The Litigators

Writer: John Grisham
Genre: Fiction


Finley & Figg is an old firm that earns its revenues in petty accidents and divorce cases. The partners, Oscar Finley and Wally Figg , along with their secretary-cum-receptionist-cum-administrator, Rochelle make up the firm. David Zinc, an associate with a big law firm gets suddenly tired of his boring and monotonous career and decides to switch. However he ends up with Finley and Fig which is not exactly a great career move.

Together they try to increase their revenues until Wally hooks up some clients for a mass tort appeal. Wally is convinced that Krayoxx, a cholesterol lowering drug from the Varrick labs is the cause for heart attacks in many people and joins the bandwagon of lawyers who decide to sue Varrick labs. Reluctantly,  Oscar and David are pulled in too. However, in court all hell breaks loose as it is identified that the drug is actually safe and the partners with absolutely no courtroom experience are to argue the case themselves. All the other big firms in the case have mysteriously disappeared.

Oscar gets a medical condition and Wally turns to the bottle as Davis is left to fend for himself in the Varrick case. He does a decent job and draws his share of blood on one of Varrick's top notch executives. However as expected, they lose the case.

Another case on which David had silently been working, gains momentum as he realizes that he has another corporation under his scanner. But this time, he has all the facts and figures correct and this makes him win the case in an out-of court settlement. The book ends with Finley and Fig moving out of legal practice and David starting his own independent and satisfying career.

No high points in the book. Seems to be just another routine writing from one of my favourites! Skip the book.

The Lost River: On the Trail of the Sarasvati

Writer: Michel Danino
Genre: Non Fiction

The Triveni Sangam in Allahabad is a confluence of 3 rivers - Ganga, Yamuna, and Saraswati. Can someone please look at the map and identify those 3 rivers. Well, of these three rivers, Saraswati is invisible and is said to flow underground and join the other two rivers from below. Typical mythological references one would say! Is it so really? Why does it always take a non- Indian to dish out some amazing facts of our country?

A great book that dissects the history of the so called 'invisible' Saraswati river. A book with a lot of cross references and insight into various civilizations that flourished in the Indian sub continent! Towards the end one actually understands what lends the invisibility aura to this mystical river who seems to have passed most of her characteristics to the Ganges.

A great book for my collection!

One of the best reviews that propelled me to read this book can be found here.

The secret of the Nagas

Writer: Amish Tripathi
Genre: Fiction

The first book saw Shiva defeating the evil Chandrawanshis. And when that was done he realized that Suryawanshis and Chandrawanshis are just two different people or rather two different ways of lives. So who is the evil?

This book talks about Shiva deciding to vanquish the Nagas because they are evil. Evil, because they are deformed humans who are bearing the sins of their past life! But there is more to this vengeance - it was a Naga who killed his dear friend, Brahaspati. Just when Shiva is sure about evil - the Nagas, there is a change of plan by the almighty for his love, and now his wife, Sati is related to a Naga. And related in what way!

Shiva along with his trusted lieutenants decide to enter the forbidden Naga kingdom. And more surprises await him en route. As there seem to be no distinction between friends and foes, Shiva questions himself about what's good and what's exactly evil?

The second book of the trilogy is a fast read and the last lines of "to be continued" almost kills the curious reader. Well! no choice but to wait for the third and final part of the trilogy.

Immortals of Meluha

Writer: Amish Tripathi
Genre: Fiction

Shiva, the chieftain of the Guna tribe has an offer from the Meluhans to leave his native land and migrate to Meluha - a near perfect place. Tired of the constant wars Shiva and his tribe migrate to Meluha, the land of Suryanwanshis who are the descendants of Lord Ram.

The Meluhan kingdom is a near perfect place and on their first night stay at Sringar his tribe is affected by some kind of viral fever.Ayurvati, the doctor treats them with Somras and the treatment results in Shiva's neck turning into a blue color. The effect is dramatic and the Meluhan's declare him as the saviour they were all waiting for - the Neelkanth. Shiva travels to the capital to meet king Daksha who pleads with him to save the Meluhans. The Saraswati, which is the major ingredient for their Somras is drying up. The Meluhans know that their arch rivals, Chandrawanshi's are behind the river's fate. The Chandravanshi's have also taken the Nagas help to perpetuate terrorist attacks in the kingdom of Meluha.

