SBenegaL

Category: book reviews

  • Inventing Medical Devices: A Perspective from India – Dr Jagdish Chaturvedi

    I just finished reading this book by my friend – Dr Jagdish Chaturvedi around a week back. I found the book well written and easy to read, specifically targeting the aspiring entrepreneur in India interested in MedTech innovation.

    I met Jagdish in 2011 when he was working on his first innovation for the Indian market. He then went to the Stanford Biotech program and joined InnAccel which where he has been doing impactful work.

    The book though written by his experience, seems has a strong academic underpinning (given that I am student of innovation and entrepreneurship, I could relate the recommendations to the strong academic underpinning). The MedTech process suggested by Jagdish reflects close resemblance to the user driven innovation that Von Hippen has been talking and debating about.

    Jagdish in the book has not just shared his experience, but has compiled a very good resource that aspiring entrepreneurs can refer to and seek guidance from. The simplistic writing and the case studies which help the reader relate to the context of the discussion and highlight the issue discussed in the chapters well. Though there are some spelling errors, this is a handy guide to aspiring MedTech entrepreneurs. I would recommend reading this book before starting in the MedTech space.

    You can purchase the book at: http://www.amazon.in/Inventing-Medical-Devices-Perspective-India/dp/1519467184

  • Regional Advantage: Culture and Competition in Silicon Valley and Route 128 – AnnaLee Saxenian

    I just finished reading this book by AnnaLee Saxenian! This was the first time I was reading a book that compares two of the regions I have been reading about in my coursework as part of the PhD program. Annalee builds an interesting argument which I could relate with closely to the time frame she has described in the book with the shift in the perspective in academics too.

    When O. Williamson was building his theory of the transaction cost economics early in the 1970, the world around him was speaking about the large monolithic organization. The question asked was thus – which activities would the venture internalize (vertically integrated) and which of these activities would not be integrated. When the dominance of these large firms in the upcoming technology sectors, was challenges – the question that Annalee raises is gains prominence. What has lead the Route 128 based firms to loose their predominance, while the firms in the silicon valley successfully adapted to the change in the situation around them.

    She theorizes the role of the network form of organization, the role played by the underlying social network which helped manage the interdependencies and accelerated movement of relevant information from learning that the members in the network developed.

    I love this book not just for the insights it generated from the evolution of the two regions, but also for the underlying mechanisms that were she gets to the fore.
    If you are interested in understanding the evolution of these innovation clusters this is a good book to start with. Read it!

  • Follwership – Barbara Kellerman

    An average book, no great insights. Sort of boring, and heavy read!
    The concept of followership and its interpretation itself was found to be difficult possibly since we have discussed about leadership all along the way thus far. 
    Brief summary of the book below

  • How to Solve the Crisis of Mismanagement – Ichak Adizes

    Read this book as part of a course during my FPM course. An excellent book!
    This I would say is a must read for any business/organization consultant or wannabe business/organization consultants. I made a short presentation – embedded below

  • Bhaag! by Ganesh V

    I just finished reading “Bhaag!” by a first time author – Ganesh V. I met Ganesh at IIMB-NSRCEL when he mentioned about the book he had written on Student entrepreneurs. I offered to write a review and he was kind enough to send me a copy of the book.

    It has been an interesting attempt to look at bugging entrepreneurs from colleges across India and across different sectors. It is definitely the first of such an attempt in the space of student entrepreneurs in India – kudos! I loved the Bio-tech story in the set the most and     I am a
    bit skeptical of the inclusion of the “Nurturing Green” story as I think
    it doesn’t fit with the remaining set of stories.

    What I liked about the book?
    • The channelization of energy
    • The focus of mentoring by the faculty of colleges
    • The support of various B-Plan programs across the country
    What I could like to see different in the book?
    • Font! Man the font is so small – couldn’t it have been bigger?
    • Some elements of the narration! Looks like the Ganesh also wanted him to be part of the effort (this is my personal opinion: let us focus on the subjects instead of how you went about asking them!)
    • Could have included a set of key pointers for the enterprising students who would seek to go enter entrepreneurship – the how element. (Resources: I am not too sure if these are the only ones – there are many more and some really interesting ones. I guess Ganesh could have done a better job on this)
    What I think could be a good continuation?
    Being one of a research mindset, it would be inapt to think of letting the new set of cases go off without tracking over a longer period of time. This could lead to a lot of interesting insights into entrepreneurship.

