Page 89 - Book Reviews

Bureaucracy's 'Subramaniam Swamy'

The book details the nightmares of a bureaucrat who dares to reform a rotten system and innovate in a rigid bureaucracy

The mind of American conservatism

The volume's focus is confined to the 20th century, with its earliest selection from 1907

A reading of selections from Tulsidas's rendering of the many deeds of Ram

These selections from Tulsidas's rendering of the many deeds of Ram will arrest the trend of defining him as a unidimensional character

Stories on a map

The book is a revelation, opening up the streets and alleys and the iconic "park" of the area to a new light

The evolution of Facebook

The book is weakest in explaining the central controversy plaguing Facebook today: Its ginormous control over the flow of global information and misinformation

Adventures of a serial entrepreneur

It is a small book - a little more than 240 pages - and an easy read. It can be finished in a single day, provided you do not get distracted

Employment beyond the data

Since independence, the Indian economy has been growing at rates moderately high, to slow, to high, and back to moderate in recent times

Here's looking at you, grid

It is in the modern era that this book loses its lapidary elegance

The Congress' golden years

Book review of The Lotus Years: Political Life in India in the Time of Rajiv Gandhi

Cocaine, cannabis and conscience

The book provides the reader fascinating insights of the drug wars and politics in six nations, from Honduras in Latin America to the UK and Australia

Fruitful history

Discussion on the venerable nut will not be complete unless mention is made of coconut's role in religious ceremonies of the Hindus, Buddhists and Jains

From democracy to tyranny

Peter Fritzsche's answer to these questions has been to go back and reassess what we think we know about Hitler's rise

How Conzerv Systems and Schneider Electric managed a tricky biz of merger

Most acquisitions fail because of a cultural clash. But Conzerv Systems and Schneider Electric managed this thorny issue successfully.

Missing in Action: the unfinished stories of India's lost soldiers

This intensely researched book opens up a crucial and uncomfortable chapter of military, political and diplomatic history that few care to visit

The long road to prosperity

Unlike many recent books written by experts who have departed government, this is not a salacious account of the author's time in government

Room for ambition

Ms Narayanan is bang on when she underlines the criticality of managing relationships, for 'how these management firms manage the relationship with the hotel owners will define their future.'

Indo-Pak: Why dialogue helps

The Nehru-Liaquat Pact, for example, was aimed at protecting minority rights in the context of a massive exodus of Hindu refugees from East Pakistan

Biographies and bias

A biographer can never get it even half-right. I mean, the facts may well all be there. But the truth? Now that's a different thing altogether

Big Pharma's addiction to profit

Book review of PHARMA: Greed, Lies, and the Poisoning of America

Book review: B K Syngal's riveting memoir of a tumultuous era in telecom

Brijendra K Syngal, who is approaching the ninth decade of his life, reminds you that telecom policy was just as tumultuous years ago as it is now.