Guys:

Can we share about books we have recently read and describe it a bit. We could share the best part of the books with each other.

this latest book byanendra mala is a good read..swear on u. check it out. abailable on ekta book stores thapathali.

seems like.. u got a due for book review.. in ur skool...

Anybody read 'Blink?' I am almost finished. Here is an excerpt from Amazon.com. I thought why reienvent the wheel so I cut and pasted it.

It is a great read! Everybody around me talks about the book.

Book Description

How do we make decisions--good and bad--and why are some people so much better at it than others? Thats the question Malcolm Gladwell asks and answers in the follow-up to his huge bestseller, The Tipping Point. Utilizing case studies as diverse as speed dating, pop music, and the shooting of Amadou Diallo, Gladwell reveals that what we think of as decisions made in the blink of an eye are much more complicated than assumed. Drawing on cutting-edge neuroscience and psychology, he shows how the difference between good decision-making and bad has nothing to do with how much information we can process quickly, but on the few particular details on which we focus. Leaping boldly from example to example, displaying all of the brilliance that made The Tipping Point a classic, Gladwell reveals how we can become better decision makers--in our homes, our offices, and in everyday life. The result is a book that is surprising and transforming. Never again will you think about thinking the same way.

About the Author
Malcolm Gladwell is a staff writer for The New Yorker. He was formerly a business and science reporter at the Washington Post.

Mr. Nice:
When I read a book, I dont care what political group a writer belongs to. Im not affiliated to any political groups. I didnt even think that way when I posted that pic. Its sad that we Nepali look everything in -ve way, and degrade others if we dont agree with what he/she believes in. Anyway, here is another book by a great Nepali writer(not politician), and hope this time I dont offend anyone!

Just finished "The Firm of The Future" A Guide for Accountants Lawyers, and other professional Services - By Paul Dunn and Ron Baker.

Really interesting read for the professionals in accounting and legal feild (others might benefit too). My A+!

Prajesh

?Blink?, by Malcolm Gladwell, better known as the author of the landmark ?The Tipping Point.? A title he is said to have scurrilously ?borrowed? from another Beantown resident, or so I was told in a scathing tone by one supposedly in the know. A great read with scintillating insights on humanity. [Long time no see, babydoll ! :) ]

?The Feud that Sparked the Renaissance? by Paul Robert Walker, in which the author makes the case for a seminal moment that led to the explosion of artistic creativity in Europe in the 15th century.

The author?s research for the roots of the Renaissance leads to this moment: it is Florence, Italy in the dying days of the 14th century, a competition is held to design ornamental doors for the church of St. John the Baptist. In the contest are pitted the established Filippo Brunelleschi and the newcomer Lorezno Ghiberti. The newcomer?s design is chosen, but this merely stokes the subsequent competitive and creative fires in Filippo and Lorenzo over their professional lives. It leads to a series of technical innovations and creations that lay the foundations for what is to be the start of an era that produced architectural and artistic elegance never seen before, or since. Walker makes a plausible presentation of historical details woven into a readable narrative.

For those interested in historical fiction in a similar vein, Ken Follet?s ?Pillars of The Earth? is a recommended read. A lively depiction of life in 12th century England in a tale that centres on the building of a cathedral. By an author better known for his spy novels.

?Letters to a Young Novelist? by Mario Vargas Llosa would be, I reckon, de rigueur for any aspiring novelist or anyone interested in the mysterious art of literary creation. Vargas provides an education on the technical aspects of writing in using the format of a series of imaginary letters to an aspiring writer. For cognoscenti, better armed as they will be after this read, it may serve to provide the means to further savour the finesse and skill of literary masters and graffiti artiste alike.

?Sun After Dark? by Pico Iyer, hailed as the unmatched writer of travelogues and the much discussed ?Video Nights in Kathmandu.? This series of essays records journeys, both mental and physical, in which Iyer provides a very personal glimpse of himself with his musings. It contains thought provoking insights that serve to illuminate. And, for me, to linger like a heady summer fragrance that comes to mind unbidden in the depths of snowy winter days.

?Latitude Zero, Tales of The Equator? by Gianni Guadalupi and Antony Shugaar. What drew me to this book is the gripping revelation in the introduction, an excerpt of which I present here:

?The history of the world has almost always been written from a point of view situated around forty-five degrees north latitude.

Lodon lies just above fifty-one degrees, Paris is around forty-nine, Rome stands at forty-two degrees north latitude. If we consider a swath of territory bounded on the south by Cairo (33 degress N,) and the south by St. Peteresburg (60 deg. North), we are looking at the stage on which Western civilization as developed.?

This is argument is cemented by another section, which states: ?Similarly, the band of territory between 30 and 60 degrees north latitude may have not had a monopoly on the world?s history, but it has had a virtual monopoly on the world?s history writing. Most of the Earth?s publishers, broadcasters, universities, and libraries look on the world from this relatively narrow swath of territory. Latitude, then, is destiny.?

For those engaged in the south-south debate and the hegemony of the north, this should provide some powerful food for thought. More importantly, the events that are said to have occurred at latitude zero, or the equator, as the largest man made construct, may not have influenced history as recorded, but more likely as occurred in myths and other events. Including the travels of Chinese Admiral Zheng He. Emphatically stated in the July 2005 issue of the National Geographic that challenges the present Euro-centric timeline of history.

Admiral Zheng He in 14th century China: with an armada of over 350 ships and more than 27000 soldiers he made seven voyages that originated in northern coastal China and reached as far as coastal central Africa. As a comparison in might, the celebrated Ferdinand Magellan?s ship would have comfortably been housed on the front deck of He?s flagship imperial junk nearly ten times larger and predating him !

For the science fiction aficionados, I recommend Nightwings by Robert Silverberg. Short, but thought provoking. Larry Niven fans will want to consider the Man-Kzin Wars series written in collaboration with Jerry Pournelle.

The Dune series, as continued by Frank Herbert's son in recent years is masterful tribute to his father as well as fascinating storytelling on a galactic scale. In the manner of the now established Star Wars prequel, Herbert junior spells out in five books the prelude to Dune.

Dragons ? Anne McAffrey is the acclaimed goddess of this genre. Not wishing to monopolize the conversation on books, I shall make way for others here.

Great reccomendations Czar. Now I can't wait to get my hands on Latitudes Zero, Tales of the Equator. Seems like an interesting read.

Regarding Marshall Zheng He, he is not free of controversies. There was an artilce of the Guardian or NYT a few weeks back on him, which I thought was quite thought provoking.

The best book on Zheng He is, 1421: The Year China Discovered the World, by Gavin Menzeis. It details Zheng He's journey from China to Africa and proves that Zheng He reached North America before Columbus.

The China National Museum in Beijing (in Tianan Men Square) is holding a exhibition on Zheng He. If anybody is reading this in China or will be in China soon, its something you don't want to miss.

Let me also reccomend one or two books.

Thunder from the Eas: Portrait of a Rising Asia, by Nicholas Kristoff and Sheryll Wu Dunn is a great anthology of essays that cover the events from Indonesia to India. It portrays the realities of today's Asian societies- Nationalism, development, economy, prostitution, ethnic conflicts and so on.

Another book that I found quite ineteresting was, Inventing Japan, by Ian Buruma. Its a small book, less than 200 pages which explians the Japanese journey from tradition to modernity. If you are into Japanese history and politics, this is the book to read to understand what gave rise to Japanese militarism.

Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World, by Margaret Macmillan is one of the best books I have read on the treaty of Versailles and the events that followed it. Just the introduction by Richard Holbrooke (sp?) is worth $15 dollars! This book explains what happened behind the scenes in Versailles, and what individual leaders- the movers and shakers of the world then- were like. She is funny, witty and provides her readers with some prevuiously unpublished facts.

Right now reading, The Peace to End all Peace, just started so can't write a review or reccomend it to others.

But for those who are interested in travelogues, Robert D Kaplan's Realist travelogues such as the Balkan Ghosts, Eastward to Tartary, The Ends of the Earth, Surrender or Starve might give some insights on the history, politics and society of the Balkans, MIddle East, Central Asia and Africa.

Another amazing book that I read this year is, The Great Game, by Peter Hopkirk. It documents the characters who played the Great Game, i.e., imperial rivalary between the East India Company (British India) and the Tsarist Russia to control the Central Asian heartland throuh out the most of the 19th century. This book tells the readers the ordeals faced by Connoley (sp?) to Kirkpatrick to Francis Younghusband during their secret service to Her Majesty's Government.

If you decide to read the Great Game, or have already read it, then Kim by Rudyard Kipling might be quite interesting to read. Although I myself didn't undersand the most of Kipling's philosophical rambilngs, its a great book nonetheless.

If you are looking for some spirituality and are trying hard to understand what makes you a Hindu or what our Hindu forefathers said, then The Upanisads by Patrick Olivelle is the book that might answer some of your queries regarding the hindu ideas of Gods, Soul, Life and so on. This is a literal translation w/o any philosophical jargons and is free of the author's interpretation. Its just a word-by-word translation from Sanskrit. After reading it, I thought my 12 dollars was well spent (its only 5.75 on Amazon but to get it here, I have to pay outrageous S&H charge and order charge).

Wow pleased to see so many of you still read. cool.

Anyways, If you are interested in near future sort of stuff I really enjoyed Moving Mars and Slant. He's got some really interesting ideas and unlike a lot of sci-fi writers has a good sense of both science *and* character development.

The best writer, and the only convincing stylist, that science fiction has produced is Jack Vance. He writes unique dialogue, refined and erudite and yet totally believable. At his best (the Demon Prince novels, the Planet Of Adventure novels, Tales Of Dying Earth, Big Planet), you'll blow through 300 pages of elegantly plotted, picaresque adventure without even realizing it. ;)

Others that I also like a lot:

Orson Scott Card - "Ender's Game" was a staggering performance, and the others that I've read have been nearly as great. :)

Stanislaw Lem - *Solaris* is great, although a first time reader would probably be wise to start with "The Cyberiad".

Philip K. Dick - He wasn't the greatest writer, and at times you can really read the drugs, but he wrote some amazing books -- my favorite is "Confessions Of A Crap Artist" which isn't even remotely SF.

Another author I love but sometimes can't stand is Tim Powers, who can write a smashingly great book ("The Anubis Gates," "The Drawing Of The Dark") and can also write ... the ... most ... tedious ... expository ... dialogue ... that ... really ... slows ... a ... story ... to ... a ... c r a w l ...

My list would also consist of a bunch of authors that have written books that I liked, without the consistency of the above (Cordwainer Smith, Philip Jose Farmer, Robert Silverberg), and a few SF books written by non-SF authors (notably "The Handmaid's Tale").

My Goodness! how do you guys manage time to read all these books? Afulai ta ringata lagi sakyo sajha book review padhda padhdai.
Wouldn't it be so nice if we start another thread (or a different forum- San, what do you think?) where a sajhaite writes a synopsis of the book he/she reads?

My Goodness! how do you guys manage time to read all these books? Afulai ta ringata lagi sakyo sajha book review padhda padhdai.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I know this sounds weird but I do most of my reading while walking with some music for my ears. ;) Its like an addition. Give me few good books and some music, I wont even need a man. :D

addition= addiction

i know what you mean. I love books but right now so confined to reading school books. A good book is almost better than having a good date...........sometimes.

[Hey there Czar. How are you?]

That's quite an exhaustive list of books! Well one byte at a time I guess...

Ok, after reading a review of a crackpot book on this week's Nepali Times, I am tempted to reccomend two more books.

Mao: A Life, by Philip Short
Mao Ze Dong, by Jonathan Spence

That Nepali Times reviewer of Mao's new biography should be careful in checking his facts before writing review(s).

http://www.nepalnews.com.np/ntimes/issue257/review_2.htm

Just finished a NEPALI book.

1. SOCH by Karna Shakya..... really great book.

2. Reading another book titled PALPASA CAFE by Narayan Wagle.... seems really great.

Will be back with review after completing.

matrix...
lol... do not need a man re.. kasai kasai ko sapana shattered like a mirror (o:

imagine matrix:
book on one hand
coffee on other
juke box [i-pod] on the belt
fluffy hair... head phone on the head
walking down the road like a dilbert minus glasses and everything mentioned above

Read "Palpasa Cafe" by Narayan Wagle....Great read...and heart touching...Read it by urself dudes...Worth reading more than once...Read it feel it...

Hve you guys who claimed to read 'Palpasa Cafe' have actually read it or are just throwing comments. If you have read please share about it not just usual comments.

Here are some of the books I have finished reading in the past few weeks and recent months.

Reviews of some of these books will appear or have appeared in The Nepali Times newspaper.

1) "Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found" by Suketu Mehta.
An excellently readable biography of that city, rich vivid details on gritty life, Bollywood and underground crime.

2) "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell
NK and Czar, I am working on a review of this book for The Nepali Times. Will it be all right if I email you my draft for comments?

3) "Freakonomics" by Steven Levitt and Steve Dubner
In a very lively, readable style, this book shows that economic reasoning, together with application of statistics, can help us understand many social phenomena from corrupt sumo wrestlers to cheating teachers to why you should not trust your real-estate agents.

4) "Empire" by Niall Ferguson
An excellent survey history of how the tiny island of Britain dominated over so much of earth's surface before fading out as a global power.

5) "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini
Normally, I don't read fiction, but I liked this book: a heartwarmingly unpretentious tale of two young Afgan boys: their friendships, betryal and eventual redemption.

6) "Gulag" by Anne Applebaum
A depressing, yet passionately written book about what life was like in Soviet concentration camps. Could be some of our future in Maoist camps in Nepal someday.

7) "Alexander Hamilton" by Ron Chernow
Kanak Dixit loaned me this book, and I was blown way by the accounts of Hamilton's
life. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson come across as not-so-great characters in this book. Hamilton, one of the American founding fathers and America's first Finance Minister, practically invented many of the financial institutions we now take for granted.

8) "Nepal Studies in the UK: Conversations with Practitioners" By Pratyoush Onta
A compilation of conversations Pratyoush had with British academics who study Nepal. My review of this book is soon coming out in The Nepali Times.

9) "The Power to Choose" by Naila Kabir
An excellent piece of academic work on how Bangladeshi women who work in garment factories make decisions at factories in the UK and in Dhaka.

10) "The Wisdom of Crowds" by James Surowiecki
A wonderfullu written book by The New Yorker's business columnist (whose essays I make it a point to read every week on that magazine's web site). If there's a book which provides a strong intellectual argument as to why Sajha is a great forum, then this is the book which celebrates the attributes of diversity and indepedence that a crowd of people bring to most decision-making situations.

11) "A Mighty Heart" by Mariane Pearl
The widow of the Wall Street Journal journalist Danny Pearl who was beheaded in Pakistan about three years ago tells her story with gripping, touching details.

12) "India's Economy in the New Millennium: Selected Essays" by Bimal Jalan
A good book to update onseself about India's economic prospects and constraints.

I could go on, but it's time to sir down and read some more :-)

oohi
ashu