Reviews

A list of all blog posts of the book reviews I have written starting in 2006.
These are listed in reverse chronological order. This is a fancy way of saying the newest are listed first.

235 books reviewed on this blog.
4 Book Reviews in 2021

Book Reviews in 2020
    Book Reviews in 2019
    1. Krishna Yogeshvara, by Sanjay Dixit (New Indian Express)
    2. The Markandeya Purana, translated by Bibek Debroy
    3. Like a Girl
    4. Flight of Deities and the Rebirth of Temples, by Meenakshi Jain (MyNation)
    5. Chalta Hai India, by Alpesh Patel
    10 Book Reviews in 2018
    1. The Idol Thief: The True Story of the Looting of India's Temples, by S. Vijay Kumar
    2. Sardar Patel - The Man Who Saved India, by Hindol Sengupta (MyNation)
    3. Krishna Gopeshvara - The Truth of the Vrishnis, by Sanjay Dixit (Daily Pioneer)
    4. Urban Naxals, by Vivek Agnihotri (Indic Today)
    5. Valmiki Ramayana, Vol. 1, by Bibek Debroy (tr) (OpIndia)
    6. Secret Empires by Peter Schweizer (OpIndia)
    7. A Journey Through Oligarch Valley, by Yasha Levine (OpIndia)
    8. The Friendless God, by S Anuradha (IndicToday)
    9. The OM Mala - Meanings Of The Mystic Sound, by Nityananda Misra (IndicToday)
    10. The Attention Merchants, by Tim Wu (OpIndia)

    11 Book Reviews in 2017
    1. The Sacred Sword: The Legend of Guru Gobind Singh, by Hindol Sengupta (OpIndia)
    2. The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't, by Robert Sutton
    3. Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End, by Atul Gawande
    4. Black Money and Tax Havens, by R Vaidyanathan (IndiaFacts)
    5. Aadhaar: A Biometric History of India's 12-digit Revolution, by Shankkar Aiyar (IndiaFacts)
    6. Inside Chanakya's Mind, by Radhakrishnan Pillai (Creative India Mag)
    7. Natural Enmity - Reflections on the Niti and Rasa of the Pancatantra
    8. Mahabharata, Book 2 - Ambition, by Somdip Datta
    9. The Illustrated Mahabharata, DK Books
    10. The Battle for Rama, by Meenakshi Jain
    11. Tunnel of Varanavat, by Gautam Chickermane

    Book Reviews in 2016
    1. Harivamsha, by Bibek Debroy
    2. Sati: Evangelicals, Baptist Missionaries, and the Changing Colonial Discourse, by Meenakshi Jain
    3. The Ocean of Churn, by Sanjeev Sanyal
    4. "Growth of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in India", by KS Lal
    5. "Sticks and Stones", by Emily Bazelon
    6. "Rama and Ayodhya", by Meenakshi Jain
    7. "Being Hindu", by Hindol Sengupta
    8. "Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now", by Ayaan Hirsi Ali (IndiaFacts)
    9. "India: A Sacred Geography", by Diana Eck

    Book Reviews in 2015
    1. Rise of the Robots, by Martin Ford - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
    2. Gita for Children, by Roopa Pai
    3. Rearming Hinduism, by Vamsee Juluri (IndiaFacts)
    4. Mahabharata Vol 10, translated by Bibek Debroy
    5. The Case of the Secretive Sister, by Nilanjan P Choudhury
    6. So You've Been Publicly Shamed, Jon Ronson
    7. Mahabharata Vol. 9 (First review) (Second review), translated by Bibek Debroy
    8. Incredible History of India's Geography, by Sanjeev Sanyal

    Book Reviews in 2014

    1. Bitter Chocolate: Child Sexual Abuse in India, by Pinki Virani
    2. Accidental India, by Shankkar Aiyar
    3. The Mahabharata, Volume 8, Translated by Bibek Debroy
    4. Indus Valley Civilization (Smart Green Civilizations), by Benita Sen

