Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

 Author: Adam Grant

Genre: Self help, personal development

Rating: 2/5

Verdict: Many parts felt very repetitive, with the same message conveyed in different chapters. 

I follow Grant on social media and I like his bite sized quotes. I started reading this book in the library one day and finished it up with an audio book. All I can remember after reading the book is Don't be afraid to re-think what you already know. This message was conveyed in multiple ways and perspectives throughout the book. It felt very repetitive after a point and there wasn't anything new or substantial to learn. 

Some things like productive disagreement and being comfortable with the discomfort of disagreement was a good reinforcement. I wasn't so sure about the part on Grit and how it is ok to turn back sometimes rather than prolonging. At times, the author's words felt conflicting between two chapters. 

Overall the book felt very repetitive and 80% of the content is the same single message - Re-think. If you can find a summary of the key messages from the book, that is enough. You can give reading the whole book a pass.

MGR, the Man and the Myth

Author: K. Mohandas

Genre: Politics, History

Rating: 4/5

Verdict: A good summary of MGR's political life and the then state of TN politics

I got this book during my recent trip to Chennai. I have always been fascinated by MGR and Jayalalitha's administration and their role in shaping TN politics. My mother is a big fan of both MGR and Jayalalitha and all my knowledge about them is through her. She has shared many stories about their political and personal life during many of our conversations. Naturally I got curious about this topic and picked up this book to read further. 

The book provides an excellent insight into MGR's political personality and how he handled multiple issues during his tenure as chief minister of Tamilnadu. Written by who was considered as the right hand of MGR, the author talks about how MGR was a man with so much power and freedom but how he kept to himself for the most part. I also liked the author's unbiased recount of certain incidents where he felt the right decisions were not made and MGR's lack of trust on certain occasions. I felt MGR was full of charisma, intuition and clever minded when it came to appealing to the public and decision making during challenging times. Although I am not familiar with many of the key events in TN politics, this book was a good peek into all those incidents.

A good book which makes you wanting to know more about the man!