Page 42 - Book Reviews

The personal cost of war journalism

Originally published as a shorter piece in Granta under the title, "A place on earth: Scenes from a war", Sundaram's reportage won the 2015 Frontline Club Award

Ordinary intellectuals

Amit Chaudhuri's book explores the role of organic intellectuals in shaping India's contemporary narrative of resistance and reason

A painful addiction to wealth

While the opioid epidemic in the US is well-known, Hard Sell sheds light on the lesser-known role of Indian-origin entrepreneur John Kapoor in exacerbating this crisis

A 'Make in India' achievement

A quiet revolution is underway in India that could upend the notion that Indians are tech adopters, not innovators

Waste beyond the tipping point

Most of us try not to think about garbage, even though it's in your face in any Indian city. Journalist Oliver Franklin-Wallis's eloquently written book is a wake-up call for our indifference

The elusive nature of reality

Egginton gestures at connections between the work of Heisenberg, Kant and Borges, between physics and metaphysics, fiction and fact

The problem with index funds

The dominance of index funds could be stifling price competition, compounded by the concentration of power among a few giants in fund-management and private-equity

The write side of history

A book that takes readers on a guided tour of some of the world's oldest and most mysterious scripts

India's place in the new world order

Ambassador Sujan Chinoy's book explores why strengthening the existing multilateral order is crucial, not only for containing China, but also for minimising superpowers' exceptionalism

New complexities in Dalit assertion

A thoughtfully put-together volume illuminates the gamut of current struggles and tensions in Dalit politics, encompassing discrimination, representation, as well as their aspirations and anxieties

The 'mercurial man child'

Yet even as Musk struggles to relate to the actual humans around him, his plans for humanity are grand

Rethinking India's past

How and where does one begin to understand this history?

Talking about disaster management

In a comprehensive compendium of disasters of various types, three scientists explore the challenges of policymaking when every technology created by man so far has pros and cons over its life cycle

Politics and the second sex

Women politicians, the author suggests, bring to politics and policy a sensitivity that most of their male counterparts, at least until a generation back, lacked

The Vaishyavisation of India

With a practical eye, Ramachandran Vaidyanathan's book discusses the applications (and implications) of caste rather than its theory

Why the West fears China

The book is a vital read because it moves away from the current body of literature that posits China as the "bad boy" by negating the expectations of the West...

Joe Biden and The West Wing fantasy

If Biden is the last politician, we should presumably cling to him for as long as possible. Boomer hegemony as destiny: This is the future sketched for us by Foer's thin and yet telling book

Tracking the history of the cheetah

The debate over the cheetah is a reminder of how our own power needs to be tempered not just by knowledge but wonder. This is not a book to be missed

The Constitution in interesting times

Gautam Bhatia's book situates the judicial pronouncements of the past decade in the context what has been achieved (or destroyed), providing an incisive look into the state of the judiciary

A non-conformist in the political cauldron

Mani Shankar Aiyar's memoir is an account of his unique journey, his chequered career, friendships, and the pursuit of ideals that led to his unorthodox path