Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
Daniel H Pink

My First impression based on the title and the subtitle was that this was just another self help pump up book, I couldn't have been more wrong. This book offers an unconventional view on what drives us humans and argues vehemently about why traditional carrot and stick methods of motivation don't work, or rather why they don't work in today's knowledge economy.

Daniel Pink argues that we humans are driven more by the innate need to do meaningful and creative work rather than just the general drudgery of monotonous work that we tend to in the factories of the 20th century.

The book quotes a lot of very popular economic studies and borrows a lot from other books like Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, by Levitt and Dubner, Good to Great by Jim Collins and others. To his credit Pink comes across as very honest and straight forward, giving credit where it is due and clearly outlining any disclosures.

The book professes what enlightened leaders know and have been teaching for ages, Money and material rewards can drive people only so far, beyond a certain threshold the effect of throwing more additional money doesn't generate any more motivation, very much like the principle of marginal utility. Offering people the freedom and flexibility in timings and methods of work is worth more than just giving more money. The feeling of being part of something worthwhile will often dissuade us from jumping ship even when we might be worse off financially.

In fact offering money can in many cases be a negative like was observed in an experiment where potential blood donors were offered cash rewards for donation, and the actual percentage of donors who ended up donating was found to be lowered because the act of getting money somehow took away the altruistic feelings of a noble act like blood donation.

The best part was towards the end where the author has recommendations for businessmen (Books of further reading, policies to try out and implement, etc). Recommendations for individuals and parents bringing up children (Various schools and websites offering an enlightened educations based on the needs of the children)

All up I would whole heartedly recommend this book to everyone and anyone, especially parents , teachers and anyone who has an interest in leading people.

Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.
Ron Chernow

To put it simply John D Rockefeller was till date the single richest man in history ever, well now that requires a second mention THE RICHEST MAN EVER even when you compare the Pharaohs of Egypt, Bill Gates, or any of the Ancient Emperors. He was the first man to amass a fortune of close to a Billion dollars and that is in 1900 currency. To give you another comparison, John.D was earning more than a million dollars a month when the average American income was 19$ a week, and that is before the days of income tax.


So it is not surprising that his biography would be a best seller. The book paints a picture of a man of contrasts that was John D, His aggressive and ruthless monopolistic business attitude against his kind and generous that forever changed the face of old money.

Ron Chernow traces John.D's start as a humble no name who never went to college and started trading in commodities, moved on to trading higher commodities petroleum and in Thirty years through brute force and gentle diplomacy built Standard Oil Corporation to one of the biggest monopolies in the world. Not very different from the Monopoly Bill Gates has over the Home Pc Market.

The book is not condescending of the man who is loved and hated at the same time by such large numbers of people. It brings into light some of the shadowy deals, and methods of work which made Standard Oil to the world's biggest monopoly. It doesn't give an aspiring reader like me a detailed insight into John.D's methods of treating people but the book has a few examples nevertheless.

Here is the Wikipedia page on the John D. Rockefeller, Sr which also makes interesting reading.

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir

by Bill Bryson

Bryson is at it again ! I have been a Bryson fan for ages now, some of the other Brysons books among my favorites are here. This one is quickly rising up the charts of my favorite list.

The book is based in Iowa , Des Moines and follows Bryson's childhood and teen days growing up in America. Well it could have been based anywhere in America or the developed countries and most of it would have still been true. The book chronicles Bryson's teenage adventures be it trying to get entry into a strip show, or stealing beer cases , creating fake driving permits , trying to get lucky with girls , getting entry into "R" rated movies and all those things that people do when hormones are in play.

Standard Disclaimer - I am a sucker for Bill Bryson having read a lot of his other books so this is no different. Bryson lets you travel back to the 1960's with him so you get an idea of how it was to grow up in America in the years gone by.

There is a lot of humor, sarcasm and that unmistakable Bryson stamp on this book where he lets you into his life and you come away thinking hey I could have been friends with a kid like that.

What Should I do with my life?
Po Bronson

The Book doesn't answer the question in its title, It can't , actually no book can. Life would be so much simpler, if answers to eternal questions like these were found in paper back novels.

The best any book can do in this regard is just to provide a few pointers or some encouragement, or maybe a prod here, a nudge there. This book does the same through examples, Examples in the form of short stories detailing incidents in people's lives when a significant change took place. Some incidents that made them think of the big questions in life?
Click here to read 10 stories in this book, very generous of Po to make 20 % of the book available free to the public on his website.