Shiva ends up acknowledging being the Meluhan's saviour when he realizes that for marrying his love, Sati, he has to abolish certain laws which he can do only when revered as the Neelkanth. And so Shiva becomes the Neelkanth! When his friend, Brahaspati, is killed in a terrorist attack, Shiva decides to wage a war on the Chandrawanshis to avenge his friend’s death. The Meluhan's fight a fierce war and overpower the Chandrawanshis. When the Chandrawanshi king sees Shiva, he tells him that the Chandrawanshis have the same fable of a Neelkanth saving them. The dumbfounded Shiva is lost! He visits the old temple in the kingdom for answers and just then Sati is attacked by a Naga.

So ends the first book of the Trilogy.

Probably a first attempt by an Indian writer to humanize the gods albeit in a non-controversial way! It's a one-time read and my favorite part in the book is when the protagonist searches for answers about good and evil. More than the story I think I liked the attempt of putting the Indian scriptures and mythology in a story that's contemporary and a little less revered.

The strange case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Writer: R. L. Stevenson
Genre: Fiction/Classic

I have always admired the likes of Dickens, Dumas, etc. They had imagination that knew no limits. They were so ahead of times and their works seem to have resonance in all ages!

This is a book that every person with love for imagination should read. Its fiction at its best! The duality of human nature, long before people knew about split personalities and schizophrenia forms the crux of the book and the mysterious twists by the author lends it an amazing aura.

Note: The next lines could be a spoiler in case you would want to discover this classic yourself.

Utterson, a lawyer is worried about the will his friend, Henry Jekyll has given him. The will transfers all his property to a certain Mr. Hyde in case of death or disappearance of Jekyll. The lawyer smells mischief and is of the opinion that Hyde as forced Jekyll into making the will. He decides to meet Mr.Hyde after a hideous description given to him by his cousin. The confrontation with Mr. Edward Hyde confirms his suspicion and he agrees with the general public opinion that Mr. Hyde is indeed a rude and hideous man.

Soon Mr. Hyde is embroiled in a controversial murder of an MP and this causes the lawyer to speak to his friend. Jekyll promises him that Hyde would no longer be entertained by him. The promise is kept and soon the episode of the murder and Mr. Hyde, both fade into oblivion. Dr.Jekyll becomes the old cheerful man and Utterson is very happy about it. Just as things begin to stay normal Jekyll becomes a recluse and refuses to meet anyone outside. Utterson is worried but cannot really do anything about it. To make matters worse, a common friend of Jekyll and Utterson , Dr. Lanyon, dies suddenly and it is revealed that he was privy to some information regarding Dr. Jekyll.

Soon afterward, Jekyll’s butler, Mr Poole, visits Utterson in a state of desperation and explains that Jekyll has secluded himself in his laboratory for several weeks, and that now the voice that comes from the room sounds nothing like the doctor’s. After reaching the doctor's house and after much deliberation, they broke open his lab door only to find Mr. Hyde dead inside. They also find a letter for Mr Utterson.

The letter explains that Dr.Jekyll had found a way to change his personality and convert himself into Hyde who was a conscience free human and nothing like the mild-mannered Jekyll. At first the transformation delights the doctor but later it becomes an inseparable part of him as he seems to transform without even taking the medicine that he discovered. It is one of these transformations that their common friend Lanyon had witnessed and had hence died of utter shock and depression. Towards the end, when Jekyll was almost always transformed to Hyde without consent, were the days when Jekyll had chosen to become a recluse! In the end, he commits suicide because anyways after being permanently transformed to Hyde he would have been executed for the murder of the MP. Thus, ends the book.

Little wonder that more than a century later this books still mesmerizes its readers. Grab a copy, it's worth it!

