Books

From Rabindranath Tagore's engagement with nature at Santiniketan to JC Kumarappa's rural renewal, and from Patrick Geddes' neotechnic cities to Union Minister KM Munshi's Vana Mahotsava—Ramachandra Guha gives brief biographies of 10 people who thought about different aspects of human-nature interactions in India.

Book Extract: Our Next Reality

In Our Next Reality, two industry veterans provide a data-driven debate on whether the new world we're creating will be a technological utopia or an AI-powered dystopia and give guidance on how to aim for the best future we can.

Book Extract — Golwalkar: The Myth Behind the Man, the Man Behind the Machine

Golwalkar’s ideological influence was enormous—and it did not end with his death.

Book Extract: Shah Rukh Khan - Legend, Icon, Star

Shah Rukh Khan: Legend, Icon, Star includes first hand fan accounts and Mohar Basu's insights and commentary on the phenomena that is SRK.

Book Extract — Ratan Tata: A Life

Ratan Tata: A Life is a traditional biography, that does the childhood to adulthood trajectory in detail, tracking Ratan Tata’s years as immaculately as is feasible.

Book Extract: Ahimsa

2024 is being commemorated as the centenary of the discovery of Harappa/Indus Valley Civilization. To coincide with this landmark moment in India’s history, Devdutt Pattnaik chose to highlight a few aspects of the civilization accompanied by some of his illustrations.

Supreme Court’s epoch making 1990s judgements set the tone for a changing polity

The decade witnessed landmark judgements which had a far-reaching impact on separation of powers, federalism and protection of women from sexual harassment. A common thread running through them was the imprint of AM Ahmadi, India’s CJI in the mid-90s

Book Extract: Pathfinders

JL Collins' third book, Pathfinders, reads like the essays published often in Readers Digest. Easy to read, accessible, communicated complicated ideas and situations simplistically, and most importantly, made readers think about financial literacy.

Tilak saw Hinduism as a force to counter British argument that Indians were no good: Vaibhav Purandare

Author Vaibhav Purandare talks about his latest book, Tilak: The Empire's Biggest Enemy, and explains why Bal Gangadhar Tilak was seen as a big threat to the British rule

How a WhatsApp message inspired William Dalrymple to write 'The Golden Road'

William Dalrymple on ancient India's empire of ideas, and why his latest book 'The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World' could not have been written a decade ago.

Book Extract: Economics Nobel winners Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson's 'Power and Progress'

Read the entire prologue to the incredibly fascinating book, 'Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity', penned by 2024 Economics Nobel laureates Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson.

Deals: The Economic Structure of Business Transactions

Deals includes many of the case studies that the two authors engaged with over the past two decades.

Fraudster Tales: History’s Greatest Criminals and Their Catastrophic Crimes 

Fraudsters Tales is a wonderful collection of profiles, told magnificently by Vijay Narayan Govind. He achieves the incredible balance between telling a gripping story whilst packing it with financial details of the crimes committed.

Mangifera Indica: A Biography of the Mango

Mangifera Indica is Sopan Joshi's first nonfiction book in English. It is an absolutely fascinating account of the king of fruits intertwined with a bit of a memoir.

The Trolls of Wall Street: How the outcasts and insurgents are hacking the markets

The Trolls of Wall Street. How the Outcasts and Insurgents Are Hacking the Markets is a fascinating account into the events and the people that led to the events of 27 January 2021, when due to the GameStop short squeeze, some US firms and short sellers suffered losses.

Book Review: India’s mittelstand is robust and raring to go, notes 'Beyond Three Generations'

While family businesses constitute about 75% of the Indian economy a whopping 90% of them are MSMEs. The new book 'Beyond Three Generations: The Definitive Guide to Building Enduring Indian Family Businesses' profiles a dozen such enterprises, their business dimensions and what such firms should not do.

Sakina’s Kiss author Vivek Shanbhag: ‘The element of surprise is beyond Artificial Intelligence’

Kannada author Vivek Shanbhag, of Ghachar Ghochar fame, on what interests him in a story, continued collaboration with Srinath Perur and the future of writing in the age of AI.

