Indian Readers discussion

Pl feel free to comment on any Non fiction book which you have read and liked..They can be Management books, Human Behaviour books, books on Spirituality, health - whatever is your subject of interest

I recently read a book called "The art of choosing" by Sheena Iyenger. She had done lot of research/ studies on how people make choices..I found it pretty interesting...if you are interested in reading books on Human behaviour, you might like it

The Art of Choosing - Sheena Iyengar

Creative Visualization: Use the Power of Your Imagination to Create What You Want in Your Life

I liked this book... if not anythign else, atleast i started thinkign positively

The Motorcycle Diaries: Notes on a Latin American Journey - Ernesto Guevara

One of my all time favourite. Knowing about the reasons which made him a revolutionist and also the places, people and lifestyle of Latin America in 1950s are really amazing.

Anbu wrote: "The Motorcycle Diaries: Notes on a Latin American Journey - Ernesto Guevara

One of my all time favourite. Knowing about the reasons which made him a revolutionist ..."

LOVELY BOOK AND LOVELY PERSON I must say.It was great reading that one.

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
Who Moved My Cheese?
MEN WHO KILLED GANDHI


Loved Three Cups of Tea until the recent scandal.. :(

Mansee wrote: "I recently read a book called "The art of choosing" by Sheena Iyenger. She had done lot of research/ studies on how people make choices..I found it pretty interesting...if you are interested in re..."

It seems interesting.
Is she a relative of this Iyengar? Or is it only a very common surname?

dely wrote: "Mansee wrote: "I recently read a book called "The art of choosing" by Sheena Iyenger. She had done lot of research/ studies on how people make choices..I found it pretty interesting...if you are i..."

It's a common surname Dely. In India most surnames are by their castes. So you can't conclude they are relatives by surnames, you can only know the caste of those persons are same.

Anbu wrote: "It's a common surname Dely. In India most surnames are by their castes. So you can't conclude they are relatives by surnames, you can only know the caste of those persons are same. "

I didn't know this, thanks.

Im not too sure on that Dely..

am reading The Glass Castlenow. Its an autobiography and is so incredibly written that I am hooked to it

m currently reading ILLUSIONS(the adventures of a reluctant messiah) by richard bach.....

" Argue for ur limitations and you get to keep them "
its from the book....

@ Amit - thats a nice quote/ thought ; will hv to read the book!

Non fiction... Are biographies n auto biographies undr dis category? The best i read are its nt all abt d bike - lance armstrng and i dare - kiran bedi. Even made in japan - sony and the google story are interestng!

Yep- bios and auto bios fall under this category,..."not without my bike" by armstrong was def a good read and so was the sony story...I have a feeling u might even enjoy the autobiography by Richard Branson

"It Happened in India" by Kishore Biyani with Dipayan Baishya. A must read for every entrepreneur.

Mansee wrote: "Yep- bios and auto bios fall under this category,..."not without my bike" by armstrong was def a good read and so was the sony story...I have a feeling u might even enjoy the autobiography by Richa..."

Just found the right name It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life. Also he wrote one more: Every Second Counts - haven't read this. Yes, SONY story is awesome!

Richard Branson's has got some cheesy title..don't remember ... haa - here it is: Losing My Virginity: How I've Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way yet to read this.

@Upender, Biyani is the Future group guy??

Glass House by Jeanette Walls was just too good

@Adz: yes,you're ryt. He is know as India's "King Of Retail"

But does that hold good now? I don't see any of the future group establishments doing good now, i mean pantaloons, big bazaar, brand factory, they are all in such decrepit buildings, the environment inside is so stinking horrible! It's been ages since i dared to go into one of those buildings! Maybe from the business point of view, they might be more than "breaking-even" by cutting down on the investment to clean-up the premises. They are like short-term wonders!

"Future group" target group is middle and upper middle class customers and they are really doing well.There is a reason behind the store layouts of these stores and KB(KISHORE BIYANI) calls it as "Butt and brush theory" (ie one's butt brushes other generally in a bazaar).He feels that Indian's like to shop in crowd and therefore the stores look so messy.

