Book Reading

Play to Potential book offers fresh ideas for midlife career pivots

If you're in your 40s or 50s and wondering if this is all life has to offer, pick up Play to Potential-it's bound to give you fresh ideas to reinvent and reinvigorate your life

How Indian enterprise evolved: From bazaars to the Reliance empire

Lakshmi Subramanian's book provides a sweeping view of Indian business history, from pre-modern trade to corporate giants like Reliance, highlighting entrepreneurs and industrial evolution

Debt sustainability: A roadmap for India's states and local governance

SNGs in India are accountable to the Union government but are not uniformly as diligent in maintaining fiscal resilience and debt sustainability

The Unfinished Quest examines India's rise as a global swing power

Why India's democratic system, despite its flaws, is attractive for trade, investment, and economic partnerships

Genesis: A thought-provoking guide to balancing AI's promise and perils

Henry Kissinger, Eric Schmidt, and Craig Mundie unveil a roadmap to balance AI's transformative potential with safeguards for a sustainable, human-centred future

A tale of two Mohans: Missed opportunities in a meandering narrative

The back cover of The Other Mohan in Britain's Indian Ocean Empire calls it part travelogue, part family history, and scholarly. This reviewer disagrees

Indian Genius: Exploring the grit behind Indian-American success stories

Their success is a tribute to the US and its ability to attract the best talent and skills from across the world. Indian Americans have made the most of this open door

The Troublemaker: A tale of courage, capitalism, and contradictions

Mark L Clifford writes in The Troublemaker, a brisk account of Lai's life and work, the gravity of his predicament began to set in, and Lai sent a laconic WhatsApp message to his associates

Hameed's memoir calls for reclaiming India's spirit of communal harmony

The book reveals the India that once was, a plural state for which the liberal elite waxes nostalgic, and the India that could be by defeating rising Islamophobia

India's many voices: Conversations on culture, democracy, and dissent

Can writers, artists, or citizens exist in a political vacuum? This collection of conversations by Githa Hariharan delves into culture, democracy, and dissent

'Think Like The Minimalist': A practical guide for creative minds

Could minimalist thinking offer a formula for creative ads? Two IITians outline a step-by-step process in their book

Chitvan Gill's Dreaming a Paradise captures lives of Delhi's migrants

Chitvan Gill explores existential questions that concern and confront each one of us through the stories of residents in an unauthorised colony in Delhi

Energy symbiosis, not transition: A revealing take on climate challenges

Jean Baptiste-Fressoz's book exposes how governments and corporations embrace green rhetoric while reinforcing the carbon economy

Big Tech and Trump: Two books explore their turbulent relationship, future

Mr Musk, after spending more than $250 million on Trump's re-election, has signed on to help slash the federal budget as co-leader

A Maverick in Politics: Profound, truthful, and no-holds-barred like Aiyar

From this book we learn of the trials and tribulations of an MP who wants, in all sincerity, to junk caste and class and just "develop" his constituency

Kevin Rudd's book examines Xi Jinping's push to reshape Western norms

The author concludes that the Chinese leader is determined to strengthen ideology, change global norms in China's favour, and leave a legacy of his thoughts as the driving mandate for the CPC

Chris van Tulleken's book reveals the perils of ultra-processed foods

Some books change the way we think. Others change the way we live. Ultra-Processed People is one such book

'Who is Equal': A unique look at equality and its legal complexities

At the base of the book is the author's contention that "there are multiple and often competing visions of what it means to be equal and how best to achieve that goal"

The White Ladder: Heroes, villains, and the drama of early mountaineering

Approaching the peak, more than 17,000 feet above sea level, the scene shifted from snow and frozen chasms to eruptions of what were described as "great tongues of flame"

'The Nature of Nature' book review: False solutions for climate change

This book is a must-read for people who beat themselves up for failing to avert every environmental disaster that makes it to the news cycle