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Book review

Audio Book version listened via Storytel

Average running time around 4-5 hours

Book rating-5/5 depending on your state of mind to 3/5!

Accompanying ebook is helpful to understand the exercises given in the end

Book genre is Self help book on long life

There is this island in Japan where the average life span is highest in the world! So the authors got together to investigate this and other similar places to understand why and how they live so long!

So what does Ikigai mean? It is apparently a Japanese concept which roughly translates into the happiness of being busy!

It essentially means that once you find your Ikigai then you will always live and live long! So the aim of everyone in life is to find his or her Ikigai and follow it!

The first thing what the author tells you is that you must never retire! You must not stop doing things you love! The authors give lots of examples of people who love what they do and keep doing it for as long as they can and in true sense of work, never retire!

Now Okinawa holds the first place in the Blue zone or place where the lifespan of people is the longest! The other places are Okinawa as described most in the book, Sardinia in Italy, Loma Linda in California, The Nicosia Peninsula of Costa Rica and Ikaria in Greece!

Subsequently the authors examine all the above places and in special concentration to Okinawa to try to unearth the secret of living long!

They further go on to give examples of people like the famous Japanese director who used to write and direct movies in the old style even when he retired! They also mention about the author Murakami how he has close ties only with few people and other times he is fully immersed with his work! That may bring up so much of issues but then that is their opinion!

The major part of the novel is of course the experiences of visiting the long life village!
The very plain village is presented in such a way that you can imagine people getting up and just being busy! Like how an old grandpa more than 100 years old gets up in the morning and goes to his kitchen garden and after one hour of gardening takes his own vegetable and makes breakfast and basically keeps himself busy! Playing game or doing karaoke or dancing and celebrating 100 years birthday like a teenage kid!

After telling about regular things like diet which must include fresh vegetables and fruits and natural ones, they of course tell you to work out in one way or other!
One important thing they mentioned is how to eat till you are 80 percent full and stop! That essentially means you avoid desserts! It also means that you must take small portions in small plates which is the traditional Japanese way of serving food!

Then the author gives some steps on the famous styles of ancient exercise starting with Radio taiso including giving the essential steps which is in the accompanying ebook, then they tell you about Yoga and give steps of Surya Namaskaram, then tai chi and different styles of tai chi enumerating the basic steps and principles, then they tell about qigong or chi Kung which has some special benefits which are again enumerated including improved cardiac function and lower BP! Finally they describe Shiatsu. All these requires the ebook for better understanding but it is one of the best summarisation of these practices I have ever seen!
They also talk about resilience and meditation!

It is understood that the novel is not a one time read but a reference book which you may have to grab when you feel low or heavy so to speak!
The final end points are to stop snacking between meals, eat sweets only once a week, gradually pay of all debts, avoid spending time with toxic people!, do things you enjoy!

In essence the authors are telling you keep yourself surrounded with good friends and thoughts! Eat good food, work or work out, have no stress and try to live as close to nature as possible!

Happy long life!…I mean read!

The slow narration though put me to sleep many times! Not intended to listen while driving after a meal!

Read by the author himself and produced by Harper Audio

Book Review

Rating- 5/5 for the concept 4/5 for the execution 3/5 for the abrupt conclusion

Genre- Non fiction possibly self help

Dan Ariely begins with the end in mind! The author is a self made man and possibly a devout catholic with the way he holds on to Bible and the Ten Commandments! Though he mentions he is an Israeli! I am a big fan of the Israeli Novelist Yuval Noah Harari and this can explain my bias to another one of the same country!

This book was referred to me by my senior and now mentor in audio book, Dr Vinod Nadig ; a big thanks to him!

Dan was a survivor of a burns injury and he begins by describing his ordeal and survival and how the very fact that his dressing change made him think about whether the removal of dressing fast and rapid is the way to go or to remove it slowly! When he presented this finding to the nursing staff, they told him that it was a painful experience to them also! That very fact actually escaped his mind! Though he still felt that his way was better! Personally being a doctor, I would have been more happy if he had given more compliments to them for having treated him rather than blaming them in every possible way in subsequent chapters! But of course this was in 2008 and I am hopeful that after COVID his opinion would have rationally changed!

Having got that out of my mind lets dive into the book!

He begins by stating how people often select irrationally or make irrational choices when it comes to making decision of money! How many times the choices are there as a decoy! He begins with an example of a subscription package of a paper where he is presented with three choices, one online for 60 or so dollars, one only print for 125 dollars and final for both combined at 120 or so dollars! He was tempted like all of us for the one with combined one since that was middle ground! Then he understood that the extreme option was a decoy!

