A few recent good reads

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GeorgeO

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I've recently been rediscovering the joys of reading, having placed my HT system on hold for a while.

Who's in Charge: Free Will and the Science of the Brain by Michael Gazzaniga

Poor Economics by Rethinking Poverty and the ways to end it by Abhijit Bannerjee and Esther Diflo

The Service: Memoirs of General Reinhard Gehlen

Life in the Balance by Dr Tom Graboy

I also watched a couple of outstanding documentaries recently, one on the Andes Plane crash of the 1970s when Nando Parrado and his friends crashed on a flight from Argentina to Chile, and another one reconstructing the Lindbergh bay kidnapping and murder case.
 
I love reading, and would probably be doing it half the day if computers and the internet had not been invented. I'm currently on the Master and Commander series, for the umpteenth time. This time, when I get to the end, I have the final novel in the series, which O'Brian died after starting, to add to my reading. I don't think he got very far, so I have no idea of there is any resolution to Maturin's rather unhappy lovelife. Anyway: no spoilers please!
 
I would have to agree with some of you folks that i could spend my entire lifetime just reading. Same here, internet and HT have invaded my reading time.
My most recent read is "Complications - A surgeon's notes on an imperfect science" by Dr. Atul Gawande. Terrific read - with so many anecdotes and a humorous narration. I'm not a doctor but found this accidentally in my wife's (a doc) library. Highly recommended.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0312421702
 
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GeorgeO said:
Is this the latest le Carre?
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I am just completing the latest by le Carre - A Delicate Truth.

I have all his books, including his own signed copy of 'A Perfect Spy'. Somehow I am able to identify with several of his characters, notably George Smiley, though I am not in the same profession! But the cold war days are over though some of us oldies still keep them at the back of our minds. Mr. le Carre is now wading through unchartered territories though he succeeded in the brilliant 'The Constant Gardener'.

Reading is a personal taste, like music, like movie, like religion, and I never like to comment on the goodness or badness of a book. What is good to one may be bad for another. But sometimes you feel disappointed, that is what I always do not mind expressing, and happened with 'The Inferno'.

cheers.
murali
 
Currently reading: First they killed my Father - Loung Ung

Just finished:
And the Mountains Echoed - Khaled Hosseini
Following Fish - Subramanian Samanth

Recently tried and gave up after ~10 pages :-) :
The World until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies? - Jared Diamond
 
murali said:
...I am able to identify with several of his characters, notably George Smiley
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You must be a dangerous man, Murali! :ohyeah:

Smiley is a wonderful character: the lethal spy dressed in the body of a bumbling civil servant. Probably very realistic. I'm sure all his characters are realistic.

I'm currently re-reading, for the many-eth time, the Aubrey and Maturin (Master and Commander) books. We have just met with the man who is going to take over as head of naval inteligence: the George Smiley of two hundred years ago, the man we'd all simply fail to notice as we look around the room.

I think I owe the BBC for my knowledge of Le Carre books: I don't think I ever ready any, but dearly love them, both as TV series and as radio plays.
 
New books in hand, though I may not read them for the next few weeks:

The Omnivores Dilemma-Michael Pollen
Confessions of a Micro Finance Heretic-Hugh Sinclair
 
The Immortal of Meluha is a very nice book - it is part of a trilogy.

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Was able to browse though some chapters of Ramachandra Guha's History of India recently, I found it quite interesting, couldnt read through the whole book, though. Has anyone read it fully?
 
I have heard good things about Guha. I also want to discover Dalrymple. I like history so i guess i should make that a theme of my reading for 6 months or so.
Speaking of good reads, how do you find Kenneth Anderson? I have read the Kenneth Anderson Omnibus and am struck at how beautifully some people describe events. In one of the stories he describes the Tiger's call and how it resonates across mountains in the still of the night. He wonders why it might do it and offers some insights. What an amazing guy, what an adventurous life he must have led. He also talks about his hunting adventures in what are now urban jungles of Bangalore!!!
Do not miss it. Great stories, great writing.
 
I've read 3-4 books of Dalrymple and found them good reading.

I understand Kenneth Anderson used to live in what is now Cubbon Park Police Station. His son is an Old Cottonion, reduced to penury and addicted to cheap liquor. I am not sure if he is still alive, I know someone who knows(knew) him. Need to read his stuff, quite comparable to Jim Corbett from what I hear.
 
GeorgeO said:
I've read 3-4 books of Dalrymple and found them good reading.

I understand Kenneth Anderson used to live in what is now Cubbon Park Police Station. His son is an Old Cottonion, reduced to penury and addicted to cheap liquor. I am not sure if he is still alive, I know someone who knows(knew) him. Need to read his stuff, quite comparable to Jim Corbett from what I hear.
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Now that is something!!
George, IMHO, Anderson's writing is much superior to Corbett's. It is not about the hunting - that is really secondary to the stories - it is about everything else, how he wonders to himself, his philosophies, his observations, his humor, his beliefs in the super natural, the way he portrays the tiger - how intelligent an animal it is, how it strategizes, it's powers - it is almost human. The writing style in many of his books has resemblances to the style of Puzo and Arthur Conan Doyle.
Now that brings me to Conan Doyle........
 
I am completely into fictions and hate reading all those motivational books.

I was quite impressed with Karan Bajaj's novel Johnny Gone Down ...
anybody who loves reading fictions, give it a try. And this book is priced at Rs. 99 only :-)

I even liked Karan's very first novel Keep Off The Grass as well.
 
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