BOOKS OF THE WEEK

THE GRAND TOUR
By - AGATHA CHRISTIE

About the Book :
Unpublished for 90 years, Agatha Christie's extensive and evocative letters and photographs from her year-long round-the-world trip to South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and America as part of the British trade mission for the famous 1924 Empire Exhibition. In 1922 Agatha Christie set sail on a 10-month voyage around the British Empire with her husband as part of a trade mission to promote the forthcoming British Empire Exhibition. Leaving her two-year-old daughter behind with her sister, Agatha set sail at the end of January and did not return until December, but she kept up a detailed weekly correspondence with her mother, describing in detail the exotic places and people she encountered as the mission travelled through South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii and Canada. The extensive and previously unpublished letters are accompanied by hundreds of photos taken on her portable camera as well as some of the original letters, postcards, newspaper cuttings and memorabilia collected by Agatha on her trip. Edited and introduced by Agatha Christie's grandson, Mathew Prichard, this unique travelogue reveals a new side to Agatha Christie, demonstrating how her appetite for exotic plots and locations for her books began with this eye-opening trip, which took place just after only her second novel had been published (the first leg of the tour to South Africa is very clearly the inspiration for the book she wrote immediately afterwards, The Man in the Brown Suit). The letters are full of tales of seasickness and sunburn, motor trips and surf boarding, and encounters with welcoming locals and overbearing Colonials. The Grand Tour is a book steeped in history, sure to fascinate anyone interested in the lost world of the 1920s. Coming from the pen of Britain's biggest literary export and the world's most widely translated author, it is also a fitting tribute to Agatha Christie and is sure to fascinate her legions of worldwide fans.

About the Author :
Agatha Christie was born in Torquay in 1890 and became, quite simply, the best-selling novelist in history. Her books have sold over a billion copies in the English language and another billion in over 100 foreign languages. She is the author of 80 crime novels and short story collections, 19 plays, and six novels under the name of Mary Westmacott. Mathew Prichard is Agatha Christie's grandson and Chairman of Agatha Christie Limited, which runs her business affairs. This is the first time he has been directly involved in the writing of a book about his grandmother.
  ISBN : 9780007460687                                                                     PRICE : Rs. 820.00  

BOOKS OF THE WEEK

India's Military Conflicts and Diplomacy 
An Inside View of Decision-Making
By -GENERAL V.P MALIK

About the Book
In this book General V.P. Malik, Chief of the Indian Army writes about his experiences in the field and important strategic events in which he was involved during his service. He has focused on decision-making processes that were followed at the political and military strategic levels as well as at the operational level. In India, such important decisions are seldom recorded in detail almost never made public. Hence it is difficult to analyse these events in perspective, or learn lessons from them for future generations. The problem gets exaggerated for the armed forces. Despite the important national security roles envisaged and expected from them, they are seldom in the loop at the planning level. And when included in the loop, only a handful of senior officers are privy to the ministerial interactions and decision-making. 
In India s Military Conflicts and Diplomacy the author tries to address problems arising from such practices. He writes about defence and military diplomacy and provides a historical as well as futuristic perspective on India s higher defence management.

About the Author :
General V.P. Malik was the Chief of the Army Staff (India) from 1 October 1997 to 30 September 2000. Concurrently, he was chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee, from 1 January 1999 to 30 September 2000. in both these posts, he played a vital role in planning, coordinating and overseeing the military operations that enabled India to evict the Pakistani intruders in Kargil and thus turn the tables on Pakistan. 
A graduate from the Defence Services Staff College and Madras University, General Malik is an alumnus of the National Defence College, New Delhi. He has been a member of India s National Security Advisory Board and has delivered lectures in many prestigious civil and military institutions in India and abroad. Currently, he heads the Institute of Security Studies in the Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi.
  ISBN : 9789351160830                                                                     PRICE : Rs. 699.00  

BOOKS OF THE WEEK

An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth
By - Chris Hadfield

About the Book
This is an inspirational memoir of space exploration and hard-won wisdom, from an astronaut who has spent a lifetime making the impossible a reality
Colonel Chris Hadfield has spent decades training as an astronaut and has logged nearly 4,000 hours in space. During this time he has broken into a Space Station with a Swiss army knife, disposed of a live snake while piloting a plane, been temporarily blinded while clinging to the exterior of an orbiting spacecraft, and become a YouTube sensation with his performance of David Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity’ in space. The secret to Chris Hadfield's success – and survival – is an unconventional philosophy he learned at NASA: prepare for the worst – and enjoy every moment of it.
In his book, An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth, Chris Hadfield takes readers deep into his years of training and space exploration to show how to make the impossible possible. Through eye-opening, entertaining stories filled with the adrenaline of launch, the mesmerizing wonder of spacewalks and the measured, calm responses mandated by crises, he explains how conventional wisdom can get in the way of achievement – and happiness. His own extraordinary education in space has taught him some counterintuitive lessons: don't visualize success, do care what others think, and always sweat the small stuff.
You might never be able to build a robot, pilot a spacecraft, make a music video or perform basic surgery in zero gravity like Colonel Hadfield. But his vivid and refreshing insights in this book will teach you how to think like an astronaut, and will change, completely, the way you view life on Earth – especially your own.