Chanakya's Chant

Writer: Ashwin Sanghvi
Genre: Fiction


The book narrates two stories in parallel. One story is about the erudite Chanakya, whose wily political strategies make Chandrupgta Mayurya the emperor of a united Bharath. In parallel and in today times, is the story of Pandit Gangadhar Mishra, who with his political acumen makes Chandini Gupta as the prime minister of India.

I personally enjoyed the Chanakya era more. However I cannot help but be disappointed in the way the writer has used known quotes and phrases and attributed them to Chanakya. No, it isn't plagiarism as he duly mentions his sources but when you have to say something about the age old Chanakya it just doesn’t make sense for Chanakya to mouth someone else's phrases. After all he is the author of Arthashastra!

It's strictly the story of Chanakya and his protégée that made me finish the book because otherwise the book has no other USP.

Margaret Thatcher - The Iron lady

Genre: Biography
Writer: John Campbell

The second part of John Campbell's biography is definitely more interesting than the first part. And yeah, I found the protogonist's character more lively here than in the first part.
As expected, the Falkland's war made for an interesting read...probably my favourite part in the book.Her 11 year old reign as the Prime Minister makes a real good read and it is stacked with so many dates and numbers that it becomes almost impossible for me to remember all of them. 

The book, a huge volume is worth its weight, but for people who can handle biographies ;)


p.s. I can't help but remember an old article comparing Tony Blair to Thatcher....well after reading the book I think the article made sense







 

The Clicking of Cuthbert

Writer: P G Wodehouse
Genre: Fiction / Humour


A quick read before I start the Thatcher biography volume 2.

The book is a collection of ten short golf stories narrated by the oldest member. Each story is centered around golf, but don't let that deter you. You need not know the nuances of the game to understand the book.  All you need is some spare time to absorb the sweet stories.

A lovely book but I prefer his Jeeves stories more ;)

Margaret Thatcher - The grocer's daughter

Genre: Biography
Writer: John Campbell

The first woman prime minister of England has garnered a lot of attention all her life. This book which is the first part of her biography captures her life en route to becoming the prime minister.

Her childhood is described in an uninteresting fashion and her life at Oxford seems to be never ending. By the end of the book I had a feeling that she achieved everything just by chance, which obviously can't be the case. But in spite of such a narrative I found the character pretty intriguing more so because she seemed to be non-deterrent during her worst crisis. Her personal life is touched upon a little. But that has always been a topic of contention for long now.

It's a HUGE book and consists of mostly dates and statistics. The EQ is missing which makes it a very dull read. I mean I usually find biographies interesting but this one took efforts to finish. And to imagine I have to complete another volume. I wonder if her autobiography would have been more interesting. Anyone who has read that please do drop in a comment. For others I suggest to skip this one.

The Design of Everyday Things

Writer: Donald Norman
Genre: Cognitive Science

Why do most of the people (that includes me) walk into a cold room and increase the thermostat's temperature to the maximum with the expectation that the room would get heated quickly? We all have a mental model of the thermostat which makes us believe that doing so would heat the room faster than setting the temperature to a lesser but expected value. How many times have you fumbled with the faucets in washrooms wondering if to push them, turn them or just keep your hand under one? And what about those doors? Push them, pull them or slide them! Everyday scenarios, everyday frustrations, aren’t they?

Norman uses such simple and to-the-point use cases to explain the importance of design. The design of everyday things (DOET) previously called 'The Psychology of everyday things (POET)' is an interesting read especially because most of the explanations are so simple that you wonder why you didn’t think of it. My favourite is the gas burner one.....I have a 4 burner stove at home and it never occurred to me that the design could be simplified to match an easier mental model.

Lovely read and a review from Amazon best sums it - It could forever change how you experience and interact with your physical surroundings, open your eyes to the perversity of bad design and the desirability of good design, and raise your expectations about how things should be designed.

A personal copy is highly recommended.

A Sparrow Falls

Writer: Wilbur Smith

Genre: Fiction

The French war sees Sean Courtney in action again but this time he is a General. He befriends a young sniper named Mark Anders and immediately takes a liking to him.

After the war, Mark Anders comes home to find his grandfather dead and his property usurped by Dirk Courtney. He doubts if his grandfather actually dies while hunting as has been portrayed to him.

When he is attacked by unknown men he knows that there are people (read Dirk Courtney) who would like to stop him from seeking the truth. Mark, however decides to continue and soon becomes Sean Courtney's assistant. They together try to stop Dirk's plan of constructing a dam which will destroy the natural habitat of many living beings. 

Sean loses the election to Dirk and finds himself helpless against his own son. Mark finds a way to trap Dirk but when Dirk comes to know of the trap he kills Sean and Ruth before being killed himself by Mark. The romance between Mark and Sean's daughter, Storm is predictable and ends up being boring (well atleast for me!)

That finishes the first sequence in the Courtney novels. Personally the sequence didn’t live up to the expectations but can still be lapped by Smith fans. 

   

The Sound of Thunder

Writer: Wilbur Smith

Genre: Fiction

Sean Courtney has decided to return from wilderness into civilization, but his ideas go for a toss when Boers wage a war against the whites and Sean is caught right in the middle of the war. He however decides to pursue his path and go home to Ladyburg. On his way he meets a woman named Ruth and falls for her. However she leaves him and returns to her husband, but destiny are to bring them together.

After dropping of Dirk to the safety of his mother he joins the war as a soldier and this time his path crosses again with his brother- turned- foe, Garrick. Garry is no mood to relent and Sean's efforts of reconciliation falls on deaf ears. However, owing to his courage he soon becomes a popular soldier and a dear friend to Saul, Ruth's husband. Saul dies in action and soon the war ends. Sean marries Ruth and gets her home and starts his own business at Ladyburg. His war heroics have gained him enough fame and fortune and he soon turns his eyes towards politics. Michael, his first born , however raised by Garry, soon becomes enchanted with his Uncle Sean and decides to work for him. Just when he thinks he has everything a man would ask for, his son, Dirk decides to leave him because he has become too jealous for his father. 

The book ends once again on a sad note with Dirk leaving his father. However Sean has been accepted by Garrick and the brothers look forward to a better life.

It's a little difficult to explain my fascination with the Courtney books. However after this second book in the First Courtney sequence, I think of all his characters....Monsoon and Tom Courtney still are the best....Sean comes in at the second place only.  One more book to go to finish this first sequence ;)

When the Lion Feeds

Writer: Wilbur Smith
Genre: Fiction

Sean and Garrick Courtney are twin brothers but they couldn't be more different. Sean is the proverbial trouble maker while Garry always seems to follow Sean. On a childhood expedition Sean accidently shoots Garrick in the leg owing to which is leg is amputated. The memory of the event haunts Sean throughout the book. The kids grow up and are soon enlisted to join a war. Both of them survive the war but lose their brotherly love for each other all thanks to Garry's new wife Anna.

Sean embarks on a wild journey to wilderness and manages to strike rich with a gold mine in Johannesburg . Just when he thought he was powerful enough, he loses all his fortune to a stupid move in the exchange. Again he decides to leave the place and travel somewhere else taking with him his loyal friend Duff and his Zulu servants. He loses Duff to a disease and marries a Boer woman, Katrina who gives birth to Dirk.
The book ends in melancholy after Katrina commits suicide for reasons unknown to Sean. He again sets off to wilderness to handle the excruciating pain.

The Upside of Irrationality

Writer: Dan Ariely
Genre: Human Behaviour

I did not have anything else to read and this one was the only available book at home. I had not liked the genre but the synopsis told me it could be a good read. I started it with vengeance almost kept it down and then picked up again with vigour.

Dan Ariely explores the most common human traits like revenge, vindictiveness, anger, adaptation, empathy, etc. thru experiments and states before us why, at times, irrational behaviour can be helpful for humans. One of my favourite examples in the book is about Thomas Edison turning a blind eye to his associate, Tesla's discovery of AC (Alternate Current) just because he had discovered DC(Direct Current). The writer calls this syndrome as 'not-invented-here' bias which I think most of us suffer from. There are many such anecdotes that make the book a lively read.

