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! 

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.