The people described in the stories are not the ones who have necessarily found their answer to the question, nor is everyone unique or what one would call or extraordinarily successful in whatever it is that they do. But everyone has in some point of time or the other saw the meaninglessness in living life and tried to find an answer to the Big question.

The book is not as much a "how to guide" but is more like a chronicle of how different people tackled this question, the difficulties they faced and the experience in general. Of course the book can't give you an answer to find your calling in life, but all it can do is to tell you that you are not alone in this quest to find out , " What should you do with your life? "

For me it just gave an idea of different experiences people have had, and he does this

He has a very interesting Blog where he writes about family, society, marriage, bringing up kids and other similar issues. Po also writes on Time.com and has an large loyal reader base who follow his blog and other writings. Marriage, divorce , and bringing up kids are topics of deep interest to him and he writes very authoritatively and interestingly on these things.

As for the book and its question. I am yet to find my answer, after all its one's own responsibility to find the answer.

PS: I like Po Bronson, for he bothered to reply to my email when I sent him a note of thanks and invited him over to Australia. Here is his reply:

Hi Hari,
You know, my UK publisher hasn't sent me to Australia to promote my books since the paperback of my first novel, in maybe 1996. I've had a few other invitations to come, but family needs have always intervened. My cousin, with whom I am very close, lives in Melbourne, and I'm working on coming sometime this coming year. His family and mine usually take a trip each year. So if that works out, my publisher has said they'll arrange a lot of publicity and events. (At least they say so). So, the end result of all this is ... maybe. Maybe I'm coming to Australia this year.
thanks,

Po

Book Of Questions
by Gregory Stock.

I saw this book for sale for 10 Rs(less than 30 cents Australian) on a footpath junk store in Mumbai. One of my favorite places in those cash poor times to buy books dirt cheap. Rummaging through other old books, outdated catalogues , medical journals and Mills & Boon novels, I saw this pocket sized book with an odd title which was in surprisingly good condition . A sort of a misfit among other books there, on a whim I bought this and walked on to meet another friend who was to see me in a little while.

As I flipped through its pages filled with one line questions, I knew I had picked a gem. That day on the train back home and later that night I and my friend discussed and debated the questions in this book till early hours of the morning with sleep nowhere in sight. The same pattern was to be repeated over all these years that I have had the book. It sparked so many intellectually stimulating conversations that for a long time I used to always carry it around in my backpack to read in public places, and then use the questions in it to strike up conversations with strangers.

The book as the title claims is made up of questions. Questions that will bring you closer to yourself, your ideas, thoughts, feelings, morals and opinions. This is another excellent review of the book. You can also browse through a few questions here. Have a look here to see how many people consider this book an excellent conversation starter.

I sat with an acquaintance one evening with this book and some snacks and by late night and we were friends by the time we finished the book. The same guy would then go on to borrow this book and use it to know more and get close to his potential girlfriends. I myself would eventually use this book to know more about my life partner. I have had countless exciting conversations with family members, roommates, friends, friends to be, strangers, co travelers on trains, waiting halls and in short anybody who would talk to me, all because of the book.

If there is such a thing called "ENDURING VALUE" for a book, this book has plenty of it. Of all the over 300 books that I have at my place in India this is one of the few that I chose to bring with me when I came to Australia. My only regret is that the a couple of weeks after this book I had a chance to buy "The Book of Questions: Love and Sex," again by Gregory Stock, and I didn't buy it as I was a little short of cash, and I have regretted it ever since.

Gregory Stock, If you ever read this page, Thanks for writing the Book of questions.

What you'll never learn on the Internet
by Mark H McCormack

This is a sure fire page turner, coming from an astute business mind who actually knows what he is talking. Mark is a lawyer by profession who developed a sport stars and celebrity management business International Management Group from scratch. His company has managed the endorsements for the some of the biggest names in the international sports arena, big names such as Tiger Woods, Pete Sampras, Michael Schumacher, Derek Jeter, Charles Barkley and models Kate Moss and Elizabeth Hurley. Today IMG is the world's premier sports and lifestyle management and marketing firm, with more than 2,200 staff in 70 offices across 30 countries. I was mad about his first book What they don't teach you at Harvard business School? and picked this book up as the Author's name was familiar.

Coming from a man who actually built such a dynamic and emerging business, the book is filled with simple and totally down to earth business situations. The first few pages are spent justifying the title, as to why you cannot learn these soft skills on the Internet which is a bit of a drag but then the book gets interesting where he starts giving advice in his unique practical style.

