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“Irrationally Passionate” by Jason Kothari – a Book Review

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I am writing a review after a long time to be frank, the professional assignments has taken a toll on the passionate reader in me and this was the time for me to wake up, smell the coffee, er read the book in a weeks time and deliver this review.

Entrepreneurship is close to my heart and it continues to be. And when Blogadda mailed me to review my book I took it as a challenge to read and write a review in seven days, which was a habit some time ago. It was a great experience to do it all over again especially with a book like ‘Irrationally Passionate.

So let’s go to the book in review, the author looks straight at you in the cover and he continues to talk the same way throughout the book. It was a kind of sensation that you go through watching a movie, you wanted to finish the book once you started, I finished this in three sessions. A very straight from the heart storytelling and I think that was the core of the book, he was personal and one to one taking you along the journey how he managed to pull off those entrepreneurial ventures even when he was in college.

That Valiant episode is a testament of the Silicon valley culture that’s now creeping in for good in the Indian ecosystem. He is a bit philosophical but I like the way he translates that to reality and that I think make us think very hard. eventually that is the core of his success, seeing through the things in a philosophical and yet a practical and pragmatic way.

The language is very personal and makes you travel with him, like say he was traveling with Nikesh Arora, I could almost feel sitting in the car. The power of narration is excellent. The way chapters have been listed is also easy to read. I would also like to state in case you want to read one of the chapters you won’t feel left out from the earlier story. I loved the way the chapters were titled and it meant a lot of things and had deep connotations that you can’t miss in the story that is revealed.

It was also nice to read the behind the door happenings at Housing.com. That was one of the most watched startup stories that had it’s up and down in a way no other startup was covered, perhaps the PR of its early days stuck so much that it was its Achilles heel when it was in downward spiral.

The best part of the storytelling is the depiction of the personal front how the human side of the big entrepreneurs is quite never known, you never know what you do as a child perhaps might be a precursor to what you do in the life as an adult. Well I am talking about the Chess board episode in Agra where he negotiated a sale with a local seller getting it for Rs. 50 when it had started with a Rs.400 initially.

Thanks Jason for taking us inside the mind of an entrepreneur and taking us through some of the greatest moments in Indian entrepreneurial history. Thanks for those cab rides, boardroom discussions, phone calls and more than that for the inspiration to see things as they are. I loved the way how the entrepreneur in him evaluated the exit strategy and more.

We need more stories that will help the entrepreneurs to see things in new light. Thanks Blogadda for this opportunity.

This is a part of Blogadda book review program.

The Best Seller She Wrote by Ravi Subramanian #bookreview

Book Reviews, Books Reading / Read, Management, Politics, , , , ,

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BOOK DETAILS
Publisher Westland
ISBN-10 9385152386
Imprint Westland
Number of Pages 392 Pages
Publication Year 2015 October
Language English
ISBN-13 9789385152382
Binding Paperback

The best seller she wrote by Ravi Subramanian makes you sit through till you have turned the last pages. Gripping drama spiced with love interest, sex, vaulting professional ambition and betrayal in equal measure.

The settings are simply awesome and the earnestness and ambitiousness of the young generation and how they take the means to the end and sometimes the way they take the road never travelled to make it happen are all highlights of this novel. I did find it a bit philosophical in a way that your family is bound to be the last place you can be yourself and there is nothing like your family to go back to.

Aditya’s character is a wonderfully woven one with a sub text how fame and money can make you lose your composure and how a bit of waywardness is going to cost as much as everything in life, is a character who will remain in your memory long after you have turned the last page.

A friend’s characterisation in Sanjay and the machinations are a revealing aspect of human emotion of jealousy and envy that pervades today under the guise of friendship, and other relationship.

The pace set by the author is brilliant and the way things happen and connecting the dots is something only Ravi Subramanian can pull it off. The techie in him and the Apple cloud is a delight to read. I remember a line where they said things were different when apple and blackberry were real fruits, you know what I mean.

The ‘I want in now’ generation and its remorse less way to famedom and ethereal affinity to money is characterized in an engrossing way.

A fast paced read and will make you realise the futility at times on what we are doing 24/7 in the name of work and everything else we call it work. Knowing it is going to be a Bollywood reproduction its got ample dose of explicit scenes for the reader. It was a little extra if you ask me.

All in all a great read for a novel in this genre, keeps your attention solid till it gets out. Probably doesn’t have those Ravi Subramanian’s signature of the Financial world stuff, nevertheless he holds your attention.

I took 2 sessions to finish this book. I loved the way the author chose to thank Bloggers and some of his little circle of creative people through this novel.

The marketing aspect of a publication is a lesson that every author would need and if you read this book then possible that you would end up with some insights on what goes behind the marketing of the book and definitely you would understand that writing is not the toughest part.

A page turner by any other name will be called the Best Seller She Wrote.