‘One should mistrust what appears self-evident’: Mineke Schipper, author of ‘Hills of Paradise’

In an exclusive interview, Dutch author Mineke Schipper, who was in India for her talk at Delhi's India Habitat Centre’s festival of languages and literature, Samanvay 2023, spoke about her latest book which yet again establishes the relationship between proverbs, the female body and powerlessness.

Book review: 'The Man Who Made History' is a feel-good biography of Olympics champion Neeraj Chopra

Veteran sports journalist Norris Pritam's book's release is well-timed as Chopra prepares to train ahead of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, where he will have to defend his title. The book is, however, not the first such account of his family and friends and there is a glaring omission.

Book review: 'Being Hindu in Bangladesh' is brilliantly researched story of the untold plight of a people of minority religion

1971 has not ended. Can discussions on Hilsa and Jamdani take a break? Can India get real and solve this humongous crisis of the Hindus of Bangladesh? Authors Deep Halder and Avishek Biswas walk the unchartered territory with 'Being Hindu in Bangladesh: The Untold Story'.

Book review: Kashmir Hill’s 'Your Face Belongs to Us' is an exploration of privacy in the age of advanced facial recognition technology

While Hill does address many aspects of facial recognition and how Clearview AI is still planning to go ahead with its business plans, there are few instances of what can be done about it.

Book review: In 'Kill the Lawyers', slick, sly and sleep-deprived lawyers win the day

Shishir Vayttaden conjures the world of Big Law in this caustically witty book, telling stories of Bombay Boardroom and their victories big and small

Book review | Dr Rajeev Kurapati’s 'The Book of Body Positivity' is informative and uplifting

'The Book of Body Positivity: How We Got It All Wrong and What We Can Do about It' uses an empowering tone, assuring readers that obesity should not be reduced to a personal failure. It is caused by multiple factors.

‘Dom women are not expected to be enterprising or entrepreneurial’: Radhika Iyengar on writing ‘Fire on the Ganges’

In her non-fiction book on Varanasi's corpse-burner Dom community, 'Fire on the Ganges: Life Among the Dead in Banaras', debutante author-journalist Radhika Iyengar demonstrates how caste-heteropatriarchy controls who gets to have a choice in the life they lead.

‘Courting India’ | British Academy Book Prize-winning author Nandini Das ‘wanted to give marginalised voices their due attention’

Courting India is an intriguing non-fiction account of the English entry into the subcontinent, taking cues from the first English ambassador in India, Thomas Roe.

Durjoy Datta: ‘I write between screaming, dirty diapers and paint being thrown across the room’

The bestselling author and screenwriter analyses his success, joys of fatherhood, his writing process and how he deals with self-doubt.

7 writers of ghost stories in India to read to ring in Halloween 2023

On Halloween, here’s a look at some of the best writers of ghost stories from India.

Short stories of diaspora dilemma: Nishanth Injam’s The Best Possible Experience is a collection of extracts on the emotional price of relocation

According to government data, an average of 618 Indians renounces their citizenship every day. Injam’s stories are a moving reminder that their choice has difficult personal consequences. Given the statistics, immigrant literature will grow. This well-crafted collection stands out in its candidness and maturity.

Book review | Mad Sisters of Esi: Tashan Mehta’s fantasy novel on the world of whales is wryly funny

In terms of methodology, Mehta’s second novel has much in common with the works of Jorge Luis Borges and Italo Calvino, while its fragmentary nature and adroit usage of scientific language recalls science fiction masters Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke.

How the love for murder mysteries created the Indian historical crime novel

In these holidays, take your own trip into India's past with these charming historic whodunits.

Yoga Institute director Hansaji Yogendra on Hindi translation of her book & tips on healthy living

Life has thrown many challenges at the Yoga Institute director and popular YouTuber, including the loss of a son. But the 76-year-old, who recently launched the Hindi version of her book, takes everything in her stride.

Navina Najat Haidar: ‘Gandhian architect Laurie Baker adapted the jali to modern buildings, keeping in mind the issues of climate, environment and sustainability’

Art historian Navina Najat Haidar, the Nasser Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah curator in charge of Islamic Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, talks about her new book 'Jali: Lattice of Divine Light in Mughal Architecture'.

Manoranjan Byapari: ‘I never set out to become a Dalit writer, it’s a label stamped on my work’

His life journey is no less than a movie in itself, marked by suffering and grit, his lifelong fight against caste and for the marginalised, and his rise to a life of literature. The three-time JCB prize-listed author on how one’s weakness can become their biggest strength.

