Monthly Archives: August 2005

12 Simple Secrets of Microsoft Management by David Thielen

August 26, 2005

As the name suggests the book talks about how Microsoft is different from other run of the mill companies. 12 things being: 1. Even without having a written Mission statement, everyone has the same understanding of what the company is trying to achieve, which in this case being ‘ Total World Domination’ 2. Hire the best, in this case only the top 5% to be hired. Now how can everyone hire the top 5% is not understandable and what would [...]

Labels: David Thielen McGraw-Hill English Management Book Reviews

Pankaj Mishra’s ‘Butter Chicken in Ludhiana’

August 14, 2005

The tag line of the book says ‘Travels in Small Town India’. The author is a paid travel writer who starts his journet from Mandi in Himachal Pradesh, goes to Ambala in Haryana, travels to Udaipur and Bundi in Rajasthan, then comes back to Hapur in Western UP before he begins his journey to south India. In south he lands up in Bangalore, then goes to Trichur, Kottayam and Shimoga before he travels from Shimoga to Benaras via Madras, and [...]

Labels: Pankaj Mishra Penguin English Travel Book Reviews

Jamming by John Kao

August 14, 2005

The tag line of the book says ‘The art and discipline of business creativity’. The author takes the metaphor of Jamming sessions to explain how the creativity in organizations should be promoted. It basically says, just like Jamming sessions, the basics are in place but various players do some improvisation here and there to create something new, the same way the business creativity needs to be incremental in nature and needs to happen at every step in every department, and [...]

Labels: John Kao Profile Books English Management Book Reviews

Five Point Someone by Chetan Bhagat

August 8, 2005

For a long time this book was never on my ‘to be read’ list, but last week at Crossword, don’t know why I picked it up and started reading. Was very skeptical, when I started reading this, and carried the same impression through the first few pages, but as I read it further, I found it interesting. Though the author has written it from the point of view of under performers at IIT, there are other facets of student life [...]

Labels: Chetan Bhagat Rupa English Fiction Book Reviews