Every thing that he suggests is based on an experience that he has had in his company. Time and again he does on about small social niceties that matter more than many bigger things. He has divided the book into chapters for typical situations in business , say if you were recruiting someone, or if you suffered a setback or a demotion at work, typical business etiquettes and office politics and communication. A lot of what he says has got more to do with managing relationships and people, but well when you think of it, isn't managing a business all about managing people ?

As for the book in general, it lives up to its somewhat odd skewed title this is indeed stuff that you could never learn on the internet(unless of course pirates put an copy of this book online;-)).

He died with a Felafel in his hand
by John Birmingham

"Shared accommodation" The type of housing that you rent and take up when you are not married and move in to a new city as a student or take a new job. Shared accommodation is what this book is all about, or to put it differently it is about the craziest , wackiest , nerds that you would come across if you moved around cities living in shared accommodation.

I myself have been living in shared accommodation and in boys hostels for over 7 years now, but never before did I ever think that it can get as interesting or bizarre as described in this book. The book is full of crazy incidents describing John's experiences with flatmates moving around various cities in Australia.

There are times when you just can't stop laughing your ass off on his stories, in fact the title itself is in memory of a flatmate of his who died with a felafel in his hand, and guess what John and his other friends do when they learn of their flatmate's death? If you thought they would try to contact the poor guy's family and let them know the sad news, Think again. They rummage through his stuff looking for anything useful, and finding a few hundred dollars in cash stashed away, they add these as the poor guy's posthumous contribution to the room kitty.

Then there is another guy who stays in the room but refuses to pay the complete share of his rent as he has put a TENT in the living room and claims to be living in the tent. Yes, you heard that correctly. A guy who erects a tent in the room of the house and pays for only the floor space occupied by the tent. The book is about times when you would hold competitions to see who can go the most days without having a shower, or on who is wearing the dirtiest jeans, or when there is fungus growing between your toes as a result of not having a scrub in months.

Tent-dwelling bank clerks, albino moontanners, psycho fucking drama queens, acid eaters, mushroom farmers, brothel crawlers, hard-core separatist lesbians and obscurely tiger-throated Japanese girls are just some of the people you will come across in the book. Many of the times I felt the stories were just too weird to be true.

Overall this is a good book for a single read, I would give it a pass the second time. The book is also the root of a movie by the same name, click here for a good review of the movie.

The Lonely Planet Story
by Tony and Maureen Wheeler

Part autobiography, part corporate history, part travelogue this is a book with a difference. This is written in a major part by Tony with Maureen pitching in with personal stories or anecdotes.

A very interesting fast paced book that takes you through the start of Lonely planet in a Rented Apartment in Sydney till today when the same Lonely Planet is a Multi million dollar company with a Brand so well entrenched in the traveler psyche that it has become completely synonymous with Travel.

For a book about a Travel company, there is hardly a 2 page section about the wheelers in which either of them haven't been traveling to some place or the other. Flip open any page at Random and chances are that the Wheelers are in the middle of traveling to somewhere or have just arrived from somewhere.

It starts with Tony and Maureen, penniless and hungry in Sydney , and thinking of what to do next. They have just come to Australia after a RTW (Round the World trip), from UK > Europe > the Stans > Asia > to Australia. It is on this experience that they write their first book called "Across Asia on the cheap". Then the tale goes on with telling us of the Humble beginnings of Lonely Planet, when the complete Stock of LP could fit into the boot of Tony's car. He tells us how they then started with SE Asia guides gradually expanding and covering other bigger regions. How the marketing , folding , typesetting of the book was done in the initial days, by Tony, Maureen and friends.

From there on the book advances with the growth of LP and its international expansion, to Europe, USA and other places. There are amazing descriptions of real life travel adventures that he had while covering the regions for writing Guide books. The Book is also filled with little anecdotes by Maureen about certain incidents , one of my favorites being the description of how they met in a Park in UK.

The Later part of the book is filled with Advice for people interested in the Travel / Guide book industry and gives the reader a thorough feel of what it is like to run Lonely Planet or be a travel writer, its not as mushy as it sounds. As for the book i give my thumbs up to this ! This is a Page turner !

What would Wally do ?
by Scott Adams

I have been a fan of Comics for longer than I can remember. These are the the things that got me started into books, girls , better vocabulary , bad manners and I don't even know how many more things. Starting with local Panchatantra the Indian folk tales, Chacha chaudhary and Sabu, moving on to Archie , Betty and Veronica and Jughead strips.

My all time favourite comic is always a close competition between Calvin and Hobbes vs Dilbert depending on which one of these I read recently.

