Swetha Balla - aNobii

Books (108)

All books Finished (Newest) Title (A to Z) Title (Z to A) Rating (Highest) Rating (Lowest) Finished (Newest) Finished (Oldest) Published (Newest) Published (Oldest) Added (Newest) Added (Oldest) Custom Sorting

- How to Write, Speak and Think More Effectively (11)
- By Rudolf Flesch
- Reading
- Add...
  - My Shelf
  - Wish List
- Happiness and the Art of Being (2)
- By Michael James
- Reading
- Add...
  - My Shelf
  - Wish List
- City of Djinns (49)
- By William Dalrymple
- Finished on Feb 7, 2012
- Add...
  - My Shelf
  - Wish List
- The Power of the Presence (Part 3) (1)
- Transforming Encounters with Sri Ramana Maharshi
- By David Godman
- Finished on Nov 13, 2011
  
  Review
- Add...
  - My Shelf
  - Wish List
The Power of the Presence (Part 3)

There is something about reading others experiences. This is the final part of the series. Whenever I read about the devotees experiences and ponder over their questions, it gives rise to a heavy feeling in the heart. It feels like a cleansing process :)
I would strongly recommend the three part se ... (continue)

There is something about reading others experiences. This is the final part of the series. Whenever I read about the devotees experiences and ponder over their questions, it gives rise to a heavy feeling in the heart. It feels like a cleansing process :)
I would strongly recommend the three part series to folks interested in Ramana Maharshi, his life, his teachings and how his devotees perceived him.

Is this helpful?

— Nov 13, 2011 | Add your feedback
- The Steve Jobs Way (23)
- ILeadership for a New Generation
- By Jay Elliot
- Finished on Oct 16, 2011
- Add...
  - My Shelf
  - Wish List

- The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (88)
- (Wordsworth Collection) (Wordsworth Collection)
- By Arthur Conan Doyle
- Finished on Jun 24, 2011
  
  Review
- Add...
  - My Shelf
  - Wish List
The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes

The standard of the stories is not comparable to Doyle's other books. Can be skipped.

Is this helpful?

— Jun 25, 2011 | Add your feedback
- 1984 (4929)
- By George Orwell
- Finished on Jun 9, 2011
  
  Review
- Add...
  - My Shelf
  - Wish List
1984

1 person find this helpful

George Orwell is brilliant. Orwell's dystopia paints a picture on the various political aspects - totalitarianism, capitalism, hunger for power etc.
1984 is the story of Winston Smith, a comrade of the ruling Party which controls Airstrip One (Oceanic province that was called England or Britain). ... (continue)

George Orwell is brilliant. Orwell's dystopia paints a picture on the various political aspects - totalitarianism, capitalism, hunger for power etc.
1984 is the story of Winston Smith, a comrade of the ruling Party which controls Airstrip One (Oceanic province that was called England or Britain). Smith journey's from playing along with the Party's obsessive monitoring and tinkering with the past (to be always right) to retaliating against Big Brother leading to his arrest, torture and reconversion. The portrayal of the human psyche when under torture and the influence of power is brilliant. One of the poems he wrote about betrayal is hauntingly beautiful:
Under the spreading chestnut tree
I sold you and you sold me.
There lie they, and here lie we
Under the spreading chestnut tree.
I had a little bit of difficulty understanding some of the words as they were informal old British words, but after a while you just drown yourself in the story and it almost feels like you are smack down in the haunting lanes of old England.

Is this helpful?

— Jun 22, 2011 | Add your feedback
A Sadhu'-
s Remini-
scence-
s Of…
- A Sadhu's Reminiscences Of Ramana Maharishi (1)
- By Sadhu Arunachala
- Finished on Jun 6, 2011
- Add...
  - My Shelf
  - Wish List
- The Power of the Presence (Part 2) (1)
- Transforming Encounters with Sri Ramana Maharshi
- By David Godman
- Finished on May 11, 2011
- Add...
  - My Shelf
  - Wish List
- Solve Your Problems (2)
- The Birbal Way
- By Luis S.R. Vas, Anita S.R. Vas
- Finished on May 7, 2011
  
  Review
- Add...
  - My Shelf
  - Wish List
Solve Your Problems

The book is a collection of stories about Akbar-Birbal with management lessons provided at the end of each story. The worst part of this book is the way Management Lessons are showered upon the reader killing all the charm and wit of Birbal.

Is this helpful?