Here’s one trailer of the book 🙂

I am reviewing ‘The Bestseller She Wrote’ by Ravi Subramanian as a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!

Senthilkumar Rajappan

Kurukshetra – the Aryavarta Chronicles Book 3 by Krishna Udayasankar #BookReview

Bhagavad Gita, Book Reviews, Books Reading / Read, Politics, , , , , , ,

Epic Retelling of an Epic!
Epic Retelling of an Epic!

BOOK DETAILS
Publisher Hachette India
ISBN-10 9350097184
Imprint Hachette India
Number of Pages 384 Pages
Publication Year 2014
Language English
ISBN-13 9789350097182
Binding Paperback

Indian Mythologies have this rare distinction that the more you rewrite the more livelier they become and its one of the innate characters that they continue to be retold and perhaps this will continue for the days to come.

Each in its own context and setting and more perhaps suited to the times that the author is in the retelling takes the course with impact of the generation that it touches and communicates. That way this book will be remembered for the retelling of the kind that has never been attempted before.

This is a book to be read – a retelling redefined perhaps. You knew Mahabharatha, now know it from a parts of the forts that you have never been to. The graphic and gory retelling, and sometimes walking and talking through the minds of the characters sends you a chill down your spine, quite often we took them for granted without any investigation.

The scene is set for the war and how the allies on the part of Pandavas and Kauravas get ready to fight it out and the way it ends.

Aptly titled and well written with details, this book is sure to get you riveted to the last page. The way the book takes turns to reach into the mental realms of all the characters as they speak out their mind and sometimes something else being so graphically described takes you so much inside the forts and places that they walk and talk about.

You will feel the eerie sounds when you actually read through the pages and feel those moments along with the characters.

I loved the naming and the family tree part and its time I go back to the first two books to make it complete.

Its not just the war but what goes into the minds of each of the characters that’s the best part. I am sure the author has done a great deal of mind reading the characters and bringing them alive with such precision requires a tactful reading and delving deeper into the psyche and also the setting of the events that take place in the epic of all times.

I must mention that the author Krishna Udayasankar has taken us on a treacherous journey and the machinations of the characters. The portrayal of Govinda is an absolutely unravelling of the mystique behind his political wizardry is just an example.

I am sure this Mahabharata re-imagined and retold in many ways will be a game changer for many people to look at the epic and draw inspiration for retelling.

So if you come across this book take it and you will be happy that you did. You will watch the Mahabharata’s war stream live in front of you word by word.

A fast paced and yet a deep dive in great sense, this will leave you with scenes of the war right infront of your eyes. The narrative and graphic storytelling ability of the author will keep you awake to finish the book.

Personally I feel this riveting and fast paced a story telling of the Mahabharatha probably was destined.

Great writing, narrative, story telling all in a package that you will not skip a beat through the book.

For once apart from the Books Review category this forms a part of Politics in my blog!

This review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!

7 Secrets of the Goddess by Devdutt Pattanaik #bookreview

Book Reviews, Books Reading / Read, Spirituality, , , , ,

7-secrets-of-the-goddess

Publisher Westland
ISBN-10 9384030589
Edition 1st Edition
Book Type Non Fiction Book
Number of Pages 270 Pages
Publication Year 2014 October
Language English
ISBN-13 9789384030582
Binding Paperback

Once again the master mythologist, comes up with a great story telling with facts and illustrations that support every word that he writes on.

The third in the series of 7 secrets – of Vishnu, Siva and now the Goddess, the author takes us through the historical evidence that suggests how the society had turned itself from matriarchy to patriarchy.

Add to that the influence of islam and Christianity the need to be seen as a patriarchal in the context of subservient women characters and other factors when the invasion happened.

Perhaps it’s the keen eye to detail and the ardous task of seeking our definitive evidences which make Devdutt Pattanaik the man he is as he revels in his unravelling the myths and making meaning out of them.

The structure of the book and the layout should make it easy for the reader to assimilate each idea and also appreciate the way how things have turned around and the interpretations have started happening.

Quite a few times it is the story lost in translation and quite a few times its interpretation that mattered according to the context and the times they were in.

The way how the once fierce and independent womanhood has now given way to a submissive and more enslavend being is very well captured and the best part is all how they got into these submissive overtones simply because its in the nature of human beings to be seen as controlling rather than be the likes of animals which have just their wants and need fulfilled to the extent they are required not a penny more or a penny less in financial terms.

The journey into the grama devi concept is worth remembering since they give a nice understanding of folk way of celebrating womanhood and they are going strong day by day.

I think this was a long overdue in the way that he has put things in perspective the ideal situation of stories being a mirror to the context and how it has to be interpreted and how it has long lost it to chanting tradition and more so people just chanting them even without knowing their meaning.

Apart from that he also has taken on the Western philosophers for their very minimalistic view of the Hinduism that they talk of and never having tried to read the real meaning of the rituals and festivals.

