Book reviews #1
Short review on some of the books I have read
Hi readers,
Decided to pen down some short thoughts on some of the books, which I loved from those which I have read over the last two years. Hope you get a glimpse of each book through this.
Non-Fiction books
Digital Minimalism
Through this book Cal Newport rightly criticizes the revenue model of the social media companies that just steal our attention in the name of enabling constant connection between friends and families. This is the book that made me think of my usage of these sites and how it was affecting my mind and daily tasks and ultimately give up most of the sites I found not to be providing any significant value to me. I am forever grateful to have read this book, as this is what changed my life to a great extent.
The psychology of Money
Morgan Housel through a set of different real life stories tells us how people make financial decisions. People usually do not use logical mathematical calculations while making a choice related to finance but these decisions depend on their behaviour, emotions etc. Here the author highlights that the key to financial success is practicing a lifestyle which we can afford and cutting down the unwanted expenses. He tells us that businesses and financial decisions are all a game of how one believes in themselves and related to the psychology of their behaviour.
Permanent Record by Edward Snowden (Autobiography)
This is no short of a thriller even if it is an autobiography. Edward Snowden who was an employee and subcontractor at the National Security Agency faces a dilemma when he comes to know about the surveillance that his nation performs upon their citizens as well as over the people in other parts of the world. Finally he decides to become a whistleblower and disclose the relevant documents that suggested about the presence of a mass surveillance system by the US government. How he decides to disclose the documents and what hurdles he faced during these acts and how he ended up at Russia is all narrated by Edward Snowden in his autobiography.
How to do nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy
This is the book which made me think the most. The title of this book may seem a little bit odd but I assure you that it is worth a read. Here Jenny Odell emphasizes the importance of stepping back from the noise of the world and contemplate oneself by giving time to our hobbies. Here Jenny talks about how she herself started birdwatching as a quality leisure time activity, that helped her not only to enhance her knowledge about her surroundings but also helped her to appreciate the diversity around her and respect it.
Atomic Habits
This book by James Clear is a collection of study, reports and the incidents from author’s life that tells about the importance of small changes in habits which can result in large change at the output. It showcases the importance of consistently following a small change in the way we perform our daily tasks, which gives us a significantly visible result. It consists of real life examples of coaches, athletics, business managers etc. who applied this principle and achieved their target in life.
The Four hour workweek
In this book, Tim Ferriss points out how the world views our day-to-day jobs as to be done in a pre-defined time period and predefined set of rules. He further goes on to explain what are the ways through which we can overcome this notion of our job by effectively outsourcing and planning our tasks beforehand. This book talks about Tim’s experience with this method and how he ended up achieving the same results as before even though he reduced his work hours.
Fiction books
A man called Ove by Fredrik Backman
Ove enjoys living in a particular way that he has been following from childhood. Ove a man of principles, tries to follow the rules laid down by the state and also wishes that all people do the same. Ove’s memories of his late wife and how he is just sad after her passing is portrayed through this book. The life of Ove takes a quick turnaround once the new neighbours arrive next door. There is so much values to be taken from this story.
The cuckoo’s calling (Part 1 of Cormoran Strike novel series) by J. K. Rowling, published under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith
J.K. Rowling, generally famous for the Harry Potter series of novels has done a great work in this crime fiction novel series of Cormoran Strike. Of this, the first book is “The cuckoo’s calling”, which deals with the death of a model which is assumed to be a suicide. But once Cormoran Strike, a private detective, who is also a war veteran gets called into the scene by the model’s brother, unexpected turn of events happen and finally the detective with the help of his assistant Robin solve the case.
The silkworm (Part 2 of Cormoran Strike novel series)
In “The silkworm”, which is the second book of the Cormoran Strike novel series, Strike gets called upon by the wife of a novelist called Owen Quine who gets disappeared away from home without any reason. After several days, Quine is found to be murdered in a weird manner which draws further questions into Strike’s mind. The ending part is full of twists in this novel and it is worth a read if you are interested in crime thrillers.
The call of the wild by Jack London
This book deals with the story of a dog named Buck and the adventures that it goes through after getting kidnapped from his home. He gets used by the people during the gold rush in Canada during the late 1890’s. How he finds a new master and finally how Buck responds to his inner calling is the main theme of the book.
The girl with the dragon tattoo by Stieg Larsson
This novel is a mystery thriller, which starts off with a journalist, Mikael Blomkvist who gets defeated in front of law due to his face off with a billionaire. It goes on to a situation where Blomkvist ends up in investigating about the disappearance of Harriet Vanger when she was a girl. It is one of the best stories I have ever read. It piques ones’ curiosity of what will happen next. The story ends how Blomkvist with the help of a young hacker Salander solves the case and how Blomkvist himself re-establishes his image in the journalism field.