Ashwin Nanjappa Male, Single. Singapore

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  Fantastic beginning

  I had heard a lot about this manga and even seen the movie. The actual manga is far better, with beautiful artwork and deeper look into the characters.

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  ― Posted on May 24, 2009 | 1 feedback

• Must have!

  I used this Lonely Planet on my trip to Beijing and travels through the Shandong Province. The LP did a good job as always giving me all the needed information to travel and see interesting places while skipping all the trouble.

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  ― Posted on May 14, 2009 | 1 feedback

• Breezy

  I picked up the book Show Stopper!: The Breakneck Race To Create Windows NT And The Next Generation At Microsoft in the library after listening to it being mentioned by Joel Spolsky on the StackOverflow podcast #48. I wasn't really intending to read it, but after racing through the exciting opening ... (continue)

  I picked up the book Show Stopper!: The Breakneck Race To Create Windows NT And The Next Generation At Microsoft in the library after listening to it being mentioned by Joel Spolsky on the StackOverflow podcast #48. I wasn't really intending to read it, but after racing through the exciting opening of the book there was no way I was going to let it go. Written by Pascal Zachary, this is a book that tells the story of the creation of Windows NT. More than the software, it's the story of the people, the teams and their efforts and achievements that made the first version of Windows NT possible. The book is a very breezy read and should be un-put-downable for any techie. Recommended reading.

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  ― Posted on Apr 19, 2009 | Add your feedback

• Easy to understand

  Unlike some other computational geometry books, is more visual and less mathematical. This makes it easier to grasp the concepts it explains. I used it to learn the first chapter on triangulations.

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  ― Posted on Mar 31, 2009 | Add your feedback

• In the moment

  Landscape Townscape is a coffee table book of 105 photos captured by Henri Cartier Bresson. Most of the photos were taken during 1940-1970s in Europe, USA, Japan, SE Asia and India. All the photos are in B&W, which is Henri's defacto medium. A majority of the photos seem to be taken with a wideangle ... (continue)

  Landscape Townscape is a coffee table book of 105 photos captured by Henri Cartier Bresson. Most of the photos were taken during 1940-1970s in Europe, USA, Japan, SE Asia and India. All the photos are in B&W, which is Henri's defacto medium. A majority of the photos seem to be taken with a wideangle lens, especially the landscape ones.

  I've seen many of Henri's famous photos and know a bit about the man who essentially created photojournalism. But, this is the first proper compilation of his that I've got my hands on. The landscape photos all show a very keen eye for patterns and composition. In fact, every photo has so many composition elements captured beautifully right that it's a joy to study each one. Long stark shadows evoking feelings of decay and sadness are a repeating feature in a lot of these photos. The landscape photos are mostly bare of humans, who are traditionally Henri's popular subjects. But, people going about their everyday lives start to appear in the townscape photos. It's a testament to Henri's small camera (the legendary Leica he's known for) and quick eye-arm coordination to see photos where a certain moment has been captured. A moment (Henri calls it the decisive moment) so fleeting yet precious that one can only wonder how the hell Henri happened to be at precisely the right place at precisely the right time!

  I highly recommend this book for all those interested in photography. The book is huge due to the large print of the photographs and is surely expensive. Just see if you can borrow it at your library. The book is full of some of Henri's most seminal works. The grainy faces and images are sure to remain etched in your memory. Every Bresson photo is such a joy to look at and study and it's sure to influence your photography the next time you put your eye to the viewfinder.

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  ― Posted on Mar 27, 2009 | Add your feedback

• Colorful photos

  I checked out only the photos in this book, not the text. The photos are very colorful and cover almost every corner of Malacca town. Worth just for the photos itself!

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  ― Posted on Mar 4, 2009 | Add your feedback

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  Filled with delightful anecdotes

  In his travelogue Chasing The Monsoon, author Alexander Frater follows the 1987 monsoon across India. Frater spent his youth in the New Hebrides (now called Vanuatu), a splattering of volcanic islands in the Pacific Ocean where his dad worked as a Mission doctor to the tribals. A strange set of pers ... (continue)

  In his travelogue Chasing The Monsoon, author Alexander Frater follows the 1987 monsoon across India. Frater spent his youth in the New Hebrides (now called Vanuatu), a splattering of volcanic islands in the Pacific Ocean where his dad worked as a Mission doctor to the tribals. A strange set of personal events convinces Frater to undertake the monsoon journey across India. Starting from Kerala he follows it across the West coast to Mumbai, then Delhi and Kolkata. His final aim is to experience the monsoon in Cherrapunji, the place with the heaviest rainfall in the world back then. This is when Indian bureaucracy throws a spanner into his works, not allowing him entry into Meghalaya due to the sensitive conditions there. Crestfallen he returns back to London. But, due to his persistence and with the help of some enterprising friends he gets that elusive permit and finally gets wet in the Cherra downpour.

  Alexander Frater totally won me over with this book. The monsoon is a religion in India and it plays a major role in the lives of Indians. When it's delayed or less, it causes droughts. When it's early or heavy, it causes floods. Yes, it's old and dated, but Frater's travel tale is laced with such delightful and funny anecdotes and filled with such colorful characters that it's hard to not love it. Though monsoon is the main theme of the book, Frater also weaves in his own personal life journey into the threads. And even those parts are just as interesting. This is the best Indian travelogue I've read in years. A very good read.

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  ― Posted on Feb 14, 2009 | Add your feedback

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  Meticulous

  Advice To A Young Scientist is a book by P. B. Medawar for folks keen on entering research. Medawar won the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1960 for his research on why immune systems reject organ transplants. Medawar's writing is meticulous and a joy to read. Though the former half of the book deals wi ... (continue)

  Advice To A Young Scientist is a book by P. B. Medawar for folks keen on entering research. Medawar won the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1960 for his research on why immune systems reject organ transplants. Medawar's writing is meticulous and a joy to read. Though the former half of the book deals with practical information for the newbie, the latter turns into a treatise on science and the scientific method. Not bad reading at all.

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  ― Posted on Jan 27, 2009 | Add your feedback

• Pertinent and useful

  While the packaging and the 7 in the title seem to give the picture of yet-another-quick-self-help book, after reading it I didn't get that perception. You could replace the effective in Highly Effective People with happy, content or peaceful and the book would still make sense. Covey tries to share ... (continue)

  While the packaging and the 7 in the title seem to give the picture of yet-another-quick-self-help book, after reading it I didn't get that perception. You could replace the effective in Highly Effective People with happy, content or peaceful and the book would still make sense. Covey tries to share his learnings of how to gain independence in personal life and interdependence in societal life using 7 habits. The stress all through the book is that there are no shortcuts, a person has to base his life on principles and constantly practise the right learnings/actions until they become habits. (This is something that I'm finding out is very true personally.)

  The book is a breezy read, lots of quotes, stories and analogies. This is a good read, I could agree with the author on a lot of his views and I definitely took away a lot from the book.

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  ― Posted on Jan 23, 2009 | Add your feedback

Ashwin Nanjappa has margin notes. Take a look.

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  Badass!

  Cryptonomicon is not a science-fiction novel. It has 2 parallel storylines divided in time -- one happens in World War II and the other is present day. Due to the detail it dives into while describing WWII, it's a historical/techno-thriller. The book is too huge and the plot is too long and complica ... (continue)

  Cryptonomicon is not a science-fiction novel. It has 2 parallel storylines divided in time -- one happens in World War II and the other is present day. Due to the detail it dives into while describing WWII, it's a historical/techno-thriller. The book is too huge and the plot is too long and complicated to faithfully describe here. The WWII storyline revolves around 3 mathematicians, Turing (yes, the real Alan Turing!), Waterhouse (an American) and Rudy (a German). When Pearl Harbour happens, Waterhouse is pulled into London's Bletchley Park to help the Allied powers break the cryptographic Enigma (and other) codes of the Axis powers. While doing this, Waterhouse and Turing help build some of the earliest computing devices in human history. A large part of the story takes place in Asia, where Shaftoe (an American soldier) is fighting the Japanese. This takes him from China to Philippines. In the parallel current-day storyline (which is told in alternating chapters), the descendants of the above WWII characters are part of a Silicon Valley startup named Epiphyte that specializes in cryptography. They're setting up secure data havens in Philippines and Kinakuta (a fictional name, but it's nothing but Brunei) to act as new Internet backbones and also for Internet banking. These hackers soon run into some WWII artefacts which as they slowly decrypt leads them them to a treasure of unimaginable proportions hoarded by the Japanese towards the end of WWII. It will lead them to discover some startling revelations about their grandparents and their roles in WWII.

  With one book, I'm a convert. At 918 pages and 108 chapters, it's long, but ah so delicious! Cryptonomicon is satisfying at all levels, what's not to like! The WWII storyline starts from Pearl Harbour and goes on upto the defeat of the Japanese, thus ending the war. My WWII knowledge jumped by several magnitudes due to the detailed descriptions of the German and Japanese cryptosystems, their war strategies and how they failed. Especially enlightening was the tons of information about the Japanese-American conflict that happened in Asia. The other current-day storyline can't compare to this, but is still engaging enough to be a page turner. This is a real techno-thriller since Stephenson doesn't hold back from smattering his pages with formulas, graphs and details of cryptosystems when they're needed. Linux, UNIX, Windows NT, actual Perl scripts, Turing machines and the wickedly cool Van Eck phreaking all play a part! Also, Bruce Schneier contributed a new encryption algorithm named Solitaire for this book, which can be used to encrypt messages using a deck of playing cards. This is used as a major plot device in the book and Schneier describes the system in the Appendix at the end of the book. Cryptonomicon is badass, I look forward to reading more Stephenson and cyberpunk now!

