Book Review

Huawei's rise: A deep dive into its power, politics, and espionage

Its work culture is brutal, yet it has become a world beater in telecom. Eva Dou's book offers new nuggets into this media-shy company

Rakesh Batabyal's 'Idea of Order' examines European history, nationalism

Professor Batabyal's Indian perspective on this most recent period of European history is obviously relevant for his home audience, but the European public can also learn from it

Satya Mohanty's 'Unpolitically Correct' exposes flaws in public policies

Retired bureaucrat Satya Mohanty's book aims to provoke outrage over policies that ignore public interest, exposing how new programmes are launched without ensuring integrity or inclusivity

Careless People: Facebook insider's expose alleges bad behaviour at the top

Careless People is darkly funny and genuinely shocking: An ugly, detailed portrait of one of the most powerful companies in the world

Finding the Edge: A masterful tale of Jimmy Anderson's cricketing journey

The story begins at its ending-an ageing but still formidable Anderson-offered a final chance to bow out on his own terms

Diplomat and poet Abhay K reimagines Nalanda's legacy for future learning

The book has eight chapters, the number that holds significance in Buddhist lore. The Dharmacakra, the wheel of Dharma, has eight spikes

Exploring nature's wonders and warnings in Ranjit Lal's latest book

Filled with data, insights, and anecdotes, and accompanied by colourful illustrations, Ranjit Lal shines a light on how endangered nature is

Bofors Gate: Chitra Subramaniam's book deep-dives into the arms scandal

A household name for her investigation into the Bofors scandal, Chitra Subramaniam's book offers an unsparing account of the defence deal, even as it examines her own motivation

Gautam Bhatia's book offers a refreshing critique of India's Constitution

The basic dichotomy Dr Bhatia addresses is between the Constitution and courtrooms as sources of progressive and transformative social change and the Constitution as a statement of power

Every breath you take: Zimmer's Air-Borne explores mysteries of aerobiology

Air-Borne shows us how the scientific community came to understand that Covid-19 transmission was less akin to shots from a gun, and more like smog in a valley

Johansson's 'Narratives' draws attention to the myths around women at work

The introduction gives the impression that this is a West-focused book, but that impre­ssion is quickly dispe­lled as you turn to chapter one, which begins with Indian woman narrating her experience

Learning from Silence: Pico Iyer's book explores meaning of suffering, joy

Delicately written, with a rhythm and lyricism that resembles many of Mr Cohen's songs, Learning from Silence is about living a full, robust life with eyes wide open and all senses ablaze

Rethinking India's BIT framework: A balancing act for investment growth

The book broadly outlines investors' perceptions to International Investment Agreements (IIAs) to attract FDI

'Casting the Buddha': How Buddhism's ties to power shaped its survival

The chronological approach-from the time of the historical Buddha to the present moment with a Bharatiya Janata Party-run government at the Centre-makes the book easy to follow

Duncan Mavin's 'Meltdown' traces Credit Suisse's grand rise and downfall

Banking often makes for a bad spectator sport. When the money is gone, only the dull parts remain

Chasing Salah: Simon Hughes' valiant attempt to decode the enigma

Chasing Salah is Hughes' valiant attempt to offer a fuller portrait of the man. He is hamstrung by the fact that Salah almost never gives interviews, this book included

Lt General Nanavatty's biography explores evolution of soldiering in India

Lt General Rostum "Rusty" Nanavatty's biography paints a well-rounded portrait of an exemplary soldier and how soldiering has evolved amid India's security challenges

Lōal Kashmir: Stories of love and longing in a conflict-ridden land

Lack of connectivity and communication breakdown is not a novel occurrence in the Kashmir Valley

Michael Sheridan's book explores the Xi enigma and China's power dynamics

It is hard to shake the feeling that the book fails at multiple levels, principally because of the author's biases

The Conscience of the Party: A definitive biography of Hu Yaobang

The book documents Hu's more accommodating policies towards ethnic minorities, who had suffered greatly during the Cultural Revolution