[GTO]

Have completed half of The Airbnb story and am happy enough to recommend it. Well-written no-fluff story of a brilliant company.

Has some nice quotes too. One of my favourites was on the lines of "if you have an open platform, whatever you see in the real-world society, you will see on your platform too". I see that a lot on Team-BHP .

[Ithaca]

Originally Posted by Samurai

I just finished reading Fear: Trump in the White house by Bob Woodward.

Samurai Sir, I would suggest that you read, if you haven't already, "Devil's Bargain" by Joshua Green.
Here the story is from Steve Bannon's perspective.
Devil's Bargain

I finished this book and am currently reading "Fear" by Bob Woodward.

The next book on my kindle is "Everything Trump Touches Dies" by Rick Wilson.
E T T D

Michael Lewis of "The Big Short" fame, has also written a Trump Book.
Michael Lewis Book

I don't know if Donald Trump will ever make America great again, but he sure is making lot of authors financially secure.

Fear has already sold 1.1 million copies - something that every non-fiction writer dreams of achieving.
1.1m Sales

[GTO]

Originally Posted by GTO

Have completed half of The Airbnb story and am happy enough to recommend it.

Have completed the book and am going to give it a 'strongly recommended' rating. Very honest, very straight-forward. These guys came close to being dead so many times. The writing style makes you feel like you are (were?) a part of the action.

Remember the quotes I mentioned earlier? Here are two more memorable ones from the book.

On startups & fast growth = It's like jumping off a cliff and building an aeroplane on the way down

"Being successful is one of the most difficult things you'll ever do in life". 100% agreed.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by GTO

Have completed the book and am going to give it a 'strongly recommended' rating. Very honest, very straight-forward. These guys came close to being dead so many times. The writing style makes you feel like you are (were?) a part of the action.

Can you suggest some entrepreneur biographies not involving VCs. My son wants to read entrepreneurship stories, and I feel the VC funded ones totally takes the focus away from the real thing, building from scratch with real independence.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Can you suggest some entrepreneur biographies

Samurai, the best business books your son can start off with are:

1. Iacocca. I think it was the first business book I ever read too & got me addicted to business reading.

2. Shoe Dog

3. Losing my virginity

4. Founders at work

5. Men of steel (India focused)

6. The polyester prince (The Books Thread (non-fiction)) (India focused)

[GTO]

Just finished up Idea Man by Paul Allen (co-founder of Microsoft). It's one of the rare books you'll get on the incredible Microsoft journey. Sadly, the book is anything but.

Rating 2.5 / 5 stars. Paul brags too much about his contributions, runs Bill Gates down a lot and talks excessively about his money (how his investments did etc. etc.). He sure was full of himself. That's not a bad thing, but you don't write a book with yourself in mind; you do so keeping the reader in mind.

Not recommended. Don't waste your time.

[humyum]

Just finished reading 'Aurangzeb - The Man, The Myth by Audrey Truschke

Rating - 4/5, I simply loved it, was a little slow at some patches but never the less the history buff in me kept me going.




A short review of the book.

This book highlights and debunks most of the myths about Aurganzeb while giving a real picture of a liberal, far sighted and a magnanimous character that he was. People think about Akbar as being the most just Mughal emperor, the author just sets that record straight.

A must read for someone who is into history of this kind, for me it was a trip which took me back 300 years, made me imagine those stories and events that took place then and I thoroughly enjoyed reading and living it.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by humyum

This book highlights and debunks most of the myths about Aurganzeb while giving a real picture of a liberal, far sighted and a magnanimous character that he was.

So... he didn't kill any of his brothers or imprison his father?

[humyum]

Originally Posted by Samurai

So... he didn't kill any of his brothers or imprison his father?

No no that he did, but so did his father when he gained power, war of successions during that time worked that way, lot of Hindu kings rose to power that way too namely Ashoka, Mahapadma Nanda, Ajatshatru etc.

Myths surrounding him having razed thousands of temples, him having subjugated other religions and its people, this is the kind of stuff that is debunked.

[C300]

Originally Posted by humyum

No no that he did, but so did his father when he gained power, war of successions during that time worked that way, lot of Hindu kings rose to power that way too namely Ashoka, Mahapadma Nanda, Ajatshatru etc.

Myths surrounding him having razed thousands of temples, him having subjugated other religions and its people, this is the kind of stuff that is debunked.

Not sure about thousands of temples but destruction of Kashi Vishwanath temple by Aurangzeb was one of the darkest episodes in our history.

[humyum]

Originally Posted by C300

Not sure about thousands of temples but destruction of Kashi Vishwanath temple by Aurangzeb was one of the darkest episodes in our history.

True, but it had political motives than religious ones like the temple you are talking about, it was brought down in 1670, it was built during Akbars time by Raja Mansingh, his grandsons Jai Singh helped Shivaji and Sambaji flee from the Mughal court in 1666, also a rebellion had broken out in 1669 among the Benares landlords connected to the Vishwanath Temple and hence Aurangzeb thought he would destroy the temple and teach these guys a lesson and so he did in 1670.

You will be surprised to know that Hindu kings also targeted each others temples regularly defiling images of Durga, Ganesh and Vishnu, some Hindu kings even commissioned Sanskrit poetry to celebrate these actions.

[C300]

Originally Posted by humyum

True, but it had political motives than religious ones like the temple you are talking about, it was brought down in 1670, it was built during Akbars time by Raja Mansingh, his grandsons Jai Singh helped Shivaji and Sambaji flee from the Mughal court in 1666, also a rebellion had broken out in 1669 among the Benares landlords connected to the Vishwanath Temple and hence Aurangzeb thought he would destroy the temple and teach these guys a lesson and so he did in 1670.

You will be surprised to know that Hindu kings also targeted each others temples regularly defiling images of Durga, Ganesh and Vishnu, some Hindu kings even commissioned Sanskrit poetry to celebrate these actions.

The problem i think is not only destruction but building Gyanvapi mosque on top of ruins which cant be political alone.
Anyways, we are going slightly

[GTO]

Mod Note: No more off-topic posts please.

[rst89]

Originally Posted by Samurai

I just finished reading Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou.

Thanks for the recommendation over here. I read this book. It is a fast paced and gives good insight how a young lady charmed people around her to go forward with her ambition.

In the end John Carreyrou tries to say she may be a sociopath but leaves the judgement to us.

Also the way powerful law firms were used to silence the employees and people is mind-blowing.

This book touches a gray area of trade secret. Lot of companies invoke trade secrets and try to silence people. Classic example is the case between Uber and Waymo.

One more important character in all this is Sunny Balwani. He right now is fighting the case against the SEC right now and the judgement will be interesting to read.

[doxinboy]

Originally Posted by humyum

Just finished reading 'Aurangzeb - The Man, The Myth by Audrey Truschke

Dude, bought and read it based on your recommendation. One word. Unputdownable. Only if other history books are as light and readable, it would be such a joy.

Any other recommendations, please add man!