BooksIRecommend

“My best friend is a person who will give me a book I have not read.” –Abraham Lincoln.
With every edition of Books I Recommend series, we bring to you different perspectives and varied topics. Today, we have Sanjay Anandaram, angel investor and mentor share his book recommendations.

“Fermat’s Last Theorem” by Simon Singh.

For over 350 years, proving Fermat’s Last Theorem was the most notorious unsolved mathematical problem, a puzzle whose basics most children could grasp but whose solution eluded the greatest minds in the world. In 1993, after years of secret toil, Englishman Andrew Wiles announced to an astounded audience that he had cracked Fermat’s Last Theorem. He had no idea of the nightmare that lay ahead.

The importance of perseverance, cross-domain synthesis and passion that led to the solution of the most recalcitrant math problem for 350 years!

» Buy

India: A Sacred Geography

India: A Sacred Geography is the culmination of more than a decade’s work from the renowned Harvard scholar Diana L. Eck. The book explores the sacred places of India, taking the reader on an extraordinary trip through the beliefs and history of this rich and profound place, as well as providing a basic introduction to Hindu religious ideas and how those ideas influence our understanding of the modern sense of “India” as a nation.

An idea of India before there was an India, a set of thoughts, motivations, compulsions, beliefs, travels, desires, callings that really make India the great “civilizational state” it is.

» Buy 

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

The Name of the Rose is not only a narrative of a murder investigation but an astonishing chronicle of the Middle Ages.

A mystery- murder book set in medieval Europe, of semiotics and the evolution of debate-argumentation that exposed the nature of the relationship between Church, state and people.

» Buy

The Future of Freedom by Fareed Zakaria

A modern classic that uses historical analysis to shed light on the present, The Future of Freedom calls for a restoration of the balance between liberty and democracy and shows how politics and government can be made effective and relevant for our time.

The importance of understanding the subtle interplay between freedoms, liberties, markets and structures.

» Buy

Morality of Markets by Michael Sandel

Can businesses abandon the axiom that the customer is always right when consumers start questioning the ethics of business practices? Professor Craig Smith examines the theory and practice of ethical purchase behaviour, a crucial mechanism for ensuring social responsibility in business. He explains how and why consumers have used their purchasing power to influence corporate policies and practices.

The inherent immorality of markets and the nature of choice.

» Buy

Affluenza by Oliver James

There is currently an epidemic of ‘affluenza’ throughout the world – an obsessive, envious, keeping-up-with-the-Joneses – that has resulted in huge increases in depression and anxiety among millions. Over a nine-month period, bestselling author Oliver James travelled around the world to try and find out why. He discovered how, despite very different cultures and levels of wealth, affluenza is spreading.

The link between material wealth, the purpose, genuine-ness, authenticity and society.

» Buy

Books are the plane, and the train, and the road. They are the destination, and the journey. They are home. – Anna Quindlen

In our attempt to bring different perspectives and enable the NextBigWhat audience to learn new new things, we have started a weekly series (every Tuesday) called ‘Books I Recommend‘. This is the latest installment.

Today, we have Shashank N D, Practo founder and CEO share his recommendations.

My inventions by Nicola Tesla

Nikolas Tesla’s patents and theoretical work helped form the basis of wireless communication and radio.
He is also known for his high-voltage, high-frequency experiments in New York and Colorado Springs, experiments in X-rays, and his ill-fated attempt at intercontinental wireless transmission in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project.
» Buy from Amazon.
Adds Shashank: An autobiography, which gives one an understanding of what Tesla was going through while he came up with his world changing inventions.

Zero to One by Peter Thiel.

The book Zero To One is about nurturing the next big idea to build a valuable global company. The author recalls how certain innovative ideas were incubated and how people behind them dared to dream big and even did realize some of them.
This book also compiles the startups culture as discussed by Peter Thiel in his lecture for Stanford University students in 2012 with details about various other aspects of entrepreneurship.
Buy from Amazon]
Adds Shashank: A classic. First principle thinking at its best.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach

‘For most gulls it is not flying that matters, but eating. For this gull, though, it was not eating that mattered, but flight.’

Tool of Titans by Tim Ferries.

The book contains lessons from highly successful people like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Malcolm Gladwell, Tony Robbins, etc. For every situation that you meet in your life, take a flip of the pages and you will find something that will help you immediately.

The Founder’s Mentality by Chris Zook.

In our attempt to bring different perspectives and enable the NextBigWhat audience to learn new new things, we have started a series called ‘Books I Recommend‘. This is the third installment.