Category: Philosophy & Worldview

  • Broad Band: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the Internet

    Claire L. Evans

    I had a sense of deja vu while reading this, and later realised that it was thanks to Maria Popova’s Figuring. The books are very different in terms of scope, but are connected by the women-oriented narrative, the idea of intellectual successors, and the presence of what one could call a ‘crossover character’ – Maria Mitchell.

    When we think about the internet’s history, and its current pantheon, the names that pop up are all, or at least mostly, male. But Claire Evans points out that the origin stories are actually mostly female. Their contributions are practically invisible both in the public eye, and while we use the web.

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  • Home in the world

    Amartya Sen

    It’s really difficult to write anything about a memoir because while it is written for an audience, it is also intensely personal. But I think the perspectives are such that it deserves a larger audience, and I hope even this drop in the ocean can help in that!

    The book is more about the life, and less about the work. They obviously intermingle to a large extent, but the focus is on the relationships and the exchange of thoughts. In some cases, the subjects of discussion also manage to creep in, but they aren’t inaccessible, except on a couple of occasions.
    In the beginning, when I started reading about his background, and his family’s relationship with Tagore, I thought he was privileged. What added to it was the seemingly casual mention of historical figures, Gandhi downwards! It would be easy to think of this as incessant name-dropping, but Amartya Sen bends over backwards in acknowledging the privilege, and luck, that shaped his life.

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  • The Year of Magical Thinking

    Joan Didion

    “We never know we go,—when we are going
    We jest and shut the door;
    Fate following behind us bolts it,
    And we accost no more    .” ~ Emily Dickinson

    Death and illness is around us, and as we grow older, even more so. Or maybe we become even more conscious of it. And yet, it is as Yudhishtira answered the Yaksha’s question – “What is the greatest wonder?” with “Day after day countless people die. Yet the living wish to think they will live forever. O Lord, what can be a greater wonder?”

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  • Happy Money

    Ken Honda

    I’m a big fan of The Psychology of Money and really didn’t think there’d be another money book that would interest me to this extent. I bought the book thanks to an article about it (at CapitalMind), which convinced me that the book had several insights that would be helpful.

    As with the other book, this one too is less about investing/trading tips and secrets, and instead deals the subject with a light touch. By attaching the quality of happiness to money itself, he quickly points out the difference between happy money (e.g. being paid by a happy client for work you love to do) and unhappy money (e.g. taxes, salary for a job you hate). Money, according to Honda, is energy (current – currency) and the energy with which you give and receive money defines your relationship with it. It has some common functions – saving, exchange, growth, but our relationship with it is subjective. And we all want to win. But the big insight here? ‘Winning is not how well you do financially. It is how good you feel about playing.‘

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  • Walking Towards Ourselves: Indian Women Tell Their Stories

    Catriona Mitchell

    That it took Catriona Mitchell, born in Switzerland, and raised in UK and Australia, to edit and publish this anthology – about and by Indian women – is perhaps a statement in itself. In any case, I am glad she did. The flap describes it as a kaleidoscope of distinct and varied real-life stories, and I think that is just about accurate. Just about because I don’t know if it sufficiently captures the distinctness and the variety.

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