LETTERS ABOUT MATH - REVIEW OF STEVEN STROGATZ'S "THE CALCULUS OF FRIENDSHIP"

Steven Strogatz is the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor of Applied Mathematics at Cornell University, USA and a well known popularizer of mathematics (along the lines of another great mathematics teacher Ian Stewart). I loved Strogatz's book Sync (2003) which dealt with the topic of synchronization of complex systems in a very readable manner. His research focuses on chaos and complexity and he is famous for coauthoring a 1998 Nature paper on "small-world" networks.

In his book The Calculus of Friendship: What a Teacher and a Student Learned about Life While Corresponding about Math (2009), Strogatz explores the thirty year correspondence he maintained with his high school math teacher Don Joffray.

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.

LIFE OF A GENIUS - REVIEW OF WALTER ISAACSON'S "EINSTEIN"

I would not hesitate to say that Walter Isaacson's Einstein: His Life and Universe (2007) is a stunning tour de force, even better than his recently published and much acclaimed biography of Steve Jobs.

Isaacson shows much affection and care towards his subject and has taken into consideration the new Einstein papers that became available in 2006.

THE MONK AND THE MAN – REVIEW OF CHATURVEDI BADRINATH’S “SWAMI VIVEKANANDA”

Chaturvedi Badrinath has written a welcome account of one of the greatest sons of India. In his Swami Vivekananda: The Living Vedanta (2006), Chaturvedi Badrinath writes with feeling and devotion about the Swami who popularized the Vedanta in the West.

OF MAGIC AND MYSTICISM – REVIEW OF FERNANDO MORAIS’ “PAULO COELHO”

Fernando Morais, an acclaimed biographer from Brazil, has written the “authorized biography” of his fellow Brazilian entitled Paulo Coelho: A Warrior’s Life (2009). Firstly I don’t see why he calls Coelho a warrior. Coelho, for the most part, seems to be tumbling through life rather than navigating through it.

BUILT DIFFERENT: REVIEW OF KAREN BLUMENTHAL’S “STEVE JOBS”

Let me first disambiguate. This is not a review of the classic biography by Walter Isaacson. Karen Blumenthal’s Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different (2012) is a less heavier book written more for the man in a hurry who cannot be compelled to peruse Isaacson’s 500-plus-page tome.