BOOK PEEK Quick look at a few books
January 3, 2013
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Book Peek
Contents of the issue dated January 3, 2013 Reviews
‘Disaster Science and Management’ by Tushar Bhattacharya - TMH ‘Winning at Innovation: The A-to-F Model’ by Fernando Trías de Bes and Philip Kotler - Pan Macmillan ‘Think Everest: Scaling mountains with the mind’ - 2e - Atul and Anita Karwal – Viva ‘Bureaucrazy Gets Crazier: IAS unmasked’ by M. K. Kaw - Konark ‘Body Language’ by Hedwig Lewis – 3e – Sage ‘What the CEO Really Wants from You: The 4 As for managerial success’ by R. Gopalakrishnan – Harper
New arrivals - From Sage Reader’s reads - Chandan Sharma, DholDhamaka.com Reading for a child - Raveen Sastry, hoopos.com Short snatches
‘Three Decades of HIV/AIDS in Asia’ Edited by Jai P. Narain – Sage ‘The Wave Rider: A chronicle of the Information Age’ by Ajit Balakrishnan – Macmillan ‘Centurion: The father, the son and the spirit of cricket’ by Pramesh Ratnakar – Harper ‘How to Live to 110: Your comprehensive guide to a healthy life’ by Brian Kirby and Tim Kirby - Magna ‘Confessions of a Microfinance Heretic: How microlending lost its way and betrayed the poor’ by Hugh Sinclair - Harper ‘Making News: A straight-shooting guide to media relations’ by David Henderson
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January 3, 2013
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Book Peek
Disaster recovery In a post-disaster scenario, the most essential non-food item is clothes, says Tushar Bhattacharya in ‘Disaster Science and Management’ (TMH). “However, experience shows that children’s clothing needs are not prioritised. This may be because of the logistic problems of procurement of different sizes of garments for different age groups,” he adds. One other point that the author highlights is the need for due importance to local culture and traditions when distributing clothes. “As an example, in a large part of the country, Hindu widows, under no circumstances, would wear coloured saris. Therefore, without the knowledge of the aid providers, a large section of the women may be ‘excluded’ from the benefits: this could be as high as 10 to 12% and they are the more vulnerable ones.” Also, in the north eastern parts of the country, the women in particular…
January 3, 2013
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Book Peek
Peak pursuit There are 14 to 15 different routes for climbing Everest or Chomulungma (as it is called in Tibet), each with its own set of strident difficulties, write Atul and Anita Karwal in ‘Think Everest: Scaling mountains with the mind’ (Viva). “Everest is a three-sided pyramid. The three edges or the ridges of the pyramid form the three main routes – the South-East Ridge Route, the North-East Ridge Route and the West Ridge Route.” The first route is from Nepal, the traditional one famous for the first successful ascent by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953, one learns. There are various agencies based at Kathmandu offering logistic solutions for mountaineering teams, in the form of equipment, supplies, clothing, porters, food, tents, and Sherpas, inform the Karwals. Among the Sherpas, there is a hierarchy, with the porters at the lowest level; the more skilful and experienced ones among them graduating to the level of ‘Climbing Sherpas’; the ‘Head Sherpa’ at the next level responsible for supervising a group of Sherpas and laying of routes; and a select few…
January 3, 2013
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Book Peek
Unspoken messages Your body language impacts your success in life, declares Hedwig Lewis in ‘Body Language’ (Sage). Reminding that, whatever be your profession, it inadvertently has to do, by and large, with social interactions and personal encounters, the author adds that the success of any encounter begins the moment someone lays eyes on you. “One of the first things they notice about you is your aura, that distinctive atmosphere that surrounds you. You create it, and you are responsible for what it says about you and whom it attracts.” For starters, ‘body language’ is the communication of personal feelings, emotions, attitudes, and thoughts through body movements – gestures, postures, and distance – either consciously or involuntarily, more often subconsciously, and accompanied or unaccompanied by the spoken language…
January 3, 2013
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Book Peek
New arrivals
‘State of India’s Livelihoods Report 2012’ – Ed: Vipin Sharma – Sage, Access ‘Microfinance India: The Social Performance Report 2012’ by Girija Srinivasan – Sage, Access ‘Microfinance India: State of the Sector Report 2012’ by Venugopalan Puhazhendhi – Sage, Access
Address for sending review copies of new books
January 3, 2013
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Book Peek
Reader’s Reads Chandan Sharma, Founder, DholDhamaka.com I recently read ‘Peak: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow’ by Chip Conley, the reference of which I got from one of the previous books I was reading. That’s how it always happened with me: one book always leads to another. This is a great book as I discovered, beyond the economics theory of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, about how the concept applies almost everywhere in our lives. Conley has very beautifully crafted the theory for his life, his organisation, his customers as well as for his investors. For me it was a great insight, as I got a tool which could be directly implemented in the business to understand my customers from a very different perspective. The book already seems to be doing pretty well in the business community for its simplicity of language and practicality. About DholDhamaka.com With a name that evokes the spirit of celebration, DholDhamaka.com is a colourful customer-centric company that provides party and celebration related solutions under one roof. The company established under the name DholDhamaka.com Retail Pvt. Ltd is headquartered at New Delhi. Representing many colours of our lives, the name DholDhamaka.com signifies the company’s belief in celebrating all occasions through various sound, lighting and colourful decorations. Foraying into the Indian ecommerce arena in the year 2010, the company has served around 1,500 cities across India. Well-entrenched in the web domain, DholDhamaka.com has no physical store and currently operates through its online portal www.DholDhamaka.com.
January 3, 2013
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Book Peek
Reading for a child Raveen Sastry, Co-founder and Chief Revenue Officer, hoopos.com The first book I would like to mention is ‘In the night garden - a lovely present’ by Andrew Davenport. Our daughter watches this serial on the TV and she knows the characters. Also, the book has big pictures and very little text which is easy for our 1.6year-old to understand. Apart from having big pictures there is also the learning part for the kid. It teaches numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and the aspect of sharing. Another book is ‘My first book of 123’ from Om Kidz. It’s a book for teaching numbers for small kids. If the book says 5 puppies, then she knows that there are 5 animals in the picture and the animals in the picture are dogs. She learns two things at the same time. About hoopos.com hoopos.com is an online store that caters to the needs of moms-to-be and kids aged 0-12 years. Headquartered in Bangalore, the company was founded in January 2011 by a four-member team of experts from retail and e-commerce backgrounds. The website went live in September, 2011. The company is funded by Helion Venture Partners, a highly reputed Venture Capital firm – a USD 600+ mn fund with over 40 investee companies and a huge focus on e-commerce. hoopos.com offers products across 13 different categories ranging from apparel, baby essentials to traditional toys and even furniture for kids.
January 3, 2013
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Book Peek
Short snatches
Published by: Shrinikethan, Chennai http://bit.ly/ShriMap Edited by: D. Murali http://bit.ly/dMurali http://bit.ly/TopTalk January 3, 2013 January 3, 2013
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Book Peek