Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Thursday, July 24, 2008
The non-mistakes of his life !
Inaugural Speech for the new batch at the Symbiosis BBA program, Pune - 23rd June, 2008 – Chetan Bhagat Writer of 3 Mistakes of my life
Good Morning everyone and thank you for giving me this chance to speak to you. This day is about you. You, who have come to this college, leaving the comfort of your homes (or in some cases discomfort), to become something in your life. I am sure you are excited. There are few days in human life when one is truly elated. The first day in college is one of them. When you were getting ready today, you felt a tingling in your stomach. What would the auditorium be like, what would the teachers be like, who are my new classmates - there is so much to be curious about. I call this excitement, the spark within you that makes you feel truly alive today. Today I am going to talk about keeping the spark shining. Or to put it another way, how to be happy most, if not all the time.
Where do these sparks start? I think we are born with them. My 3-year old twin boys have a million sparks. A little Spiderman toy can make them jump on the bed. They get thrills from creaky swings in the park. A story from daddy gets them excited. They do a daily countdown for birthday party – several months in advance – just for the day they will cut their own birthday cake.
I see students like you, and I still see some sparks. But when I see older people, the spark is difficult to find. That means as we age, the spark fades. People whose spark has faded too much are dull, dejected, aimless and bitter. Remember Kareena in the first half of Jab We Met vs the second half? That is what happens when the spark is lost. So how to save the spark?
Imagine the spark to be a lamp's flame. The first aspect is nurturing - to give your spark the fuel, continuously. The second is to guard against storms.
To nurture, always have goals. It is human nature to strive, improve and achieve full potential. In fact, that is success. It is what is possible for you. It isn't any external measure - a certain cost to company pay package, a particular car or house.
Most of us are from middle class families. To us, having material landmarks is success and rightly so. When you have grown up where money constraints force everyday choices, financial freedom is a big achievement. But it isn't the purpose of life. If that was the case, Mr. Ambani would not show up for work. Shah Rukh Khan would stay at home and not dance anymore. Steve Jobs won't be working hard to make a better iPhone, as he sold Pixar for billions of dollars already. Why do they do it? What makes them come to work everyday? They do it because it makes them happy. They do it because it makes them feel alive. Just getting better from current levels feels good.If you study hard, you can improve your rank. If you make an effort to interact with people, you will do better in interviews. If you practice, your cricket will get better. You may also know that you cannot become Tendulkar, yet. But you can get to the next level. Striving for that next level is important.
Nature designed with a random set of genes and circumstances in which we were born. To be happy, we have to accept it and make the most of nature's design. Are you? Goals will help you do that. I must add, don't just have career or academic goals. Set goals to give you a balanced, successful life. I use the word balanced before successful. Balanced means ensuring your health, relationships, mental peace are all in good order.
There is no point of getting a promotion on the day of your breakup. There is no fun in driving a car if your back hurts. Shopping is not enjoyable if your mind is full of tensions.
You must have read some quotes - Life is a tough race, it is a marathon or whatever. No, from what I have seen so far, life is one of those races in nursery school, where you have to run with a marble in a spoon kept in your mouth. If the marble falls, there is no point coming first. Same with life, where health and relationships are the marble. Your striving is only worth it if there is harmony in your life. Else, you may achieve the success, but this spark, this feeling of being excited and alive, will start to die.
One last thing about nurturing the spark - don't take life seriously. One of my yoga teachers used to make students laugh during classes. One student asked him if these jokes would take away something from the yoga practice. The teacher said - don't be serious, be sincere. This quote has defined my work ever since. Whether its my writing, my job, my relationships or any of my goals. I get thousands of opinions on my writing everyday. There is heaps of praise, there is intense criticism. If I take it all seriously, how will I write? Or rather, how will I live? Life is not to be taken seriously, as we are really temporary here. We are like a pre-paid card with limited validity. If we are lucky, we may last another 50 years. And 50 years is just 2,500 weekends. Do we really need to get so worked up? It's ok, bunk a few classes, goof up a few interviews, fall in love. We are people, not programmed devices.
I've told you three things - reasonable goals, balance and not taking it too seriously that will nurture the spark. However, there are four storms in life that will threaten to completely put out the flame. These must be guarded against. These are disappointment, frustration, unfairness and loneliness of purpose.
Disappointment will come when your effort does not give you the expected return. If things don't go as planned or if you face failure. Failure is extremely difficult to handle, but those that do come out stronger. What did this failure teach me? is the question you will need to ask. You will feel miserable. You will want to quit, like I wanted to when nine publishers rejected my first book. Some IITians kill themselves over low grades – how silly is that? But that is how much failure can hurt you. But it's life. If challenges could always be overcome, they would cease to be a challenge.And remember - if you are failing at something, that means you are at your limit or potential. And that's where you want to be.
Disappointment's cousin is frustration, the second storm. Have you ever been frustrated? It happens when things are stuck. This is especially relevant in India . From traffic jams to getting that job you deserve, sometimes things take so long that you don't know if you chose the right goal. After books, I set the goal of writing for Bollywood, as I thought they needed writers. I am called extremely lucky, but it took me five years to get close to a release. Frustration saps excitement, and turns your initial energy into something negative, making you a bitter person. How did I deal with it? A realistic assessment of the time involved – movies take a long time to make even though they are watched quickly, seeking a certain enjoyment in the process rather than the end result– at least I was learning how to write scripts, having a side plan – I had my third book to write and even something as simple as pleasurable distractions in your life - friends, food, travel can help you overcome it. Remember, nothing is to be taken seriously. Frustration is a sign somewhere, you took it too seriously.
Unfairness - this is hardest to deal with, but unfortunately that is how our country works. People with connections, rich dads, beautiful faces, pedigree find it easier to make it – not just in Bollywood, but everywhere. And sometimes it is just plain luck. There are so few opportunities in India , so many stars need to be aligned for you to make it happen. Merit and hard work is not always linked to achievement in the short term, but the long term correlation is high, and ultimately things do work out. But realize, there will be some people luckier than you. In fact, to have an opportunity to go to college and understand this speech in English means you are pretty damm lucky by Indian standards. Let's be grateful for what we have and get the strength to accept what we don't. I have so much love from my readers that other writers cannot even imagine it. However, I don't get literary praise. It's ok. I don't look like Aishwarya Rai, but I have two boys who I think are more beautiful than her. It's ok. Don't let unfairness kill your spark.
Finally, the last point that can kill your spark is isolation. As you grow older you will realize you are unique. When you are little, all kids want Ice cream and Spiderman. As you grow older to college, you still are a lot like your friends. But ten years later and you realize you are unique. What you want, what you believe in, what makes you feel, may be different from even the people closest to you. This can create conflict as your goals may not match with others. . And you may drop some of them. Basketball captains in college invariably stop playing basketball by the time they have their second child. They give up something that meant so much to them. They do it for their family. But in doing that, the spark dies. Never, ever make that compromise. Love yourself first, and then others.
There you go. I've told you the four thunderstorms - disappointment, frustration, unfairness and isolation. You cannot avoid them, as like the monsoon they will come into your life at regular intervals. You just need to keep the raincoat handy to not let the spark die.
I welcome you again to the most wonderful years of your life. If someone gave me the choice to go back in time, I will surely choose college. But I also hope that ten years later as well, your eyes will shine the same way as they do today. That you will Keep the Spark alive, not only through college, but through the next 2,500 weekends. And I hope not just you, but my whole country will keep that spark alive, as we really need it now more than any moment in history. And there is something cool about saying - I come from the land of a billion sparks.
Thank You.
Good Morning everyone and thank you for giving me this chance to speak to you. This day is about you. You, who have come to this college, leaving the comfort of your homes (or in some cases discomfort), to become something in your life. I am sure you are excited. There are few days in human life when one is truly elated. The first day in college is one of them. When you were getting ready today, you felt a tingling in your stomach. What would the auditorium be like, what would the teachers be like, who are my new classmates - there is so much to be curious about. I call this excitement, the spark within you that makes you feel truly alive today. Today I am going to talk about keeping the spark shining. Or to put it another way, how to be happy most, if not all the time.
Where do these sparks start? I think we are born with them. My 3-year old twin boys have a million sparks. A little Spiderman toy can make them jump on the bed. They get thrills from creaky swings in the park. A story from daddy gets them excited. They do a daily countdown for birthday party – several months in advance – just for the day they will cut their own birthday cake.
I see students like you, and I still see some sparks. But when I see older people, the spark is difficult to find. That means as we age, the spark fades. People whose spark has faded too much are dull, dejected, aimless and bitter. Remember Kareena in the first half of Jab We Met vs the second half? That is what happens when the spark is lost. So how to save the spark?
Imagine the spark to be a lamp's flame. The first aspect is nurturing - to give your spark the fuel, continuously. The second is to guard against storms.
To nurture, always have goals. It is human nature to strive, improve and achieve full potential. In fact, that is success. It is what is possible for you. It isn't any external measure - a certain cost to company pay package, a particular car or house.
Most of us are from middle class families. To us, having material landmarks is success and rightly so. When you have grown up where money constraints force everyday choices, financial freedom is a big achievement. But it isn't the purpose of life. If that was the case, Mr. Ambani would not show up for work. Shah Rukh Khan would stay at home and not dance anymore. Steve Jobs won't be working hard to make a better iPhone, as he sold Pixar for billions of dollars already. Why do they do it? What makes them come to work everyday? They do it because it makes them happy. They do it because it makes them feel alive. Just getting better from current levels feels good.If you study hard, you can improve your rank. If you make an effort to interact with people, you will do better in interviews. If you practice, your cricket will get better. You may also know that you cannot become Tendulkar, yet. But you can get to the next level. Striving for that next level is important.
