Author: Shankar Jaganathan

Book Review 2025.14: The Pursuit of Happiness, A book of studies and strawings, (1893), Paperback 226 pages, August 15, 2025 Reading a book written in 1893 CE, and finding it relevant after 130+ years on a subject like pursuit of happiness was to me astounding. For this book is not a philosophical work, and neither is it a self-help book, but reflections of the author on the subject. But for a major blemish, reflecting the racist attitude of a white …

Book Review 2025.13: the War of Art, Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles, (2012), Paperback 165 pages, July 17, 2025 Dissatisfied by my inability to sustain writing despite trying all techniques that I had followed to write my two books published in the last decade, I googled and found this book. I don’t know why it took another two months for me to sit down and read it, but once I started, I completed in two …

Book Review 2025.12: What Money Can’t Buy, The Moral Limits of Markets, (2012), Paperback 203 pages, July 15, 2025 A book that completely resonates with my own thinking that in the last four decades markets have overreached their domain to the detriment of our society. Dreaming the utopian world of wanting to living in a world without money, I was attracted by this book’s title while browsing in a Church Street book store last week. I completed this book in …

Book Review 2025.11: The Road Less Travelled, A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth (1980), Paperback 3114 pages, July 5, 2025 Acting on my new year resolution for 2025 to re-read some of the classics in my library, I picked up this book. Purchased more than twenty years ago, I had only scanned through it. Maybe it is my age or the time I have on hand now that made me introspect and reflect on many of …

Book Review 2025.10: Coaching and Mentoring, What they are and how to make the most of them (2010), Paperback 214 pages, June 6, 2025 Picked it up being the first book on Coaching and Mentoring that I came across in recent times. Having been identified to coach /mentor, I felt the need to learn more about these concepts. Despite the fact that I was familiar with these concepts for most of my life, I had no occasion to critically examine …

Book Review 2025.09: Predictably Irrational (2009), Paperback 244 pages, May 27, 2025 I like behavioural economics for it negates the concept of “no free lunch” espoused by the traditional economics. Not only it negates, it also identifies multiple points where “free lunches” are served. Aptly titled “Predictably Irrational -The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions”, this book identifies situations where we behave irrationally, but predictably enough to create free lunches opportunities. The author identifies twelve situations where this predictably irrational …

Book Review 2025.08: Don’t Believe Everything You Think (2022), Paperback 167 pages, May 15, 2025 Attracted by the intriguing title, I picked up this book at Bangaluru Airport last week and completed it in five sittings. Written in a simple language, the author presents his crisp core message that is repeated multiple times with an incremental level of detail added with each repetition. These repetitions are targeted at getting the reader to imbibe the simple message which could take considerable …

Book Review 2025.07: To Sell Is Human (2012), Paperback 233 pages, May 5, 2025 Despite three decades of corporate work experience, I had to start my own business to appreciate the challenge of Sales, and more important the challenge of recruiting successful sales personnel. Notwithstanding sales being the most critical ingredient for the business success, it is probably the least taught, the least researched and the least discussed subject, except among close group of struggling professionals or entrepreneurs, who like …

Book Review 2025.06: A Natural History of Love (1995), Paperback 337 pages, May 1, 2025 I have been fascinated by the concept of love, especially romantic love, since teenage, which is the foundation for my sustained and deep interest in film music of all my known languages, especially ghazals and Urdu poetry for which I make an extra effort to learn the meaning of new words that I come across even today. Prompted by this interest, I purchased this book …

Book Review 2025.05: The Billion Dollar Sure Thing, (1973 Novel),  Paperback 255 pages, April 1t, 2025 The US initiated Global Tariff War dominating the world news prompted me to pick up this book. This was the thriller that I had read three decades ago in my college days which had ignited my interest in financial thrillers. My collection of over 25 books of this genre is a testimony to my continuing interest. Paul Erdman, the author had a chequered career …

Book Review 2025.04: A Brief History of Intelligence, Why the Evolution of the Brain Hold the Key to the Future of AI, 369 pages, 2023 -March 1, 2025 I consider myself extremely lucky for having found this book as an introduction to the complex subject of evolution of intelligence in life on our planet. The attractive title combined with my current interest in understanding the potential of AI and its limitations was probably a key factor that made me pick …