Books - 2022
Here is a list of books I read this year and few brief thoughts about them
Completed
Witcher - Sword of destiny
A few years ago I briefly played the second Witcher game of the critically acclaimed series. More recently, watching the Netflix live action series with stellar performances by Henry Cavill nudged me to pick up the book. For this casual reader, the series and the books complemented each other and made for a good time.
The Quantum Thief trilogy (The Quantum Thief, The Fractal Prince, The Causal Angel)
Came across the first book’s title in a random twitter book recommendation thread as a good sci-fi read. To me, reading sci-fi has always been strenuous and a humbling experience. How does one know which words are made up and which ones are real scientific terms? does everyone know and understand quantum entanglement? etc. Reading through the famous The Three Body Problem and Dark Forest last year felt like an uphill climb which made one ache all over. But rewarded you with an exhilarating view and an unforgettable experience.
This series was not as intense and rewarding as the former, but had few thought provoking premises to hold one’s attention. It follows the exploits of a flamboyant heist master with various post apocalyptic factions and the author’s unique minimal exposition style was a fresh experience. I had to go through a few wiki articles after reading the series to unravel what I couldn’t over the course of reading, which in no way diminished the experience.
Vaanathu Manidhargal (Tamil)
The book by Indira Sounderrajan which was the source material for the serial adaptation Edhuvum Nadakkum (roughly translated Anything may happen) of the famed “Marma Desam” (translated as Mysterious Nation) series of action thriller TV shows.
For me, Marma Desam set the standard for tamil programming that exploded with the rise of cable television. Since then the bar has slid down, rolled into the ground and got buried deep. Yet, current day shows somehow manage to bore deep in and crawl underneath it.
I have vague memories of watching a few episodes of Edhuvum Nadakkum and thinking this feels far superior to the other TV serials of the day, perhaps due to the lush outdoor locations or the ‘graphics’ of showing a walking tree.
While the show was discontinued midway, I finally got to reading this book and got much needed closure. Also realised, the grand finale of the book could not have been possible with the relatively paltry budget and limited technical prowess of yesteryears.
P.S for the nostalgic 90s kids who grew up with said Tamil TV shows, kavithalaya has uploaded most of their popular TV shows in their YouTube channel. Ironically it doesn’t have the 30+ episodes of Edhuvum Nadakkum.
Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art
I wanted to follow-up on Dr. Matthew Walker’s brilliant book Why We Sleep with something similar that would expound the great values of regular physiological activity with clarity. Eventually, I happened to read an article by James Nestor about his experiences in practising ‘Sudarsana Kriya’ for the first time and realised it was an excerpt of a book. That piqued my interest, and I added this book to my reading list.
I almost immediately realised that it was not as enjoyable as Why we sleep which oozed the charisma and inimitable style of Walker who would seamlessly describe technical aspects of sleep for the layperson to clearly understand and easily envision.
This book however, is a more personal experience of the author who found answers to his own ailments through proper breathing techniques crawling through underground catacombs in Paris, examining skulls for jaw sizes and shapes, conducting interviews with multiple medical professionals and self-proclaimed ‘pulmonauts’.
If you do end up reading this book, I suggest not to skip the glossary section which contains ‘interesting’ details that I believe should have been part of the narrative.
Lessons in Chemistry
In a good way this book reminded me of English non-detail stories from my school days. Insurmountable odds, an extraordinary lady protagonist with unbroken will and unwavering righteousness overcoming said odds, almost one dimensional antagonists, an endearing pet, multiple things falling into place towards the end and finishing on a high which could almost be described as ‘happily ever after’.
Yathi (Tamil)
A 1000+ pages journey narrating the story of four brothers who choose the path of Sannyasa (renunciation of material pleasures and mortal relationships) in their own unique way and how their paths converge to their home town at the final days of their mother.
The book is filled with brilliant writing throughout, especially in how supernatural elements are interspersed in an otherwise normal story. As a journey across the varied landscape of the country and beyond (boundaries both physical and metaphysical), the book is mesmerising.
As a window into the philosophy of the ascetic’s way of life it is stellar. But as a story, specifically with how it devolves towards the last few pages with very little explanation and a devastating (just to clarify - not in a good way, at least for this reader!) twist it was infuriating.
The author decides to let some essential knots remain untied in ambiguity. The preface to this book was by a reader who won a contest for best preface after reading through it in a newspaper as a weekly story. If not for the exposition provided by the preface, the cloud of ambiguity would have been even more dense for me.
I ended up going through the author’s blog and read through a few other shortlisted entries published by him from the preface contest. While they had some brilliant observations and summarisation of the book, the apparent wanton ambiguity just wouldn’t let me enjoy the story. But…as a journey, this book lingers in my mind in a pleasant way.
Bookie Gambler Fixer Spy
A brave journalist’s narration of the cricketing underworld based on his first hand experiences with shady punters across various echelons of that domain.
This book is an eye opener on various less discussed or observed facets of cricket such as the ICC’s anti-corruption unit (ACSU), betting, match fixing and its history in the sport from the lowest to the highest levels in which the sport is played.
It goes into the specific details of how bets are made at various levels, the role of syndicates and how players are approached by punters for any information from team selection, weather conditions, injury reports etc to tilt the odds in their favour.
Towards the end one realises the grim reality that this is a systemic problem that’s not going to end any time soon. The author states that in the course of his investigation he has a list of around 45 cricketers, international and domestic, who could, in all likeness be tainted and how it would make it nearly impossible to enjoy the sport in its grandeur without a little thought at the back of one’s mind thinking about potential foul play.
Autobiography of a Yogi
Literally what the name of the book mentions, this is the account of Yogananda Paramahansa detailing the events of his life that led him towards the path of an ascetic.
This was an interesting read. The author makes it clear that he was destined to go to the west and induct disciples into the way of kriya yoga. So multiple references of Christ, christ-like, Christ-consciousness and other biblical references and stories made sense since the target audience of this book is primarily the western world.
I found the Yogi’s description about the state of samadhi very interesting. Same goes for the part where the Yogi’s guru (who at that point had already passed on!) explains about the afterlife in a detailed and definitive manner.
I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone who would want to read it with a purpose to achieve spiritual enlightenment. Same goes for people who have an aversion towards supernatural elements.
The Stormlight Archive (Books 1-4)
Came across references to an author named Brandon Sanderson in a reddit thread. Apparently while many were wondering if they would ever get to finish reading the ‘King Killer Chronicles’ or ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ series, this person was churning out pages like there was no tomorrow and keeping up with commitments - all while periodically updating the fanbase about it in near real-time!
I decided to try out the first book of this series and was immediately hooked into it. The writing has the mass appeal and satisfactory character and a reasonable world building that one would prefer.
Ended up burning through the four books (currently released) one after another along with the novellas. The void left by the unfinished King Killer saga feels satiated - for now.
Project Hail Mary
A sci-fi story about an amnesiac who wakes up from a coma in a spaceship, trying to remember his identity and mission. A fast-paced book with all qualities to be adopted as a TV series or a movie.
So good they can’t ignore you
I read Deep Work by Cal Newport and felt the core of the material as well as the author’s no-nonsense writing style resonated with my taste. So I decided to try this book.
Clear and concise material written deliberately in a manifesto-like structure with rules for each chapter and examples. With how the author used the concepts of flow state and deliberate practice in Deep Work, here he drives the point with the passion hypothesis, career capital, adjacent possible and small bets.
There are no earth shattering revelations of secrets here, just clear contextualisation and emphasis of what we already know - summarised with the necessary emphasis.
Faf: Through Fire
An autobiographical account of Ex-South African cricketer, captain and super star Faf Du Plessis. Faf lays bare his life with great clarity of thought and honesty.
The highlight of this book for me was his perspectives on leadership at large - servant leadership, leading with purpose and leading without a title. A lot of emphasis goes into people skills, effective communication and consequences due to the lack of it, leadership transition with transfer of knowledge etc., All ubiquitous matters in a team environment not specifically relating to cricket.
The book also covers his childhood days with contemporary and legend A B de Villiers, how he felt an initial jealousy seeing AB break into the international stage at 20 leaving everyone else behind. Later coming to terms with it and realising how it turned out to be a blessing in disguise when Faf would eventually join him in the international stage.
Faf also dedicates chapters to cover zipgate, mintgate and sandpapergate controversies in detail from his perspective.
He doesn’t shy away from the unfortunate way CSA handled his departure from international cricket in the most dignified way, but without avoiding sensitive subjects and the people involved.
At the end of the book, this CSK fan felt more regretful to have lost him to RCB. And I no longer feel happy to have been a fan of Daryll Cullinan, and to a certain degree Mark Boucher and Greame Smith.
The cherry on top is a short aside about the ‘nice guys’ New Zealand sledging Faf in a World Cup.
Tangential recommendation - another cricketing book related to South African cricket history I read last year, Sachin and Azhar in Cape Town ‘96 which covers a very special innings of the book’s protagonists while talking about the history of South African cricket in the background.
Ongoing books
Books I read without an intention to finish within a defined period.