Helle & Death by Oskar Jensen

A fun read. Strongly recommended!!

Swadeshi Steam: V.O. Chidambaram Pillai and the Battle Against the British Maritime Empire by A R Venkatachalapathy

A must-read! I especially enjoyed the role that Swami Ramakrishnananda seemed to have played in VOC’s efforts towards starting a swadeshi shipping company; there are other interesting titbits too — such as the one about Indian bank’s origins in Arbuthnot collapse. Strongly recommended!

Richard Feynman’s The character of physical law

A very interesting read. As usual, it is amazing to see the ease with which Feynman explains complex ideas. And, there are always new ideas and concepts that one learns! Strongly recommended.

Rebecca Makkai’s I have some questions for you

A gripping, good read! Strongly recommended.

How life works by Philip Ball

The books is called a user’s guide to the new biology. It is a fabulous guide!

The book emphasises the rigorous and in depth studies of genomes can only be of limited use in biology. There is really no blueprint and the rules that govern life are not prescriptive but generative. At some level, the book argues, the idea of blueprint for life in genome idea actively hinders our understanding life as is.

I enjoyed the later part of the book wherein concepts such as symmetry breaking and phase separation the catastrophe theory and attractors in dynamical systems are used to explain some of the biology. The section on chemical morphogenesis is the one I enjoyed the most! The discussion of Maxwell’s demon is the second most enjoyed idea for me in the book. Apparently, “natural selection has been hugely concerned with minimizing the thermodynamic cost of computation”. Finally, it was also fascinating to see the role of fluid flow in positioning organs in the body. On the whole, I enjoyed the use of concepts known to me from physics and mathematics in biology the most and I would love to read more along these lines.

In summary, a great book and strongly recommended!

Cal Newport’s Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout

Reminded me of the book The Slow Professor that I read a while back — which, suprisingly, does not find a mention in this book. Overall, a quick and good read!

How to love in Sanskrit by Anusha Rao and Suhas Mahesh

A fun book! Parts of it is, obviously erotic! Parts of it is mischievous! Parts of it is moving!! Overall, strongly recommended!!

Clare Chambers’ Small pleasures

A fairly gripping read which became a bit slow towards the end but ended with a jolt! Strongly recommended!!

A couple of recent reads

Ku Azhagirisamy’s Naan kanda ezhtuthalargal and Alison Bechdel’s The secret to superhuman strength. Enjoyed the clear flow in Azhagirisamy’s writing and the subject matter; and, I am becoming a fan of Bechdel; this is her third book that I have read. Both are strongly recommended.

Cal Newport’s Deep work: rules for focussed success in a distracted world

This book came with very strong recommendations. An younger colleague recommended the book strongly to me; when I looked up, I realised that another friend and colleague has gifted this book to me about an year ago. This is, as one of the reviews says, ‘engaging and substantive’. It would certainly change the way you organise your work day and leisure time. Strongly recommended!