at work is a symptom of a dysfunctional company culture - and how to fix it
What really drives human behavior and why "time management is pain management"
Why your relationships (and your sex life) depend on you becoming indistractable
How to raise indistractable children in an increasingly distracting world
Empowering and optimistic, Indistractable provides practical, novel techniques to control your time and attention - helping you live the life you really want.]]> 290 Nir Eyal 194883653X Dharmabum 4 3.71 2019 Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life
author: Nir Eyal
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/17
date added: 2024/05/17
shelves:
review:
Simple yet profound ideas on the root causes of distraction and how to stay focused.
]]> A Mathematician's Apology 37966799
One of the main themes of the book is the beauty that mathematics possesses, which Hardy compares to painting and poetry. For Hardy, the most beautiful mathematics was that which had no practical applications in the outside world (pure mathematics) and, particularly, his own special field of number theory.]]> 102 G.H. Hardy 1684221854 Dharmabum 0 currently-reading 3.90 1940 A Mathematician's Apology
author: G.H. Hardy
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1940
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/03
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> A Town Like Alice 107301
Jean Paget, a young Englishwoman living in Malaya, is captured by the invading Japanese and forced on a brutal seven-month death march with dozens of other women and children. A few years after the war, Jean is back in England, the nightmare behind her. However, an unexpected inheritance inspires her to return to Malaya to give something back to the villagers who saved her life. Jean's travels leads her to a desolate Australian outpost called Willstown, where she finds a challenge that will draw on all the resourcefulness and spirit that carried her through her war-time ordeals.]]> 359 Nevil Shute 1842323008 Dharmabum 5 fiction 4.13 1950 A Town Like Alice
author: Nevil Shute
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1950
rating: 5
read at: 2024/03/18
date added: 2024/03/18
shelves: fiction
review:
The story of an incredible woman and her journey through war torn Malaya, and later, her odyssey with the people of a small town in outback Australia. Jean Paget makes you fall in love with her.
]]> Cell 10567 Where were you on October 1st at 3:03 pm?

Graphic artist Clay Riddell was in the heart of Boston on that brilliant autumn afternoon when hell was unleashed before his eyes. Without warning, carnage and chaos reigned. Ordinary people fell victim to the basest, most animalistic destruction.

And the apocalypse began with the ring of a cell phone...]]> 449 Stephen King 1416524517 Dharmabum 3 fiction 3.67 2006 Cell
author: Stephen King
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at: 2024/03/11
date added: 2024/03/11
shelves: fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Outsider: My Life in Intrigue]]> 24875398

For more than forty years, Frederick Forsyth has been writing extraordinary real-world novels of intrigue, from the groundbreaking The Day of the Jackal to the prescient The Kill List . Whether writing about the murky world of arms dealers, the shadowy Nazi underground movement, or the intricacies of worldwide drug cartels, every plot has been chillingly plausible because every detail has been minutely researched.

But what most people don’t know is that some of his greatest stories of intrigue have been in his own life.

He was the RAF’s youngest pilot at the age of nineteen, barely escaped the wrath of an arms dealer in Hamburg, got strafed by a MiG during the Nigerian civil war, landed during a bloody coup in Guinea-Bissau (and was accused of helping fund a 1973 coup in Equatorial Guinea). The Stasi arrested him, the Israelis feted him, the IRA threatened him, and a certain attractive Czech secret police agent—well, her actions were a bit more intimate. And that’s just for starters.
It is a memoir like no other—and a book of pure delight.]]> 352 Frederick Forsyth 0399176071 Dharmabum 5 The very first line goes, "I recall the day I almost started the Third World War." While each anecdote is not more than half a dozen pages in length, it is narrated in a matter of fact way and filled with humorous instances that make the reader smile.
The writing is easy, and result is almost like one of the many stories the author has written. Without going too much into the deeper aspects, except perhaps his political dilemmas in Africa, this book had me happily engrossed in the tales of bravado.]]> 4.03 2015 The Outsider: My Life in Intrigue
author: Frederick Forsyth
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2024/02/12
date added: 2024/02/12
shelves:
review:
Envy isn't an emotion I feel too often. I felt enough and more of it, as I read through this book. If there was an adventurous life filled with wars, near-death experiences, flights of fancy (quite literally) and what not else, then here it is.
The very first line goes, "I recall the day I almost started the Third World War." While each anecdote is not more than half a dozen pages in length, it is narrated in a matter of fact way and filled with humorous instances that make the reader smile.
The writing is easy, and result is almost like one of the many stories the author has written. Without going too much into the deeper aspects, except perhaps his political dilemmas in Africa, this book had me happily engrossed in the tales of bravado.
]]> <![CDATA[The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment]]> 6708 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781577314806.

To make the journey into the Now we will need to leave our analytical mind and its false created self, the ego, behind. From the very first page of Eckhart Tolle's extraordinary book, we move rapidly into a significantly higher altitude where we breathe a lighter air. We become connected to the indestructible essence of our Being, “The eternal, ever present One Life beyond the myriad forms of life that are subject to birth and death.� Although the journey is challenging, Eckhart Tolle uses simple language and an easy question-and-answer format to guide us.

A word-of-mouth phenomenon since its first publication, The Power of Now is one of those rare books with the power to create an experience in readers, one that can radically change their lives for the better.]]> 229 Eckhart Tolle Dharmabum 2 4.16 1997 The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment
author: Eckhart Tolle
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1997
rating: 2
read at: 2023/11/02
date added: 2024/02/02
shelves:
review:
The ideas seemed quite repetitive and after getting to about the first third of the book, I just skimemd through the rest of the pages.
]]> When Eight Bells Toll 75047069 384 Alistair MacLean Dharmabum 5 fiction 5.00 1966 When Eight Bells Toll
author: Alistair MacLean
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 5.00
book published: 1966
rating: 5
read at: 2023/08/17
date added: 2023/09/17
shelves: fiction
review:
I wanted a break from the serious reading. And this was a one day read, I think. As always, unputdownable stuff :)
]]> Sri Ramana Leela 11739512 317 Krishna Bhikshu 8182880009 Dharmabum 5 4.79 1936 Sri Ramana Leela
author: Krishna Bhikshu
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.79
book published: 1936
rating: 5
read at: 2020/10/31
date added: 2023/08/29
shelves:
review:
This book traces the life of Bhagawan Sri Ramana Maharishi from his birth to samadhi. It is written in a lucid style with focus on events surrounding his life without exaggeration. The anecdotes sprinkled all through the book are remarkable in that they throw light on the greatness of this saint. It is a must read for anyone interested in Vedanta and on saints in India in general.
]]> Specters of Marx 80473 258 Jacques Derrida 0415389577 Dharmabum 0 to-read 3.97 1993 Specters of Marx
author: Jacques Derrida
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1993
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World]]> 6968772
McGilchrist draws on a vast body of recent research in neuroscience and psychology to reveal that the difference is profound: the left hemisphere is detail oriented, while the right has greater breadth, flexibility, and generosity. McGilchrist then takes the reader on a journey through the history of Western culture, illustrating the tension between these two worlds as revealed in the thought and belief of thinkers and artists from Aeschylus to Magritte.


Emisfero destro ed emisfero sinistro: una delle poche cose che tutti sanno è che il nostro cervello è anatomicamente diviso in due metà. Già gli antichi greci speculavano sulla possibile esistenza di un cervello bipartito, ma oggi siamo ormai al luogo comune, che tutti hanno sentito o letto da qualche parte, secondo il quale l'emisfero destro, quello "femminile", sarebbe adibito alla creatività e alla sensibilità, mentre quello sinistro, più "maschile", sarebbe predisposto alla logica e alla praticità: due modi inconciliabili di vedere il mondo. Ma qual è la vera natura di questa dicotomia? Quanto c'è di scientifico e quanto di impreciso o fuorviante? Lo psichiatra, neuroscienziato e studioso di letteratura Iain McGilchrist ha dedicato una vita di studi a questo problema, ricavandone una tesi tanto affascinante e profonda quanto rigorosa e solida, basata su un approccio interdisciplinare che spazia da Platone a Freud, da Shakespeare a Roger Sperry, neuroscienziato vincitore del Nobel per le sue ricerche sulla specializzazione emisferica. Secondo McGilchrist, ciascun emisfero decifra la medesima realtà in un modo coerente, ma incompatibile con quello dell'altro: l'emisfero destro fa esperienza del mondo nella sua interezza e complessità tralasciando i dettagli, mentre l'emisfero sinistro è analitico ma per forza di cose frammentario. Quale delle due modalità guida il nostro comportamento? In Il padrone e il suo emissario, McGilchrist racconta l'inevitabile lotta per il potere di cui i due emisferi sono protagonisti. I segni di questo confronto sono rintracciabili nella storia della nostra civiltà, e ancora ben visibili nei contrasti che animano la cultura occidentale contemporanea. Oggi, in un mondo sempre più disincarnato e dominato dalle tecnologie digitali, sembrerebbe che l'emisfero sinistro stia prendendo pericolosamente il sopravvento su quello destro, forse cambiando per sempre il nostro modo di pensare e di comprendere la realtà in cui viviamo.]]> 608 Iain McGilchrist 030014878X Dharmabum 0 to-read 4.34 2009 The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World
author: Iain McGilchrist
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Youth, a Narrative 392274
"By all that’s wonderful, it is the sea, I believe, the sea itself—or is it youth alone? Who can tell? But you here—you all had something out of life: money, love—whatever one gets on shore—and, tell me, wasn’t that the best time, that time when we were young at sea; young and had nothing, on the sea that gives nothing, except hard knocks—and sometimes a chance to feel your strength—that only—what you all regret?"]]> 30 Joseph Conrad 1406922269 Dharmabum 0 to-read 3.65 1898 Youth, a Narrative
author: Joseph Conrad
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 3.65
book published: 1898
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Wild Himalaya: A Natural History of the Greatest Mountain Range on Earth]]> 51099961 440 Stephen Alter 9388292774 Dharmabum 5 mountains, travel 4.40 Wild Himalaya: A Natural History of the Greatest Mountain Range on Earth
author: Stephen Alter
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.40
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2023/07/04
date added: 2023/07/04
shelves: mountains, travel
review:
Writing the natural history of a mountain range spanning 2500 km is no mean job. And who better to so it, than someone who is raised in the lap of the mountains itself? Stephen Alter does a terrific job in this magnum opus, starting with the origins, covering the geography and geology. He then goes on to cover a wide variety of themes including the flora, fauna, people and cultures of the Himalayan ranges. The book is filled with a mind-boggling array of facts and made me sit in awe of the author's awareness of the subject. The narrative is also sprinkled with interesting personal anecdotes, which don't seem intrusive, rather provide a rather welcome interlude from time to time. A minor irritant for me, was the somewhat superficial understanding of culture & religion but I'll pardon the author for this lapse because it sure is a complicated theme and finding authentic sources & interpretations may not be easy. All in all, this is a book that I would keep, and go back to from time to time to simply soak the splendour of one of the most magnificent mountains in the world.
]]> <![CDATA[Tiger of the Snows: The Autobiography of Tenzing of Everest]]> 1508257 294 Tenzing Norgay Dharmabum 0 to-read 4.36 1955 Tiger of the Snows: The Autobiography of Tenzing of Everest
author: Tenzing Norgay
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.36
book published: 1955
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/06/05
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Valley of Flowers 4576235 330 Frank Smythe 8185019983 Dharmabum 0 to-read 4.11 The Valley of Flowers
author: Frank Smythe
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.11
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/06/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Where the Mountain Casts Its Shadow: The Dark Side of Extreme Adventure]]> 30214
Maria Coffey confronted one of the harshest realities of mountaineering when her partner Joe Tasker disappeared on the Northeast Ridge of Everest in 1982. In Where the Mountain Casts Its Shadow, Coffey offers an intimate portrait of adventure and the conflicting beauty, passion, and devastation of this alluring obsession. Through interviews with the world's top climbers, or their widows and families-Jim Wickwire, Conrad Anker, Lynn Hill, Joe Simpson, Chris Bonington, Ed Viesturs, Anatoli Boukreev, Alex Lowe, and many others-she explores what compels men and women to give their lives to the high mountains. She asks why, despite the countless tragedies, the world continues to laud their exploits. With an insider's understanding, Coffey reveals the consequences of loving people who pursue such risk-the exhilarating highs and inevitable lows, the stress of long separations, the constant threat of bereavement, and the lives shattered in the wake of climbing accidents.

