Peerless Minds: An Arc of Achievement

by Pritish Nandy

'Peerless Minds brings together the finest minds that sustain India as a riveting and relentless idea. The exceptional life stories featured in this book reaffirm the truth that the luckiest of nations are the ones that continue to be rebuilt and reimagined by peerless minds.'

S. PRASANNARAJAN, Editor, Open magazine

Three Nobel Prize winners. Two Bharat Ratnas. Three Knights of the British Empire. A Pulitzer Prize winner. A two-time Best of the Bookers winner. An Abel Prize winner. A Pritzker Prize winner. A Fields Medallist. Two Fukuoka Prize winners. A Turner Prize winner. Two Praemium Imperiale recipients. A double Academy Award winner. Many Padma Vibhushans and Padma Bhushans.

But that is not why these people are really here. They are here because they, as Indians and people of Indian origin, have had extraordinary achievements and have inspired, each in their own way, a generation of Indians.

Here you will find, among others, economist Amartya Sen; authors V.S. Naipaul, Salman Rushdie; mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik; philanthropist Azim Premji; mathematician Manjul Bhargava; from the world of music, Annapurna Devi, Lata Mangeshkar and Zubin Mehta; industrialist Ratan Tata; sculptor Anish Kapoor; architect Balkrishna Doshi; spymaster A.S. Dulat; historian Irfan Habib; Michelin-starred chef Vikas Khanna; poet Javed Akhtar; and stand-up comic Hasan Minhaj. In conversation with them are authors and journalists such as James Astill, Prannoy Roy, Vir Sanghvi, Aatish Taseer, Shereen Bhan, Karan Mahajan, Rajdeep Sardesai, Khalid Mohamed, Priya Khanchandani, Indu Bhan and Anil Dharker.

A fascinating collection of long-form interviews with some of the greatest minds and biggest achievers of our time, Peerless Minds is a book to be cherished and preserved.

Genres: India, Nonfiction

500 pages, Hardcover

Published August 5, 2019

About the author

Pritish Nandy was an Indian poet, painter, journalist, parliamentarian, media and television personality, animal activist and maker of films, TV and streaming content. He was a parliamentarian in the Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra, elected on a ticket from the Shiv Sena. He authored forty books of poetry in English and translated poems by other writers from Bengali, Urdu and Punjabi into English as well as a new version of the Isha Upanishad. Apart from these, he authored books of stories and non fiction as well as three books of translations of classical love poetry from Sanskrit. He was the Publishing Director of The Times of India Group and Editor of The Illustrated Weekly of India, The Independent, and Filmfare in the 1980s, all simultaneously. He held six exhibitions of his paintings and calligraphy. He founded Pritish Nandy Communications Ltd, the content company, in 1993. He also founded People for Animals, India's first animal rights NGO which is currently run by co-founder Maneka Gandhi as chairperson.

Reviews

[Udit Nair · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is a compilation of interviews of doyens of their own field. I thoroughly enjoyed reading through majority of the interviews. The only connecting link was that all the people interviewed are either Indians or atleast have Indian ancestry. It was a refreshing perspective to see how different people view the idea of India. Although not much was explored along this line but still it was a enjoying read.

I totally liked the diversity of the compilation. Like for one moment I am reading about the intricacies of music and suddenly it's about macroeconomics and then it's about mythology or history per say. Some personalities were really very engaging and some were more shielded. But it's kind of impossible to get uniformity of questions or ideas because even the interviewers were different for different personalities.

Another advantage was that one can read the book without being stringent about the serial order. Also this book can be read in between other books too because each interview is a separate entity and independent of others.

[Heena Rathore Rathore-Pardeshi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peerless Minds by Pritish Nandy is a motivational non-fiction book that is a brilliant and inspiring book especially when one needs a little 'pick-me-up.' This book is full of interviews with various brightest minds of India and is full of their individual journeys, struggles, dilemmas, etc throughout their lives and careers. 

A must-read for everyone.

You can also read this review on www.thereadingbud.com

[E.T. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a compilation of interviews of just the right-size - 15-25 pages of Indians and people of Indian origins from a variety of fields. And by a variety of interviewers.
The best interviews were - VS Naipaul, Salman Rushdie, Azim Premji, Dr.Farokh Udwadia, Raghuram Rajan, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Vikas Khanna (more of an essay), Hasan Minhaj, Javed Akhtar and the superb non-interview of Sachin Tendulkar by James Astill. Astill was also the best interviewer.
A v.good read that deserves much more than the sorry 21 ratings on goodreads. Also reminded of the superb The Caravan Book of Profiles which met the same fate sadly.
PS:- A Marxist is just a mirror-image of a Nazi and I was chuckling at Irfan Habib shouting Fascism, Fascism repeatedly. Oh the irony of it ! :)

[Gunjan | Bookworm Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Peerless Minds: An arc of achievement is edited by Pritish Nandy and Tapan Chaki and it contains 31 interviews of some of the talented and finest minds of out times, all of them from Indian roots irrespective of where they live now.

It has ideas and philosophies by poets, singers, businessmen, CEO, actors, writers and many more other professions and it brings together different ideologies and beliefs and of course their struggle and the remarkable things they have achieved.

I like watching interviews of people whose work I have seen and someone who I admire and I really look forward to contemplate their way of thinking, how they articulate their thoughts, how quirky and witty they can be and this book did offered me some insight into the world of these renowned people but I wouldn't say that it let me help understand them on a personal level.

Some interviews were so vague and the sudden break and indifference between one question and another would just put me off and some questions were just too dumb to be even asked at the first place and I had to skimmed through some of the interviews.

