The Last Empire: The Final Days of the Soviet Union

 Author: Serhii Plokhy

Genre:History, Politics

Rating: 3/5

Verdict: An insightful book into the history of Soviet Union, but a bit dense for newbies in this area. 

A well researched book on the collapse of Soviet Union. For a newbie to this area like me, it can get a bit dry and boring at times, so it is definitely a slow read. I liked reading about the key men involved and their characters - Yeltsin, Bush and Gorbachev. It was interesting to understand and see each man's perspectives and particularly Bush's role in the whole thing. 

For anyone who is more interested in history and has more knowledge on the Crimean war and the US/Russia relationship, this would make for a delightful read.

The smartest kids in the world and how they got that way

 Author: Amanda Ripley

Genre: Education, Parenting, Teaching

Rating: 5/5

Verdict: Loved this book. A lot of key takeaways for both parents and teachers.

If you've read my previous posts on other books, you already know I am a big fan of the word "grit" and I generally like reading about education, what parents can do to help their kids succeed and how to raise resilient kids. In that hope, I started reading this book after just a google search on "books on how to raise resilient kids" and this was the first one that showed up.

This book covers topics that are very close to my heart - education, parenting, teaching and school systems. Amanda Ripley follows three students from America who travel to the education superpowers of the world - Poland, Finland and Korea as foreign exchange students. This book has so much depth and details and I love the way Amanda writes it full honesty on what is wrong with the US school system and the book is full of actionable items on what the country can do to match up or surpass the other superpowers in education and school systems. Personally for me, It was quite eye opening and reassuring to read about what Amanda considers as a good educational system and what parenting when done right looks like. As a mother, I constantly doubt myself if I am indeed doing the right things to raise resilient, strong and persevering kids and this gave me a sense of calm that I am on the right track, especially the parts about parental involvement and reading. It even made me slightly nostalgic fondly recalling my reading days with my daughter. I read to her very heavily right from when she was 6 months old!

Being through the Indian school system, I know what rigor and high expectations are like and how almost all parents keep that in mind as a baseline. Education was far more important that anything else. Korean system sounded a lot like the Indian system but the rigor is unmatched. Finnish systems had a great mix, I felt. It was quite interesting to read about how Poland brought about a massively successful change in their teacher selection program and how as a country became an education superpower. Although initially after reading the first few chapters, just when I was starting to think that this was yet another lament on the things that are wrong, it started getting interesting both as a parent and from a teacher/administration point of view.

As a parent, these are my key take-aways from the book:

* Rigor and drive is the number one important piece in education. As a parent, you can and should enforce it at home. Cultivating them early on during kids lives will help them become successful.

* Let children fail and learn from it when they are children. Don't overprotect them by shielding them from failures.

* We need to set high expectations for kids and stop assuming about their limitations and that they can't do something.

* Reward results, not efforts and don't make it too easy for them. Don't praise them for just trying and limit the amount of praises you heap.

* Parental involvement in kids's school and activities is important but how/in what ways is the key question. There is a huge difference between a parent-coach and a parent-cheerleader. Be your kids' coach rather than a friend.

* Read to your kids regularly and parents should read for pleasure as well. It turns out that simply reading to your kids has a big impact on their test scores a decade later!

* Don't spend too much on technology for learning both in school and at home - A plain old whiteboard and pen and paper will do the magic. You don't need fancy clickers, projectors, laptops or any fancy gadgets for teaching and learning.

Overall, this was a fascinating read for me and I am very passionate about the subjects of parenting and education. This book resonated really well with me and my parenting style. Even if you as a parent are not interested in learning about the school systems of different countries, the last chapter which talks about specific actionable items for parents to ask any school they are looking into for their kids is illuminating and I am pretty sure I will keep that in mind for my own kids.

We should all be feminists

 Author: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Genre: Feminism, Essay, Women, Gender

Rating: 5/5

Verdict: A delightful read. I've never read anything better on feminism and gender equality.

Over the years, I have come across so many speeches/essays and talks on feminism and I have hated it every time. The word "feminism" has been so overloaded and misused totally out of context on multiple occasions so I have always been wary of anyone who calls themselves a feminist and that is precisely why I have put off reading this for a long time. But Adichie's essay on this subject is simply brilliant, the best I have ever read on feminism.  It is a very crisp, accurate piece of writing. 