Nature designed with a random set of genes and circumstances in which we were born. To be happy, we have to accept it and make the most of nature's design. Are you? Goals will help you do that. I must add, don't just have career or academic goals. Set goals to give you a balanced, successful life. I use the word balanced before successful. Balanced means ensuring your health, relationships, mental peace are all in good order.
There is no point of getting a promotion on the day of your breakup. There is no fun in driving a car if your back hurts. Shopping is not enjoyable if your mind is full of tensions.
You must have read some quotes - Life is a tough race, it is a marathon or whatever. No, from what I have seen so far, life is one of those races in nursery school, where you have to run with a marble in a spoon kept in your mouth. If the marble falls, there is no point coming first. Same with life, where health and relationships are the marble. Your striving is only worth it if there is harmony in your life. Else, you may achieve the success, but this spark, this feeling of being excited and alive, will start to die.
One last thing about nurturing the spark - don't take life seriously. One of my yoga teachers used to make students laugh during classes. One student asked him if these jokes would take away something from the yoga practice. The teacher said - don't be serious, be sincere. This quote has defined my work ever since. Whether its my writing, my job, my relationships or any of my goals. I get thousands of opinions on my writing everyday. There is heaps of praise, there is intense criticism. If I take it all seriously, how will I write? Or rather, how will I live? Life is not to be taken seriously, as we are really temporary here. We are like a pre-paid card with limited validity. If we are lucky, we may last another 50 years. And 50 years is just 2,500 weekends. Do we really need to get so worked up? It's ok, bunk a few classes, goof up a few interviews, fall in love. We are people, not programmed devices.
I've told you three things - reasonable goals, balance and not taking it too seriously that will nurture the spark. However, there are four storms in life that will threaten to completely put out the flame. These must be guarded against. These are disappointment, frustration, unfairness and loneliness of purpose.
Disappointment will come when your effort does not give you the expected return. If things don't go as planned or if you face failure. Failure is extremely difficult to handle, but those that do come out stronger. What did this failure teach me? is the question you will need to ask. You will feel miserable. You will want to quit, like I wanted to when nine publishers rejected my first book. Some IITians kill themselves over low grades – how silly is that? But that is how much failure can hurt you. But it's life. If challenges could always be overcome, they would cease to be a challenge.And remember - if you are failing at something, that means you are at your limit or potential. And that's where you want to be.
Disappointment's cousin is frustration, the second storm. Have you ever been frustrated? It happens when things are stuck. This is especially relevant in India . From traffic jams to getting that job you deserve, sometimes things take so long that you don't know if you chose the right goal. After books, I set the goal of writing for Bollywood, as I thought they needed writers. I am called extremely lucky, but it took me five years to get close to a release. Frustration saps excitement, and turns your initial energy into something negative, making you a bitter person. How did I deal with it? A realistic assessment of the time involved – movies take a long time to make even though they are watched quickly, seeking a certain enjoyment in the process rather than the end result– at least I was learning how to write scripts, having a side plan – I had my third book to write and even something as simple as pleasurable distractions in your life - friends, food, travel can help you overcome it. Remember, nothing is to be taken seriously. Frustration is a sign somewhere, you took it too seriously.
Unfairness - this is hardest to deal with, but unfortunately that is how our country works. People with connections, rich dads, beautiful faces, pedigree find it easier to make it – not just in Bollywood, but everywhere. And sometimes it is just plain luck. There are so few opportunities in India , so many stars need to be aligned for you to make it happen. Merit and hard work is not always linked to achievement in the short term, but the long term correlation is high, and ultimately things do work out. But realize, there will be some people luckier than you. In fact, to have an opportunity to go to college and understand this speech in English means you are pretty damm lucky by Indian standards. Let's be grateful for what we have and get the strength to accept what we don't. I have so much love from my readers that other writers cannot even imagine it. However, I don't get literary praise. It's ok. I don't look like Aishwarya Rai, but I have two boys who I think are more beautiful than her. It's ok. Don't let unfairness kill your spark.
Finally, the last point that can kill your spark is isolation. As you grow older you will realize you are unique. When you are little, all kids want Ice cream and Spiderman. As you grow older to college, you still are a lot like your friends. But ten years later and you realize you are unique. What you want, what you believe in, what makes you feel, may be different from even the people closest to you. This can create conflict as your goals may not match with others. . And you may drop some of them. Basketball captains in college invariably stop playing basketball by the time they have their second child. They give up something that meant so much to them. They do it for their family. But in doing that, the spark dies. Never, ever make that compromise. Love yourself first, and then others.
There you go. I've told you the four thunderstorms - disappointment, frustration, unfairness and isolation. You cannot avoid them, as like the monsoon they will come into your life at regular intervals. You just need to keep the raincoat handy to not let the spark die.
I welcome you again to the most wonderful years of your life. If someone gave me the choice to go back in time, I will surely choose college. But I also hope that ten years later as well, your eyes will shine the same way as they do today. That you will Keep the Spark alive, not only through college, but through the next 2,500 weekends. And I hope not just you, but my whole country will keep that spark alive, as we really need it now more than any moment in history. And there is something cool about saying - I come from the land of a billion sparks.
Thank You.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Farewell Shama !
Shama walked in one day, knocking over a pen stand !
She asked about vacancies... she looked imploringly at Tia and Jahnavi, "don't you guys want to leave?".......
She waited patiently till it was time for Tia to go... I gave her a call. She was excited, but painfully shy. After a few days of "Punishment corner" (in tnt, all newcomers have a mandatory week long stint in the kids corner, so that they learn about kids books first), Shama needed goading. One customer a day, she had to walk up to and talk !
Today, we have to ask her to shut up ! Shama started "People love us" .... This is one activity that all tntians do. Look out for that one or two customers who have made that special effort to get here ... from bby, from nasik ... or those who remark on why they love to shop for books at our store.... everyday we have our "wow" moments .... record them in our notes .... and then, "people love us"
Shama hated notes. And she hated me writing them. Boss was banned from writing notes ! Shama loved the extra attention that her hair got in the Store !
But most of all, Shama was a willing worker, excited, full of energy. Shama has been our "Star of the Month" on atleast 3 to 4 occasions, but has steadfastly refused to allow me to announce it to the world. She has chipped in time and again when we have been short staffed. And anything was too complicated, everything else was COOL
As Shama goes back home intially, and then maybe bby, for us, memories remain. Shama @ Infy -"I have packed and shifted boxes all my life", @ tnt - writing reminders in her hand, her jokes, some of them on a very tiring day ... like in the truck back from Hinjewadi - her jokes helping us release stress !, lip balm, with animals, and most of all, illegible handwriting !
Shama, that we are going to miss you is known. But maybe now, your friends and family will find you more acceptable, you won't talk about the Store all the time !
She asked about vacancies... she looked imploringly at Tia and Jahnavi, "don't you guys want to leave?".......
She waited patiently till it was time for Tia to go... I gave her a call. She was excited, but painfully shy. After a few days of "Punishment corner" (in tnt, all newcomers have a mandatory week long stint in the kids corner, so that they learn about kids books first), Shama needed goading. One customer a day, she had to walk up to and talk !
Today, we have to ask her to shut up ! Shama started "People love us" .... This is one activity that all tntians do. Look out for that one or two customers who have made that special effort to get here ... from bby, from nasik ... or those who remark on why they love to shop for books at our store.... everyday we have our "wow" moments .... record them in our notes .... and then, "people love us"
Shama hated notes. And she hated me writing them. Boss was banned from writing notes ! Shama loved the extra attention that her hair got in the Store !
But most of all, Shama was a willing worker, excited, full of energy. Shama has been our "Star of the Month" on atleast 3 to 4 occasions, but has steadfastly refused to allow me to announce it to the world. She has chipped in time and again when we have been short staffed. And anything was too complicated, everything else was COOL
As Shama goes back home intially, and then maybe bby, for us, memories remain. Shama @ Infy -"I have packed and shifted boxes all my life", @ tnt - writing reminders in her hand, her jokes, some of them on a very tiring day ... like in the truck back from Hinjewadi - her jokes helping us release stress !, lip balm, with animals, and most of all, illegible handwriting !
Shama, that we are going to miss you is known. But maybe now, your friends and family will find you more acceptable, you won't talk about the Store all the time !
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Fantastic books for you !
Message sent to twistntales@yahoogroups.com on 16th July, 2008Welcome to another round of some very inspirational, hardly known books. Again, lovingly reviewed.
Just a word here about our reviewers. We have a few young folks, some students, all of them who work part-time at the Store, all of whom come from different disciplines of study.
Sonali, who works weekends is a science and math person, but with an insatiable curiosity for everything! From gardening to cuisines, she is the person who thinks up the quips for the blackboard outside. She writes with flair and élan.
Tia, who loves to read and write! Though she’s finished with us almost a year back, she keeps coming back to add love and flavour to our reviews! Jahnavi, who too finished with us last year, is back again for another short stint. While both love chick lit, and all genres of fiction, Tia particularly excels and writes with great sensitivity on femininst, hope, healing and nurturing books.
The others Shama, Shradha, Kshitija and yours truly, add our two bits when it comes to books of our choice. This month will also see a send-off to Shama (standing red hair? remember?), as she leaves Pune to go home after her graduation. We are going to miss Shama (and all her jokes), who has now been with us for little over a year. Good luck, Shama, we hope you do “the coming back” stints like the others as well! All these youngsters add a lot of joy and charm to our bookstore, and we hate to see them move away!!
Now we go to the main purpose of this mail!
