TEN YEARS FROM NOW - REVIEW OF ALEC ROSS'S "INDUSTRIES OF THE FUTURE"

In his book Industries of the Future: How the Next 10 Years of Innovation will Transform Our Lives at Work and Home (2016), innovation expert Alec Ross provides a future vision not just of the industries but of the entire digital age.

Ross takes a look at the industries which will dominate a decade from now - robotics, advanced life sciences, the "code-fication of money", cybersecurity and big data. He believes that all these data-driven industries will play a major role in the evolving Information Revolution.

SCIENCE AND BRAHMAN - REVIEW OF MANI BHAUMIK'S "CODE NAME GOD"

I am glad I read this book. Mani Bhaumik's Code Name God: The Spiritual Odyssey of a Man of Science (2005) has an astonishing central thesis: Modern day physics has aligned itself startlingly close to a position that is identified in the Vedas as Brahman - the One Source that created the universe and pervades all through it. Let me summarize his arguments.

THE FUTURE OF JOBS - REVIEW OF MARTIN FORD'S "THE RISE OF THE ROBOTS"

This is possibly the scariest non-fiction book I've ever read. Martin Ford's The Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of Mass Unemployment (2015) won the FT-McKinsey & Company Business Book of the Year 2015 Award (until 2013 called the FT-Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award). It talks of how businesses are automating jobs right, left and centre causing unemployment in the millions.

SURVIVING THE FUTURE - REVIEW OF ROBERT T KIYOSAKI'S "SECOND CHANCE"

In Second Chance: For Your Money, Your Life and Our World (2015), Robert T Kiyosaki of Rich Dad, Poor Dad (1997) fame takes a look at how the world has changed after the 2008 crisis.

Kiyosaki reiterates what he has consistently stated in all of his other books: the rich do not work for money, they work to build assets that yield cash flows that endure whether they continue to work or not. In Rich Dad, Poor Dad , Kiyosaki had made some controversial claims: "Your house is not an asset" and "Savers are losers". These claims got validated when the housing market collapsed in the US in the Great Recession and the Fed responded by slashing interest rates to zero.

THE OTHER FACE OF WINSTON CHURCHILL - REVIEW OF MADHUSHREE MUKERJEE'S "CHURCHILL'S SECRET WAR"

Winston Churchill is hailed as one of the greatest statesmen of the last century. A fiery and inspiring orator and a vehement hater of Nazism, he lead his country to victory in World War II. While Churchill's disdain for India and Indians is well known, it will come as a shock to many that he was largely responsible for the death of close to three million Indians in the 1940s. This unknown side of Churchill and his colleagues is brilliantly brought out in journalist Madhushree Mukerjee's Churchill's Secret War (2010).

MAN WITH A MISSION - REVIEW OF ASHLEE VANCE'S "ELON MUSK"

Meet Elon Musk. The man behind SpaceX, Tesla Motors and SolarCity. SpaceX is a company that makes rockets and sends them into space. Tesla is a company that makes electric cars. And SolarCity makes solar cells.

I was flabbergasted by Elon Musk's audacity as portrayed in Ashlee Vance's Elon Musk: How the Billionaire CEO of SpaceX and Tesla is Shaping Our Future (2015). Musk is a man on a mission. He wants to save humanity from self-destruction and extinction. He wants to reverse global warming. He wants to establish human colonies in Mars.

A HISTORY OF THE DIGITAL AGE - REVIEW OF WALTER ISAACSON'S "THE INNOVATORS"

Walter Isaacson has the rare knack of turning out instant classics. His Einstein: His Life and Universe (2007) was a superlative study of one of the world's renowned scientists while his Steve Jobs (2011) was a memorable portrayal of one of the greatest entrepreneurs of all time. In The Innovators:How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution (2014), Isaacson moves from studying single personalities to a team of pioneers who were instrumental in ushering in the information age.

