BOOKS OF THE WEEK - SATURDAY, 30TH JANUARY, 2021

BY MANY A HAPPY ACCIDENT: 
RECOLLECTIONS OF A LIFE

ABOUT THE BOOK

Fortuitous or not, By Many a Happy Accident is an account of a life of unplanned happenings that took M. Hamid Ansari away from his preferred fancy for academia to professional diplomacy and then be co-opted in public life and catapulted to the second highest office in the land for two consecutive terms. None of his predecessors, except Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, had experienced this honour.

Besides chairing the Rajya Sabha and shedding interesting light on some of its functional aspects, Ansari used the vice presidency as a formidable pulpit to express himself candidly on a range of issues at different times in India’s changing political landscape.

Their overarching theme was the need for modern India to re-commit itself to the constitutional principles of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity, to the values of a composite culture, and for correctives in polity relating to identity, security and empowerment of the weaker segments of our society.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
M. Hamid Ansari is the Vice President of India and Chairman, Rajya Sabha since August 2007. He is the only person to be elected to this high office for two consecutive terms since Dr S. Radhakrishnan. In a diplomatic career spanning four decades, he served as India’s Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, Iran and Saudi Arabia, as High Commissioner to Australia and Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations in New York. He has been a Visiting Professor at the Centre of West Asian and African Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University and at the Academy for Third World Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia; Vice Chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University; and Chairman of India’s National Commission for Minorities.

M. Hamid Ansari is the author of Travelling Through Conflict: Essays in the Politics of West Asia (2008) and edited Iran Today: Twenty-Five Years After the Islamic Revolution (2005).
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BOOKS OF THE WEEK - SATURDAY, 23RD JANUARY, 2021

 The Last Queen
By - Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni 
About the Book

Daughter of the royal kennel keeper, the beautiful Jindan Kaur went on to become Maharaja Ranjit Singh's youngest and last queen; his favourite. She became regent when her son Dalip, barely six years old, unexpectedly inherited the throne. Sharp-eyed, stubborn, passionate, and dedicated to protecting her son's heritage, Jindan distrusted the British and fought hard to keep them from annexing Punjab. Defying tradition, she stepped out of the zenana, cast aside the veil and conducted state business in public. Addressing her Khalsa troops herself, she inspired her men in two wars against the 'firangs'. Her power and influence were so formidable that the British, fearing an uprising, robbed the rebel queen of everything she had, including her son. She was imprisoned and exiled. But that did not crush her indomitable will.
An exquisite love story of a king and a commoner, a cautionary tale about loyalty and betrayal, and a powerful parable of the indestructible bond between mother and child, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's unforgettable novel brings alive one of the most fearless women of the nineteenth century, an inspiration for our times.
About the Author
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is an award-winning and bestselling author, poet and activist. Her work has been published widely, and her books have been translated into twenty-nine languages. Several of her works have been made into films and plays. Her last novel was the bestseller, The Forest of Enchantments, a retelling of the Ramayana in Sita's voice. She lives in Houston. 
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BOOKS OF THE WEEK - SATURDAY, 16TH JANUARY, 2021

Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Power 
By - RAJIV MALHOTRA
About the Book
Artificial Intelligence is only partially visible, just like an iceberg. To understand it fully, we must look beneath the surface. The positive side is that technology is making machines smarter. However, the deeper view explained in this book shows that AI is also making a growing number of people cognitively and psychologically dependent on digital networks.
Whether you are a social media fanatic, a diehard AI aficionado, or a paranoid sceptic, it is impossible to escape the ubiquitous impact of AI. Artificial Intelligence is the brains bringing together quantum computing, nanotechnology, medical technology, brain-machine interface, robotics, aerospace, 5G, Internet of Things, and more. It is amplifying human ingenuity and disrupting the foundations of healthcare, military, entertainment, education, marketing and manufacturing. 
Artificial Intelligence and The Future of Power argues that this AI-driven revolution will have an unequal impact on different segments of humanity. There will be new winners and losers, new haves and have-nots, resulting in an unprecedented concentration of wealth and power.
After analyzing society’s vulnerabilities to the impending tsunami, the book raises troubling questions that provoke immediate debate: Is the world headed toward digital colonization by USA and China? Will depopulation become eventually unavoidable?
Artificial Intelligence and The Future of Power is a wakeup call to action, compelling public intellectuals to be better informed and more engaged. It educates the social segments most at risk and wants them to demand a seat at the table where policies on Artificial Intelligence are being formulated.
About the Author
A public personality on everything concerning current affairs, religions and east to west intercultural affairs, Rajiv Malhotra is the highly acclaimed writer of Breaking India: Western Interventions in Dravidian And Dalit Faultlines. He has gained immense knowledge about the social condition of the Tamil people, through the research he conducted in those regions. His Tamil writings in science are quite popular too. He is also a columnist with UPI-Asia, which is a well-known news portal. 
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BOOKS OF THE WEEK - SATURDAY, 9TH JANUARY, 2020

 The Presidential Years: 2012-2017
By - Pranab Mukherjee

ABOUT THE BOOK
The presidential years gives a fascinating account of how one of the country most respected veteran politicians reshaped the functioning of Rashtrapati Bhavan and responded to tumultuous events as the country first citizen, leaving behind a legacy that will be hard to match. Pranab Mukherjee became President of India after having spent several decades in politics, and there was great speculation over how he would approach his new bipartisan role after having been associated with a political party for so many years of his life. By the time he had served his Term, Mukherjee had won the respect and admiration of people from across the political spectrum, including those who were his rivals when he was a political figure. He had the occasion to work with two prime ministers, belonging to two parties who were (and are) fiercely opposed to each other, and he managed to do so with aplomb.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
PRANAB MUKHERJEE entered Parliament at the age of thirty-four and rose to become the 13th President of India. A man of unparalleled experience in governance, he has the rare distinction of having held various portfolios—sometimes concurrently—as Minister of Defence, External Affairs, Commerce and Finance. A seasoned parliamentarian, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha five times and to the Lok Sabha twice. He was a member of the Congress Working Committee, the highest policymaking body of the party for a period of 23 years, till he became the president. A soft-spoken man of steely determination, Pranab has been the go-to person in times of crises, both for the Congress and others. His role as a consensus-builder and his ability to forge unity amongst diverse political parties has earned him the respect of one and all. Pranab Mukherjee’s grasp of international relations, financial affairs and parliamentary processes combined with his phenomenal memory make him one of the most important and admired politicians of contemporary India.
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