The Forgotten Man - Amity Shales

The Great depression. Always been an interesting subject and the title of this book was very appealing to me. The whole idea of connecting Wall Street to Main Street and clearing the blurred lines between Macro and Micro is why I picked up this book as a read.


This book delivers what it says but not unfortunately not what I thought it would. This isn't a rosy narrative or a thorny narrative or any narrative at all. There's a basic outline that chronological but the characters are factual and the timeline stringent. I found it very hard to keep up with the story as the characters don't connect and the author drops of historical characters every other paragraph and just expects you to know who the person was in the 1920s.

There is an attempt to try and make this a simpler read but I warn anyone against the giant attention span and time to read this. You would need to be able to keep a notepad aside and spend large chunks of time trying to get through this and undoubtedly come out an expert on the other side but you'll be doin a lot of the analysis yourself, similar to reading a History book.

Churchill's ministry of ungentlemanly warfare - Giles Milton

The title of this book and the synopsis caught my eye and it doesn't disappoint. Based on the WW2 era this book dives into the background and execution of the idea that England's weakness in time's of war is that they engaged in 'Gentlemanly' warfare and never hit 'below the belt'.




Winston Churchill is not the center of this book but he certainly an important peripheral character that is the shadow enforcer for the entire premise of this book. That if England has any chance against nazi Germany, they would have to resort to ungentlemanly tactics. The answer was a scrappy team of mathematicians, engineers and scientists who changed the direction of the war. After the initial setup the book dives deeply into a few sabotage missions that this team performed which proved to be a real thorn in Hitlers side.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading about the underdog, world war 2 or Churchill. This book is written with several comedic undertones with all the true to life characters and many times makes you feel like you were there. 

The Dark Forest - Cixin Liu

This is the second book in the trilogy of Cixin Liu's Three Body Problem and a must read if you've read the first one and really pointless to pick up if you haven't.



This book picks up where the first one leaves off with a certain overlap in characters but that's not the anchor for the story. Whereas the first story just touches on the topic, this book has a much larger focus on the existential crisis of humans where we there's a inevitable and looming threat to our existence. There's a lot of great scientific breakthroughs and evolutionary concepts that this book gets into that is very different and fun to get into but then the book also touches on some very dark subjects that do get very disturbing.

I recommend this book to anybody who decides to get into the trilogy as this book is a great 2nd part and even though it starts off slowly it gets into some very interesting mix of futuristic action scenes and disturbing evolution of humanity in a crowded universe.

Three Body Problem - Cixin Liu

A Hugo award winner and a great sciences fiction book by a Chinese author. Enough of a tagline to pick up this book and then i saw this book recommended by Barack  Obama so I picked it up for a good read and very glad I did. Its very hard to describe what this book is about but I'll try anyway.


This was a very refreshing type of science fiction novel that deals with a not-so-distant future where we may make some scientific breakthroughs that may lead to first contact. I was sure that's what this book may be about but it very quickly evolves into a very realistic human element of how we would adopt ourselves to react to such a breakthrough. This also involves technological leaps that we make as a race with a new form of space race while still being, well Human.

Another different perspective was that it was written with the assumption that China is one of the leading superpowers and doesn't put USA in the middle of the story. I would highly recommend this book for sciences fiction fans and even to some who aren't since it deals with the existentialist crisis and a lot of philosophical questions that we may need to deal with as a race.

Armada - Ernest Cline

Written by the same author as 'Ready Player One' this seemed like a very interesting story. Even though the initial reviews were mediocre, I still decided to give it a chance.




Once the plot and main characters have been established you start to see a some similarities in the writing style between this book and 'Ready Player one', but this book does not compare. It's like a high-school dramedy that is extremely predictable and instead of interesting plot twists, the story only gets worse. The characters in the book also get progressively cheeky and the dialogue worse.

I believe the mediocre reviews for this one, and I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone really. One might say its a good read if you want to just pass the time but I wouldn't even say that.

Artemis - Andy Weir

A lunar story from the author of the Martian, great premise and a great read. This author goes to great lengths to get the science and physics as accurate as possible and thats what I loved about the Martian, so I heard about this new book I just had to pick it up.





Artemis is a great Heist story based on the first Lunar colony on the moon. That by itself is interesting enough but the story is narrated by a young delinquent female with a sassy attitude that gives the readers a great lowdown of what it would be like to live on the moon. For eg: due to the low gravity, their staircases have steps that are one meter high but they still use the regular type steps for the tourist zones to provide some kind of comfort. And lots of factual tidbids that would actually make sense if we were to colonize the moon.