    29 Book Reviews in 2013

    1. The Blood Telegram - Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Genocide, by Gary Bass
    2. Sita: An Illustrated Retelling of the Ramayana, by Devdutt Pattanaik
    3. India's Bismarck, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, by Balraj Krishna
    4. Doctor Sleep, by Stephen King
    5. Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn
    6. The City of Dvaraka, by S.R. Rao
    7. The Lost River: On the Trail of the Sarasvati, by Michel Danino
    8. In Spite of the Gods, by Edward Luce
    9. Land of the Seven Rivers, by Sanjeev Sanyal
    10. Using R to Unlock the Value of Big Data, by Mark Hornick
    11. Mohammed Rafi - My Abba - A Memoir, by Yasmin Khalid Rafi 
    12. Inferno, by Dan Brown
    13. Waiting for the Biblioburro by Monica Brown, Illustrations by John Parra
    14. The Joy of x, by Steven Strogatz
    15. The Berenstain Bears' Report Card Trouble by Stan Berenstain
    16. Tinderbox: The Past and Future of Pakistan, by M.J. Akbar
    17. The Indian Renaissance: India's Rise after a Thousand Years of Decline, by Sanjeev Sanyal
    18. The Book of Story Beginnings, by Kristin Kladstrup
    19. Mahabharata, Vol. 7, Translated by Bibek Debroy
    20. Laugh with Laxman, by RK Laxman
    21. Spring is Here, Big Bear, by Will Hillenbrand
    22. The Missing Queen, by Samhita Arni
    23. The White Man's Burden, by Winthrop Jordan
    24. Coraline, by Neil Gaiman
    25. The Demonologist, by Andrew Pyper
    26. Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, by Stephen King
    27. Blindness, by Jose Saramago
    28. Mahabharata, Vol. 6, Translated by Bibek Debroy (also "A Note on the Footnotes" and "The Battle at Night")
    29. "Enterprise Analytics: Optimize Performance, Process, and Decisions Through Big Data", Thomas H. Davenport, et al.

    51 Book Reviews in 2012

    1. Adi Parva - Churning of the Ocean, by Amruta Patil
    2. Sleep, Big Bear, Sleep, by Maureen Wright, Will Hillenbrand
    3. Indianomix, by Vivek Dehjejia, Rupa Subramaniya
    4. Mr. Popper's Penguins, by Richard Atwater
    5. The Paper Bag Princess, by Robert N. Munsch
    6. Durbar, by Tavleen Singh
    7. Oracle Business Intelligence 11g Developer’s Guide, by Mark Rittman
    8. How Children Succeed, by Paul Tough
    9. The Net Delusion, by Evgeny Morozov
    10. Time Stops at Shamli, by Ruskin Bond
    11. Deadly Choices: How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All, by Paul Offit
    12. Prince of Ayodhya, by Ashok Banker
    13. Valmiki's Ramayana, Translated by Arshia Sattar
    14. Good Ol Charlie Brown, How I Hate Him! , by Charles M Schulz
    15. Cinderella Ate My Daughter, by Peggy Orenstein
    16. The Reversal, by Michael Connelly
    17. The Black Echo, by Michael Connelly
    18. Londonistan, By Melanie Phillips
    19. F in Exams: The Very Best Totally Wrong Test Answers, by Richard Benson
    20. Bali and the Ocean of Milk, by Nilanjan P Choudhury
    21. "Ten Years With Guru Dutt: Abrar Alvi's Journey", by Sathya Saran
    22. Mummies in the Morning (Magic Tree House, No. 3), Mary Pope Osborne
    23. After the Prophet: The Epic Story of the Shia-Sunni Split in Islam, by Lesley Hazleton (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)
    24. Magic Tree House, #2The Knight at Dawn, by Mary Pope Osborne
    25. The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice, by Christopher Hitchens
    26. The Parliamentary System, by Arun Shourie
    27. Magic Tree House #1: Dinosaurs Before Dark, by Mary Pope Osborne
    28. Mahabharata, Vol. 5, Translated by Bibek Debroy (Part 1, Part 2)
    29. Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys Over Girls, and the Consequences of a World Full of Men, by Mara Hvistendahl
    30. Where's Hanuman, by Christopher Woods
    31. The Honest Truth About Dishonesty: How We Lie to Everyone---Especially Ourselves, by Dan Ariely 
    32. An Identity Card for Krishna, by Devdutt Pattanaik
    33. The Duel: Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power, by Tariq Ali
    34. Imagine: How Creativity Works, by Jonah Lehrer
    35. Laxman's Questions, by Lata Mani (Author), Zainab Tambawala (Illustrator)
    36. The Fifth Witness, by Michael Connelly
    37. The Litigators, by John Grisham
    38. Mahabharata, Vol. 4, Translated by Bibek Debroy
    39. Mahabharata, Vol. 3, Translated by Bibek Debroy
    40. Mahabharata, Vol. 2, Translated by Bibek Debroy
    41. The Mahabharata, Volume 1: Book 1: The Book of the Beginning, Translated and Edited by J. A. B.van Buitenen
    42. Mahabharata, Vol. 1, Translated by Bibek Debroy
    43. 7 Secrets of Vishnu, by Devdutt Pattanaik
    44. The Alchemist, by Paul Coelho
    45. The Filter Bubble: What the Internet Is Hiding From You, by Eli Pariser
    46. I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson
    47. Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World, by Michael Lewis
    48. A King Cobra's Summer, by Janki Lenin. Illustrator: Maya Ramaswamy
    49. The Artist of Disappearance, by Anita Desai
    50. The Camel Club, by David Baldacci
    51. India's Culture and India's Future, by Michael Danino

