As automation sweeps the world, algorithms are beginning to decide almost every aspect of our life. This doesn't necessarily mean it's a good thing as Cathy O'Neil explains in this book. From bad data, small sample sizes and biased training, algorithms could go rogue and deny people even the most …

Solomon Northup was a free black citizen from New York. He was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the fields of Georgia, where slavery had still not been abolished. "12 years a slave" is the autobiography of Solomon and a descriptive account of slavery in the South of USA.

"God is not Great" by Christopher Hitchens is a book that pans "organized religion". Using the Abrahamic religions, he exposes the hypocrisy of organized religion.

King Leopold II of Belgium was the first European imperialist who colonised Africa. This book by Adam Hochschild documents the deceit, greed and exploitation of Congo. It's an extremely disturbing read and shakes one's conscience.

The gene machine is the story of the imaging of the ribosome authored by Venki Ramakrishnan. While the book is quite technical, it is also a thriller as multiple groups are shown to be racing towards the goal.

One of the exports from the British trading outposts in India was Poppy. The other and least discussed item was "indentured labour". This labour was shipped to their other colonies to act as the muscle.

The Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh is a collage of poignant stories that intersect …

The Joy of Mathematics is a great introductory book to the various branches of Mathematics like geometry, calculus and numbers. It is extremely well-written and can be a great introduction even for people with no math background.

Beth Harmon is a chess prodigy who has burst into the male-dominated game and is taking it by storm. But all is not well in her personal life. She has only goal of becoming the World No. 1 and if she achieves that forms the rest of the story.

"The Guardians" are a group of small lawyers who help free innocent convicts. When they take up the case of Quincy Miller, they get more than they bargained for. This is an extremely well written thriller that keeps you glued until the last page.

The Little Prince is a short novel describing the conversation between a pilot who is stranded in the Sahara desert after his plane has crashed and a little kid from a far away planet.