Reviews

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

4 Book Review in 2024

1. Brahmanda Purana, tr. Bibek Debroy
2. Indian Renaissance: The Modi Decade, ed. Aishwarya Pandit (The Sunday Guardian)
3. The Hanuman Chalisa, tr. Vikram Seth (The Sunday Guardian)
4. Strange Obsession, Shobha De
5. Life, Death and the Ashtavakra Gita, Bibek Debroy and Hindol Sengupta (The Sunday Guardian)

7 Book Reviews in 2023

1. Sacred Songs: The Mahabharata's Many Gitas (The Sunday Guardian)
2. Shiva Purana, Vol.1, tr. Bibek Debroy (CNN News18)
3. Souffle, by Anand Ranganathan (First Post)
4. Spy Stories: Inside the Secret World of the RAW and the ISI, by Cathy Scott-Clark Adrian Levy
5. Mahabharata The Epic and the Nation, by GN Devy
6. Ajaya, by Anand Neelkanthan
7. Aryaa: An Anthology of Vedic Women (The Daily Guardian)

5 Book Reviews in 2022

1. Vishnu Purana, tr. Bibek Debroy (First Post)
2. Buried: Hush Collection, by Jeffery Deaver
3. Classified: Hidden Truths in the ISRO Spy Story, by J. Rajasekharan Nair (The Daily Guardian)
4. The Reacher Guy: The Authorized Biography of Lee Child, by Heather Martin (The Sunday Guardian)
5.  Vasudeva Krishna and Mathura, by Meenakshi Jain (The Sunday Guardian)
   

4 Book Reviews in 2021

1. HBR's 10 Must Reads - Management Ideas
2. Rukmini: Krishna's Wife, by Saiswaroopa Iyer (The New Indian Express) 
   
3. The Curse of Bigness, by Tim Wu (Sunday Guardian)
4. Indraprastha, by BB Lal (Sunday Guardian)
   

3 Book Reviews in 2020

1. The Bhagavad Gita for Millennials, by Bibek Debroy (New Indian Express)
2. The Bhagavad Gita, translated by Bibek Debroy (New Indian Express)
3. Who Killed Shastri, by Vivek Agnihotri

5 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

9 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

8 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

4 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, #2: The 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