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  ― Posted on Jan 1, 2009 | Add your feedback

• Approachable

  I studied this book to learn about the Polya Enumeration Formula and Burnside's Lemma. The book is written in an excellent approachable manner which doesn't turn away folks who don't have the grounding from earlier chapters. This was very important for me since I was jumping into the middle of the b ... (continue)

  I studied this book to learn about the Polya Enumeration Formula and Burnside's Lemma. The book is written in an excellent approachable manner which doesn't turn away folks who don't have the grounding from earlier chapters. This was very important for me since I was jumping into the middle of the book.

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  ― Posted on Nov 14, 2008 | Add your feedback

• Magnificent piece of writing and artwork!

  I was floored by the trailer for the movie Watchmen, slated to release in 2009. Intrigued by the weird superheroes and their predicament shown in the trailer, I decided to check out the graphic novel it's based on. Watchmen, a graphic novel (and not a mere comic) written by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbo ... (continue)

  I was floored by the trailer for the movie Watchmen, slated to release in 2009. Intrigued by the weird superheroes and their predicament shown in the trailer, I decided to check out the graphic novel it's based on. Watchmen, a graphic novel (and not a mere comic) written by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons deals with the life of retired superheroes living in the USA of 1980s. Most of them have hung up their costumes after the Keene Act was passed banning vigilantism and they're now trying to get back to living within society. The book starts off with the murder of Edward Blake aka The Comedian. Walter Kovacs aka Rorschach thinks that this is no ordinary murder, but the first among a string intended to wipe off all the retired superheroes. He tries to find out who and why and this leads him to meet all his old superhero buddies. This also leads the reader through the rest of the novel, to discover the stories of all these heroes (in flashback) and how they're leaving mundane lives among society.

  At 436 pages, complete with artwork, Watchmen is a heavy read. The story is complex, deep and hugely introspective. It has a sombre mood all through, being set in a crumbling USA of the 1980s when Russia is waiting to unleash its nukes on their enemy. Alan Moore not only excels in the details of his characters, but the intricate way in which he reveals their arcs is just brilliant. Interspersed with the novel's timeline and its flashbacks are (fictional) excerpts from books, diaries, reports, all of which totally immerse the reader in the alternate world that Moore has wrought. There are also tons of quotes and art references as the book progresses. (For example, every chapter ends with a progressing blood spill onto a clock that is edging closer and closer to 12 midnight. The reader only discovers in the last chapter where this image actually fits in.) I will easily admit that this is nothing like any comic I've ever read, it's a totally new experience! As it says on the cover, this is definitely a book only for mature readers. It will forever change the way you look at comics/graphic novels/superheroes. A highly recommended read.

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  ― Posted on Oct 20, 2008 | Add your feedback

• Inspirational read

  Lance Armstrong's autobiography It's Not About The Bike: My Journey Back To Life is co-authored by him and sports writer Sally Jenkins. I'd been meaning to read this book since I started running last year. It follows his life from his childhood with his divorced mother, his belligerent early success ... (continue)

  Lance Armstrong's autobiography It's Not About The Bike: My Journey Back To Life is co-authored by him and sports writer Sally Jenkins. I'd been meaning to read this book since I started running last year. It follows his life from his childhood with his divorced mother, his belligerent early successes at cycling, his diagnosis of testicular cancer, his cancer treatment, the fight back to life and finally his methodical training and success at Tour de France. Lance makes no bones about the fact that since he was born he only had a mom and she was solely responsible for his early success. In his early 20s he was a very good cyclist, but only at short races. Due to his short temper he had no chance at winning a multi-day multi-stage race like Tour de France. Then he's diagnosed with testicular cancer which quickly metastasizes to his brain and lungs. He undergoes brain surgery to remove the cancerous tumours in his brain, surgery similarly for lungs and loses one of his testicles. After that comes months of chemotherapy which pushes him to the edge of his life. His doctors give him a 3% chance of survival, but he wins those odds. Back clean from cancer, he skips the other races and trains methodically for the Tour de France, the most gruelling endurance event on this planet. Though dogged by rumourmongers about doping, he wins the 1999 Tour de France in spectacular fashion. The first ever win by an American on an all-American team in this European dominated event. The book ends with the birth of his son Luke and his followup 2000 win. He would later go on to win every Tour de France† from 1999 to 2005, making him the event's most successful cyclist ever. His Lance Armstrong Foundation has also become very popular in raising awareness about cancer and funds for cancer research through its yellow wristband.

