Book Reviews!

This one’s a review of the books I recall reading this year and my comments on them. Of course the verdicts are purely subjective, so you should probably take them with a pinch of salt:)

1) Love Story by Eric Segal – I did not enjoy this book. The language is crude, sometimes forcefully so, and the plot has been used in (or copied from :) far too many Hindi movies. Verdict- Not recommended or ‘Unrecommended’.
2) Illusions by Richard Bach – I liked this book; a lot in parts. This is neither a thriller, nor a philosophical discourse. I really liked the writing style- simple words and elegant phrasing. It’s a short book; a quick and easy read. Verdict – Recommended.
3) The Greatness Guide by Robin Sharma – While reading the initial chapters of the book (each one atmost 3 pages), I wasn’t happy. I felt the language was occasionally cheesy, and tad overconfident. Further many of the ideas area not original, and have appeared in loads of other self help books. What I look for in such books are powerful ideas captured in a single sentence in a way that appeals to me. The ideas may be obvious (most of that stuff is fairly obvious if we really think about it) but I look for the powerful and motivating ways in which they are expressed in writing. And in quite a few places, this book has them. So, once I began to ignore the language(maybe he just talks that way), and the fact that many of the ideas are perhaps not original, I began to like it. Verdict – Recommended with Reservations
4) The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz- I really enjoyed this book. Written in a very simple and direct manner, it gives concrete ideas/points to work on. Really leaves you feeling – ‘ What the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve’. Sounds clichéd? Yes, but its conveyed in this book with conviction that cannot be faked. Verdict – Highly Recommended
5) Life’s Little Instruction Book, Vol I,II and III by Jackson Brown – Fantastic perspective towards leading an enriching life. Each of the Volumes has about 500 short observations on how to make the most of our lives. A very quick read, that will leave you wondering if you are truly leading the life you imagined. Verdict – Very Highly Recommended
6) Mike and Psmith by P.G Wodehouse – One of the schoolboy stories written by the man. Being one of its earlier works, its not as mature as his later creation, ‘The World of Smith’, by far the greatest display of humour I’ve encountered. However, this book is worth reading for another purpose – It the shows the seeds of genius, that later bloomed into full glory years later. Be looking at his (or any artist’s earlier works for that matter), you can trace the way he progressed, something invaluable to anyone in the arts. Verdict –Recommended for Wodehoue fans; others may not enjoy it as much
7) Intuitive Analog Electronics by Thomas Frederiksen – Haven’t completely finished the book yet. The book is written from absolute basics, in a way that’s very enjoyable to read. The subtitle reads ’From electron to the Opamp’, and does far more justice than loads of other books which claim to be advanced and end up covering loads of maths. The author designed the very popular LM324 and was declared ‘one of the best arm-wavers of this era’ by none other than ‘Bob Pease’, a legendary analog circuit designer himself. (National Semiconductor earlier had a link on him at its homepage) Verdict – Highly recommended for all circuit designers, even if it turns out to be refresher.


That’s all right now. At the moment, I can’t recall reading any other books. I hope the remainder of the year is spent in equalizing the number of self-help/mgmt books I’ve read, and the technical ones:)