There is something about comics that make them especially endearing, they strikes a chord deep somewhere. It reminds me of little perverse pleasures of those pre-adolescent times when, sitting on the last bench in a classroom sneaking in a comic book the day before your exams in between your school textbooks and reading and giggling to yourself while you are supposed to be studying.
Fortunately having grown up now , I don't have to indulge in such stealthy behavior to read comics. Because even if it takes such behavior I am up for it because I haven't had as much fun reading a book in a long while(and that was another Dilbert book)

As for this book in particular there is nothing distinguishing about this book as compared to other equally hilarious Dilbert books. This is a only Comic Strip book meaning it does not have any other funny text write ups by Scott Adams, just Comic strips of the Dilbert series, with one binding thread between them - "Wally" Follow the Wally link to get a complete bio of this Dilbert character.

Not all the strips in this book are new, meaning strips that I have never read elsewhere. I would say I had read maybe 30 ~50 % of the strips in this book earlier in other Dilbert books or on the Dilbert website.

I think all Dilbert books should come with a warning !

Do not read this book in public places, bus stops, trains or in front of anyone, if you do be prepared for the induhviduals to think you are an eccentric for laughing out so loud over a silly comic strip !

Don't Tell Mum I Work on the Rigs, She Thinks I'm a Piano Player in a Whorehouse
by Paul Carter

Paul Carter attended a few courses in advertising and copy writing when he was in Sydney and not working on the rigs, the result of all those excellent writing skills gained is this hilarious laugh out loud book with an equally catchy and amusing title.

The book details some really amusing incidents in Paul Carter's life in his various stints at oil fields around the world. If I remember correctly from the book Paul has worked on oil rigs around the world right from Brunei, Philippines, Cambodia, Nigeria , China , Russia , Japan and of course the Australian Outback.

So this book is not only a memoir of living in these diverse places but it doubles up as a travelogue giving us an account of his travels on cheap shit economy flights around the world.

There are some really hilarious fun moments in the book, like when Paul keeps a monkey in his house as a pet and the Monkey locks him in the toilet and runs away with the key. As it happens in times like these , this door happens to be a heavy duty one and opens inside, so breaking the door is not the easiest option out, instead he peels off the carpet from under the door , and tries a whole lot of things before finally coming out after taking off the latch with some crude tools.

Then there are accounts of his life in Nigeria , where you would see Ak47 s and hand guns as commonly as you would see mobile phones in Australia, and he goes on to suggest that for the African market Nokia should develop a HandgunPhone instead of a CameraPhone. Moving on there are accounts of diverse things like rowdy brawls in pubs around the world, running away from the police in China, the utter lawlessness in Nigeria, rampant mugging in Cambodia, Driving in the Australian Outback, Stoned out drunk backyard parties in Perth (where his electrician friends tape him to the floor naked with duct tape), Crazy betting on Big Scorpion vs tiny Mouse fights in Brunei (Where the agile Mouse beats the hell out of the poisonous scorpion by running around and cutting its tail off before the scorpion can take aim to sting), accounts of crazy deadly accidents working in oil rigs, and lots more.

I picked this book because of its title from a library shelf, I doubt If I would pick it from a bookstore. This is not the type of book with "Enduring Value" but is definitely worth a single read, and you better get ready to Laugh out LOUD !

Pleasure's all mine - Confessions of a Professional Submissive
by Joan Kelly

This was one in the series of sex related books I picked up this weekend. Started reading it right away as it was a fairly thin book say around 200 pages finished it by the second day. I love smaller books because that means I can get through them faster. And this one was lived up to my expectations in the sense that the book is fast not a slow dreary monologue but a fast moving account of how Marnie got into the business of Bondage and Submissiveness.

Different people different pleasures and this book raves on about the pleasures of Dominatrixes and Submissives or Dommes and Subs as they are known in the business. The book starts with Jean just breaking out of a Submissive relationship with her partner and attending a help group meeting for Submissives and Dommes. It then follows her life through when when joins Dominion a brothel for the S & M types. Eventually she leaves Dominion when prettier girls come to work there and she does not get enough business.

By then she is addicted to the lifestyle with easy money and has quit her day time job as a secretary, and she is one of those few in the sex industry who perhaps look at it as an easy way to make money. Having quit her "job" as an independent contractor at Dominion she starts working independently and strikes out big, flying between LA and New york and servicing clients on both coasts.

It gives us an account of what happens in a typical sub's transaction with her Master. Interesting stuff that I would rather not write here. I would recommend you to read this only if you are curious or interested in the B& M lifestyle. This book is just erotic enough to maintain interest at the same time short enough to not make it monotonous.

