Archana

Very comprehensive and balanced history of Lego

Revisado: 01-02-23

Loved the Author's balanced and personal approach to tell the story of 5 generations starting and maintaining Lego spirit

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Eye opening history and power of commodity traders

Revisado: 07-01-22

I always knew that traders (big or small) are the behind the scene enablers of any economic system in the world. In the case of commodities, the book revealed the scale and gravity of their importance in the last 100 years for the world economy. More than the economic system, these trading houses seem to have been power brokers of whole countries and continents in the hour of their need, ranging from the Middle East to Africa to Latin America and Eastern Europe. Fortunes of commodity traders were tied to the upheaval in the world economy and their daring to do business where no one else will. They are tied to shoddy practices doing whatever it takes to make the trade profitable. However, this daring also acted as buyer of last report and seller of last resort to countries like Apartheid South Africa to Cuba to Soviet union in disarray when breaking into many countries.

certainly a fascinating blend of history of the world through the lens of commodity and commodity traders. Main companies covered are Glencore, Vitol, Trifugura, Cargill who have survived upheavals in world history and have, in many ways, contributed to stabilizing those upheavals with power of that of a powerful State.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Youth Sport League and Parental Anxiety

Revisado: 02-15-22

As the parent of 8 year old who is just getting introduced to the world of Youth Sports, this book felt like a preview of things to come and perspective to help weather next 10 years. Book is short and to the point with full of drama and personal anecdotes that always drives the point home than theoretical research and third party reporting of issues.

Book also highlights youth sports as a huge source of parental anxiety which parents cannot absolve themselves from even if they want to. This anxiety might be second only to career and success anxiety we all get in our professional life.

I have spend countless hours just in one summer season traveling for my daughter's tournaments and could relate my own irrational behaviors on the sidelines watching the game. We are born to compete and being upon ourselves the anxiety that comes from competing. I definitely cared much more about my daughter's game and how she played or was coached than she cared herself.

Good book on stepping back and see Youth Sports Industry from very high level so that you develop the ability to catch yourself before you go too far in creating anxiety for yourself and your kids for the sports

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

A middle age story with alternate ending

Revisado: 01-24-22

The started as comventional life story of many middle class americans confused and on a conveyer belt of education, profession and tripping into bad habits. Rich, of course, went slightly more on the addiction side with alcohol and had to do rehab. First half of the story is not that interesting but any middle age individual on cross roads of life and profession can identify it. Second half of the story is where the thril started, atleast for me. RIch was cerrtainly not a couch potato before he got into his Ultraathlete journey, however, the way he pulled it off in the middle-ages with family support, managing profession and money and more importantly a will to push himself to the extreme of what humans can do was very inspiring. I really enjoyed detailed description of the Ironman triathlons in Hawaii and as I was listening to this on a audiobook, I felt like I was there. Rich certainly didn't elaborate his achievements with glory and made it clear the chellenges faced at every step, every stroke and every paddle. Another dimension for me was Plant based diet - being vegetarian I was never convinced that extreme athleticism was possible with only Plant Based Diet. Last part of the book is actionable section to translte RIch's experience in any of our lives - of course, it will sound cliche and copy paste of many self help and motivational books we might have read, however, listening to the same cliche and advice from a man who have achieved something extraordinary and while that achievement story is fresh in the mind, it does have create a urge to act upon it. It has really prompted for me to know about the world of extreme athletes and what drives them

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Much more than a book on Jennifer Doudna

Revisado: 12-11-21

Jennifer Doudna has certain contributed significantly, however, given Walter Isaacson prior books I thought it was too early to write a book on Jennifer. I picked up anyways as I am fan of all his prior booked. The book turned out to be much more than a biography of Jennifer. in fact the central character of the book really is the code of life - Gene or you can even say virus and bacterial which inspired the pioneering work on Crispr and Gene Editing. My favorite sections of the booked were though experiments on bioethics and how scientists put their differences aside to compare the Coronavirus pandemic. Section on Bioethics explore the slippery slope of allowing humanity to change their own genes, from treating diseases to producing designer babies. The section on Coronavirus elaborated how the time of crisis brings the entire world together to solve a problem that affects all. the innovation and collaboration spawned by COVID taught us how the basic sciences can find practical applications in matter of months and not years. Will be spending next week's and months quenching my curiosity on CRISPR, Gene Editing, and thorny topic of Bioethics.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Another golden nugget in an uncertain world

Revisado: 10-04-21

In a series of books on uncertainty (Naseem Taleb, Malcolm Gladwell etc.), this book adds the perspective of a practitioner (poker player) who has to make an uncertain decision quickly with high stakes. Most of us are not poker players but our decision making in life can be improved if we think of them as betting on our beliefs.

Easiest way to understand this is by comparing decisions we make and life in general to Poker and not Chess. Chess is a certain game and person loses never says (or can say), I got a bad set up because it is a game with all the information provided upfront with no luck involved and pure skill. While in Poker, there are many things not in your control (initial hands, new hands, bluffing strategy by opponent etc.). You can only play poker by deciding on highest probability event and not certainty of the best move because unlike chess you have incomplete information.

