Books of the week - 6th February 2015

India Shastra 
Reflections on the Nation in Our Time
By - Shashi Tharoor

About the Book :
This has been a time of unprecedented change in the country. The transformation of Indias politics, economy, foreign policy, media, civil rights, governance and a myriad other aspects of our society and government has been swift and disruptive, sometimes brutally so. Narendra Modi, the nations new Prime Minister and his Bharatiya Janata Party, dominate the political scene, as the Congress once did and are attempting to change the way we work, think, pray and conduct ourselves as citizens of the planets most populous democracy. There are signs that the nation is moving in directions that will benefit its people-the economy has begun to revive, its foreign policy appears to be purposefully pursuing a visible place in the world, polls show that a significant percentage of the nations youth are optimistic about the future, at the same time, there are serious concerns about the rise of majoritarianism and religious fundamentalism (Often, this is one and the same thing), a disquieting intolerance of free speech, dissent and religious freedom, moreover, there appears to be no end to corruption, hate speech, criminals in politics, terrorism, violence against women, bureaucratic lethargy, governmental incompetence, endemic poverty, environmental degradation and a host of other problems that India has been struggling to overcome for decades.
What does the future hold? Is the promise of good times a mere illusion? Have we forgotten the democratic, humane, secular and liberal values that our founding fathers endowed us with? Are high-speed trains and missions to Mars eclipsing the vital need to achieve universal literacy, eradicate poverty and provide food, shelter and health-care for all?
Shashi Tharoor, one of our most distinguished and insightful writers, attempts to answer these and other important questions and demystify the complex issues that have been thrown up by the ongoing transformation of the nation. After chronicling Indias transformation over the years in several previous books, he brings his insights into Indian society, economics and politics up to date in wide-ranging short essays that extend the narrative right up to the present time. Lucid, brilliantly argued, balanced and illuminating, India Shastra is required reading for anyone who wishes to understand todays India.

About the Author :
Shashi Tharoor is the bestselling author of fourteen previous books, both fiction and non-fiction, besides being a noted critic and columnist, a former Under Secretary-General of the United Nations and a former Minister of State for Human Resource Development and Minister of State for External Affairs in the Government of India. He served 29 years at the United Nations, culminating as Under-Secretary under Secretary-General Kofi Annans leadership. As Indias official candidate to succeed Annan as UN Secretary - General, he emerged a strong second out of seven contenders. On returning to India he contested the 2009 elections on behalf of the Indian National Congress and was elected to Parliament from Thiruvananthapuram. Re-elected in 2014, he chairs Parliaments External Affairs Committee.
Shashi Tharoors books include the path-breaking satire The Great Indian Novel (1989), the classic India - From Midnight to the Millennium (1997) and most recently, the visionary Pax Indica - India and the World of the 21st Century (2012). He has won numerous literary awards, including a Commonwealth Writer's Prize, was honoured as New Age Politician of the Year (2010) by NDTV and pioneered among Indian politicians the use of Twitter, where he has over two and a half million followers, as of 2014.
Dr. Tharoor earned his Ph.D. at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at the age of 22 and was named by the World Economic Forum in Davos in 1998 as a Global Leader of Tomorrow. He was awarded the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, Indias highest honour for overseas Indians.
   ISBN : 9789384067281        Price : Rs. 695.00  


BOOKS OF THE WEEK - 30th January 2015

Driven to Distraction at Work
By -  M. Edward, M.D. Hallowell
About the Book
Are you driven to distraction at work? Bestselling author Edward M. Hallowell, MD, the world's leading expert on ADD and ADHD, has set his sights on a new goal: helping people feel more in control and productive at work. You know the feeling: you can't focus; you feel increasingly overwhelmed by a mix of nonstop demands and technology that seems to be moving at the speed of light; and you're frustrated just trying to get everything done well--and on time. Not only is this taking a toll on performance, it's impacting your sense of well-being outside the office. It's time to reclaim control. Dr. Hallowell now identifies the underlying reasons why people lose their ability to focus at work. He explains why commonly offered solutions like "learn to manage your time better" or "make a to-do list" don't work because they ignore the deeper issues that are the true causes of mental distraction. Based on his years of helping clients develop constructive ways to deal with distraction, Dr. Hallowell provides a set of practical and reliable techniques to show how to sustain a productive mental state. In Part 1 of the book, he identifies the six most common ways people lose the ability to focus at work--what he calls "screen sucking" (internet/social media addiction), multitasking, idea hopping (never finishing what you start), worrying, playing the hero, and dropping the ball--and he explains the underlying psychological and emotional dynamics driving each behavior. Part 2 of the book provides advice for "training" your attention overall, so that you are less susceptible to surrendering it, in any situation. The result is a book that will empower you to combat each one of these common syndromes--and clear a path for you to achieve your highest personal and professional goals.