CENTRAL BANKING THROUGH THE AGES - REVIEW OF NEIL IRWIN'S "THE ALCHEMISTS"

Neil Irwin's The Alchemists: Inside the Secret World of Central Bankers (2013) is a history of central banking mainly in the West. There are many positives to this book: Irwin has done a lot of painstaking research to get his facts right and yet the book does not read like an academic tome. Indeed it is a very engrossing and fast-paced narrative and Irwin has the ability to capture the reader's attention (despite his obvious sympathies towards central bankers).

TAMING THE DATA TSUNAMI - REVIEW OF MAYER-SCHONBERGER AND CUKIER'S "BIG DATA"

The past couple of decades have witnessed a "data deluge" in various fields - from astronomy to genetics to healthcare. Taming this deluge and finding useful patterns is the objective of the new field of big data analytics. Viktor Mayer-Schonberger and Kenneth Cukier's Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work and Think (2013) focuses on various aspects of big data: its current status, its future growth, its implications to society, its risks and so on.

A REASON TO HOPE - REVIEW OF CHARLES DUHIGG'S "THE POWER OF HABIT"

I can't stand Malcolm Gladwell's books. I have tried reading The Tipping Point (2000), Outliers (2008) and Blink (2005) but couldn't finish the books. No doubt they talk about important topics (the "tipping point" analogy crops up in a number of places) but somehow they don't gel with me. Probably because they refer a lot to sociology literature and I am not familiar with that area.

POULTICE FOR THE SOUL - REVIEW OF STEPHEN R COVEY'S "EVERYDAY GREATNESS"

For some time I debated with myself whether to post a review of this book. I wanted to be known as a purposeful blogger featuring reviews of books on economics, finance, technology, history and wondered how a self-help book would fit in. But then I thought: isn't it good to open the windows and smell the flowers in the garden for a change and share with friends and colleagues?

IS IT A CHINESE FUTURE? - REVIEW OF ARVIND SUBRAMANIAN'S "ECLIPSE"

As you are probably aware, Arvind Subramanian is the current Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India. He is author of Eclipse: Living in the Shadow of China's Economic Dominance (2011) which foreshadows the rise of China to superpower status in this century.

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO WARP - REVIEW OF KIP THORNE'S "THE SCIENCE OF INTERSTELLAR"

The first thing I have to say is that you must first watch the movie Interstellar (2014) before reading this book. The second thing is that I am astounded at the pains that present-day Hollywood directors like Christopher Nolan take to get the science right!

WORLD WAR III - REVIEW OF MARK LEONARD'S "CONNECTIVITY WARS"

Connectivity Wars: Why Migration, Finance and Trade are the Geo-Economic Battlegrounds of the Future (2016), a book edited by Mark Leonard, is published by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) and the book can be downloaded for free here.

ADVICE ON MONEY - REVIEW OF ROBERT T KIYOSAKI'S "INCREASE YOUR FINANCIAL IQ"

I read my first Robert Kiyosaki book Rich Dad, Poor Dad (1997) about five years ago. Since then I have been hooked on Kiyosaki's writings and I have read several of his books more than once.

It was only by reading Kiyosaki did I fully appreciate the importance of money and a financial education. During my PhD years I was much influenced by one of my professors who said: "Some people know how money works; some people know how ideas work." I aspired to be an ivory tower thinker with not much involvement with mundane things like money.

THE PREVALENCE OF FORCE - REVIEW OF DAVID GRAEBER'S "DEBT"

In his book Debt: The First 5000 Years (2011), David Graeber proves to be an original and provocative thinker. Graeber is a professor of anthropology and described as an anarchist (I suppose he is an economist of the Left while Murray Rothbard, the Austrian economist would be an anarchist of the Right). Graber was one of the organizers of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

THE INDIAN AUSTRIAN - REVIEW OF SAURABH THIRANI'S "SPOT THE NEXT ECONOMIC BUBBLE"

With the ongoing economic crash in China and the US Fed increasing interest rates, there is a lot of volatility and anxiety the world over. Several economists and investors were bullish about China over the last few years. I felt that it was a good time to re-read Saurabh Thirani's Spot the Next Economic Bubble (2012) which was quite prescient about China.