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Category: book reviews

  • The Last Lecture – Randy Pausch



    For those of you who haven’t heard “The Last Lecture” by Prof Randy Pausch, do watch the above video before reading my review here. That would almost be akin to reading most of the book. Here is his page on Carnegie Mellon Website.

    While most of the points disccussed in the lecture are extended into deeper discussion in the book, but it goes beyond these points in the presentation to give us a closer look into his life. 

    In addition to the philosophical aspect what is mentioned in the book, there are many practical take away that an individual reader like me could take. Quite a few points if I wear my teacher’s hat – could be how he used peer feedback to give hard individual feedback or the excitement and thrill of being able to help many realize their dreams. 


    The emphasis of team in learning is an interesting dimension in the complete learning process. This is an important aspect to look into in the field of education. I loved the concept of “headfakes”, and was thinking of using a few in my sessions going ahead. I feel it is extremely handy!Another point I loved was the emphasis he gave on failures – “the first penguin” which helped get the motivation going. 


    My take: Read the book! Its worth it.

  • Start-up Nation – Dan Senor and Saul Singer

    Israel – the name resonates with a country that is today synonymous with Innovation, Technology,  a Start-up culture that could be the awe of any country!
    Definitely, Israel is unique… is there something that one could learn from this small country that is located in the midst of a hostile neighbors. For a community of people who were displaced from their origins over 2000 years ago, to come back and create an innovation powerhouse, it is nothing less than a miracle! 
    The authors – Dan Senor and Saul Singer have just written a fitting biography of this nation that has rebuilt in the last 6 decades a story of a culture that had to start from scratch and script its prowess as a leading start-up ecosystem. 
    As one who has an interest in entrepreneurship, this book has an interesting combination of history, societal aspects, the economic conditions etc very well written. Right from the genesis of the country to how they seeded each of the industries – the need for innovation, the role played by military, a comparison with startup clusters, and last but not the least the challenges ahead… all so well put across that the reader is just glued to the story.
    I just love this book and would urge every guy interested in entrepreneurship read this book.

  • Poor Little Rich Slum – Rashmi Bansal & Deepak Gandhi

    Traveling is a really interesting learning period. 
    Yes, it really is – that is why the old adage in Kannada Says – “Desha Nodu, Kosha Odu” (Roam around your country, Read books) yes that’s the best way to acquire knowledge. 
    Pretty much that’s is what happened this time when I was traveling to  Tirupati. I picked up one of the books from my shelf – still unread yet small in size. It was – Poor Little Rich Slum. 
    Yes… its another of the books by Rashmi Bansal. The book is about Asia’s Largest Slum – Dharavi, lying in the heartland of Mumbai. I had heard quite a bit of the entrepreneurial activity that happens in Dharavi and thought it would be a quick read. 
    Just 2 minutes into the read and I was completely engrossed into it. Loved the stories of the entreprenuers there and also the change makers. These were the two major sections of the book and just loved knowing about these entrepreneurs. 
    I suggest this be an essential read for those people who want to know about the entrepreneur scene in India. 
    Go ahead… Its worth a buy. Read it and enjoy the Journey through Dharavi.

  • Big Bets, Big Rewards – Sushil Mantri


     
    This book accidentally landed up in my kitty of reading. While working at NSRCEL, there are numerous books on entrepreneurs that you would get to lay your hands on and this was one such. I borrowed the book to read and its simple narrative style caught my attention.

    Illustrating not his complete life story, but some interesting events that happened and how he negotiated them – Sushil Matri scripts his journey up the ladder. There are interesting nuances he gets out about how he leveraged the various things at his disposal to really build the Mantri story. I loved these narrations.

    This book is an interesting read – and I suggest this book to any one who is looking to get into entrepreneurship. Having said this and known the little I know from the book, I think this book is also a precursor to something that might be coming up soon – a Mantri IPO? the guess stays…

  • The Lean Startup – Eric Ries

    It had been a long time since I read a book this quickly!
    Yes, there are some subjects that interest me and definitely entrepreneurship is amongst the top. I have been reading many books on start-up and entrepreneurship, and with the ability to relate to the problems/issues of the entrepreneurs whom I meet day in and day out as part of my role as incubation I connect pretty quickly with them. 
    I got hold of this book around a week and half back and I was able to manage my time to finish this book quickly! I didnt have to spend too much time doing context switches. The five principles that mentioned in the book struck a good chord with me. These principles are:
    1. Entrepreneurs are Everywhere
    2. Entrepreneurship is Management
    3. Validated Learning
    4. Innovation Accounting 
    5. Build-Measure-Learn Loop 
    all touch a simple chord with entrepreneurs. The style of writing is pretty much simple which makes it rather simple for entrepreneur to actually use these techniques in their business.
    My vote goes with this book for any one who wants to know about starting off – especially in a B2C and IT heavy companies. For others there might be some tweaking of the insights developed to suit their domain.
    Check the website: http://theleanstartup.com/

  • Entrepedia-Nandini Vaidyanathan

    I just completed reading this book too – Entrepedia just hours after having completed the earlier book – Sea of Poppies.