Great books to catch up with even for first timers but you need to be a little patient in the beginning lest you keep it down like I almost did ;)

The Emerging Mind

Writer: Vilayanur Ramachandran
Genre: Non Fiction / Science

What would you call a person who sees some numbers colored always? And what about someone who cannot see [although he has perfect vision] anything to his left? What about someone who starts laughing when in pain?
The answer to all the above from a commoner would be - Mad!

After a disastrous fiction book, an absolute wow book that had me hooked. How does our brain work? I am sure each one of us has had that question many a times. That reason alone is enough for people to pick up this book. And yes, not to forget that the writer has written the book in a style that will endear it to readers who may have no background in science. It’s just pure pleasure to understand his explanations even after subtracting the technical aspects.

The writer picks some famous mental disorders like Phantom Limbs, color-graphemic synesthesia(seeing colored numbers) and explains them in a very tactful manner. He uses all the terminologies but yet keeps the explanation easy enough for people who would like to just understand the reason behind the disorder. The book is filled with such disorders and their explanations in a very lucid fashion.

Grab the book; you won't regret even a single page!

Oh Shit Not Again!

Writer: Mandar Kokate
Genre: Fiction

Skip it!

Its Not About The Bike: My journey Back to Life

Writer: Lance Armstrong with Sally Jenkins

Genre: Autobiography

Do a Google search on Lance Armstrong and you will know why everyone should read this book. Armstrong's determination is so human that you get inspired too.

Winning world famous cycling championships Armstrong was all set for the Grand Slam of cycling races - the Tour De France when he was diagnosed with testicular cancer and a brain tumour. He underwent chemo, brain surgery and returned back to win the 1999 Tour De France. The media suggested that his chemo was probably acting as a doping agent in his win. The man however has silenced all his critics because he has won the Tour de France each year from 1999 to 2005, which in itself is a record.

  

The book covers this journey in an extremely inspirational and human way. He has no qualms in accepting his aggressiveness before being diagnosed and neither is he ashamed to admit that he was scared and almost quit cycling. his almost fatherless childhood is stated in a matter-of-fact manner and that’s something that I really liked.

It’s fabulous and an uncomplicated read. Grab a copy whenever you feel down, this book sure motivates you to keep trying harder

Update: Oct 2012
Lance Armstrong has been disqualified from all his results since 1998 after the doping allegations against him were found to be true. He has chosen to not contest the findings.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Writer: Robert Pirsig

Genre: Philosophy

Do not let the genre be a turn off! A fabulous book that I caught hold of after a long long time. By the way it has got nothing to do either with Zen or motorcycle maintenance as such, but maintenance of motorcycles seems to serve as a good analogy for the author for explaining his point of view.    

The book is a first person narration of a motorcycle journey of the author with his son, Chris and family friends from Minnesota to California. The book jumps between 2 characters - the author in his present state and a state in which he identifies himself as Phaedrus. Phaedrus, a rhetoric teacher and becomes engaged in identifying what is it that makes something better than something else. In short, he wants to define Quality. His pursuit of Quality drives him insane and the mental asylum changes his personality completely.

It’s almost impossible to explain the contents of this book without sounding insane yourself. It is class apart and you have to read it, understand it and accept it to understand its beauty. But yes, it’s not an easy read. You need patience and my idea is that if you love the book in the first 100 pages you will read it till the end or else keep it down immediately.

This one is going to be on my favourite list!

Some excellent quotes from the book:

"The truth knocks on the door and you say, "Go away, I'm looking for the truth," and so it goes away. Puzzling."

"When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called a Religion."

"For every fact there is an infinity of hypotheses. "

Q:"Is it hard?

A: 'Not if you have the right attitudes. Its having the right attitudes thats hard."

..................and my personal favourite

"The law of gravity and gravity itself did not exist before Isaac Newton."

...and what that means is that that law of gravity exists nowhere except in people's heads! It 's a ghost!"

Mind has no matter or energy but they cant escape its predominance over everything they do. Logic exists in the mind. Numbers exist only in the mind. I don't get upset when scientists say that ghosts exist in the mind. Science is in your mind too, it s just that that doesn’t make it bad. Or ghosts either."

Laws of nature are human inventions, like ghosts. Law of logic, of mathematics are also human inventions, like ghosts."