[whitewing]

Slightly OT, but would be interested in knowing your sources for book recommendations.

a) Word of mouth
b) Online forums like this thread and https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shift...d-fiction.html (The Books Thread (Fiction))
c) Recommendation lists ( amazon.com, B&N, NYT list etc.)
d) GoodReads. Somehow since some time, the recommendations it throws up are not quite good.

[Abhineet Singh]

Originally Posted by whitewing

Slightly OT, but would be interested in knowing your sources for book recommendations.

I generally rely on the following:

1. Word of mouth
2. Twitter (I enjoy books related to Foreign Policy, History, State craft, et al)
3. Interviews and online forums

I have maintained a reading list since long. Adding some context to the reading list helps a lot.

Here is a snapshot of my reading list:

28. In the US, it took the Great Depression of the 1930s to move its small and medium-size farmers into urban areas. It was a harrowing tale best described in John Steinbeck’s novel The Grapes of Wrath.
29. Spies In The Himalayas - kohli and Kenneth Conboy - book about the radiation device we lost at Nanda Devi
30. The mystery continues to resonate. In a recent book, Becoming A Mountain: Himalayan Journeys In Search Of The Sacred And The Sublime, Stephen Alter, the Mussoorie-based author of 15 books, including a few on the Himalayas, describes the espionage episode as “Desecration”.
31. American author and climber Pete Takeda, who authored the book An Eye At The Top Of The World: The Terrifying Legacy Of The Cold War’s Most Daring CIA Operation
32. Swami Vivekananda’s*complete works -*http://www.vivekananda.net/Library.html
33. The Complete Story of Indian Reforms: 2G, Power & Private Enterprise — A Practitioner’s Diary*, is better known in the media for some of its “startling revelations” about the 2G scam.
Rohan Gunaratna’s book, Indian Intervention in Sri Lanka, should easily be among the most exhaustive and authoritative accounts that exist on New Delhi’s fatal decisions to stop the decimation of the LTTE in 1987 and send in the IPKF months thereafter in pursuit of the group.

48. Book titled 'Kargil: Turning the Tide', which was launched here on Monday evening, is a first-hand narrative of the operations of 8 Mountain Division, which was tasked to evict the enemy from the Drass-Mushkoh Sector during 'Operation*
49. BrahMos director A. Sivathanu Pillai has written in his book ‘The Path Unexplored’ how he checkmated serving military generals who attempted to scuttle the missile
50. Sita Ram Goel has set out four hundred pages of extracts and evidence from the leading Islamic historians of those days in his decisive work, Hindu Temples: What Happened to Them, The Islamic Evidence. (Arun Shourie recommends this book)
51. William Shirer's Berlin Diary : The journal of a foreign correspondent ( Black Swan author says that this book taught him the most about philosophy and theoretical history as it tells events (history) as they were taking place and not after they had occurred)

[cataclysm]

Originally Posted by Abhineet Singh

29. Spies In The Himalayas - kohli and Kenneth Conboy - book about the radiation device we lost at Nanda Devi

I've been trying to find this book everywhere. A source would be much appreciated

[Abhineet Singh]

Originally Posted by cataclysm

I've been trying to find this book everywhere. A source would be much appreciated

I haven't found them, at reasonable rates, anywhere. While they are available on Amazon, the price varies from 3000-4000 INR.

That is why they are still on the reading list.

[whitewing]

Originally Posted by cataclysm

I've been trying to find this book everywhere. A source would be much appreciated

Originally Posted by Abhineet Singh

I haven't found them, at reasonable rates, anywhere. While they are available on Amazon, the price varies from 3000-4000 INR.
That is why they are still on the reading list.

I had chanced upon this book more than a decade and a half back in a local lending library (it was already struggling and has long shut shop since) - the book itself was in a beaten down condition. At that time of reading, I wasn't really sure if I'd read a piece of fictional history or a real incident - but sure made a fun read.

https://www.kobo.com/in/en/ebook/spies-in-the-himalayas is available at 1.5k. But not sure if importing is allowed in Kindle.