Like many authors even he mentions Daniel Kahneman and his works in these area and also mentions a similar finding! At this point I was glad that I read Daniel Kahneman’s book Thinking fast and slow which seems to be the final reference point for many!

Then he mentions how when you are offered some extreme offers you tend to go for the middle ground! How when you see the most costly item in the menu you go for the second costliest patting yourself for a decision well made when in fact that was the decision which was thrust upon you!

He then debunks the myth of supply and demand giving examples of Tahitian Black Pearl and Starbucks coffee on how once the anchor price point is set then you accept them in a higher price bracket when they may not be so!

He then moves on my favourite topic! The free or zero concept! You must understand that nothing in the world is free! If it is free then you are the product! He states that the word free gives us a big emotional charge and clouds our judgement so much that we end up making bad choices just to get something which we really do not want for free!
He illustrates this with an experiment of chocolates and that’s a very interesting experiment!

He then moves on to the social and friendly factor; on how many things which you may not do by getting paid, you may do for free because that is a part of social norm! How some work gets negative impact if you get paid for it! He states by telling a thanksgiving party story on how the son in law makes a payment for the mother in law on her excellent meal! Here he introduces the concept of social norms and market norms giving clear examples on how to keep them apart!

Then he moves on to how emotions play a big role in decision making which is eerily similar to what Daniel Kahneman mentions in his book! His next chapter on procrastination and self control is an extension of that very concept though he calls it cool and hot state! A similar analogy was used by Mark Manson in his book Subtle art!

He then tells us about this interesting phenomenon called the endowment effect! How a partial ownership of a product makes us do anything and everything to keep it to ourself! How we value our things higher than the buyer! He illustrates this with an example of Game ticket! He also mentions how we bid in an auction and get partial ownership which makes us keep the product as if it belongs to us! It’s how we get to try a product or a subscription free for few days and then we get ownership and subsequently it’s difficult to let go! This is a very interesting and true phenomenon!

He then tells us about the effect of expectation that shapes stereotypes and how prior information affects our decision!
The next chapter is my favourite in which he describes the power of placebo and he dives into the medical world with gusto giving examples to support his viewpoints though I felt this was biased and one sided! He also mentions how costlier medication and medications which have a Pre determined notion are more effective! This is of course true to a point but I can personally assure Mr Ariely that when you buy Generic drugs in India, the amount of active salt will be less! So take it at your own risk!

He of course gives very good examples of the placebo effect and the effect of prior knowledge and how many times you can get better with placebo!
In the end like many authors though Dan does gets his own opinion in between and that tends to dilute the sanctity of a non fiction book! He tells how people are honest and dishonest to a limit and how cash makes people more honest and how when the mode of consult is not cash then people tend to get more dishonest!

The selling point of the book was how he stated that a 5 cent aspirin is less effective than 5 dollar aspirin which gets to the catchphrase of the book on how people are Predictably Irrational!
His experiments are real nice and the way he used to tell he results made us wait with held breath! In the end he also invites people to be a part of his experiments! Somehow though I cannot but feel that his experiments are limited and Biased to begin with! Human mind is a complex mixture of an array of emotions and the only thing rational about human brain is it’s unpredictable nature! Of course that only my own predictably rational view!

The audio book is a breeze to listen and in less than five hours which is just three days of drive you can complete this one!

Check it out if you are a non fiction listener! Or if you are unpredictable then check it out anyway!

Book Review

Genre- Non Fiction self help book

Rating- The rating of any self help book depends on the mood of the reader! When he or she is in need of help then its 5/5 and when he or she feels that he or she does not need any help then its much less!
Since my mood was fluctuating the rating remains average though this particular book does not need any rating! This along with the book called How to win friends are the Bible for management gurus and studies all over! Motivational speakers all over the world especially in English would have read it over and over!

This book has sold more than 25 million copies and the Audio book is the first non fiction book to sell more than a million copies!
The book begins with a introduction on how it was written ages ago but the principles is still valid today and maybe forever!
He starts with the famous Goose that laid the golden egg stories goes to explain a theory of effectiveness called the P vs PC ratio. In that P is the preferred result and PC is the caring which gets the result.

The first three habits are told in such a way that they are dependent to each other and this is a real eye opener! The first habit is to be proactive or in better words taking control of your life and the second is an extension of this which urge you to begin with the end in mind! When you get these habits in place then you can get to choose which is first!

This third habit is familiar to many of us who have seen it in some management seminar or the board of a motivational speaker! This involves the classification of the work in a table! The first table is work which is both urgent and important which you must do as early as possible! The second is work which is important but not urgent which you must plan to do as soon as possible! The third is work which is urgent but not important which you must delegate without delay! While the last is work which is not urgent and neither important! This must be eliminated as soon as possible!

