Page 7 - Books

Democrat with an authoritarian streak

Bhaskar Parichha's book beautifully captures the essence of Biju Patnaik - a man both impatient and irascible, fraught with passion, and a big-picture thinker who eschewed detail

Mapping the labyrinth

Abraham Jacob delves into the deep vaults of ancient Indian writings on Hinduism and its philosophical experiments, providing an easy-to-read primer on both the country and its civilisation

Chinese history, for the CCP

Ian Johnson's book offers a lens to view China through the eyes of its people rather than through the party

Was global trade a mistake?

The late-20th-century project of integrating China into the global economy, in the hope that economic development would come hand in hand with political liberalism, feels at best misguided

Heights of ambition

Written with brio, the book nevertheless is an uncomfortable read because Cockrell ignores the distressing negative externalities of Everest Inc

UP's power dynamics

Shyamlal Yadav's book offers extraordinary insights into how UP's chief ministers handle governance, faction management, and administration in a state pivotal to national politics

The alternative path to riches

Navigating a volatile market can be daunting for the ordinary Joe, while the ultra-rich have access to more exclusive investment options. The Holy Grail of Investing is a guide to bridging this gap

Civilisation against the flow

Aniket Ghanashyam's passionately written book provides a deeper understanding and appreciation of the world's most indispensable resource

A wild ride for US diplomacy

Stuart E Eizenstat's book is a technocratic endeavour that harks back to an ideal of US diplomacy as a nonpartisan arena

The debt trap saga

Journalist N Sundaresha Subramanian's book goes beyond merely chronicling the stories of India's major defaulters; it also offers a comprehensive account of the country's evolving bankruptcy system

New book on FMs reveals complex yet interesting times of 1977-98

The period covers the first demonetisation, first attempts in tax reforms, balance of payments crisis

The white man's burden on global tourism

Shahnaz Habib's book delves into fundamental questions: Why travel? Where to travel to? And what to see once we're there? In the process infusing a philosophical edge into the concept of travel

Deconstructing India's national security system

Milan Vaishnav's book is a treatise on India's national security apparatus, highlighting the challenges and the positive role it plays against difficult odds

The Indian mosaic

The essays in this collection interrogate what it means to be "Indian" and how these identities often involve a level of paradoxical disconnect between formal mandates and actual practices

India's clandestine love affair with crypto

Journalist Mitali Mukherjee's book delves into the connected worlds of cryptocurrency, cybercrime, and the Dark Web, laying out the state-of-the-art in this realm of skulduggery

A turbulent political life

Journalist Pallavi Rebbapragada's book attempts to introduce Odiyas and non-Odiyas alike to the complexities of the state's politics through the fascinating life of its chief minister Nandini Satpathy

Dr Subbarao's book of revelations

The former RBI governor's second book is a delightful read, filled with riveting anecdotes that shed light on the doubts and dilemmas faced by a civil servant with a clear sense of right and wrong

Net gains from the art of reinvention

With her lucid writing and relatable takeaways, blogger, content creator, entrepreneur, and influencer Masoom Minawala has successfully translated her life's hard work into an accessible guide

The paradise parable

For Indian readers, Descent into Paradise should serve as a meaningful resource to stray away from the polarising and diverging monster that social media has become

Afghanistan: Reports from the wreckage

Ms Basu describes with aplomb the sense of urgency and fear of life that every decision would entail