[libranof1987]

Read these books in the last couple of months:

1) Let Me Say it Now - Rakesh Maria: an anecdotal autobiography of Mumbai's ex-CP. He recollects a variety of his experiences, most notably the '93 serial blasts and 26/11. And a variety of other instances that give a nice peek into India's Administrative Services, the Police machinery.

4/5



2) The Kaoboys of R&AW - B Raman: an anecdotal autobiography by an ex-agent of R&AW. A nice recollection of various instances where R&AW/IB was involved. Also highlights the frustrating interference/indifference by the political class.

3.5/5



I read this book right after I read Mossad, which made the experience a little more frustrating.

3) Mossad - quite the thriller to be honest. Explains in detail several aspects of the Israel - Palestine conflict, and also the covert operations during several events that are so popular in public memory - Munich Olympics, the MIG-2, Entebbe hijacking and so on. One of the bets books I've read so far.

Having watched The Spy and Fauda made this book an even more fascinating read.

5/5

[casnov]

Originally Posted by whitewing

Slightly OT, but would be interested in knowing your sources for book recommendations.

This is one good source for recommendations. I always go back to this whenever I have to buy a new one.

https://www.gatesnotes.com/Books

[GTO]

Originally Posted by whitewing

Slightly OT, but would be interested in knowing your sources for book recommendations

- This thread.

- Amazon's recommendations, "products related to this item" and "customers who viewed this item also viewed" (find a lot that way).

- 90% of my books are about business, and I am also a subscriber to NYTimes, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, Fortune etc. So if there is any big-name book that is launching, these publications cover it. Most recent one I found this way was the the one by Reed Hastings.

I wish there was something like Spotify for books. Spotify's music discovery tools are insanely awesome and it's all based on your existing music preferences.

[subraiyr]

Originally Posted by GTO

- I wish there was something like Spotify for books. Spotify's music discovery tools are insanely awesome and it's all based on your existing music preferences.

While i dont remember any Spotify for books, i do use Goodreads to help aid in book selection. Also, The Hindu literary review helps a lot. Some of the books there are quite difficult to read, but then Hindu is such a paper

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by GTO

Most recent one I found this way was the the one by Reed Hastings.

Thank you for sharing this - bookmarked it for the next read.

Majority of my books are on business (biographies) - currently starting the "The Tatas: How a Family Built a Business and a Nation". Mind sharing other recent/good finds?

P.s. I think I'll have to go back and search through this thread again!


Edit: Just saw your kindle snapshots on the first post of this thread - so many common (read) books - Ambani & Sons, Dongri to Dubai, Iacocca, Steve Jobs, The Maruti Story, etc.

[Sebring]

Good book indeed, thanks. Part business lessons, part personal journey, this book is consistently engaging. The narratives of Pixar, Lucasfilms and Marvel were all fascinating.

Originally Posted by GTO

Loved the legendary Bog Iger's book - The ride of a lifetime

[ampere]

To move away from biographies, here are some written by science community.

• Physics and Philosophy by Werner Heisenberg : A book beyond the classic uncertainty! (link)
• Structure of Scientific Revolution by Thomas Kuhn (A Classic! but slow) : (link)
• Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl (link)
• Astonishing Hypothesis : Scientific Search for the Soul. by Crick (On the hotly debated topic of spirtuality (link)
• A Mathematician's Apology : By GH Hardy (link)

[Sebring]

I wanted to read about the birth of Netflix. But this book is more about bragging rights. I loved that Marc Randolph gave us an in-depth insight, but the writing leaves much to be desired. A lot happened to get this giant Company started and the facts are there

[GTO]

Excellent book on WeWork's rise & fall. I especially loved how the author explains their botched up IPO. Will give it 4 / 5 stars. An impressive company that was grossly overvalued.

Amazon Link

[GTO]

Don't know how this flew under the radar, but this one is an EXCELLENT book on the Satyam fiasco and how things went down. Reads like a movie drama (which it was, I guess). The author has done his research and clearly has inside info. Very well written.

5 / 5 stars. Will be of interest to business as well as IT industry folk.

The double life of Ramalinga Raju