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The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel

Audio book from Audible; Narrated by Chris Hill

Running time is around 5 hours 48 minutes which can be reduced to around 3 hours or so by increasing the speed to 1.2 or even 1.3 without any compromise on the understanding.

This is a non fiction reference book which actually chronicles many people who have either got wealth or saved wealth or in some cases lost wealth. There are twenty or so chapters and as the author mentions in the introduction, each chapter can be read as a separated chapter while you can read the whole book as a whole.

Without being preachy Morgan takes us into the basics of investment constantly stating that what works for one may not work for another while narrating so many stories!

Introduction was of an amazing person called Ronald James Reed who is like that unknown super star of investment! This example is what the whole book is all about, a simple man with limited resources who consistently and constantly saved a little over a period of 30 to 40 years and finally when he died he had a net worth of around 8 million dollars!

Morgan talks about the role of luck in getting your investment back or getting multiplied. He talks about two people, one who luckily saved his stock from collapsing in the nick of time (though he lost it again many years back) and one who lost everything.

He talks about the difference between being rich and being wealthy; how having a big car or something similar may not mean that the person is wealthy but just under rich by credit!

He talks about Warren Buffet and his simple policies! I am sure there cannot be any book on investment without mentioning about Warren and his story and his investment advice.

He also tells about Bill Gates and about how his dreams were big and how! How the fact that only his college luckily had computer and that changed his life!

In most places Morgan places lots of emphasis on luck and he states that even if you make a hundred investments you need luck on your side.

He also states how the most famous book on investment in different editions keep on changing its suggestions or things that work in every edition!

He talks about my favourite author Daniel Kahneman in so many places whenever an emotional issue is involved!

Then again he states that you do not have to be successful in each and every investment or decision you make! In fact even Warren Buffet would have made many dud investments, even hundreds and all you need is for just some of them to work which would take care of any negatives!
Here he tells about even Walt Disney who made several costly movies which were big disasters but one Snow White movie took care of all the failures!

He talks about patience which is required in this field, to stay when others drop and drop and the nick of time!

In the end he gives an interesting story on how after world war, US was facing imminent collapse due to high home rates and low job! How federal home loans were invented with low prepayment and long pay back times! That changed the whole ecosystem. People were encouraged to spend and to make credit purchases. And lot more interesting trivia which must be read to understand.

He also finally tells about his own investments and in the lines of Reed, he makes simple investments with almost frugal lifestyle with a good and consistent plan.

Anyone who is interested in investment knows that this is a must read book. This is not a story book but a reference manual you must listen or read once in a while during your investment journey!

Have fun! Reading and investing!

Narrated by Sid Sagar

Audiobook

Running length around 16 hours but if you increase the speed to 1.2 it becomes to around 13 hours without any loss of clarity of diction.

Rating- 4/5 for the research 4/5 for the diction 3/5 for neutrality

Genre- Non fiction historical account as a review from various sources

The research is extensive and fairly comprehensive but like most Englishmen who write about history of india, it is based on their own history and on works of many Persian and Mughal historians which the author has quoted extensively in the book.
So the author gets it spot on when narrating or describing events of the company and of the Mughals and of the French and even of the Persian but when it comes to any other description like say of the Marathas the view point is skewed and predictable.

Having said that I am sure that no account of history can ever be neutral or accurate. You can never be sure of what happened in a particular time especially since it happened so long ago and since the accounts are vague and biased.

The book is a narrative of the East India Company based in England and not of the British Colonisation of India which was incomplete for me since I expected the time from 1800 and the final independence of India.

The way a small trading company with constant losses and defeats all over especially to the Dutch and French East India Company initially to finally become one of the biggest corporations in the world is the whole book about. But in narrating that, the book becomes about the Mughals and the Afghans and the Marathas and the Nizams and also of Tipu Sultan.

How the first East Indian company officer who presented himself to the court of Jahangir was not even given any attention to finally decades later the same Mughal clan became a puppet under the hold of the company.

Credit must be given for giving a vivid portrayal of Robert Clive the Governor General who in his two postings in India made himself wealthy beyond means! Even when the whole country is struggling under poverty and even when the Company stocks were under loss, he had become rich beyond means though the ghosts of his deed never left him. He never liked India and in the end he did not like life also!

The next Governor General Warren Hasting and Cornwallis and finally Marquess Wellesley have been described in details and if you read the East India company details you would realise that there were more but the book describes in detail only them.

With a sympathy towards Hastings where he has been shown to be a better Governor than Clive and the complains against him were actually due to Robert Clive.

Slowly and steadily starting from a small post in Madrassipattinum or Madras to the office in Calcutta to finally establishing rule all over the country is being described like a story which is engrossing to say the least.

When the author talks about the money being squeezed out of India and when he coverts it into the current value you are reminded of Shashi Tharoor’s book in similar lines which is a better book on how the company looted india and made it from one of the richest companies in the world to the state it is now. Every time the author converts the money you feel a cringe and then some…

In spite of this when the author states how the company is always in debt is when you actually realise that it just does not make sense!

He talks about Jahangir, about Shah Allam, Mir Quasim, and many other Mughals. About how they feel that ruling india is probably the best thing that happened and how many would have continued to be under them if not for the EIC.

He talks about so many battles and credit must be given in that they have been described so well including famous battle like the Plassey. The way he describes each siege, each army, each attack makes you feel that you are witnessing the battle first hand!

The way he narrates about the atrocities of the victors and how they torture people whom they have vanquished is simply blood curdling. Especially cruel was the way Shah Alaam enemy’s son treats him and his people even though he had taken care of the kid as his own son! It was too cruel to listen.

He then proceeds to narrate about Tipu and Hyder Ali and this account is the one which makes me feel that his narration was only one sided since he tends to skip his atrocities in a fine mention while trying to portray him as a freedom fighter and not as a crude king as even his own historians opined.
There appears to be a bias when it comes to Tipu though its open to debate.

The author though must be commended for having a firm opinion about Britishers and his company officers and he has not put them in a pedestal but on the ground and lower where they belong. He consistently makes note of their high handedness, the way the generals manipulate two kings against each other, how they in guise of giving protection make the kings their virtual puppet or slave!
But the chief reason why this small company took over the company is that many kings or leaders were not united; they thought only about themselves, they were not attached to the country and that’s why when you do not own something, you would not protect it.

All in all an enriching experience like the Freedom at Midnight which was also a very extensive narration! Read it to know about how a company became a corporate to how it made England one of the most powerful nations. All because of Anarchy!

Walk with the weary by M R Rajagopal

Book Review

Genre- Non Fictional semi autobiography

Rating- 4.5/5

Biased review because Dr Rajagopal is my Alma Mater and for us the Pain and Palliative posting is a matter of great pride and it was one of our best postings as house surgeons! But to be Frank many times turned out to be one of the most depressing postings.

But the amount of suffering we see in the pain and palliative clinic would be an eye opener on the smallness of our own problems!
The whole book is a veritable proof of this very fact. If you feel you have some big problem then one read of this book will make your problems or issues minute in comparison!

Sir begins with his childhood in a semi autobiographical fashion and take some chapters to come to the actual point! But even the early chapters are like the stepping stones to his ultimate aim of pain and palliation. From the start even if his interest was different and so the opportunity; you can make sure from his experiences that pain and palliation was his dream.

His sojourn to Middle East and first major experience with pain relief of a burns patient and the sudden jolt at the patient’s frank outburst inflating his own bubble was a revelation!

One this is evident that sir pays so much attention to the Patient, he is not someone who can ignore anyone in pain even if he or she has not come to him for the same.
The way he remembers each and every one of his patient is nothing sort of a miracle when as a doctor you would realise that you would remember the special ones, your major success and your major failures! You would never forget these patients! Then it is understood that Sir would have treated countless forgotten patients who would have been happy and palliated so to speak but it would have become a routine affair!

If you have read the book when breath becomes air by Paul Kalanithi then you can understand the direction in which the book moves. If that is one story then this is numerous such stories and the way Sir narrates them is like living at the moment. Some stories make you feel so low while some others give you some glimmer of hope.

He talks about his inspirations primarily his patients and also how Mahatma Gandhi’s book had a big impact on him.

His fight against red tape and government and his friends and his well wishers and his support staff is an eye opener that if you have to do something great and be a pioneer then you need to be wholly committed and nothing short of that will do. How he set up one of the best WHO recognised pain and palliative care centre in Calicut is a satisfactory ending to his genuine efforts!

In between the stories of pain and palliation and the use of Morphine and his training and his mentors ; sir gives a glimpse of his life and family with couple of chapters on his grand parent and then about his wife Chandrika (a love story there!) and his father with some information on his brothers. This intermittently makes us realise that Sir is also human but of course a very unique and special!

Every chapter has some character or a patient with his or her story and every story can be a complete Novel or even a touching movie!
His experiences in UK and America also shows how much he has travelled in an endeavour to give pain relief and palliation to as many as possible.

During our education and postings, pain relief and palliation was just a small topic and posting though now because of Sir’s efforts and the effort of many, it has become an integral and important part of the curriculum. Sir also describes the way his original centre gave rise to many others and how they train others in this noble deed.

He has not failed to mention even the support staff or the nursing staff and his friends who stood with him and helped him in his quest,

This is a must read for everyone, to understand what’s humanity and how to be humane! If you are happy you must read this and if you are sad then you definitely must read this! If anything else, just read it anyway!

Since we were prepared very well by everyone and the reviews; the amount of violence shown even though was gruesome, we were able to see albeit with teary eyes…

You cannot turn away from the truth and though the movie shows truth as close to possible on screen, it also gives you indications in many scenes on how it would have been more gruesome in reality.

The whole movie shows beautiful sceneries of the valley and for once you just have to marvel at one of the most beautiful place on earth and totally understand that it is heaven on earth.

The local dialect is used in most places and the music is also local Kashmiri, with Kashmiri cuisines and their customs is used throughout the movie which adds authenticity in a subtle but effective manner.

So many times there are no dialogues spoken and no one says anything, one of the best examples of actions speaks louder than words.

The helplessness of police and administration and the risks army takes are shown in passing which is so effective.

Pallavi Joshi’s character which is an amalgamation of many instantly makes you dislike her which goes to show how effortlessly she manages this!

Darshan changing from a confused student to the one who realises the truth is a revelation though his ending speech could have been more effective but he does the job and how.

Basha Sumbli as the mother is the one who has the least lines but suffers the maximum and she has done a splendid job with just her eyes, face and expression.

Chinmay Madlekar was born to play this role; his entrance gives you terror and his eye movements make you hate his gut!

Mithun da is a national award winner for acting and though he does not reveal this talents in many movies, in this one you will realise why he got the national award.

The serene Kashmir, the sound effects, the melancholy, the fear that you know something very bad and tragic is going to happen and the supporting staff make sure you are riveted to the seat and you just cannot get up. Even after the movie is done, you need some time to control yourself and may be a life time to process the movie.

The last and the best is Anupam Kher who has given a performance of his lifetime even better than Saaransh in many places. Many times you just want to hug him and lie to him saying that it will be fine. The trauma has done a number on his mind and his character does that job so well that he will be called Pushkar Nath from now on.

This is a brave attempt from a director who has been Frank and open on his views and his interviews reveal the amount of research which has gone into this movie. But the amount of injustice shown in the movie is so ghastly that you will find it hard to believe on how a human can treat another human like this.

This movie will trouble you emotionally; I was expecting an emotional roller coaster, it turned out to a tsunami and then some…

What’s the photo I shared you ask? Just a black screen symbolising one of the darkest exodus; or more accurately Genocide…

Bill Bryson the Body- A guide for Occupants

Audiobook

Genre Non fictional

Rating 4/5 for the narration and occasional comical quips typical of Bill! 3/5 for the effort and 2/5 for he actual medical information

Listening time around 15 hours but if you increase the speed to 1.2 the time is around 11 hours without any reduction of understanding!

The grammar and diction is spot on for English words but of course Bill understandably falters with the medical terminology!

Now Bill is primarily a historian, a journalist and in the heart, a funny guy!

I am guessing that one fine day he had an ailment for which he would have gone to the doctor and he would have felt better and that experience would have made him fascinated with the human body and so the journey to the discovery would have begun!

So in a typical history of everything Bill starts every chapter with quotes by great people and some great (i am guessing!) doctors! And like we medical students do in dissection, start from the skin inwards!

So every page is filled with information on the tissue or skin or organ or the function or Bill’s strongest point; History!

He gives a brief description on each and every part of the body like eyes, ears, nose and everything else in between!

He tells you about the miracle organ which is the brain and how many over the age of 60 have some dementia! He tells about Alzheimer’s and its history and the inevitable no treatment!

Most of the disease described by Bill follows the same pattern, first an elaborate history, then the treatment options and the certain conclusion that there is no treatment! He does that with Alzheimer’s, cancer, heart attack and what not!

He talks about diet without any conclusion or a fixed plan! He does not even conclude that diet more in fibre is good because he would present some vague paper which says the opposite! The same with many procedures in the medical field! From all this I am guessing that either Bill did not get a good treatment in some hospital or that he has not realised that modern medicine has no cure for old age!

Of old age itself he mentions that it is not used as a cause of death in America! He also talks about smoking and its effect then he like a pattern concludes that lung cancer can happen without smoking! It is almost as if he is trying to be so neutral that it’s extreme!

He talks about exercise on that we must spend at least two hours on it and then he predictably sates that just because you exercise does not mean that you will have a long life!
It is like Bill shows candy to a kid and takes it away just as suddenly!

In spite of his very obvious disdain for the medical professional, almost every medical fact and quote is attributed to a doctor or another!

His research is vast though but then in the age of internet, you can always get this information with the click of a button or just ask your virtual assistant!

I must congratulate Bill though that he has spent so much time in understanding the function of an organ and trying to understand the history of a disease and in that it is a great effort!

Then he talks about the many wasteful tests or treatment given by the medical professionals which again reeks of a personal prejudice if nothing else.

He talks about antibiotics and how the incessant use may lead to resistance and about similar medications which are being regularly prescribed without any apparent indications or effect quoting some paper or study which is being vague especially since in medical science new evidences keep coming.

Prophetically though he quotes one quote by a doctor about which will be the most dreaded disease to fight in the future and the doctor says, “a disease like flu!” Since this book was written much before COVID; this is surreal!

In the end there is an extended book bonus on sound and ear and that probably was the best part of the book for me since I am an ENT surgeon!

For a medical professionals, this is a good refresher book and too simple while for a non medical professional it’s a good guide book on how your body works though it would have been amazing if it was written by a Medical Professional.

All in all a deeply engrossing book without a boring topic if you are interested in your body!

Go for it!

Audio book
Genre- Spiritual autobiography
Rating- 5/5 for the narration which requires good knowledge of English and diction; 1/5 for the words which need knowledge of Sanskrit or indian words; 5/5 for the true believers who need no nudging; 3/5 for those who are neutral in their viewpoint of Yoga and spirituality of India. Overall a beautiful tale told from the heart!

