Tag: 2020 Reads

Why we Sleep By Matthew Walkers. 

There have been times! When you have not just heard but have been told to sleep, Sleep and complete your eight hours of sleep! Without really knowing or understanding why should you sleep. Then a year’s later when you have grown up you find a book –Why we sleep? That answers your questions on the importance of sleep. This book interested me for two reasons one since I too like many don’t like to sleep much and unlike like many who sleep too much. 
The book highlights how changing your sleep cycle from just a couple of hours to a minimum of eight hours can make you healthier and keep all your levels ( Sugar, Blood, Weight) balanced and under control. 
I also remember visiting the Facebook office & The Google office a couple of years ago in California US and noticing sleeping Pods for the employees to Nap and be more creative. 
And can’t recall if the same as being implemented in India where most of the Indian’s are overworked and underpaid and if any of the organisation have sleeping Pods. 
While reading the book I also read another point where certain Ceos and owners abroad are giving incentives and bonus for people to sleep and not coming to office half asleep. the  
Even some of the Animals sleep a lot. 

*Lion & Tiger 15 Hrs a Day

*Brown Bat sleep 19 Hrs. Outperforming all Mammals 

And with this whole change with the pandemic, it has taught a lot of us to slow down and take it easy and we should focus on the importance of sleep. Just changing one thing we all as individuals can change our lifestyle. 

The Subtle Art of not giving a F***K & Think like a Monk – Book Review !!

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**K
A book, That I had heard a lot about. But, never did I find out what it was about. Maybe because it had become such a big sensation and had hit the best-selling charts. That I was slightly sceptical to read at that time, So this year… In The Bookclub we decided to read “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**K” And literally within two days, I was done reading this book. 
Let’s start with what I liked about this book. 
The tone is very conversational, with examples for explanations, so that it becomes very relatable, unlike other self-help books the language is easy to understand. 
The authors refer to his situations in his life, this makes the book trustworthy and gives the confidence to be the change. 
the chapters too are captioned with the doubts or questions we always come across or have come across that makes it a fun read. 
Yes! Happiness is a problem, We always do have a choice, Why we must say “No” and We are always wrong about everything.
This book is like you have always heard someone say those same things, but this time you are not listening, but you have understood his argument. 
CHAPTER 1: Don’t Try
CHAPTER 2: Happiness Is a Problem
CHAPTER 3: You Are Not Special
CHAPTER 4: The Value of Suffering 
CHAPTER 5: You Are Always Choosing 
CHAPTER 6: You’re Wrong About Everything (But So Am I) 
CHAPTER 7: Failure Is the Way Forward 
CHAPTER 8: The Importance of Saying No 
CHAPTER 9: . . . And Then You Die 

 

Think Like Monk – Jay Shetty.

You might think, If you have read a book on spirituality, Zen, Buddhism all are the same. Yes, Most of them are very similar to a great extent. But giving relevant examples that one can connect to the current generation, can install the belief and practice of enlightenment yet again.

Whether it was Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse to finding out the secret by Rhonda Byrne or To know about the Monk who sold his Ferrari by Robin Sharma to Learning The Art of not giving a F**K Mark Manson to Thinking like a Monk by Jay Shetty.

All have their way of telling you the same thing, But they use the relevant examples to keep the practice going- If Think as a monk spoke about Brain Acton’s rejection to not giving up and come up with WhatsApp to giving each of us simple practices to practices to live a life of detachment.

Jay Shetty’s this  book, one should read today if they want to connect and change their way of living.

The book is written in three parts – Let Go the first part, Grow second and Give the last part…With some practical applications.

What The Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell

 

 

What The Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell

Reading a Malcolm Gladwell after about two~three years and it was the title that interested me to read another one of Malcolm Gladwell. This is the 5th Book that I read from Malcolm and this one is as insightful as the previous ones But this has had more case studies that I could relate to personally after a long time and the writing style and the writing is similar to all his previous work – The Tipping Point, Blink, Outlier and David Goliath. Some of the case studies that I could relate to were the Heinz case studies & Prego case studies as these were both I had heard about a long time ago. Is Talent overrated and The Mind hunter we’re other case studies I could relate to. -As I had just watched Mindhunter on Netflix a couple of months ago so it was interesting to live so many stories again.

Garden of Eden by Ernest Hemingway

The Final novel by Ernest Hemingway, Which is believed to be an unfinished Work, for me a rather disappointing read.

The story is about Catherine involving herself & her husband David who is a writer in a strange, erotic triangle with another young woman – And we really never know why until a couple of chapters before the bookend.

This was one book – that was lying on my bookshelf for years and now that I was spending too much time at home and no books to read. I found another book that I was hoping to read “One Day” That day came last week and within a week, I was done reading the book. Maybe I picked the wrong “Hemingway Book” Maybe I had huge expectations. May Be I was just wanting to read a book and that’s why I chose “Garden of Eden”

The style of Hemingway Books are normally incomplete sentences, not too descriptive and just always giving us an outline, not many details of anything much – The setting, and the story takes too long to make you realise what is the actual story. Being my first, I still wanted to know if at all anything happens?

And yes they do, but it too late for that. Leaving the reader to think why did it take this long.

Maybe, Because I have read it today after so many years of it’s the publication and the Era that this story belongs, doesn’t really connect and hence maybe I haven’t enjoyed reading a book from one of the finest writers – Ernest Hemingway.