Surround yourselves with people who wants to seek truth and not confirm their biased beliefs based on outcomes they got.

Thinking of multiple outcomes (positive and negative) when imagining the future as well as when future has arrived, to analyze the past will go a long way on realizing that future is uncertain and present is only one of many outcomes that could have happened. This will help us avoid hindsight bias and allow us to learn from past even if the outcome was positive.

Believe it or not, thinking in uncertain terms and making decisions as bets can lead to happiness and satisfaction. Realizing not everything is in your control and working hard towards seeking truth through diverse perspective for what could happen will lead to a richer life.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Cautionary Tale on putting too much faith on Govt

Revisado: 09-07-21

Books like this and associates investigative journalism are very critical on opening eyes for citizens on the effectiveness of government agencies they rely on. Pills we all pop on a regular basis doesn't give us even a second of pause on its effectiveness and safety. This is fair as FDA is supposed to be lost stringent agency in the world. however, even FDA is not immune to force of globalization and political pressures. The tale in the book focuses a lot on US generic pills being made in emerging markets with su standard quality. However, it is also prevalent in US and other developed countries too. We have come to expect the different standards for products for US vs emerging markets but for products like medicines, the standards should be the same. I know this is much harder question when taking into consideration the ground reality if individual countries but lack of awareness plays a major role in complacency of these issues. A terrorist attack or a building collapse due to negligence garners much more press than patients getting affected by non effective medicines. This book educated me a lot on the perils of globalization on medicines but simultaneously also presents an huge opportunities for US and India / China to work together to set up win win economies similar to other manufacturing and services sector. it does require a crisis as change catalyst and it seems like we are not letting this crisis go to waste. Must read for anyone who takes any kind of generic medicine.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Amazing distillation of Leonardo's life as a geniu

Revisado: 08-10-21

I finished this book sitting on a porch in YMCA in the Rockies and ending credits mentioned it was recorded in Denver by Rocky Mountain studios. I also finished this book Leonardo style by taking many months and dabbling, procrastinating, mulling over aspects of his life. Also started 3-4 other books in between and finished some of them in between too. This style seemed like the apt tribute to a man's life story who discovered, invented and created purely for the curiosity and individual satisfaction. He is very popular by a small proportion of his life's work as rest of them he never finished or published. His military inventions, geometric experiments, astronomical observations and deductions, anatomical studies, hydrodynamics were all documented hundreds of years before they were officially invented - just for pure curiosity of his mind and documented informally in his notebooks as doodles and sketches. For the later part of his life, he was even averse to painting and wanted to purely pursue other sciences and nature studies. I would really like if we all celebrate his life much more than his paintings. It was ironic for the author to have a chapter on lessons learnt from Leonardo's life as a concluding chapter while I wanted reading this book to be a pleasure onto itself rather than having a pressure to have a summarized lessons learnt from his life. But I can understand the pressure and commercial attraction of having a executive summary and lessons learnt in today's world where if you can't describe utility of an endeavor, it is considered waste of time. Leonardo lived 500 years ago in Renaissance period where certain class of individuals and artists had the pleasure of pursuing their curiosity without worrying about perception and commercial utility. I predict that 500 from now, most of the humanity will go through a mass Renaissance period where individuals will pursue their curiosity without having to worry about earning livelihood or impressing rest of the society. Give this book a read, if you are able to do it purely for the pleasure of reading.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Practical guide to be a Non conformist

Revisado: 04-04-21

I feel like many other books invoke a sense of emotion and passion to drive you towards being different, innovative and wildly successful. This book is making a pretty good attempt to formulate a science around converting non-conforming and innovative instincts into viable actions and more importantly form alliances in a world that is by default gravitated towards status quo. It is very easy to say that I am different and others will not understand me, much harder to find a way to bring the rest of the world along with you to see your wildly different viewpoint and simultaneously benefit from their skeptism. Examples of non conformist movements given in the book come from across the geography and time / history. if you follow the stories and advice in these book, you might be able to swim upstream with your crazy ideas. Of course, all the ideas in the book need moulding in your specific situation for it to be effective that can only come with experimentation.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Culture defined and demystified

Revisado: 03-25-21

I have recently wondered about how to define culture of a firm. With many firms making decisions about future of work post pandemic and justifying their decision to maintain their "culture". This book provided a keyhole into mysterious concept of culture and broken down into three key trails for groups / firms that have "successful" culture - Cohesion, Cooperation and Purpose. This might not be very enlightening but author provides stories from real world and practical tips to implement this concepts in teams on day one. I plan to experiment with these concepts in my personal and professional life and see if we can have even a fraction of a success that Pixar, Navy Seals, Danny Meyers had which are the examples given in the book.

Some of the psychological studies quoted are very telling and almost unbelievable - Classic being spaghetti structure Challenge between executives and kindergartners.

Will recommend this book to anyone looking to understand how a group of people can achieve greatness and act as one.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña