Books !

The Leader Who Had No Title

2011-08-22T23:15:00.000-07:00

Name: The Leader Who Had No Title
Author: Robin Sharma

This is one of the most amazing books I have read till now in my life. A must read for everyone who wants to know how to treat every second as an opportunity. Who wants to be a leader for his lifetime, who wants to educate the community how every one can make a difference to their life and to the society.

In The Leader Who Had No Title, you will learn:

How to work with and influence people like a superstar, regardless of your position
A method to recognize and then seize opportunities in times of deep change
The real secrets of intense innovation
An instant strategy to build a great team and become a "merchant of wow" with your customers
Hard-hitting tactics to become mentally strong and physically tough enough to lead your field
Real-world ways to defeat stress, build an unbeatable mind-set, unleash energy, and balance your personal life

Regardless of what you do within your organization and the current circumstances of your life, the single most important fact is that you have the power to show leadership. Wherever you are in your career or life, you should always play to your peak abilities. This book shows you how to claim that staggering power, as well as transform your life--and the world around you--in the process.

The book's approach is very easy to follow, through a gripping sequence of events. Below is the video which will be well enough to motivate you. This book is recommended to everyone for sure. I am sure many cases listed are what we face everyday, and the book suggests who one can overcome them and moreover how you can learn from them.
Cheers!

Empire of the Moghul: Ruler of the World

2011-08-13T19:16:00.000-07:00

Empire of the Moghul: Ruler of the World
by Alex Rutherford

I am not as thrilled and contended as I was after rreading the first two parts of this series. This book is on Akbar, the most powerful and longer ruling mughal in Tumr dynasty. But surprisingly the author has dedicated the least pages for him. In the same book more than half life of Jehanghir (Salim) and then of Khusrau is also there.

Easily 2 books could have been dedicated to Akbar. Many things has is private courtroom, various battles, relation with first rajput wife, din-e-elahi, his nocturnal country visits etc, much could have been explored.

On the positive side the book still has the amazing narration capability of the author and very nice fictionalization of the history

Keep your enemies close, and your sons closer...Empire of the Moghul, Ruler of the World

2011-07-08T01:08:00.000-07:00

Just bought the third book of this series by Alex Rutherford. The way he writes and is covering the entire Moghul dynasty is amazing indeed. Some details on Akbar:

The story of the third great Moghul Emperor, Akbar, leader of a triumphant dynasty which contained the seeds of its own destruction.

Akbar, ruler of a sixth of the world's people, colossally rich and utterly ruthless, was a contemporary of Elizabeth I, but infinitely more powerful. His reign began in bloodshed when he strangled his treacherous 'milk-brother', but it ended in glory.

Akbar extended his rule over much of Asia, skillfully commanding tens of thousands of men, elephants and innovative technology, yet despite the unimaginable bloodshed which resulted his empire was based on universal religious tolerance.

However, Akbar's homelife was more complicated. He defied family, nobles and mullahs to marry a beautiful Rajput princess, whose people he had conquered; but she hated Akbar and turned Salim, his eldest son, against him. What's more, as any Moghul prince could inherit his father's crown and become Emperor, his sons were brought up to be intensely competitive and suspicious of each other: to see each other as rivals for the greatest prize of all. And, as Salim grew to manhood, the relationship between father and son became tainted by rebellion and competition to be the greatest Moghul of them all.

A Thousand Splendid Suns

2009-04-19T05:22:00.000-07:00

Author: Khaled Hosseini

I read this book after The Kite Runner. Well to be true it was not as gripping as Kite Runner but may be this explored the more emotional aspects. And how the hate relationship gets converted to loving one. I loved the way the potrayal of a woman is done from childhood to end. How at every stage the male relation deceived her and finally hos she get the soul mate.
A must read for all who want to know about Afghanistan and how the people of war torn country struggle everyday for themselves and for relations.

2009-04-19T05:12:00.000-07:00

Author: Karen Armstrong

This is the book is must for those who want to know more about Islam, the reasons for many things as Polygamy etc. Some of these rule or rituals do not make mush practical sense now but had great values when they were made by Muhammad at that era.
Excellent concise biography. This is a great supplement to the book on Islam by Karen. I read these two books in parallel and that was a cool experience !! I am jumping on books on other books from Karen and also History of Sikhs Vol II :)

Islam: A Short History

2009-03-23T23:56:00.000-07:00

Author: Karen Armstrong

I am fan of the author and the way she details out the facts without any bias is amazing. This is a must read book for all who think or assume that fundamentalists are only in Islam. Who think Islam is aggressive by nature and who do not know that Islam is one of the religion who was made to care more abt weak and poor people of the society. Its an eye opener!!

Three Cups of Tea

2009-02-23T01:31:00.000-08:00

Author: Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

A moving real story. At first I was not impressed with the first few pages, but gradually it went so close to my heart. There are very rare such people who dedicte their person time, life and everything for someone who are not much related apart from humanity. At first one will feel what big difference can it make. But such attempts do make difference in long run.
I am not sure how much active is the CIA now, and after the Swat contact, I hope the organization keeps doing the good work. Its is 10 times harder when one does something like this in Pakistani and Afghan tribal areas, dominated by Taliban.

Kite Runner

2009-01-31T06:17:00.000-08:00

Author: Khaled Hosseini

Amazing book. This book was recommended by my wife. She is not a serious reader but some how started reading this book and did not stop till she finished this. I was amazed and was damn curious what in that book made her to read that with so much dedication.
I immediately started reading that book once she finished and I also bought "Thousand Splendid Suns" when I was at page 20, since I was going on some trip.
The book is brilliant and gave me much insight abt Afghanistan and an idea abt thousands of tragedies happened there due to war. Its a war torn nation.

Shantaram

2009-01-30T23:24:00.000-08:00

Author: Gregory David Roberts

One of the best books I have been through. I was not knowing abt the author and the book when I picked it up from Book cafe. I was attracted by the last page which tells abt the author and how the book was re-written thrice.
It starts with a okay note but the characters, happenings, twists & turns will keep you awake late night. A movie is also planned on this novel having Amitabh as Khader Bhai and Johnny Depp as Author. A must read.

What this blog is about ?

2009-01-30T23:18:00.000-08:00

One of the passions I have. Books. Will try to share some good reads and may be some reviews of releases too :)
A very brief history about books and how they evolved. This text is a cut paste of here and there but a good compilation :)

The word book comes from Old English "bōc" which comes from Germanic root "*bōk-", cognate to beech.Similarly, in Slavic languages (e.g. Russian and Bulg arian (bukva — letter) is cognate to "beech". It is thus conjectured that the earliest Indo-European writings may have been carved on beech wood.

The kind of books I read are non-fiction, history or biography.