World Tourism Day 2023: 10 travel books that will take you around the world

On World Tourism Day, September 27, here are classics, comic travelogues, guide books and more that will transport you to every corner of the globe. No plane ticket required.

Book review | 2023 Booker Prize-Longlisted Martin MacInnes’ In Ascension’s singular achievement is inexhaustibility

MacInnes doesn’t endorse the term ‘climate-change novel’ as his book is increasingly getting referred to as. The novel is difficult to categorise into any genre for multiple reasons.

Book review | 2023 Booker Prize-Longlisted The Bee Sting by Paul Murray is a spellbinding tale of an Irish family in free fall

Set in an Irish town, 'The Bee Sting' is about a family of four, and a saga of decisions that turn out badly.

How can India achieve 8% growth? Motilal Oswal Financial Services' Nikhil Gupta's new book has answers

In 'The Eight Per Cent Solution: A Strategy for India’s Growth', Gupta addresses the lack of attention towards finances of the household sector and the unlisted corporate sector. One of the surest ways to incentivise companies to align with national objectives is to link the latter with higher profits, he says.

2023 JCB Prize for Literature longlist: Past favourites, internationally acclaimed authors, and debutants

The longlist for the sixth edition of the Prize features four translations, three debut novels and marks the return of authors Manoranjan Byapari and Perumal Murugan, whose works have been previously longlisted twice for the Prize, and of previously longlisted author Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar as a translator.

Book review | Barbara Kingsolver's 'Demon Copperfield' is a coming-of-age story of an orphan boy named Daemon

Kingsolver's Dickensian story captures the slice of life in the southern Appalachian Mountains of Virginia through her child narrator who grows up amid poverty, addiction, and, sometimes, people's kindness.

How to choose a novel in a bookshop

Books offer clues to their contents before you read their first lines. Deciphering them can help you decide whether they’re worth picking up.

Author Lindsay Pereira: ‘We continue to pay the price for what happened at the Babri Masjid’

After his critically-acclaimed debut novel 'Gods and Ends', the journalist’s second book 'The Memoirs of Valmiki Rao' retells the story of Ramayana, set against a riot-torn Mumbai.

Book review: Facts after facts, Valmiki Faleiro's new book aims at a complete story of Goa's liberation

India is turning 76 on August 15. Goa, however, was freed later. In his new book 'Goa 1961: The Complete Story of Nationalism and Integration' author Valmiki Faleiro goes back 62 years to retrace the events that led to Goa’s Liberation on December 19, 1961.

Book review | Ann Patchett’s ‘Tom Lake’ is as warm as the winter sun

Patchett’s long-standing style swings between the poles of inimitability and intimacy. She makes sure that her readers turn each page with the feeling of having earned something.

Friendship Day 2023: 9 books about friendship by Indian authors

You won't be able to put down these books that celebrate the bond of friendship. Share them with your bestie.

Book review | 'Faf Through Fire': The fascinating autobiography of former South African captain

Faf Du Plessis' autobiography isn’t just a chronicling of his journey as a cricketer, but is a brutally honest and revealing tale of his insecurities.

Book review | In ‘Smoke and Ashes’, Amitav Ghosh connects the dots between opium, China and the world today

Author Amitav Ghosh’s new book, based on the rigorous research that informed his Ibis Trilogy, is a genre-bending cautionary tale about bullish globalisation.

Book review | Tom Hanks’ debut novel is middling at best

In ‘The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece’, Hanks gives even minor characters grand introductions and wraps the proceedings with footnotes.

International Yoga Day 2023: Venture capitalist Rizwan Virk retells yogi Paramahansa Yogananda’s Autobiography

Like Steve Jobs and George Harrison did, Rizwan Virk keeps revisiting Paramahansa Yogananda 'Autobiography'. Virk, whose new book 'Wisdom of a Yogi' is a retelling of 'Autobiography', believes that worldly duties can be part of one's Zen path to clarity.

Pride Month | Ruth Vanita: ‘It is a gift to be born in India, I’d like to be reborn in India’

The writer of same-sex love much before it became the talk of the town, Ruth Vanita speaks about her works and highlights the importance of the right for queer people to get married.