  The book is a Tour de Force of a read (forgive the pun)! It's very light and quick. Lance goes into detail on his fight over cancer and the 1999 TdF. He insists to the reader that it was his win over cancer that gave him a new perspective on life and that was more important than the wins that came after. The book is (as you can assume) very inspirational. Having taken a bit to running recently, I could understand and empathise with Lance especially when he described how patience and temper is necessary in a long endurance event. In that aspect, endurance events are a metaphor for life (and that's what most people including me feel when running). I can't think of a single reason why anyone shouldn't read this book, please do.

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  ― Posted on Sep 22, 2008 | Add your feedback

• Comprehensive

  This book is the encyclopedia of computational geometry.

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  ― Posted on Jun 16, 2008 | Add your feedback

• Instantly useful

  This is the most useful book I've come across for ViM users. It doesn't spend time explaining how to write functions or map keys. Instead it gives useful recipes which use such mappings or functions. The recipes are so practical and useful that everyone will be enticed to type them out and try them, ... (continue)

  This is the most useful book I've come across for ViM users. It doesn't spend time explaining how to write functions or map keys. Instead it gives useful recipes which use such mappings or functions. The recipes are so practical and useful that everyone will be enticed to type them out and try them, thus learning about ViM scripting in the process. There are a few editorial mistakes, but the book is very useful.

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  ― Posted on Jun 12, 2008 | Add your feedback

• Fascinating!

  Your Inner Fish is a fascinating new book by palaeontologist Prof. Neil Shubin. Using his knowledge of palaeontology and anatomy, Shubin unravels the connections between humans and every other animal that has ever been on this planet. The book starts off with Shubin explaining how palaeontology work ... (continue)

  Your Inner Fish is a fascinating new book by palaeontologist Prof. Neil Shubin. Using his knowledge of palaeontology and anatomy, Shubin unravels the connections between humans and every other animal that has ever been on this planet. The book starts off with Shubin explaining how palaeontology works, how sites are chosen, how digs are done and how fossils are found. Then he describes his most famous find of Tiktaalik, a fossilized fish whose fin bones reveal how it must've been the missing link between fish and tetrapods. From here on the book gently turns towards explaining how the various features of humans (brain, nerves, eyes, ear, nose and such) have evolved from beings that lived millions of years ago. In all chapters, he covers his bases well by using fossils, comparative anatomy, embryology and DNA analysis for explaining.

  Don't get misled by the descriptions, this book is an un-put-downable and easy read. There's a casual demeanour in the writing, and this is the first book which I've read where the author is both direct and detailed about how certain strange artefacts in our bodies are the results of evolution from fishes and other beings. Shubin even goes as far back as single celled organisms to explain certain features in our anatomy! This book definitely filled the gaps on some niggling doubts left behind by rote textbooks, for example why/how/when did single celled organisms come together to form multi-cellular organisms and finally larger and complex animals? Refreshingly (for a book published in 2008), the Creationism vs. Evolution debate is never touched! In fact, Shubin avoids even mentioning evolution anywhere, it's taken for granted. This is a good read, loved it.

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  ― Posted on Jun 10, 2008 | Add your feedback

• Subtle, but deep

  This is a collection of 6 short stories by this Nobel laureate who wrote in French. I read from a 1966 Penguin edition, which is a translation to English by Justin O'Brien. These stories are detailed, picturesque, expansive and very subtle. (This book has to be read in quiet settings with a still mi ... (continue)

  This is a collection of 6 short stories by this Nobel laureate who wrote in French. I read from a 1966 Penguin edition, which is a translation to English by Justin O'Brien. These stories are detailed, picturesque, expansive and very subtle. (This book has to be read in quiet settings with a still mind.) The settings of the stories go from deep in the Brazilian jungle to the deserts of Algeria to Spain and France. People, cultures (especially French and Algerian, Camus is a French-Algerian), faith and spirituality play a part in all the stories. Though the stories are simple on the surface, they go deep with multiple interpretations. I don't think I got most of those. The book is just 152 pages, but it takes a lot of mental chewing. Good read, I should read more Camus.

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  ― Posted on Jun 2, 2008 | Add your feedback

• A must read for anyone who identifies with India.

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  ― Posted on Aug 27, 2008 | Add your feedback

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  Riveting story, but a bit tragic

  This book by Kiran Desai won the 2006 Booker. Set in the 1980s in Kalimpong (this is distant Himalayan India, where India blurs into Bhutan and Sikkim) the story is mainly about 3 eccentric characters -- a retired judge, his granddaughter Sai and his servile cook. While Desai goes about deliciously ... (continue)

  This book by Kiran Desai won the 2006 Booker. Set in the 1980s in Kalimpong (this is distant Himalayan India, where India blurs into Bhutan and Sikkim) the story is mainly about 3 eccentric characters -- a retired judge, his granddaughter Sai and his servile cook. While Desai goes about deliciously setting the life stories of these characters and their friends in breathtakingly beautiful Kalimpong through flashbacks and forwards, the region itself slowly falls into chaos due to the Nepalese-Indian demand for a separate nation/state of Gorkhaland. And this movement rips apart their bucolic lives revealing how gray and vulnerable they all are.

