samhitarao's reviews
96 reviews

Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell

4.0

A very easy read, making it unputdownable. Gladwell draws some interesting conclusions about what makes for a successful person, but the comparisons are shy of being hand-wavy. I would not call them entirely scientific, but are interesting comparisons, nonetheless. A few aspects of his book, I am in complete agreement with, such as how opportunity and effort trumps luck and intelligence. I also loved his take on what constitutes as work satisfaction. He says, its these three simple things- 'autonomy, complexity and a connection between effort and reward'. This strikes a cord with a graduate student like me, who finds herself asking what good 80 hour work weeks do, and then I realize my work satisfies those three simple things (for the most part).

I would definitely recommend it.

False Impression by Jeffrey Archer

4.0

With False Impression, Archer sticks to his style of writing a thrilling page turner. A quick read and a solid storyline. I did find some plot lines predictable but that doesn't mean it wasn't a fun book. It had the right amount of impressionist art history to be informative, but not enough for me to get bored of reading about Van Gogh or Monet. Reads like a Dan Brown thriller, but with an appropriate dash of the author's 'British-ness'.

Anxious to Please: 7 Revolutionary Practices for the Chronically Nice by James Rapson, Craig English

3.0

Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari

5.0

I took notes, took my time, was partially terrified, but immensely satisfied. Very few books (non fiction esp) live up to their hype and Sapiens does not disappoint. Having heard so much about it going in, I had my standards raised up high, but apart from a relatively long drawn few chapters in the middle, this book lived up to my standards and how. I am very very wary of books/ articles that propound on science but aren't published in a Journal. But Harari's work is thorough, skeptical and succinct. I usually pepper a fiction in between hard hitting non fictions, but I doubt I can stop myself from opening Homo Deus.

Five stars, all the way.

PS: If you have read this review, read the book and want to discuss it, get in touch! A journal club on this book would be a dream :)

Camino Island by John Grisham

3.0

The plot was a bit predictable, but I still enjoyed the storyline. An easy weekend read, especially if you're looking to escape into popular fiction, based in a sleepy town with some FBI drama for good measure.

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

4.0

Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari

5.0

Maybe it's recency bias, but having read Sapiens and Homo Deus in close succession had its pros and cons.

The first half of Homo deus is very similar to the overall message in Sapiens so I got through that fairly quickly. The narration is more anecdotal and less empirical in Homo deus (in comparison to Sapiens) but I also felt that the point of each book was different. I felt that through Homo deus, Harari showed us the world of tomorrow through his personal lens which was in itself very fascinating. I enjoyed the final third portion of the book the best and its novel insights into humanism and dataism.

Harari is an exceptional non fiction author, his work is relatively unbiased but it does have a strong hint of his personal beliefs (of the Vipasana school of thought and of Buddhist practices in general). I could tell how much of an influence SN Goenka was to him.

Overall, it's a satisfying read for a decently curious mind :)

The Racketeer by John Grisham

3.0

Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking by Ted Orland, David Bayles

5.0

I couldn't have found a better time in life to have read this book. Replace 'Art' with 'lab work' and every word will still ring true. I loved its emphasis on the normalcy of uncertainty, of failure and of fear in the field of art which can easily be transferred to scientific discovery. In the end, it's all about actually starting something, doing it all alone, failing at it and starting it over again.
If you find yourself staring at a hard problem/ life choice/ career prospect- first, dive straight into actually working on it, and while you wade through those murky waters of uncertainty, pick up this book and give it a read.