Page 19 - Book Reviews

Hubris Maximus: Pride, prejudices, and the nine lives of Elon Musk

How Elon Musk continues to emerge unscathed despite his most outrageous tweets and pronouncements

John Hancock: America's unsung founding father and revolutionary mark

It is unlikely Hancock will be restored to the top tier of the founders, but remembering him better could reap dividends

A Stranger in Three Worlds: Tracing Aubrey Menen's search for identity

With biting wit, Menen maps the universality of exclusion

William Buckley Jr: The American right-wing's original influencer

As the Trump era dawned, many felt Buckley would have stopped it. He had kept out the crazies, the conspiracy theorists, the antisemites-and perhaps even created the respectable right

Hooked on plastic: A timely probe into the brands and greenwashing

The book ends with a useful section titled FAQs, where the author addresses basic but important questions that many do not have reliable answers to

India and Taiwan: Charles Li's book offers key insights on bilateral ties

By giving up diplomatic relations with Taiwan and recognising PRC, India has voluntarily limited its negotiating space with China

Shashi Tharoor's book offers a partisan polemic on the Constitution

Tharoor's book glosses over how some senior Congress leaders in the 1940s and 1950s were uneasy with Hinduism not getting what they felt was due recognition in the Constitution

David C Engerman looks at six S. Asian economists who shaped their nations

Of the Apostles still with us, there are few intersections between them and age-related constraints on all

Wild Fictions: A literary journey with Amitav Ghosh through time, terrain

Often, collections like this can be read in whatever manner the reader desires, without losing any of the essence. You dip in, read what you fancy and then skip to another part

The Political Thought of Xi Jinping: Party's history beyond question

The authors have successfully painted a picture of what China looks like under Xi and how it is different from earlier regimes

Decay, resilience, renewal: Key themes in 'Deconstructing Indian Democracy'

Though alarmism is not new, political scientists must examine how institutions degrade through deliberate action

Men at home: Gyanendra Pandey on the male retreat from household work

Gyanendra Pandey's book shines a spotlight on men's private lives at home-and the rationalisations behind their absence from cleaning, caregiving, and cooking

John Matthai: The values of service revisited in fresh perspective

In Epilogue, however, Mr Dadabhoy chooses to dwell on Matthai's children and their achievements. In a biography of John Matthai, Epilogue should have been on his larger legacy in public policymaking

Hey ChatGPT, which one of these versions truly is the real Sam Altman?

If the aim is not, in the first place, to help the world, but instead to get bigger - better chips, more data, smarter code - then our problems might just get bigger too

Massive drone, missile attack hits Kyiv; residents shelter underground

Ukraine's capital came under a massive combined drone and missile attack late Friday with explosions and machine gun fire heard throughout the city.

This American Woman: Aunti Zarna takes the mic and the spotlight

As one sifts through pages of this breezy memoir full of interesting anecdotes and life lessons, two subliminally influential experiences that helped shape Garg's life before her marriage can be noted

Deepali Gupta traces the India story through its mobile telephony tales

To understand today's telecom business, one must trace the evolution of the entrepreneurs who shaped it

Sanjeev Chopra's book details Shastri's many contributions to nation, party

The 1965 war, Pakistan's second attempt to seize Kashmir, ended in Tashkent with Lal Bahadur Shastri returning the Haji Pir Pass - a gesture that disappointed even his family

'Shamans of the Himalayas' captures valley life in words and images

Having personally lived in Manali briefly during my childhood, vivid descriptions of the valley and its people particularly spoke to me

The Storypreneur's Playbook: Journeys to an emerging startup destination

A more serious issue with the book is the sheer lack of women's voices. Of the 15 entrepreneurs in this book, only two-Ms Souza and Ms Saxena-are women