[Eddy]

I've given up on Dan Brown after The Lost Symbol. Did not enjoy that one at all !

[TKMCE]

Originally Posted by Eddy

Thanks. Does it cover - what started the war, results, repercussions, the political alliances and loyalties etc ?

It does indeed. Perefect book for your father. Liddell Hart's work is comprehensive, no short cuts and not written for the mass market but for people who have a genuine interest to find out about the war.

His credentials are impeccable

Hre is a link to the entry about the author in britannica.com.

www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/339756/Sir-Basil-Liddell-Hart

[TheTeacher]

Originally Posted by Eddy

Is this the one ?

http://www.homeshop18.com/mahabharat...3025/cid:12026

Yup.

Out of stock at Flipkart, Landmark, Sapna Book House, etc. :(

[mallumowgli]

Originally Posted by Eddy

Is this the one ?

http://www.homeshop18.com/mahabharat...3025/cid:12026

For a very conventional Mahabharata try our former President S. Radhakrishnan's Mahabharata. Easy reading and covers almost all of the popular sections

[nareshov]

Originally Posted by TheTeacher

Yup.

Out of stock at Flipkart, Landmark, Sapna Book House, etc. :(

Available on amazon.in and bookadda.com as of now.

[rajesh1868]

Originally Posted by Eddy

My 70 year old uncle wants to read

- Mahabharata (English version)
Any recommendations ?

Something that I have thoroughly enjoyed over last couple of months:
http://www.flipkart.com/mahabharata-...=9788190599016

[TheTeacher]

Odd - I don't see a Thanks button for this thread.

[Samurai]

Threads under Shifting Gear have no Thanks button.

[Sudipto-S-Team]

Reading and thoroughly enjoying the Last Hours on Everest by Graham Hoyland. The guy who led the team that discovered the body of Mallory in 1999. The book is much beyond mountaineering or Mallory. Those interested in adventure and mountaineering should read it. Paperback edition costs about Rs 660 on Amazon. Very good read.

[naveenroy]

Originally Posted by hothatchaway

There are books and then there are books which grab you by the scruff of the neck and keep you hooked till you have journeyed from cover to cover. Reading ’ Half of a yellow sun’ by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was like sparring with a snub nosed super heavyweight; ...

I don't remember how I ended up reading this author - maybe someone suggested it in this thread. I loved the book! I ended up reading "Purple Hibiscus" also by the same author and loved it too. Though that is a more "feminine" book (a thousand apologies, didn't know what other term to use) - it was a really moving book. And my dad and mom also loved the books! It was all the more interesting for us since we were in Nigeria for around 7 years when I was a little kid.

[TKMCE]

Originally Posted by Sudipto-S-Team

Reading and thoroughly enjoying the Last Hours on Everest by Graham Hoyland. The guy who led the team that discovered the body of Mallory in 1999. The book is much beyond mountaineering or Mallory. Those interested in adventure and mountaineering should read it. Paperback edition costs about Rs 660 on Amazon. Very good read.

Thank you . Sounds interesting and will pick it up. Speaking of that last Mallory expedition, as an aside, not many people know that another prominent climber of that (and the earlier) Mallory expeditions, Howard Somervell was a surgeon by profession and spent more than 35 years in India, first working with the South Travancore Medical Mission and later with the Christian Medical College in Vellore.

Another interesting mountaneering book worth reading is "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer. It deals with the accident on 1996 in Everest when a freak storm killed 8 mountaneers trying to summit Everest, many of them members of "guided" expeditions. Well worth reading. Krakauer was a member of one of the guided expeditions and some of his fellow climbers were killed. There is a counter account written for a member of another "guided" expedition -"The Climb" by Anatoli Boukreev, but I found Krakauer's book much more interesting .

[hothatchaway]

Originally Posted by naveenroy

I don't remember how I ended up reading this author - maybe someone suggested it in this thread. I loved the book! I ended up reading "Purple Hibiscus" also by the same author and loved it too. Though that is a more "feminine" book (a thousand apologies, didn't know what other term to use) - it was a really moving book. And my dad and mom also loved the books! It was all the more interesting for us since we were in Nigeria for around 7 years when I was a little kid.

Yes its visually a very moving book, if thats what you meant by feminine She captures human emotions very effectively and the choice of language is powerful and stark. Am yet to read Purple Hibiscus and am looking forward to it.

[neil.jericho]

Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra has to be one of the best books I have read by an Indian author. Epic in its scope and glorious in its depth, this book is a must read if the genre rocks your boat.

[Sudipto-S-Team]

Originally Posted by TKMCE

Thank you . Sounds interesting and will pick it up. Speaking of that last Mallory expedition, as an aside, not many people know that another prominent climber of that (and the earlier) Mallory expeditions, Howard Somervell was a surgeon by profession and spent more than 35 years in India, first working with the South Travancore Medical Mission and later with the Christian Medical College in Vellore.

Another interesting mountaneering book worth reading is "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer. It deals with the accident on 1996 in Everest when a freak storm killed 8 mountaneers trying to summit Everest, many of them members of "guided" expeditions. Well worth reading. Krakauer was a member of one of the guided expeditions and some of his fellow climbers were killed. There is a counter account written for a member of another "guided" expedition -"The Climb" by Anatoli Boukreev, but I found Krakauer's book much more interesting .

I am glad that you mentioned him. Somervell was the author's grand father's cousin (his father called him Uncle Hunch) and inspired him in his childhood to go and look for his camera that Mallory had taken with him because his wasn't working. He had told Graham Hoyland that if his camera was found alongwith Mallory's body, the mystery of whether they actually scaled the mountain would be solved. Somervell also wrote "After Everest" from where the author quotes extensively (the book was only a third about Everest and mostly about his work as a medical missionary in India - next on my target . Somervell was also a painter and the book carries a few plates of his Everest painting. I know about Into Thin Air but didn't read it as I felt it dealt mainly with the tragedy. But if you think it's worth a read may be I will give it a shot.

[TKMCE]

In the 1990s two novels, one based on life at Harvard Business School and another based on Stanford Business School came out. I liked both the books and if you find them around , they are still worth a read.

The one on Harvard is "Year One - An Intimate Look Inside Harvard Business School" by Robert Reid which came out in 1995. Deals with student life in HBS and is a good read. However it more concentrates on the achievements of the top 20-30% of the class and I felt it was a little too self congratulatory!

The one about Stanford, "Snapshots from Hell- The Making of an MBA" came out actually an year earlier in 1994 . Written by Peter Robinson, I liked this book much better as it gives a more realistic story of the bottom 20-30% of the class which struggles to make it . Peter Robinson was a "poet" - as the people who were not from one of the more established sources of business school students such as management consulting or financial accounting background were known as . Before Robinson came to Stanford he had a different work experience including being a former speech writer at the White House, and he was one of those who got selected so that the MBA program had a "balanced mix" of students. I found this one a more entertaining read and a very honest account about those students who actually struggle at top business schools

The two books are not similar as Harvard MBA is almost exclusively case study based, while Stanford had an equal mix of class room lectures and case studies.

Worth picking up if you come across either in any bookshop or your local library.