New Arrivals:
Personalities:
“Unbowed: One Woman’s Journey” by Wangari Maathai @ Rs.360/-(295 pgs)
‘How I longed to able to write something and rub it out. When I finally learnt to read and write, I never stopped, because I could read, I could write and I could rub.’
Born in the Kenyan Highlands, Wangari Maathai was educated in the United States and became the first woman in East and Central Africa to gain a Doctorate, in 1971. Later, she founded the Green Belt Movement, Kenya’s famous environment and human rights campaigning group. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004.
“Unbowed” is the story of the woman behind the degree, the individual behind the organization. Maathai writes lovingly of her native Kenya, of listening to the birds around her home and a stream named Kanungu where she would gather firewood for the house. She writes of ‘taking America back to Kenya with her’:
‘There is a persistence, a seriousness, and a vision to America: It seems to know where it is going, and it will go in that direction, whether you like it or not.’
This perseverance and direction would be her backbone through a tenuous future.
Filled with fertility and charisma, spanning different worlds and changing times, Maathai’s writing is the story of planting and nurturing, in every way we can.
“The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream” by Barack Obama @ Rs.250/-(362 pgs)
Barack Obama is known in his public life as a US Senator and now as a Presidential hopeful. In “The Audacity of Hope,” Obama brings his personal to American politics. Writing on issues such as faith, opportunity, values and of course hope, Obama’s prose is frank and filled with humility.
He writes, not simply as a man of politics, but as a professor and a father, a Christian and a skeptic. He defines himself as ‘pro-choice’ above all else, and his writing is mostly shorn of ‘political language.’ His ‘hope’ is backed up by solid, humane solutions and a clear vision.
Perhaps the most striking factor of Obama’s writing is its empathy:
‘One thing about being a U.S. Senator – you fly a lot.
…but there are things you can’t see at 40,000 feet.’A dreamer, a doer, a man whose diplomacy is balanced with sincerity, one who is unabashedly in touch with his feelings, “The Audacity of Hope” is filled with Obama’s hope of what he might bring to his country.
“Barack Obama: In His Own Words edited by Lisa Rogak @ Rs.425/-(166 pgs)
‘I’m certainly black enough to have trouble catching a cab in New York City.’
Since delivering his keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, Obama has been hailed as the clear saviour of not only the Democratic Party but also the integrity of American politics.
This book of quotes from the presidential candidate allows those who aren’t as familiar with his politics to learn quickly where he stands on a range of issues facing America, from abortion, Afghanistan, immigration and nuclear weapons to religion and the ‘war on terror.’
SocioEcoPol:
“Descent into Chaos: How the War against Islamic extremism is being lost in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia” by Ahmed Rashid @ Rs.495/-(404 pgs)
Since 9/11, the war in Afghanistan and the invasion of Iraq, the West has been fighting a ‘War on Terror’, through force, and through the building of new societies in the region. Having reported from Central Asia for a quarter of a century, Ahmed Rashid shows clearly why the war in Iraq is just a sideshow to the main event. Rather, it is Pakistan, Afghanistan and the five Central Asian states that make up the crisis zone, for it is here that terrorism and Islamic extremism is growing stronger. Rashid brings into focus the role of many regional issues in supporting extremism, from nuclear programmes to local rivalries, ineffectual peace-keeping to tyrannical rulers.
With unparalleled access and intimate knowledge of the political players, “Descent into Chaos” chronicles with chilling accuracy why Islamic extremism is now stronger than ever
“A Journey Interrupted: Being Indian in Pakistan” by Farzana Versey @ Rs.295/- (279 pgs)
‘You need not be deported,’ said the retired army general.
What follows is not deportation, but the beginning of an exploration that is nuanced by the identity of the narrator: an Indian Muslim woman travelling alone in a space notoriously difficult to negotiate vis-à-vis its history and politics.
In the course of her journey, at times interrupted, through the cities of Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore and Peshawar, Farzana Versey finds herself struggling with her own identity.
‘When I was on the soil of the land of the pure, my impurity struck me. I was the emotional mulatto,’ she writes.
The author weaves together vignettes of living and travelling in a complex society where the personal becomes the political, eventually painting a picture of a changing nation with a unique mix of religious tradition and barely-in-check liberalism.
“The Post-American World” by Fareed Zakaria @ Rs.499/-(259 pgs)
For Fareed Zakaria, editor of Newsweek International, the great story of our times is ‘the rise of the rest’ – the growth of countries like India, China, Brazil, South Africa and Kenya, which is generating a new global landscape. Global power is shifting, and wealth and innovation are bubbling up in unexpected places: the tallest buildings, biggest dams and top-selling movies are all being built or made outside the United States.
The current political debate in much of the first world is utterly out of touch with this broad development, obsessed with issues like terrorism, immigration and economic panics.
Zakaria draws on lessons from the two great power-shifts of the past 500 years – the rise of the Western world and the rise of the United States – to tell us what we can expect from the third shift.
As the political role of the US shrinks, Washington needs to move towards sharing power, building legitimacy and creating coalitions – for the future the world faces is the post-American world.
“Seeking Begumpura: The Social Vision of Anti-Caste Intellectuals” by Gail Omvedt @ Rs.400/-(275 pgs)
Emphasizing the continued relevance of the anti-caste intellectuals in the era of globalization, the author compacts the product of five years of research and writing in this book .With extensive studies on the subject of ‘Utopia’ as imagined by the visionaries spanning five centuries, the book unfolds the simplistic ideals that these visionaries earmarked for a society that would be a level playing field for one and all. With Dnyan and Bhaktibhav (reason and ecstasy) as the underlying themes in this book, the author packs in some wonderful translations of significant literary works of Chokhamela, Janabai, Kabir, Tukaram, Periyar Pandita Ramabai and Ambedkar.
Inspiration:
“The Go-Giver: A Little Story about a Powerful Business Idea” by Bob Burg and John David Mann @ Rs.225/-(127 pgs)
“The Go-Giver” tells the story of Joe, a true go-getter. Joe yearns for success, but feels as though the harder he works, the further he gets away from his goals. And so one day, desperate to land a key sale at the end of a bad quarter, he seeks advice from a legendary consultant known simply as the ‘Chairman.’
Over the next week, the Chairman introduces Joe to a series of ‘go-givers’: a CEO, a financial adviser, a real estate broker, and the ‘Connector’ who brought them together.
With them, Joe learns the Five Laws of Stratospheric Success, and how to open himself up to the power of giving.
Imparted with wit and grace, “The Go-Giver” is a tale about putting others interests first and continually adding value to their lives.
“Go Kiss the World: Life Lessons for the Young Professional” by Subroto Bagchi @ Rs.399/-(237 pgs)
‘Go, kiss the world’ were Subroto Bagchi’s blind mother’s last words to him. They were to become to guiding principle of his life.
On the strength of these words, he went from humble origins to extraordinary professional success. In “Go Kiss the World” he writes of the ‘personal-ness’ of his success. He attributes his sense of wonder, his desire for connectedness to a larger whole to his simple upbringing. He urges us to remember that it is the ability to include, and not merely intellect that makes a leader.
‘You build ingenuity in order to survive,’ writes Bagchi.
‘You trust strangers and, hence, strangers trust you.
You become an interesting person, because you have lots of stories to tell.
Finally, you learn to move on…’
With the simplicity and gentle teaching that characterized “The High Performance Entrepreneur,” Subroto Bagchi shares the warmth that he has put into each moment of his work.
Management :
“Butterflies Be Gone: A Hands-On Approach to Sweat-Proof Public Speaking” by Arthur H. Bell @ Rs.250/-(122 pgs)
Speaker’s nerves!
For many of us, those words spell disaster. Whether it’s giving a speech to a conference room full of colleagues or socializing at a party, speaker’s nerves can be uncomfortable at best, and career-damaging at worst.
An accomplished speech coach to thousands, Dr. Arthur Bell uses tested techniques, probing quizzes and real-life anecdotes from fellow sufferers to teach you how to get over that churning stomach and those sweaty palms.
“Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking when Stakes are High” by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron Mcmillan and Al Switzler @ Rs.275/-(228 pgs)
“Crucial Conversations” gives you the tools to handle life’s most difficult and important conversations, say what’s on your mind and achieve positive outcomes.
You’ll learn how to:
• Make it safe to talk about almost anything
• Be persuasive, not abrasive
• Turn crucial conversations into the action and results you want
So pick a relationship, a crucial conversation today, and put your best into it.
“Redefining Global Strategy: Crossing Borders in a World Where Differences Still Matter” by Pankaj Ghemawat @ Rs.695/-(230 pgs)
In our supposedly globalized economy, businesses are advised to charge across borders as if the whole world were one seamless, flat marketplace. Ghemawat argues that the world is ‘semiglobalized.’ Through accessible, fact-driven analysis, he explains how the global business environment is defined by the differences that arise at borders.
“Redefining Global Strategy” offers a reality-based view of globalization – and practical tools to help your business cross borders profitably.
“The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders At All Levels” by Michael D. Watkins @ Rs.695/-(240 pgs)
You’ve just been promoted to a new leadership position. You’re not sure of the challenges or how you will meet them. All you know that you have three months to get on top of the job – or fail.
This book is your road map for taking charge quickly and effectively during critical career transition periods.
Written by noted leadership transition expert Michael Watkins, “The First 90 Days” outlines proven strategies that will dramatically shorten the time it takes to reach what Watkins calls ‘breakeven point’: the point at which your organization needs you as much as you need the job.
Whether you are charged with launching a start-up or sustaining a high-performing unit, this book will help you to develop a transition acceleration plan that is tailored to your situation.