Do you know what’s the Similarity between Steve Jobs of Apple and George Harrison of Beetles and Elvis Presley!?
They all had one favourite book!
In fact Steve first read this book in teen and later on he used to read it once every year!
Any student of Yoga must read this book without fail!
The audiobook has been narrated by none other than Ben Kingsley who played Gandhi!
The book among other amazing quotes has one which goes, “Be as simple as you can be; you will be astonished to see how uncomplicated and happy your life can become!”

Listening length around 17 hours but if you increase the speed to 1.2 then it comes down to 13-14 hours without compromising on the flow and understanding.

The language is simple and straight forward and the book is written in simple English which you will understand without any difficulty.

The book is one of the most famous among the practitioners of yoga and those who want to know about the spirituality of india.

Personally though if it was not because of audio; I would have not read the book since I had it with me for the past three years! But the advent of audio book has opened these doors and this is one book which you must listen if you want to enjoy it fully!

If it is not the Sanskrit or Hindi words like Chela or Mahasshai; Ben effortlessly glides through the passages like a musical poem but the moment he meets an indian word is when you realise that a non indian is narrating this book! Apart from this very obvious flaw in the book; the rest of the book is a must read or listen!

Swamiji starts with his mother and father who were simple, decent and religious folks who had a guru of their own (who incidentally is Swamiji’s guru’s guru!). The story lines in between the stories of Swamiji and his family follow a pattern where every Guru and his Guru and their respective Guru’s miracles and nature is described! So first Lahiri Mahashai is described and his miracles then Lahiri Mahashai describes his Guru, Babaji’s miracles and how he met him!

Later on His Chela (or an Ben says, “Chella!”); Sri Yukteshwar is described in detail in most part of the book who later on becomes Yoganand’s guru! The Gurus are shown to be initially simple folks who get the initiation into Kriya Yoga and then they become one of the cosmos or those who become enlightened! It of course needs a strong belief system to accept the miracles of any of the saints as mentioned in the book!

Loss of Yoganand’s mother is being described with lots of emotional stress and how she prepared him. How he had the foresight and how she sent him a talisman. It is an indian fairy tale with lots of emotions. He describes how his belief in God as a saviour and deliverer of miracles like with his sister, and then his bother and visit to Mathura, then his sister and brother in law visit to Dakshineswar temple and his visit to America! Everything falls into place like a self solving jigsaw puzzle!

How he wanted to escape to the Himalayas at the first attempt and his elaborate plans both the times and how like the Alchemist he found what he was looking for so close to home! The story is so similar to Paul Coelho’s version!

In the whole book he describes many magical babas! Like the Gandha baba and the baba with one heart but two bodies! The whole narration is so magical and entertaining to say the least!

Of course most of the book is about Yoganand and Swamy Yukteshwar who is shown to be one of the best teachers you can ever have including his life and subsequent resurrection! The description of the cosmic Hiranyaloka may raise many a sceptical brow but that left to the reader!

Visit to Kashmir and the vivid description of the beauty of Kashmir! Comparing with America and Mexico and yellow stone park and Niagara Falls and Swiss alps which shows how much Yoganand ji has travelled.

A vivid introduction of music and suras and talas and classification system is also given and it was an eye opener to me!

A description of yoga especially Kriya yoga and other types of yoga is also given but this is not a book of Yoga description but of the life and time of the Yogi only!

Description of astrology as a science and how it is so vast which is why it is not understood by many is described! He also mentions his meeting with the great scientist J C Bose and his work and their mutual admiration!

A section is also given for his visit to America where he spent most of his life and how he established yoga centres all over and his Center in Ranchi and his travel with his companion Smith in his Ford!

The story of the agnostic doctor and many other skeptics are told without any morality or judgement which is left to you!

One section describes his meeting with Rabindranath Tagore and his place and it’s like a vivid summary of Shantiniketan and Tagore!

Another section describes in detail of his meeting with Gandhi and his ashram and how his life had affected him and how he initiated him to the Kriya Yoga!

Many places Yoganand ji talks about Jesus and Bible and many lines are repeated from that.

He tells about the lady sage who used to get visions of Jesus and his crucification, then about the lady guru whose Husband itself became her devotee and then he describes about a lady guru who had not eaten a morsel or drank any fluid for decades and still is in the pink of health!

An swami who used to play with lions and tigers!
He describes about the Kumbha mela, about the diet which is very important (vegetarian if you must know!), talks about Geeta (there is a separate book on that!) and much much more!

If you have the ebook or the hard copy then you can go through the amazing photos of the places and people including great Swamis and saint which is a good refresher.

The end is a paragraph narrating how Swamiji attained maha samadhi and how his body did not decay Even a bit…

Read it just for self realisation and to appreciate the simple life of a yogi!
Even if you do not believe, this will still calm your mind!

