Page 107 - Book Reviews
Bijoya Sawian is preserving Khasi culture, through stories and translations
Bijoya Sawian retold old stories and translated ancient texts for today's generation
 "Bijoya Sawian is preserving Khasi culture, through stories and translations")
Evan Thomas' biography of Sandra Day O'Connor sums up an overachiever
The O'Connors' marriage is at the heart of this biography
 "Evan Thomas' biography of Sandra Day O'Connor sums up an overachiever")
Raghuram Rajan's sermons
'The Third Pillar' is a book of good intention, great thoughts, lost in a preachy style.
 "Raghuram Rajan's sermons")
Journalism's advocate
The New York Times deputy general counsel David E McCraw thoughtfully addresses this state of affairs as he takes us behind the scenes of the venerable New York Times
 "Journalism's advocate")
Spicy bard
The influence of Shakespeare on Indian cinema has been so vast and has been written about so much that one would pick up the book under review with some scepticism
 "Spicy bard")
Pioneer across the borders
It was Begum Ra'ana who encouraged young, middle-class Muslim women to come out of purdah and train as nurses and teachers so that they could contribute to their country
 "Pioneer across the borders")
A hostage to Indian justice
Mr Chandrakumar narrates details of prison life, from the abysmal conditions of the jail cell to the omnipresent threat of violence
 "A hostage to Indian justice")
Climate change and human history
The book is marred by errors of fact and too often reads like a series of potted histories
 "Climate change and human history")
Gabriel García Márquez in the eyes of those who knew him
Paternostro talks about finding plenty of others who'd talk, Márquez's superstitions and discipline, and more.
 "Gabriel García Márquez in the eyes of those who knew him")
Book review: Exposing the real motives of Xi Jinping's 'globalisation' rant
How successful has Xi been in his prodigious effort to turn China into a major world power and replace the US as the leader not of an alliance but of a "community of common destiny"?
 "Book review: Exposing the real motives of Xi Jinping's 'globalisation' rant")
Aryan myths
This book and the recent studies will dismay the Hindutva supporter who sees in India and its Vedic period as something pure
 "Aryan myths")
Very, very special memoir
281 and beyond is a special book on a few counts: it presents Mr Laxman, mostly reticent during his playing days, and insufficiently articulate as a broadcaster, in a new light
 "Very, very special memoir")
Superhuman learning
Review of 'Game Changer: AlphaZero's Groundbreaking Chess Strategies and the Promise of AI'
 "Superhuman learning")
Out of the caste mould
The personal narrative is interspersed with acute observations on Dalit history, Ambedkar, the Indian tendency to look down on manual labour
 "Out of the caste mould")
How Asia ruled the world
Much of this book turns on Mr Sharman's critique of what historians term the "military revolution thesis"
 "How Asia ruled the world")
'Kumbha' book review: An overly simple explainer of mega event in Prayagraj
This year's Kumbh, for instance, is significant on various levels, the first being the focus on sanitation and cleanliness
 "'Kumbha' book review: An overly simple explainer of mega event in Prayagraj")
The road to world power
It focused on China as the key factor in this transition and its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as an instrumentality in reshaping the emerging order
 "The road to world power")
'An ingeniously Indian enterprise'
One critical contribution in the book is the author's focus on the "compromised fourth estate"
 "'An ingeniously Indian enterprise'")
Contours of the 'Asian Century'
The questions raised by the author's stimulating book highlight his deft weaving together of technology, geopolitics, economics, globalisation - and the decline and rise of great powers
 "Contours of the 'Asian Century'")