This woman, Adichie is a hero! She talks about her youth growing up in Nigeria and the gender discrimination just sprinkled casually in every day encounters and it is not specific to just Africa. It sounded too familiar and resonated with me growing up in a patriarchal society in India. While growing up, I didn't realize the patriarchy surrounding me everywhere in my own home and outside. When I think back and reflect on it now, it makes me very angry but I do not want to be the stereotypical angry feminist. I want to make changes wherever possible and make this world a better place for my kids and the next generation. Throughout the read, I found myself nodding along vigorously with Adichie. It is a strong reminder to me to raise my son as much as a feminist as my daughter. 

This is a very sharp, convincing, focused and fantastic essay and Adichie does it with such ease without being too preachy or angry. I loved it.

எண்ணங்கள்

 Author: M.S Udayamurthy

Genre: Self Help, Thoughts

Rating: 4/5

Verdict: An inspirational book for every day life and dealing with its challenges.

My father is a big fan of Dr. M.S Udayamurthy and his writings. We had 2 books at my home when I was growing up and I have heard my father talk about Udayamurthy a lot. When I watched the tamil movie "Unnal mudiyum thambi" and its hero is named after this author, I became more interested in reading his books. Unnal Mudiyum thambi is one of my all time favorite tamil movies. Most of Udayamurthy's books are about self improvement and character/personality development. This book provides a good insight into how our thoughts shape and affect our lives. The power of positive thinking, visualizing victories, how to remove fears from our minds and increase self confidence are all things we deal with on a day to day basis and it is a good reinforcement of "what we think we become". A very short one written in simple Tamil which makes it a quick read. 

Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life

Author: Francesc Miralles and Hector Garcia

Genre: Self-Help, Japan, Health, Happiness

Rating: 4/5

Verdict: Do me a favor and read this. A very uplifting and calming book with simple language.

Don't you feel an instant calm and happiness when you see the cover of this book? Just staring at the cover relaxes you and puts you in a great mood. The book lives up to the much hyped and talked about "Ikigai". I was holding off on reading this book after bring burnt by reading about - The Hygge. I thought what if this is yet another latest fad which doesn't offer any meaningful insights into the true concept of Ikigai and boy was I wrong! Happy to have been wrong and read this book.

The book talks about the world's centenarians and in particular about the lifestyle and habits of the people of Okinawa - one of the blue zones, where people live the longest and the healthiest. Ikigai is about finding your purpose in life, what makes you get out of bed everyday. It is different for different people but the underlying idea is how to be content and happy with yourself and live everyday with meaning and passion. Although I completed this book in 2 days, I would recommend reading it slowly, savoring every line and idea, ruminate over it and take notes along the way. I loved reading about the inhabitants of Okinawa and their way of life. So much of their habits and life style resonated with me because I spent my entire childhood in a very closely knit colony of self sufficient people. My parents and everyone in the colony had a vegetable garden where they grew and got their produce from, a cooperative society for loans, discounted prices on things, an organizing committee for conducting various events and celebrations. Everyone knew each other and formed very special bonds and friendships which I recall fondly even now. This is exactly what the people of Okinawa live and I now long to visit the island and see them! I'm sure someday I will!

Some reminders I noted down:

- Stay active, never retire

- Don't fill your stomach to the full, eat only until you are 80% full

- Surround yourself with friends and nurture and cherish relationships

- Get in shape for your next birthday

- Fall seven times, but get up the 8th time.

- Slow down a little

- Do not multitask. Focus on a single thing at once.

Like I said, take your time to read this book, it will give you a warm fuzzy feeling when you start which will stay that way until you finish the book and every single time after that when you recall what you read!

A refreshingly simple read! I loved it.

Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike

 Author: Phil Knight

Genre: Autobiography, Memoir, Sports

Rating: 2/5

Verdict: It was an interesting book, but gave me the "take the risk if you have rich parents backing you up" vibe, didn't get a feel for any real leadership lessons.

I've seen this book on many people's list of must read or read. One of my favorite genres in (auto)biograhies/memoirs of famous personalities because I look forward to drawing inspiration and learning all about hard work, dedication, passion, lessons from mistakes that I can apply in my own life to make it better. I read this with that hope. It is a good book about grit and passion but lacks any real leadership or life lessons. To be honest, the biggest outcome or revelation for me after reading this book is that I don't like Phil Knight very much!