— May 7, 2011 | Add your feedback

- The Hills of Angheri (2)
- By Kavery Nambisan
- Finished on May 6, 2011
- Add...
  - My Shelf
  - Wish List
- Nine Lives (24)
- In search of the Sacred in Modern India
- By William Dalrymple
- Finished on May 1, 2011
  
  Review
- Add...
  - My Shelf
  - Wish List
Nine Lives

William Dalrymple is a fantastic travel writer. In Nine Lives, he looks at the stories of nine separate religious followers with nice detail on the story, the place, the ritual and the practice. The stories are so honest and vivid that most of the times I found myself visualizing everything that was ... (continue)

William Dalrymple is a fantastic travel writer. In Nine Lives, he looks at the stories of nine separate religious followers with nice detail on the story, the place, the ritual and the practice. The stories are so honest and vivid that most of the times I found myself visualizing everything that was being described so beautifully.
The stories are varied and span across the many faiths in India - a Jain nun testing the strength of her renunciation, a Buddhist monk atoning for his violence, a Sufi nun, a devadasi, a "possessed" dancer of Kannur, a singer of Rajasthani epics, a maker of idols from Chola tradition, a tantrik and a Baul (kind of similar to tantriks from my understanding). The stories are full of love, loss, pain and finally finding bliss in Life.
If not anything the book makes for a great read on some of the multifarious practices that India hosts.

Is this helpful?

— May 1, 2011 | Add your feedback
- Truth - The Art Of The Mystics (1)
- By Bharat Thakur
- Finished in Mar 2005
  
  Finished (re-read) in Apr 2011
  
  Review
- Add...
  - My Shelf
  - Wish List
Truth - The Art Of The Mystics

The book is a collection of simple poems about simply accepting. The poems are on a gamut of topics on a variety of topics Masters, God, Love, Relationships, Anger, Thinking, Religion, Sex and the whole gamut. The wonderful simplicity of the poems stuck me and I found myself smiling along.
It is o ... (continue)

The book is a collection of simple poems about simply accepting. The poems are on a gamut of topics on a variety of topics Masters, God, Love, Relationships, Anger, Thinking, Religion, Sex and the whole gamut. The wonderful simplicity of the poems stuck me and I found myself smiling along.
It is one of those books that I'll go back to again sometime in the future!

Is this helpful?

— Apr 28, 2011 | Add your feedback
- The Power of the Presence (Part 1) (1)
- Transforming Encounters with Sri Ramana Maharshi
- By David Godman
- Finished on Apr 29, 2011
  
  Review
- Add...
  - My Shelf
  - Wish List
The Power of the Presence (Part 1)

The power of the presence is a three-part series by David Godman on devotees experiences/stories with Ramana Maharshi. The devotees presented in the book are from a range of backgrounds - childhood friend, people with a simple-minded service attitude towards Ramana Maharshi, University department he ... (continue)

The power of the presence is a three-part series by David Godman on devotees experiences/stories with Ramana Maharshi. The devotees presented in the book are from a range of backgrounds - childhood friend, people with a simple-minded service attitude towards Ramana Maharshi, University department heads - illiterate to extremely knowledgeable folks. It makes for a good read as the stories alternate between more simpler experiences and then with "loaded" questions.
The topics covered include - questions about theories expounded in the upanishads/religious scriptures, dvaitam (duality) & advaitam (oneness), nature of the Self (Brahman), practice of inquiry, religion, the nature of the world (the general questions we get like why is there suffering, why are people unethical, why is external-happiness fleeting etc).
To summarize the nature of the teachings, I picked up a phrase from one of the stories:
"If you feel that the world is created by the imagination of the individual soul, then that imagination must be given up. If you think that God has created the world, then surrender to Him all your responsibilities and leave the burden of the whole world to Him."

Is this helpful?

— Apr 29, 2011 | Add your feedback
- Dork (3)
- The Incredible Adventures of Robin Einstein Varghese
- By Sidin Vadukut
- Finished on Apr 13, 2011
  
  Review
- Add...
  - My Shelf
  - Wish List
Dork

Dork is a series of diary entries by a Management Consultant. The book is a cliched take (especially after having read Chetan Bhagat's books) on how a guy from a premier institute lands up the coveted day zero job and all his problems which miraculously turn him to a super hero by the end. It has al ... (continue)

Dork is a series of diary entries by a Management Consultant. The book is a cliched take (especially after having read Chetan Bhagat's books) on how a guy from a premier institute lands up the coveted day zero job and all his problems which miraculously turn him to a super hero by the end. It has all the essential Chetan Bhagat ingredients - humor (the author does try hard at it), a premier institute loser who thinks highly of himself and sex/love.
Having been in the consulting industry, I was able to relate to and chuckle at some of the incidents. I doubt if anyone from outside the consulting industry would be able to laugh at the jokes though.
The book ended rather abruptly and most of it was repetitive. Apparently this is the first of a trilogy and I can't imagine what else can be added on.

Is this helpful?

— Apr 13, 2011 | Add your feedback