Even i was startled when iv been to big bazaar(Tarnaka) where in the sales personnel were selling the bedsheets same as they sell on roads by shouting buy one get one free.. and more over the trail rooms stink..:(

The Snow Leopard by Peter Mathiessen written back in the mid 1970s in which author narrates his experiences accompanying a biologist friend on an expedition in the Himalayas. While walking over high moutain trails he contemplates his life in the context of the recent death of his wife, drawing on his experiences as a practicing Buddhist and making interesting comparisons between Easten religions like Hinduism and Buddhism and those of the traditional spiritual practices of the American Indians. Mathiessen has a gift for encapsulating large ideas in digestable sentences.

Future group has opened another brand of outlets..not sure whether it ahs started in south but has in teh west...Mumbai central/ vadodara central/ surat central...they are catering to a wider class ..and looks like they r being recd well...(atleast now!)

@mansee: centralis in hyd too.e-zone,food bazaar,home town are other formats of future group.Iv heard that they have 21 formats.. (im not sure abt it).

might be...considering he is all over the place...

If anyone hasn't read My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell , I recommend it to all of you. Just completed it, and loved it so much. It's an autobiographical account of the childhood the author spent in the Greek island of Corfu (in 1930s I guess).

Well, I have to love the title Harsha.

Craig wrote: "Well, I have to love the title Harsha."
And you'll love the book too, I am sure...:) Well, the author was an environmentalist, and as a ten year old he used to pick up random animals on his strolls through the island and take them home, hence the title.

I see. His house must have been a rather interesting place and his parents very tolerating and patient with a son who would come home with all kinds of fauna.

Have you guys read Black skin, White Masks by Frantz Fanon? Good read. Offers quite an insight into the psychology of the people colonized under the French rule in the 1950s. Still relevant to this day, I'd say.

Mansee wrote: "I recently read a book called "The art of choosing" by Sheena Iyenger. She had done lot of research/ studies on how people make choices..I found it pretty interesting...if you are interested in re..."

I bought a personal copy and havent read it since!! (It was my last salary and I spent the most I have ever on anything my life. I havent read any of the books since!)
But if you liked it, Dan Ariely is bound to interest you, especially "Predictably irrational" as would "Fooled by Randomness" which though is slightly more mathematical

Sherin wrote: "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
Who Moved My Cheese?
MEN WHO KILLED GANDHI


Loved [book:Three Cups of Tea|3788053..."

Freakanomics is indeed a brilliant book! The followup "Superfreakonomics" is again a book a book I own but havent read.

'Who moved my cheese" was deceptively simple. But it was a bit. (Now dont ask me how. I read it nearly 5 years back and there did not seem much worth retaining, though i was overall left cognitively dissonant)

Chintan wrote: "i think big bazaar is india's answer to Wall-Mart.
agreed it is not very luxurious but it's doing great business,a visit to one of the outlets on a weekend would be ample proof."

Big Bazaar is indeed all about low cost Chintan. And it makes absolute business sense in a cost conscious market like India. When you are competing at that scale almost noone can compete with you.
Smaller players like Shoppers Stop obviously have no choice but to work on differentiation, experiental richness and a bit of niche markets

OOps...I am getting the feeling i turned this into a case study! :( Apologies

Simply Fly : Guys, this is autobiography of the man who founded deccan airways, it's a must read. I have read lance armstrong's auto-bio and this one comes close .......

Blink : And this one is about how first impressions work, and how they are almost invariably better than detailed analysis. Loved it.

most of arundhati roy's non fictional works are just eye opening and deal with the crude truth written so immaculately explaining every point explicitly.

My favorite type of non-fiction books are unsurprisingly (given my interests) those on cinema, some by film directors themselves, others by critics on certain film makers.

I was recently browsing through a store near MG Road in B'lore (it's called Blossom bookstore, I think) and chanced upon an interview with Mrinal Sen, called "over the years". Excellent read, even though he severely criticizes Ritwik Ghatak (who happens to be my favorite Indian film director, and one of my all time favorites). And speaking of Ghatak, his book Cinema & I is also very interesting. Some of his ideas here seem very vague, though that only highlights why he turned to cinema to best communicate his thoughts and vision... :)

Donald Richie's book on Kurosawa, and Maureen Turin's on Nagisa Oshima, titled "Images of a Japanese Iconoclast" are others which are fascinating, especially if one is familiar with the works of the respective artists.