The first three habits are like things which you must develop within while the other habits are in your interaction with others!
Which brings us to the fourth habit called the Win win! This implies that you must always try to have a win win deal with others which is the only effective way to deal! That is the only situation where everyone is happy!

Of course to do this you must go to the next habit which is to understand others! See the point of view of others! Then you will be in a position to make your point put across so that the other person can understand you! This is apparently greatly emphasised in the Greek Philosophy as Ethos, Pathos and Logos! In short you must be empathetic!

Once you master the above then you can go for the next habit which is Synergize! Which is of course a cool term for team work! And finally you have the habit of Sharpen the saw or continuous growth!

In between all these Covey gives amazing narration from his own experience on how he delegated the lawn cleaning work to his son and how it faltered at first but then picked up! How his attention to his younger son gets a surprising response from his elder son! How many of his participants interact with him! How he demonstrated the win win situation! How he had a very healthy relationship of trust and open talk with his wife!

He also gives importance in one of the habits on the importance of physical exercise and how at least one hour a day must be reserved for that! Then he also gives us examples of many great thinkers and of stories which he comes across while doing his presentation much like the book how to win friends! You can understand that the author is a laid back teacher like god fearing person and this is a sermon of sorts but for the modern times!

It is a good read and as audio book a great book to listen to especially during the long drives of Bengaluru traffic! This 16 hours mammoth finished so fast that like a good movie which you want to end but when it does you miss it!

Give it a go if you have not read or listened to it especially while you are doing some other work and the soothing voice of the narrator will be helpful without a doubt!

Happy reading or listening!!

Book Review

No spoilers

Audible version! 17 hours running time!

Rating- 4.5/5 for this summary of history of the world!

Jared is a Pulitzer Prize winner and this book is one of TIME’s best non-fiction books of all time!

Just how Daniel Kahneman had mention of Amos in his very famous book Thinking, Fast and Slow; Jared here speaks about a politician called Yali whose question is the one which made him set on a voyage of writing this novel!

Even Jared himself states that though this is a short history of everybody for the last 13000 years, even if the book is a mammoth 450 pages edition with small print; it can still narrate only a part of the beast that is history!

Of course Jared gets this own take on how the three important things Guns, Germs and Steel in different combination and in different places had a big influence on the human civilisation!

This is not a bedtime story for kids! Though if you do read it in the night you can be sure to sleep like a baby due to its very slow pace and content! The first time I got the paper back edition I stopped after thirty pages! Then I got the e book version and stopped after fifty pages! That was three years back!

Finally got the audible edition and then finally I finished it and how! I cannot state more times that audio books are the next thing! I used to love the feel of books and that’s how I used to read them! Then Sony ebook reader and later on Kindle made me realise that ebook were better and easier with some compromise!
Now audio books and Bangalore traffic are like two negatives which has become a big positive for me! Two months and I have already finished more than five long books! This particular book is 17 hours long which is typically five day trip to work and back in Bangalore traffic!

Now coming to the book proper;

Jared mentions about the Homo Sapiens and other ancient species like Erectus and others and then goes to describe a battle between two tribes called the MORIORI and MAORI of New Zealand and how one tribe dominated another.

Most of his findings do go close to New Guinea and Australia and New Zealand where he has spend considerable time is my first guess!
What I was impressed even in the ebook was the battle of CAJAMARCA! The way he described it was so surreal. This example will be repeated in the book in different concept. In this case it was how steel made them win the war and in another how germ won the battle! Most of the time Jared gives excellent examples how Germ or Gun or Steel (meaning weapon) are one of the three most definitive determinants of which civilisation will thrive!

This is not a book where you remember things like a story but a reference manual which your will go back to refer!
So you have reference to how animals became domesticated and how many animals such as giraffe or zebra or cheetah cannot be domesticated or tamed!
The same with the plants which were actually wild to begin with and then they were domesticated with lots of interesting titbits in between! Such as how bitter almonds are actually toxic and poisonous and how they have been domesticated to be able to be eaten finally!

The same with mushroom and other vegetables!

He also mentions things like how big animals are difficult to domesticate not because their meat is not good where he adds that even lion meat is good by his own experience (that was a bit off for e though!). He did mention rare example of big animals getting tamed but that is rare and not perfectly tame in such as that they can become wild anytime!

He then traces many tribes who by virtue of germs, steel or gun got the upper hand and lived behind to write the history so to speak! Sometimes distance between two tribes does not make a difference while many times the distance is the only limiting factor!