“The Execution Premium: Linking Strategy to Operations for Competitive Advantage” by Robert Kaplan and David Norton @ Rs.1810/- (320pgs)
Tackling the issue of developing a system to manage and execute important strategies bang on, this book ,by its six step process aims to teach us how to (a)Develop a strategy by clarifying goals and conducting strategic analysis,(b) Plan your strategy by selecting theme based measures, targets and initiatives, (c) Align organizational units and employees to your strategy, (d)Plan operations through priority setting and resource allocation,(e) Monitor and learn from operations and strategy and (f) test and adapt your strategy.
To oversee all these processes, the authors introduce the ‘Office of Strategy management’-which serves as a sort of a orchestra leader to result in an organization that gains a real execution premium by being able to quickly and reliably execute its strategy.
“Financial Planning: A Ready Reckoner” by Madhu Sinha @ Rs.345/- (270pgs)
“Financial Planning” is meant for lay investors, financial planners and students pursuing courses on financial planning. The book includes solved problems on retirement planning and over 350 questions and answers of the time value of money. Besides these, it dwells on mutual funds and other investment products currently available.
Madhu Sinha has been counselling numerous investors on financial planning and brings to her book a distillate of her ‘rich’ experience.
“Cases in Entrepreneurship: The Venture Creation Process” by Eric Morse and Ronald Mitchell @ Rs.495/- (427pgs)
“Cases in Entrepreneurship” is the first book to be based on a cognitive framework of entrepreneurship. From searching for venture opportunities to financing to harvesting the value created in the business, this is a canny and systematic study of the steps towards a successful venture creation.
Fiction:
“Chasing Harry Winston” by Lauren Weisberger @ Rs.195/-(278 pgs)
From the author of “The Devil Wears Prada” comes the story of three best friends and their pact to change their lives over the course of a year. Over raspberry mojitos one night, Emmy vows to find a man on every continent for some no-strings fun while Adriana is determined to secure a five-carat Harry Winston diamond on her fourth finger. Leigh on the other hand, has a gorgeous boyfriend and a great job. So what needs to change? Maybe literary bad boy Jesse Chapman can help her to figure it out. Sassy and insightful, this is the perfect pick-me-up for blue days.
“A House in the Old Style” by Ananda Mukerji @ Rs.295/-(311 pgs)
‘Caught between tradition and the new ideas from the West, our behaviour could be quite unpredictable, the queer, tangential outcome of the pulls and pushes of our inner tensions.’
Youngest-uncle, octogenarian and master-storyteller, is the cherished eldest member of his deceased brother’s family, and lives with his large extended family in an old colonial mansion in Allahabad. The stories of his youth are a great hit with the children of the house.
Then Swapan, his corporate son, comes home for the Durga Puja festivities and feels duty-bound to take his father away with him, into the tightly nuclear confines of his own family.
But can stories survive away from the comfort and courtesies of a traditional Prabashi household?
“A House in the Old Style” is a gently humorous novel about the pleasures and disappointments of an old-fashioned family with old-world values. Most of all, it is about stories and storytelling, and how the stories within us grow with every human life that touches our own.
Young Adults:
“Teen Ink: Our Voices, Our Visions” edited by Stephanie H. Meyer and John Meyer @ Rs.250/-(323 pgs)
Edited by the founders of The Young Author’s Foundation, “Teen Ink” has been showcasing the work of more than 25,000 teens since 1989. This collection of poetry, prose and artwork brims with the enthusiasm, anxieties and challenges that the teenage years bring. From first love to first loss to highest achievement, this book celebrates teenager-hood in the tradition of the Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul books.
“Double Click: A Foxy 4 Adventure” by Subhadra Sen Gupta @ Rs.195/-(169 pgs)
At St. Teresa convent, in the bustling heart of NewDelhi, reign the foxy four. Mandy –with fashion as her passion, Padma-the computer nerd, Jahan-the mobike loving racing queen and Charu-who considers her presence in the group is totally essential because they’re all so crazy! The favourite extra curricular activity of this daring foursome is solving mysteries and in this book they’re bang on the trail of the cruel schemers who have abducted their classmate Simran. Weird phone calls, cryptic entries in a diary, searches in the bylanes of Old Delhi, run –ins with different sort of people add adventure to this read…catch up gals!
Other new books at the Store:
“A Bear for Felicia” by Jerry Pinto @ Rs.150/-
“A Blue Hand: The Beats in India” by Deborah Baker @ Rs.499/-
“The Words of Gandhi” Selected and with an introduction by Richard Attenborough @ Rs.175/-
“Ping: A Frog in Search of a New Pond” by Stuart Avery Gold @ Rs.95/-
“Self Portrait Che Guevara” by Ernesto Che Guevara @ Rs.695/-
“Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth” by Rick Riordan @ Rs.350/-
“Learning from the Heart: Lessons on Living, Loving and Listening” by Daniel Gottlieb @ Rs.395/-
“A Golfer’s Logbook” by Lee Pearce @ Rs.750/-
“Stage Directions: Writing on Theatre 1970-2008” by Michael Frayn @ Rs.1335/-
“Why is God Laughing?” by Deepak Chopra @ Rs.445/-
“The Five Rules of Thought: How to Use the Power of Your Mind to Get What You Want” by Mary T. Browne @ Rs.520/-
“Diamonds, Gold and War: The Making of South Africa” by Martin Meredith @ Rs.600/-
“Tree of Smoke” by Dennis Johnson @ Rs.535/-
“Inheritor Industrialists: Secrets of their Success” by Raghu Palat @ Rs.175/-
“The Star Principle: How It Can Make You Rich” Richard Koch @ Rs.595/-
“Gay Bombay: Globalization, Love and (Be) Longing In Contemporary India” by Parmesh Shahani @ Rs.395/-
“Bombay Rains, Bombay Girls” by Anirban Bose @ Rs.195/-
“The Zoya Factor” by Anuja Chauhan @ Rs. 295/-
Happy Reading, and see you at the Store,
From the team at,
twistntales
Just a word here about our reviewers. We have a few young folks, some students, all of them who work part-time at the Store, all of whom come from different disciplines of study.
Sonali, who works weekends is a science and math person, but with an insatiable curiosity for everything! From gardening to cuisines, she is the person who thinks up the quips for the blackboard outside. She writes with flair and élan.
Tia, who loves to read and write! Though she’s finished with us almost a year back, she keeps coming back to add love and flavour to our reviews! Jahnavi, who too finished with us last year, is back again for another short stint. While both love chick lit, and all genres of fiction, Tia particularly excels and writes with great sensitivity on femininst, hope, healing and nurturing books.
The others Shama, Shradha, Kshitija and yours truly, add our two bits when it comes to books of our choice. This month will also see a send-off to Shama (standing red hair? remember?), as she leaves Pune to go home after her graduation. We are going to miss Shama (and all her jokes), who has now been with us for little over a year. Good luck, Shama, we hope you do “the coming back” stints like the others as well! All these youngsters add a lot of joy and charm to our bookstore, and we hate to see them move away!!
Now we go to the main purpose of this mail!
New Arrivals:
Personalities:
“Unbowed: One Woman’s Journey” by Wangari Maathai @ Rs.360/-(295 pgs)
‘How I longed to able to write something and rub it out. When I finally learnt to read and write, I never stopped, because I could read, I could write and I could rub.’
Born in the Kenyan Highlands, Wangari Maathai was educated in the United States and became the first woman in East and Central Africa to gain a Doctorate, in 1971. Later, she founded the Green Belt Movement, Kenya’s famous environment and human rights campaigning group. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004.
“Unbowed” is the story of the woman behind the degree, the individual behind the organization. Maathai writes lovingly of her native Kenya, of listening to the birds around her home and a stream named Kanungu where she would gather firewood for the house. She writes of ‘taking America back to Kenya with her’:
‘There is a persistence, a seriousness, and a vision to America: It seems to know where it is going, and it will go in that direction, whether you like it or not.’
This perseverance and direction would be her backbone through a tenuous future.
Filled with fertility and charisma, spanning different worlds and changing times, Maathai’s writing is the story of planting and nurturing, in every way we can.
“The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream” by Barack Obama @ Rs.250/-(362 pgs)
Barack Obama is known in his public life as a US Senator and now as a Presidential hopeful. In “The Audacity of Hope,” Obama brings his personal to American politics. Writing on issues such as faith, opportunity, values and of course hope, Obama’s prose is frank and filled with humility.
He writes, not simply as a man of politics, but as a professor and a father, a Christian and a skeptic. He defines himself as ‘pro-choice’ above all else, and his writing is mostly shorn of ‘political language.’ His ‘hope’ is backed up by solid, humane solutions and a clear vision.
Perhaps the most striking factor of Obama’s writing is its empathy:
‘One thing about being a U.S. Senator – you fly a lot.
…but there are things you can’t see at 40,000 feet.’A dreamer, a doer, a man whose diplomacy is balanced with sincerity, one who is unabashedly in touch with his feelings, “The Audacity of Hope” is filled with Obama’s hope of what he might bring to his country.
“Barack Obama: In His Own Words edited by Lisa Rogak @ Rs.425/-(166 pgs)
‘I’m certainly black enough to have trouble catching a cab in New York City.’
Since delivering his keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, Obama has been hailed as the clear saviour of not only the Democratic Party but also the integrity of American politics.
This book of quotes from the presidential candidate allows those who aren’t as familiar with his politics to learn quickly where he stands on a range of issues facing America, from abortion, Afghanistan, immigration and nuclear weapons to religion and the ‘war on terror.’