Where the Mountain Casts Its Shadow is a powerful, affecting and important book that exposes the far reaching personal costs of extreme adventure.]]> 256 Maria Coffey 0312339011 Dharmabum 0 to-read 3.94 2003 Where the Mountain Casts Its Shadow: The Dark Side of Extreme Adventure
author: Maria Coffey
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2003
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/06/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory and the Conquest of Everest]]> 11602442
If the quest for Mount Everest began as a grand imperial gesture, as redemption for an empire of explorers that had lost the race to the Poles, it ended as a mission of regeneration for a country and a people bled white by war. Of the twenty-six British climbers who, on three expedtions (1921-24), walked 400 miles off the map to find and assault the highest mountain on Earth, twenty had seen the worst of the fighting. Six had been severely wounded, two others nearly died of disease at the Front, one was hospitalized twice with shell shock. Three as army surgeons dealt for the duration with the agonies of the dying. Two lost brothers, killed in action. All had endured the slaughter, the coughing of the guns, the bones and barbed wire, the white faces of the dead.

In a monumental work of history and adventure, ten years in the writing, Wade Davis asks not whether George Mallory was the first to reach the summit of Everest, but rather why he kept on climbing on that fateful day. His answer lies in a single phrase uttered by one of the survivors as they retreated from the "The price of life is death." Mallory walked on because for him, as for all of his generation, death was but "a frail barrier that men crossed, smiling and gallant, every day." As climbers they accepted a degree of risk unimaginable before the war. They were not cavalier, but death was no stranger. They had seen so much of it that it had no hold on them. What mattered was how one lived, the moments of being alive.

For all of them Everest had become an exalted radiance, a sentinel in the sky, a symbol of hope in a world gone mad.]]> 672 Wade Davis 067697919X Dharmabum 0 to-read 4.24 2011 Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory and the Conquest of Everest
author: Wade Davis
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/06/05
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[High Crimes: the Fate of Everest in an Age of Greed]]> 1924981 -- Miami Herald "Kodas's absorbing description of the narrow moral compass governing human interaction at the top of the world is bound to shock both armchair adventurers and seasoned mountaineers."
-- Chicago Tribune "(Kodas) discovered more deceit, thievery, and double-crossing among his climbers than you find in a Martin Scorsese gangster film. High Crimes is both an adventure story and an expos of a sport riddled with danger and corruption."
-- Washington Post Book World "Kodas's descriptions of the struggles confronting even the best-prepared climbers leave the reader breathless."
-- Dallas Morning News "[High Crimes] is hair-raising and lays bare the excitement and fear that face great explorers at the top of the world. . . . Well written, and as deftly plotted as the finest mystery novel, Kodas brings to life a disturbing picture of society at high altitude."
-- Austin Chronicle "Kodas does an excellent job exposing the ways in which money and ego have corrupted the traditional cultures of both mountaineers and their Sherpa guides. . . . His narrative is as hard to turn away from as a slow-motion train wreck."
-- Publishers Weekly High Crimes is journalist Michael Kodas's gripping account of life on top of the world--where man is every bit as deadly as Mother Nature.]]> 368 Michael Kodas 1401302734 Dharmabum 0 to-read 3.71 2008 High Crimes: the Fate of Everest in an Age of Greed
author: Michael Kodas
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/27
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Dark Summit: The True Story of Everest's Most Controversial Season]]> 2841802
On May 15, 2006, a young British climber named David Sharp lay dying near the top of Mount Everest while forty other climbers walked past him on their way to the summit. A week later, Lincoln Hall, a seasoned Australian climber, was left for dead near the same spot. Hall's death was reported around the world, but the next day he was found alive after spending the night on the upper mountain with no food and no shelter.

If David Sharp's death was shocking, it was hardly singular: despite unusually good weather, ten others died attempting to reach the summit that year. In this meticulous inquiry into what went wrong, Nick Heil tells the full story of the deadliest year on Everest since the infamous season of 1996. He introduces Russell Brice, the commercial operator who has done more than anyone to provide access to the summit via the mountain's north side—and who some believe was partly accountable for Sharp's death. As more climbers attempt the summit each year, Heil shows how increasingly risky expeditions and unscrupulous outfitters threaten to turn Everest into a deadly circus.

Written by an experienced climber and outdoor writer, Dark Summit is both a riveting account of a notorious climbing season and a troubling investigation into whether the pursuit of the ultimate mountaineering prize has spiraled out of control.]]> 271 Nick Heil 0805083103 Dharmabum 0 to-read 3.90 2008 Dark Summit: The True Story of Everest's Most Controversial Season
author: Nick Heil
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Why Don't Students Like School?: A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About How the Mind Works and What It Means for the Classroom]]> 4959061
Cognitive scientist Dan Willingham has focused his acclaimed research on the biological and cognitive basis of learning and has a deep understanding of the daily challenges faced by classroom teachers. this book will help teachers improve their practice by explaining how they and their students think and learn—revealing the importance of story, emotion, memory, context, and routine in building knowledge and creating lasting learning experiences.

In this breakthrough book, Willingham has distilled his knowledge of cognitive science into a set of nine principles that are easy to understand and have clear applications for the classroom. Some of examples of his surprising findings are:

“Learning styles� don't exist The processes by which different children think and learn are more similar than different.

Intelligence is malleable Intelligence contributes to school performance and children do differ, but intelligence can be increased through sustained hard work.

You cannot develop “thinking skills� in the absence of facts We encourage students to think critically, not just memorize facts. However thinking skills depend on factual knowledge for their operation.

Why Don't Students Like School is a basic primer for every teacher who wants to know how their brains and their students� brains work and how that knowledge can help them hone their teaching skills.]]> 180 Daniel T. Willingham 0470279303 Dharmabum 0 to-read 4.02 2009 Why Don't Students Like School?: A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About How the Mind Works and What It Means for the Classroom
author: Daniel T. Willingham
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/01/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Outsmart Your Brain: Why Learning is Hard and How You Can Make It Easy]]> 59366180
When we study, we tend to focus on the tasks we can most easily control—such as highlighting and rereading—but these practices only give the illusion of mastery. As Dan Willingham, professor of psychology and bestselling author, explains, familiarity is not the same as comprehension.

Perfect for teachers and students of all ages, Outsmart Your Brain provides real-world practices and the latest research on how to train your brain for better learning. Each chapter provides clear and specific strategies while also explaining why traditional study processes do not work. Grounded in scientifically backed practical advice, this is the ultimate guide to improving grades and better understanding the power of our own brains.]]> 336 Daniel T. Willingham 1982167173 Dharmabum 0 to-read 3.94 Outsmart Your Brain: Why Learning is Hard and How You Can Make It Easy
author: Daniel T. Willingham
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 3.94
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/01/24
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]]> Notes from Underground 49455 Notes from Underground marks the dividing line between nineteenth- and twentieth-century fiction, and between the visions of self each century embodied. One of the most remarkable characters in literature, the unnamed narrator is a former official who has defiantly withdrawn into an underground existence. In complete retreat from society, he scrawls a passionate, obsessive, self-contradictory narrative that serves as a devastating attack on social utopianism and an assertion of man’s essentially irrational nature.

Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, whose Dostoevsky translations have become the standard, give us a brilliantly faithful edition of this classic novel, conveying all the tragedy and tormented comedy of the original.]]> 136 Fyodor Dostoevsky 067973452X Dharmabum 5 fiction 4.21 1864 Notes from Underground
author: Fyodor Dostoevsky
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1864
rating: 5
read at: 2022/12/26
date added: 2023/01/01
shelves: fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Fatal Rumour: A Nineteenth Century Indian Novel]]> 206816 196 B.R. Rajam Iyer 0195642619 Dharmabum 0 to-read 3.14 1896 The Fatal Rumour: A Nineteenth Century Indian Novel
author: B.R. Rajam Iyer
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 3.14
book published: 1896
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/11/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Rich Seam - How New Pedagogies Find Deep Learning]]> 35326631 This paper, by Michael Fullan and Maria Langworthy, is the first in the series, and it addresses the issue of the new pedagogy, which is central to the future agenda. The authors show that the new pedagogy is based on a learning partnership between and among students and teachers that taps into the intrinsic motivation of students and teachers alike. These new developments are so attractive that they spread easily and can be furthered by leadership that responds to and enables further learning. Crucially, this new learning is heavily based in the “real world� of action and problem solving, and it is enabled and greatly accelerated by innovations in digital technology. These forces converge to produce deep learning tasks and outcomes.]]> 99 Michael Fullan 0992422035 Dharmabum 0 shelved, to-read 4.25 A Rich Seam - How New Pedagogies Find Deep Learning
author: Michael Fullan
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.25
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/10/23
shelves: shelved, to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Power of Less: The 6 Essential Productivity Principles That Will Change Your Life by Babauta, Leo (2009) Paperback]]> 6406144 228 Leo Babauta 1848501161 Dharmabum 3 to-read 3.67 2008 The Power of Less: The 6 Essential Productivity Principles That Will Change Your Life by Babauta, Leo (2009) Paperback
author: Leo Babauta
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at: 2018/03/09
date added: 2022/10/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Outsider 20615923 'The sky seemed to rip apart from end to end to pour fire down upon me'

Meursault will not conform. When his mother dies, he refuses to show his emotions simply to satisfy the expectations of others. And when he commits a random act of violence on a sun-drenched beach, his lack of remorse only compounds his guilt in the eyes of society and law.

Albert Camus' portrayal of a man confronting the absurdity of human life became an existentialist classic. Yet it is also a book filled with quiet joy in the "tender indifference" of the physical world, and Sandra Smith's new translation based on listening to a recording of Camus reading aloud, sensitively renders the subtleties and dreamlike atmosphere of The Outsider.]]> 120 Albert Camus Dharmabum 0
That evening Marie came around for me & asked me if I wanted to marry her. I said I didn't mind and we could do if she wanted to. She then wanted to know if I loved her. I replied as I had done once already, that it didn’t mean anything but that I probably didn’t. ‘Why marry me then?�, she said. I explained to her that it really didn’t matter and that if she wanted to, we could get married. Anyway, she was the one who was asking me and I was simply saying yes. She then remarked that marriage was a serious matter. I said, ‘No.� She didn’t say anything for a moment and looked at me in silence. The she spoke. She just wanted to know if I’d have accepted the same proposal if it had come from another woman, with whom I had a similar relationship. I said, ‘Naturally.� She then said she wondered if she loved me and well, I had no idea about that. After another moment’s silence, she mumbled that I was peculiar, that that was probably why she loved me but that one day I might disgust her for the very same reason. I didn’t say anything, having nothing to add, so she smiled and took my arm and announced that she wanted to marry me. I replied that we’d do so whenever she liked. ]]> 4.14 1942 The Outsider
author: Albert Camus
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1942
rating: 0
read at: 2014/03/16
date added: 2022/10/17
shelves:
review:
Meursault is not like the person you and I may meet in our daily lives. And then again, who is? Aren't we all unique? The following excerpt where he is conversing with Marie, a woman he has been seeing, may throw light on his persona.