Piercing : a modern anthology
by Housk Randall

What is the first picture that comes to your mind when you hear Piercing , a pierced earlobe ? nose ? ear rim? navel ?

Well there's more to it than I ever thought, there are piercings for the penis, its head(Yes right a hole through the head of the penis) , foreskin, Labia, clitoris, nipples , scrotum , lips, tongue, chin, eyebrows, testicles and practically anywhere ever else on the skin.

This book is a pictorial , meaning it is full of excellent photos of people with the strangest of piercings imaginable accompanying with their own description of how they got initiated into piercing. How it eventually became an addiction in these people so much so that they wouldn't feel complete with these accessories.

What struck me the most in this , and partly the reason why I picked this book is the kinds of people and the reasons why they do piercings. I mean there were a fair share of goths, and maniacs with crazy spikey hair. But many were typically mainstream whom you would never ever doubt, for example the 55ish looking accountant , buttoned up in a 3 piece suit. You would wonder what he is doing in a book like this until you look further down to see his zip open and see him proudly displaying his pierced pecker. Or the pretty Pakistani born Designer in London, who started piercings from the bottom up (meaning starting with the clitoris, Navel , and went on to pierce her lip and nose).

There were people whom you wouldn't ever doubt of doing something this naughty unless you see them here, obviously in delight with the thrill of hiding a secret, of being a vixen in sheep's clothing. This is what drives so many mainstream people into piercing. Nowadays of course it is so common that piercing is loosing its edge as a point that made people stand out. As one of the people in the book said. "These days everybody and their mother has their nipples pierced"
Looking at all the reasons why people did piercings and subjected themselves to so much pain, the only common reason I could conclude was they wanted a feeling of difference from the normal, trying to be and do something different. As for the book, it is pretty graphic not the sort of the book you would want lying on the coffe table with kids around, but definitely worth a look at other times.

Moeibustrip - digressions from India's Highways
by Giti Thadani


For those to whom the title of this book sounds unfamiliar, Moeibustrip or rather Moeibus strip , is a strip of paper with neither a beginning nor an end.

And it is in a way apt for this book, because this book is not just an account of traveling on India's roads. This book is more about metaphysical aspects of such a journey undertaken by Giti Thadani. I loved the tagline for the book "Digressions from India's highways" wow what a lovely phrase, because that is essentially what the book is.

It follows Giti's travels on road in her 4WD gypsy, to far off places , temples in ruins, archeological sites, museums and everything in between. In fact, I hardly found any "normal" tourist places in the book, apart from The Khajuraoh temples. Giti quite naturally hates the tamasha that that goes on in typical Hindu temples and goes to depths on this topic, explaining each and every little nuances of the Brahmins and their ploys to swindle money. She also delves in deep explaining various bits and parts of stories in Hindu Mythology and the metaphysical meanings of the rituals and traditions, some one completely unfamiliar with the Hindu pantheon might not find this very interesting.

From the book it is obvious that Giti has a extraordinary interest in Etymology, and she is very good at it. The book is liberally sprinkled with Sanskrit words and explanation of their etymological origins and their meanings. These pages were all the more interesting for me as I hope to some day be proficient in Sanskrit and understand the language which according to many sources is one of the most Etymologically structured and object oriented languages of all time. I just loved some of the Sanskrit words that she explains in her book. for exp
rit = pulse of life, its throb
M + rit = death, M (indicates reversal of the meaning) Mrit
A + mrit = eternal, elixir (a indicates negation)
S + mrit(i) = Memory (s indicates preservation, keeping alive)
yog = fusion
ini = female ending
yoni = vulva, origin , waterfall, cave , source
Maheshasur derived from Mahesh = Maha or great, ish = god , asur = demon
Feminine/ Masculine : Kali / Kal (without matrika / vowel i) , Shiva / Shiv (sh(a)v - corpse - without a), Krishna / Krishn, Kumari / Kumar

The book is filled with metaphors, so much so that at times the you loose track of the real passage imagining the metaphor. Apart from this there are hundreds of words there which are either in Hindi, or colloquial in use that some one with limited exposure to Indian culture / Hindi would have difficulty in understanding. Fortunately that was not the case with me :) There are also many passages devoted to Giti's personal life , her family and experiences, which are just as interesting as some of the places she describes.

To conclude the book is more close to a writeup on Indian present day culture / life than it is to a travelogue.

The Dilbert Future Thriving on stupidity in the 21st century
By Scott Adams

Let me confess as I start , I like Scott Adams. I am a big fan of his work and mad about Dilbert strips.

