2020 Milestones

Milestones / Accomplishments of year 2020

Certifications -

• VCA-DBT Certification

• VCP - vSphere Fundamentals

• VCP Cloud Management and Automation

Projects -

• Self-updating readme, tech blog, analytics, TILs ( all using only github )

• Hacktoberfest

• Calendar 2021

Study -

• Python Machine Learning by Sebastian Raschka

• Hands on Machine Learning by Aurelien Geron

• Grokking Deep Learning by Andrew Trask

• Grokking Algorithms by Aditya Bhargava

Non-fiction books -

1. Code - Charles Petzold
2. Why We Sleep
3. Digital Minimalism - Cal Newport
4. Visual Display of Quantitaive Data - Edward Tufte
5. Art of War - Sun Tzu
6. Invisible Women - Caroline Criado Perez
7. Samadhi - SantataGamana
8. 97 things every programmer must know - Kevlin Henney
9. Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
10. Think and Grow Rich
11. Richest Man in Babylon
12. Hyperfocus - Chris Bailey
13. Story telling with data
14. An illustrated book of bad arguments - Ali Almossawi
15. Darkest Web - Eileen Ormsby
16. Telescope in Ice - Mark Bowen
17. Bad Choices - Ali Almossawi
18. Stuff Matters- Mark Miodownik
19. Emperor of all Maladies - Siddharta Mukherjee
20. Apprenticed to a Himalayan Master - Sri M
21. 48 laws of power - Robert Greene
22. Deep fakes - Schick
23. Chop wood carry water - Joshua Medcalf
24. Several Short Sentences About Writing - Verlyn Klinkenborg
25. Things to make and do in the fourth dimension - Matt Parker

Book Review - Telescope in Ice - Inventing a New Astronomy at the South Pole by Mark Bowen

I picked up this book because the title intrigued me. A telescope in ... ICE ?? 

It follows the building of the IceCube Neutrino instrument in Antarctica. It is buried about a mile deep in the diamond-clear ice there. It detects extraterrestrial neutrinos. 

The first part of the book is about the physics. Neutrinos are fascinating sub-atomic particles - neutral in charge and can pass through almost anything. Billions pass through universe, the earth and through your body harmlessly every second. From the book - 

'Your average neutrino will pass unscathed—and therefore undetected—through a slab of lead one light year, or six trillion miles, thick'. 

Occasionally they will react/collide with the ice and this is what the IceCube telescope is built to detect using the earth as a shield.

Why neutrinos ? Because it can pass through almost anything, it can reveal information about the interior of stars, supernovae, gamma ray bursts and other regions that are hidden behind inter-stellar dust and hence not accessible to normal telescopes.

The book brought to mind that science these days is like a huge group enterprise spanning multiple areas of expertise (the design of the drill bit was the one most important parts of the project) than a lone scientist working at something.

In turns compelling, human (rivalries !), mundane (project budgets and government agencies !) the journey through the span of years it takes to build the final instrument and the failures before is like taking a seat in Antarctica and watching the action and adventure first-hand.  

Books in 2015

Last year I felt that I was not reading as many non-fiction books as I thought I should be reading.
At the end of the year - I still feel I did not read enough ! Perhaps this year ! Now there's an original resolution ! :)
I am not writing the full review of all the books I read; just a highlight or two in some books that stood out.

1. Everyday Calculus ( Oscar Fernandez ) - Simple loved this book ! Planning to write a full review soon !

2. The brain that changes itself ( Norma Doidge ) - 

Amazing book on the plasticity of the brain and how it uses maps and how the brain itself can be altered through learning, experience and thoughts. The section which talks about Dr. V. S. Ramachandran and the handling of phantom pain experienced by amputees from phantom limbs is eye opening. Amazing work.

The only thing that made me uneasy was the clear fact that there was extensive animal testing. I am not a hypocrite where animal testing is concerned nor am I blind to this phenomenon - it still made me queasy though.

3. Mindset ( Carol Dweck ) - Fixed Mindset vs Growth Mindset. I liked how the author described the two mindsets. While I don't think people tend to have only one mindset at a time - we can judge ourselves on where our predominant thoughts lie.

Fixed Mindset - Intelligence is constant. A desire to look smart can be counter productive because such people may not take up challenges for fear of not being instant-experts ! Do not like criticism.

Growth Mindset - Intelligence can be developed.  Enjoy challenges since they look at them as avenues to learn. Do not feel threatened by other people's success stories.

4. Power up your brain ( David Perlmutter, Alberto Villoldo ) - Didn't connect to this book but this point stood out for me. I didn't know this fact at all !

All of the mitochondrial DNA in your body is inherited solely from your mother' s lineage. That means that the source of energy that sustains your life is derived exclusively from the women in your family tree-your matrilineage.

5. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing ( Marie Kondo ) - 

Was simply curious about a book on tidying up that could reach best sellers list and be talked about so much !!

While some of her pointers seem extreme, what stood out for me is the gist of the book -

" Connect with things that "spark joy" and firmly remove the rest !!" 

Tough advice may be - but it makes sense in a way,  the myriad mind-blogging storage solutions don't do.


6. Dataclysm ( Christian Rudder ) - One particular conclusion is sad although not surprising ! Seems men are only attracted to women in their 20s no matter what their own age is !

Book Review - Flash Boys by Michael Lewis

Flash Boys - Michael Lewis

You could mistake this book for a high speed chase thriller .. that is how eminently readable it is.

This is the first non-fiction book that I have read continuously. I normally intersperse my non-fiction reading with lots of fiction. I may read a couple of chapters of a non-fiction book and then complete couple of fiction books and come back to the non-fiction book again ! But this book was so compelling - I read it through !!

After a kind of reading slump where I did not seem to have many fiction books that appealed or non-fiction books that I felt like picking up - I suddenly seem to have come across an explosion of book suggestions. From the slow 3 pines mystery series to the arctic splendor in Edie Kiglatuk's books ( I could not believe the Arctic was so teeming with life !! ) I have happily found books that will keep me occupied for some time !! :)

In the early stages of my career I was part of a stock exchange project where the goal was to change  the trading of futures / options from fractions to decimals.  This was the time of mainframes. At that time I did not relate much of what I did ( which was not much ) to the outside world. I just remember being fascinated the day the trades started to happen in decimals. A thrill of its own kind ! :)

Coming back - Flash boys starts off with the secret laying of a straight cable across a tough geographical terrain to give a microsecond advantage to traders willing to pay millions for the split second advantage.

What would the split second advantage mean ?? It would mean knowing in advance which trades would happen before everyone else and the opportunity to buy up shares at a lesser price and then turn around and sell it for more. Huge profits from knowing which trades to buy / sell !! This is front-running and it was legal the way it was being handled by the high speed computerized algorithm based trading in the stock exchanges.

The nano-second allowed one set of traders - to see a clear market view and the others an illusion. It created a class system and the US premise of a free and fair market was only a mirage. And this class difference was caused not by people but by the nano-second !

The high frequency traders who paid for this speed were minting money from providing no value to the general public.  The speeds of computer technology added efficiency in the areas that strengthened the intermediaries to make billions.

The unlikely protagonist of this book - is a former Royal Bank of Canada trader who founds his own exchange (IEX) to outmaneuver the high frequency traders. This journey is chronicled along with the challenges he faces as well as the people he picks up to build a 'fair' stock exchange.

What is ironic in this book are the marks of the scheme - they are not just regular folks - they are other hedge funds and wall street brokers who are also disadvantaged due to dark pools, kick backs, arbitrage advantages !

All in all - a wonderful read !!

Book Review - Lean In - Sheryl Sandberg

I don't know why I passively resisted reading this book but I did. I had heard the TED talk first and for some reason felt the book would be a  list of To-Dos which would never be achievable in the real world. Sounds uncharitable to have jumped to that conclusion. The TED talk is good and the points she mentions are true and yet I put off reading the book ! I am glad I finally read it.

So - what stands out for me in the book ?

1 -- The fact that she admits to having doubts, fear, worry and is not effortlessly confident all the time. It is the kind of vulnerability that I find myself astonished she would admit ! 

That a person like her has self-doubts and is unsure makes me feel - it is okay not to have all the answers. This is what drew me in and what made me continue reading. The book was not formulaic and the candid tone was refreshing.

2 -- The “Tiara Syndrome” !! 

In her own words -  it is where women “expect that if they keep doing their jobs well, someone will notice them and place a tiara on their head.”  Performance in school [ where the Tiara Syndrome is perpetuated I feel ] especially for girls is not always indicative of how well they will do in their careers. Especially the road to the executive office.

3 -- An internal report at Hewlett-Packard revealed that women only apply for open jobs if they think they meet 100 percent of the criteria listed. Men apply if they think they meet 60 percent of the requirements. 