That evening Marie came around for me & asked me if I wanted to marry her. I said I didn't mind and we could do if she wanted to. She then wanted to know if I loved her. I replied as I had done once already, that it didn’t mean anything but that I probably didn’t. ‘Why marry me then?�, she said. I explained to her that it really didn’t matter and that if she wanted to, we could get married. Anyway, she was the one who was asking me and I was simply saying yes. She then remarked that marriage was a serious matter. I said, ‘No.� She didn’t say anything for a moment and looked at me in silence. The she spoke. She just wanted to know if I’d have accepted the same proposal if it had come from another woman, with whom I had a similar relationship. I said, ‘Naturally.� She then said she wondered if she loved me and well, I had no idea about that. After another moment’s silence, she mumbled that I was peculiar, that that was probably why she loved me but that one day I might disgust her for the very same reason. I didn’t say anything, having nothing to add, so she smiled and took my arm and announced that she wanted to marry me. I replied that we’d do so whenever she liked.
]]> The Outsider 19210686
In The Outsider (1942), his classic existentialist novel, Camus explores the predicament of the individual who refuses to pretend and is prepared to face the indifference of the universe, courageously and alone.]]> 125 Albert Camus Dharmabum 5 4.20 1942 The Outsider
author: Albert Camus
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1942
rating: 5
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date added: 2022/10/17
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review:

]]> The Art of Loving 14142
Most people are unable to love on the only level that truly matters: love that is compounded of maturity, self-knowledge, and courage. As with every art, love demands practice and concentration, as well as genuine insight and understanding.

In his classic work, The Art of Loving, renowned psychoanalyst and social philosopher Erich Fromm explores love in all its aspects—not only romantic love, steeped in false conceptions and lofty expectations, but also brotherly love, erotic love, self-love, the love of God, and the love of parents for their children.]]> 180 Erich Fromm 0061129739 Dharmabum 5 psychology 4.05 1956 The Art of Loving
author: Erich Fromm
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1956
rating: 5
read at: 2022/09/28
date added: 2022/10/08
shelves: psychology
review:
One of the most profound reads for me, in recent times. The book attempts to theorise love, and the different kinds of it. It has the deepest ideas worth contemplating and trying to emulate in one's life. It wasn't an easy read for me, despite the author mentioning that he has attempted to make it more accessible to the common reader. Brilliant stuff.
]]> <![CDATA[The Death of Kings (Emperor, #2)]]> 11931777
The second book, The Death of Kings, creates another panoply of the Ancient World with the young Caesar serving onboard a war galley in the dangerous tempest-tossed waters of the Mediterranean. Achieving a striking victory with his already fully formed intellect and forceful personality, things suddenly turn disastrous for him when he is captured by pirates and imprisoned on the North Coast of Africa. But Caesar knows he is not fated to end his prospects here, and uses his charisma and leadership abilities to forge a lean and lethal squadron of warriors who break out of captivity and find themselves involved in a bloody uprising in Greece. And, inevitably, Caeser is soon back on his way to Rome for another encounter that will have tremendous consequences both for him and his fellow Romans. Iggulden's skills are many and varied: he is well aware that narratives such as this must have an irresistible forward impetus, and that's maintained with an inexorable control here. And he knows that the reader must constantly have the details of these fabulous ancient times conjured afresh throughout the book--but never at the expense of the trajectory of the story.

The author's key achievement, though, is in his laser-sharp characterisation of Caesar and those he encounters--and this is where the real splendour of The Death of Kings lies: Caesar is very much a man of his time, but the conjuring trick of allowing the modern reader to enter his psychology is always handled with quiet assurance.]]> 532 Conn Iggulden 0007437137 Dharmabum 4 Most of the characters of the first books are retained, and a few new ones are introduced as well. The rebel slaves especially. And they continue to be very strongly fleshed out. The parts describing the war are long and gruesome, and in a sense, it tires you out as a reader, but that was perhaps intended to show how the war itself would gradually attrition both forces.
I'd think the plot wasn't as tawt as the first book, and so once star less for this one! I'm still contemplating if I should continue with the series.]]> 4.28 2004 The Death of Kings (Emperor, #2)
author: Conn Iggulden
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at: 2022/09/22
date added: 2022/10/08
shelves:
review:
I was a tad nervous about picking up the second one, but went ahead anyways, given the first two of this series were gifted to me by a friend. More importantly, his motive of gifting me the books was that I get back to reading. It isn't that I hadn't been reading, only that I told him it wasn't as much as it used to be, when he and I were neighbours back in college.
Most of the characters of the first books are retained, and a few new ones are introduced as well. The rebel slaves especially. And they continue to be very strongly fleshed out. The parts describing the war are long and gruesome, and in a sense, it tires you out as a reader, but that was perhaps intended to show how the war itself would gradually attrition both forces.
I'd think the plot wasn't as tawt as the first book, and so once star less for this one! I'm still contemplating if I should continue with the series.
]]> In High Places 1276334
Arthur Hailey tells with challenging insight of the passions that seethe behind the prim facade of government offices as politicians in power fight to stay there - bartering, back-stabbing, browbeating, bribing with honours, money or women...]]> 429 Arthur Hailey 0330025686 Dharmabum 5 fiction Unlike others, where the theme - be it airport operations or car manufacturing & so on - are so well researched that the reader gets a glimpse of the nuances of these processes, this novel is about politics. And the human element of it. Our frailty as well as our magnanimity is brought out equally well. The central character, James Howden's words, about how purity and politics don't go together, rings a bell much more in today's world. There are poignant moments. When Milly, James' secretary & Margaret, his wife, have a candid conversation, is one such for me. The intimate moments between James & his wife are endearing as they are revealing. The ending was a tad disappointing, but coming to think of it, there's no other way it could have ended either, so full marks :)]]> 3.42 1961 In High Places
author: Arthur Hailey
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 3.42
book published: 1961
rating: 5
read at: 2022/08/19
date added: 2022/08/19
shelves: fiction
review:
I remember reading a few other books by the same author, a couple of decade ago - Wheels, Final Diagnosis, Airport. There was also the one centred around power generation, I don't recall its name. So there was an expectation. And I'm glad I wasn't disappointed.
Unlike others, where the theme - be it airport operations or car manufacturing & so on - are so well researched that the reader gets a glimpse of the nuances of these processes, this novel is about politics. And the human element of it. Our frailty as well as our magnanimity is brought out equally well. The central character, James Howden's words, about how purity and politics don't go together, rings a bell much more in today's world. There are poignant moments. When Milly, James' secretary & Margaret, his wife, have a candid conversation, is one such for me. The intimate moments between James & his wife are endearing as they are revealing. The ending was a tad disappointing, but coming to think of it, there's no other way it could have ended either, so full marks :)
]]> <![CDATA[The Gates of Rome (Emperor, #1)]]> 11931761 The ultimate Rome story

From the spectacle of gladiatorial combat to the intrigue of the Senate, from the foreign wars that secure the power of the empire to the betrayals that threaten to tear it apart, this is the remarkable story of the man who would become the greatest Roman of them Julius Caesar. In the city of Rome, a titanic power struggle is about to shake the Republic to its core. Citizen will fight citizen in a bloody conflict -- and Julius Caesar, cutting his teeth in battle, will be in the thick of the action. The first instalment in the bestselling Emperor series.]]> 392 Conn Iggulden 0007437129 Dharmabum 5 So when a kind friend gifted me this book, I didn't see why not. My reading has been slow, if at all, in the past few months. Work has kept me busy and I haven't been able to make time, as I did during the lockdown.
This book gives a feeling of largeness to the reader, the characters and the times are all set to epic proportions. The grandeur of ancient Rome & the lavish lifestyle of the rich, in such contrast to the misery of the poor and the slaves is striking. The emotions are raw - be it violence, love or sex, you can actually feel the characters. I also liked how the author is able to switch the scene of action so smoothly from one to the other. Overall, it was a thoroughly entertaining read even if you didn't care much about the history. I didn't and still could enjoy the book.]]> 3.95 The Gates of Rome (Emperor, #1)
author: Conn Iggulden
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 3.95
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2022/07/14
date added: 2022/08/15
shelves:
review:
When it comes to fiction, I am mostly stuck with authors from the 70's of even earlier. Thanks to the large collection of books owned by my grandfather and father, I've never had to buy any books except perhaps after I started reading Stephen King.
So when a kind friend gifted me this book, I didn't see why not. My reading has been slow, if at all, in the past few months. Work has kept me busy and I haven't been able to make time, as I did during the lockdown.
This book gives a feeling of largeness to the reader, the characters and the times are all set to epic proportions. The grandeur of ancient Rome & the lavish lifestyle of the rich, in such contrast to the misery of the poor and the slaves is striking. The emotions are raw - be it violence, love or sex, you can actually feel the characters. I also liked how the author is able to switch the scene of action so smoothly from one to the other. Overall, it was a thoroughly entertaining read even if you didn't care much about the history. I didn't and still could enjoy the book.
]]> <![CDATA[Srimad Bhagavad Gita Chapter IV]]> 44447530 124 Chinmayananda 8175970863 Dharmabum 5 5.00 Srimad Bhagavad Gita Chapter IV
author: Chinmayananda
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 5.00
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2020/08/13
date added: 2022/07/12
shelves:
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After enunciating on Karma Yoga in Chapter 3, Krishna furthers the idea of acting with the right attitude in this chapter. Sri Krishna does not denounce action. Action is the nature of all humans. Barring some, who are able to reach the contemplative state, the rest of us are bound to act. Acting with selfless motives elevates us; acting with selfish motives further binds us. Therefore to not renounce action but change our attitude towards how we act, is the path to self improvement.
]]> <![CDATA[Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind]]> 23692271 512 Yuval Noah Harari Dharmabum 2 4.33 2011 Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
author: Yuval Noah Harari
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2011
rating: 2
read at: 2022/05/27
date added: 2022/06/27
shelves:
review:
What started off brilliantly for me, went on to almost become a burden of sorts. I normally drop them but somehow decided to persist with this one and somehow finished it in the end. I think what put me off was how the author tended to get tedious and preachy in the later parts of the book. And, when it comes to religion, how he mindlessly repeats some of the tropes against Hinduism.
]]> The Holy Geeta 56304178 1387 Chinmayananda Dharmabum 0 4.60 1992 The Holy Geeta
author: Chinmayananda
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.60
book published: 1992
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/05/20
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]]> Atmatirtham 25507091 542 0990923916 Dharmabum 0 to-read 4.37 2014 Atmatirtham
author: Ramanacharanatirtha Nochur Venkataraman
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/05/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones]]> 33154385 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781847941831.

Transform your life with tiny changes in behaviour � starting now.

*The instant New York Times bestseller*
*Financial Times Book of the Month*

People think when you want to change your life, you need to think big. But world-renowned habits expert James Clear has discovered another way. He knows that real change comes from the compound effect of hundreds of small decisions � doing two push-ups a day, waking up five minutes early, or holding a single short phone call.

He calls them atomic habits.

In this ground-breaking book, Clears reveals exactly how these minuscule changes can grow into such life-altering outcomes. He uncovers a handful of simple life hacks (the forgotten art of Habit Stacking, the unexpected power of the Two Minute Rule, or the trick to entering the Goldilocks Zone), and delves into cutting-edge psychology and neuroscience to explain why they matter. Along the way, he tells inspiring stories of Olympic gold medalists, leading CEOs, and distinguished scientists who have used the science of tiny habits to stay productive, motivated, and happy.