A couple of years ago when I sent him a mail on his very very public email address Scottadams@aol.com and thanking him for his book and saying that I enjoyed it,
and Lo behold of all the thousands of emails that he gets he found time to reply for my short email, it said

Thanks for reading it, Hari.

Scott

At first thought it doesn't look like a big deal, aren't writers supposed to respond to their readers, but well you would be surprised how many don't, Believe me I try and write to each and every writer whose work I read. And this response floored me. Here is an internationally syndicated writer whose cartoons get published in in 2500 newspapers worldwide in 65 countries and 19 languages with over 150 million readers with 26 books to his name and he finds time or cares enough to a poorly written email thanking him for his book, Now even if that reply was sent by someone in his office it still means he is bothered enough! This is much appreciated Mr. Scott Adams !

Of all the things I read, Dilbert is one from which I can get a guaranteed laugh every time even on every repeated reading. I am a self proclaimed member of the D.N.R.C (Dogbert's New Ruling Class) the official Dilbert Fan Club or rather a member of the group which will form the new ruling elite once Dogbert conquers the Earth.

Countless times I have spit out the food in my mouth , or jerked violently holding my stomach trying to control my laughter while reading his books. This one is no exception ! This one is a standard Dilbert book with a fair sprinkling of Comics and accompanying text giving on the theme of Dilbert's take on Future.

I have to agree that many of the chapters do not quite live up to the Dilbert Gold standard of wit and humor, nevertheless this is still a good read. The strips are just as humorous only the accompanying ramblings get a little dull at times. Again this is because I have excessively high expectations of his rambling having read The Dilbert Principle some years ago.

The unique thing about this book is the last chapter, "A New View of the Future" For this section Adams "turned the humor mode off" and discussed his personal philosophies on life , auto suggestion , ESP , gravity , and some of the other things which are way off topic in a typical Dilbert book. This chapter has enough food for thought and many would think that chapter alone would make the book a worthwhile buy. This would not be the funniest Dilbert book that I have read by a long shot but it is not what I would call disappointing.

Many readers would be surprised that Scott is even capable of writing something so off topic and serious like that, and believe me he can write well. In fact I would strongly recommend another serious novel by Scott Adams which is available free as an Ebook The God's debris.

Who we are - A miscellany of the New Australia
David Dale

The cover of this book shows a map of Australia with a pair of worn out slippers. In many ways an international symbol for the Aussie Backpacker.

I love statistics and numbers especially when they are presented in a way that makes sense, and this book is filled with such interesting titbits and pieces of information that help us decipher "Australia"

For exact statistics on any topic about Australia have a look here > the website of the Australian Bureau of Statistics. This is where most of the info in this book is sourced from.

The Book is full of numbers and percentages, on topics right from Population to demographics to languages spoken , religion, qualification , smoking habits , to cars , credit cardsdiseases, causes of death, top products used in households, most popular movies, books, music, world records, important dates, animals, inventions , periodicals and every other thing that matters.

To present some interesting numbers from the book,
85% of Australian population lives within 50 Kilometers of a beach ,
1% of Australian population lives on a Farm,
43% of the all marriages are likely to get Divorced
87% of the population are Mobile owners
60% use the internet at least once a week
75% live in a home with three or more Bedrooms
Newzeland , China and India are the biggest source of Migrants Now More info on this here
Cancer Causes 29% of all deaths in Australia.

Apart from plain numbers , there are good facts about Australia, like the defining moments in Australia's history, Important speeches, national anthem etc. There is also a small essay where the author describes a typical day in the life of an Australian family in terms of the products they use.

In all its a very good read and gives a quick snapshot of Australia as we know it.

Around the world in 80 Dates
by Jeniffer Cox

Well this is another perfect example of "Don't judge a book by its cover". On the cover you have a catchy title and the image of the pretty author lugging a briefcase and setting off on her oddysey(that's what she calls it). On the Inside you have a dreadful monologue of how she meets or dates 80 or so men, cutting them off her list one by one in a desperate urgency to get the numbers out. If you see this book take my word and give it a pass, It is so bad that I couldn't get myself to finish this book. Firstly I don't quite agree how can you decide on one meeting of a few hours that this person is your "true love". She repeats "True love" so many times in the book that I had to end the book half way thinking reading anymore would change the real meaning of the word "TRUE LOVE" for me.

I agree this is a very personal and touchy topic but I really can't quite come to terms with the idea that you can find your "TRUE LOVE" by going around the world dating people. I mean all these dates except for one lasted less than a single day, how much can you find out about a person in a day? and what can you decide with what you know in a day? And for God's sake don't keep repeating the word True love over and over again.