  The book is lovely, the setting is beautiful and the characters remain etched forever. The prose strongly reminds me of R K Narayan and Enid Blyton. In describing the idyllic setting of Cho Oyu (the judge's home which overlooks the mighty Kanchenjunga) and Kalimpong, I'm strongly reminded of Blyton (even Ruskin Bond) and her rustic settings. In the characters and their confusing mess of lives (like most of us), it is Narayan who shows through. I can't help but feel that Kalimpong and it's residents share a lot with Malgudi. It feels nostalgic of a time gone by in our childhood.

  The narrative is not linear, it keeps going backward and forward. Desai takes her time in revealing the details about the 3 interesting characters in the book. It's one of the reasons the books really pulled me in, titillating all the time, to know one more bit about the judge or Sai, to understand why they are what they are in the current time. There's this whole parallel narrative about Biju, the cook's son who's an illegal immigrant in NYC. IMO the book could've done without this entire arc.

  The story takes a whole plethora of tones: British Raj, nationalism, love, hate, economic/social disparities, nature and so on. The characters seem innocent at first, but as more about their past is revealed and their lives become affected by the Gorkhaland movement, we discover they're mortal too, with all kinds of gray. Full marks to Desai for bringing this about well. All the main characters have lost something in the past, and the sad part is that (this novel doesn't have much of a happy ending) they won't gain it back. I almost felt a bit of hate for Desai, for she slowly pulls apart their happy lives into a tragic puddle.

  Terrific prose and setting, unforgettable characters, but a bit tragic. Recommended read.

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  ― Posted on Apr 7, 2008 | Add your feedback

• Noisy and alive urban India

  "No God In Sight" is the debut novel by Altaf Tyrewala. In a short 171 pages, various characters in Mumbai talk to the reader in an upclose "The Circle" style (remember "That '70s Show"?). It is through these journal-ish confessions that we learn about what's happening in their lives right now and i ... (continue)

  "No God In Sight" is the debut novel by Altaf Tyrewala. In a short 171 pages, various characters in Mumbai talk to the reader in an upclose "The Circle" style (remember "That '70s Show"?). It is through these journal-ish confessions that we learn about what's happening in their lives right now and in the city in the bigger picture. As we move on from one entry to the next, we discover that each character is related to the next. As the mind goes on this time-ride, a bigger picture emerges -- of the real urban India. (Though the author and the publisher seem to wish it's a picture of Mumbai, it's true about any Indian city.) No one is left behind -- Hindus, Muslims, doctors, terrorists, teenagers, slum dwellers, gangsters, traders, cops, everyone turns out to be connected to the other, though they'd wish they weren't. The writing is realistic, the pace is unstoppable, the humour is dark, the characters are genuine and this definitely is the noisy, dusty, homely, quintessential Indian city familiar to anyone who's grown up in one. Less of a city, more like a super-mutated organism that somehow survives and thrives despite all odds against it. This is no Naipaul-ish distant cultured India, it's gritty in-your-face In-di-ya. The book was un-put-downable, I finished it in one sitting with no breaks. Recommended read.

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  ― Posted on Mar 30, 2008 | Add your feedback

Ashwin Nanjappa has margin notes. Take a look.

• Might be revolting, but compelling nevertheless

  Like all of Crichton's works here too there is some technology/science whose ill-effects form the basis of the story. In Jurassic Park it was genetics and here it is environmental science or more specifically global warming. The fictional story is about 2 groups: a hard-core environmental group call ... (continue)

  Like all of Crichton's works here too there is some technology/science whose ill-effects form the basis of the story. In Jurassic Park it was genetics and here it is environmental science or more specifically global warming. The fictional story is about 2 groups: a hard-core environmental group called NERF (think Green Peace) and Kenner, a MIT professor who wants to debunk their nefarious plans. NERF is headed by Drake and will go to any lengths to grab media attention about global warming. To raise the profile of global warming NERF undertakes eco-terrorism, it plans to set off some global catastrophes right in time for a scheduled conference on climate change. Caught between Drake and Kenner is Peter Evans, who the author uses as an analogue of the general public. Evans joins Kenner and as they travel around the globe to foil Drake's plan, Kenner explains to Evans in long conversations about how not everything about global warming is as simple as it sounds nor known or understood.

  Looking at the book as just a thriller, it is not upto the usual Crichton mark. It has the taste of a Clive Cussler rather than Crichton. But, the main soul of the book is its tirade against global warming. The author is thorough here. Footnotes to journal papers, studies and articles are peppered throughout the pages wherever any of the main characters takes a side on global warming.

