Whenever you read a good book, somewhere in the world a door opens to allow in more light. –Vera Nazarian

This year I am not reading that much as I did in the previous year but still trying to cover good books. Small review of them is as follows:

  • The Lean Startup (Eric Ries) : This is a great book to read if you are interested in getting into the startup industry. If you have even a kernel of an idea, or just want to jump in and be part of a startup, this is a must read.

  • Getting Started with Raspberry Pi(Matt Richardson, Shawn Wallace) : Gives a good overview of the different things you can do with the Pi. Most importantly very inexpensive book.

  • One Minute Manager : This is a great little introduction to personal management. This smart little book is easy to read and goes straight to the point. As its title suggests, it can be read quickly and you’ll be able to benefit from its teaching right away, which makes it a good example in itself for a book on time management and productivity.

  • Feynman’s Rainbow: A Search for Beauty in Physics and in Life: This is a simple and sweet book. Initially, I thought that this book is about the life of Richard Feynman. But it is actually about the small but insightful talks author had with Feynman’s in his last days and how it shaped his future and life. Good read worth the time.

  • Awakening India: This Book was was with me since college. One night I picked it up and read half of it in one sitting, Wonder why did I not picked it up before. I was intrigued, amazed and enlightened. Words hitting directly to your heart and soul. Learned a lot from this books about various aspects of Indian culture, Traditions and why things are the way they are in India and why it is good from the west. The book outlines what is wrong in India and how can we fix that. Will re-read again.

  • Ayurvedic Healing, A Comprehensive Guide: This book is an exhaustive introduction from the perspective of a western doctor on Ayurveda. It details on how three main elements vaat, pitth, khap (air, fire, water) and their proportion and balance in the body is responsible for a healthy being. It also has common ayurvedic cures for Injuries and Diseases. A good reference book.

  • How to think like Zuck : This book is a sort of love letter with too much bashing of Mark. Though there are some of the things that were thought provoking. But overall it was boring. Filled up with meaningless so called success secrets. I lost this book in the mid ( literally), and hold no regrets.

  • Chankya Neeti: Previously read Chankya’s Chants by Ashwin Shaghi, and it kept me addicted till the last page. I always wanted to read the foundations on which this novel is scluptured upon i.e: Chanakya Neeti. Finally was able to get it from library. Often one might smile after reading witty and funny observations that were derived from astute observation of chankya.

  • Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future (Eric Ries): After a year of its release is still the number one bestseller on Amazon. This is required reading for all budding Entrepreneurs. Author’s insights and advice are very useful for everyone, especially for the people in technology. One thing on which the author focuses is to invent/do something that no one is doing. One of the most important thing that an entrepreneurs should ask himself is “what important truth do very few people agree with you on?” or its business equivalent- “what valuable company is nobody building?”. There are two ways of making progress one is technology led and other is process led. And it is important to consider that when we have scarcest resources we should focus on technology path. When you create something unique that did not exist before, you are going from zero to one.