These small changes will have a revolutionary effect on your career, your relationships, and your life.
________________________________

�A supremely practical and useful book.� Mark Manson, author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck

‘James Clear has spent years honing the art and studying the science of habits. This engaging, hands-on book is the guide you need to break bad routines and make good ones.� Adam Grant, author of Originals

�Atomic Habits is a step-by-step manual for changing routines.� Books of the Month, Financial Times

‘A special book that will change how you approach your day and live your life.� Ryan Holiday, author of The Obstacle is the Way]]> 306 James Clear Dharmabum 5 4.38 2018 Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones
author: James Clear
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2022/03/20
date added: 2022/05/20
shelves:
review:
The book posits that our life is essentially determined by our habits. So, by changing our habits we can essentially bring about a qualitative improvement in our lives. Further, the author goes on to explain levers / methods by which one can cultivate desirable habits (or get rid of undesirable ones). I found this very interesting in just the way a simple idea can be so clearly propounded.
]]> <![CDATA[BHAGAVAD GITA CHAPTER 18: Liberation through Renunciation]]> 37539889 238 Chinmayananda Dharmabum 5 5.00 BHAGAVAD GITA CHAPTER 18: Liberation through Renunciation
author: Chinmayananda
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 5.00
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2022/02/13
date added: 2022/02/13
shelves:
review:
This chapter is petty much a summary of the entire text. There were many gems, of which I wish to highlight one, here. In verse 63, Lord Sri Krishna tells Arjuna that he has explained this knowledge and also adds that Arjuna may ponder over it in its entirety and then do as he pleases. What struck me was how after all the ideas shared, almost towards the end, Krishna literally leaves it to Arjuna to make up his mind and do what he thinks is right. This is so unlike a commandment that is laid down and I think that to me sums up the beauty of Sanatana Dharma.
]]> <![CDATA[BHAGAVAD GITA CHAPTER 16&17: The Divine and the Decadent The ThreeFold Faith]]> 37786709 137 Chinmayananda Dharmabum 5 5.00 BHAGAVAD GITA CHAPTER 16&17: The Divine and the Decadent The ThreeFold Faith
author: Chinmayananda
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 5.00
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]]> <![CDATA[Teaching Machines: The History of Personalized Learning]]> 55321130 How ed tech was born: Twentieth-century teaching machines--from Sidney Pressey's mechanized test-giver to B. F. Skinner's behaviorist bell-ringing box.

Contrary to popular belief, ed tech did not begin with videos on the internet. The idea of technology that would allow students to go at their own pace did not originate in Silicon Valley. In Teaching Machines, education writer Audrey Watters offers a lively history of predigital educational technology, from Sidney Pressey's mechanized positive-reinforcement provider to B. F. Skinner's behaviorist bell-ringing box. Watters shows that these machines and the pedagogy that accompanied them sprang from ideas--bite-sized content, individualized instruction--that had legs and were later picked up by textbook publishers and early advocates for computerized learning.

Watters pays particular attention to the role of the media--newspapers, magazines, television, and film--in shaping people's perceptions of teaching machines as well as the psychological theories underpinning them. She considers these machines in the context of education reform, the political reverberations of Sputnik, and the rise of the testing and textbook industries. She chronicles Skinner's attempts to bring his teaching machines to market, culminating in the famous behaviorist's efforts to launch Didak 101, the pre-verbal machine that taught spelling. (Alternate names proposed by Skinner include Autodidak, Instructomat, and Autostructor.) Telling these somewhat cautionary tales, Watters challenges what she calls the teleology of ed tech--the idea that not only is computerized education inevitable, but technological progress is the sole driver of events.]]> 316 Audrey Watters 0262045699 Dharmabum 0 to-read 3.96 2021 Teaching Machines: The History of Personalized Learning
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name: Dharmabum
average rating: 3.96
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]]> <![CDATA[BHAGAVAD GITA CHAPTER 15: The Supreme Spirit]]> 36058684 63 Chinmayananda Dharmabum 5 15.11 was an eye opener for me. It made it abundantly clear to me that I must work on refining my mind, getting rid of the tendencies that pull me down if I were to make progress.
15.15 onwards, it gets tough. Not that it has not happened in other chapters. I like being challenged, so I am telling myself that once I finish all the 18 chapters, I will come to the ideas once again, starting Chapter 1.]]> 5.00 BHAGAVAD GITA CHAPTER 15: The Supreme Spirit
author: Chinmayananda
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 5.00
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I've been trying to spend time in meditation, japa and pranayama over the last year or so. I am unsure if I don't perceive the results or am being too impatient.
15.11 was an eye opener for me. It made it abundantly clear to me that I must work on refining my mind, getting rid of the tendencies that pull me down if I were to make progress.
15.15 onwards, it gets tough. Not that it has not happened in other chapters. I like being challenged, so I am telling myself that once I finish all the 18 chapters, I will come to the ideas once again, starting Chapter 1.
]]> <![CDATA[Annapurna: The First Conquest of an 8000-Metre Peak]]> 11364723
In 1950, no mountain higher than 8,000 meters had ever been climbed. Maurice Herzog and other members of the French Alpine Club resolved to try. This is the enthralling story of the first conquest of Annapurna and the harrowing descent. With breathtaking courage and grit manifest on every page, Annapurna is one of the greatest adventure stories ever told. As well as an introduction by Joe Simpson, this new edition includes 16 pages of photographs, which provide a remarkable visual record of this legendary expedition.]]> 272 Maurice Herzog 0099541467 Dharmabum 4 At one point, during the summit assault, Lachenal asks Herzog what he would do in the event of the former went back. The latter avers that he would keep going, all by himself. Despite having poor boots, and already having experienced the onset of frostbite, Lachenal decides to accompany his companion in their attempt to make it to the summit.
More than a month earlier, Louis Lachenal, Lionel Terray, Gaston Rebuffat and Maurice Herzog, along with other companions, set out from Kathmandu, to accomplish the first successful summit of an 8000+ metre peak. Their target is the elusive Annapurna. Elusive, because it takes them almost a month to even find the peak. Poor maps, tough routes all result in them going in circles. When they finally find it and correct the maps, the monsoon from the Indian sub-continent is chasing them, leaving them with very little time.
They make one final and desperate dash the summit. Alongside are a team of sherpas led by Angtharkay, whose bravery and heroism is no less than. The protagonists are ably supported by a few more team members that includes an able doctor, who also happens to be a climber. The instances of courage and sacrifice shown by each member in numerous and makes for hair-raising reading.
Funnily enough, it is only after reading the book that I discovered controversies surrounding it and the author's account of the facts. And in that sense, this is similar to Into Think Air, the first mountaineering book I read. Thrilling as both these books are, it does disappoint to later discover the many stories that are hidden beneath.
I had picked up this book the day I was leaving for the BMC Course. I read a few pages in the initial week or so at the institute. Then, while trekking to the base camps, I decided to leave it behind so as to shed weight. Looking back, I could relate to the intricate details painted by Herzog, having had a taste of the mountains myself, though I was nowhere close to 26000 feet above sea level.]]> 4.04 1951 Annapurna: The First Conquest of an 8000-Metre Peak
author: Maurice Herzog
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1951
rating: 4
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What a crazy trip, reading this has been!
At one point, during the summit assault, Lachenal asks Herzog what he would do in the event of the former went back. The latter avers that he would keep going, all by himself. Despite having poor boots, and already having experienced the onset of frostbite, Lachenal decides to accompany his companion in their attempt to make it to the summit.
More than a month earlier, Louis Lachenal, Lionel Terray, Gaston Rebuffat and Maurice Herzog, along with other companions, set out from Kathmandu, to accomplish the first successful summit of an 8000+ metre peak. Their target is the elusive Annapurna. Elusive, because it takes them almost a month to even find the peak. Poor maps, tough routes all result in them going in circles. When they finally find it and correct the maps, the monsoon from the Indian sub-continent is chasing them, leaving them with very little time.
They make one final and desperate dash the summit. Alongside are a team of sherpas led by Angtharkay, whose bravery and heroism is no less than. The protagonists are ably supported by a few more team members that includes an able doctor, who also happens to be a climber. The instances of courage and sacrifice shown by each member in numerous and makes for hair-raising reading.
Funnily enough, it is only after reading the book that I discovered controversies surrounding it and the author's account of the facts. And in that sense, this is similar to Into Think Air, the first mountaineering book I read. Thrilling as both these books are, it does disappoint to later discover the many stories that are hidden beneath.
I had picked up this book the day I was leaving for the BMC Course. I read a few pages in the initial week or so at the institute. Then, while trekking to the base camps, I decided to leave it behind so as to shed weight. Looking back, I could relate to the intricate details painted by Herzog, having had a taste of the mountains myself, though I was nowhere close to 26000 feet above sea level.
]]> <![CDATA[True Summit: What Really Happened on the Legendary Ascent on Annapurna]]> 427334 240 David Roberts 0743203275 Dharmabum 0 to-read 3.83 2000 True Summit: What Really Happened on the Legendary Ascent on Annapurna
author: David Roberts
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 3.83
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]]> <![CDATA[BHAGAVAD GITA CHAPTER 14: The ThreeFold Qualities]]> 38124692 86 Chinmayananda Dharmabum 5 What are the determinants of the nature of a person?
The answers to these questions may be found in this Chapter. Bhagawan Sri Krishna explains that all of us are defined by a combination of 3 gunas or attributes - sattva, rajas and tamas. Our thoughts and actions at any instant are determined by the dominant among these 3 qualities. Sattva is uplifting, while the other 2 usually tend to drag down a person. The interesting thing for me is that it is these qualities that bind the atman to matter - and sattva is no exception here. The goal of life therefore must be, to initially cultivate sattvic thoughts, and finally to transcend all the gunas, sattva included. Towards the end, and in response to Arjuna's question, the Lord also paints a picture of the 'wise one', who has transcended all the gunas.
I found this chapter relatively more accessible with others, and I could readily identify with it. It also reminded me to cultivate sattvic thoughts by working on my mind.]]> 5.00 BHAGAVAD GITA CHAPTER 14: The ThreeFold Qualities
author: Chinmayananda
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 5.00
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What makes us who we are?
What are the determinants of the nature of a person?
The answers to these questions may be found in this Chapter. Bhagawan Sri Krishna explains that all of us are defined by a combination of 3 gunas or attributes - sattva, rajas and tamas. Our thoughts and actions at any instant are determined by the dominant among these 3 qualities. Sattva is uplifting, while the other 2 usually tend to drag down a person. The interesting thing for me is that it is these qualities that bind the atman to matter - and sattva is no exception here. The goal of life therefore must be, to initially cultivate sattvic thoughts, and finally to transcend all the gunas, sattva included. Towards the end, and in response to Arjuna's question, the Lord also paints a picture of the 'wise one', who has transcended all the gunas.
I found this chapter relatively more accessible with others, and I could readily identify with it. It also reminded me to cultivate sattvic thoughts by working on my mind.
]]> K2 the Savage Mountain 112033 334 Charles S. Houston 1585740136 Dharmabum 0 to-read 4.08 1954 K2 the Savage Mountain
author: Charles S. Houston
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1954
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]]> Wild And Wilful 56918096
Is there any animal we love and hate as much as the Royal Bengal Tiger? Tigers are feared and poached, but they also endure, becoming pin-ups for candlelight marches. Indian elephants are trapped by railway lines and fences, but are reclaiming their bodies and colonizing new areas in central India. And in our dirty cities, the sparkling Plain Tiger Butterfly flourishes as one of our last links to wildlife.

Wild animals exist beyond our control. They are harmless, only occasionally dangerous. They live with us, or in spite of us. Those who know them understand that wild animals require acceptance for what they are, not enslavement for what we want them to be.