  Some of the main arguments in the book are that:

  * Global warming is being blown out of proportion by the nexus of politicians, lawyers and media. The bedsharing of politics and science should be extremely worrying for science.
  * The high profile environmental agencies are today full of lawyers and are interested in nothing but raising money, sueing and grabbing media attention.
  * Environment and climate researchers (and hence their work) are being forced to take sides. There is enormous pressure and money being forced on by the industry on one side and environmentalists on the other to bias their works.
  * A lot more study into climate change and environment is needed. There are still no reliable methods of predicting global climate for even a decade let alone hundreds of years.
  * Earth has always been changing. It has underwent several cycles of ice ages. The current climate changes look like part of the current ongoing cycle.
  * Human CO2 contributions aren't enough to cause the kind of catastrophic climate changes that global warming predicts. At least, not yet.
  * There are several scientific theories which are being snubbed because they neither support nor oppose global warming (thus don't look good on the mass media). For example, the urban heat island effect for temperature increases in cities.
  * Most environmental solutions being proposed haven't been subjected to a cost-to-benefit analysis. Not even if the cost is enviromental cost.
  * Several environmental treaties are being signed where developing and under developed countries are being subjected to regulations that the developed countries themselves never followed or (in some cases) will not follow.

  I have to be honest here, I initially found the book highly revolting. But, as always it's good to see all sides of an issue. The fiction is disappointing, but the book is a compelling read for the issue it discusses. No matter on what side of this issue you stand there are loads of interesting scientific trivia, claims and counter claims to learn from the book.

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  ― Posted on Oct 28, 2007 | Add your feedback

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  Supremely brilliant!

  The novella is about animals on a farm that free themselves from their human masters. At first they work hard, have equality and are happy. Soon, different classes form (pigs, dogs, the rest) and the farm takes on a communist flavour. From here on, Orwell takes the reader on a complete transition of ... (continue)

  The novella is about animals on a farm that free themselves from their human masters. At first they work hard, have equality and are happy. Soon, different classes form (pigs, dogs, the rest) and the farm takes on a communist flavour. From here on, Orwell takes the reader on a complete transition of the farm from freedom to communism to communist-dictatorship. Since Orwell is using animals (instead of humans) he can create classes and gets away with some brilliant analogies. The book is tiny and takes only a few hours. Must read.

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  ― Posted on Oct 8, 2007 | Add your feedback

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  Good compilation of recent op-eds

  This is a compilation of op-eds by Noam Chomsky written for The New York Times Syndicate. And here's the irony -- supposedly the views in these op-eds are such that US papers (including NYTimes itself) have declined to publish them. However, they've been published widely in Guardian and other non-US ... (continue)

  This is a compilation of op-eds by Noam Chomsky written for The New York Times Syndicate. And here's the irony -- supposedly the views in these op-eds are such that US papers (including NYTimes itself) have declined to publish them. However, they've been published widely in Guardian and other non-US newspapers. The 44 op-eds in the book run from 2002 through 2006. Reading them I couldn't even figure out why they weren't printed in the US. They didn't seem offending or much different from his usual writing.

  The main topics of the op-eds are:
  * Iraq - US supported Saddam against Iran. He and the country becomes enemy when oil becomes important.
  * Israel/Palestine - US+Israel have been pushing down all possible resolutions to the never ending conflict. In the UN, US+Israel alone have been voting against policies which could help while the entire rest of the world have voted for it.
  * South America - US screwed the nations here destroying validly elected democracies and putting up puppet presidents and dictatorships. The nations here have been moving left-center in recent years with independent leaders who are increasingly defiant to US.
  * Democracy - US bringing democracy to the world is such a farce. They'll support dictatorships, pull down governments, run elections, and of course force democracy -- basically do anything required to maintain control.
  * Power - The only way to keep US off your country is to develop/acquire nukes. See how they can destroy Iraq while they can't touch N Korea.
  * Policy - Chomsky and Sainath say the same with regards to this issue. Public opinion no longer matters. Public opinion doesn't influence public policy even a bit. Special interests, lobbies and big business run all the nation's policies.
  * Iran - It's all about the control over oil honey.

  Since these are op-eds written about current affairs, there is a lot of repetition of ideas while you read them. Since the op-eds are all byte-sized, the book is perfect to read over short breaks/commutes.

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  ― Posted on Sep 11, 2007 | Add your feedback

• Excellent reference

  I've been mainly using it to refer about the STL containers and algorithms. The book is great and newbie friendly.

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  ― Posted on Aug 10, 2007 | Add your feedback

• Best intro to gcc

  I wish I had this book when I first had to use gcc. I also wish I could've pointed to this book to my students in the C programming course.