But I loved interviews of Siddharth Murkherjee, Ratan Tata, Lata Mangeshkar, Hasan Minhaj, Raghuram Rajan, Ramachandra Guha and Satya Nadella. These interviews were interesting and they felt more genuine than the others. I was enjoying Devdutt Pattanaik's interview too but at a point it turned into a book about mythology more than a interview.

Overall, it was a okay read and I did enjoy some interviews thoroughly. If you are someone who just loves reading interviews, you can go for it.

[Chittajit Mitra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved reading some of the chapters while some were actually a drag but that might be because of my interest in the interviewees.

[Amit Verma · Rating 4 out of 5]

.There are few legends among us, who slowly became legends from normal beings and even after they have achieved greatness; they still keep striving to be at higher realms of greatness.
.🏃🚶🏃🚶🏃
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This book lets you have a personal encounter with such greats and to have briefl glimpse into their great minds.
In the process there are great insights and lessons to gain here .
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Book is divided into chapters with each interview in few pages.
At the start there is adorable picture of personality. Then comes their background right from the time when they were like you and me. Then comes their views on very important aspects of life. Then comes contemporary circumstances and how they envision our life in future.
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I liked interviews of Satya nadella, Ratan Tata, Sir V S Nsipaul, Sir Salman Rushdie, Dr Udwadia and Mr Irfan Habib.
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Interviews are professional ; consice, crisp and inquisitive. They reveal more than legends would have liked to reveal. But Pritish Nandy and others touch depths of their psyche frequently.
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What I didn't like there being deliberate attempt to introduce politics everywhere. In particular there is subtle criticism of RSS and Modi at certain points.
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. Businessmen and non political celebrities have wonderfully evaded sensitive questions very intelligently.
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I dont understand how Devdutt Patnaik could make to this elite list. Anybody who does not read mythology, he is just another name.
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A Very good collection of interviews and there is a lot of information about how great minds respond to difficult questions.

[Craartology · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peerless Minds is an educative non-fiction comprising of interviews of “Peerless” or unequalled minds of specific professional streams. The book has 31 fantastic achievers of Indian origin who have made a mark worldwide with the skill and excellence they project in their said field of work. They talk about the inspiration, passion, struggles and journey professionally.

Intriguing facts and findings about these lovely souls are not only inspiring but also very relatable in many instances. While there’s no substitute for hard work there isn’t any for deference either and that’s a quality of an honest achiever which reflects in every interview I’ve read.

It’s hard for me to pick one favourite interview for the wisdom every journey entails.

Read this book if you are somebody who would like to know some amazing life lessons by these amazing minds. It is all a great choice if you are not someone who prefers memoirs this book gives you insights into 31 different lives! What more could you ask for?!

A lovely fact about this book: All editor royalties earned from this book will be donated to charity.

[Wanderingg__soul · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brilliant collection of interviews with some of the greatest minds and biggest achievers of our times.
There are 31 interviews in total and each one is exceptional in its own way.

Every single word of this book is an inspiration, the people chosen to be presented through this book and their work is definitely remarkable.

We can find among others, economist Amartya Sen; authors V.S. Naipaul, Salman Rushdie; mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik; philanthropist Azim Premji; mathematician Manjul Bhargava; from the world of music, Annapurna Devi, Lata Mangeshkar and Zubin Mehta; industrialist Ratan Tata; sculptor Anish Kapoor; architect Balkrishna Doshi; spymaster A.S. Dulat; historian Irfan Habib; Michelin-starred chef Vikas Khanna; poet Javed Akhtar; and stand-up comic Hasan Minhaj.

All these interviews motivate us to go get our dreams and work hard for what we love. Nothing comes easy in life, but at the same time if you really want it, there's nothing that can stop you!

Definitely recommended!

[Solitude and books · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely a wonderful book one can have  in your collection. This book is a set of long interviews of some very eminent and greatly successful people from India.33 Interviews are there of some eminent personalities. Authors like Annapurna Devi, Toshani doshi , Salman rushdi of field prize, Nobel Peace Prize , Padma bhusan , Academy Award winners like  Manjul Bharat , VS Naipaul , Kailash Satyarthi  to CEOs of Global giants like Sundar Pichai Satya nadella , Crickets like Sachin Tendulkar ,  Two world famous  industrialists like Mr Ratan Tata , Azeem Premji who are also  greatly known  to be philanthropists have been interviewed by journalists and through these long detailed interviews we , at a glance get to  read about  the circumstances that shaped them into what they are today.I specially liked reading about Ratan Tata , Azim Premji , Manjul Bhargava and Satyarthi Kailash. Very inspiring they are ,  these interviews not only enrich our knowledge about their background and achievements but also helps us feel encouraged to do our parts as a person , feel proud of our land shaping such bright minds , go towards our dreams so we can also  play an effective role for a bright future of our world.  

[Avinash Pandey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here goes again a compendium of Indian achievers narrating their tale of how they levitated to supra-human performances. I found this book similar to ' DEFINING INDIA' by Sonia Singh, with few biographies overlapping among the two. However, few celebrated personalities e.g .Siddharth Mukherjee ( Emperor of all Maladies, fame) sounded too recluse and snobbish while another few worked in fields too obscure to be relevant among contemporary audience. However, its worth a read once

[Jenish Patel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good collection of the interviews with done great minds. Each conversation is insightful and informative. The creators has done a good job here by creating a book as an window to some of the inspirational minds.

[Tomy Mathew · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the longest Audible title I have listened so far. This title is really informative and opened the doors of some hitherto unknown stories and experiences of many notable individuals who were masters in their fields.

[Arth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has enough motivation to make you work towards your passion, examples from many hereos from diverse fields which makes it worth it