In this book, we meet fifteen iconic Indian species in need of conservation and heart. The author explores what these creatures need, and how they exert agency and decision-making. With an equal emphasis on human and animal, science and skilled prose, Wild and Wilful reveals the magic of the wild in our daily lives. It will take you from fear to wonder.]]> 240 Neha Sinha 9353578299 Dharmabum 0 to-read 4.39 2021 Wild And Wilful
author: Neha Sinha
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.39
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]]> <![CDATA[BHAGAVAD GITA CHAPTER 12&13: Devotion & The Knower And The Known]]> 38124689 162 Chinmayananda Dharmabum 4 4.00 BHAGAVAD GITA CHAPTER 12&13: Devotion & The Knower And The Known
author: Chinmayananda
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.00
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date added: 2021/11/18
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]]> <![CDATA[Sanghi Who Never Went To A Shakha]]> 57313237
Rahul Roushan shot to fame around 2009�10 as the ‘Pagal Patrakar�, the pseudonym he used while writing for Faking News. Back then he was seen just as a founder-editor of the news satire website with no special interest in politics or ideology.

The first time Rahul Roushan was called a Sanghi, he felt deeply offended. After all, he held a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from Patna University, a post-graduate diploma in journalism from IIMC in New Delhi, an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad and was a self-made media entrepreneur.

Sanghi literally means someone who is a member of the right-wing RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) or its affiliates, but the ‘liberals� use the term liberally to deride those who differ with their political and ideological stand, or those who wear Hinduism on their sleeves. This book analyses why Hindutva as an ideology is no longer anathema and what brought about this change. Why did a country that was ruled for decades by people espousing Nehruvian secularism suddenly began to align with the ‘communal politics� of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)?

The book is the story of this transformation. This is not an autobiography, though it could read like one in parts. It is not even a collection of intellectual essays, though it could read like one in parts. It is the retelling of some historical events and how those events impacted the journey of Rahul Roushan and countless people like him. The book looks at factors like education, media, technology and obviously, electoral politics, which played a key role in this transformation. The book also touches upon some of the personal experiences of the author, both as a media entrepreneur and a journalist.

In author's words, ‘This book will be of special interest to readers who just want to badmouth me and the book, but I really hope the same people make an earnest effort to also understand what changed India and all those Sanghis who never went to any shakha.’]]> 368 Rahul Roushan 9390547660 Dharmabum 3 As a kid, I have grown up in a somewhat benign atmosphere at home. We were taught for instance, that all religions preach the same thing. While not taught directly, the atmosphere we grew up in was dominated by what can now be called, the Indian National COngress led socialist, secular thinking. Both these words need to be unpacked in the context of India and I am not going into that now.
As I grew up, I could notice that things things seemed lopsided and that all that I learnt and took for granted needed to be re-examined. It is precisely this that the author does. And as he does he, he traces his journey from being what he calls a libertarian to a more right-learning person.
I could identify completely with the incidents and most of the narratives as I think it isn't just me but several Indians who may have gone through a similar evolution in thinking.
After the initial few chapters, I found myself struggling to sustain my interest. It is partly to do with the fact that many a times, the author's personal details are interwoven and finally, the language seemed somewhat informal and didn't make for smooth reading.]]> 4.24 2021 Sanghi Who Never Went To A Shakha
author: Rahul Roushan
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2021/11/08
date added: 2021/11/18
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The theme of this book is something that I have been thinking about a lot, even before I read it. In fact, I wanted to write about it as well. Shakha literally means 'branch' and refers here to one of the group meetings of RSS, one of the largest social organisation of volunteers across India. It has been (unfairly) painted as being singularly parochial though in my opinion there are many facets of the organisation that need to be explored. Sanghi technically means one who belongs to the RSS. Though in the recent year, it is come to be used as a pejorative, a label of sorts, against anyone who differs from the traditionally strong and majoritarian (this far, at least) 'liberal' views.
As a kid, I have grown up in a somewhat benign atmosphere at home. We were taught for instance, that all religions preach the same thing. While not taught directly, the atmosphere we grew up in was dominated by what can now be called, the Indian National COngress led socialist, secular thinking. Both these words need to be unpacked in the context of India and I am not going into that now.
As I grew up, I could notice that things things seemed lopsided and that all that I learnt and took for granted needed to be re-examined. It is precisely this that the author does. And as he does he, he traces his journey from being what he calls a libertarian to a more right-learning person.
I could identify completely with the incidents and most of the narratives as I think it isn't just me but several Indians who may have gone through a similar evolution in thinking.
After the initial few chapters, I found myself struggling to sustain my interest. It is partly to do with the fact that many a times, the author's personal details are interwoven and finally, the language seemed somewhat informal and didn't make for smooth reading.
]]> <![CDATA[Christianity: An Imperialist Ideology]]> 34146634 84 Sita Ram Goel Dharmabum 0 to-read 4.45 1983 Christianity: An Imperialist Ideology
author: Sita Ram Goel
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.45
book published: 1983
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]]> Nehru's Fatal Friendship 34120877 29 Sita Ram Goel Dharmabum 0 to-read 4.37 1955 Nehru's Fatal Friendship
author: Sita Ram Goel
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.37
book published: 1955
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Perversion of India's Political Parlance]]> 6235227 65 Sita Ram Goel 8185990255 Dharmabum 0 to-read 4.59 1995 Perversion of India's Political Parlance
author: Sita Ram Goel
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.59
book published: 1995
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]]> <![CDATA[Hindus and Hinduism: Manipulation of Meanings]]> 6235204 1 Sita Ram Goel 8185990093 Dharmabum 0 to-read 4.75 Hindus and Hinduism: Manipulation of Meanings
author: Sita Ram Goel
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.75
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]]> Defence of Hindu Society 1247546 120 Sita Ram Goel 8185990247 Dharmabum 0 to-read 4.63 1983 Defence of Hindu Society
author: Sita Ram Goel
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.63
book published: 1983
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]]> Hindu Society Under Siege 1114788 62

About the Author
Born in 192, Sita Goel took his M.A. in History in 1944, from the University of Delhi. He won scholarships and distinctions in school as well as college.
Well-versed in several languages, he had studies the literature, philosophy, religion, history and sociology of several cultures-ancient, medieval and modern. For his judgements and evaluations, however, he drew his inspiration from the Mahabharata, the Suttapitaka, Plato and Sri Aurobindo.
He had written several documented studies on communism, Soviet Russia, Red China, Christianity and Islam. Author of eight novels, he had translated into Hindi quite a few books from English, including some dialogues of Plato and a biography of Shivaji. His other works include compilations from the Mahabharata and the Suttapitaka.
Having become a convinced Communist by the time he came out of college, he turned against this criminal ideology in 1949 when he came to know what was happening inside Soviet Russia. From 1950 onwards he participated in a movement for informing the Indian people about the theory as well as the practice of Communism in Stalin's Russia and Mao's China. The numerous studies published by the movement in the fifties exist in cold print in many libraries and can be consulted for finding out how the movement anticipated by many years the recent revelations about Communist regimes.
Contents

1Significance of Hindu Society1
2The Residue of Islamism8
3the Residue of Charistianism16
4The Residue of Macaulayism25
5The Communist Conspiracy37
6The United Front of Hostile Forces50

Sample Pages]]> 51 Sita Ram Goel Dharmabum 0 to-read 4.57 1994 Hindu Society Under Siege
author: Sita Ram Goel
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.57
book published: 1994
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]]> <![CDATA[India's Secularism: New Name for National Subversion]]> 1247545 119 Sita Ram Goel 818599059X Dharmabum 0 to-read 4.72 1983 India's Secularism: New Name for National Subversion
author: Sita Ram Goel
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.72
book published: 1983
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]]> <![CDATA[Muslim Separatism: Causes and Consequences]]> 6235229
India was under foreign rule for more than a thousand years before achieving independence. The muslim invaders had already established their hold over Hindustan and had been trying to convert the native population into Islam.

The author says that this struggle between the ruling Muslims and the Hindu subjects had been going on for a long time before the European powers, especially the British, came to India. While the northern part of India was quickly conquered, there was strong resistance to the Muslims in the south which lasted till the fall of the Vijayanagara Empire

Even after this, during the period of the Mughals, there was resistance again when the Maratha Empire reached its height under Shivaji. This constant struggle kept the conflict burning between the communities. The British used this to their advantage in their policy of divide and rule.

The author uses a book written by H V Sheshadri, The Tragic Story Of The Partition, to present most of his viewpoints. In this, the author presents the distinct behaviour patterns of the Muslim Leadership and that of the Nationalist Leadership. While the Muslims were aggressive, separatist and insistent upon retaining their rights and privileges, the nationalists, according to the author, were primarily weak and appeasing to all the Muslim leaders� demands.

The author states that even after independence, these attitudes prevail, strengthening Islamic separatism and extremism. He also criticises the Indian idea of secularism. He says that the group that calls itself secular is opposed to anything Hindu and does not use the same scale while examining the actions of other communities.

The author has summed up the history, politics and the motivations behind the communal tensions and attitudes and has presented his views on the reasons for the Partition and explains why these factors still play a role in keeping the country divided.]]> 135 Sita Ram Goel 8185990263 Dharmabum 0 to-read 4.59 1983 Muslim Separatism: Causes and Consequences
author: Sita Ram Goel
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.59
book published: 1983
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]]> <![CDATA[The Story of Islamic Imperialism in India]]> 6235202 138 Sita Ram Goel 8185990239 Dharmabum 0 to-read 4.56 1996 The Story of Islamic Imperialism in India
author: Sita Ram Goel
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.56
book published: 1996
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]]> <![CDATA[How I Became a Hindu (Reprinted with a Postscript)]]> 9590808 106 Sita Ram Goel 8185990050 Dharmabum 0 to-read 4.52 How I Became a Hindu (Reprinted with a Postscript)
author: Sita Ram Goel
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.52
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]]> <![CDATA[Shri Sai Satcharita: The Wonderful Life and Teachings of Shri Sai Baba]]> 6463687
Who was Shirdi Sai Baba? Baba lived all his adult life in Shirdi, a small village in India. To the unknowing, He seemed a simple beggar, dressed in torn clothes, having no need for any material item. Claiming neither the Hindu nor Muslim religion, nor any religion, he lived in an abandoned Mosque with no roof and everyday took his food from a few people, making his rounds with his begging bowl, door to door.

What really was happening; He was burning the karmas of everyone who came to Him, in the dhuni (Divine Fire) Baba kept burning at all times. Healing and giving guidance on every level. Hundreds of thousands of miracles are attributed to Him in His life and they have multiplied now after His Mahasamadhi. Baba left His physical form in 1918, but his Divine Energy and Intention and Power is always available and at work in the world.