  The book does exactly what its title says. It's tiny, simple and the examples are lucid. A superb example of how to write a crisp technical book.

  No ... (continue)

  I wish I had this book when I first had to use gcc. I also wish I could've pointed to this book to my students in the C programming course.

  The book does exactly what its title says. It's tiny, simple and the examples are lucid. A superb example of how to write a crisp technical book.

  Note that in addition to gcc and g++, it walks the reader through simple examples of gdb, gprof, ar, and the other gcc/binutils tools.

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  ― Posted on Aug 7, 2007 | Add your feedback

• 2 people find this helpful

  Aperture, shutter speed and light are no more a mystery!

  This is a book aimed mainly at the beginner-intermediate photographer. I simply loved the book and learnt a ton from it. Why? The book is focussed on explaining the 3 elements of the photographic triangle: aperture, shutter speed and light (ISO) and how they're related. This was perfect for me becau ... (continue)

  This is a book aimed mainly at the beginner-intermediate photographer. I simply loved the book and learnt a ton from it. Why? The book is focussed on explaining the 3 elements of the photographic triangle: aperture, shutter speed and light (ISO) and how they're related. This was perfect for me because I'm now at a stage where I can kind of compose photos, but have no idea what combination of the 3 photographic triangle settings will give the most creative exposure.

  The book is just 160 pages and is composed of short chapters (each of just a couple of paragraphs) each dealing with specific details about the above. Every page is full of Peterson's photos which illustrate what he's trying to explain in that page. Also interesting is how Peterson gives the settings for that photo and even the backstory of how he did it. I loved everything -- the writing style of Peterson, his examples and explanations. I highly recommend this book. I know I'll be rereading this book soon.

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  ― Posted on Aug 19, 2007 | Add your feedback

• Don't leave for Thailand without it!

  This was the first Lonely Planet book I was using on a travel. I used it to plan before and on my trip to Bangkok. The damn book had everything -- places to eat, visit, times, tips, maps, things to be careful about etc. Just look into the index and flip back to the relevant page. All of that with th ... (continue)

  This was the first Lonely Planet book I was using on a travel. I used it to plan before and on my trip to Bangkok. The damn book had everything -- places to eat, visit, times, tips, maps, things to be careful about etc. Just look into the index and flip back to the relevant page. All of that with the perspective that only a real traveler who's been there can provide.

  I'm a LP fan now. I wouldn't travel anywhere without one.

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  ― Posted on Aug 28, 2007 | Add your feedback

• Inspirational

  I am not a fan of Dale Carnegie. I find his tone and style in his How To ...s to be too preachy. This book was however different. He presents 47 short biographies of adventurers, explorers, politicians, movie stars, singers, writers and other interesting people. Most of these people are Americans of ... (continue)

  I am not a fan of Dale Carnegie. I find his tone and style in his How To ...s to be too preachy. This book was however different. He presents 47 short biographies of adventurers, explorers, politicians, movie stars, singers, writers and other interesting people. Most of these people are Americans of the 1850s-1930s era and I hadn't heard of most of them. Each biography kicks off with an interesting incident in the person's life, spreads over 2-3 pages and usually has an illustration of the person. Good, fast reading. Inspirational.

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  ― Posted on Jun 26, 2007 | Add your feedback

• Pocket dynamite

  This was my first dictionary and I still have it. Though it's now wornout and yellowed. It was my constant companion through middle and high school. Its small size enabled me to carry it daily everywhere. It stayed on my desk for several years.

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  ― Posted on Jun 25, 2007 | Add your feedback

• This is a tome of ~1600 pages filled with 225,000 word definitions. After using it over the last few weeks, I'm happy to say that its been one of the most satisfactory book purchases I've made. I've found every damn word I've looked for in it until now. And the meanings/pronunciations/shades/details ... (continue)

  This is a tome of ~1600 pages filled with 225,000 word definitions. After using it over the last few weeks, I'm happy to say that its been one of the most satisfactory book purchases I've made. I've found every damn word I've looked for in it until now. And the meanings/pronunciations/shades/details/etymology provided for each word in the dictionary have clearly justified its size.

  The collegiate dictionary comes in two flavors - one with a CD containing the dictionary and thesaurus software and one without. The buyer is also entitled to an one-year subscription at Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Online, which otherwise costs $14.95. The online collegiate edition has a dictionary, thesaurus, encyclopedia, word games and lots of other stuff.

  Choosing a dictionary was real hard. I'd decided that I wanted a real big one, it would have to cover almost every word I threw at it. Usually, the unabridged, the mega tomes (which come in several volumes) are the ones with all the words. That was a little too much for me. I aimed for the next lesser one, which are typically named collegiate, learner's or advanced learner's. In the end, it all came down to choosing between the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary and M-W Collegiate.