    A book I could easily ignore… really! I have been engaged with NSRCEL for quite some time now and have seen a lot more intense interactions.. guess this is one of the reasons why I feel so. I feel the content of the book is just superficial. The intensity of mentoring start-ups is much much intense and this just doesn’t give any significant value for the reader.

    Note all this is my personal opinion, guess there might be people with different opinion… but my reco is please ignore the book.

  • Sea of Poppies – Amitav Ghosh

    It has be a long time since I have blogged anything here. I just completed reading a book and thought this would be a good starting point for this year’s blog posting.
    I had begun reading Sea of Poppies quite some time ago… donot remember when exactly. However given the pressing demands I put on my time, reading this had taken a back seat. I finally completed it yesterday night!
    While I began reading the first two sections of the book which were named – Land and River, the pace was pretty slow. Starting with different themes, and moving pretty slow, but as Amitav Ghosh builds it up to the end in the “Sea” section, I found the book most engaging. It was also a reflection of the distances between the stories during the initial phase that probably didnt get me that pushy into completing the reading in one sitting, but as I began the Third section, I just couldnt wait to finish and see what next. 
    Another aspect of the book was the use of Hidustani to highlight the conversations between the people. I was really interesting to know the usage of this language and how it relates to various dialects that were found during the time…
    A wonderful read, and definitely this book has made me a fan of Amitav Ghosh and his righting. A very good read…. pick your copy and get to reading…

  • Scuba-Sutras – Guhesh Ramanathan

    “Scuba Sutras” – Guhesh whom I have known for just over an year now is a diving enthusiast and an executive coach + a mentor to many companies has written this book! Well very few times do I get to say I know the author of a book in person isnt it! The last time was with “Plunge” – Rakesh Godhwani.

    In the book Guhesh talks about 10 lessons he has learnt from under the sea and shares his experiences from the real scuba diving to instances from business that we see every day. The 10 Scuba Sutras are:

    1. I will never dive without a check
    2. I will maintain neutral buoyancy
    3. I will enjoy the dive, not just the fish
    4. I will be a good buddy
    5. I will not confuse expertise with certificates
    6. I will respect the currents around me
    7. I will remember that trigger fish can be more dangerous than sharks
    8. I will remember my 50 bar limit
    9. I will pass on my enthusiasm to a non-diver
    10. I will remember there is always another ocean to dive
    This extremely simple read is an engaging one and one could finish it one sitting. Read it on…
    Check the Facebook page here
    Here is my pic with the Author 🙂 

  • The Pleasure of Finding Things Out

    Just as I completed reading this book – “The Pleasure of Finding Things Out – The Best Short Works of Richard Feynman” I went on to reflect on some of the learnings I have had in my life and how I could improve having read it. The book was extremely interesting, in that I didnt feel like leaving it unfinished once I had taken it up. 
    Having worked in the field of education, it was extremely relevant – expecially the sections where Feynman discusses his thought about how science needs to be taught and how his initial foundation was set up by this father at an early age towards becoming a scientist. The thought kind of reflected some of the methods I have been pondering about over the last few months and possibly the reflection of these thoughts as I read through the book was something that might have biased further. 
    Some of the sections of the book were a repetition for me having read the book – “Surely you must be Joking Mr Feynman” – blogged earlier. 
    I loved reading this book and guess you too would enjoy reading this book where one of the greatest scientists of the recent past shares his thought on a variety of things from education to science to philosophy and religion. I would suggest this is a must read for all those people who would like to hear someone really engaging.

  • ReWork – Jasyon & Hansson

    It has been more than a quarter into the current year, and I haven’t really written anything! Some times you get so involved in your work that you don’t take time out for something that you value a lot!
    I recently completed reading this book – “Rework” by Jason Fried and David Hansson. The book is easily one of the best reads I have had about working. It really changes the way you work if you implement it in real.
    The logic of the argument put forth by the authors is something that would get you to move towards looking at an alternate way of approach towards working itself – hence the name – Rework. 
    Very simple ready – you could finish this off in a couple of hours straight. A must read for a all the IT tech savvy people. 
    The book as such cannot be used for people in the manufacturing sectors and SMEs… that’s something one needs to adapt from this book.