Many a times in the book you get a feel that she is not out to find love, but just to go around and complete those 80 people so that she can write the book and get the money promised by some publisher. At one place things seem to be going good for her with a guy(number 20's I think) in the burning man festival. She spends a couple of days with him and gets to know him better than the others before him but in the end she decides to go ahead and look for what else might be in store for her in the remaining 60 guys. And truly in Hollywood style the understanding guy agrees to her going and dating what's left of the 80 guys to decide if he makes the cut. She justifies this saying the other people with whom the dates had been prebooked also had feelings and she should give it a shot. It is at this point that I found the book way too ridiculous.

There is another time when the author participates in Speed dating and finishes off 10 or so people in one go in less than an hour, and then has the guts to justify these as legitimate dates in her "Quest to find TRUE LOVE". I don't know if she even understands what is meant by"TRUE LOVE"? not that I am an expert at it , but at least I am sure that you cannot find one sitting together for few hours in a coffee shop. The only mildly entertaining part was the relationship resume where she wrote a history about all her previous relationships and why they failed. I wouldn't be surprised if the Author has broken up again and is still looking for her second "True love"

Yakety Yak: Bombay to Beijing by Bicycle

By McGilton Russell

Russell McGilton, You are bound to like this man by the end of the book, I have been searching the net for ages looking for ways to contact Russell to thank him for writing such a hilarious travelogue. As usual it got to my reading shelf being a travelogue with a difference, Bombay to Beijing on a bicycle, well technically speaking he did not do the complete trip on a bicycle, but frankly speaking I don't think it would matter unless you are one of those who go back an verify every little thing that they read.


Read the initial introductory pages of this book which explain why Russell started on this trip here.

From there on the books gets even more interesting as he actually sets on his trip and arrives in Bombay. On the flight sitting next to him is an inquisitive Indian who doesn't understand why must one cycle when there are trains, while Russell learns that the local politicians had just changed the name of the city from "Bombay" to "Mumbai" and along with the old name plates go his dreams of the title of his planned Book, "Bombay to Beijing". Once in India just like all foreigners he is dismayed by the poverty and difference in classes, the crazy honking traffic, pollution and the general hustle bustle of Bombay.

Hailing from India it makes it all the more interesting for me to read about my home town when viewed from a different perspective. Especially when no matter where he goes he is pestered with a single question " Hello Sir , Which country?"

The book then moves on a swiftly , with Russell's experiences as he meets another cyclist and they join to cover the route till Kathmandu together. In Kathmandu he is joined by his beautiful blonde girlfriend with whom he then cycles to Ladakh. On the way things don't quite well and the stress of the journey and the pressure of Indian pestering takes its toll, with Russell breaking up with his Girlfriend. Then he moves on by flight to Hongkong and from there rides on to Beijing.
In between these pages are hilarious accounts of his experiences with villagers, bad hotels with peeping toms, cycle breakdowns, friendly people to assist in roadsides, frustration over his inability to find a single private moment in a country crowded with a billion people, fighting freezing cold and snowfall on roads in China. In China is when Russell gets lucky again and hooks up with another petite babe who takes his nude picture on the great wall of China.

This is a very fast moving humorous book , especially when coming from a horny and pervert author:) He paints a factual not so pretty picture of India as it really is, I recommended it to another cyclist and he got through it in less than a week and came back with genuine compliments for the book . In all an excellent, hilarious, must read book !

Spotted in France
by Gregory Edmont

I just finished one book on France, and this is the next in line. Picked it from the France section in the library mainly because it is a Moto-Travelogue with a difference, The cover showed that Gregory on a Vespa Scooter with a Dalmatian and I could make out that this was an on road journey through France. If you don't know the French just Love DOGS and this books makes it all the more evident. The book is filled with hints on how much the French love their dogs, Did you know that the French have mating shops or to put it more crudely animal brothels where one can take his pet to be "trained" just in case if breeding does not come naturally to his pet. Did you know that French dogs eat out at restaurants with their owners and are often given their own chair at the restaurant table, with their own dish.

Having just finished an Excellent book on the French last week I was hoping this one to be just as good and it was. The book starts with "I knew my life was missing something . . . I just didn’t know what, ...." I always wanted to have a pet dog and this book just gave me a hundred more reasons why I should hurry up. You can read a brief outline of the story in one of the reviews here which broadly give you an idea of the story.