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  ― Posted on Jun 26, 2007 | Add your feedback

• Tongue-in-cheek!

  I was pleasantly surprised to pick up the book The Dilbert Principle from the Management section in the company library! In his book on mismanagement, Scott Adams gives us the view of corporate culture, bosses, budgets, meetings, projects, team-building exercises(!) and tens of such irritating stuff ... (continue)

  I was pleasantly surprised to pick up the book The Dilbert Principle from the Management section in the company library! In his book on mismanagement, Scott Adams gives us the view of corporate culture, bosses, budgets, meetings, projects, team-building exercises(!) and tens of such irritating stuff that bug most employees. Almost every statement he makes is substantiated with a strip from the Dilbert archives. In his prose, he is very tongue-in-cheek, provocative and funny. You can expect an average of 2 Dilbert strips or more per page (the book has 336 pages, do the math). Also, he quotes several of the emails he has received from his fans about the stupid acts of their bosses and management. In the end, he also proposes a new company model: OA5. The core principles being happy employees and efficiency. If you love Dilbert (either because you find it funny or because you actually live in a Dilbert-like workplace), you will laugh out while reading this book. Highly recommended reading!

  The Dilbert Principle is:
  The most ineffective workers are systematically moved to the place where they can do the least damage - management.

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  ― Posted on Jun 25, 2007 | Add your feedback

• 1 person find this helpful

  A rollercoaster ride everyone must take!

  Why are people so scared of science? Why is most of the public so illiterate about science even though they use it every second of their life?

  It is these problems that NYTimes science journalist Natalie Angier attempts to solve in this book by taking the reader on a fun filled, informational ... (continue)

  Why are people so scared of science? Why is most of the public so illiterate about science even though they use it every second of their life?

  It is these problems that NYTimes science journalist Natalie Angier attempts to solve in this book by taking the reader on a fun filled, informational ride through the entire spectrum of science. The chapters of the book deal with scientific thinking, probabilities, scales, physics, chemistry, evolution, molecular biology, geology and ends in a bang with astronomy. This is not a dull science book with figures, facts and formulas. There is none of that. Instead, Natalie attempts to do storytelling in each chapter and explains everything using fun analogies and prose.

  So how is the book? I felt it was great. Everyone, no matter how science literate or illiterate he is, will gain something from this book. Natalie's prose is superlative and her analogies are really fun. Distilling the vast cloud of science into a few hundred readable pages is no easy task. I have to say that I haven't come across any work before that has achieved it like this book. Since each chapter deals with distinctly different areas of science, the book can be split over many days without any feeling of book amnesia. The only chapter where stuff went over my head was that on molecular biology, all that protein synthesis and folding was too much for me. Other than that, the book was a complete win-win. Basic science has progressed much beyond the textbooks of my school days. This book gave me a chance to catch up to some of it. I came out of this experience with a better understanding and awe for every single thing around me -- from the air I breathe to the sky I see every morning.

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  ― Posted on Jul 9, 2007 | Add your feedback

• This is meant to be an introductory book to Cg programming. I hadn't done any kind of GPU/shader programming before I picked up this book. The book is very gentle on beginners and I was easily able to learn the basics of vertex and fragment shading in general and Cg programming in specific. My bigge ... (continue)

  This is meant to be an introductory book to Cg programming. I hadn't done any kind of GPU/shader programming before I picked up this book. The book is very gentle on beginners and I was easily able to learn the basics of vertex and fragment shading in general and Cg programming in specific. My biggest gripe with Cg is that I can't find out what is happening inside the Cg code by using breakpoints or even as basic as printfs. Anyway, I highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in Cg.

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  ― Posted on Jun 4, 2007 | Add your feedback

• If you're a graphics programmer using OpenGL you need this book! I'm surprised I haven't seen more of this book around. Advanced Graphics Programming Using OpenGL is choc-a-bloc full of recipes to go beyond the simple graphics techniques described in the Red Book or other introductory graphics books ... (continue)

  If you're a graphics programmer using OpenGL you need this book! I'm surprised I haven't seen more of this book around. Advanced Graphics Programming Using OpenGL is choc-a-bloc full of recipes to go beyond the simple graphics techniques described in the Red Book or other introductory graphics books. This book is the essential next step after learning the basics of OpenGL programming. The algorithms in the book are succinct and code-free (as they rightly should be) with references to the OpenGL calls/symbols to be used. Converting them to code isn't too much of a problem.

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  ― Posted on Jun 4, 2007 | Add your feedback

• The book has a lot of updates over the early OGL 1.x editions. The figures have all been redrawn more pleasingly. Small additions and new sections can be seen all over the place. A new chapter and an extra appendix has been added about OpenGL 2.0 and the OpenGL Shading Language.

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  ― Posted on Jun 4, 2007 | Add your feedback