Bs Reads
Ticket to Kerala: Tracing Malayalam cinema's rise to a national force
The book by S R Praveen, who has been a film critic for many years, is a culmination of years spent watching, questioning and writing about cinema
 "Ticket to Kerala: Tracing Malayalam cinema's rise to a national force")
Lucky People: A breezy neuroscience take that misses wider realities
Does luck fall equally on everyone? You might not think so, but Japanese neuroscientist Nobuko Nakano argues that this is the case
 "Lucky People: A breezy neuroscience take that misses wider realities")
A World of Resistance: What's driving India's antibiotic overdose crisis
The very drugs that transformed India's health, agriculture, and development now threaten to undermine all three
 "A World of Resistance: What's driving India's antibiotic overdose crisis")
Inside the mind of the RSS sevak: A rare glimpse into Sangh's inner world
Julia Eckert's outstanding study on the Shiv Sena explores how the organisation grew via arbitrage in areas that the state could not/did not reach
 "Inside the mind of the RSS sevak: A rare glimpse into Sangh's inner world")
The scandal that roiled the chess world, from cheating claims to bestseller
Ben Mezrich's Checkmate turns the Magnus Carlsen-Hans Niemann chess scandal into a gripping narrative, but factual errors undermine its credibility
 "The scandal that roiled the chess world, from cheating claims to bestseller")
The Power and the Glory: Geopolitics, FIFA and the beautiful game
Jonathan Wilson's The Power and the Glory traces how the FIFA World Cup evolved from a football tournament into a global stage for power, politics and profit
 "The Power and the Glory: Geopolitics, FIFA and the beautiful game")
Indonesia: A rich portrait of the archipelago's layered culture, identity
Diplomat-scholar Aftab Seth offers a glimpse into Indonesia's cultural landscape and, in the process, transcends the narrow confines of one's own upbringing
 "Indonesia: A rich portrait of the archipelago's layered culture, identity")
'Bharat Bluff' shows how trust became one of the weakest links online
Bharat Bluff is filled with first-person accounts of scams that allow readers to comprehend the gravity of India's scam economy beyond data
 "'Bharat Bluff' shows how trust became one of the weakest links online")
Everything You Wanted to Know About China: A guide to its past and future
Written in a question-and-answer format, this book attempts to address all the questions you may have about China, its past, and future direction
 "Everything You Wanted to Know About China: A guide to its past and future")
Breakpoint: Why India's middle class is losing its economic footing
Recent trends in technology-led automation, taxation policies, and rising unemployment have squeezed out the middle class. This book delves into what that means for India and whether it is all gloom
 "Breakpoint: Why India's middle class is losing its economic footing")
Jill Biden's new memoir shows off a sharp eye, if not a sharp elbow
Beyond a few pointed digs at her husband's successor, 'View From the East Wing' largely sticks to the head-spinning details of first lady-hood
 "Jill Biden's new memoir shows off a sharp eye, if not a sharp elbow")
A Fire Over Mount Everest: Revisiting India's landmark 1984 expedition
This absorbing and revelatory book goes beyond the expedition to trace the post-Everest trajectories of the protagonists and is an invaluable account of the realities of the pre-commercial era of Ever
 "A Fire Over Mount Everest: Revisiting India's landmark 1984 expedition")
The Liver Doctor: Finding humanism and empathy beyond social media battles
In The Liver Doctor, the hero is not the doctor, but the liver itself: One of the least understood yet endlessly fascinating organs in the human body, and the only one capable of regenerating itself
 "The Liver Doctor: Finding humanism and empathy beyond social media battles")
Enshittification: How Big Tech went from innovation to digital feudalism
The mischievous quality of the book's title or the emoji on its cover might mislead readers into dismissing it as lightweight reading
 "Enshittification: How Big Tech went from innovation to digital feudalism")
Open Intelligence: AI demands a rethink of human learning for digital age
Popularly known as "the Godfather of AI", Dr Hinton notes that humanity "is just a passing phase in the evolution of intelligence"
 "Open Intelligence: AI demands a rethink of human learning for digital age")
India Out of Work: Hurdles in the Viksit Bharat race for growth and jobs
The book holds the slowdown in the growth of non-farm jobs as a key reason for inadequate demand
 "India Out of Work: Hurdles in the Viksit Bharat race for growth and jobs")
How to Rule the World: The secret elite one freshman discovered at Stanford
Baker pursues the story like a campus reincarnation of Woodward and Bernstein
 "How to Rule the World: The secret elite one freshman discovered at Stanford")
The Ghosts of Indian Small Towns: Ruskin Bond's journey through time
Ruskin Bond's reflective essays revisit vanished small-town India, blending nostalgia, memory, humour, and the quiet ghosts of changing landscapes
 "The Ghosts of Indian Small Towns: Ruskin Bond's journey through time")
Chapal Rani: A poignant portrait of gender and exclusion in folk theatre
Through the story of a female impersonator in theatres, this book offers a commentary on how queerness exists around us in different shapes, forms, words, and feeling
 "Chapal Rani: A poignant portrait of gender and exclusion in folk theatre")
River Traveller: Hazarika brings alive the Tsangpo-Brahmaputra ecosystem
Mr Hazarika's book will appeal to environmentalists, historians, diplomats, anthropologists, political scientists, bureaucrats, and activists as well as readers who enjoy reading travelogues
 "River Traveller: Hazarika brings alive the Tsangpo-Brahmaputra ecosystem")