Hriday wrote: "Mansee wrote: "I recently read a book called "The art of choosing" by Sheena Iyenger. She had done lot of research/ studies on how people make choices..I found it pretty interesting...if you are i..."

Hey thanks Hriday...both are on my "to read: list now....after im done with other 3 similar books lined b4 :)

Mansee wrote: "Pl feel free to comment on any Non fiction book which you have read and liked..They can be Management books, Human Behaviour books, books on Spirituality, health - whatever is your subject of interest"


Can't we just differentiate Self help/Motivational books from The non fiction section? It doesn't fit in the picture somehow.

Ahmed wrote: "most of arundhati roy's non fictional works are just eye opening and deal with the crude truth written so immaculately explaining every point explicitly."

Ms. Roy's non fiction writings are just a sham.

Freedom at Midnight

The best non fiction ever written about India.

Siddharth wrote: "Freedom at Midnight

The best non fiction ever written about India."

I am always vary of reading India's history written by foreign authors. Most of these books are not telling the full account of what happened on that time.

Anbu wrote: "Siddharth wrote: "Freedom at Midnight

The best non fiction ever written about India."

I am always vary of reading India's history written by foreign authors. Most of these books..."


Well, I do trust them more than the JNU based, Kurta clad Nehruvian, marxist, left leaning authors like the Romila Thapars and Irfan Habibs.

Siddharth wrote: "Well, I do trust them more than the JNU based, Kurta clad Nehruvian, marxist, left leaning authors like the Romila Thapars and Irfan Habibs."

The problem with us is we believe foreigners more than our own people. :(.. Not only in history, but in all..

Why I say Im vary of them is the simple fact that their writings are more inclined towards British point of view. One example is the depiction of 1857 Freedom struggle gone down in history as a Mutiny due to religious reasons.

Most of them portrays, we are together as a single country only because of British rule whereas the real fact is we are now three different countries because of them.

I am not blaming them as they got the most of their inputs from the British authorities and those Indians who worked for British..

Anbu wrote: "Siddharth wrote: "Well, I do trust them more than the JNU based, Kurta clad Nehruvian, marxist, left leaning authors like the Romila Thapars and Irfan Habibs."

The problem with us is we believe ..."

Brother, I agree that they are a bit biased towards their master, but that's the case with every historian. Even Romila Thapar and others are biased towards their leftist masters. Remember Rajendra Yadav? He is the biggest Hindu hater you will ever see. History is never unbiased,though I would still say that foreigners do have some neutral view because they are outsiders.And its not like that every foreigner has criticized the Indian culture and Ethics. Do read Will Durant's The case for India. Its good.

Siddharth wrote: "Freedom at Midnight

The best non fiction ever written about India."

I've read and liked it.

Chintan wrote: "Siddharth wrote: "Ahmed wrote: "most of arundhati roy's non fictional works are just eye opening and deal with the crude truth written so immaculately explaining every point explicitly."

Ms. Roy..."

Ms. Suzanne Arundhati Roy is clad in literary robes but her real motive is to bash Indian culture. She is against everything that is pro nationalist.

Siddharth wrote: "History is never unbiased..."

Agree. That is why I prefer to read the books biased towards Indians than British.. :)

Siddharth wrote: "Do read Will Durant's The case for India. Its good."

Will Do.. Thanks for recommendation.. :)

Anbu wrote: "Siddharth wrote: "History is never unbiased..."

Agree. That is why I prefer to read the books biased towards Indians than British.. :)

Siddharth wrote: "Do read Will Durant's The case for Ind..."

My Pleasure,brother.. :)

@Siddharth: I cannot agree being leftist is against Indian culture. We cannot comment about lotta things like her maoists stands etc., Coz., we do not know the reality or backgroud of maoist struggle.

If political leaders can speak about anything they want for the sake of winning elections why can't she speaks about what she think is right? After all we are a democratic country, aren't we?

Having said that, I agree with Chintan on Armchair activist. I havnt heard much of action from her. Only the speeches/writings. Even there she is not ready to state openly what she think is right. I've read an interview of her where she was very careful that none her words would land her in trouble..