Non fiction | m a n u s c r y p t s

The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire

The amazing story of how from an inconspicuous office in far away England, with less than a hundred employees, the East India Company controlled the destiny of a land as large and diverse as India. They started in 1600, and by the early 1800s, they had demolished the last credible threat to their domination in India – the Marathas. A corporation that arrived in India for trade, and ended up pillaging the country and finally giving it to the Crown on a platter.

The Wizard and the Prophet

As the world races towards a population in double figure billions, there is a huge pressure on ensuring basic necessities for all – water, food, clean air, and scalable energy sources. Represented principally by Norman Borlaug (the wizard) and William Vogt (the prophet), there are two schools of thought in how humanity could solve this. Scientific and philosophical, it’s not an easy read, but does provide some great perspectives.

The Algebra of Happiness: Finding the equation for a life well lived

Scott Galloway is famous for his “roasts” of tech companies and unicorns. This is obviously a different topic, but if you like the tone – blunt towards abrasive – you should enjoy this book too. Though his life has not really been a benchmark for happiness (as he admits), the experience has given him perspectives on what happiness could be. It’s not a typical “happiness” book, but profundity and the profanity coexist to make an interesting read.

The Courtesan, the Mahatma and the Italian Brahmin: Tales from Indian History

If you’re looking to explore some of the lesser known pathways of history, this is a fantastic book to pick up. 6-page pops of by-lanes from before and during the Raj make up the first two sections. The third is a commentary for the times we live in – inclusivity and hyper-nationalism in a complicated fabric.

Uncharted: Big Data as a Lens on Human Culture

The premise is excellent. Our consumption, sharing and creation of data could tell us a lot about our society and the evolution of our culture in different parts of the world. The problem is, the book is based solely on the authors’ experiments with datasets using Google Books Ngram Viewer. 30 million books digitized by Google. A lot of books, but still a small subset. The book doesn’t match the expectations set by the title, but is still an interesting read.