Zubin Mehta the authorised score

A carefully researched biography makes a creditable attempt to portray the mercurial Indian conductor of western classical music

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These new books will help younger readers understand just what a long strange trip Muhammad Ali's life has been

An endless round of books

For close to a decade, as chief minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi exhibited a persecution complex

Ayyub assumed identity of Maithili Tyagi for her investigations for Gujarat Files

Despite the lack of fresh information,  Gujarat Files underlines the sinister nature of Modi's regime in Gujarat even as it cocks a snook at the state's fabled intelligence network

Gujarat Files: Rana Ayyub and stinging truths

The book, an account of Clint Hill days as a Secret Service agent under Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford, is also free of self-congratulation or prurient gossip

Bodyguard who walked beside history

Thomas Piketty's critically acclaimed Capital in the Twenty First Century was majestic in its sweep

Mr Piketty's world views

There is no shortage of books on Indian advertising, but Nawabs, Nudes and Noodles stands out for offering a glimpse of the transformation of Indian society

'Nude models wanted...'

The book sounds refreshingly new. For Chris Lehmann has shown us why religious history is the mainstream of American history

The place of religion in a capitalist society

Soccermatics

Game theories

A math professor has written a fascinating book that will make both football fans and geeks happy

Shoe Dog is a brave attempt by Phil Knight at unveiling himself to the world

Nike's founder finally tells his story

When it comes to parenthood, the most intelligent and powerful men on earth seem to flounder and fail even more than the rest

POTUS and parenting down the ages

Vijay Govindarajan's The Three Box Solution is a modern presentation of an ancient Indian concept

The management trinity

The book also features an excellent chapter on women's liberation, with comments by, among others, Robin Morgan, the author of the article Goodbye to All That

That 60s' show

Pakistan might be heading towards an unstable equilibrium... in which formal civilian supremacy becomes a euphemism for the military's participation in politics

The perils of being Pakistan

Pran Kurup concludes that Mr Kejriwal is conducting himself not out of personal ambition or drive, but is driven by forces beyond himself!

'Kejri' between the 'fundas'

Papers written carefully, age splendidly. Newspaper columns also age but not so well. But Professor Indira Rajaraman has taken care to carefully annotate this collection of columns that she wrote from 2010 to 2015, making many of them well preserved.This is particularly true of the set of columns the former RBI chair professor at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) has written on the annual Budgets and those on the two Finance Commission awards. Considering even finance ministers are apt to forget what they spoke about a year ago, this is an interesting exercise. It is worth wondering, however, if it is fruitful one since one of India's premier economists remains careful in her introductions not to offer any comments on the relative importance of any year's Budget against what passed before or after. She is far more painstaking, though, in the updating exercise on the columns she wrote about the Finance Commissions. Her experience as the key member of the 13th F

A macro-economist in real time

The title of Janine di Giovanni's devastating new book, The Morning They Came for Us, refers to those terrible moments in ordinary Syrians' lives when the war in their country becomes personal

In Syria: too close for comfort

Shashi Kapoor

Aseem Chhabra's book is an archaeological inquiry into the actor's films and life, unearthing stories yet unknown

Rediscovering Shashi Kapoor

The essential you, the essential me and the essential chimpanzee are near-identical genetically. Any two humans share 99.9 per cent of DNA. A human being and a chimpanzee share 98.9 per cent. Those tiny genetic differences create distinct individuals (and make the chimp a member of a different species).How do genes do this and what do we understand about the processes? This book traces the history of genetic research, from its origins to the (nearly current) state of the art. It is magisterial in scope, and beautifully written as well. As is inevitable, it leaves out detail in certain areas. For example, the new genetic editing technique, CRISPR, is not dealt with.It has also generated some controversy because some scientists disagree with its representation of epigenetics (the study of heritable characteristics). Mr Mukherjee is also such a facile writer that a reader may not realise the monumental difficulties involved in genetic research and the clever techniques developed for it.In

The origin of genetics

Ms Clinton's entire career, as this book points out, has been rife with episodes of brutal criticism that have forced her to present a slightly different face than she had before

From Rodham to Clinton

In The Unseen Indira Gandhi, an eminent physician K P Mathur, offers yet another bunch of anecdotes and tales from the life of Mrs Gandhi

Indira Gandhi in glimpses

Serious writing on the history of India is always welcome because so many myths and mythologies are in vogue

The revolutionary impulse

Book News: Check out for latest book news, reviews, book launches and more on Business Standard. Explore now for new books reviews along with books writers and novel reviews and more.

Books News: Latest Book, Book Reviews, Book Features, Book Launches | Business Standard

Check out for latest book reviews, book launches and more on Business Standard. Explore now for new books reviews along with books writers and novel reviews and more.

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