2017 : My first year of the reading resolution

I didn’t have to go far to start my reading journey. My wife has a great collection of books and I jumped straight in to it. She was reading a book from Indian author Sudha Menon — Legacy: Letters from Eminent Parents to Their Daughters. I picked up thinking I can’t go wrong with a recommendation. Throughout the year I read a lot of non-fiction and developed a strong interest in it. I am sharing my insights from these and I can assure you that there will be something new to learn when you pick up one of these great reads.

“Legacy: Letters from Eminent Parents” is a collection of letters from some of the big names in India to their daughters. A couple of parents really stood out for me. One was the ICICI bank founder KV Kamath. His story gave me a great insight in to how great companies are built where the founders put an emphasis on building future leaders for the company. Another one that stood out was of Sanjiv Kapoor’s, the Indian celebrity chef. He shot to fame with his simple recipes in Khaana Khazana. As cable television was gaining foothold in India in early 90s, Sanjiv Kapoor became a household name on India’s first homegrown cable channel Zee TV. The channel name was also my introduction to letter Z (zed) being called Zee in USA. Sanjeev Kapoor’s letter to his daughter is a great example of how if you believe in something, you need to take the initiative to make it happen. His rise is also a reminder to parents that while science is important for kids to learn, it’s not the only career path they need to take to be successful in life.

The other book that I absolutely loved was “A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety” by former US president Jimmy Carter. This book was on Bill Gates reading list. As an immigrant, this book was a great insight in to how far US has come in terms of spreading diversity and removing inequality. It has all been possible due to some of the great leaders working relentlessly to push it forward. The path has not always been easy but great progress has been made over the years due to their efforts and people buying in to it.

One more book that I really enjoyed during my summer trip to India, that I picked up from my brother’s collection. Raghuram Rajan’s book “- Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy” on the mortgage meltdown of 2008 and the economic crisis it triggered. Rajan nicely interweaves the politics, corruption and the recovery from the crisis. While there were challenges, the book showcases why a free market economy like USA is a better system then his early years of growing up in the 70 closed economy of India. When I was growing up I didn’t think much about this but now having lived most of my adult life in USA and also seeing the impact of opening of the Indian economy, I can truly appreciate the comparisons Rajan makes in the book.

The piece would be incomplete without talking about the book that made me rethink my career path, The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee. The book opened my eyes to all the innovation that was happening in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning field. As I was planning my career for the next decade, I decided to become more hands-on and made the switch in to Machine learning space. While being in management was great, going back to an individual contributor role in 2018 has been equally fun.

Here is a complete list of some amazing books I read in 2017 and if you are looking to pick the next book to read any book on this list will be a great start:

• A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety — Jimmy Carter
• Fault lines- : How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy
  — Raghuram Rajan
• Intelligent Investor — Benjamin Graham
• Legacy: Letters from Eminent Parents to Their Daughters — Sudha Menon
• Manage Your Day to Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus and Sharpen Your Creative Mind.
• Parenting School Age Twin and Multiples — Christina Baglivi Tinglof
• Radical Candor — Kim Scott
• String Theory: David Foster Wallace on Tennis
• The Little Book that Still Beats the Market — Joel Greenblatt