This was a page turner for me and i'd highly recommend this to someone who's looking for a really fun read and open to understanding the social, political and physical realities of colonizing the moon in about 200 years.

Rendezvous with Rama - Arthur C Clark

I picked up this book on a Sc-Fi recommendation and with the success of 2001 Space Odyssey, it seemed like a good bet. The author touches on the topic of First contact with the human race, which isn't a new concept but the writing style is where this one takes the cake.



 I expected this to be a predictable first contact story with some twists and turns but its not. Theres a great amount of detail around a cylindrical object thats approaching the solar system thats soon determined to be artificial. Then the author takes you on a ride through the investigation in great detail and true laws of physics in place that make you rethink your own world and assumptions.

I loved reading this book and it does tend to get slow at times due to the exorbitant amount of details but still a fun read.

Unleashing the Innovators - Jim Stengel

I picked up this book because I saw some parallels with my professional life and I thought it might help and it does. The author dives into the topic of high large corporations can get in their own way by adding red tape and still be able to move at the pace of a small startup.


Its no secret that large corporations have policies and bureaucracies to protect themselves and perform better but something gets lost in terms of innovation due to the time it takes to react. Conversely a 5 people startup company can pivot into a new market, process, product in a fraction of the time that a large corporation can.  This book dives into the concept of marrying the two. This isn't a new concept and a lot of corporations leverage innovation by forming innovation hubs and acquiring startups but mostly this book focuses on partnerships.

A lot of recommendations and pitfalls regarding forming good partnerships was helpful to me to understand, and its written in plain English with plenty of real world examples from tech companies that you might recognize, not to mention that also keeps it very interesting. I'd recommend this to anyone in the corporate world working in partnerships to get guidance on ideas and pitfalls, no matter the size of your org.

Go Like Hell - A.J.Baime

This is one of those pieces of non fiction that feels like a story, and it really is. The author has taken just the right amount of quotes and details from real events to stick together this story of the war between Ford and Ferrari.

The war between these auto giants stems from the wake of WW2 and roots that are planted well before WW1. True stories of how two completely different corporate cultures from two sides of the Atlantic, throw everything at their disposal into one race for the sake of glory.

This book also helps highlight how auto races equate into real dollars for manufacturers. The individual stories of the development of each Ford and Ferrari like they are real people also adds a lot of character. I'd highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand the roots of auto racing and the larger-than-life moguls (Henry Ford II & Enzo Ferrari) that lit a spark to a flame that burned for generations.

Powerful - Patty McCord

This book is written by an ex COO of Netflix. That by itself was interesting enough to hear about the internal workings of one of the cornerstone Tech companies of my generation.

Once we get into the meat of it, Patty is a great story teller and gets her message across very clearly. No wonder she does so many speaking events. She also draws a lot of parallels to her experience at Netflix with real stories and that's also very interesting.

At the end of the day this is a management book with a focus on HR and I'd recommend this to anyone in a management position because you'll surely walk away with some real world ideas to explore in a really really quick read.

Atlas shrugged - Ayn Rand

This Book is told by many to be the best work of fiction in our generation and it starts off great. Ayn Rand is of Russian descent and writes about the benefits of capitalism in this highly sensationalized piece of fiction with amazing wordplay, metaphors and writing style. 

There's just enough suspense in the beginning to hold my interest but after that, it just gets into a spiral of long rants that are drilling in the same point again and again, with seemed like really bad transitions.

This book is unnecessarily long and could have been written in less than half the length, no joke, there's a speech that's 50 pages long. At the end this book seems more of a propaganda piece wrapped around with an over-the-top story that seems to put out the idea of a populist Apocalypse where capitalists are heroes.

Life of Tao - Wesley Chu

A new kind of extra terrestrial story, a Sci-Fi with humor and a twist. Not the normal alien visitor story. Even had the right amount of story development mixed in but not too much depth, which makes this a quick release read.

Seems like they've definitely left it open for the sequel as well. So I'm going to hold on to my recommendations on this one until I've gotten through the sequel but so far the story is entertaining.

Alchemist - Paulo Coelho

I've had several people tell me about this book and when I'm glad I finally picked it up.  This book makes you want to rethink life. It makes you rethink concepts, rethink perspectives and rethink context.

Like the occasional cosmic relevance you need to gain perspective, this book doesn't fail to deliver.  Centered around the story of a Shepard boy and yet able to relate with almost anyone in any walk of life. Highly recommend this philosophical read that isn't intimidating, only humiliating.

Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows

The final book is exactly what you'd expect from the Rowling series and a classic ending that youd expect but the journey is great. This book is darkest of the series and has the most enticing plot of the series that keeps you engaged all the way to the end.