Listening time is around 10 hours but if you increase the reading speed to 1.2, the time becomes around 8 hours. This does not distort the pronunciation and diction in any way and this may be a good book if you are planning to make the jump to audio book.
There are so many words in many languages and since the aim of the book is to get a feel of diction and pronunciation, a good narrator is an asset!
There is no way that if you had read the book, you could get a feel of the same!
There are some words which are virtually not pronounceable by simply reading so audio narration is definitely the way to go!

Bill in his characteristic fashion starts by telling why he started this book! He starts by giving examples such as “I could care less and I couldn’t care less is the same!” Or how
“Or fly is not an insect but a part of your pant!” Or why “you tell a lie but speak the truth!”
He also states how many words are not routinely used in English but why English is the major language which is spoken as widely as possible!

How English is the biggest export with some mild after sale service problem! Many words are there in other language but not in English but how only English has a thesaurus!
Apparently Eskimos have fifty words for types of snow but not word for snow! Italians have some 500 words for Macaroni and similar examples which just like his other books is more funny when you read or listen yourself!

His subtle humour and quirky comments in between is sure to brings smiles to you!

He then talks about how every country thinks of the other in a derogatory way like We tend to regard other people’s languages as we regard their cultures with ill-hidden disdain. In Japanese, the word for foreigner means “stinking of foreignhair.”! To the Czechs a Hungarian is “a pimple.” Germans call cockroaches “Frenchmen,” while the French call lice “Spaniards.” Apparently We in the English-
speaking world take French leave, but Italians and Norwegians talk about departing like an Englishman, and Germans talk of running like a Dutchman!
Italians call syphilis “the French disease,” while both French and Italians call con games ‘American swindle’!” And this is a shorter version of the list which is a hoot in itself!

You know there are at least seven different ways of telling thank you or express gratitude in Japanese! Everyone knows Arigato gozaimasu! Which is Thank you! Then you have Domo arigato gozaimashita or Thank you very much Followed by Hontoni arigato gozaimasu or Thank you so much!
Again this is an example of a quirk in one language! The book is full of such interesting and many times funny quirks!

He talks about Ellipses, Split infinitive, he tells about the ancient language and about how English has come from the Germanic language. He talks about how Websters dictionary came about in the way he mentioned history in his previous book and then adds the history about the most famous dictionary, The Oxford English Dictionary!

He explains how there were a group of great leaders and thinkers who wanted the pronounciation oriented spelling of words! Greats like Napolen and more recently George Bernard Shaw! In fact his property and will was to have used in the development of this! Like if you want to say Deaf then the spelling in direct pronounciation would be DEF! Psycho must be Siko! Of course it would have been a great step but sadly it was not to be! To know English you must learn the pronounciation and not just read (REED if pronciation proper spelling!). After you read this you tend to wonder why many want to make English so damn hard!

He talks about the fact that the plural of child is not childs but children! Apparently even the plural of many words was similar, like the physical of house was not houses but housen! It’s a mystery of what the letters which come after Q in queue are doing there in the first place! How p is silent in psycho but loud in protest! Of the 26 letters of the alphabet according to Bill Bryson in the book not even a single letter is consistent when it comes to pronounciation!

English may be one of the most common language spoken around the world which is why it has so many words from other languages! You have shampoo from India and Ketchup from China! Even the word Bankrupt is from Italian Banca Rotta! Where in the days of open banking, a failed banker’s bench or Banca would be Rotta or broken! In fact till 1300 or so only the poor or worker class people spoke English! The language of rich and famous was not English!

This and many other interesting facts and quirks specially about GB Shaw and the author’s favourite Shakespeare (here also he states the different spelling); in fact he states so much about him that I understood how he ended up writing a complete big book about Shakespeare!

With all the quirks and facts and trivia, Bill takes you on a journey of a lifetime! Never a dull moment and yes he talks about the favourite word of Americans and their contribution (starts with F!) and many more! He also added some trivia and clues for cryptic crosswords and palindrome and anagram and what not! That reenergised my love for the Hindu crossword!

Just listen with an eclectic mind (I just added that word there for fun!)

Happy reading or listening but remember what Jack used to tell in Will and Grace, “You may have a large vocabulary but a small DICtionary!” Sorry for the pun but it was too hard to resist!

Have fun!

Audio book
Non Fictional Genre but as fun as a non fiction can be!
Listening time-around 15 hours! But if you increase the speed to 1.2 the time taken is reduced so much without affecting the understanding! This is just my personal experience though! You can increase or not depending on your personal preference!

Rating 5/5; for the narration and for the amazing facts! For the quirky tales in between and for making it so riveting!

Nothing about universe is how he starts the big journey ahead! Bill knows it’s a long and arduous task indeed and even then he starts slow!
How the book starts just made me hooked so much that I was planning to finish this rather that Kabir Bedi’s juicy book! This was equally interesting!

See the words how it begins; “To begin with, for you to be here now trillions of drifting atoms had somehow to assemble in an intricate and intriguingly obliging manner to create you. It’s an arrangement so specialized and particular that it has never been tried before and will only exist this once. For the next many years (we hope] these tiny particles will uncomplainingly engage in all the billions o f deft cooperative efforts necessary to keep you intact and let you experience the supremely agreeable but generally underappreciated state known as existence.”

He talks about the how we are such a tiny speck in the universe! How even our own solar system shown in our school projects mislead us so much! The planet are just a small part of the huge system which is mostly empty space! He talks about Big Bang Theory, he talks about singularity and many such technical terms which he introduces and explains as simply as possible.

He then moves on to Pluto and it’s story on how it became a planet and how it’s an odd planet and still debate continues! How Americans wanted Pluto which is why it became the planet in the first place! Venetia Katharine Douglas Burney was a 11 year old girl who won close to 450 USD for knowing some Greek mythology! She suggested that the planet X or the ninth planet which was discovered in 1920s be named Pluto!

Finding the radiation noise is a very interesting piece of trivia which is very famous in the physics world! How a group of scientists worked so much to find the radiation noise only to have been accidentally discovered by those who did not even understand what they found! Reminds me of the episode of Big Bang Theory where a scientist duo will prove string theory and they did not even know what it was in the first place! In real life though the discoverers get the Noble!

Bill talks about the vastness of planet then sun then solar system then galaxy and finally the universe making us very small indeed!

In every scientist or great person he talks about the quirks and the little known trivia like about Isaac Newtons Alchemy connection or about Haley and his comet or about those several scientists which are a lot to name!

So many story lines though fact are reserved for those who work so hard without any reward or recognition of their work! In fact he gives so many examples in this and in one chapter concludes how we are not a society who praise talent or new discovery!

Then he speaks about the famous doctor Parkinson and his other contribution including being accused of assassination! Of course Bill shifts from one scientist to another is rapid succession either describing one who is brilliant but under appreciated or someone who does little but gulps all the credit! It is an unfair world indeed!

He talks about dinosaurs and their origin and the nomenclature! He talks about physics and chemistry and the rise as a field then he talks about Geology with more passion moving on to palaeontology in between giving us facts about History with so much spice thrown in that it sounds like gossip and so very interesting to say the least!

The most dull subjects in most books like Jared Diamond or even our rock star’s Yuval Noah (though Sapiens was equally interesting!) has been remixed by Bill to make it extremely palatable which is a great feat indeed!

He talks about how earth is a dangerous place describing the volcano and the dangerous quakes and describing them in detail akin to a thriller! He talks about the continents drift theory, about the age of the earth and about the evolution of man! All these are dealt with so many interesting stories that you would simply wish that it will never end! Alfred Wegener; does the name ring a bell? Well he proposed that Earth’s continents move very slowly. Over millions of years they can move a long way. Between 1912 and 1929 he published a stream of fossil and rock evidence to support his theory! This was the origin of the continental drift theory which is very well accepted today! But alas, Wegener was ridiculed and his theory was strongly rejected by everyone at that time! So the major intelligent minds of that era rejected the theory which is true! After reading this I say to myself what a remarkable story! Better than a Greek tragedy and true!

He talks about lead and the power of the oil corporates! Clair Cameron Patterson in an effort to guage the age of the Earth wanted to have a clean rock! Clean meant at that time LEAD free! Yes, lead is everywhere! In fact it is responsible for many diseases, memory loss and environmental damage! So his lab was one of the cleanest place!

He talks about different ancestors of earth and how humans may be just born in the last minute or so of the earth total life! How many many species are now extinct only because of the most dangerous animal in the world; the Homo sapiens!
He talks about Java man and about Lucy! So many facts and true trivia is thrown in every line and page that you will enjoy it to the zenith!

Of course many time he would state that we do not know much! He also gets into medicine and throws some light though the amateurishness comes out so I am guessing that others who are involved in their respective field may also feel that Bill has dumbed it down a little too much! But hey it works and how!

Richter magnitude scale and Richter’s magnitude scale – is a measure of the strength of earthquakes, developed by Charles Francis Richter and Beno Gutenberg. Since it’s a log scale, an earthquake measuring 5.0 releases 31 times more energy than an earthquake measuring 4.0! But this is not an actual scale! In fact the original scale did not even catch magnitude of less than 4.5! So now a modern method of measuring is used but still it is reported as Richter scale since that’s more familiar! Even when there are changes no one can separate Richter from earthquakes because he earnestly made the effort!

One interesting story; Richard Owen came up with the name dinosaur in 1841 to describe the fossils of extinct reptiles. He coined the word by combining the Greek words “deinos”, which means terrible, and “sauros”, which means lizard! Now before you give respect to him you must also know that he had made no actual discovery himself! In fact the first dinosaur bone was discovered by another anatomist Mantell who met with an accident and got crippled. Owen then started reclaiming and renaming the fossils discovered by Mantell!

He says about two great contributors of evolutionary biology starting with Charles Darwin just when I thought I knew all his stories! But the way Bill tells some of his stories and how his famous book rather than being relegated in a corner was published! This section is a must read!
He then talks about Gregor Mendel who like most great discovery in the book was under appreciated when he was alive so that he left his work and was made an abbot!

Every other great person like Newton or Einstein are mentioned and summarised as soon as possible in between he also describes so many astronomers, scientists and geologists and explorers! It is a wild adventure indeed and you feel so bad when it ends!

Sir ISAAC NEWTON one of the most brilliant minds of the universe used to get up in the morning and wonder who he is and how did he get there! When they later analysed his hair they found so much mercury! An absent minded genius!
He tells how Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev is known as the founder of the periodic table! And how he gets it! Another interesting story line to hold your attention and how.
He talks about squid and how you have never seen them alive! About how little we know about whales and about how water has a special property which makes it perfect for us!
How everything is so perfect for earth to have life and how a small difference in distance would have made a huge impact!

Even if the summary is so long, believe me every page is a treasure house of information and will entertain you like no other!

He ends on a solemn note about the dodo bird and about how we take our position in the chain granted! It is a final call to humans to stop trying to destroy life and otherwise!

Just go for it!

Stories I must tell; the emotional life of an actor by Kabir Bedi

Audiobook

Non fiction

Genre- auto biography

Spoilers None which is not available in the magazines and Wikipedia!

Rating 5/5 for the language and sequence, 3/5 for the truth, 2/5 for some parts which blur the line between reality and imagination! Over all 3/5 because just like a Chetan Bhagat novel, once your expectations are so low then the only was to go is up! Though this one is better than CB’s last torture!

Listening time over 9 hours!

Simple language mixed with so poetry here and there and some prose to give it a literary weight! Sometimes it works while many times I used to feel Kabir Just get to the point!

Kudos to have bared it in the open! The affairs and the sleeping around and the stories About his love life and wives!

The best part and section of the book which has been dealt with the best emotional treatment is the tragic story of his son Siddharth which could not have been easy. Simply to read this section you can read (or listen as the case maybe!) the whole book!

In a more or less chronological approach Kabir starts with his early childhood where his parents were apparently poor! His close friends were at some point Rajiv And Sanjay Gandhi and he used to do horse riding with them! He also went to prestigious schools and finally got a job first in DD then in AIR! As AIR reporter he got the scoop of his life when he could interview the Beetles! Of course it was done with great effort but AIR kept it low profile and lost the tape! So good bye delhi! The description of Beetles interview is gold mine for fan like Kabir and me though! How he managed it is a big scoop though!

So he left delhi because he was fed up of the Bureaucracy in both DD and AIR and the rest of the book and his story is just about how he met, married or lived together and finally left the many women in his life! How he managed to have a connection with every one of them and how he fell in love with many of them and how after some time they drifted away!
Also being fed up with the bureaucracy is everyone’s life story but not many have much choice…

To bare it all in the open takes guts and I am sure Kabir has reached a point in his life where he simply does not care what you think! That’s good because anyone who reads about his affairs and marriage and divorces may not have much thought left! Or for that matter any brain! It is like ok, now his current wife is this person and after some time it is another!

His heartfelt tribute to his mother who herself has at least three biographies written on her and her freedom fight and her Buddhist nature is filled with true pride. His description on how his father aka Baba Bedi is the direct descendant of Guru Nanak and how even he after the being a freedom fighter and an advisor to the Abdulla of Kashmir finally became an actual Baba after undergoing a spiritual transformation just like his mother! After that he developed healing powers and divine intuition which Kabir explains with many examples though being a Modern Medicine practitioner is a little difficult for me to swallow! But that’s their story and Kabir’s narrative so what you or me feel does not make any difference as I mentioned before!

He gives a passing mention about his first love in delhi who shall remain nameless and then he goes on to explain all his relations which are quite a lot! My personal opinion is that the nameless person was his first and may be the only true love and all others are just rebounds!

So first he meets Protima and elevates her to a big diva, he does the same to Parveen Babi also by the way! The after a roller coaster marriage and love the diva has a sudden fall from grace! It is a purely single point of view opinion so difficult to have a neutral opinion! Imagine that when he married Protima he was having an affair with a married lady and he apparently did not want to lose that special bond! Then when he had the affair with Parveen he was married to Protima (though he says it was an open marriage on the verge of collapse which he saved twice!)!

In between he speaks about this magnum opus called Sandukan which is a big TV series in Italy and Italy is one place and country where he is very popular and has saved him many times over! I had never heard of this before so it was new to me and interesting! In fact he was so famous in Italy that no one knew Parveen!

He also mentions many Bollywood and Hollywood people who have done many things and are very famous and popular! It is a big list which you must read the book to know!
He tells about his life in Italy then America and then UK and of course India.
After Parveen gets unstable and moves of his life he has a marriage with Nikki Bedi (she was married at the time! Yes, its bizarre!) which also gets under stress when her popular show gets cancelled (everyone in India will know that incident!). Me thinks that when money is good and you are happy then marriage is cool but when stressed then everything falls apart! Just like everyone else! Finally proving that for all the big height and great look and diction and ancestry; even Kabir is a mere mortal just like you and me!

Before Nikki there was one more wife who is an American and they have a son Adam also; apart from this Protima had two kids Pooja and Sidharth.

If you love reading movie magazines and seeing soap operas then this is gold for you! Go for it! There is so much juice very similar to a gossip magazine like Mayapuri though Kabir tries to be honest!

In one of the chapter he talks about his belief system and gives a monologue on different religions so I have a feeling that he may very soon become a saint! Of course that is after his latest marriage to someone 30 odd years younger to him and that is of course his business so please don’t judge!

He talks about many movies and series and that was a good walk down the memory lane!

Rest assured the book is a juicy page turner and you just can’t stop till you finish it! Read it for fun! Read it even otherwise! It light, its well written, its narrated in his amazing voice and when you compare with your own life; you may end up feeling good! Or bad! None of my emotional business!!

Audible audiobook

Listening time around 7 hours

Diction and language simple English with few technical jargon in between

Non fiction genre

Rating- as a book of history of currency 3/5 as a bitcoin reference book 3.5/5

The author states that this is not the definitive book on Bitcoin but only a book which introduces on why and how Bitcoin are the currency of the future with the central theme that it is not controlled by the central Banking.

It could very well have been called Gold Standard because as far as the author is concerned, gold is the best currency for generations and goes on to compare bitcoin to gold!

Introduction on how bitcoin was invented and gives us some trivia which would be juicy for the tech geeks though it’s something which they would know already! A short introduction is given on how it is mined (this term was very confusing to me and it still is since we always think about the actual mining!). He goes on to introduce on what to expect by frankly stating that he is just An economist with engineering background.

He starts by the history of currency and chief features of currency or legal tender on how it can be
Perishable vs non perishable or Movable vs non movable which good examples!

Story of limestone stock and glass beads as currency. This is probably one of the most interesting part of the book! He mentions the old currency and how they were followed for a long time and how it got wasted or corrupted or lost its value! This is obviously a bed for shining light on the good property of Bitcoin!

Then gold copper and silver are introduced as mode of exchange with benefits and disadvantages of either! He mentions how governments keep gold in bank and release money for gold but then they dilute the value which is not good! He gives the example of how billionaire buys copper and loses but how this can never happen to Gold! On how gold can withstand the fall.
He then mentions how the currency of A state or country linked to gold can still be controlled by the king or the government and how many kings started underscoring the coin and basically reduced their value! In this he gives special mention of how Constantinople survived its currency for a long time and this along with gold is a baseline of a stable currency!
India and China’s dependence on Silver as their reserve automatically reduced their value in time and that was a big reason why their currency is lower placed!

Paper money is your money but controlled by the government so one fine day all the hard cash you have with you can be turned into paper by a simple law of the government!

He proceeds further and explains how the actual reason of worldwar 1 is monetary and if not for US support it would have ended then and there!
In fact after the war many countries lost their monetary value though the maximum brunt was felt by the ones who lost the war! He then mentions how for the first time in history President Nixon defaulted on the gold value of dollar when countries started taking back their gold reserves!

All this finally to get the conclusion that Bitcoin is not centrally controlled!

Remarkable ability of gold to hold it’s place is a constant theme in almost every section and he also gives the famous Marsh mellow and cookie experiment which is about immediate low gratification vs long term more gain! Which is indirectly inked to Time limit and tolerance!
Kenynesian economy is a terminology thrown multiple times which is apparently opposite of the communist economy and it is understood that the author leans towards the former!
He also states on how control by the central bank of currency will always lead to recession; he states this by giving an example of a developer and builder of an apartment with Reserve money which leads to Running out of money and building only half flat but still it can be managed of course!

Swiss bank; which was one of the last institutions not to be linked to international economy after linking to IMF lead to unemployment which was less than 1 before the tie up!
He also states that Conquest is not good even in history since sooner or later you will run out of money so in that case Defensive war is better! In that he concludes that 21st century was most dangerous!

He finally concludes that in any job and especially jobs which have an asshole boss is bad since the fear and desperation will never lead to any positive outcome! And the most important point he mentions according to me is how the public sector banks or banks supported by a central bank are the worst! They do not have to worry about any profit and every loss is absorbed by the government which in turn leads to recession!

The final section goes on to Bitcoin proper on initially payment is done normally and that Cash is fast, quick and safe but has its limitation so the other form is third party in one way or the other and in that trust is a huge factor!
Then he tells how Bitcoin are limited currency which cannot be produced more if you need so there will not be any recession! How it is not controlled by the central government but how he urges that even banks must start to maintain a Bitcoin account so that they do not miss the train to the future! He also states how Bitcoin cannot be hacked since it would take so much more effort and resource and the end result without POW is useless! POW is proof of work which has to be authenticated by a group who are paid for it and they will also never be hacked! Also how the cluster size is fixed and that the original Bitcoin can be modified but that will lead to another currency so it is better to not modify it! Since it is not controlled by a person or a group or even the government; it may be the best currency ever! All attempts are modifying, altering or even changing the cluster size have been unsuccessful even after it was inverted in 2009-10!

All in all a good summary of Bitcoin and one of the initial book if you are interested in money! It however does not tell you about how to invest or how to trade and many other technical aspects which the author explain is beyond the scope of the book!

Read it for some nice trivia on the history of money, silver, gold and finally Bitcoin!