He gives us glances of the Fertile Crescent and china and Africa and other places which were initially fertile and ripe so to speak before being converted to barren land of today! Then he also states how the unity of a country may sometimes impede development while sometimes it may help.

He talks about the Bantu tribes and their conquest and then about Japanese with other country coming in between as guest appearances!

The diction in Audio book is very pleasant and you will have no difficulty in understanding finally why this book is a big deal!
I am just happy that I could finish this behemoth and now I can take more!
Have fun…Listening!

Book Review

Non fiction self help book

Rating- 5/5 in the past ad 3/5 in the future!

Of all the self help book or management training or Human Resource training are more or less based on this grand daddy of self help books!

Many of the early morning supposedly pep up messages or forwards which follow the photo of a flower or a baby or forest or some kid climbing the nearest tree and what not can be traced back to the principles highlighted in this book.

No wonder that with over 30 million copies sold, it is one of the highest or best selling books of all time!

I am sure most of the self help gurus especially the current star Mark Manson would have brushed through this book to write his one or give a talk on self help!

Now after that foundation lets come to Whats in the book and later on give a few pointers on what I think of the book! For a proper summary you can follow the Wikipedia page of the book which gives a good summary of the chapter with a neutral view point.

So the book starts with an introduction on how this one will help you with your life and who all can benefit by reading this book. I am not a non fiction reader and since this was audio book, it was much better to digest! The narrator was someone who I am sure is old and wise by voice and his diction was slow, meticulous and soothing! This of course may be my Mark Manson bias since this book was the next thing I heard after completing his two F@cked up (his words not mine!) book!

Then he moves on the things that matter to other people. How your behaviour and interest is all that matters. So the most basic thing you must understand is that if you want a person to like you or be your friend then you must genuinely be interested in him or her. You must place him or her in a pedestal of genuine appreciation and not flattery. Now that’s a thin line to tight walk and in real life may not be easy!

The author mentioned how the most important person for any person is himself or herself! No one is else is more important! That means that if you want to be in his or her good books then he or she must think in his or her perspective all the time!

Some important methodology highlighted are things like how those fast food joint employees do! Smile! All the time! He also gives examples of many people on each and every methodology he enumerates.  How a husband who was a grouch at first just started smiling at first at his wife and everyone else and it did wonders to him!

Then the other point is to be a listener! Sometimes all people want is someone to listen to and that’s all! Even if you just listen with interest and show a genuine smile then you will be called a great person to be with and a great conversationalist even if you did not speak a word!

A great thing he said in the book is that you do not have to win a debate! Even if you are right even then you must give the chance for the person who is wrong to save face and make amends! That’s a rare good advice!

One of the most important thing for any person is his or her name! So if you make an effort to learn the name properly then you may achieve great strides in the relationship arena!

One more thing I found nice in the book is to get answers in positive early on so that the final response is positive! Criticise only indirectly and praise more openly, be more receptive of other people thought and desire! Of course knowledge about that person whom you are going to meet is always helpful especially things which are close and important to him or her!

Basically be polite, don’t crib, smile all the time, be empathic to others feelings, do not point mistakes too much and try to be happy!

Of course all these are important and in real very essential but believe me I know many would have tried all these! People nowadays have become Pre trained in all these management and sales techniques. Being truthful most of the times results in problems which could have been avoided by a white lie and flattery gets you places in this world! Then again there are exceptions and you cannot have one rule for all!

Like every finger of our hand is different so are human beings! Emotional state of mind is like a flowing water which changes at every turn and when it hits a rock! So all we can do is that use our intelligence and emotional quotient in different proportions and act appropriately!

This book is the baseline reference which you can read when you are down to pep you up and face the world!

All the best then!

Everything Is F#cked: A Book About Hope is the third book by blogger and author Mark Manson

Book review

Genre Non fiction supposedly self help!

Spoilers- Nothing left to spoil! Everything is f#cked remember!?😀

Rating- 5/5 for the title, 4/5 for the starting and 2/5 for the rest of the book!

So Mark Manson wrote a blog literally saying F#ck you and it became a hit! Then he followed it up with a stretched out version of the same blog and lo! It also became a hit!

So now he has a big hit on his hands and he does not know what to do next!

So he does the next best thing which anyone will do! Read another actual blockbuster book with actual material and effort and make a synopsis of how you understood the book!
So the book he read among many others was Thinking, fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman and the way Daniel did extensive experiments to come to a realisation that we have two systems; Mark went one step further and told there are two brain! The thinking brain and the emotional brain and most of the book is an expansion of his interpretation of this theory!

Taking from one source is plagiarism while taking from many is research! Mark has done lots of research and how! Then just like the book How to win friends and influence people which is my current read, Mark gives accounts of successful people or famous people and tries to give his remix!

So Newtons life story becomes the start of his third chapter! This is after he tells the reader the uncomfortable truth that its difficult to just say F#ck all over and continue and then he adds that self control is an illusion which are his first two chapters! Then again you can feel this is what’s actually happening to him!

So he does not spare Newton and make up his laws of Emotions! (Clever remix I must say but then just because the lead in a movie is good does not mean the whole movie will be a hit!)

So in the next chapter he tells how to make dreams come true and in the very next one he says hope is F#cked!

Now some pages are left and he has to fill them up with things better than just F#ck which he did in the last novel so he takes on the Godmen and constructs a scheme on how to create a religion! Even Mark knows that religion is the only thing which can touch any nerve and he gives a step by step plan on how to go about it!

In between the thinking and feeling brain analogy comes and goes like a F@cked up cameo similar to a big star given guest appearance in a movie which has only one way to go: down!

Of course this counter intuitive look at life and giving no hoot is not new and this will be tried over and over again in the future but these like remixes cannot last for long!

Now I am not a big fan of non fiction book but I have made it a point to read some of them so that some reality kicks in! Only then I could get and discover gems like Homo Sapiens by Yuval Noah or Thinking by Daniel Kahneman and once in a while you do get Mark! Don’t get me wrong, the book is enjoyable and fast and does not stress you with too much philosophy (that will come in the next book I am sure!), but after a while you just want the book to end!

The best thing about the novel is still the fact that you feel good about reading Thinking, Slow and Fast by Daniel Kahneman!



This is frankly only my opinion and I am a minority because this is a very famous book and I am sure the next one will be out soon! And my guess is that that book will be named I am F#cked and so are you!

Luckily I got the audible version without paying a dime or else even I would have said everything is …!!


Have fun but don’t get carried away!

The Subtle art of not Giving a F by Mark Manson

Book Review

Non fiction apparent self help book!

Rating 5/5 for the start 2/5 for the end!

Spoilers- None! The title gives it away where the author is going!

Mark is a well known blogger with a shady past and not so clean teenage years. He was into meth by his own confession and never serious about life! This all changed when he had some eye opening incidents in his life which he describes in different chapters in the book.

Before his revelation he was a big cheat, a druggie and basically a big pain for everyone!

Two major events changed his life apparently, one was the loss of his friend Josh and the other when his girlfriend dumped him! Both changed his perspective of life and he got his life together!

So apparently his life was all F@@upped before so he got his life set and became a blogger and wrote about not giving a F!

The initial chapters are all about not giving a F! And since I was listening to audible, it was just a rant of F and F all over the room! It was like a teenager screaming the expletive over and over again till the time that it gets your attention at first and then the repetitive expletive loses its steam!

Apart from the two apparent major life story of the author like the losing of his friend and girlfriend and him getting caught with marijuana and his parents getting divorced; he also narrates some vague examples of other losers at first who then went on to become great!

One example was of the member of Metallica who was thrown out of the band to make megadeth but still was not happy in contrast to another original member of Beetles who was happy having a family and no fame!

His book starts with an example of a success which he goes to say is rare and real life is in fact, you guessed it F@@ed!
His obsession with the word F is so strong that he might as well have written F all over and it would have still made the same impact!

Any self help book is usually of two major type; one is positive reinforcement and the other is this! You tell that everyone is F@@ed so that you do not have to worry about your life and you can just appreciate it the way you are! It’s like when you are nervous on stage you can imagine the audience being naked and you will get confidence which is an old trick!

In second chapter called Happiness is a problem he tries to give an account of Gautam Buddha (getting the pronunciation and story wrong in the process!). He gives his take on what he understood of the story and gives his F@@ed up version!

In fact after the introduction you can get to know that the whole book loses steam and what could have been a mountain turns out to be a F@@ed up mole hill!

The best parts apart from the F word are the heading of chapters such as ‘you are not special’ or ‘you are wrong about everything’ or ‘failure is the way forward’ or finally ‘and then you die’.

The whole premise is to invite you for a seven course meal and then offer you F@@ed up sugar free lemonade!

This whole book could have been made into a blog which was how it started and it would have made more difference but then the word is a gold mine so it did make the best seller list and tons of money for the author! So in a way the book is way of saying F@@k you by making you spend for listening to it! Then again luckily I got the audible version via an offer by paying absolutely nothing so the jokes on you!