SocioEcoPol:
“Descent into Chaos: How the War against Islamic extremism is being lost in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia” by Ahmed Rashid @ Rs.495/-(404 pgs)
Since 9/11, the war in Afghanistan and the invasion of Iraq, the West has been fighting a ‘War on Terror’, through force, and through the building of new societies in the region. Having reported from Central Asia for a quarter of a century, Ahmed Rashid shows clearly why the war in Iraq is just a sideshow to the main event. Rather, it is Pakistan, Afghanistan and the five Central Asian states that make up the crisis zone, for it is here that terrorism and Islamic extremism is growing stronger. Rashid brings into focus the role of many regional issues in supporting extremism, from nuclear programmes to local rivalries, ineffectual peace-keeping to tyrannical rulers.
With unparalleled access and intimate knowledge of the political players, “Descent into Chaos” chronicles with chilling accuracy why Islamic extremism is now stronger than ever
“A Journey Interrupted: Being Indian in Pakistan” by Farzana Versey @ Rs.295/- (279 pgs)
‘You need not be deported,’ said the retired army general.
What follows is not deportation, but the beginning of an exploration that is nuanced by the identity of the narrator: an Indian Muslim woman travelling alone in a space notoriously difficult to negotiate vis-à-vis its history and politics.
In the course of her journey, at times interrupted, through the cities of Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore and Peshawar, Farzana Versey finds herself struggling with her own identity.
‘When I was on the soil of the land of the pure, my impurity struck me. I was the emotional mulatto,’ she writes.
The author weaves together vignettes of living and travelling in a complex society where the personal becomes the political, eventually painting a picture of a changing nation with a unique mix of religious tradition and barely-in-check liberalism.
“The Post-American World” by Fareed Zakaria @ Rs.499/-(259 pgs)
For Fareed Zakaria, editor of Newsweek International, the great story of our times is ‘the rise of the rest’ – the growth of countries like India, China, Brazil, South Africa and Kenya, which is generating a new global landscape. Global power is shifting, and wealth and innovation are bubbling up in unexpected places: the tallest buildings, biggest dams and top-selling movies are all being built or made outside the United States.
The current political debate in much of the first world is utterly out of touch with this broad development, obsessed with issues like terrorism, immigration and economic panics.
Zakaria draws on lessons from the two great power-shifts of the past 500 years – the rise of the Western world and the rise of the United States – to tell us what we can expect from the third shift.
As the political role of the US shrinks, Washington needs to move towards sharing power, building legitimacy and creating coalitions – for the future the world faces is the post-American world.
“Seeking Begumpura: The Social Vision of Anti-Caste Intellectuals” by Gail Omvedt @ Rs.400/-(275 pgs)
Emphasizing the continued relevance of the anti-caste intellectuals in the era of globalization, the author compacts the product of five years of research and writing in this book .With extensive studies on the subject of ‘Utopia’ as imagined by the visionaries spanning five centuries, the book unfolds the simplistic ideals that these visionaries earmarked for a society that would be a level playing field for one and all. With Dnyan and Bhaktibhav (reason and ecstasy) as the underlying themes in this book, the author packs in some wonderful translations of significant literary works of Chokhamela, Janabai, Kabir, Tukaram, Periyar Pandita Ramabai and Ambedkar.
Inspiration:
“The Go-Giver: A Little Story about a Powerful Business Idea” by Bob Burg and John David Mann @ Rs.225/-(127 pgs)
“The Go-Giver” tells the story of Joe, a true go-getter. Joe yearns for success, but feels as though the harder he works, the further he gets away from his goals. And so one day, desperate to land a key sale at the end of a bad quarter, he seeks advice from a legendary consultant known simply as the ‘Chairman.’
Over the next week, the Chairman introduces Joe to a series of ‘go-givers’: a CEO, a financial adviser, a real estate broker, and the ‘Connector’ who brought them together.
With them, Joe learns the Five Laws of Stratospheric Success, and how to open himself up to the power of giving.
Imparted with wit and grace, “The Go-Giver” is a tale about putting others interests first and continually adding value to their lives.
“Go Kiss the World: Life Lessons for the Young Professional” by Subroto Bagchi @ Rs.399/-(237 pgs)
‘Go, kiss the world’ were Subroto Bagchi’s blind mother’s last words to him. They were to become to guiding principle of his life.
On the strength of these words, he went from humble origins to extraordinary professional success. In “Go Kiss the World” he writes of the ‘personal-ness’ of his success. He attributes his sense of wonder, his desire for connectedness to a larger whole to his simple upbringing. He urges us to remember that it is the ability to include, and not merely intellect that makes a leader.
‘You build ingenuity in order to survive,’ writes Bagchi.
‘You trust strangers and, hence, strangers trust you.
You become an interesting person, because you have lots of stories to tell.
Finally, you learn to move on…’
With the simplicity and gentle teaching that characterized “The High Performance Entrepreneur,” Subroto Bagchi shares the warmth that he has put into each moment of his work.
Management :
“Butterflies Be Gone: A Hands-On Approach to Sweat-Proof Public Speaking” by Arthur H. Bell @ Rs.250/-(122 pgs)
Speaker’s nerves!
For many of us, those words spell disaster. Whether it’s giving a speech to a conference room full of colleagues or socializing at a party, speaker’s nerves can be uncomfortable at best, and career-damaging at worst.
An accomplished speech coach to thousands, Dr. Arthur Bell uses tested techniques, probing quizzes and real-life anecdotes from fellow sufferers to teach you how to get over that churning stomach and those sweaty palms.
“Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking when Stakes are High” by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron Mcmillan and Al Switzler @ Rs.275/-(228 pgs)
“Crucial Conversations” gives you the tools to handle life’s most difficult and important conversations, say what’s on your mind and achieve positive outcomes.
You’ll learn how to:
• Make it safe to talk about almost anything
• Be persuasive, not abrasive
• Turn crucial conversations into the action and results you want
So pick a relationship, a crucial conversation today, and put your best into it.
“Redefining Global Strategy: Crossing Borders in a World Where Differences Still Matter” by Pankaj Ghemawat @ Rs.695/-(230 pgs)
In our supposedly globalized economy, businesses are advised to charge across borders as if the whole world were one seamless, flat marketplace. Ghemawat argues that the world is ‘semiglobalized.’ Through accessible, fact-driven analysis, he explains how the global business environment is defined by the differences that arise at borders.
“Redefining Global Strategy” offers a reality-based view of globalization – and practical tools to help your business cross borders profitably.
“The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders At All Levels” by Michael D. Watkins @ Rs.695/-(240 pgs)
You’ve just been promoted to a new leadership position. You’re not sure of the challenges or how you will meet them. All you know that you have three months to get on top of the job – or fail.
This book is your road map for taking charge quickly and effectively during critical career transition periods.
Written by noted leadership transition expert Michael Watkins, “The First 90 Days” outlines proven strategies that will dramatically shorten the time it takes to reach what Watkins calls ‘breakeven point’: the point at which your organization needs you as much as you need the job.
Whether you are charged with launching a start-up or sustaining a high-performing unit, this book will help you to develop a transition acceleration plan that is tailored to your situation.
“The Execution Premium: Linking Strategy to Operations for Competitive Advantage” by Robert Kaplan and David Norton @ Rs.1810/- (320pgs)
Tackling the issue of developing a system to manage and execute important strategies bang on, this book ,by its six step process aims to teach us how to (a)Develop a strategy by clarifying goals and conducting strategic analysis,(b) Plan your strategy by selecting theme based measures, targets and initiatives, (c) Align organizational units and employees to your strategy, (d)Plan operations through priority setting and resource allocation,(e) Monitor and learn from operations and strategy and (f) test and adapt your strategy.
To oversee all these processes, the authors introduce the ‘Office of Strategy management’-which serves as a sort of a orchestra leader to result in an organization that gains a real execution premium by being able to quickly and reliably execute its strategy.
“Financial Planning: A Ready Reckoner” by Madhu Sinha @ Rs.345/- (270pgs)
“Financial Planning” is meant for lay investors, financial planners and students pursuing courses on financial planning. The book includes solved problems on retirement planning and over 350 questions and answers of the time value of money. Besides these, it dwells on mutual funds and other investment products currently available.
Madhu Sinha has been counselling numerous investors on financial planning and brings to her book a distillate of her ‘rich’ experience.
“Cases in Entrepreneurship: The Venture Creation Process” by Eric Morse and Ronald Mitchell @ Rs.495/- (427pgs)
“Cases in Entrepreneurship” is the first book to be based on a cognitive framework of entrepreneurship. From searching for venture opportunities to financing to harvesting the value created in the business, this is a canny and systematic study of the steps towards a successful venture creation.
Fiction:
“Chasing Harry Winston” by Lauren Weisberger @ Rs.195/-(278 pgs)
From the author of “The Devil Wears Prada” comes the story of three best friends and their pact to change their lives over the course of a year. Over raspberry mojitos one night, Emmy vows to find a man on every continent for some no-strings fun while Adriana is determined to secure a five-carat Harry Winston diamond on her fourth finger. Leigh on the other hand, has a gorgeous boyfriend and a great job. So what needs to change? Maybe literary bad boy Jesse Chapman can help her to figure it out. Sassy and insightful, this is the perfect pick-me-up for blue days.
“A House in the Old Style” by Ananda Mukerji @ Rs.295/-(311 pgs)
‘Caught between tradition and the new ideas from the West, our behaviour could be quite unpredictable, the queer, tangential outcome of the pulls and pushes of our inner tensions.’
Youngest-uncle, octogenarian and master-storyteller, is the cherished eldest member of his deceased brother’s family, and lives with his large extended family in an old colonial mansion in Allahabad. The stories of his youth are a great hit with the children of the house.
Then Swapan, his corporate son, comes home for the Durga Puja festivities and feels duty-bound to take his father away with him, into the tightly nuclear confines of his own family.
But can stories survive away from the comfort and courtesies of a traditional Prabashi household?