The Shri Sai Satcharitra is a discourse based on experiences Baba’s devotees had with Him during His life on earth and is today, almost one hundred years after He left His mortal-coil, treated as a religious text by His devotees through-out the world.]]> 0 Govind Raghunath Dabholkar 3932957156 Dharmabum 5 Coming back to the book, I feel unworthy of reviewing it because of my very finite existence in the quest for the infinite. Purely as literature, one may find it repetitive and written in a funny sort of a language. I wonder if that's partly also because it is translated to English. It took me a while to figure that the author at times is describing himself in third person! I suppose that comes with the Vedantic idea of not assuming 'doership'.
As to the contents of the book, it is a delightful collection of His ways (Leela, as they call it). Delightful, I repeat, to a person of faith. I couldn't help but smile, and at times shed tears too, all in awe at such a soul who may have walked this earth. And I couldn't help but woefully regret not having been blessed to to during His times. Then again, would that be an assumption? :)]]> 4.60 1930 Shri Sai Satcharita: The Wonderful Life and Teachings of Shri Sai Baba
author: Govind Raghunath Dabholkar
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.60
book published: 1930
rating: 5
read at: 2016/12/16
date added: 2021/10/17
shelves:
review:
This book is strictly for people of faith :) There is something about The Sai of Shirdi that has attracted me. I find Him bringing me to Him, time and again, in the most unlikely and unexpected ways. Aside - that reminds me that I should write about my first trip to Shirdi. Or, have I done that already?
Coming back to the book, I feel unworthy of reviewing it because of my very finite existence in the quest for the infinite. Purely as literature, one may find it repetitive and written in a funny sort of a language. I wonder if that's partly also because it is translated to English. It took me a while to figure that the author at times is describing himself in third person! I suppose that comes with the Vedantic idea of not assuming 'doership'.
As to the contents of the book, it is a delightful collection of His ways (Leela, as they call it). Delightful, I repeat, to a person of faith. I couldn't help but smile, and at times shed tears too, all in awe at such a soul who may have walked this earth. And I couldn't help but woefully regret not having been blessed to to during His times. Then again, would that be an assumption? :)
]]> <![CDATA[Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life / The Little Book of Lykke / Lagom: The Swedish Art of Balanced Living]]> 40534545 3 Books Collection Set:

Ikigai: The Japanese secret to a long and happy life

The people of Japan believe that everyone has an ikigai � a reason to jump out of bed each morning. And according to the residents of the Japanese island of Okinawa � the world’s longest-living people � finding it is the key to a longer and more fulfilled life. Inspiring and comforting, this book will give you the life-changing tools to uncover your personal ikigai. It will show you how to leave urgency behind, find your purpose, nurture friendships and throw yourself into your passions.

The Little Book of Hygge: The Danish Way to Live Well

The Danish word hygge is one of those beautiful words that doesn't directly translate into English, but it more or less means comfort, warmth or togetherness. Hygge is the feeling you get when you are cuddled up on a sofa with a loved one, in warm knitted socks, in front of the fire, when it is dark, cold and stormy outside. It that feeling when you are sharing good, comfort food with your closest friends, by candle light and exchanging easy conversation. It is those cold, crisp blue sky mornings when the light through your window is just right.

Lagom: The Swedish Art of Balanced Living

Step aside Hygge. Lagom is the new Scandi lifestyle trend taking the world by storm. This delightfully illustrated book gives you the lowdown on this transformative approach to life and examines how the lagom ethos has helped boost Sweden to the No.10 ranking in 2017's World Happiness Report. Lagom (pronounced 'lah-gom') has no equivalent in the English language but is loosely translated as 'not too little, not too much, just right'. It is widely believed that the word comes from the Viking term 'laget om', for when a mug of mead was passed around a circle and there was just enough for everyone to get a sip.]]> Héctor García 9123672609 Dharmabum 4 3.85 2018 Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life / The Little Book of Lykke / Lagom: The Swedish Art of Balanced Living
author: Héctor García
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2021/10/18
date added: 2021/10/17
shelves:
review:
The book examines the reasons for longevity in some parts of the world, called 'blue zones'. I've always been fascinated by the Japanese people and this book provides glimpses of life, particularly in the island of Okinawa. The author points out the common factors being a healthy diet, movement, being connected with nature and friends, staying happy, getting good sleep, staying active no matter how old we get, and finally, the idea of Ikigai - where we experience 'flow'. Evidently, it is finding Ikigai that can encourage us to stay active even beyond what is usually considered as 'retirement'. After all, retirement may then be viewed as the time we are not compelled by monetary reasons to work, for do it for its own sake. A simple, beautiful book.
]]> <![CDATA[Savarkar: A Contested Legacy, 1924-1966]]> 58421160 Was Savarkar really a co-conspirator in the Gandhi murder?

Was there a pogrom against a particular community after Gandhi's assassination?

Decades after his death, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar continues to uniquely influence India's political scenario. An optimistic advocate of Hindu-Muslim unity in his treatise on the 1857 War of Independence, what was it that transformed him into a proponent of 'Hindutva'? A former president of the All-India Hindu Mahasabha, Savarkar was a severe critic of the Congress's appeasement politics. After Gandhi's murder, Savarkar was charged as a co-conspirator in the assassination. While he was acquitted by the court, Savarkar is still alleged to have played a role in Gandhi's assassination, a topic that is often discussed and debated.

In this concluding volume of the Savarkar series, exploring a vast range of original archival documents from across India and outside it, in English and several Indian languages, historian Vikram Sampath brings to light the life and works of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, one of the most contentious political thinkers and leaders of the twentieth century.]]> 600 Vikram Sampath 9354920713 Dharmabum 0 to-read 4.84 2021 Savarkar: A Contested Legacy, 1924-1966
author: Vikram Sampath
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.84
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/10/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Man's Search for Meaning 17304997 Man's Search for Meaning has become one of the most influential books in America; it continues to inspire us all to find significance in the very act of living.]]> 154 Viktor E. Frankl 1846041244 Dharmabum 4 shelved 4.33 1946 Man's Search for Meaning
author: Viktor E. Frankl
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.33
book published: 1946
rating: 4
read at: 2021/10/11
date added: 2021/10/11
shelves: shelved
review:

]]> Wisdom of the Ages 7629244 288 Wayne W. Dyer 0060098015 Dharmabum 0 shelved, to-read 4.67 1998 Wisdom of the Ages
author: Wayne W. Dyer
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.67
book published: 1998
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/10/11
shelves: shelved, to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Indian Philosophical Studies (Volume I)]]> 56551010
This is the fifth collection of essays of the late Prof. M. Hiriyanna. The last three papers of this volume are being published here for the first time and the rest of them have appeared in various journals and publications.]]> 191 Mysore Hiriyanna Dharmabum 0 to-read 0.0 1957 Indian Philosophical Studies (Volume I)
author: Mysore Hiriyanna
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 0.0
book published: 1957
rating: 0
read at:
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shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Jayaprakash Narayan : Prophet of Peoples Power]]> 13432560 295 Sudhanshu Ranjan 8123739273 Dharmabum 3 For an apolitical person like me, JP is just a name that vaguely rings a bell. I confess my complete ignorance about him, as well as many other leaders of India. So when I saw this in the NBT stall in one of Delhi Metro stations, I picked it up on impulse.
There are many aspects of his life that make him quite an intriguing personality, to say the least. To start with, are his views on governance and organisation of society in general. He started as a staunch socialist, influenced strongly by western thinkers in his young age. Simultaneously, he also seems to be influenced by Gandhian values of non-violence and self-governance. Towards the end of his life, he seems to have taken a spiritual inclination. Perhaps this stems from his belief that while socialism offered ideas around arrangement of society, an ideal society was not possible without individual improvements. And for the latter, he believed that it is spirituality that shows the way.
His marital life was also quite extraordinary. As an 18 year old, his family got him married to Prabhavati, then only 14 years old. While JP went to America soon for his higher studies, Prabhavati under the invitation of Gandhi, became an inmate of Sabarmati Ashram. While returning from America, JP receives a letter from his wife that she has taken a vow of celibacy. Initially, he seems upset with this decision of hers. He tries to persuade her, even takes the help of Gandhi who himself is somewhat distressed and is understanding of JP's predicament, but does not interfere in this matter nevertheless. It turns out that their entire life, the remain committed in wedlock, help each other in several instances while all the time remaining celebate.
I find it the mark of greatness as to how JP was opposed to several views of Nehru, Gandhi and others. Later, he vehemently opposed Indira during her imposition of the Emergency. Yet, his behaviour towards them (and theirs, towards JP too) was entirely civil. Several of their correspondences and meetings are quoted in the book, and one can't help but admire the civility in their communication despite fundamental differences in world views. Compare that with the ugly playing field called politics today and one can only rue the massive downfall.
JP's role during the freedom struggle, and later particularly in the 1970's, when Emergency was imposed, was significant, to say the least. He was a firmer believer in 'power to the people' and focused all the time on serving those around him. Yet, through all this, while he could have easily grabbed power himself, he refused to do so. While one can't help but respect this aspect of his life, I also wondered if in a way, he was shirking responsibility. Easier said for someone like me, who is so far removed from the life, times and context of such a tall and complex personality.
]]> 3.83 2002 Jayaprakash Narayan : Prophet of Peoples Power
author: Sudhanshu Ranjan
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2002
rating: 3
read at: 2021/10/07
date added: 2021/10/11
shelves:
review:
Let me confess at the outset, that while I enjoyed reading about JP's extraordinary life, the rating is more a reflection of the language and the editing. The language is strange, in my opinion, as it can be, when being translated from other languages, though in this case the author seems to have done it himself. The editing is pathetic. Budget constraints, I would presume.
For an apolitical person like me, JP is just a name that vaguely rings a bell. I confess my complete ignorance about him, as well as many other leaders of India. So when I saw this in the NBT stall in one of Delhi Metro stations, I picked it up on impulse.
There are many aspects of his life that make him quite an intriguing personality, to say the least. To start with, are his views on governance and organisation of society in general. He started as a staunch socialist, influenced strongly by western thinkers in his young age. Simultaneously, he also seems to be influenced by Gandhian values of non-violence and self-governance. Towards the end of his life, he seems to have taken a spiritual inclination. Perhaps this stems from his belief that while socialism offered ideas around arrangement of society, an ideal society was not possible without individual improvements. And for the latter, he believed that it is spirituality that shows the way.
His marital life was also quite extraordinary. As an 18 year old, his family got him married to Prabhavati, then only 14 years old. While JP went to America soon for his higher studies, Prabhavati under the invitation of Gandhi, became an inmate of Sabarmati Ashram. While returning from America, JP receives a letter from his wife that she has taken a vow of celibacy. Initially, he seems upset with this decision of hers. He tries to persuade her, even takes the help of Gandhi who himself is somewhat distressed and is understanding of JP's predicament, but does not interfere in this matter nevertheless. It turns out that their entire life, the remain committed in wedlock, help each other in several instances while all the time remaining celebate.
I find it the mark of greatness as to how JP was opposed to several views of Nehru, Gandhi and others. Later, he vehemently opposed Indira during her imposition of the Emergency. Yet, his behaviour towards them (and theirs, towards JP too) was entirely civil. Several of their correspondences and meetings are quoted in the book, and one can't help but admire the civility in their communication despite fundamental differences in world views. Compare that with the ugly playing field called politics today and one can only rue the massive downfall.
JP's role during the freedom struggle, and later particularly in the 1970's, when Emergency was imposed, was significant, to say the least. He was a firmer believer in 'power to the people' and focused all the time on serving those around him. Yet, through all this, while he could have easily grabbed power himself, he refused to do so. While one can't help but respect this aspect of his life, I also wondered if in a way, he was shirking responsibility. Easier said for someone like me, who is so far removed from the life, times and context of such a tall and complex personality.

]]> Oxygen Manifesto 45034614 in their battle to save the environment.
Thatha lives in a remote and inaccessible part of Manipur and Ravi is a young IAS officer from
the Tamil Nadu cadre. Circumstances bring them together and they create the most effective
environmental movement the world has ever seen. They shun the politics of criticism and personal
attacks and focus on establishing a new polity based on the principles of environmental protection,
habitat conservation, direct civil action and democratic decentralization.
Oxygen Manifesto is an engaging story about environmental degradation and the impact of the
Anthropocene. It exposes the myth around wealth creation and the paradigm of economic growth.
It also plants a development narrative that is environment-centric—an idea which is considered
fringe in today’s times, but is bound to emerge as a mainstream thought in the future.
The story also has an undercurrent of minimalism and veganism, as opposed to consumerism and
wasteful consumption. A novel concept of taxing goods and services based on their carbon and
water footprint has also been introduced by the writer. This is a must-read for anyone who cares
about the future of human civilization.]]> 208 Atulya Misra 9353334101 Dharmabum 0 to-read 4.08 Oxygen Manifesto
author: Atulya Misra
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.08
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/09/24
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]]> The Indian Mind Then and Now 58754601 Part of Vande Mataram series 94 Michel Danino Dharmabum 5 5.00 The Indian Mind Then and Now
author: Michel Danino
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 5.00
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2021/08/28
date added: 2021/09/11
shelves:
review:
This book is a compilation of three talks delivered by Danino on various occasions. It is an interesting read for anyone curious about Indic knowledge and systems, and decolonisation.
]]> <![CDATA[Better to Have Gone: Love, Death, and the Quest for Utopia in Auroville]]> 55710556
A “haunting and elegant� ( The Wall Street Journal ) story about love, faith, the search for utopia—and the often devastating cost of idealism.