Read it just for fun! The whole book reminds me of an episode in Seinfeld where George adopts a new F@@k all attitude and then the whole world takes him seriously and he gets a good job and girlfriend! That was one episode since it had juice only for that much! It is also similar how in The Shawshank Redemption, Ellis is always rejected in parole board when he appears as a meek and changed individual while in the end in the interview he literally says F@@k you and gets the parole! It may not work all the time so don’t stretch it like this book!

Reduce your expectations and you might even enjoy this one! The audio moves very fast and this was over in just three days of driving to and from the office!

Enjoying audio books!

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

Book Genre – Non fiction

Rating- 4/5

This is one the few books I rate close to Homo Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harrari. Coincidently this author is also from Israel!

“It was the 2012 winner of the National Academies Communication Award for best creative work that helps the public understanding of topics in behavioral science, engineering and medicine” this is the description of the book in Wiki.

The book is an ode to his friend buddy and co researcher Amos Tversky and in many places he remembers Amos with so much pride and emotion that is is endearing that even in these days and times friendship is present!

Before you begin the book you must understand this basic theory which Daniel has namely that humans have two system of thought and response and he called them System 1 and System 2.
Now, whole through the book you will be made to realise that System one is the small inner child who jumps for the deal without a thought while system 2 is a mature adult who takes it own time to answer the thought or make a decision usually with logic!

It’s like life is a volleyball match and your body is actually two player who gets to decide in that instant who will take the ball! Now if the decision does not need too much thinking or logic like say 1 plus 1 then it’s system one which take the ball so to speak while if the decision is like driving a car or little more complex then its system 2 which takes over.
This whole system analysis is described by Daniel is a series of experiments and test elaborated very well in the book. My added advantage was that I heard the book in audible so it was relatively easier to understand! I earlier started reading this book via ebook when nothing entered my brain, system notwithstanding!

You will get many examples on when which system is active and when which system takes over! Listening to the examples while driving most of the information made sense and i knew that my system one was doing it when suddenly he will ask a complex question and I will realise that system two is taking over and I park the car to the side to be more attentive!

After introducing the basic he goes to the next section of Heuristic and Biases! It’s like how a child will identify an image as two whales and how an adult will think something else! Some concepts discussed in this are

Anchoring this was described in a series of examples! If you are asked whether this prisoner gets 10 years or so then the judge uses this anchor to give a judgement close to 10 while if you ask 5 then he or she will give a decision close to 5! It’s like when you raise the price of an object the given price will automatically be high! This is the way I understood this concept!

Availability is another concept in which if you know or have the data available of a particular thing in your mind then automatically it either becomes more common or important!

Substitution is a concept when you are asked to think about Linda a fictional character and you will either think or a commercial Bank or the bank of a river depending on your stimulation!

In Optimism and loss aversion he explains how people tend to over estimate benefits and underestimate loss! It’s like how you go one channelling money and resources over a failed project in the hope that it may recover while not trying anything new which can actually give benefit!

Framing; decision is heavily influenced by statements which are the same but you make completely different decision! Like if someone says that you have 90 percent chance of making profit then you will go ahead and invest but if someone says it will make 10 percent loss (which is the same statement!) then you may hesitate to invest! This is a common marketing ploy used worldwide!

These decision are a result of overconfidence and sunk cost and Daniel Kahneman’s opinions concerning overconfidence are influenced by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.

Kahneman developed prospect theory, the basis for his Nobel prize, to account for experimental errors he noticed in Daniel Bernoulli’s traditional utility theory. This was also a collaboration with Amos and here he tries to put forward his counter arguments!

His final chapters discussed things such as recent evidence which introduces a distinction between two selves, the ‘experiencing self’ and ‘remembering self. He ends by thinking about life and experiencing well being and thinking of his life as a story!

WHAT YOU SEE IF ALL THERE IS!
This is the primary theory!

This is a reference book of course and only a true economist will truly understand the contexts in the book though many controversies have also been apparently raised by the book!

In the end since this was my first audible which ran for over 17 hours which in real life would have taken me ages to read I finished in a matter of a week!

I suggest you also do the same!

TENET



Ten in either direction! That’s the simplest explanation of Tenet; a complex mixture of science fiction and physics!



As Neil starts to explain in the movie, every body has something called entropy and that moves in one direction or forward! When you have a machine which can invert this flow then theoretically you can reverse time! With me so far? Now, time travel is the most debated and interesting thing for every scientist and movie maker and though you have the fan favourite Back to the future, it has since been proven to be scientifically inaccurate!



