In Light of India, Octavio Paz
A collection of essays, of varying interest. The first part is almost a travalogue, and is on par with anything I've read from Naipaul. The remainder talks about sanskrit literature, religion and indian society, and while I don't agree with a large portion of the opinions presented, its interesting to read a completely neutral (i.e. not indian or British) party's view about India.

Take On The Street: What Wall Street and Corporate America Don't Want You to Know. What You Can Do to Fight Back, Arthur Levitt
Interesting read, but not terribly new stuff, since I've been reading the Motley Fool for quite some time. What was crazy was the behaviour of politicians!

The Code Book: The Evolution of Secrecy from Mary, Queen of Scots to Quantum Cryptography, Simon Singh
A great introduction to cryptography - at the cost of repeating the title, how it evolved through war-time and peace, to the state it is in now, and where its going. Extremely readable!

Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market, Eric Schlosser
A wonderful set of three essays about different sections of American society today, with each exposing a lot of hypocrisy. The good thing about America is that there exist such books, I wish there were examples like this in India. The closest one I can think of is Everybody Loves a Good Drought.

The Turk: The Life and Times of the Famous Eighteenth-Century Chess-Playing Machine, Tom Standage
Cute book about the "first" chess playing computer. I found the descriptions about the first mechanical automata, and the response of the viewing public (from early disbelief to later conviction that all the worlds' problems will be solved by automata soon) particularly interesting. We seem to be in a similar state of mind currently...

Selected Fiction, O. V. Vijayan
The Legends of Khasak, The Saga of Dharmapuri, The Infinity of Grace, and Stories.
ugh! the author writes beautifully about crap. Literally.

The Idea of India, Sunil Khilani
A very difficult book to start, but once I did, found it very interesting (I'd like to know if the author speaks the way he writes!).

Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? Inside IBM's Historic Turnaround , Louis V. Gerstner Jr.
One of the better 'business' books out there. Much more interesting than a memoir, he talks about why certain decisions were made, their impact, and unanticipated outcomes.

The Night's Dawn Trilogy, Peter F. Hamilton
The Reality Dysfunction (Emergence and Expansion), The Neutronium Alchemist (Consolidation and Conflict), and The Naked God (Flight and Faith).

Rabindranath Tagore: The Myriad Minded Man


An Imaginary Tale: The Story of i, Paul J. Nahin


A New Kind of Science, Stephen Wolfram


Atom: An Odyssey from the Big Bang to Life on Earth -- And Beyond , Lawrence M. Krauss


Indira Gandhi, the "Emergency" and Indian Democracy, P. N. Dhar


Life of Pi, Yann Martell


Galatea 2.2, Richard Powers


White Moghals, William Dalrymple
Another history book (and I was expecting a novel!), but a completely different kind of history is narrated here - it has more to do with the people of the time than the events taking place. I wasn't too impressed with the story of the central characters, but the canvas on which this picture is drawn is fascinating.

Behind Deep Blue: Building the Computer that Defeated the World Chess Champion, Feng-Hsiung Hsu
I liked this book on a number of levels. Firstly, its written with all the enthusiasm and wonder of a little boy, and its contagious! Its easy reading for people unfamiliar with chess as well as with computers. And lastly, it evokes the feeling of wanting to do something significant, a feeling that I've somehow lost in the past few years.... As an aside, I got to play Deep Blue Jr. in the summer of 2002, and the results weren't very surprising :-)

The Mandala of Sherlock Holmes, Jamyang Norbu
Ever wondered what Mr. Holmes did in the couple of years after he supposedly dies with Prof. Moriarty? He roamed around India and Tibet, with one Hurree Chunder Mookerjee playing his indian Dr. Watson! Cute premise, and the author tries to stay true to the style and spirit of Doyle. The climax was a bit fantastic for my tastes, but what the heck. Also points out that chinese interference in Tibet has been going on for quite some time.

The Polyester Prince: The Rise of Dirubhai Ambani, Hamish McDonald
A wonderful book about the Ambani empire, and all the 'j' that went into building it. Rumours of their pull were always around when I was growing up, but I did not expect the extent of their reach. I'm not particularly upset about it - he did what he had to in order to succeed. If anything, it is the system that is more at fault than those who took advantage of it. Given the contents, its not surprising that this book has'nt been published in India!