Book Review of "And Thereby Hangs a Tale"

Short, sweet, breezy & entertaining. Jeffrey Archer rarely disappoints. I wouldn't call this his best work, but its decent and a fun book. A couple of stories are fantastic, one or two are very predictable and the rest are somewhere in the middle of the spectrum. A solid 3.5/5.

Book Review of "Bad Blood: Secret & Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup"

Holy mother of god, the story of Theranos is crazy! I thought having followed the Theranos debacle in the news would soften the blow for me, but boy was I wrong! This is the story of one of the most gruesome frauds in recent history and the levels to which its founders stooped to justify their actions. 

You might have heard about Theranos before and you might have watched the couple of documentaries out there about it. But trust me, you should still read this. It has first hand accounts of hundreds of employees. Excruciating details about downright bullying and unconscionable acts of playing with terminal cancer patients' hopes.

Oh and if you are one of those few untainted souls who have not heard of Theranos before, then brace yourselves, you are in for a ride. 

I never thought a book about rise and fall of a biotech company would be as nail biting and exciting as a mystery novel. It certainly helps that the writer is the investigative journalist himself who first broke the news about Theranos's wrongdoings. 

That being said, the book itself is not without its flaws. It introduces too many characters too quickly and changes tracks suddenly more than a few times. But I think I understand where this comes from. The details are so twisted and the writer so eager to make sure nothing is missed that it does make an impact on the narrative as a whole. 

Whether you work in Tech or not, whether you are a star crossed silicon valley fanboy or not, the story of Theranos and Elizabeth Holmes is eye-opening. The following lines in the book sum it well - 

"She didn’t initially set out to defraud investors and put patients in harm’s way. By all accounts, she had a vision that she genuinely believed in and threw herself into realizing. But in her all-consuming quest and amid the gold rush of the “unicorn” boom, there came a point when she stopped listening to sound advice and began to cut corners. Her ambition was voracious and it brooked no interference. If there was collateral damage on her way to riches and fame, so be it."

Book Review of "City of Djinns"

"Whoever has built a new city in Delhi has always lost it: the Pandava brethren, Prithviraj Chauhan, Feroz Shah Tughluk, Shah Jehan ... They all built new cities and they all lost them. We were no exception” - says the last living descendant of the Mughals to William Dalrymple, author of "City of Djinns". After multiple recommendations, I finally got around to reading this and boy oh boy, isn't this book a trip ! Even though I wouldn't give this a perfect 5 on 5 rating, I do highly recommend it, especially if like me, you revel in the history & don't mind a trip down nostalgia lane.

I have always loved cities. Maybe because I spent the formative years of my life in the quintessential "old part" of Pune or maybe because like millions of others, I feel at home despite the chaos, the noise & the crowds. So naturally, the premise of "City of Djinns" - a Scottish historian spending a year in Delhi chronicling its history - was immensely seductive and I dove into the book with high expectations.

Its a good book nay a great one if you are looking to understand the history of Delhi from the 12th century AD to about the 1900s. Dalrymple paints a vivid picture of the many transformations - both literal and cultural - that the city of Delhi has gone through. Instead of only talking about the Kings and their wars and who conquered who, the main focus here is on the cultural nuances, artistic scene and speculation about how the life of everyday Delhi-ite would have changed. The depiction of the Mughal Delhi is the most vivid one. Dalrymple talks a great deal about the East India officials who lived in Delhi from the 1800s, the sharp racist turn post the 1857 mutiny and the sad but true fate of Anglo Indians who faced closed doors from both India and UK. Chapters about Delhi eunuchs and about Sufi saints are riveting. 

So then, what's my beef with the book ? IMO, it doesn't paint a "whole" picture - which is perfectly fine - but still claims to do so - and that is not ok. The pre 12th century Delhi history is literally glossed over in 20 pages, no mention of the role Delhi played in the Indian Freedom struggle and apart from talking about the architectural features of the Lutyens Delhi, the book doesn't talk about Delhi's importance in economy of North India. All of this is probably fine and I shouldn't complain, but what ticked me off most was the coverage of the partition. Don't get me wrong, it paints a very good picture of what the migrating Sikh, Muslim and Hindu had to go through because of the partition and it talks in great detail about how in few weeks, the demographic of Delhi was changed forever and how the "Old Delhi" lost part of its soul. But it bucketizes people per their religion and stops there. It doesn't mention the common middle class man - who whatever his religion was, was also affected deeply. Based on what I have read about the partition (which I admit, isn't a lot), the fate of the common man, who previously wouldn't necessarily identify his religious bucket strongly faced battles that he didn't want. Although nothing compared to the horrors the migrating people endured, this change in everyday, left a mark on the post-partition Indian psyche.

In spite of these issues, I feel the book still works. I salute Dalrymple's calm attitude when dealing with government red tape and his quiet acceptance of the early 90s Indian idiosyncrasies

Give this book a shot, you won't regret it, 4/5. 

Book Review of "Last Argument of Kings - First Law Trilogy Book 3"

The fantastic First Law Trilogy ends with the "Last Argument of Kings" - it's been a good ride. The third book isn't exactly as "nasty" as the first two - but it has all the elements that made the first two books good - intriguing characters, fast paced action and an engaging story. I wouldn't call the First Law Trilogy one of the best fantasy books I have read, but they are definitely one of the entertaining ones. In fact, I wouldn't mind reading more about 'Sand Dan Glokta' and some of the other characters. This book gives a satisfying action packed conclusion and in my mind winds down all the important story arcs neatly. I don't necessarily like or agree with the way all those story arcs ended, but I'll say that's just me and not anything against the book - there aren't any obvious logical holes or odd u-turns. Overall, fun and interesting - 4/5. Got to admit, this genre of 'grimdark' is starting to grow on me :) 

Book Review of "Before They Are Hanged - First Law Trilogy Book 2"

They say the middle book of a trilogy could be a filler - you have the beginning and the end in your first and the third book respectively and the second one is there to "continues the story". There definitely is a kernel of truth to this generalization, but I have seen exceptions as well (case in point - the second book from the Remembrance of Earth's Past Trilogy). That being said, "Before They Are Hanged" unfortunately is not such an exception. IMO, it falls into the proverbial "middle book" fallacy. What works in its favor though (and hence the 4/5 rating from me), is the excellent characters and some of the sassiest character interactions in fantasy novels I have seen. The action sequences are painted superbly. The story arc of this book kind of feels flat. All in all, if you enjoyed the first book of the 'First law Trilogy', you'll enjoy this one, though not as much. For me, it's enough to keep me interested and go for the third book. I guess that's the main purpose of the middle books anyways!