About the Author :
EDWARD M. HALLOWELL, MD, runs the Hallowell Centers in Sudbury, Massachusetts, New York City, and San Francisco, all specializing in training attention in people of all ages. He lives in the Boston area with his wife, Sue.
  ISBN : 9781422186411      Price : Rs. 995.00  

BOOKS OF THE WEEK 23rd January 2015

The Dramatic Decade
The Indira Gandhi Years
About the Book :
The Dramatic Decade focuses on one of the most fascinating periods in the life of this nation, the decade of the 1970s. This was when India found herself engaging with the true meaning of democracy. The nation displayed her commitment to liberty by extending full support to East Pakistan s struggle for independence. Later, between 1975 and 1977, during the Emergency, she found herself grappling with the limits of personal expression. Finally, in 1977, India saw the emergence of the politics of coalition, with the Janata Party an amalgam of Indian parties opposed to the Emergency, comprising the Congress (O), the Bharatiya Lok Dal, the Jana Sangh and the Socialists, coming to power. This was a turning point in the history of the Indian legislature. This was the decade when Pranab Mukherjee committed himself to the role of a political activist. As one of the keenest observers of and participants in this dramatic decade, Pranab Mukherjee s insights are invaluable. Indeed, he nudges our impressions of the 1970s. For instance, recounting the urgent appeal for Indira Gandhi s midterm resignation, he asks which democracy in the world would permit a change of a popularly and freely elected government through means other than a popular election. Can parties beaten at the hosting replace a popularly elected government by sheer agitation? Was it not prudent for those who were determined to change the government to wait till the elections which were but round the corner? Does the rule of law mean that the remedies available to the common man are to be denied to someone holding an elected office? How could anybody replace her when the overwhelming majority of Congress MPs with a two thirds majority in the Lok Sabha resolved that Indira Gandhi should continue as the party s leader in Parliament and thereby as the Prime Minister of India? Drawing from personal diary extracts, conversations with key players of the 1970s, and vital secondary literature, Pranab Mukherjee presents an exceptional portrait of a complex nation.

About the Author :
Pranab Mukherjee assumed office as the President of India on 25 July 2012. He has unparalleled experience in governance, with the rare distinction of having served at different times as Foreign, Defence, Commerce and Finance Minister, as also Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission. He was elected to the Rajya Sabha five times from 1969, and twice to the Lok Sabha from 2004. A recipient of the Padma Vibhushan (2008), Pranab Mukherjee s intellectual and political process is widely admired. He has been long acclaimed for his role as a consensus builder on difficult national issues.
 ISBN : 9788129135742       Price : Rs. 595.00  

BOOKS OF THE WEEK - 16th January

How Modi Won It- Notes from the 2014 Election
BY - Harish Khare

About the Book
Marked by deep ideological divisions, a massive advertising blitz and an election campaign that could claim to rival the US presidential polls, the 2014 general election has been called 'historic' for its verdict, which marked the first time in three decades a political party received a majority in the Lok Sabha.In this personal, partisan and superbly perceptive narrative of how the dice rolled through the last 4 months leading up to 16 May 2014, Harish Khare - journalist, columnist, scholar and former media adviser to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh - provides an honest,impassioned record of India's greatest democratic exercise.Through a meticulous account of what he saw, heard and read, Khare elucidate show the different political stakeholders kneaded into their day-to-day campaign rhetoric the latent cultural angst, economic anxieties and political expectations of a nation that has changed irrevocably over the past decade to persuade the Indian voter. From the brilliant and flexible campaign pitch made by the BJP to the jaded and outdated Congress rhetoric, from openly expressed middle-class aspirations to rural India's hopes, and from communal polarization to shifting caste equations, How Modi Won It provides brilliant insight and an incisive assessment of one of the most memorable elections in recent history.

About the Author : 
Harish Khare is a journalist with over three decades of professional experience. A trained political scientist with a PhD from Yale, Khare is highly regarded as an insightful observer of Indian politics. He has worked for The Hindu, the Times of India and Hindustan Times, and his journalistic writings have been published in the New York Times, New Statesman, the Indian Express, Outlook, India Today, Open and Hard news magazine.Khare was also Media Advisor to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh between June 2009 and January 2012.He lives in Delhi.
   ISBN :  9789350099384         Price : Rs. 599.00