The Man who Never was

Coffee Can Investing: the low risk road to stupendous wealth by Saurabh Mukherjea My rating: 3 of 5 stars The central idea of the book can be summarized as follows (At least the way I understood it). Rather than trying to time the market, and bet on so-called 100x-1000x unicorn multibaggers, it is best to be invested in the stock market for the long haul. A simple but effective strategy, first coined by Robert G. Kirby is not meant for those who panic and sell out their entire portfolio during market fluctuations. His observations postulate, given a long enough time period, say 7-10 years, an investment portfolio consisting of stocks from good quality companies, market leaders and such, will be able to outperform the index, and in the process, net the holder a lucrative and relatively risk free return. This has since been proven through practical data, leading to the rise of the low expense, low volatility, passive index funds. Although it is to be n...

Dopamine Detox : A Short Guide to Remove Distractions and Get Your Brain to Do Hard Things by Thibaut Meurisse My rating: 3 of 5 stars To be honest, the reason I picked up this book, was because it was short, and was free on amazon. After reading the first quarter or so however, I liked the subject matter. In how it was able to put on page, the exact sort of issues a serial procrastinator such as myself runs into, whenever trying to accomplish any task without distractions. Some of the things mentioned in the book, describes me to T, as in to a terrifying degree. There was however a small section in the middle, where I began to suspect whether I was reading a thinly veiled promotional pamphlet for amazon's perfectly curated collections and innovate business model. Thankfully that passed. As you'd expect from the book of this length, the action points and observations are simple, and to the point. It presents a hypothesis (a call it as such, a...

The Middle Ages: A Graphic History by Eleanor Janega My rating: 3 of 5 stars Going blind into the book, I had no idea or expectations towards 'The Middle Ages' by Eleanor Janega. For the first third of the book, we got a clear, concise, easy to understand, cliff notes version of the medieval world, following the split of the Roman Empire into West & East. I call it a cliff notes version, because a lot of events are summarized, and we get synopsis breezing through some key events which characterized the times. Most of the book deals with what is essentially the histories of Europe, as well as some supplementary stuff that happened when they interacted with Asia & Africa. Despite not being of said cultural background, having had some exposure to the subject, through similar academic works, many of the things described in the works were familiar to me (Although, full disclosure, the only reasons I even know the distinction between various cultu...

The World's Worst Assistant by Sona Movsesian My rating: 4 of 5 stars View all my reviews Going into this, one might wonder, why does this Indian looking guy, sounding guy care about a book, written by the assistant of a semi-retired talk show host, who is, by the viewership at least, not even at the top of the list. That’s because the host is Conan O’Brien, and the assistant is his wing man/ work sibling Sona Movsesian (Sorry Andy).  Now, like most viewers of my pedigree, I came to know of Conan’s particular brand of entertainment through…YouTube, ding, ding. Even back then, what set him apart from his contemporaries was how earnest and organic entertainer, especially when it comes to off the cuff bits and his engaging interaction with fans and strangers. And let’s face it, no one can work a crowd with little or no prep time like Conan, the guy has just that much charisma. And despite being known as having a somewhat risqué ...

They Called Us Enemy by George Takei My rating: 5 of 5 stars Rating 5 out 5 | Grade: A+; A moving cautionary tale What is it about? They called us Enemy is a biographical account of the childhood and life of Hollywood actor George Takei (Star Trek fame). In it, he recounts the time when he was just four years old. It was the time when Japan had attacked Pearl Harbour, and in retaliation the US declared war on Imperial Japan. As an immediate consequence of this decision, a large number of Japanese, over 100000 people were uprooted from their homes across the nation, and taken to forced incarceration facilities, with limited facilities. Men, women, children, elders, who’d committed no formal crime, but the crime of being Japanese, the same ethnicity as the enemy. Series of Events The account starts when George is 4 years old. His younger brother Henry had just been born, and the USA, in retaliation to Pearl Harbour had declared war on the Japanes...

Daivathinte Charanmar - You Could Be One by Joseph Annamkutty Jose My rating: 3 of 5 stars Rating 3 out of 5| Grade C; Simple things, Not so complex, Some enlightening, mostly mundane The Good: The Book is filled with snippets & anecdotes from the life of the author, which he presents to the audience in forms of parables & observations. Some of his stories & viewpoints does give you new perspective on things which you'd taken for granted in life. The Bad: Perhaps it is because of his rooted religious background, or because he was for a time enrolled in a Seminary Jose's words can at times come across as preachy, and dare I say patronizing. In some topics, such as racism, Sex education, Assault, Addictions and religion, he makes some observations which, in all honesty might've been quite enlightening in his own life. But in Recounting them to the audience, he comes across in the same way as that one youtuber, who 'saw...