Reviews

A list of all blog posts of the book reviews I have written starting in 2006.
243 books reviewed on this blog.

Book Reviews in 2023
Book Reviews in 2022
    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 Chikermane

      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