I have seen this and am not surprised by the report but it bears re-iterating.

4 -- The way women leave before they actually leave. 

So many decisions based on "What-if" situations that are years away - be it marriage or children or elder care. The years before having a family are the time to work hard. I think her idea that  professional women measure the cost of child care against their future salary rather than their current salary - would ensure the years leading to family responsibility are not frittered away.

All in all a very good book that I would definitely recommend reading. 

Other snippets that I found informative and worth mentioning are listed below.

• A 2011 McKinsey report noted that men are promoted based on potential, while women are promoted based on past accomplishments.

• Fear is at the root of so many of the barriers that women face. Fear of not being liked. Fear of making the wrong choice. Fear of drawing negative attention. Fear of overreaching. Fear of being judged. Fear of failure. And the holy trinity of fear: the fear of being a bad mother/wife/daughter.

• Women, feel fraudulent when they are praised for their accomplishments. Instead of feeling worthy of recognition, they feel undeserving and guilty, as if a mistake has been made. Despite being high achievers, even experts in their fields, women can’t seem to shake the sense that it is only a matter of time until they are found out for who they really are—impostors with limited skills or abilities.

• We consistently underestimate ourselves.

• When a woman fails, she is more likely to believe it is due to an inherent lack of ability.

• Career progression often depends upon taking risks and advocating for oneself—traits that girls are discouraged from exhibiting.

• Success and likeability are positively correlated for men and negatively correlated for women.

• He said that when you want to change things, you can’t please everyone. If you do please everyone, you aren’t making enough progress. Mark was right.

• I realized that searching for a mentor has become the professional equivalent of waiting for Prince Charming !!! LOL ..

• I don’t know any woman who feels comfortable with all her decisions.

• Like me, most of the women I know do a great job worrying that we don’t measure up.

• Every job will demand some sacrifice. The key is to avoid unnecessary sacrifice.

• A task "Done is better than perfect".

• The right question is not “Can I do it all?” but “Can I do what’s most important for me and my family?”

And lastly ...

If society truly valued the work of caring for children, companies and institutions would find ways to reduce these steep penalties and help parents combine career and family responsibilities.

Book Review - Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife

The problem with reading someone else's Near Death Experience (NDE) is that you want answers to your questions and of course you do not get them ! :) That about sums up my frustration with the book.

However cannot blame the author for this ! Isn't this inability to adequately describe the experience part of NDE stories ? Every time ? Most of the stories say the same thing - that it is impossible to communicate just how loved and cherished one feels in the utopia land !

I picked up this book for a change of pace. I have been reading only business books of late it seemed like so I wanted something very very different and this caught my eye. First of all - a neurosurgeon ? And NDE - felt like a perfect combination.

The main idea of this book is that each and everyone of us is loved. Truly loved by the divine.
( Call it what you will ).

Hmmmmm okay I guess.

I have read the scientific explanations of what NDE means and that it is, simplistically put - a phenomenon of the brain itself. I personally prefer to keep an open mind about this topic. So I have no need to rip into the author's theory of why his experience is special ! :) And I have no need to argue if NDEs are true or not !

In the book the author goes into coma for 7 days due to bacterial meningitis and recovers completely with no after effects and his thinking abilities are intact ! Amazing really ! He explains that in his brain - the neocortex that controls the cognitive part of the brain is dead so his experience is not a figment of imagination ( as that part of the brain switched off during his coma ! ) ; so his experience is unique.

I have no argument about the experience itself. I just found, it was not too very different from any other NDE story. I did feel that - he got no answers ( other than being told he was loved ) and his story about his recovery was unexplained.

• From what he wrote I thought the E. Coli bacteria physically ate part of his brain. What happened to that ?
• Are all his cognitive abilities intact ? So was he able to get back to his practice ?
• And, did he finally understand where he picked up the E. Coli bacteria from ?

I also could not understand the author's fixation with his birth family. Really !!!! Here is this lucky guy ( born to a teen mother ) who has been brought up by a family where he is loved, taken care of, goes on to become a neurosurgeon and he is pining for his birth family to an extent that he feels depressed for a time. Jeez why ???? Seemed ungrateful to me !

While he mentions different realms and myriad dimensions and that evil is a minuscule part of the entire universe the explanation somehow lacked conviction and felt incomplete.

My 2 cents - this is an emotional writing about an NDE experience but does not give adequate proof of heaven as the title suggests.

I better look for other books for a change of pace ! :)

Key Learnings from - How Children Succeed - Paul Tough

I have made a ppt of the key notes ( if that is what you prefer to read ) from this book which can be found at this link -
How children succeed - Key Learnings.

I personally feel that much of the wisdom distilled in this book is common sense. However .... to quote
 "If common sense were all that common - we would all have it !!! "    :)

And so ... here goes ....

First of all - I expected the book to be a sort of manual on - How to 'make' children succeed ! The author in his wisdom - shared only details of how children succeed but not any specific tools ! :) My bad ! :)

Anywayz ..... I finished as fast as I could - I was so eager to read it since I had heard of it - in June 2013. I tend to be a slow reader where non-fiction is concerned. I write up the notes ( okay now I highlight ! ;) ) , re-read sections and in general seem to make a study of the book rather than reading. [ And yet - not all points remain in mind ;) ]

Most of the things that I felt were note-worthy in this book are based on two premises

• Good parenting has an effect that is not just emotional but also physiological. It literally alters brain patterns – especially in early childhood.

• Character matters. It is not just the IQ but EQ. 

Let me first focus on parental behaviour and nurturing.

• "The effect of good parenting is not just emotional or psychological, the neuroscientists say; it is biochemical". 

Long ago I had learnt that there were no perfect parenting models. I cannot recall where exactly I read this but what impressed me most about that message was that it asked parents not to worry that they were not perfect. That many parenting-mistakes-or-lapses could all be overcome with demonstrative love towards the children. It was a measure of reassurance.

This book reiterates the same albeit with more drastic evidence. It says that hardships create changes in the physiology of the child.

"Adversity during childhood can cause changes in the prefrontal cortex which is the center of self-regulatory activities. This kind of damage can last a lifetime - making it difficult for children to concentrate and to handle emotional disappointments."

And yet .... Even this kind of impairment can be alleviated with high quality mothering. Warm nurturing can act as a buffer against the biochemical damages stress can inflict on a child. Amazing I thought !!!

So .... although you may like showing flash cards, don't forget to be more attentive towards your children. Listen to them, respond to their emotional needs, comfort them, hug them, talk to them.

Paying full attention when the child is speaking or during a game of Jenga can make profound difference for a child's future prospects. It makes them more self-reliant and creates a "secure base" from which they can explore the world.

• "Under-parenting is harmful but so is over-parenting."

While under-pareting clearly creates stress which is not conducive to success in general - over-parenting is not good either.

Over-parenting is where where "Academic achievements are elevated above emotional needs".

In over-parenting - The child depends on external affirmation for success to such an extent that when unexpected challenges come in life - He / She does not have any internal resources to overcome them and hence can crumble at the first hurdle.



Now on to - Character development

What is character ? A succicnt definition by the author - "Character is created by encountering and overcoming failure"

After the age of 8 – IQ is not easy to manipulate. However character strengths – like grit, self-control, conscientiousness are better indicators of children who will prosper in life.

Mentioned below are some of the traits that are part of a character that can work towards success -

• Ability to manage failure

Rich children tend to be insulated from suffering while poor kids face nothing but challenges. Instead every child should have child-sized adversity which they can overcome without help.

• Ability to do mental contrasting.

This trait reminds me of the Scout Motto - "Hope for the best but be prepared for the worst" To some extent this is what mental contrasting is about.

It means concentrating on a positive result while being aware of all the obstacles on the way. This helps - first of all to formulate alternate strategies and then to choose wisely amongst the choices.

• Optimism

An optimist does not remain down for long. After a setback an optimist will pick himself/herself up with a short term explanation for the bad event. They do not end up under a cloud of "Why me ? " or "I am always unlucky".

• Self-control and Flexibility

"Self control is ability to inhibit an instinctive or habitual response and substitute for a better less obvious one."

I am presuming that most parents by now would have heard of the famous Marshmallow test by Walter Mischel. It emphasized delayed gratification.

Delayed gratification which is mainly about self- control and flexibility hinges on -

1. An ability to think outside the box. [ Some of the children imagined the bar of chocolate to be something else. ] 
2. Ability to handle unfamiliar situations.

• Grit

It is the ability to persist. Stressed out children find it difficult to sustain efforts towards a particular goal since they tend to be overwhelmed with negative feelings.


Point by point some of the best ways to equip a child to be successful is -

1. Ensure he / she is protected from chronic stress especially in childhood.
2. Have a secure relationship with the child - ideally both parents.
3. Discipline - there has to be someone to say 'No' - so the child can know limits.
4. Allow the child to fall down and get up without help. The idea is for the child to learn to “manage failure”.
5. Do not over over-criticize.
6. Minimal after-school adult supervision is detrimental.
7. Do not burden the child with excessive achievement pressure.

To conclude

 "There are no short-cuts to success in raising children " ! 

Good luck !

Book Review - Brandwashed by Martin Lindstrom

It has been sometime since I wrote a book review. I was going through a book hiatus .. at least as far as non-fiction was concerned. I found myself picking up books and after reading the blurb finding they did not interest me in the least !!! So back to the shelves they went !!!

In this involuntary  moratorium I saw "Brandwashed" .. it looked interesting enough that it funneled through .. after all Behavior Economics is a fascinating area to explore !

As far as this book is concerned  I do not think the information is particularly new - much of the material is known. Neither do I think that the marketing techniques are hidden tricks .. save for a few. However it is the specificity of the cases that is interesting.

Some snippets -

1. We do know that music influences us .. but the author shares details of how changing the tempo of the music changed how the customers viewed the time taken to be served in the customer complaints queue.

2. By doubling the size of your shopping cart, you end up buying up to 40 percent more.

3. Malls and certain kinds of stores become  the “cool” hangout location — this is engineered by marketers, who often hire sexy, good-looking kids to stand casually in front of the entrance. Miraculously, the area is soon packed with other kids !

4. Ever heard of Listerine and Halitosis ??? Today Pharmaceutical companies do not market only for known terrible conditions like cancer, Alzheimer's but create conditions we never thought of - Restless leg syndrome? Fibromyalgia? Who even knows such things exist?

5. Supermarkets sprinkle select vegetables with dew drops of water — these sprinkler like drops serve
as a symbolic - of freshness and purity ! It may that the vegetables so doused with mist may rot faster due to this treatment !

6. Colas and other beverages have water drops on them - what those little drops signal to us subconsciously is that the beverage is not just cold but ice-cold, making it more tasty and refreshing. And those little drops kick-start the brains’ craving impulses to have a cool drink !

7. Mommy Guilt is a ploy used to  sell to new mothers. There are so many ways to make her feel inadequate and of course there is an endless array of products - from LeapFrog computers for young children to organic baby food to postnatal exercise videos to baby gates to child proof cabinet locks to ointments to safety bath-time thermometers to pre-school educational toys and baby video monitors to alleviate all that guilt !

8. The book claims that Apple’s iPhone has become the most effective tool in human history to mollify a fussy toddler - because an Apple store is made to resemble an international day care.

9. That marketers are trying to reach younger and younger children .. is nothing new ."Pester Power" [ refers to children's ability to nag their parents into purchasing items they may not otherwise buy ] is nothing to be sneezed at - it is a very powerful marketing technique !

So marketers want to catch the kids while in the womb itself ! :)

A shopping chain sprayed J&J baby powder in the baby clothing area and added soothing music and a smell of cherries... pregnant women were exposed to this calm atmosphere while browsing. The end result ? After birth when the mothers entered the mall ....  if their kids were fractious they became noticeably quieter ..!!

10. Games are designed to be addictive and hard to quit - by literally re-wiring the brain's reward system circuit... and turn people / children who use them into brand ambassadors for a brand or product.
The more points you win, the more levels unlock, keeping you in the never-ending pursuit of higher and higher highs and bigger and better rewards.

Think -   Farmville, Mortal Kombat, Mafia Wars, Playstation , Xbox.

Also - Food companies sell junk food using multimedia games, online quizzes, and cell phone apps.

11. One of the earliest ads I remember watching and being fascinated with is the Alka-Seltzer ad where 2 tablets are dropped into crystal clear water in a glass. And what that did - although in reality only one tablet is required , most consumers drop two tablets !!
And guess where this kind of marketing is used - Chocolate. Cheese puffs. Cookies. Chips !

"No one can eat just one !" - Does that ring a bell ?

Of course it was disturbing to read that many of these foods also contain habit-forming substances like MSG, caffeine, corn syrup, and sugar.

12. The author compares royalty to a long term high end brand - "Every single royal family in the world knows that the best—and quickest — way to boost its popularity ratings is  to host a royal wedding. [Prince William’s wedding to Kate Middleton :)) ] A close second? The arrival of a royal baby !"

Now this was something I did not know before !! :)

13. Digital footprints - This covers a whole gamut of details that help marketers target the exact loan one is looking for , the kind of products one wants to buy , the general profile of a person and his/her shopping habits - This is nothing new - we know .. every "like" we click is helping form a demographic profile of ourselves that help companies target us with perfectly tailored ads.

In fact just send a mail with a specific topic in gmail and see the "More About" - links .. they will reflect your message content ! Write about baking and links for the same will appear ... write about prep schools and
see how the links change !!!!

14. In what could well be the future of marketing - peer recommendation is where we take the word of our friends in trying out brands. A Hollywood movie The Joneses is about a fake family of stealth marketers who move into an upper-middle-class community and begin to market brands to their neighbors covertly and successfully.

The author did a real life experiment mimicking this concept and the results are very compelling ... !!

All in all a very good read ....... !!!

Book Review - The Argumentative Indian - Amartya Sen

The Argumentative Indian

I picked up this book from a friend eons ago .. and found it challenging to complete ! :) Not because it is not good but simply because history is something that I don't prefer to read !! Nevertheless I did finish reading this and I am glad I did ...

Having said that I would not suggest this book to someone who has an insular view of a Hindu India that has had absolutely no influence of any other culture on it !!! It would make for a flammable reading if one went with such an attitude. Instead I would think an open mind with an interest to counter-argue with research if one disagrees on the many points made would be a better approach !!

The writing is dry and caustic, well researched and in the form of a series of lectures. It depicts India as a civilization where public debate was not unknown , multiple cultures and religions were part of its vibrant fabric along with atheism and materialistic approach to life , he touches upon the topics of science and maths in ancient India, Indian calendars ( this is an amazing chapter ! ) , relationship with China, the Indian identity , Westerner's views of India .. etc


One of the major themes is that India's greatness lies in its diversity and tolerance of all religions. Although the author is aware that this tolerance has not stopped the social inequalities either.

One can consider the book as an attempt to encapsulate a few thousand years of Indian history that an Indian can take pride in even as the country looks forward to a global future which was not completely unknown before !

I did feel that the leanings on Ashoka and Akbar were a bit more than required. After all there were quite a few other kings but then .. those other kings probably did not suit the point being made !!

The inputs on Rabindranath Tagore whom the author eminently respects made for interesting reading. I don't prefer the deifying biographies that one reads of our previous leaders and the perspective shown by the author of this person is of a reasoning mind.

In our country more often that not - issues are tried emotionally ... the author dissects many topics of the Indian history in an academic manner with a whole wealth of references. It can be read as a book on history or just to learn something more about our country without falling prey to zealotry.

Book Review - The Audacity of Hope - Barack Obama

Audacity of Hope - Barack Obama

It has been quite some time since I read a book completely ! I have so many books in the half-read stage that I think ... when I finally get back to them .. I will have to start each one from the beginning !!! Anywayz ...

Never underestimate the power of a title !!! :) I was intrigued by the title of this book ... !!! Never thought hope could be audacious ! :) Ended up choosing to buy this book instead of "Dreams from my father" which is supposedly better.

Before I put my thoughts regarding this book , I must say I am handicapped in my review by a couple of things

-- I don't follow American politics so I am not sure exactly how the "timing" of this book's release affected his presidential dreams and hence how calculated / slick the contents of this book are !!! :)

-- It follows from the above that I obviously cannot gauge how his real life veers from the said content of this book ..... on his stands over various problems ....

So ... about the book ... I found the writing lucid in a chatty style and definitely readable. Obviously it focuses entirely on America .... what comes through is the author's love for his country and a sense that he is doing his best in a job that poses myriad challenges especially to one's belief's and morality.

The chapter on the machinations behind American politics is interesting ... especially regarding the hardening of political stances. I feel it is something that happens all too frequently in India .. and the middle path seems more and more obscured .. since it is a path that gives no political gains !!!!

The main theme is that the author comes across as someone who embodies the American middle-class dream and is not too politically correct .... which is refreshing. Yes for most of the issues a neat middle-of-the-road path is taken but the reasoning behind the said stances are nicely portrayed. It is easy to identify with since it feels like the author is just a regular guy ... and so ... the book contents seem eminently believable ..