“A House in the Old Style” is a gently humorous novel about the pleasures and disappointments of an old-fashioned family with old-world values. Most of all, it is about stories and storytelling, and how the stories within us grow with every human life that touches our own.
Young Adults:
“Teen Ink: Our Voices, Our Visions” edited by Stephanie H. Meyer and John Meyer @ Rs.250/-(323 pgs)
Edited by the founders of The Young Author’s Foundation, “Teen Ink” has been showcasing the work of more than 25,000 teens since 1989. This collection of poetry, prose and artwork brims with the enthusiasm, anxieties and challenges that the teenage years bring. From first love to first loss to highest achievement, this book celebrates teenager-hood in the tradition of the Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul books.
“Double Click: A Foxy 4 Adventure” by Subhadra Sen Gupta @ Rs.195/-(169 pgs)
At St. Teresa convent, in the bustling heart of NewDelhi, reign the foxy four. Mandy –with fashion as her passion, Padma-the computer nerd, Jahan-the mobike loving racing queen and Charu-who considers her presence in the group is totally essential because they’re all so crazy! The favourite extra curricular activity of this daring foursome is solving mysteries and in this book they’re bang on the trail of the cruel schemers who have abducted their classmate Simran. Weird phone calls, cryptic entries in a diary, searches in the bylanes of Old Delhi, run –ins with different sort of people add adventure to this read…catch up gals!
Other new books at the Store:
“A Bear for Felicia” by Jerry Pinto @ Rs.150/-
“A Blue Hand: The Beats in India” by Deborah Baker @ Rs.499/-
“The Words of Gandhi” Selected and with an introduction by Richard Attenborough @ Rs.175/-
“Ping: A Frog in Search of a New Pond” by Stuart Avery Gold @ Rs.95/-
“Self Portrait Che Guevara” by Ernesto Che Guevara @ Rs.695/-
“Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth” by Rick Riordan @ Rs.350/-
“Learning from the Heart: Lessons on Living, Loving and Listening” by Daniel Gottlieb @ Rs.395/-
“A Golfer’s Logbook” by Lee Pearce @ Rs.750/-
“Stage Directions: Writing on Theatre 1970-2008” by Michael Frayn @ Rs.1335/-
“Why is God Laughing?” by Deepak Chopra @ Rs.445/-
“The Five Rules of Thought: How to Use the Power of Your Mind to Get What You Want” by Mary T. Browne @ Rs.520/-
“Diamonds, Gold and War: The Making of South Africa” by Martin Meredith @ Rs.600/-
“Tree of Smoke” by Dennis Johnson @ Rs.535/-
“Inheritor Industrialists: Secrets of their Success” by Raghu Palat @ Rs.175/-
“The Star Principle: How It Can Make You Rich” Richard Koch @ Rs.595/-
“Gay Bombay: Globalization, Love and (Be) Longing In Contemporary India” by Parmesh Shahani @ Rs.395/-
“Bombay Rains, Bombay Girls” by Anirban Bose @ Rs.195/-
“The Zoya Factor” by Anuja Chauhan @ Rs. 295/-
Happy Reading, and see you at the Store,
From the team at,
twistntales
Friday, July 4, 2008
Lively exciting lovely books !
Message sent to twistntales@yahoogroups.com on 4th July, 2008
Hi all,
Welcome to another round of lively exciting books, all lovingly reviewed for your reading pleasure. These and more at the Store!
We have added quite a few business books, especially in the areas of HR, business biographies and case studies. A few are listed below, but drop in for a wider selection.
New Arrivals:
Fiction:
“The Gravedigger’s Daughter” by Joyce Carol Oates @ Rs.295/- (582 pgs)
Hazel Jones and her young son Zacharias are liked and admired by all they meet – but they inspire curiosity too. Why is Zach forbidden to mention his father, and how did Hazel get the scars on her forehead which she takes such pains to hide? Why do they roam from place to place, settling nowhere and confiding in no one?
Because Hazel Jones wasn’t always Hazel Jones. Once she was Rebecca Schwart, daughter of German asylum seekers who fled to the US to escape the Nazis. Her father, hampered by language and chained to poverty, could only find work as a gravedigger. “The Gravedigger’s Daughter” explores the darkness that lurked on the other side of the American dream and the desperation that follows daily destitution. It is the story of one woman’s struggle to re-build herself against the crushing pressures of her past and to survive the aftermath of a life once lived.
“The Color Purple” by Alice Walker @ Rs.295/- (262 pgs)
Set in the deep American South between the wars, this is the tale of Celie, a young black woman born into poverty and segregation.
Raped repeatedly by the man she calls ‘father,’ she has two children taken away from her, is separated from her beloved sister Netty and trapped in an ugly marriage. Then she meets Shug Avery, singer and magic-maker – a woman in charge of her own destiny.
“The Colour Purple” is a salute to the human spirit, to the joy of discovering the beauty that comes with courage and living intensely. Celie, her pain, her discoveries, the resurrection of her spirit are magnified in their intensity. Black, poor and abused, she is the victim of a world where males and white skin are in power. Celie’s phoenix-like rise from the ashes of her past make for a gritty, achingly beautiful narrative, a celebration of the senses and the soul.
“Wolf Totem” by Jiang Rong @ Rs.505/- (524 pgs)
Beijing intellectual Chen Zhen volunteers to live in a remote, nomadic settlement on the borders of Inner and Outer Mongolia. There, he discovers an apparently idyllic, simple life based on the struggle between humans and the wild wolves who roam the plains. Chen learns about the rich, spiritual relationship that exists between these two adversaries, and what each might learn from the other. But when members of the People’s Republic swarm in from the cities to bring modernity and productivity to the grasslands, the peace of Chen’s solitary existence is shattered and the delicate balance between wolves and humans is destroyed. Set in the 1960’s, the heyday for the people of the Inner Mongolian grasslands, “Wolf Totem” celebrates a time when an age-old balance based on culture and tradition was maintained between man and animal. It is at once an evocative portrayal of a land and culture that no longer exists and a powerful insight into modern China, its history and its people.
“Rubbish Boyfriends (for anyone who’s kissed a lot of frogs)” by Jessie Jones @ Rs.225/- (436 pgs)
Everyone’s had rubbish boyfriends, but Dayna Harris has had enough to fill a skip. Now, in the throes of labour, she reflects on boyfriends past.
There’s…
Chris: Intelligent and sensitive. An aspiring rock star. As if…
Archie: Brimming with rough-diamond charm. Until Dayna discovers his true colours.
Mark: Kind to kittens and children. But what’s he hiding?
Cristian: A prince among men. Surely he’s The One? He even gives Dayna the ring to prove it!
This is a fun, frothy romp about navigating your way through relationships while trying to live life on your own terms.
“A Case of Exploding Mangoes” by Mohammed Hanif @ Rs.395/- (295 pgs)
I know I am saluting a bunch of dead men. But if you are in uniform, you salute. That’s all there is to it.
June 1988, Pakistan
General Zia is convinced there is a plot to kill him and barricades himself within the Army House, his official residence. There are plenty of people who might want him dead.
There are three army generals growing old waiting for their promotions.There is the CIA, the ISI and the RAW.And there is Ali Shigri, a junior officer at the military academy whose father has been murdered by the army.
Two months later, Zia gets into the presidential plane, Pak One, which explodes midway. Which of the plotters have succeeded?
Mohammed Hanif delivers a sharp, gripping debut, inventive and filled with suspense.
“Bone China” by Roma Tearne @ Rs.295/- (400 pgs)
Grace de Silva, wife of the shiftless but charming Aloysius, has five children and a crumbling marriage. Outside her family, civil unrest is stirring in Sri Lanka, and soon, the tensions begin to seep into each other as four of Grace’s children make the decision to leave home. But once in London, the de Silvas are all homesick in their own ways for life is not what they expected. It is only Anna-Meeka, Grace’s granddaughter, who embraces life’s possibilities, but even she must weather heartbreak and mistakes before she can acknowledge the place she has come from, and the person she has become.
A story of displacement and human development, of personal history and migration “Bone China” moves gently amongst three generations of de Silvas, carrying their struggles to preserve the old and imbibe the new, and the frailty of the idea of ‘home.’
“Happiness and Other Disorders” by Ahmad Saidullah @ Rs.299/- (255pgs)
Born in Ottawa, with a childhood spent in India and now living in Canada, The author was named a’ New Voice in Fiction’ by New York’s L Magazine. With many an award winning short stories in his repertoire, this book holds one of his finest collections of ten short stories. With a sensitivity that goes straight to heart, his narrations empathize with characters torn apart by violence and oppression. They are about a caste cursed old man devoted to his ‘holy’ cow, a simple man waylaid by mercenaries to commit a murder –with fatal consequences, a young girl with a split personality and more varying subjects. The last story also the title of the book is a witty, six paged single paragraph essaying an editors back problem.
“Keep off the Grass” by Karan Bajaj @ Rs.195/- (259 pgs) (Indian Writing)What do you do when you are a twenty-five year old Yale graduate making half a million dollars a year as a hotshot investment banker on Wall Street?
If you are Samrat Ratan, born in the USA to immigrant Indian parents, you quit and enroll in business school in India instead.
Samrat’s journey begins at IIM Bangalore where he spends his time getting high on marijuana while his grades – and his self confidence – plummet. Soon Samrat’s quest for identity turns increasingly bizarre as he ends up ‘meditating’ stoned with a Danish hippie, hanging out with a cannibal on the banks of the Ganga, and peddling soap to the formidable Raja Bhaiyya in Benares.
Does Samrat – Yale valedictorian, investment banker, convict, pothead - survive his fall from grace?
Read Karan Bajaj’s hilarious debut novel to find out.
Management:
“Sales Bible: The Ultimate Sales Resource” by Jeffrey Gitomer @ Rs.1005/- (287 pgs)
What does it take to be the best, most creative salesperson? Is it the attitude? Is it asking flawless, compelling questions? Maybe it’s about being creatively different. Based on the principles of sales education with real-world, proven results, “The Sales Bible” gives you cutting-edge information and answers you can take into the street and turn into money the same day.
“Zoom: The Global Race to Fuel the Car of the Future” by Iain Carson and Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran @ Rs.395/- (320 pgs)
“Zoom” visits the boardrooms of car executives and shows how some are fearlessly exploring new energy sources and designs to leave their competitors millions of dollars behind. Elsewhere, the authors examine the alliances that are forming tend our addiction to oil in both the West and the growing markets of India, China and Russia. We are also introduced to the Thomas Edison of the 21st century, a legendary inventor whose work with hydrogen-powered vehicles on a pure water loop is already having a huge impact on the international market.
The global race to discover cleaner energy sources is on – and “Zoom” demonstrates just how cars could be the driving force to a better and cleaner future.
“Divide or Conquer: How Great Teams Turn Conflict Into Strength” by Diana McLain Smith @ Rs.935/- (289pgs)
Ever been on a team where people can’t get along to save their lives? Maybe the VP’s of Sales and Manufacturing bicker at every meeting. Or a seasoned veteran and rising young star jockey for position every time. According to Diana McLain Smith, great teams don’t assume that everyone will get along. They anticipate conflict and use it to strengthen their relationships. Every team is only as strong as its weakest relationship and “Divide and Conquer” provides a powerful, step-by-step approach to building a team that is flexible and strong enough to master its toughest challenges.
“A New Beginning: The Turnaround Story of Indian Bank” by Ranjana Kumar @ Rs.675/- (301pgs)
The first lady officer to become Chairman and Managing Director of a bank, she was instrumental in the successful turnaround of the Indian Bank –from barely surviving to flourishing and which earned her the sobriquet-‘India’s Turnaround Queen’ by the Economist. The book records her journey from scratch... the status of Indian Bank when she took over its reigns to its rise like the proverbial Phoenix. Her dedication, concern for every employee’s motivational needs shine through each page and her smart strategies amaze the reader. With a foreword by Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam , in which he suggests that this book be used as teaching tool for students, the twelve succinct chapters not only recount the arduous journey to success but also encapsulate the lessons learnt from the turnaround.
Others:
“Discovering the Vedas: Origins, Mantras, Rituals, Insights” by Frits Staal @ Rs.495/- (347 pgs) (Philosophy)For Fritz Staal, originally a logician, the discovery of the Vedas is a voyage without the certainty of reaching an end. Even so, his book shows that the Vedas have a logic all their own. He puts Vedic civilization into a global perspective through a wide ranging comparison with other Indian philosophical texts and religions, primarily Buddhism. Accessible, finely argued, and with a wealth of information and insight, “Discovering the Vedas” combines scholarly research with the intimacy of story-telling, making it an interesting read for the curious mind.
“Smoke and Mirrors: An Experience of China” by Pallavi Aiyar @ Rs.395/- (266 pgs) (Travel)‘But what did I know of China? An alien and seemingly impenetrable language; an inscrutable people; an exotic cuisine…’
Following her heart and the man she would eventually marry, Pallavi Aiyer arrives in Beijing unsure and full of questions. ‘All I knew,’ she writes ‘was that we were in love and that my moving to China would give us a future.’
What begins as a purely personal exploration expands into a journey through the many prisms and dichotomies that is China.
As a professor of news writing at the Beijing Broadcasting Institute, the author is confronted with some of the brightest minds in China, and some of the most surprising. While most of them were uncomfortable with political thought and commentary, they were made to attend compulsory classes on Marxist thought. Aiyer writes of the ‘schizophrenia’ of some her students who spewed venom on American foreign policy while simultaneously asking her if she preferred McDonalds or KFC.
Aiyer’s slowly ripening relationship with a country where she is both spectator and player, where tradition and modernity are of equal importance, is heartfelt, humorous and filled with intimate insight.
“Super Crunchers: How Anything Can Be Predicted” by Ian Ayres @ Rs.350/- (260pgs)
Columnist for the Forbes magazine , contributor to the New York Times , author of eight books, Ian Ayres explore the psyche of the ‘Super Crunchers’-pioneers who ‘think by numbers ‘ to find patterns in human behavior and predict the future with staggeringly accurate results. This book exposes the hidden patterns all around us and utilizing examples from real time cases; he explains this new way - to be smart, savvy and statistically superior.
Other new books at twistntales:
“The Competencies Handbook” by Steve Whiddett and Sarah Hollyforde @ Rs.375/- (196pgs)
“Beyond Training and Development” by JW Rothwell @ 495/-
“Handbook of Reward Strategies: From Intent to Impact” by Duncan Brown @ Rs.975/- (278pgs)
“Handbook of Training Evaluation and Measurement Methods” by Jack Phillips @ Rs.450/- (420pgs)
“Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking when Stakes are High” by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan and Al Switzler @ Rs.275/-(228 pgs)
“The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream” by Barack Obama @Rs. 250/- (375 pgs)
“Unbowed: One Woman’s Story” by Wangari Maathai @Rs. 360/- (314 pgs)
“Teen Ink: Our Voices, Our Visions” Ed. By Stephanie H. Meyer and John Meyer @Rs. 250/- (361 pgs)
“Chasing Harry Winston” by Lauren Weisberger @ Rs.195/-(278 pgs)
“The Innovator’s Guide to Growth: Putting Disruptive Innovation to Work” by Scott D. Anthony, Mark W .Johnson, Joseph V. Sinfield and Elizabeth J. Altman @ Rs.1585/-(272 pgs)
“Descent into Chaos: How the War against Islamic extremism is being lost in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia” by Ahmed Rashid @ Rs.495/-(404 pgs)
“Barack Obama: In His Own Words” edited by Lisa Rogak @ Rs.425/-(166 pgs)
“Butterflies Be Gone: A Hands-On approach to Sweat-Proof Public Speaking” by Arthur H. Bell @ Rs.250/-(122 pgs)
Also, we now have an entire selection of self-help books available in Hindi. ‘The Alchemist,’ ‘Chicken Soup for the Woman’s Soul’ etc are now available in translation.
Books, books books and more books. Drop into the store and make your own selection,
From the team at
twistntales,
Hi all,
Welcome to another round of lively exciting books, all lovingly reviewed for your reading pleasure. These and more at the Store!
We have added quite a few business books, especially in the areas of HR, business biographies and case studies. A few are listed below, but drop in for a wider selection.
New Arrivals:
Fiction:
“The Gravedigger’s Daughter” by Joyce Carol Oates @ Rs.295/- (582 pgs)
Hazel Jones and her young son Zacharias are liked and admired by all they meet – but they inspire curiosity too. Why is Zach forbidden to mention his father, and how did Hazel get the scars on her forehead which she takes such pains to hide? Why do they roam from place to place, settling nowhere and confiding in no one?
Because Hazel Jones wasn’t always Hazel Jones. Once she was Rebecca Schwart, daughter of German asylum seekers who fled to the US to escape the Nazis. Her father, hampered by language and chained to poverty, could only find work as a gravedigger. “The Gravedigger’s Daughter” explores the darkness that lurked on the other side of the American dream and the desperation that follows daily destitution. It is the story of one woman’s struggle to re-build herself against the crushing pressures of her past and to survive the aftermath of a life once lived.
“The Color Purple” by Alice Walker @ Rs.295/- (262 pgs)
Set in the deep American South between the wars, this is the tale of Celie, a young black woman born into poverty and segregation.
Raped repeatedly by the man she calls ‘father,’ she has two children taken away from her, is separated from her beloved sister Netty and trapped in an ugly marriage. Then she meets Shug Avery, singer and magic-maker – a woman in charge of her own destiny.
“The Colour Purple” is a salute to the human spirit, to the joy of discovering the beauty that comes with courage and living intensely. Celie, her pain, her discoveries, the resurrection of her spirit are magnified in their intensity. Black, poor and abused, she is the victim of a world where males and white skin are in power. Celie’s phoenix-like rise from the ashes of her past make for a gritty, achingly beautiful narrative, a celebration of the senses and the soul.
“Wolf Totem” by Jiang Rong @ Rs.505/- (524 pgs)
Beijing intellectual Chen Zhen volunteers to live in a remote, nomadic settlement on the borders of Inner and Outer Mongolia. There, he discovers an apparently idyllic, simple life based on the struggle between humans and the wild wolves who roam the plains. Chen learns about the rich, spiritual relationship that exists between these two adversaries, and what each might learn from the other. But when members of the People’s Republic swarm in from the cities to bring modernity and productivity to the grasslands, the peace of Chen’s solitary existence is shattered and the delicate balance between wolves and humans is destroyed. Set in the 1960’s, the heyday for the people of the Inner Mongolian grasslands, “Wolf Totem” celebrates a time when an age-old balance based on culture and tradition was maintained between man and animal. It is at once an evocative portrayal of a land and culture that no longer exists and a powerful insight into modern China, its history and its people.
“Rubbish Boyfriends (for anyone who’s kissed a lot of frogs)” by Jessie Jones @ Rs.225/- (436 pgs)
Everyone’s had rubbish boyfriends, but Dayna Harris has had enough to fill a skip. Now, in the throes of labour, she reflects on boyfriends past.
There’s…
Chris: Intelligent and sensitive. An aspiring rock star. As if…
Archie: Brimming with rough-diamond charm. Until Dayna discovers his true colours.