The simplest explanation is as told in the movie and in the series Flash, going back in time does not change your past but actually creates a new future and a parallel timelines which may or may not meet! Then you have the famous Grand father paradox where you cannot in fact go back to past to kill your grandfather since that will mean that you will not be born to do that!



One thing is very consistent in that if you do manage to go back in time you must make sure that you do not make major changes because that will cause major errors in the homeostasis of the natural order! Also make sure that you do not encounter yourself in the past because that will cause a major déjà vu error similar to the déjà vu in Matrix and that will be catastrophic!



Then you have Maxwell’s demon which was on the first instances where the second law of thermodynamics where you have the description of the increase of entropy in an irreversible process.



Basically it means that matter and time moves only in the single forward direction and cannot be reversed which essentially means that time travel is not possible since the matter has already been gone to the next process. To change or revert back that time we need to process the matter in the reverse which is a cumbersome process indeed! Not everything can be fixed with a feviquick!



Now you must know about Feynman and Wheeler’s notion of one electron universe which was cleverly mentioned in the movie! This is in reference to the notion that electron may not move in one direction or maybe if has a counter which is the direct opposite or POSITRON which may be moving in reverse or inverted direction!



Finally a common point is when matter and anti matter comes together it causes a total destruction of earth or maybe universe as we know it! That’s a annihilation much like the band which made waves and disappeared just so fast! You can find mention of this even in Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons! Dan Brown is to novels what Nolan is to movies!



Time slowing or reversing paradox which has been the context in even his earlier movies like Inception and Interstellar! In inception dreaming within a dream causes alteration of actual time and it actually slows down in the real time! In Interstellar, the time in earth years goes in a different speed when compared to time in a body close to a black hole! So one year in that planet close to black hole can be ten or more earth years!



So after slowing time in his previous movies, Nolan goes one step forwards by making time go back! But it is not a simple placing date and time and year on a machine and going back as if you are visiting a country!

But in Tenet you need a device which inverts time so that when you reach a place out of the machine you can literally see time going backwards! And everything is inverted!

Here you cannot breath the atmospheric air and you need to wear a mask which can facilitate your inverted lungs to breath! So if it was not COVID, if you see anyone in a mobile mask then probably he is from the future!

The whole thing of course begins when the protagonist finds a invert bullet and then rest as they say is history or future since its TENET!

Two things which you must be aware now is the TURNSTILE and TEMPORAL PINCER MOVEMENT! The former is the time machine device which makes you go back in time in an inverted manner and this was the best revelation when in the end you see the protagonist fighting himself and the latter in a simultaneous amalgamation of inverted and non inverted people!



Finally you come to the same old story of a hero or protagonist or even like Sarah Connor in terminator who has been in touch with someone in the future and you have the actual Bond villain like dude who wants to just end the world! The basic story is the same! It is a race against time to stop our villain Sator from pushing the doomsday switch or annihilation!



Most of the chief names and terminology in the movie is a clever palindrome! Like the movie starts in a OPERA while the leading lady has a an affair with a man called AREPO! Then SATOR is the chief villain and the vault is in a place called ROTAS! Then of course you have TENET which is essentially ten in either direction meeting in the middle! This can be a indication to the theory that time can also move in either direction!



So that movie starts with the Opera and ends with Sator! The protagonist is saved in the beginning of the movie and in the end by Neil which is like a time repeating itself analogy!



In summary you have this, the hero accidentally discovers an inverted bullet from the future and then he is recruited by an agency to stop the super villain Sator before he makes more changes to the entropy of the system and causes an annihilation!



Happy complicated viewing!

Covid diary phase 2

This is the most important phase of COVID

The second week of COVID is when the complications are coming more and more. Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind is a great thing but being doctors were well aware of this and sometimes knowledge causes fear!

The reason Knowledge causes fear is that no one has complete knowledge. In spite of this dreaded pandemic being there for more than a year now, frankly though, no one has a clear idea on the proper treatment of COVID.

We treat the complications and symptoms of COVID but there is no proper treatment of COVID! Hence the fear which is actually a big issue in the treatment of COVID had crept in slowly.

So while we had this big problem of managing two kids and being isolated from each other since even though we were positive we could not be together as it increases the viral load.

Of course division of labour was something which was going on for the past one year, we cannot be working full time since it was tiring. So while breakfast and lunch was Minu; lunch/ Dinner was my responsibility! In between snacks if healthy were courtesy Minu but junk snacks (read tasty!) was mine!

Many suggested to get food from outside but we had decided that we will struggle but get the food done in house!

Our apartment is very well maintained in that vegetables, provision and medicines were delivered at our doorstep and in short time. We also used to get our parcels and food delivered from outside specially by the security.

If any COVID positive patient needs to go to the hospital then they are arranged an escort and need to wear full PPE set. In emergency of course we have a direct access to ambulance but getting bed is a big inside in Bangalore so we were just praying that we do not need one!

The 8 to 10 day blood tests are important and this is the advice we give to everyone now. Any new symptoms or fever or breathing difficulty must be taken with caution.

I developed throat pain with fever and Minu developed stress induced palpitation. Of course in consultation with other doctors we started proper medication and we also went to the emergency to get the basic investigation done. Our blood tests were a little abnormal but bit very disturbing and in accordance to that we started some medications.

One of the chief problems we tend to ignore is gastritis because of stress, abnormal food timing and the medications. This must be taken care and treated very well and you must not be stingy when it comes to taking medication for control of this.

The problem was not getting the secondary symptoms, the problem is knowledge. I personally know so many cases who from throat pain and fever and palpitation go from there to ICU on a one way trip.
It was difficult to put a brave face when someone used to call or even in front of your children. Surprisingly Minu one day had a frank talk with the kids which of course led to some excess crying and sad moments which was becoming more and more frequent lately.

Having said that, the kids and your close family and friends are your biggest positive motivators! You have to be positive for them!


So our routine was me sleeping till late morning and working till late night, me being a night owl and Minu used to get up early morning and try to sleep early. Kids had their own routine of tab phone and computer with TV in between! No other go!

Every work we did, every move we made, it was immediately followed by severe lethargy and tiredness. Taking bath was a big task and so tiring!
Since I also had tonsillitis and was doing video consultation, it was a big strain to the throat and I listening to my own advice started voice rest in a big way.
Minu also had some complication which necessitated her being in complete bed rest and reduced stress which was of course easier said than done!

Slowly the house was becoming a mess especially my isolated room which no matter how much we clean still became dirty by the end of the day!

Sleep sleep and more sleep was the order of the day and since by nature I used to sleep late, my best sleep was in the morning when the whole world was awake! But then the world did not know that I was sleeping so all the calls used to come in the morning which was disturbing though I was too polite to say! Most who know me used to call me after sending a text that they are calling me which was sweet!

Kids and dad were the most understanding and my dear brother who has always been cool as a cucumber used to call me every single day to just ask about my health! My dear Bhabhi used to everyday ask about the kids and took care of dad so well that my biggest worry was settled!
Close family and friends made sure they enquired everyday! My dear Athai who has been a big pillar of support to my dad and me after losing my mom made sure I get a peppy positive message from her everyday!
My dear periamma, my brother Narayan Anna, my close friends, Mamas and mamis and my in laws were big pillars of support!

Many of my patients whom I was simultaneously treating used to suddenly ask me how I was doing! It was magical how the whole humanity came together as one big family!

My co workers who were doctors remained official in asking my health status but the concern was the same!

Many who were in the same boat as me became my COVID associates! My dear friend Abhijeet and Prachi to name a few.

Minu and me would never forget Dr Garima who picked up our phone (I first messaged her!) In the middle of the night! And her timely help was literally live saving!

In between all this my mother in law who just two days back asked to take care of the kids became seriously ill and had to be rushed to hospital. Two doctors in the family in quarantine so my father in law all of 78 years old managed all that by himself. While we were called in all the favours in the world to get them ambulance and bed and updates! Thank God for technology that we were able to manage everything online! We even sent him food at the doorstep of his Hospital!
She is also doing well and discharged! Small mercies after so much stress!

After close to 17 days, all my symptoms got better. My exercise tolerance got real good, luckily we did not lose any weight and our sugar levels were under good control!
Just going out and seeing patients was a big relief to me! It was as if I have been released from a prison. Of course first day going out was tiring which was a shock to me since I have always been active and this was just not me!

The very first day Minu went to her hospital, I took a mid week break and we cleaned the house in stages! Clean, rest and clean!
That night when the whole family slept together was the best sleep I had in ages! Early morning phone call not withstanding!

The fact of the matter remains that we were lucky that the variant which affected us was mild or we were healthy enough to bear through.
This whole episode and experience I would not wish for my enemy, it takes a huge emotional toil and physical also.

I can never forget the body pain and helplessness which I used to feel some nights sleeping alone in that room.

Of course that just makes sleeping in this big comfortable bed with your family all that sweeter!

This was just a quick spurt! If I remember anything more will add!

Thanks to all of you from the bottom of my heart who prayed and wished for our recovery! Some memory loss is expected in COVID so if I haven’t mentioned someone or something it’s probably due to that! Please don’t mind!

Stay safe…