Week 4 Round Up of Books Read in 2019

Week 4: Jan 21 - Jan 27, 2019

Books Read : 3

1. Like The Flowing River by Paulo Coelho - The book is all about collection of personal thoughts and reflections by the author but definitely leaves the reader with lot of food for thought and lot to brood over. Drawing from his personal experiences that spread across different stages of his life, the author, very nicely draws and delivers useful learnings from each of those experiences. The beauty of the book lies in the simplicity with which the relevant message gets delivered to the readers, even on topics like God, Love, Life, Death, Relationships and more. The book is much a journey of learning and transformation as for the author while undergoing those rich experiences in life and getting all those revelations.
2. You Don't Need A Godfather  by Elango R.- If you always thought that all of us need patronage to make it big in the corporate world, then this is the book which will change that mindset/ thought process. As authentic as a book could get, the book makes use of humour, sarcasm, analogy and real caselets to drive home the point that success is always within our scope of control and the stark realities of workplace are all a creation of our doings/ non-doings. Laced with lots of tips, techniques and strategies, the book gives the mantra for success at workplace as simply adhering to these - be self-reliant, stick to fundamentals and grab every opportunity that comes our way. A light read with a serious message.
3. Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon - In an era of Remixes (which also is an act of creativity), surely Creativity deserves a fresh and new outlook. This wonderful, delightful book is all about dispelling all the typical notion that we hold about creativity. Its a cute, little handbook about a call for action for all those who suffer from "creativity block". The 10 chapters in the book provide the most practical advice that we could ever get about removing the barriers, invoking our creative side and getting started on what we always wanted to do. A no-nonsense guide to achieve our best "creative self".       

Week 3 Round Up of Books Read in 2019

Week 3: Jan 14 - Jan 20, 2019

Books Read : 2

1. Being Buddha At Work by Franz Metcalf and BJ Gallagher - A wonderful book beyond comparison. Calling this book a mini-manual on applying Buddha's advice at workplace won't be an extrapolation at all. It's amazing to note as to how such a short book could contain so much practical wisdom on the application of Mindfulness and Buddhism. The book does great job in distilling the relevant and applicable pieces from the tenets of Buddhism and then presenting them in an easily digestible form for the readers. There are 15 themes divided into 3 parts/ sections of  Self, Others(Relationships) and Organisation. The 15 themes are further divided into various pertinent chapters, where each chapter deals with a relevant topic of interest related to the theme. Each chapter is just about the right length and deal with a particular aspect of a potential workplace issue/ problem. Presenting the ground realities at work by way of various examples/ situations / scenarios, the book then suggest ways and strategies (derived from the teaching of Buddha and Buddhism) to address them in a mindful way. For me, the highlight of the book was the depth and the insight contained in each of the "sutras" at the beginning of each chapter. Becoming Mindful at Work made easy by "Being Buddha at Work" !
2. Mind Platter by Najwa Zebian - An amazing collection of reflections on life and covering so many different aspects of our life. Written as single page paragraphs, the entries are quite insightful and definitely touch the heart and soul of the reader. Drawing from her personal life, the author does an excellent job of providing the readers with ample of opportunities for self-introspection and seeing life from different perspectives. A great companion book, for all phases of our life, providing strength during times of despair to help deal effectively with vicissitudes of life. The reflections are short and crisp (about 200 single page entries) but still so effective, as if the words directly flow from the soul of the author. The list of the topics addressed is very exhaustive - love, education, friendship, change, simplicity, soul, dreams and  happiness being just few of those. Except for few repetitions and contradictions, the book turns out to be a highly inspiring, refreshing and delightful read.   

Week 2 Round Up of Books Read in 2019

Week 2 : Jan 7 - Jan 13, 2019

Books Read - 3

1. Education and the Significance of Life by J. Krishnamurti - A very thought provoking book about the real objective of education, encompassing all the possible dimensions attached to it and all the key stakeholders related to it. A  bold book, very nicely written, which, through its carefully defined eight chapters leads us to an understanding of the type of transformation that education could bring about at a global scale, if every stakeholder understood its real purpose and then contributed their bit to it, without any prejudice or bias. The book is quite hard-hitting and talks about many man-made paradoxes that have severely damaged the core purpose of education and how education is churning out learners, imbibed with wrong set of values. Whereas the sole purpose of the education is to develop an integrated individual/ learner endowed with the prowess to challenge the status quo (by virtue of being free from any fear or bias) and how the current system of education is still instilling conformity, superficiality and building a lopsided personality in the learners. A book with great insight on real education and  providing a rational view to many of the obvious facets of good education and its significance in life. The book clearly highlights the need to have such an education system that would prepare a learner for life.
2. How Life Works by Andrew Matthews - A book can't get any easier and entertaining than this one to talk about the concept of subconscious and the relation between Thoughts and Feelings. With his own, unique style of writing, the author takes the reader subtly into the realms of subconscious, myths related to it, and how it impacts our overall success and happiness in in life. Citing various real-life scenarios and various scientific studies, research and experiments, the book comes across as a very credible piece to read, even about topics such as Heart and Love.  There's a whole lot that the book delivers and that too to an extent that the principles mentioned could be applied in our daily life smoothly and with much ease. The book has an explanation and relevant answer to the most basic or complex question that any reader may have about life.
3. The One Minute Apology by Kenneth Blanchard - A parable that delves deep in the subject of owning our actions, decisions and responsibilities which go a long way in avoiding conflicts and improving things at workplace (or any other area of life as well). The book clearly demonstrates that how the simple acts of acknowledging, accepting and correcting our mistakes could work wonders for everyone involved - the concerned individual, the concerned team, the organisation and other key stakeholders. So many times and for so many valid/ invalids reasons, we do not own what we commit and this leads to catastrophic repercussions. This book describes in a very simple way, an easy-to-do approach to build in the responsibility to apologise whenever needed and how doing so not only builds our character, enhances our credibility(inspite of committing the mistake/ error) but also prevents the situation from getting worse. 

Week 1 Round Up of Books Read in 2019

Week 1 : Jan 1- Jan 6, 2019

Books Read - 5

1.  20,000 Days and Counting by Robert D. Smith - If ever you were looking for an impactful book to guide you about discovering your passion and purpose in life, then this is the book. Don't get misled by the length of the book (it's an extremely short book) and just pick it up, read it and by the end you would come out with so much clarity about your life. The chapters are short, crisp and well articulated. Never will you come across a book where every word carries so much meaning. The title is derived from the fact that we never really count our lives in terms of days lived and if we give that a thought, we will realise that the importance of every remaining day of our live and would strive to make it count.
2. The Little Book of Hygge by Meik Wiking - I landed on this book because of my quest for understanding the science/ concept of Happiness. Denmark has been voted as the happiest country of the world multiple times and that's what pulled me to this book. Hygge is a  Danish concept of Happiness and this book is all about that. In fact, it's an encylopedia on Hygge. The book is laden with ample of details for anyone seeking to understand the concept of Hygge, right from the history to the rituals and to the things that make up the Hygge. Hygge takes the concept of Happiness on a different plane all together and doesn't just refers to revelry but connotes camaraderie, socialising, minimalism, culture, tradition, inclusion, positivity, and i can go on and on. Towards the end, there is a dedicated session on correlating Hygge and Happiness and that's like an icing on the cake.
3. Just Shut Up and Do It by Brian Tracy - This is a blueprint on setting goals and achieving them in 7 lucid steps. The book covers all the key facets of goal setting and goal getting in an easy to remember and implement form. The presentation of the book is simple and easy and just about anyone can get started on esatblishing goals after reading this book. The book is like a companion, helping us in actualising our goals. 
4. Do the Work by Steven Pressfield- This is a book which is all about the types of resistance that impedes our growth, be it in personal or professional space. The book discusses about the resistance that appears in the form of doubt, fear, procrastination and/or any other self-sabotaging behaviour and then goes about delivering actions and methods to address them. 
5. The Shooting Star by Shivya Nath - Freedom, Independence, Self-Discovery, Exploration are just few of the words that could best describe this wonderful book. It's a beautiful memoir of a "nomad" (well, that's how the author address herself) , her journey about breaking the stereotypes and following her passion of exploring the world. The protagonist takes us on an incredible journey across different continents, countries, culture and people. All through the book, there are so many life lessons we could derive from the experiences of the protagonist (author herself). The book is about an exciting and enriching journey from the known to the unknown.          

Announcement - Launching Weekly Round Up of Books Read in 2019 for 52 Weeks

Dear Readers,

Here's an interesting announcement - Every year, each booklover sets a target to read a certain number of books. This year, my target stands at 200+ books, across different genres and authors.

To ensure my accountability and committment to the target, i would be posting a weekly roundup of the books read during each week in 2019. That means, for each of the 52  weeks, i will post the numbers, titles and a short summary of the books read by me. Few of them could be a re-read also, just to ensure that you don't miss out on any of the must-read books.

Hope the readers find the books worth reading !

Enjoy the weekly round up posts :)


Best
Narinder - A book eater  :)