There is an absence of jingoism and acrid bashing , still he manages to paint the Republicans in a not-so-good light and is candid about his views upfront ... that he leans towards democratic ideals being a democrat himself !! :)

Nevertheless it obviously finds an echo somewhere in America ( and the world ) or I don't think this book would have been so popular so as to find itself even on the Pune streets !!! :)

There was a vague sense of deja vu on some topics and that was because I realized that some challenges that America faces have been highlighted in my recent read - "Hot, Flat and Crowded" by Thomas Friedman including the oil dependency woes and competition for jobs from across the world and US's foreign policy.

My take would be - read only if interested in American political machinations and to learn something about the American president !! Otherwise the other challenges/viewpoints can easily be read in other books or articles on the web.

If I had to pick the best statement in this book it would be - "In the world's greatest deliberative body ..... no one is listening" .. which happens when someone wants to explain / introduce a new bill.

Book Review - Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

I read this book on Ashwin's recommendation. Thanks Ashwin ! :)

There was a mild sense of deja vu when I read this book and that may have been because of all the literature read on - how to make good presentations / proposals / speeches / ads .... etc. [ Have you seen Steve Job's presentations ? :) Sadly I still lack in this area !!! ]. Principles like - KISS ( which is called "Simple" in this book ) , make an impact ( Unexpectedness ), a picture speaks a thousand words etc . Plus one cannot help remembering all the ads / stories / one-liners that have stuck to one's mind !! :))

Having said that the book puts tangible strategies into a simple usable formula , a kind of handy reference - that can be used like a ready reckoner to help make ideas 'stick' in the minds of the audience. Towards this at the end of every chapter a case study is taken and examined/analyzed against the formula -- and an effort is make to understand why one of idea 'sticks'. Nothing like an example to illustrate practicality.

The formula for stickiness - SUCCESs (Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional, and Story). The last 'S' is deliberately left out. Does this make the formula more 'sticky' ? :)

Some things I liked / learned from the book [ This is by no means exhaustive - I liked the book in its entirety ].

1. Curse of Knowledge - Many people who are communicating an idea know so much about a subject that they are unable to put themselves in the shoes of their audience who may know very little about that topic. [ Ever sat through the presentation of an expert and found most of it went over the head ? :) ]. This is the curse of knowledge - “Once we know something, it is hard to imagine what it was like not to know it.”

2. The story of prejudice - A teacher Jane Elliott in Iowa was trying to think of a way to explain to her class of third-graders about prejudice. This was after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. She wanted to convey the idea of why someone would hate enough to kill them.

So she first divided the class into brown-eyed children and blue-eyed children. Then brown-eyed children were told they were superior to blue-eyed children. They were allowed to sit in better seats in the class and given extra time at recess. Blue-eyed children were made to wear a collar so that their superior brown-eyed classmates could identify them anywhere and ignore or taunt them. . The brown-eyed children were vicious in their contempt and hate. The blue-eyed kids began to do poorly in subjects they had previously done well in.

One day later - the teacher reversed her statement - she told that blue-eyed children were superior to the brown-eyed children. Now the brown-eyed children faced the discrimination, poor grades , the physical collar and taunts. With the change the prejudice also turned around.

She ended the experiment on the 3rd day - telling them neither were superior. But the experiment made the idea of prejudice concrete ! Years later - her students still remembered the profound message that differences can generate excessive hate - enough to kill.

3. Business managers seem to believe that, once they've clicked through a PowerPoint presentation showcasing their conclusions, they've successfully communicated their ideas. What they've done is share data.

4. There is a curious disconnect between the amount of time we invest in training people how to arrive at the Answer and the amount of time we invest in training them how to Tell Others !

5. Stripping out information, in order to focus on the core, is not instinctual. There is a tendency to include every single fact as though the quantity of data amassed is more important.

6. Why stories work - If you make an argument, you're implicitly asking the audience to evaluate your argument - judge it, debate it, criticize it - and then argue back, at least in their minds. But with a story, you engage the audience - you are involving people with the idea, asking them to participate with you.

In the last pages - there is a reference guide which are like notes plus there is a section on common communication problems and what to do about them. Definitely useful.

All in all - a fast and easy read , interspersed with many examples and certainly a book that can picked up to improve in communication ( and be remembered ) - be it via presentations / speeches / ads / business proposals .....

Book Review - Superfreaknomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen J Dubner

If I had to use one word to sum up this book I would use "Meandering" and not in a bad way. It is interesting and has lots of statistical data !