Highly recommend this to anyone especially if you've read the rest of the series, since this one ties a neat bow to the story of Harry Potter.

The circle - Dave Eggers

I like to think that this book is a commentary, even a satire, but I fear that will be giving it too much attention.

Due to the involved nature of the subject, social media and the extrapolated affects it may have on our society, this book touches on topics that could be considered by anyone today as a possible future. But the sensationalism so far stretched, that this piece of fiction isn't entertaining. The characters are developed but they're exactly what you'd expect and the the storyline goes places you wouldn't expect, I suspect to keep it interesting, and its completely disconnected.

I would not recommend this book to anyone really even though Tom Hanks was cast in the movie, and that's saying a lot.

Ready Player One - Ernest Cline

Ready Player one is one of the most interesting and fun SciFi novels I have read since Angels and Demons. This book is set in a fictional world where a larger version of the Matrix is an acceptable alternate reality for its citizens.

This book will keep you interested right from the beginning until the big bang ending, and you'll keep cheering for the underdog protagonasist to defeat the bad-guys in the fictional world and come out victorious as the greatest 'Game-player' in both the real and virtual worlds.


This is a great read for sci fi fans and people who enjoy treasure hunts, video games and 80's themes. Somehow the author has been able to successfully combine all those elements to make an awesome read. I wouldn't be surprised if this is made into a movie for the masses.

Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

This is a great work by Oscar Wilde, his artistic, angular yet witty writing will keep you interested just by itself. The story of Dorian gray and his painting is also very captivating, although it tends to drag on a little bit towards the middle, it picks up very well towards the end.

This book is funny, easy to read and very witty. Oscar Wilde, does an amazing job of keeping the readers chuckling throughout his greatest novel.

Echo Park - Michael Connelly

Like many Michael Connelly books this one is based on a murder mystery in LA. A popcorn suspense novel with a semi-interesting and semi-predictable plot. The protagonist Harry Bosh doesn't do anything special in this book.

This book is the literary equivalent to the third matrix movie. Nothing great but just interesting enough to keep you occupied for a little while, especially since it's a pretty fast read.

Lost & Found - Jacqueline Sheehan

The black lab on the cover is what caught my attention. The story of a widow and this orphaned dog who find companionship with each other in the autumn of their lives. Mildly depressing as you'd expect but pretty realistic with the level of emotions involved.

The dissappointment with this book was the lack of focus on the dog and his stories. This is book is more inclined towards female readers, which is clearly apparent in some chapters where every alternate paragraph is an explanation of the "feelings" in the paragraph preceding it. Hence there's a lot of "feelings" about the dog and how he makes them feel but no crazy dog stories.

I will probably never read this again but would recommend this to women or somebody going through a hard time and might want a glimpse on how to cope.

Getting Stoned with Savages - Maarten Troost

The sequel to 'Sex Lives of Cannibals' is another hilarious look at the authors life in a 3rd world country riddled with problems like hunger, poverty, military coop's and even bloody earthquakes! Yikes. This time around the author is pulled to the island of Fiji is more developed than the previous book but the sarcasm and stories doesn't fail to deliver.

If you loved the first book, you'll like this one. I wouldn't call it as good as the first one in terms of laugh out louds but I enjoyed it quite a bit.

The Art of Racing in the Rain - Garth Stein

This was a funny and heart full read thats narrated by the Dog. Yep, this book puts a voice to the family pet and a lot of dog lovers won't have trouble agreeing with his ideas. Set on a pretty heartfelt storyline this book puts the pet at all the important points in the course of his owners life, including several hilarious ones, who's a budding race car driving.

If you like dogs and/ or remotely interested in the world of auto-racing, I'd recommend this book to you. Also it's a pretty quick read as the chapters are pretty short and flow well.

Crescent Dawn - Clive Custler

I added this book to my queue because I used to like spy novles but they all start reading the same after a while. This one was no different, few deaths, lots of explosions, at least 3-4 countries and an emotionally cripped protagonist.

This is a brainless fast read, thats good for certain times when you just want to see the good guy blow things up and win!

Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami

A coming of age story involving a 15 year old boy that runs away from home in post war Japan. This is a very serious read that will delve deep into the mind of teenage boys, their thoughts and actions. In other words, you may hear things that you might have thought of but never really said out loud because it might be scary.


This is not a fast read by any means as the author is very analytical and likes to psychologically describe everything and a multiple tangents. Don't think I would read this again but I've heard good things about his other novels.

