• Books,  Excerpts

    Excerpts from “Will” by Will Smith with Mark Manson

    Thanks to a book stalls in airports 🙂 Was browsing through books, was looking for something else, did not find it, but stumbled on the book Will, thanks to the colourful cover I guess! [Page 42] I trust God. And I am so thankful for his grace in my life. I know that every single breath I take is a gift. And it’s impossible to be unhappy when you’re grateful. [43] Some combination of hard work, education, and God would topple any and all obstacles and enemies. The only variable was the level of my commitment to the fight. [64] Truly intelligent people do not have to use language like…

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  • Books,  Excerpts

    Excerpts from “The Alchemist: A Fabble About Following Your Deam” by Paulo Coelho

    While reading the book Will by Will Smith, he mentions [my blog on excerpts from the book] one of the influential books for him was The Alchemist. I decided to read it. Keeping the recent tradition of buying one book per travel [not sure how long will I be able to continue doing this :)], bought this book. It was a fantastic decision, I am going to rate this book very high in my reading list recommendations. [Page 10] It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting. [14] It’s the simple things in life that are the most extraordinary; only wise men are able to…

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  • Books,  Excerpts

    Excerpts from “My Life in Full: Work, Family, and Our Future” by Indra K. Nooyi

    As I was reading Blackstone / Steve’s story (my blog), I got stumbled on Indra Nooyi’s story; such books instantly strike a cord with me. Book was so engaging, that I finished the book in Jan itself, i.e. 2 books in a month, not very common these days 😛 Was fascinating to read the book that has reference to Chennai a lot, my hometown too! My last book with so much of Chennai reference was Biography of A R Rahman (my blog), there is something lovely about reading books / personalities that has roots to Chennai! I loved the reference to Thata (grandfather in Tamil language) in the book. Book…

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  • Books,  Excerpts

    Excerpts from “What It Takes: Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence” by Stephen A. Schwarzman

    During my stay in Bengaluru in Dec 2021, I visited Landmark in Koramangala Forum Mall. As always, went through many books including the one on Tim Cook, stumbled on this hard cover “What It Takes”, was intrigued, read the cover page, got more intrigued, never knew about a company called Blackstone. Flipped through the book a bit, including the pics of Steve with multiple Presidents of the US, and other influential people in the world. Got hooked to the book, bought the book. Possibly completed the book in first 2 weeks of Jan (384 pages); my 1st book of the year. Some ideas / thoughts / experiences mentioned in the…

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  • Books,  Excerpts

    Excerpts from “The Go-Giver: A Little Story About A Powerful Business Idea” by Bob Burg & John David Mann

    Thanks to Office of Students Affairs & Communication team at IIIT Delhi for sending me this book, T-shirt, and IIITD Mask 🙂 I was ❤️😍😮 all at once, when I got a packet with “Gift Item” on top; arrived on July 12. Background for why they may have sent it — as part of the #Induction2020 we sent out Last Lecture book and Tshirts to #Classof2024, some posts about these . Just out of curiosity, flipped through the pages, reading a few lines here and there, got very curious after that; given that I have not read a book say in the last month or so (thanks to the move!!!!),…

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  • Books,  Excerpts

    Excerpts from “Models of My Life: The Remarkable Autobiography of the Nobel Prize winning Social Scientist & Father of AI” by Herbert A Simon

    My March 2021 book! Have heard so many things about Prof. Herbert Simon on CMU campus, was always curious about his life, this book satisfies my curiosity about his childhood, teenage, UG days, Ph.D. life, Nobel Prize Laureate, etc. I first read the Chapter 9 “Building a Business School: The Graduate School of Industrial Administration” called as GSIA on campus, renamed to Tepper School and then rest of the chapters. Was lovely to read about CMU in many chapters 😛 [Page xix] I have been a scientist, but in many sciences. I have explored mazes, but they do not connect into a single maze. My aspirations dod not extend to…

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  • Books,  Excerpts

    Excerpts from “A Promised Land” by Barack Obama

    Don’t think there is any explanation needed why I started reading this book; a couple of days after the release of the book, when I posted on Twitter about starting to read, a student of mine commented [paraphrased], “was expecting you to read this book, and looking forward for the summary blog” 😛 Even though I finished the book middle of Jan, got around to write the blog now! This is definitely one of the best books I have read! Was so gripping and engaging. [Page 14] all those misfits who took the scraps that others overlooked or discarded and made beauty no one had seen before. [15] But if…

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  • Books,  Excerpts

    Excerpts from “Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers” by Tim Ferriss

    About a year back I stumbled on this book, bought it then, but got to reading it recently, completed it a couple of days back. Absolutely a brilliant book, a must read for different perspectives in life! I read this book little differently than usual, I read only a few pages at a time, because there are many profound thoughts in these pages, it took a while to digest them before moving on. The book is 672 pages long, but did not feel like it was such a long book! I now follow all Titans on Twitter, whose account is mentioned in the book 🙂 This excerpt is no justice…

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  • Books

    Excerpts from “Hyperfocus: How to Work Less and Achieve More” by Chris Bailey

    Don’t remember who recommended or how I got to know this book, finished it during this weekend. This book has some great advice, capturing it below. [Page 17] The more we can manage our attention with intention, the ore focused, productive, and creative we become. [Page 20] [41] But again, just because we’re busier doesn’t mean we’re getting more accomplished. [42] It doesn’t matter how busy we are if that busyness doesn’t lead us to accomplish anything of importance. Productivity is not about cramming more into our days but about doing the right thing in each moment. [70] Productivity is often a process of understanding our constraints…… Make sure you…

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  • Books

    Excerpts from “What I Know For Sure” by Oprah Winfrey

    I believe, I read this book a couple of years ago! Wasn’t in the habit of blogging then, but as always, I had highlighted some lines / paragraphs that were interesting / intriguing / though-provoking. This book is definitely one of those books that is quick to read, and has profound thoughts in it. I have referred to many points from this book in the last couple of years, here I am highlighting some excerpts from the book. [Page 5] And when you get the choice to sit it out and or dance, I hope you dance. [27] “Delight thyself in the Lord and He will give you the desires…

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