It’s the late 1960s, and two lovers converge on an arid patch of earth in South India. John Walker is the handsome scion of a powerful East Coast American family. Diane Maes is a beautiful hippie from Belgium. They have come to build a new world—Auroville, an international utopian community for thousands of people. Their faith is strong, the future bright.

So how do John and Diane end up dying two decades later, on the same day, on a cracked concrete floor in a thatch hut by a remote canyon? This is the mystery Akash Kapur sets out to solve in Better to Have Gone , and it carries deep personal Diane and John were the parents of Akash’s wife, Auralice. Akash and Auralice grew up in Auroville; like the rest of their community, they never really understood those deaths.

In 2004, Akash and Auralice return to Auroville from New York, where they have been living with John’s family. As they reestablish themselves in the community, along with their two sons, they must confront the ghosts of those distant deaths. Slowly, they come to understand how the tragic individual fates of John and Diane intersected with the collective history of their town.

“A riveting account of human aspiration and folly taken to extremes� ( The Boston Globe ), Better to Have Gone probes the underexplored yet universal idea of utopia and portrays in vivid detail the daily life of one such community. Richly atmospheric and filled with remarkable characters, spread across time and continents, this is narrative writing of the highest order—a “gripping…compelling…[and] heartbreaking story, deeply researched and lucidly told� ( The New York Times Book Review ).]]> 368 Akash Kapur 1501132512 Dharmabum 0 to-read 3.59 2021 Better to Have Gone: Love, Death, and the Quest for Utopia in Auroville
author: Akash Kapur
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/08/22
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[BHAGAVAD GITA CHAPTER 11: The Cosmic Form]]> 38124685 130 Chinmayananda Dharmabum 5 If, however, we go beyond the superficial interpretation, we realise that what He is indeed stating is the essential oneness in everything. Everything around us, living or otherwise, has an essential nature. And that which sustains the essential nature of everything is Brahman or Consciousness. It is this understanding that Krishna is trying to impart in this chapter. There is a verse where he also says those that are devoted to Him are blessed with this understanding. For, not all can make sense of this statement. While at a cognitive level, one may still appreciate it, if we had to actually see and experience oneness, we need to get rid of our mental impurities through self-effort and various techniques prescribed in previous chapters. ]]> 5.00 BHAGAVAD GITA CHAPTER 11: The Cosmic Form
author: Chinmayananda
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 5.00
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2021/08/19
date added: 2021/08/19
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To the reader who is yet to be steeped in the philosophy of Advaita, this Chapter is about the glories of Bhagwan Sri Krishna. He proclaims himself to be the source of everything, and the potency that lies in anything - be it good or bad,. Krishna says he is the best among the good and the worst among the bad. He cites numerous examples to make his point. From being the first letter / sound of the alphabet to the arrow of Indra, he even cites a parallel to gambling, stating that among all forms of gambling, he is the dice. Interestingly, it is this weakness of Yudhishtira that brings the downfall of the Pandavas.
If, however, we go beyond the superficial interpretation, we realise that what He is indeed stating is the essential oneness in everything. Everything around us, living or otherwise, has an essential nature. And that which sustains the essential nature of everything is Brahman or Consciousness. It is this understanding that Krishna is trying to impart in this chapter. There is a verse where he also says those that are devoted to Him are blessed with this understanding. For, not all can make sense of this statement. While at a cognitive level, one may still appreciate it, if we had to actually see and experience oneness, we need to get rid of our mental impurities through self-effort and various techniques prescribed in previous chapters.
]]> The Devil's Alternative 1808543 479 Frederick Forsyth 0552114952 Dharmabum 5 The plot is epic in its sheer magnitude and scope. And the intricate details which come together from the different events playing across multiple continents are quite astounding in the manner in which the author manages to write such complex details, and yet make it quite a riveting read from the start to the end.]]> 3.76 1979 The Devil's Alternative
author: Frederick Forsyth
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 3.76
book published: 1979
rating: 5
read at: 2021/08/03
date added: 2021/08/12
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The plot is enormous in its scope. A Ukranian in England, along with some Jewish-Ukranian acquaintances, plots the downfall of Russia and eventual emancipation of Ukraine. The Russian president meanwhile, is battling an impending famine & is on the verge of signing a treat with America. The treaty would de-escalate weapons and warfare by the Russians while in return, America would supply them the food grain required to overcome the famine. If that were not enough problems for the Russian president, there is also an extremist faction demanding that Russia go to war with western Europe. And in the midst of all this is an English secret agent posted in Moscow and running a mole. What's more, the nature of his relationship with the mole makes it a complex affair. The climax is staged on the world's largest supertanker, parked somewhere in the North Sea with the captors threatening to release some a million tons of oil into the sea of their condition is not met.
The plot is epic in its sheer magnitude and scope. And the intricate details which come together from the different events playing across multiple continents are quite astounding in the manner in which the author manages to write such complex details, and yet make it quite a riveting read from the start to the end.
]]> Measure What Matters 39286958 The revolutionary movement behind the explosive growth of Intel, Google, Amazon and Uber.
With a foreword by Larry Page, and contributions from Bono and Bill Gates.

Measure What Matters is about using Objectives and Key Results (OKRs), a revolutionary approach to goal-setting, to make tough choices in business.

In 1999, legendary venture capitalist John Doerr invested nearly $12 million in a startup that had amazing technology, entrepreneurial energy and sky-high ambitions, but no real business plan. Doerr introduced the founders to OKRs and with them at the foundation of their management, the startup grew from forty employees to more than 70,000 with a market cap exceeding $600 billion. The startup was Google.

Since then Doerr has introduced OKRs to more than fifty companies, helping tech giants and charities exceed all expectations. In the OKR model objectives define what we seek to achieve and key results are how those top­ priority goals will be attained. OKRs focus effort, foster coordination and enhance workplace satisfaction. They surface an organization's most important work as everyone's goals from entry-level to CEO are transparent to the entire institution.

In Measure What Matters, Doerr shares a broad range of first-person, behind-the-scenes case studies, with narrators including Bono and Bill Gates, to demonstrate the focus, agility, and explosive growth that OKRs have spurred at so many great organizations.

This book will show you how to collect timely, relevant data to track progress - to measure what matters. It will help any organization or team aim high, move fast, and excel.

]]> 299 John Doerr Dharmabum 4
The stories, doubtless meant to inspire, were a bit too much for me and i tended to gloss over them]]> 3.95 2017 Measure What Matters
author: John Doerr
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2021/07/04
date added: 2021/07/04
shelves:
review:
The book gives powerful insights into setting and tracking goals. It also advocates a cultural transformation, to create an environment supporting goal driven work culture that can at the same time be supportive to employees.

The stories, doubtless meant to inspire, were a bit too much for me and i tended to gloss over them
]]> Leadership Is an Art 1251
Leadership Is an Art has long been a must-read not only within the business community but also in professions ranging from academia to medical practices, to the political arena. First published in 1989, the book has sold more than 800,000 copies in hardcover and paperback. This revised edition brings Max De Pree’s timeless words and practical philosophy to a new generation of readers.

De Pree looks at leadership as a kind of stewardship, stressing the importance of building relationships, initiating ideas, and creating a lasting value system within an organization. Rather than focusing on the “hows� of corporate life, he explains the “whys.� He shows that the first responsibility of a leader is to define reality and the last is to say thank you. Along the way, the artful leader

� Stimulate effectiveness by enabling others to reach both their personal potential and their institutional potential

� Take a role in developing, expressing, and defending civility and values

� Nurture new leaders and ensure the continuation of the corporate culture

Leadership Is an Art offers a proven design for achieving success by developing the generous spirit within all of us. Now more than ever, it provides the insights and guidelines leaders in every field need.]]> 148 Max DePree 0385512465 Dharmabum 0 to-read 3.99 1987 Leadership Is an Art
author: Max DePree
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1987
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/06/23
shelves: to-read
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]]> Paths of Glory 10236765
Some people have dreams that are so outrageous that if they were to achieve them, their place in history would be guaranteed. Francis Drake, Robert Scott, Percy Fawcett, Charles Lindbergh, Amy Johnson, Edmund Hilary and Neil Armstrong are among such individuals.

But what if one man had such a dream, and when he’d fulfilled it, there was no proof that he had achieved his ambition?

Paths of Glory is the story of such a man. But not until you’ve turned the last page of this extraordinary novel will you be able to decide if George Mallory should be added to that list of legends, because if he were, another name would have to be removed.]]> 466 Jeffrey Archer 0330504258 Dharmabum 3 The writing is very British, the language simple yet elegant and enjoyable. The plot is simple and revolves pretty much around the life of the protagonist, his early adventures and later on, his attempts to scale the Everest or Goddess Mother of Earth Chomolungma, as he calls it.
The romance between Mallory and his wife Ruth is also captured in all its delicate intimacy. While it makes a great novel, I was a tad disappointed with the space dedicated to Everest, which was only towards the end.]]> 3.79 2009 Paths of Glory
author: Jeffrey Archer
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2009
rating: 3
read at: 2021/06/15
date added: 2021/06/23
shelves:
review:
I've loved the mountains and always fancies climbing some. Never got around to doing it and so the subject is very dear to my heart. I picked this book up because it was supposedly based on George Mallory's life.
The writing is very British, the language simple yet elegant and enjoyable. The plot is simple and revolves pretty much around the life of the protagonist, his early adventures and later on, his attempts to scale the Everest or Goddess Mother of Earth Chomolungma, as he calls it.
The romance between Mallory and his wife Ruth is also captured in all its delicate intimacy. While it makes a great novel, I was a tad disappointed with the space dedicated to Everest, which was only towards the end.
]]> <![CDATA[How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking � for Students, Academics and Nonfiction Book Writers]]> 34507927 The Take Smart Notes principle is based on established psychological insight and draws from a tried and tested note-taking-technique. This is the first comprehensive guide and description of this system in English, and not only does it explain how it works, but also why. It suits students and academics in the social sciences and humanities, nonfiction writers and others who are in the business of reading, thinking and writing.
Instead of wasting your time searching for notes, quotes or references, you can focus on what really thinking, understanding and developing new ideas in writing. It does not matter if you prefer taking notes with pen and paper or on a computer, be it Windows, Mac or Linux. And you can start right away.]]> 178 Sönke Ahrens Dharmabum 0 to-read 4.11 2017 How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking – for Students, Academics and Nonfiction Book Writers
author: Sönke Ahrens
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/06/04
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The New Science of Learning: How to Learn in Harmony With Your Brain]]> 26870073 A path-breaking text for freshman orientation and study skills classes"This is a path-breaking book. Faculties have been learning about how the mind works, and this book spreads the message to students, who need it just as much. More sophisticated and empirically grounded than any study skills manual, this book addresses all the major research findings on how the human brain learns. And it does so using language and examples that students can easily understand and immediately apply to enhance their attention, depth of processing, retention, retrieval, and far-transfer abilities. Plus, each chapter ends with excellent summaries and scholarly references. It deserves to be required reading for all college students—really, anyone interested in learning."?Linda B. Nilson, Director, Office of Teaching Effectiveness and Innovation, Clemson UniversityRecent advances in brain science show that most students� learning strategies are highly inefficient, ineffective or just plain wrong. While all learning requires effort, better learning does not require more effort, but rather effectively aligning how the brain naturally learns with the demands of your studies. This book shows you what is involved in learning new material, how the human brain processes new information, and what it takes for that information to stick with you even after the test.Taking a small amount of time to read and act upon the material in this book will prove to be one of the best decisions you can make as a learner. What you discover will change the way you learn in college and will be helpful in your personal and professional life. You live in a world where you will have to be a lifelong learner, constantly updating your skills and changing jobs to compete in the global marketplace. Most college students today will have as many as 10-14 different jobs by age 38. Learning how to learn in harmony with your brain is crucial to your long-term success.This succinct book explains straightforward strategies for changing how you prepare to learn, engage with your course material, and set about improving recall of newly learned material whenever you need it. This is not another book about study skills and time management strategies, but instead an easy-to-read description of the research about how the human brain learns in a way that you can put into practice right away. [STY LOGO] [TXT LOGO]]]> 181 Terry Doyle Dharmabum 0 to-read 4.07 2013 The New Science of Learning: How to Learn in Harmony With Your Brain
author: Terry Doyle
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/06/04
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning]]> 18770267 Make It Stick turns fashionable ideas like these on their head. Drawing on recent discoveries in cognitive psychology and other disciplines, the authors offer concrete techniques for becoming more productive learners.