The Lost Symbol - Dan Brown

Its good to read a Dan Brown novel once in a while. This 3rd installment of Dan Browns' Robert Langdon series is exactly what you'd expect if you've read Angles&Demons and Da Vinci Code. Overall impressions to story and writing style are very similar to the initial 2 books.

Although longer in pages, there's a lot more fluff built into this book and it might even be simpler and faster to read because he doesn't have more then 2-3 parallel stories running side by side. An annoying part was the almost unnecessary suspense built into tiny inconsequential things to give it a 'Dan Brown' feel.

I'd recommend this book to anybody who liked Angles & DaVinci code but personally I would rank the books as: Angels&Demons > Da Vinci Code > Lost Symbol

Star Trek Academy: Collsion Course - William Shatner

This book is William Shatners spin on the teenage years of Kirk and Spock. It is also a kind of "origins" story of how Kirk & Spock met and why/ how they got into Star Trek academy. The personal interactions between Kirk and Spock in this adventure are exactly what you'd expect, a lot of sarcasm built around a well set cohesive story. There is also a background story running about Kirks pre-teeenage years.

With large text print this is a pretty fast read and the story was interesting enough to keep me engaged throughout the book with a bang of an ending. Filled mostly action and lots of things to keep Star Trek geeks engaged.

Bob Dylan Chronicles - Bob Dylan

I picked up this book because the premise sounded interested. An upcoming struggling folk artist in the 80's greenwich village trying to make it big. Its a 1st person narration by Bob Dylan himself to the point where a lot of the chapters just seem like brain farts. He doesn't seem to have any structure at the book level or chapter level. There's a vague chronology of all the events happening in his life but it's really hard to follow and includes A LOT of references to obscure artists that probably only folk music historians would know.

I found myself losing interest in this book about half way through, because frankly I picked up this book to get some interesting stories about his upcoming struggles but it was more of a walk through his Bob Dylans mind.

Next - Michael Crighton

I started this book with the same excitement I've started several other Crichton novels and it starts off like a bond movie would. In the middle of some kind of spy action. But then then about a quarter of the book through and several simultaneous stories later I realized I was starting to lose track of what was important.

The novel delves into several subjects related to transgenics, biotechnology and genetic engineering with Darwinian overtones, wrapped around with an overarching theme that was hard to grasp until almost half way through the book.

Similiar to 'State of Fear', this felt more of a propaganda book. Michael Crichton is truly dead, literally and figuratively.

i, Robot - Isaac Asimov

I saw the movie before I read this book and first impressions, this book is not even remotely related to the movie. Which isn't good or bad, just completely different. The book is a set of short stories, loosely based on the Three laws of Robotics. The arc of the stories is the evolution of the positronic brain and its relationship with humans, from initial deployment to the robots running the world.

The book delves deeply into concepts such as Robot Psychology, breaking down of the 3 laws and 2-way logical discussions based the current problem presented in the story. I'd recommend this book to anyone who's interests are peaked by simple analytical problems and their arguments. This might not be the book to sit down and relax to if you plan to read every alternate paragraph with a 7&7 in one hand.

A fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry

This is a fact-based multi-generational history of 4 random strangers and how they connected in Mumbai. The book describes the lives of the lower and lower-middle classes in India in the late 20th century. I read this book around the same time I saw Slumdog Millionaire so the description of beggar livelihood and the cruelty involved was especially prominent.

Overall a very long novel, probably due to the detailed description of all the main characters backgrounds, but it comes together very well at the end. A depressing novel, but only to the extent of reality. I'd recommend this book to anyone who has a little patience and wants to learn a little bit more about the "real" india.

Never have your dog stuffed - Alan Alda

Alan Alda's biography has exactly what you would expect in a biography. His real name, information about his family, a few major incidents, his life as a struggling actor sprinkled with a few tragedies here and there. A few things I found interesting were that he grew up around strippers & burlesque houses, his dad was a semi-popular actor and his mother literally belonged in a mental asylum. And ofcourse his dealings with these things and how they helped shape him into an actor.

I picked up this book to get an extended dosage of Hawkeye but he is nothing like the womanizing alcoholic he portrays in MASH. Although his hilarious writing style, which reminds me of the dark sarcasm of Marten Troost, keeps the book interesting.

The latter half of the book includes the back-stage stories of MASH and thats when things get really interesting. I found myself saying out loud "Oh Oh I've seen that episode" when he talks about how (or why) those episodes played out the way they did. Apparently the cast n crew were a pretty tight knit group.

I'd recommend this book to anybody looking for a quick read (only about 250), with a fast pace and enough humor to keep you smiling throughout the book.