  • The Shiva Trilogy by Amish

    I just completed reading the Shiva Trilogy by Amish (all the three parts in less than 3 weeks – an achievement my standards who doesn’t read much of fiction!). I must admit – the narration was extremely gripping and I just finished one part after another – Hats off!

    All three books:
    1. Immortals of Meluha
    2. The Secret of the Nagas
    3. The Oath of the Vayuputhras
    I found them equally engaging as a reader.
    If you are open to reading a story that plays on your existing associations that we do with the various gods that we have – this series is for your. Read it if you enjoy thinking on these lines. For someone who is looking for facts to support the line of thinking – you might not enjoy the fiction.

  • Seek – Rakesh Godhwani

    I completed reading Rakesh‘s book on career choices – Seek a few minutes back, and as is my habit – here is my review.
    Here is what I liked about the book:
    • The structure of the book – he covers each of the cases (as I call them) and takes care of the most commonly aspired sectors for an MBA student.
    •  Mistakes were highlighted too – it makes it more real life, that we see people making mistakes
    • Subtly highlighting the role an alumni plays as a mentor to the those in dilemma (builds a case for many colleges to strengthen their alumni network)
    • Highlighted the existence of naysayer and their influence in every cases. These people have stood their ground.
    What else I would have liked to see in the book:
    • Could have also included not IIM cases – that would potentially increase the audience to which one could reach out to
    • How about Non-MBA (some where I felt the book could have included a few cases of those who managed career transitions without an MBA – could have been a more generic learning for the readers – and there by making the recommendations more generic. MBA itself gives the breadth to adapt and hence may act as a cushion of sorts – should readers believe that an MBA become necessary for career shifts?)
    • How should one learn from mistakes could have also been added – may not be the subject of this book and hence excluded. But it would be good to help people learn  how to course correct.
    This is a good starting point for those seeking career guidance, however I hope that Rakesh of other authors in this line consider different starting points and help seekers learn how to navigate from different starting points. All the best for your work on careers going ahead – keep the good work going.
    Here is a presentation he has upload covering the highlights from his book – I guess this was during the launch of the book.

  • Running Lean – Ash Maurya

    The lean-start up movement has taken pace all over the word for its ability to focus attention on getting to build a functioning business at the expense of least resources. Numerous people have talked about the Lean Start up movement for quite some time – Ash Maurya seems to have given the closest to reality description of what the practical application of the lean means would come up to be.


    For all those who have read Eric Ries – Lean Start up; and felt there is still a lot that they felt required explanation of – this book is definitely the go to book. It isn’t a very hard read and given that Ash takes through his case study of CloudFire – it is definitely engaging and easy to relate.

     A quick read and am sure very easy to relate if you are looking for answers in your entrepreneurial pursuit. – Go get this book and get though the initial working business model.

    However, I still find the approach of lean requires you to work on the boundaries of your rationality constantly to keep a track of what new customer segments would work out best for you – even the story of CloudFire towards the end indicates that while the method is well illustrated the pivot to a new opportunity required one to find its existence and then work on the same! 

    That said, lean start up is still a  good approach to start your venture and grow with a systematic learning focus.

  • Nammamma andre Nanagishta – Vasudendra

    Vasu (he has been a good trekking mate for me) had gifted this book to me almost an year back – I am pretty slow in reading kannada and always pushed away any such high effort attempt on my part. Recently, I began using the traffic signals as a time when I could catch up with some reading that I had left behind sighting various reasons. 


    It is only when I read through the book did I realize what I had been missing all these months. Written in simple and lucid style – it took me back to my childhood and the sweet memories tied with it. 

    This is a must read for anyone who is wondering how simplicity could be beauty – hats off to this work sir! I loved it – thank you.

  • Rich Dad – Poor Dad (Robert T Kiyosaki)

    Today’s fast paced world is driven by two factors – fear and greed (desire). Keeping a balance between these two aspect is the essential key to being successful in effective financial management.
     
    This book is extremely inspiring, in that it gets us to act towards taking ownership of our finances. The simple explanation coupled with practical inputs one could take towards building a strong asset portfolio that could help one live the future as planned or dreamt.
     
    The explanation using diagrams is extremely effective and communicates well with novices and gets them to be able to understand and use what is learnt.
     
    My rating of the book – Very Useful. This is book is definitely the first step in awakening the financial intelligence of us living in today’s world of wants. Go get your copy.