Book Review of "निर्मनुष्य

"निर्मनुष्य" हा काही एक साधासुधा गूढकथासंग्रह नाही. प्रत्यक्ष आणि वास्तवाच्या पलीकडे लपलेले, थोडेसे भयावह पण तरीही थोडेसे उत्कंठावर्धक आणि काहीसे अनाकलनीय असे काल्पनिक विश्व लेखक रत्नाकर मठकरी प्रत्येक कथेत बिनबोभाट उभे करतात ! परंतु या कथांचा हेतू फक्त भय निर्माण करणे असा वाटत नाही, लेखक त्यातून काही भाष्य करू पाहतात कधी मानवी स्वभावाबद्दल, कधी राजकारणाबद्दल तर कधी सामान्य माणसाच्या हतबलतेबद्दल. "निर्मनुष्य" वाचताना स्टीफन किंग च्या लेखनशैलीची नक्कीच आठवण होते ! प्रगल्भ आणि तरीही मनोरंजनात्मक असा "निर्मनुष्य" ४/५ च्या नक्कीच तोडीचा आहे.

Book Review of "Crucial Conversations"

Reading "Crucial Conversations" is fun - for the most part. Some of the anecdotes, some real-life examples are quite eye-opening and frankly should be actively taught in schools and colleges. A few  rundowns of how even simple conversations can go haywire and ruin professional and personal relationships beyond repair do make you stop and rethink your way of engaging and conversing.  The authors have clearly done an extensive research and they have drilled it down to a bunch of nice-sounding "principles". 

But with all being said and done, "Crucial Conversations" seriously lacks editing. There are large portions of the book where essentially the same points are repeated and nothing new is put forth. This did cause me to essentially lose interest about halfway and it was an effort to pick it up again and finish it. The first 25% and the last 25% of the book basically has about 99% of the important points I felt. 

Still, definitely a 3/5.