A lot of specifics on the southern traditions being discussed is welcome addition and the Mahabharata character of Draupadi being accorded an Amman Devi status is an interesting one.

A must read for everyone interested to know the significance of Goddesses in the Hindu tradition. The many stories of Brahma not being accorded the temple status is a revealing one. The relationships with the trinity and the devis are a great read.

My only addition if I could suggest would have been the pointers  to look at the picture with a subscript when they are discussed in the opposite pages would have had a nice way to add to the flow, otherwise they pictures are read at my convenience and paragraph breaks.

As in all his works this will be read again and again for the insights that his subject revels on, and a one time reading of a topic is like the tip of an iceberg.

This review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!

God is a Gamer by Ravi Subramanian – a book review #bookreview

Book Reviews, Books Reading / Read, digital, Internet, , , ,

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Publisher Penguin Books India
ISBN-10 0143421395
Imprint Penguin
Book Type Fiction Book
Number of Pages 324 Pages
Publication Year 2014 September
Language English
ISBN-13 9780143421399
Binding Paperback

Let me admit this, I am a fan of Ravi Subramanian, and happy that he keeps technology at the heart of his plot.

As the cover says this is a first – a novel with Bitcoin at the heart of the things, and author has been successful in creating a parallel world in this financial universe which in itself is a multi-layered economy.

Starting with the Washington blast the story travels across to India with a few interesting characters. The background of the internet as a business proposition and also how the online is seeping in the banking industry and how the security is exposed on many counts is a documentation that needs special mention.

The story line is well inter-linked and with short chapters keeps the readers abreast of the happenings, and successfully keeps the interest alive till the end.

The events in the plot are easily identifiable and you will see them happening across the story and the best part is you will be there in the midst of all these. The author successfully makes easy work of even the so called technological jargons and makes you understand how it works.

Bitcoin with its anonymity and the scale with which it is expanding is a nice setting especially when you know it can be used for anything negative than positive reason. Perhaps that is the crux of all those things which are anonymous and makes for interesting followups.

The power struggles, the startup syndrome, the losing of a client, the head start in a gaming company and a love affair are all mixed in a heady cocktail for you to sip and taste and gives you a high of the tallest order.

A super fast paced with suspense intertwined at necessary breaks the story moves seamlessly across the continents to connect the dots. Be it the FBI sleuths or the Indian CBI, the art of not taking things as they seem is very well read into, but would they know they are also being led to a conclusion, you go to read the story to find that.

The way technology especially the apps ecosystem works and the vulnerabilities associated with it or even the lap top batteries getting exposed are all real to a great extent and these are just the way the master crooks work their way to con the consumers.

In a digital world which has everyone leaving trails its but quite natural that the criminals here who are white collared will love to see the trails being erased or use things that may not be visible. But then there is always the to err is human thing and that plays spoilsport.

The characters that will stay with you are Varun and Tanya perhaps there is a little trait you might want to analyse in them. All the other characters add to the story and author makes you believe every little word and he has drawn the human emotions subtly to take you to the point where he leads.

Overall a great read, and you will want to know more about Bitcoin in case you haven’t read enough of it.

One more you could even tag this book under internet and digital!

This review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!
 

The Krishna Key – a Book Review

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Let me start with a disclaimer, I am a big fan of Ashwin and know him close thanks to the social media. So it was with bated breath that I was awaiting the release of his latest thriller in his genre of mythological thriller. If anyone can give Dan Brown a challenge it would be Ashwin Sanghi and he has proved it time and again.

Now to the novel at hand – the Krishna Key. I told myself I will try to do an open reading and not have any premonition about Krishna (He is close to me). I had also read the first preview.

The book sets the pace and what a start it was a gory one and an executioner on prowl, planning with precision and setting the agenda for the police and the other stake holders to think hard.

The pace of the novel was class apart, you could not wait to see what happened next and what’s in store till the last page is read.

The change of pace and the characters especially that of Prof Saini and his student Priya were well etched out and quite educative. The best part is that springing surprises that happens during the story offering quite a twist. Radhika’s character is one of empowerment in itself.

The storyline especially that of Sri Krishna in first person makes it topical and how it came about for modern day characters to connect the dots. Realism in fiction sometimes  is an art but Ashwin makes it a science with his deep insights and wide reading of the topic that he presents in such a riveting and fast paced story which makes for an engrossing read.

I think anagrams apart Ashwin this time has set a new precedent with a mirror imaging of Sir Khan to Krishna, something which still rings in with the reader.

An absolutely great story told in a pretty lucid narrative and style that you would wonder why it went off so fast. You will continue to retain some of the finer characteristics of the story even after you have put your book down.

For me personally, the author has a way of presenting things in new light that I am reminded of George Bernard Shaw who said ‘You see things and say why, I see things and say why not?’

Senthilkumar Rajappan

This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com. Participate now to get free books!