Bookless in Baghdad

How many books do you read in a year? 10, 50, 100 or more?

Shashi Tharoor during his growing up years gave it a try and he could count 365 well before the year ended! He started reading at the age of 3! (I guess they were comics). Being an introvert during his childhood made him make friends with books than in neighborhood.

This book ‘Bookless in Baghdad’ is a selection of the columns author has written for newspapers in the past few years. So this book does not put forward a single theme, but part memoir and part literary criticisms. This controversial author shares his love for Woodhouse, praise for Rushdie, goes on expressing his opinions on the authors and their works with his probing mindset and analytical thinking.

Bookless in Baghdad

A non-fiction on fiction

This one is not a fiction but a non-fiction about world famous novels of all times and understanding what makes them great. Orhan Pamuk, author of ‘The Naive and the Sentimental Novelist’ looks into the intimate connection shared between the writer and the reader, makes the book thoughtful, and deeply personal.

The book begins with a chapter named ‘What our minds do when we read novels’ and progresses with review of the works of world’s all-time best authors from Tolstoy to Naipaul. You will get a favorite list of books of the author and also of the authors he reviews in this book.

If you are a book lover (your spouse would hate this passion of yours), this book is a must on your reading list.

The Naive and the Sentimental Novelist

Identify risks for trading opportunities

At the high level, risks can be classified into financial and non-financial risks.

i.                 Financial risks include Market Risk, Credit Risk, Liquidity Risk

ii.                Non-financial risks include Operational, Legal, Political etc. risks

Identifying and understanding these risks in detail gives us plenty of opportunities to trade. It is illustrated here with an example.

Market Risk is associated with interest rates, currency exchange rates, commodity prices etc. Every business firm is exposed to such risks. Coal India is the biggest consumer of crude oil and the variation in crude prices will impact the margin structure of Coal India, so the stock price has a negative co-relation to oil prices. But neither Coal India’s stock price nor Brent crude pricing can go in one direction for long. They reverse, find equilibrium but not for long. Disturbance in market forces set them apart but again there will be a reversal at some point of time. This information gives the trader an edge to create trading positions in both and use technical parameters like convergence, divergence to book profits and wait for another opportunity to initiate trade.

Remember there are other risks playing out during the same time, which can alter the identified relationship, so the trader need to be cautious and have watchful eye to identify what is driving the individual stock or commodity price.

The fates of human societies

This book ‘Guns, Germs, and Steel’ authored by Jared Diamond is about the evolution of human societies during pre-historic times. It won Pulitzer award for him in 1998.

In this book, author examines the factors which shaped the evolution of early societies like farming, domestication of animals and development of communication skills including writing etc. The societies which acquired these skills had a distinctive advantage over others which lacked them. The farming power gave the ability to prepare for a war without a need to hunt for food every day. And the writing skills helped pass on the knowledge to future generations. The societies which had no clue of these skills during the same time could not compete with the ones possessing them and lost land and lives. Darwin simply put it as ‘Survival of the fittest’ but Jared explains it to us in detail. His other book ‘Collapse’,  is a book with a reversal theme, about what made strong societies like Mayans disappear.

While fiction readers may find this book heavy, non-fiction readers loved it and made it a best seller in its time.

Guns, Germs & Steel - The Fates of Human Societies

Where stones tell you a story

A Forgotten Empire

My fascination towards Hampi and the history of Vijayanagar kingdom begin with my first visit to it during a school trip. My interest grew with each succeeding trip and I have found myself at Hampi a dozen times after that.

All history books mention the glory of Vijayanagar kingdom. Many authors and researchers have put forward conflicting views about its rise and fall. After going through many texts, I found that ‘A Forgotten Empire’ written by Robert Sewell, a British officer in colonial India gives the best description of the forgotten times.

You can download a free copy here:

http://theknowledgeden.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/A-Forgotten-Empire-Vijayanagar-A-Contribution-to-the-History-of-India.-Robert-Sewell.pdf