Books - May 2019

The Intelligent Investor

by Benjamin Graham

The holy bible of value investing. This is the book taught people worldwide the philosophy of value investing.

Several financial books I read mentions this book, so it was an easy choice for me to read. I initially started with a revised edition which has commentary, chapter by chapter. I left that mid way to read the original book. Will be reading the revised one next month.

Highly recommended book for anyone who is interested in financial market.

Rating: 5/5

Chanakya in Daily Life

by Radhakrishnan Pillai

I have to say this, this is one of the worst books I have read till now. I got this audio book free from Audible as part of their World Book Day offer.

When  the author of a book boasts him as one of the most successful writers of  India, you know it is going all downhill from there.

He says Astrology as science and uses Astronomy to support his claim! "Astrology is connected to astronomy, both are sciences dealing with planets spaces and physical universe as a whole"

Later in the book, he goes on to support cast system in India.

Rating: 0.5/5

Just for Fun

by Linus Torvalds & David Diamond

This is the story of Linus and the early development of Linux. It gives you a comprehensive history of Linux's early days. Linus's name is also credited in the book, before David's. I don't know why. The book talks about David meeting Linus and then getting to know him better, so it is mostly written by David himself.

I wish this book gave some more details into Richard Stallman and the GNU project. Even though they are mentioning GNU projects here and there, when talking about the history and timeline of Open Source, it is good to talk about Free Software project's history along with it. Giving all credits for Open Source revolution to Linux project is what I am opposed to.

Rating: 4/5

Alibaba: The House That Jack Ma Built

by Duncan Clark

Refreshing to read about a company which is not from USA. Most of the books, success stories of tech companies we read, hear, watch are from USA or Europe. This was a good change.

I am a frequent customer of Ali-express, an online market from the Alibaba group of companies. So the title itself was enough for me to select the book to read.

Author is an insider from the company, so it was not surprising that he didn't mention any of the controversies surrounding Jack Ma and the work culture of Alibaba.

Rating: 3.5/5

The Last Boy to Fall in Love

by Durjoy Datta

This is the second book I got from World Book Day offer.

Compelling plot, meh story which failed in detailing. But the audio book was well narrated by Sikander Kher and Rasika Duggal.

I would love to hear Rasika Duggal narrate more stories.

Rating: 2/5