Book Review: The Second Empress

My Verdict - 3.5/5

This book is good for people who are fascinated by history. Being one of them, I liked the book. Michelle Moran has presented last few years of Naoplean's reign from the perspectives of three protagonists - Marie Louise (Second Empress), Pauline (Napolean's Sister) and Paul (Pauline's lover). The book could not focus much on Marie Lousie as the title says but on Napolean's character and his fall. Pauline's character is scandalous and very well depicted. Paul seemed to be a silent spectator. Author could have given more details of the time when Marie Lousie was made Emperor of France for 4 years and how well she handled the regency. Its interesting to read the letters included in book which have been declared original by author in the epilogue. In spite of being narrated by three different characters, the story did not create any confusion, instead made the intentions clearer. It made me more curious about the Napoloean and his family's history.

This review can also be found on GoodReads over here.

The World is Flat

Book Review : The world is Flat

The amazing 539-page novel on Globalization and its impact is an eye-opener. More precisely it is a book which made me look out of the box. The box here is the borders of countries. I realized, after reading it, that the borders between countries are indeed dissolving and the world is becoming a leveled playing field for everyone.
The book started in India and ended over in India itself. It has descriptions about how the dot com boom and bust impacted the world, how the world changed over the years and how the Third world countries are brought to more or less at the same level by the influence of technology. The book has descriptions about the change in markets and Global position(as nations) of India and China. It encapsulates all the changes brought about by the globalization which is termed as "Flattening of the World " by the author. The book not only lists the positive aspects of globalization but the negative as well and hence I'd say that authors view about globalization is not biased.
The book is full of anecdotes and has phrases and monologues by many entrepreneurs and billionaires which makes the book quite inspirational as well.
The worst part about the book is that it is addressed to the Americans. All the "we" and "us" and "our country" is for the Americans which irritates me because when you are writing a book on "Flattening of the world" then it should be addressed to everyone and not to a particular audience. So I as a reader felt neglected.
Since the book was written before the Sub-prime crisis and the arab world and euro zone crisis hence the reader might find that the present scenario is not the same as described in the book. Things have changed a lot since when the book was written.
Being an IT Professional in India I could connect to every word in the book & felt that the book was written about me(although it was addressed to the Americans only). I'd recommend this book to everyone as it has the potential to be a life-transforming book and you can not afford to not read it.
Rating : 8.5/10

The Black Swan

Book Review: The Black Swan

The Black Swan - Nassim Nocholas Taleb

The book by Nassim Nicholas Taleb is about the occurances of rare yet high-impact events. He says that some events are rare and are least expected to happen at a particular juncture.One such event when occurs and have an high impact on the contemporary beliefs, to a level that it shatters all the beliefs and theories, is called a "Black Swan". Unexpected, High Impact event. He says that the frequency of such events is high in the present world scenario and further he says that although we could never predict the occurance of such events yet we offer a plausible description of the causes of occurance of event.

His views are biased at some points and pre-obsessed with the idea of randomness to an extent that he neglected even the primary and basic laws of nature. His views are strong and rigid. However, most of what he said, i agree to.

In the book the author challenges the most-well-established facts or theories and also teaches the reader to challenge any theory or belief one comes across. The thoughts presented here are raw and also not in an organized manner as the author has digressed abundently on many occations. But he has been able to keep me involved in the book throughout.

I found his views as conflicting with each-other at one point he said that a Black Swan event can't be positive or negative within itself; it depends on the perception of the discerner. However in the very next page he said that the positive Black swan happens (occurs) slowly while negative one happens fast. But here he failed to explain the exact definition of positive and negative black swan.

Apart from a few rare unworthy-of-mention mistakes I found the book full of beautiful insights into the dynamism of our world. The trail-blazing views were thought provoking and were a true delight for me. Flambouyant and confidently-aggresive narration. This book should be read by everyone irrespective of one's profession or interests.

I found this book very interesting, to say the least, and also it helped me shape my thoughts (if I may say).

Rating 8.5/10
Genre : Non-fiction

Kautilya's Arthashashtra

Book Review - Kautilya's Arthashashtra

Kautilya, popularly known as Chanakya and Vishnugupta was a master stretegist of the Second Century A.D. He is regarded as one of the greatest teacher of state-craft - wisdom in the management of public affairs. He is known for his genius and foresight and also for his knowledge of vedas and puranas.
Kautilya's Arthashashtra (by Penguin Publications) is the reconciliation of the original Arthashashtra which has been edited, rearranged and translated by L. N. Rangrajan.
The book has been divided into 10 chapters and deals with all the facets of leading a state from an emperor's point of view. Its gives a broad view of how a kingdom or state was lead by a King and his ministers. As i went through the book i attained a completely different view of our history as compared to the old school history books, which i consider to be completely irrelevant. The book has a compilation of different aspects of statecraft which includes - Responsibilities of  the King, his Behavior towards his subjects, Law and Order, Foreign policy, War and Defense, Taxation, Departments of Government. The views presented by Chanakya are strong and at times ambiguous. He has given exhaustive list of a possible scenarios for a number of cases. For an example he gave an exhaustive list for how a King can attack his enemy or how can an enemy be conciliated. I differ with Kautilya here because its not possible to give an exhaustive or complete list for such practical cases as every case is different in itself. However, i believe, the practical knowledge that he has imparted here in his work is of great use in present world. The author has also compared Kautilya's theories with other strategists here.  
After reading this book i realized how little we have changed since then. We have come so far yet the basics have remained just the same and will remain so. Some examples of similarities is the taxations syatem and governance, rules and regulations, trade and commerce and punishments etc.
All in all, the book is for those people who have interest in Indian statecraft and are looking for wisdom. It is surely not for those who are looking for a casual read.
Genre: Non-fiction
Rating : 7.5/10

Catcher in The Rye

Book Review - The Catcher in the rye

The Catcher in the rye - J. D. Salinger

Its the story of a boy who is in his late teens and has got an ax from his school as he has flunked the exams. The story is spread over two days that he spends after getting expelled from the school, how he ends up swearing at and detesting everyone he meets. Holden Caufield, the boy, is an eccentric fellow. He is a misanthrope and that too a very critical one. He can practically hate anyone for anything. He is deeply introspective and hates phonies and pompous bastards.
                           As such there is nothing special about the story as a whole. There is no story in the first place. But whatever petty incidents are written have indeed been described hilariously and at a very crazy angle. Each incident hasbeen explained in every glorious detail. Swear words have been used very generously in ths book and I bet you'll end up adding a lot of new slangs and swear words in your vocabulary after reading this one.

Its a good read for teenagers and introverts (i.e. if you can ever get to know you are one). Apart from it, I don't think many can enjoy this sort of book for too long. Th best part is that its just 192 pages long and you don't have to think about the end and all.

Rating: 6.8/10
Genre: Fiction