The Chamber - John Grisham (1994)

A good family story but not the best of John Grisham. 

I like John Grisham because of the depth in which he covers legal matters in his novel. This one is more drama than any significant legal activity. A white supremacist who has murdered African Americans and Jews is undertrial for over a decade. Now, his grandson comes forward to defend him. There are no twists and turns in the plot. Finally, his death penalty is upheld. He confesses and feels sorry for all the wrong he has done. His family is devastated - his son has committed suicide and his daughter is struggling with alcoholism. However, the next generation has accepted the violent times of their grandparents and made a connection with them. Technically, time heals everything. 

Good writing and page flipper but not the John Grisham you read for the logical legal arguments.

Diplomacy - Henry Kissinger (1994)

 The book is about the academician Henry Kissinger and not his role as a foreign policy maker. The book covers the whole history of modern diplomacy. A good thousand pages of solid academic work with proper references and examples. You would get a clear understanding of the diplomatic stance of Europe from the time of unification. Some significant milestones covered are:

• Napolean and Bismark
• First World War diplomacy. 
• Roles of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson
• World War II and related events
• Stalin's Role and Nazi Pacts
• Cold War
• Korean War
• Suez Crisis
• Hungary Crisis
• Cuban missile crisis
• Vietnam
• Reagan and Gorbachov - end of the soviet union

Reading through the book, one realizes the events that affected the worldly events are influenced by the stance taken by the leaders and their beliefs way more than the people in general. The leaders' perception and world understanding have been seen in many of these decisions. Another leader at another time could have taken a different stance. Woodrow Wilson's emphasis on democratic principles, Eisenhower's no war under any circumstance, Nixon's focus only on national interest, and Reagan's denuclearization and cordial exchange with Gorbachov and the Soviet people have affected how the world experienced conflicts and came over them. Lastly, the book discusses an ideal new world order, which to me is not relevant as it's almost thirty years from the time the book was written. The book is for a scholar of foreign policy or international relations. Not a casual coffee table read. 

Customer Value Starvation Can Kill: Prevention and Cure - Gautam Mahajan (2021)

Simple examples showing value addition and destruction. Overall cannot keep the interest for too long. I skimmed through the book. Some examples are well-known, and in some places, they seem like personal complaints. I did not feel like reading a book on customer satisfaction in a holistic manner. 

The book has good common sense examples but does not lead to any substantiative management theory. 

Letters for a Nation from Jawaharlal Nehru to His Chief Ministers (1947-1963)

 India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, served 17 years through three national elections. His actions and policies are scrutinized the most. In the wisdom of hindsight, he has been questioned on his decisions and policies time and again in the last 75 years. When you ask such critics what were the Nehru years like, you realize there is no objectivity to opinions. Nehru wrote a letter to the chief ministers about India, his learnings on various topics, and the experiences he gathered by meeting several people in his life every fortnight. He objectively conveys facts, opinions, and observations without mincing any words. I think this acts as a perfect compendium for the Nehruvian India. Once, Ramachandra Guha opined that the greatest critic of Nehru was himself. Nehru has admitted his vulnerabilities, inactions, and lack of understanding of a situation and stated them in his communications. Others took it up in the wisdom of hindsight to criticize his policies. Madhav Khosla has edited the book into six broad sections.

1. The citizen and nation - mostly talk about various separatist forces that acted against the Republic of India, which were to be tamed to bring India into one nation. It includes religion, language, princely states, zamindaris, land reforms, castes, etc., how the people of India put up a concerted effort in overcoming these, and why they will have to continue to engage in these efforts ahead.
2. The Institutions of Democracy - Nehru understood the power of majoritarianism in a democratic nation. He established checks and balances with various institutions. Constitutional checks and balances in law and courts are in great detail in the book.
3. National Planning and Development - Influenced by the industrial success of the Soviet Union, Nehru established the Planning Commission and developed five-year plans for the nation. Several parts of the letters emphasize these aspects. Talks about the growth needed in agriculture and heavy industry for the success of India.
4. War and Peace - India went through several years of struggle with wars with Pakistan, unifying Kashmir with India, and in the later years of China's incursion on Indian soil. While Nehru thought of peace at any cost and rebuilding the nation, avoiding wars, and following the USSR policies, China's incursion and India's unpreparedness for the war left an indelible mark on him. He looks vulnerable and ambivalent on this.
5. India and the World - India's role in non-alignment and commitment to World peace is discussed. How India was asked to align with the USA or USSR during the Cold War era is discussed. However, Nehru states the non-aligned views have ensured they establish a significant world order with several other Asian and African countries.
6. Eulogies - Several Indian statesmen passed away during this period. Nehru has written his condolences and passed on the information to the contemporary Chief Ministers of the states.

Overall a great read if you want to get first-hand information about Nehruvian India in Nehru's eyes. 

Surely Youre Joking Mr Feynman: Richard Feynmann (1985)

A maverick!!! That is what you feel when you read the book. A person who does not agree to anything that does not meet his line of work or thinking. The theme is moving with no scope of feeling bored. Whatever he dabbled with, he excelled, e.g., physics, mathematics, computing, engineering, hacking lockers, art, teaching, music, etc. He maintained an open questioning attitude on everything, challenging authority. 

It's hard to be a Richard Feynmann. Yet, if you read through his biography, you learn a lot from his life. Written 40 years ago, I still consider the book relevant and worth every page. 

Lutyens’ Maverick: Ground realities, Hard choices and Tomorrow's India - Baijayant "Jay" Panda (2018)

Jay Panda is a politician with a point of view and with a modern outlook. His writing is portraying that image correctly. However, when a political writer creates a book based on a collection of his columns and articles in the press, it becomes relevant to the period and often aligned with the side of the political system he represents. These collections are reflective of a similar viewpoint. I read the first couple of articles but lost interest as six years have passed, and some of the issues have lost their focused relevance. 

It is well-written but of good archival value, to be honest. 

The Emperor's New Mind - Roger Penrose (1989)

The book was written 35 years back. In a book on science and technology, a lot has changed since. Penrose tries to explain classical physics and quantum mechanics to non-scientists. Although his attempt has been sincere, in some places, you realize some things can only be explained with a thorough mathematical treatment. He tries to justify that human brain function cannot be entirely computationally feasible by the computations we know today with the Turing machine. Some things like consciousness go into the territory of quantum computing and explanations of correct quantum gravity (CQG). Today, significant parts of AI have been achieved with massively parallel computing with classical computers. Computation has reached unimaginable scales that were conceivable 35 years back. 

The book is still relevant, although many significant modern discoveries and inventions at this point have tried to change the course of AI. Until we find a foolproof solution for artificial general intelligence (AGI), we will keep questioning like Penrose. 

A good yet difficult read and needs an overview of physics, computing, and quantum mechanics to be able to appreciate the depth of the book.