    36 Book Reviews in 2011

    1. Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture, by Ellen Ruppel Shell
    2. Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit, by Barry Estabrook
    3. The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly
    4. The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson
    5. Power by Jeffrey Pfeffer: Why Some People Have It and Others Don't
    6. Brain Rules for Baby, by John Medina
    7. Holy Shit by Gene Logsdon
    8. Hell's Corner by David Baldacci
    9. Puffin Mahabharata by Namita Gokhale
    10. The Palace of Illusions
    11. Before I Go To Sleep
    12. What Is Node 
    13. Onward by Howard Schultz
    14. Brain Rules by John Medina 
    15. Using the HTML5 Filesystem API 
    16. Fodor's Essential India 
    17. Moonwalking with Einstein 
    18. Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother 
    19. In Defense of Food
    20. The Shallows
    21. Emperor of all Maladies 
    22. Designing With The Mind In Mind 
    23. Jaya 
    24. Talent Is Overrated 
    25. The Girl Who Played With Fire 
    26. The Master Switch 
    27. Churchill's Secret War 
    28. 7 Secrets from Hindu Calendar Art by Devdutt Pattanaik 
    29. The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sherlock Holmes 
    30. Third class in Indian railways by Mahatma Gandhi 
    31. Start Up Nation 
    32. Manufacturing Depression 
    33. Oracle Business Intelligence Condensed Guide - Boo... 
    34. Leading Change by John Kotter 
    35. Difficulty of Being Good by Gurcharan Das 
    36. Myth=Mythya by Devdutt Pattanaik

    22 Book Reviews in 2010

    1. The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest
    2. The Best of Sherlock Holmes 
    3. At Home by Bill Bryson
    4. Click 
    5. Theodore Boone by John Grisham
    6. Coopetition 
    7. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo 
    8. The Cobra by Frederick Forsythe 
    9. Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton 
    10. Food Rules by Michael Pollan 
    11. Buy-In 
    12. The End of Wall Street 
    13. The End of The Free Market 
    14. The Big Short by Michael Lewis 
    15. The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande 
    16. Upside of Irrationality by Dan Ariely 
    17. Art of Choosing by Sheena Iyengar 
    18. Bailout Nation 
    19. The Shadow of the Great Game 
    20. The Kaoboys of RAW 
    21. Nurture Shock 
    22. Ford County Stories by John Grisham 

    25 Book Reviews in 2009

    1. Future of Hedge Fund Investing by Monty Agarwal
    2. Visual Display of Quantitative Information by Edward Tufte 
    3. Buy, Buy, Baby
    4. Envisioning Information by Edward Tufte 
    5. The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story This is ... 
    6. Rebound: A Proven Plan for Starting Over After Job... 
    7. Upanishad - Chandogya 
    8. Looting of America 
    9. The Drunkard's Walk 
    10. How The Mighty Fall by Jim Collins 
    11. Stumbling On Happiness by Dan Gilbert 
    12. Nudge, by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein
    13. Eat That Frog 
    14. A Case of Exploding Mangoes 
    15. How To Lie With Statistics 
    16. Upanishads - Brihadaranyaka and Mandukya by Eknath Easwaran
    17. The Logic of Life-1 by Tim Harford
    18. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
    19. Founders At Work-1 
    20. Winning Through Intimidation 
    21. 33 million people in the room 
    22. Romancing With Life by Dev Anand
    23. Information Dashboard Design by Stephen Few
    24. The Self-Destructive Habits of Good Companies 
    25. The Corporation That Changed The World by Nick Robbins

    3 Book Reviews in 2008

    1. Bollywood Melodies
    2. Web 2.0: A Strategy Guide by Amy Chua
    3. Confessions of a Swadeshi Reformer by Yashwant Sinha

    1 Books Reviewed in 2007

    1. India Summers by John Wright

    10 Books Reviewed in 2006

    1. Prey by Michael Crichton
    2. Five Point Someone by Chetan Bhagat
    3. State of Fear by Michael Crichton
    4. The Brethren by John Grisham
    5. The Partner by John Grisham
    6. Makers of India's Foreign Policy by JN Dixit
    7. Undercover Economist by Tim Harford
    8. Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
    9. The Truth About the Drug Companies
    10. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini