Atlas Shrugged
Thu 07 February 2019 by Thejaswi Puthraya1200 pages and 47 days! That's the longest it has taken me to complete a book yet. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand is a fictional story set in the United States of America where the government has been captured by crony capitalists who lobby to pass laws that restrict innovation and competition to safeguard their fiefs.
Hard working and conscientious businessmen who are hit by these regulations start vanishing; leaving their businesses imploding. Dagny Taggart, a scion of Taggart Transcontinental Rails and a ruthless businesswoman who loves competition and free enterprise is caught in the cross fires of these regulations. She is torn between protecting her life's ambition of running an efficient rail company and feeding the looters who have put regulatory restrictions in her tracks.
While Ayn Rand's writing style is beautiful; the book would've been better with crisper editing. The repetition and the length just dampen the premise of the book much like the regulations dull the spirit of the businessmen in the novel. The book reads like propaganda for Capitalism. Not sure how Ayn Rand would've reacted to the levels of inequality in society today caused by the crony capitalism globally.
Kahlil Gibran Selected Couplets
I love Kahlil Gibran's poetry and have been collecting his couplets as I read his books. Here are a few that I loved:
- A little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle.
- He who does not seek advice is a fool. His folly blinds …
Getting Things Done
Just looking at the title, I decided to take a dive into getting things done even before I started reading the book. So I started reading the book simultaneously with other books. And boy was I wrong! Not only does the book clearly discourage multi-tasking; it took me 3 months …
read moreSaving Capitalism from the Capitalists
Raghuram Rajan (former governor of RBI) and Liugi Zingales, a professor from Chicago's Booth School of Business have written this book to drive home the point that most capitalistic societies around the world are mostly crony capitalism; where the incumbents make use of a nascent market and capture it and …
read moreCoromandel : A personal history of South India
"Ashoka - the search for India's lost emperor" by Charles Allen was a mind-blowing book that showed how even history can be presented to it's readers like a thriller. To better such a book is a challenging task and thankfully Charles Allen sets the tone for the kind of book in …
read moreSteve Jobs
Leonardo da Vinci, Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein and Henry Kissinger - all geniuses (possibly debatable). And then when you add Steve Jobs into the list, you know the author is out to prove a point. Walter Isaacson helms the only official biography of Steve Jobs, a mercurial genius.
It documents the …
read moreK.A Nilakanta Sastri - Writings in The Hindu
K.A Nilakanta Sastri was an Indian historian who specialized in South Indian history and was an expert in Cholas. The Hindu compiled a list of his best contributions there and released them as a book.
Most of these essays are from the 1950s and some from the early 60s …
read moreThe Godfather
Vito Corleone is the head of the Corleone Family in New York City, one of the most powerful Sicilian families that controls organized crime in the city. He is a friend to those who seek his help and in turn expects a reasonable favour in return when the time arrives …
read moreDelivering Happiness
I generally don't pick business books unless it is highly recommended. "Delivering Happiness" by Tony Hsieh was recommended by a manager at one of my previous workplaces. Tony Hsieh documents the story of Zappos, an online footwear retailer until it's acquisition by Amazon. The primary focus of this book is …
read moreRanjit Singh: Maharaja of Punjab
Khushwant Singh, a noted author pens the biography of Ranjit Singh, referred to as 'The Lion of Punjab' by the Sikhs. He was the first king to have unified the Punjab and built a huge empire. The book documents the events in Ranjit Singh's life chronologically with a lot of …
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