Gregory's life truly changes for the better with the dog, everywhere he goes people are more friendly , strangers come and talk to him and compliment him about the dog. He is invited into homes, fed and treated well , offered assistance , showered with innumerable smiles and the like just because he and his dog strike a gentle chord in people's hearts wherever they go.

In the 2 years Gregory also gets too attached to JP as he calls his dalmatian, and they share a lovely relationship. The book is filled with cute one page hand sketches of JP and the environment of the chapter which are sort of a prelude to what's in the chapter and really add a sort of a suspense and good feel to the book. This book is very well written in a simple and lucid manner, and can be easily read in a few hours. Apparently there is a movie in the making on the book, I'm looking forward to the movie now.

A Short History of Nearly Everything
by Bill Bryson


This is one of those books that deliver, on what it promises on the cover page. A Short history of EVERYTHING. "Everything" is highlighted in the last sentence for a reason, because the book is indeed so exhaustive that there is hardly any area in the Physical sciences whose history and present state is not quite touched by Bryson.

From cosmology, physics, oceanography, chemistry, biology, geology, anthropology, paleontology, climatology, botany, and evolution he covers all of these and much more.

I would not attempt to write a complete review of this book as I don't quite think I can better the one written here.

You can also have a look here for a transcript of good Q & A interview with Bill Bryson on this book.

One repetitive comment that you would see in all these reviews is on the ease and manner in which Bryson conveys SCALE, be it the scale of time /life of the earth, or interplanetary distances, or intermolecular/atomic distances. Some of these examples of scale can be seen here.

As usual this book again follows the Bill Bryson standard of not using any pictures at all, I guess when If you as as comfortable using text, you don't need to use pictures to illustrate what you mean. Words themselves crystallize into pictures. Amazon has some 45 overwhelmingly positive reviews of this book, by far the most I have ever seen and its not as though he is writing about some more interesting topics like "Sex".

This is a book with ENDURING VALUE, meaning there is so much interesting and relevant info in it that it can be read over and over again.

To put it in one sentence, If textbook writers could write science as well as Bill Bryson, I would have become a scientist!

Notes from a Small Island
By Bill Bryson

Bill Bryson is what I was looking for , I am smitten after reading his excellent travelogue about Australia and was looking for more of his books. The fact that he is a very popular writer is clear from the fact that this book has 256 reviews on Amazon.com and believe me that is something !

If you have read any of his travelogues before you would know he has his own distinct style of humor and that is visible in every page in the book. It is his interactions with strangers and his descriptions of people that I like the most. He has the ability to bring out laugh out loud jokes in seemingly mundane everyday encounters.

Also he has a penchant for picking up details about history that you would not normally hear of from other sources or read in typical travelogues, stories like the a psycho duke who had a fear of people so severe that his servants would communicate with him in letters. Or the Crazy man on the train who bored him to death with details about Engines used in trains, their piston sizes , manufacturing sites, model year details and stuff like that. I especially loved a sentence where he says "and then the man took off to count rivets on trains". Another exceedingly humorous passage is when he describes in not so polite words the "Vodafone man" who makes pointless calls to tell people he’s on the mobile, on the train and will be home in so many minutes (1995: 187). There are many such funny / witty instances in the book like the time when Bryson was a journalist when Rupert Murdoch buys the company and the printers and typesetters go on strike. There are picketers everywhere blocking roads and terrorizing people and how Bryson barely manages to escape from being kicked in the ass by some picketers.

He did this journey throughout England primarily on public transport going to places with strange names that I have never heard of, most of which (place names) I managed to forget before turning the page. Well I must admit I know very little about places in England and of all he describes except for a few city names, Stonehenge was the only tourist place I was quite familiar with.

It is his idiosyncrasies that make the book interesting , this book does not have as much factual information or a lot of lasting value as a guide book but it is just one of those Non Fiction books that can be read once for a decent laugh. To say it shortly he sums it up as "British towns are a deck of cards that have been shuffled and endlessly redealt--same cards, different order." Throughout the book he complains consistently about bad architecture ruining the Victorian or traditional look and feel of the cities and when he complains he does not restrict himself to architecture, very often in a timely manner he has enough disdain for everyone right from public transport authorities, fast-food check out clerks, Ticketing clerks, to poor old men with hard hearing.

Overall I would read this book once and that would be it. It did fall short of my expectations in the sense that I am not a lot more knowledgeable about England having read this book unlike what happened before when I was enlightened with information about Australia last time. On the back cover of this book was a one line review that said "This book has as much Bill Bryson in it as much as it has England." I could not agree more.