The book follow's Phil Knight's life from his early 20's after graduating from Stanford into his life starting a business. Some of the incidents where he talks about how he persuasive he was when he went to Japan to initiate his business idea and further overcame the betrayal from the Tigers partnership demonstrates grit and courage. But that was it for me. The latter parts of the book was all about Phil bragging and proudly saying he never encouraged or supported his employees even during times of distress and it felt like he was watching out for his own fame and covering up his base all the time without giving his employees any credit. Nor did he spend any time with his sons and even goes to the extent of saying he was disappointed that they didnt turn out to be athletes like him. The part where he describes about his older son's death was very shallow and insincere which was shocking to me. He didn't even talk about his son in even as much about the famous sports personalities who called him with condolence messages.

Overall, I felt that much of Nike's success was more because of Bowerman and his innovation than Phil himself. In fact, I did love Nike's early employees so much more than Phil himself. This book does not have a lot to learn from, its probably best listened to in a concise version as a podcast.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

 Author: Douglas Adams

Genre: Science fiction, Humor, classics

Rating: 3/5

Verdict: It's not you, It's me kind of a book. The satire and dry humor was a bit much for me but still liked it overall.

I must have heard the name of this book at least a few hundred times in my life so far. This was also my first sci-fi book and I must say I didn't quite enjoy it even though this is a cult/classic that people have always raved about. It is a hilarious story of the adventures of Arthur Dent a human on earth and Ford - an alien hitchhiker as they journey through galaxies. I didn't think the book was hilarious and the dry humor was very hard to understand in many places. The plot was ok but I just didn't get it in many places and there were far too many characters to keep track of. 

I'm not sure what else to say of this book. I didn't have the patience to read it after a point and almost wanted to end it but I just powered through finishing it just to say I've read it. Thankfully it was a short book and I didn't hate it but I didn't love it either, 

The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times

Author: Michelle Obama 

Genre: Autobiography, Memoir

Rating: 4/5

Verdict: As always, Michelle has said it all beautifully! As always, this will be my pick-me-up for inspiration, hope and just plain warmth!

I cannot not read this book. It was only a matter of time before I set out to read this. 2023 has already started on a very busy schedule at home and work and I hardly find time to actually sit and read. So I listened to this as an audiobook during my morning workout and commuting to work.

All I can say is Wow! Just like with Becoming, Michelle Obama has written it all with grace and glory. She has always been an inspiration and a role model for me. Throughout the entire book, it made me feel like I was sitting with her and listening to her talk about her life and its episodes. It felt so personal to listen to her stories in her own voice. Many times during the book, I wanted to walk up to her and say - "Oh God, that's exactly how I thought about it too". I also found it so comforting that she is just like the rest of us with our own uncertainties, questions, doubts, fears and anxieties when it comes to parenting. How she dealt with it and waded through being a woman of color and many other biases in her life are life lessons for any of us trying to survive out there. There are some hilarious anecdotes and situations which made me chuckle, especially the one with her mother. By the end of it, I yearned to meet her mother some day as much as I yearn to meet her. 

This book is a collection of stories from Michelle's life put in a very refreshing way, there are strong messages at the end of every chapter. The chapters on partnering well and friendships stood out to me. Reading about her relationship with Barack Obama and their early days together in Hawaii made me go all "awwww", it felt like a warm blanket wrapped around me on a chilly day. The chapter on friendships was equally endearing - The way she thinks about it are exactly my thoughts too when it comes to maintaining relationships and rejuvenating in the company of good friends.

I can keep writing about this one, but I'll stop here. Oh, I almost forgot to mention - there is only very little mention about Barack Obama and his work which was very different from Becoming where she talked a lot about it and I think this is precisely what made it very refreshing!

Some of my favorite quotes from the book:

- "Great is the enemy of good"

- Read books by people whose perspective is different from yours, listen to voices you haven’t heard before, look for narratives that are new to you. In them and with them, you might end up finding more room for yourself.”

- Any time your circumstances start to feel all-consuming, I suggest you try going in the other direction - toward the small. Celebrate small victories.

It uplifts me, It gives me hope and reminds me how to live a life with its core values and integrity intact. 

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business

 Genre: NonFiction, SelfHelp, Productivity, Personal Development

Rating: 3.5/5

Verdict: Loved the case studies used as examples throughout the book, towards the end there was a lot of organizational use cases which was not too relevant.

Since I loved Atomic habits so much, I picked this up to piggyback on that when my mind was already in that zone and I wanted to make the most of it. I generally like to bunch up reads on the same genre more so on the same topic. The author does a good job of answering key questions on forming habits and pursuing things relentlessly. I loved the concept of keystone habit formations - where one habit has a ripple effect on many other events/things in life. To me, it is personally proven where I have always been an early bird and made it a habit to wake up before sunrise. I strongly believe this has caused a lot of positive effects in many other facets of my life like being productive at work, creativity and so on.