About the Author :
Chris Hadfield is one of the most seasoned and accomplished astronauts in the world. The top graduate of the U.S. Air Force test pilot school in 1988 and U.S. Navy test pilot of the year in 1991, Colonel Hadfield was selected to be an astronaut in 1992. He was CAPCOM for 25 shuttle launches and served as Director of NASA Operations in Star City, Russia from 2001–2003, Chief of Robotics at the Johnson Space Center in Houston from 2003–2006, and Chief of International Space Station Operations from 2006–2008. Hadfield most recently served as Commander of the International Space Station where, while conducting a record-setting number of scientific experiments and overseeing an emergency spacewalk, he gained worldwide acclaim for his breathtaking photographs and educational videos about life in space. His music video, a zero gravity version of David Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity’ received over 10 million views in its first three days online. Chris Hadfield’s book, An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth, sees his lessons learnt in space applied to life on Earth.
 ISBN : 9781447257516                                                                     PRICE : Rs. 599.00 

BOOKS OF THE WEEK

The Luminaries
By  - Eleanor Catton

About the Book :
It is 1866, and Walter Moody has come to make his fortune upon the New Zealand goldfields. On arrival, he stumbles across a tense gathering of twelve local men, who have met in secret to discuss a series of unsolved crimes. A wealthy man has vanished, a whore has tried to end her life, and an enormous fortune has been discovered in the home of a luckless drunk. Moody is soon drawn into the mystery: a network of fates and fortunes that is as complex and exquisitely patterned as the night sky. The Luminaries is an extraordinary piece of fiction. It is full of narrative, linguistic and psychological pleasures, and has a fiendishly clever and original structuring device. Written in pitch-perfect historical register, richly evoking a mid-19th century world of shipping and banking and goldrush boom and bust, it is also a ghost story, and a gripping mystery. It is a thrilling achievement for someone still in her mid-20s, and will confirm for critics and readers that Catton is one of the brightest stars in the international writing firmament.
About the Author :
Born in Canada and raised in New Zealand, Eleanor Catton, 27, completed an MA in Creative Writing at Victoria University in 2007 and won the Adam Prize in Creative Writing for her first novel, The Rehearsal, which was also long-listed for the Orange Prize and short-listed for the Dylan Thomas Prize. She studied at the Iowa Writers' Workshop as the recipient of the 2008 Glenn Schaeffer Fellowship. She lives in New Zealand.
 ISBN : 9781847088765                                                PRICE : Rs. 799.00 

BOOKS OF THE WEEK

Reimagining India  
Unlocking the Potential of Asias Next Super Power
By  - McKinsey & company

About the Book :
Reimagining India brings together leading thinkers from around the world to explore the challenges and opportunities faced by one of the most important and least understood nations on earth. India's abundance of life vibrant, chaotic and tumultuous has long been its foremost asset. The nation's rising economy and burgeoning middle class have earned India a place alongside China as one of the world's two indispensable emerging markets. At the same time, india's tech savvy entrepreneurs and rapidly globalizing firms are upending key sectors of the world economy. But what is India's true potential? And what can be done to unlock it? McKinsey & Company has pulled in wisdom from many corners social and cultural as well as economic and political to launch a feisty debate about the future of Asia's 'other superpower.'
Reimagining India features an all star cast of contributors, including CNN's Fareed Zakaria, Mukesh Ambani, CEO of India's largest private conglomerate, Microsoft founder Bill Gates; Google chairman Eric Schmidt; Harvard Business School dean Nitin Nohria; award winning authors Suketu Mehta (Maximum City), Edward Luce (In Spite of the Gods) and Patrick French (India: A Portrait); Nandan Nilekani, Infosys cofounder and chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India and a host of other leading executives, entrepreneurs, economists, foreign policy experts, journalists, historians and cultural luminaries. These essays explore topics like the strengths and weaknesses of India's political system, growth prospects for India's economy, the competitiveness of Indian firms, india's rising international profile and the rapid evolution of vast and vital nation is changing and how it promises to change the world around us. India's culture. Reimagining India is a critical resource for readers seeking to understand how thisvast and vital nation is changing and how it promises to change the world around us.

About the Author :
Clay Chandler is Asia editor for McKinsey's global publishing division. He is former Asia editor of Fortune magazine and has covered global economics for leading publications including the Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal.
Adil Zainulbhai is chairman of McKinsey India. Over the course of his 34-year career at McKinsey he has served clients around the world and in a wide range of industries. He also has advised governments on social and development issues.
McKinsey & Company is a global management consulting firm dedicated to helping the worlds leading organizations address their strategic challenges. With more than 100 offices in more than than 50 countries, the firm is a trusted advisor to two-thirds of the Fortune 1000.
    ISBN : 9781476763330                                                         PRICE : Rs. 699.00