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.

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 !

The Dick Smith Way
by Ike Bain

After a long time I read an interesting business book organized in short snippets on various topics. For those who don't know Dick Smith, he is the founder of a very large retail electronics chain here in Australia which has now successfully expanded into America. He also has two other successful businesses Australian Geographic and Dick Smith Foods. The writer was Dick Smith's right hand man in all these businesses over a period of 25 years.

This book unlike typical business biographies does not follow the growth of business chronologically, instead Ike has organized this into a more of an advice / lessons kind of way at the same time without loosing its practical feel. The book is filled with anecdotes and experiences of Ike's experiences as the right hand man of Dick Smith (perhaps think of him as Australia's Richard Branson). If Richard Branson was knighted, Dick Smith has been given the similar Australian of the year award. Richard Branson went around the world in a hot air balloon, Dick smith too has similar achievements in adventure, In 1983 he became the first helicopter pilot to fly solo around the world and in 1995 he completed a second helicopter flight around the world, this time from east to west. In 1989, flying a Twin Otter, he completed the first vertical circumnavigation of the world, landing at both the North and South Poles. In 1993 he and a co-pilot completed the first non-stop balloon crossing of Australia.

Almost the same way there are a string of business successes to his credit, Among the various comments and snippets the one struck home base with me was a comment by Dick Smith in which he says he is confident that he can bring any business to success just by purely focusing on customer service and doing it better than the competition. Reading such books really pumps you up especially living in a free economy with unlimited opportunity. Want to start a business or work on your business back from the basics, this would be a good one to read.

Finally the Author rightly sums up his intentions behind writing this book

"I've written this book for business people, for those who might hope to be in business one day, and for people who might not have the slightest interest in a business career but would like to know why Dick Smith is so good at it. I hope you will be entertained by the sense of fun, enthusiasm and adventure that spills out of The Dick Smith Way
–Ike Bain, author.

The Bitch in the House: 26 Women Tell the Truth About Sex, Solitude, Work, Motherhood, and Marriage


Now isn't this a title that prods your imagination, when I first saw the book in the recently returned section in the library it caught my attention just as it is doing to you. I am not normally a reader of writings by distraught women writing against MCP (For the not enlightened that was (Male chauvinist pigs), but I just picked this book on a whim because it offered short stories of 5 - 8 pages and I find it convenient to read small stories at a time. Just so that you can skip those that don't look pretty good and keep moving ahead hoping to find something better.

Fortunately I didn't have to do that for this book, none of the 26 stories were so off putting to for me to skip them. The stories are what the title promises, no disappointments there, only the truth about Sex, Solitude, Work, ,,,,etc.

For all the Male brothers out there, pick this book because this would give you the other perspective of what it feels to be on the other end of the nightly consummations. What happens when a few years after marriage the kids and family take precedence over sex and romance. The book and its writers are based in in America so many of the examples (for example living in ) are not really relevant in the Indian context, but nevertheless the after marriage monotony is the same all over the world so it still makes an interesting read. Generally speaking Read it if you can get it from a library or borrow from a friend, I wouldn't spend my money to keep a "Bitch" in my house.

Title: Callgirl: Confessions of a Double Life
Author: Angell, Jeannette


I picked this book because the cover design and the title looked interesting, and the book lived up to what it promised in the cover : Confessions of a Double Life

Reading it you have a strange feeling that the she is talking to you in person and challenging your notions about the sleaze and the sex industry. This book will change the way you think about call girls, ( i.e. if you think about them all the time, this is a must read)

An interesting look at the life of a woman leading a double life - as a college professor by day, and professional call girl at night. Provides some very good insights into why people do, what they do.

The most touching part for me in the book is where, she is with an old male friend to whom she confesses about her working as a call girl and looks forward to his support, and in the midst of the conversations out of the blue he lays down some cash on the table and asks her to give a B***J**. Now If you though she is already a Call girl, so whats the harm in giving another BJ. You ought to read this book, Big time!!!!

The description of what goes on in her mind then is really moving. Do you find Psychiatrists analyzing offering to analyze people in their free time ?? or Scientists coming and doing research when they go home??
Get off !!! my friend !! If you think call girls are nymphomaniac lesbians, you have been watching too many porn movies! Its just a Bloody JOB,,,, and they can't wait until it gets over. If she screams your name in ecstasy , it doesn't mean she's enjoying it. It just means that she is being good at her job and that you are more likely to call her next time.

In all if the purpose of a book is to give the reader a different perspective, this book more than serves the purpose.

Rating : 7 out of 10