The author has used a lot of case studies to put across his points and perspective - The Picadilly escalator fire incident, Alcoa to name a few. it was very interesting to read about these incidents and draw a few pearls of wisdom about habit formations from these case studies. The fundamental ideas  about what it takes to form habits and methods to employ to hold on to them are the same across both the book.

The first half was very fascinating but the second half of the book got a bit irrelevant and boring where the author pretty much repeated the same points over and over. 

Atomic habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones

Author: James Clear

Genre: NonFiction, SelfHelp, Productivity, Personal Development

Rating: 4/5

Verdict: Very engaging and derives from simple everyday examples, which makes it very convincing to read and follow.

This book was on my list for 2022, but I couldn't get to reading it last year. Many times in the past, I have taken several new year resolutions only to break them a month later, like many of us do. This year, I really wanted to make a change in how I develop habits like working out, eating healthy, not procrastinating so that it becomes second nature and I am glad I chose this book. The author goes into stating almost right away that habits are an identity change. How we think of ourselves is a key change in making habits last and it brought an "Aha!" moment for me. The main idea of the book is that you can start small and build lasting habits. I also realized that many of my good habits are exactly how the author suggests doing them and is something I already do without realizing - like folding the blankets on the couch right away after relaxing in the evening or change your mindset to saying "I get to cook dinner for my family" instead of "I have to cook dinner for my family". I also liked the fact that the book is not philosophical like many other self help books but there are so many common scenarios we encounter everyday in every chapter of the book and how to deal with them. It makes the reader connect so easily and keeps it intriguing. 

My main takeaways from the book:

- Exponential progress is hard to see, initially

- Patience is essential

- Focus on systems more than goals

- Never miss twice

I think this book can be life changing if one is willing to apply these concepts and be patient until the results start showing up. I am glad I read this book and I'm sure I will refer to it when I need a reinforcement. 

The 5 AM Club: Own Your Morning. Elevate Your Life

 Author: Robin Sharma

Genre: NonFiction, SelfHelp, Productivity, Personal Development

Rating: 2/5

Verdict: Extremely long-winded and stretched to convey a single message. It was a chore to read, I couldn't wait to finish reading the book.

I have read Robin Sharma's "Who will cry when you die?" and loved it, so I picked up this book from him for my next read. Also, I am a morning person and love waking up really early having some time for myself before the daily rut starts. I wake up at 5:30 am even on weekends so I can get some quiet reading time in before the rest of my family is up and about. I love the stillness and peace of the morning before sunrise and watching the first rays streaming in through my window. So, I knew this book would be preaching to the choir but I was very curious to find out the author's perspective on this topic.

There is one simple message and that is what the title states exactly. The author tries to convey this through a 225 page book and it was excruciatingly painful to read through the same repetitive message in different forms and chapters. The storyline is completely irrelevant and made me so frustrated and impatient throughout the book. It took the author 5 chapters to even get to the concept of waking up at 5 am, too long winded and stretched. At some point, I was so tired of waiting for the actual content that I started to skim over chapters to get to the meaningful parts of the book. 

The only reason I have given it a 2/5 is because of the quotes/messages about discipline, will power and habits. All of these could have been easily packed into well within 80-100 pages and it would've made for a very crisp read. Some of the messages I really liked and resonated with me:

* All change is hard at first, messy in the middle and gorgeous at the end.

* World-class willpower isn’t an inborn strength, but a skill developed through relentless practice.

* Personal discipline is a muscle. The more you stretch it, the stronger it grows. Therefore, the samurais of self-regulation actively create conditions of hardship to build their natural power.

* Continue at all costs. Persistency sits at the threshold of mastery.

The 5 AM club preaches jumping out of one's bed at 5 am and splitting the first hour of your day into a 20/20/20 model where you perform sweat inducing physical activity for the first 20 mins followed by 20 mins of reflecting through meditation, praying, journaling followed by 20 mins of growing - reading, studying and the likes. Sure, I'd love to do this if I didn't have to get things ready for my kids for school, pack lunches, prepare breakfast and so on in the early hours of the morning which is the luxury billionaires and CEO's can afford with additional help and sure enough they can follow the 20/20/20 rule to start the day on fire. There is no one size fits all for this model!