Reviews and Comments

Santhosh Guru

santhoshguru@bookwyrm.social

Joined 8 months, 1 week ago

Co-founder of my son

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Robert Iger: The Ride of a Lifetime : Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company (2019, Random House)

Review of 'The Ride of a Lifetime : Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company' on 'Goodreads'

It’s good fun.

Lots of curated stories of a business leader who had a long and exciting career. Yes, I ignored all the advice and lessons. I was more interested in how an outsider of Hollywood managed the biggest media company of the world, made so much of big acquisitions and changed the perception. I got enough bang for my buck.

Review of 'Summary of BREATH by James Nestor' on 'Goodreads'

One of the best nonfiction books I’ve read this year.

The writer is a fantastic storyteller. He weaves the complex area of evolution, biology and anthropology into a personal memoir. In this, he achieves a tremendous feat of telling us about a simple thing that we all think we know, breathing.

Pulmonauts - I learnt about group folks interested in breathing techniques and ideas which are not validated by the broader scientific community, but it is quite useful. Their methods are either written in ancients texts like Vedas and also practised in a niche manner by scientists and doctors.

Few key takeaways:
-Breathing is one of the lowest hanging fruits in terms of health improvement.
-Mouth-breathing and over-breathing is terrible.
-More oxygen is good for health is a myth
-There is some benefit of having carbon dioxide inside our body.
-Techniques like holotropic breathing, WimHof method, Tummo breathing are areas …

Brené Brown: Daring Greatly (2012, Gotham Books)

Every day we experience the uncertainty, risks, and emotional exposure that define what it means …

Review of 'Daring Greatly' on 'Goodreads'

This is a beautiful book that shines a light on the deepest blindspot in me. I recently struggled to grapple with the alien concept of self-love and self-compassion. It's quite a new idea for me. When someone talks about leading with vulnerability, it always gave a 404 error in me.

Brene Brown is a leading researcher on shame and vulnerability, and this book is an eye-opener for me into a new world. The concept of shame and the critical voice in my head was like water for a fish, which, as David Foster Wallace says, was invisible to me. Brene brings the rigor of qualitative and quantitative approaches to this problem. She writes about this voice, the damages done, and tools to manage it.

In my current quest for better mental health, this book has equipped me with some essential tools and vocabulary to think and work on. Highly, highly …

Lori Gottlieb: Maybe you should talk to someone : a therapist, her therapist, and our lives revealed (2019, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Review of 'Maybe you should talk to someone : a therapist, her therapist, and our lives revealed' on 'Goodreads'

A therapist, whom I follow on Twitter, recommended this book. This book was recommended as part of the quarantine reads.

I am a newbie in the world of therapy and counseling. I never considered it in the veins of the gym or workout for physical health. The quarantine was a big awakening to keep my mental health sound and fit. Work seems to chase forever shrouded with a lot of gloom and uncertainty. I had my share of frustration and anxiety.

This book is a part-memoir giving a peek behind the scenes at therapy. Some stories were poignant, shocking, and exhilarating.

If you, like me, are getting started into the mental health space, this book is a good entry point.

Austin Kleon: Steal like an artist (2012, Workman Pub., Co.)

When asked to talk to students at Broome Community College in upstate New York in …

Review of 'Steal like an artist' on 'Goodreads'

Short but a beautiful book. I love Austin Kleon’s prolific newsletter and his style of works. This is a good read for anyone who wants to build and ship thing. Not only artists, this book is for software developers or marketers or people running business. This is a well produced book that you can pick up anytime to equalise a dull-boring-stuck-in-the-rut situation into a refreshing moment.

Jarrett Krosoczka: Hey, kiddo (GraphicNovel, 2018)

"In kindergarten, Jarrett Krosoczka's teacher asks him to draw his family, with a mommy and …

Review of 'Hey, kiddo' on 'Goodreads'

Fantastically produced audiobook. Kudos for converting a graphic novel into an engaging audiobook.

A moving and poignant story of kid, whose mother suffers from substance addiction. Without any self pity or getting sappy, the book shows how he overcame the odds.

Review of 'Evil Eye' on 'Goodreads'

Wow. This is a fantastic audiobook and it is done so, so well. A short, thrilling but extremely captivating story of a Telugu family in the US (worry not, the book is in English). This book is a series of phone calls to tell a story with so many twist and turns. Highly recommend it.

(I am so thrilled at these audiobook and production quality. This gives a peek into the future of the audio content. We are not going to just get a person reassign a book or talking to an expert over the audio. It’s going to more vibrant and exciting.)

Matt Ridley, Matt Ridley: The evolution of everything (2015)

"The New York Times bestselling author of The Rational Optimist and Genome returns with a …

Review of 'The evolution of everything' on 'Goodreads'

Everything around us has evolved from a bottom-up manner. But we tell stories that it came in a top-down, one-man-redefined-the-field way. We fail to appreciate randomness, environment and various other factors that led to a change. Matt Ridley call this as an argument of creationists, whereas the world has really evolved. The entire book is a convincing argument on various facets of our life and how it has evolved.

I now really appreciate the concepts of emergence and complexity much better thru this fantastic, well researched and lucidly written book.

It’s an excellent book that deserves five stars. But it is deliciously repetitive. To get the best out of it, I recommend you to read one chapter with enough breaks. You will love it.