Mark: Kind to kittens and children. But what’s he hiding?
Cristian: A prince among men. Surely he’s The One? He even gives Dayna the ring to prove it!
This is a fun, frothy romp about navigating your way through relationships while trying to live life on your own terms.
“A Case of Exploding Mangoes” by Mohammed Hanif @ Rs.395/- (295 pgs)
I know I am saluting a bunch of dead men. But if you are in uniform, you salute. That’s all there is to it.
June 1988, Pakistan
General Zia is convinced there is a plot to kill him and barricades himself within the Army House, his official residence. There are plenty of people who might want him dead.
There are three army generals growing old waiting for their promotions.There is the CIA, the ISI and the RAW.And there is Ali Shigri, a junior officer at the military academy whose father has been murdered by the army.
Two months later, Zia gets into the presidential plane, Pak One, which explodes midway. Which of the plotters have succeeded?
Mohammed Hanif delivers a sharp, gripping debut, inventive and filled with suspense.
“Bone China” by Roma Tearne @ Rs.295/- (400 pgs)
Grace de Silva, wife of the shiftless but charming Aloysius, has five children and a crumbling marriage. Outside her family, civil unrest is stirring in Sri Lanka, and soon, the tensions begin to seep into each other as four of Grace’s children make the decision to leave home. But once in London, the de Silvas are all homesick in their own ways for life is not what they expected. It is only Anna-Meeka, Grace’s granddaughter, who embraces life’s possibilities, but even she must weather heartbreak and mistakes before she can acknowledge the place she has come from, and the person she has become.
A story of displacement and human development, of personal history and migration “Bone China” moves gently amongst three generations of de Silvas, carrying their struggles to preserve the old and imbibe the new, and the frailty of the idea of ‘home.’
“Happiness and Other Disorders” by Ahmad Saidullah @ Rs.299/- (255pgs)
Born in Ottawa, with a childhood spent in India and now living in Canada, The author was named a’ New Voice in Fiction’ by New York’s L Magazine. With many an award winning short stories in his repertoire, this book holds one of his finest collections of ten short stories. With a sensitivity that goes straight to heart, his narrations empathize with characters torn apart by violence and oppression. They are about a caste cursed old man devoted to his ‘holy’ cow, a simple man waylaid by mercenaries to commit a murder –with fatal consequences, a young girl with a split personality and more varying subjects. The last story also the title of the book is a witty, six paged single paragraph essaying an editors back problem.
“Keep off the Grass” by Karan Bajaj @ Rs.195/- (259 pgs) (Indian Writing)What do you do when you are a twenty-five year old Yale graduate making half a million dollars a year as a hotshot investment banker on Wall Street?
If you are Samrat Ratan, born in the USA to immigrant Indian parents, you quit and enroll in business school in India instead.
Samrat’s journey begins at IIM Bangalore where he spends his time getting high on marijuana while his grades – and his self confidence – plummet. Soon Samrat’s quest for identity turns increasingly bizarre as he ends up ‘meditating’ stoned with a Danish hippie, hanging out with a cannibal on the banks of the Ganga, and peddling soap to the formidable Raja Bhaiyya in Benares.
Does Samrat – Yale valedictorian, investment banker, convict, pothead - survive his fall from grace?
Read Karan Bajaj’s hilarious debut novel to find out.
Management:
“Sales Bible: The Ultimate Sales Resource” by Jeffrey Gitomer @ Rs.1005/- (287 pgs)
What does it take to be the best, most creative salesperson? Is it the attitude? Is it asking flawless, compelling questions? Maybe it’s about being creatively different. Based on the principles of sales education with real-world, proven results, “The Sales Bible” gives you cutting-edge information and answers you can take into the street and turn into money the same day.
“Zoom: The Global Race to Fuel the Car of the Future” by Iain Carson and Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran @ Rs.395/- (320 pgs)
“Zoom” visits the boardrooms of car executives and shows how some are fearlessly exploring new energy sources and designs to leave their competitors millions of dollars behind. Elsewhere, the authors examine the alliances that are forming tend our addiction to oil in both the West and the growing markets of India, China and Russia. We are also introduced to the Thomas Edison of the 21st century, a legendary inventor whose work with hydrogen-powered vehicles on a pure water loop is already having a huge impact on the international market.
The global race to discover cleaner energy sources is on – and “Zoom” demonstrates just how cars could be the driving force to a better and cleaner future.
“Divide or Conquer: How Great Teams Turn Conflict Into Strength” by Diana McLain Smith @ Rs.935/- (289pgs)
Ever been on a team where people can’t get along to save their lives? Maybe the VP’s of Sales and Manufacturing bicker at every meeting. Or a seasoned veteran and rising young star jockey for position every time. According to Diana McLain Smith, great teams don’t assume that everyone will get along. They anticipate conflict and use it to strengthen their relationships. Every team is only as strong as its weakest relationship and “Divide and Conquer” provides a powerful, step-by-step approach to building a team that is flexible and strong enough to master its toughest challenges.
“A New Beginning: The Turnaround Story of Indian Bank” by Ranjana Kumar @ Rs.675/- (301pgs)
The first lady officer to become Chairman and Managing Director of a bank, she was instrumental in the successful turnaround of the Indian Bank –from barely surviving to flourishing and which earned her the sobriquet-‘India’s Turnaround Queen’ by the Economist. The book records her journey from scratch... the status of Indian Bank when she took over its reigns to its rise like the proverbial Phoenix. Her dedication, concern for every employee’s motivational needs shine through each page and her smart strategies amaze the reader. With a foreword by Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam , in which he suggests that this book be used as teaching tool for students, the twelve succinct chapters not only recount the arduous journey to success but also encapsulate the lessons learnt from the turnaround.
Others:
“Discovering the Vedas: Origins, Mantras, Rituals, Insights” by Frits Staal @ Rs.495/- (347 pgs) (Philosophy)For Fritz Staal, originally a logician, the discovery of the Vedas is a voyage without the certainty of reaching an end. Even so, his book shows that the Vedas have a logic all their own. He puts Vedic civilization into a global perspective through a wide ranging comparison with other Indian philosophical texts and religions, primarily Buddhism. Accessible, finely argued, and with a wealth of information and insight, “Discovering the Vedas” combines scholarly research with the intimacy of story-telling, making it an interesting read for the curious mind.
“Smoke and Mirrors: An Experience of China” by Pallavi Aiyar @ Rs.395/- (266 pgs) (Travel)‘But what did I know of China? An alien and seemingly impenetrable language; an inscrutable people; an exotic cuisine…’
Following her heart and the man she would eventually marry, Pallavi Aiyer arrives in Beijing unsure and full of questions. ‘All I knew,’ she writes ‘was that we were in love and that my moving to China would give us a future.’
What begins as a purely personal exploration expands into a journey through the many prisms and dichotomies that is China.
As a professor of news writing at the Beijing Broadcasting Institute, the author is confronted with some of the brightest minds in China, and some of the most surprising. While most of them were uncomfortable with political thought and commentary, they were made to attend compulsory classes on Marxist thought. Aiyer writes of the ‘schizophrenia’ of some her students who spewed venom on American foreign policy while simultaneously asking her if she preferred McDonalds or KFC.
Aiyer’s slowly ripening relationship with a country where she is both spectator and player, where tradition and modernity are of equal importance, is heartfelt, humorous and filled with intimate insight.
“Super Crunchers: How Anything Can Be Predicted” by Ian Ayres @ Rs.350/- (260pgs)
Columnist for the Forbes magazine , contributor to the New York Times , author of eight books, Ian Ayres explore the psyche of the ‘Super Crunchers’-pioneers who ‘think by numbers ‘ to find patterns in human behavior and predict the future with staggeringly accurate results. This book exposes the hidden patterns all around us and utilizing examples from real time cases; he explains this new way - to be smart, savvy and statistically superior.
Other new books at twistntales:
“The Competencies Handbook” by Steve Whiddett and Sarah Hollyforde @ Rs.375/- (196pgs)
“Beyond Training and Development” by JW Rothwell @ 495/-
“Handbook of Reward Strategies: From Intent to Impact” by Duncan Brown @ Rs.975/- (278pgs)
“Handbook of Training Evaluation and Measurement Methods” by Jack Phillips @ Rs.450/- (420pgs)
“Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking when Stakes are High” by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan and Al Switzler @ Rs.275/-(228 pgs)
“The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream” by Barack Obama @Rs. 250/- (375 pgs)
“Unbowed: One Woman’s Story” by Wangari Maathai @Rs. 360/- (314 pgs)
“Teen Ink: Our Voices, Our Visions” Ed. By Stephanie H. Meyer and John Meyer @Rs. 250/- (361 pgs)
“Chasing Harry Winston” by Lauren Weisberger @ Rs.195/-(278 pgs)
“The Innovator’s Guide to Growth: Putting Disruptive Innovation to Work” by Scott D. Anthony, Mark W .Johnson, Joseph V. Sinfield and Elizabeth J. Altman @ Rs.1585/-(272 pgs)
“Descent into Chaos: How the War against Islamic extremism is being lost in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia” by Ahmed Rashid @ Rs.495/-(404 pgs)
“Barack Obama: In His Own Words” edited by Lisa Rogak @ Rs.425/-(166 pgs)
“Butterflies Be Gone: A Hands-On approach to Sweat-Proof Public Speaking” by Arthur H. Bell @ Rs.250/-(122 pgs)
Also, we now have an entire selection of self-help books available in Hindi. ‘The Alchemist,’ ‘Chicken Soup for the Woman’s Soul’ etc are now available in translation.
Books, books books and more books. Drop into the store and make your own selection,
From the team at
twistntales,
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)