 

 Some of the topics covered include -

 

• Global warming ( but ofcourse !! :) ) - Some unconventional methods to reverse the warming.
• On People - If we are by nature altruistic or selfish
• How to catch a terrorist using data mining techniques ; one of the variables is life insurance
• Prostitution - many areas in this topic
• Drunken driving vs Drunken walking
• Doctors washing their hands ( and yes most don't seem to !!! )
• How safe are car seats vs seat Belts for kids and so on ....

There is a vast amount of diverse information packed in a good narrative style. It is more like a fiction book with non-fiction data ! :)

 

But I must admit the section on being a female in India made me cringe - not that what is written is not the truth because it unfortunately is and the arrow strikes too close to home.

I do not think this book has the impact of their first book "Freakonomics" or perhaps the "freak" of the first book - they seem to have lost some punch and are unconvincing in some of their arguments.

Also some insights seem more common knowledge than something that challenges preconceptions. Like the information on women dying during childbirth due to doctors not washing their hands. Or even people needing incentives to be more altruistic ( may be a cynical knowledge ! :) ).

  

All in all - an enjoyable but hardly a must read.

 

The Seven-Day Weekend - Ricardo Semler - Book Review

When I picked this book from a friend's collection - I thought it was material along the lines of time management. The cover specifics were not very enlightening ! :) I was surprised by the atypical model of management that I ended up reading about ! :) 
 
The main underpinning of this book is employee democracy ( democrazy ?? :) ) in all areas of company management. The ensuing chaos may seem like a recipe for disaster but it is hard to argue with numbers - the Semco company is supposed to have grown from $35 million revenue to $212 million revenue in 6 years .... with virtually no employee turnover.

The conviction the author advocates is that of relinquishing control ... and inherently trusting the employees to behave like adults and not kids requiring supervision. He believes that peer control is effective for both reporting and auditing purposes.

Consider some of the company practices -

• Company plans

The company has no vision statement, no 5 or 10 year business plans , no mission statement or corporate strategy. Plans are only made for 6 months in advance !

• HR / Organization structure / Motivation

The company has no HR and the organization structure is flat. They have no fixed CEO ( at the time of writing the book ! ) and no standard practices either.

The author believes that an employee who puts himself first will be motivated to perform !! And that it is due to a non-alignment of corporate interests vs personal interests that too many companies end up spending too much time trying to motivate its folks.

• Attending meetings are optional

Now this may not sound very unusual - but considering the amount of importance a show of hands by workers has towards - opening a new service, product, vetoing a deal, closing of a factory unit, hiring of new people for a particular function - it assumes considerable importance.

Say not one person turns up for a meeting to discuss a new type of product for the market it is a clear indication that the employees do not consider this important and perhaps this product is not required at all. Same logic extends to everything. Even the CEO is not immune to empty meetings towards any of his ideas ! :)

• Salaries

People decide their own pay packets and everyone knows what others are paid ( Ha ha ha - can you imagine the furore this would cause ??? :) ).

People can opt to work less ( phases in life - pregnancy, part time study etc ) and can move some of their work to other people interested in working and earning more. The people who work less thus choose a lower pay packet accordingly.

Individuals can take 3 yrs off for a sabbatical with some help from financial packages ( they should invest towards the same while working obviously ! :) ).

• No time constraints

People decide when they come and what they do and this extends even to assembly line workers. These groups decide amongst themselves when to come and hence are better able to monitor themselves and manage themselves ... it is no longer a management vs workers problem !

The author believes that forcing workers to work standard hours may mean losing employee potential on a daily basis. This kind of flexi-timings allows people to make family the first priority and schedule work around it.  ( And in Brazil - schedule work around the football matches ! :) )
 

• Choosing their niche

People can move around in the company to find their niche. Trainees for the first one year are not assigned to any unit - they are exposed to various groups and responsibilities. Workers follow their interests and instincts when choosing jobs or projects.

•  No information hoarding

Board meetings are open to all employees - people can sign for them in advance on a first come and first serve basis and the agenda is made available so persons can prepare themselves. Whoever attends is expected to actively participate and vote responsibly.

 The company books are opened to all employees and all unions. To ensure workers understand what exactly is happening - not only classes are provided - the budget is also presented in simplified format where relevant.


Sounds like Utopia ? :) Some of the things mentioned in the book are not new - 360 reviews, profit sharing plans but the underlying collective consensus approach is perhaps what makes the difference.

All in all - an easy and interesting read. And if executed ...... new vistas ...... :)))