Memory plays a central role in our ability to carry out complex cognitive tasks, such as applying knowledge to problems never before encountered and drawing inferences from facts already known. New insights into how memory is encoded, consolidated, and later retrieved have led to a better understanding of how we learn. Grappling with the impediments that make learning challenging leads both to more complex mastery and better retention of what was learned.

Many common study habits and practice routines turn out to be counterproductive. Underlining and highlighting, rereading, cramming, and single-minded repetition of new skills create the illusion of mastery, but gains fade quickly. More complex and durable learning come from self-testing, introducing certain difficulties in practice, waiting to re-study new material until a little forgetting has set in, and interleaving the practice of one skill or topic with another. Speaking most urgently to students, teachers, trainers, and athletes, Make It Stick will appeal to all those interested in the challenge of lifelong learning and self-improvement.]]> 313 Peter C. Brown 0674729013 Dharmabum 0 to-read 4.14 2014 Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning
author: Peter C. Brown
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/06/04
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]]> Calico Joe 13622454 246 John Grisham 1444757180 Dharmabum 5 This is the story of a father and a son, and the relationship is not even close to pleasant. The father is a drunk and a womaniser. He is violent against his wife and son. His personality is such that almost nobody likes him, yet he is so confident of himself that he is oblivious to others presence in his life and their needs - or so it seems. Towards the end, he knows he knows with certainty that he would die and very soon. Does he do something to redeem himself, on whatever small way? How does his son react to all this, from his childhood to the present, when he himself is a father of two young children? That is what this story is about.
The characters are powerfully etched, the emotional tussles very real and raw. All this is set against American in the 70's , being the past, and thirty years later, with a lot of baseball. The technicalities of the game found me struggling. Even though I tried hard, I couldn't fully grasp the game, despite the comprehensive introduction to the sport the author later added. I didn't let that bit bother me though.]]> 3.53 2012 Calico Joe
author: John Grisham
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2021/06/04
date added: 2021/06/04
shelves:
review:
I've had an interesting relationship with my father. As a kid, I hardly got to spend time with him. On regular days, he would be working overtime and in unpredictable hours, given he was a doctor. I remember him then as an angry person, very particular about how things ought to be done. And I, as kid, would be tempted to do the things I had been forbidden against. Naturally, he would find out and the consequences weren't exactly pleasant. Later, as I grew up, I realised that he was growing more and more open in many things, especially when it came to me. I don't know if it is a consequence of having a rebellious kid or just age. At the same time, he was also growing increasing fastidious with a few other things - he would not change his ways and that would trouble me. Looking back, I don't hold grudges against him. Our relationship over time has matured into something very beautiful. And despite the very deep differences we may have on some issues, we know that we can count on each other.
This is the story of a father and a son, and the relationship is not even close to pleasant. The father is a drunk and a womaniser. He is violent against his wife and son. His personality is such that almost nobody likes him, yet he is so confident of himself that he is oblivious to others presence in his life and their needs - or so it seems. Towards the end, he knows he knows with certainty that he would die and very soon. Does he do something to redeem himself, on whatever small way? How does his son react to all this, from his childhood to the present, when he himself is a father of two young children? That is what this story is about.
The characters are powerfully etched, the emotional tussles very real and raw. All this is set against American in the 70's , being the past, and thirty years later, with a lot of baseball. The technicalities of the game found me struggling. Even though I tried hard, I couldn't fully grasp the game, despite the comprehensive introduction to the sport the author later added. I didn't let that bit bother me though.
]]> The Kill List 18241625 395 Frederick Forsyth 0552169323 Dharmabum 3 3.53 2013 The Kill List
author: Frederick Forsyth
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at: 2021/05/30
date added: 2021/05/30
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Hard Way (Jack Reacher, #10)]]> 383028
Lane runs a highly illegal soldiers-for-hire operation. He will use any tool to find his beautiful wife and child. And Jack Reacher is the best manhunter in the world.

On the trail of vicious kidnappers, Reacher learns the chilling secrets of his employer’s past . . . and of a horrific drama in the heart of a nasty little war. He knows that Edward Lane is hiding something. Something dirty. Something big. But Reacher also knows He’s already in way too deep to stop now. And if he has to do it the hard way, he will.]]> 384 Lee Child 0385336691 Dharmabum 2 4.13 2006 The Hard Way (Jack Reacher, #10)
author: Lee Child
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2006
rating: 2
read at: 2021/05/27
date added: 2021/05/27
shelves:
review:
The initial parts made me feel the plot development was laboured, it didn't hold my attention. I have watched one of the movies first, so I knew in general what I was getting into and my expectations were not far off mark. You could kill time with such a book but that's it.
]]> <![CDATA[Planet Palm: How Palm Oil Ended Up in Everything � And Endangered the World]]> 56327125
James Beard Award–winning journalist Jocelyn C. Zuckerman spent years traveling the globe, from Liberia to Indonesia, India to Brazil, reporting on the human and environmental impacts of this poorly understood plant. The result is Planet Palm, a riveting account blending history, science, politics, and food as seen through the people whose lives have been upended by this hidden ingredient. This groundbreaking work of first-rate journalism compels us to examine the connections between the choices we make at the grocery store and a planet under siege.]]> 339 Jocelyn C. Zuckerman 1620975238 Dharmabum 0 to-read 3.93 2021 Planet Palm: How Palm Oil Ended Up in Everything — And Endangered the World
author: Jocelyn C. Zuckerman
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/05/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Narcissus and Goldmund 9777197 315 Hermann Hesse Dharmabum 0 to-read 4.36 1930 Narcissus and Goldmund
author: Hermann Hesse
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.36
book published: 1930
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/05/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains]]> 9778945 Atlantic Monthly cover story, he tapped into a well of anxiety about how the Internet is changing us. He also crystallized one of the most important debates of our time: As we enjoy the Net’s bounties, are we sacrificing our ability to read and think deeply?

Now, Carr expands his argument into the most compelling exploration of the Internet’s intellectual and cultural consequences yet published. As he describes how human thought has been shaped through the centuries by “tools of the mind”—from the alphabet to maps, to the printing press, the clock, and the computer—Carr interweaves a fascinating account of recent discoveries in neuroscience by such pioneers as Michael Merzenich and Eric Kandel. Our brains, the historical and scientific evidence reveals, change in response to our experiences. The technologies we use to find, store, and share information can literally reroute our neural pathways.

Building on the insights of thinkers from Plato to McLuhan, Carr makes a convincing case that every information technology carries an intellectual ethic—a set of assumptions about the nature of knowledge and intelligence. He explains how the printed book served to focus our attention, promoting deep and creative thought. In stark contrast, the Internet encourages the rapid, distracted sampling of small bits of information from many sources. Its ethic is that of the industrialist, an ethic of speed and efficiency, of optimized production and consumption—and now the Net is remaking us in its own image. We are becoming ever more adept at scanning and skimming, but what we are losing is our capacity for concentration, contemplation, and reflection.

Part intellectual history, part popular science, and part cultural criticism, The Shallows sparkles with memorable vignettes—Friedrich Nietzsche wrestling with a typewriter, Sigmund Freud dissecting the brains of sea creatures, Nathaniel Hawthorne contemplating the thunderous approach of a steam locomotive—even as it plumbs profound questions about the state of our modern psyche. This is a book that will forever alter the way we think about media and our minds.]]> 280 Nicholas Carr 0393339750 Dharmabum 5 3.90 2010 The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains
author: Nicholas Carr
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2010
rating: 5
read at: 2015/01/15
date added: 2021/05/24
shelves:
review:
It describes in great detail what may be happening to our brains. The book quotes extensive research and is a revelation! It is also written in a style that makes it a compelling read!
]]> <![CDATA[The Difficulty of Being Good: On the Subtle Art of Dharma]]> 6971900
The Mahabharata is obsessed with the elusive notion of dharma - in essence, doing the right thing. When a hero falters, the action stops and everyone weighs in with a different and often contradictory take on dharma. The epic's characters are flawed, but their incoherent experiences throw light on our familiar dilemmas.

Gurcharan Das's best-selling book India Unbound examined the classical aim of artha, material well being. This, his first book in seven years, dwells on the goal of dharma, moral well being. It addresses the central problem of how to live our lives in an examined way - holding a mirror up to us and forcing us to confront the many ways in which we deceive ourselves and others. What emerges is a doctrine of dharma that we can apply to our business decisions, political strategies and interpersonal relationships - in effect, to life itself.]]> 488 Gurcharan Das 0670083496 Dharmabum 3 4.11 2009 The Difficulty of Being Good: On the Subtle Art of Dharma
author: Gurcharan Das
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2009
rating: 3
read at: 2014/08/08
date added: 2021/05/24
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]]> <![CDATA[My Brain is Open: The Mathematical Journeys of Paul Erdős]]> 804079 Witty and filled with the sort of mathematical puzzles that intrigued Erdős and continue to fascinate mathematicians today, My Brain Is Open is the story of this strange genius and a journey in his footsteps through the world of mathematics, where universal truths await discovery like hidden treasures and where brilliant proofs are poetry.]]> 224 Bruce Schechter 0684859807 Dharmabum 5 4.22 1998 My Brain is Open: The Mathematical Journeys of Paul Erdős
author: Bruce Schechter
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1998
rating: 5
read at: 2014/04/06
date added: 2021/05/24
shelves:
review:
Picked it up at the library at my workplace. I am still a fan of reading physical (as opposed to electronic) books. The introduction mentions, among other things, that the Erdos (read 'airdish') has authored 1500 papers, his love for India and his itinerant lifestyle. And that was enough to get me to pick it up.
]]> Christine 10629
Elle aime les sensations fortes, les virées nocturnes et le rock n'roll des années héroïques. Depuis qu'elle connaît Arnie, elle est amoureuse. Signe particulier : Christine est une Plymouth « Fury », sortie en 1958 des ateliers automobiles de Detroit.

Une seule rivale en travers de sa route : Leigh, la petite amie d'Arnie�
Ce roman légendaire de Stephen King, rythmé par la musique de Chuck Berry et de Janis Joplin, a déjà pris place parmi les classiques de l'épouvante.]]> 411 Stephen King 2253147699 Dharmabum 5 3.85 1983 Christine
author: Stephen King
name: Dharmabum
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1983
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2021/05/24
shelves:
review:

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