“The spine of the FBI is the rule of law. The spine of the FBI is a commitment to doing the right thing, in the right way, while protecting civil liberties.” - James Comey There is an aura attached to both the functions of gathering intelligence and the intrepid persons involved in gathering it. … Continue reading The Threat: How the F.B.I. Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump – Andrew G. McCabe
Month: April 2019
Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do by Michael J. Sandel
You know (or at least you strongly suspect), that your sibling is a notorious murderer on the run, and consequently the focus of a massive man hunt by the cops. You also happen to know the whereabouts of the elusive fugitive and you harbor this eerie suspicion that his victim count has definitely not ended. … Continue reading Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do by Michael J. Sandel
I Can’t Breathe: A Killing on Bay Street by Matt Taibbi
Matt Taibbi has penned an essential, excoriating and evocative work that can be considered to be a pioneering effort in the realm of Social Sciences. On the 17th of July 2014, forty four year old Eric Garner was put in a choke-hold (a maneuver deemed to be illegal by the Police Department decades ago), by … Continue reading I Can’t Breathe: A Killing on Bay Street by Matt Taibbi
How Asia Works: Success and Failure in the World’s Most Dynamic Region by Joe Studwell
“How Asia Works…” (“The book”) comes highly recommended, garnering rave reviews from the likes of Bill Gates etc. The book more than merely lives up to the hype generated. Joe Studwell is more of a surgeon than an economist/journalist as he diagnoses the stumbling blocks, flexes out stimulants and prescribes suggestions that constitute the preserve … Continue reading How Asia Works: Success and Failure in the World’s Most Dynamic Region by Joe Studwell
GURKHA: Better to Die than Live a Coward: My Life in the Gurkhas – Kailash Limbu, Alexander Norman
"If a man says he is not afraid of dying, he is either lying or is a Gurkha" - Sam Manekshaw The feeling that stems from a reading of Colour Sergeant Kailash Limbu can at best be described as ambivalent. If you are looking for an extended and elaborate history of the stellar origins … Continue reading GURKHA: Better to Die than Live a Coward: My Life in the Gurkhas – Kailash Limbu, Alexander Norman
Fully Connected – Julia Hobsbawm
A finalist for the 2018 Business Book Awards, “Fully Connected” (“the book”) by the Honorary Visiting Professor at Cass Business School and at the University of Suffolk, Ms. Julia Hobsbawm, “Fully Connected” lends a desperately needed perspective to a world immersed, enmeshed and entangled in a plethora of networks. As Ms. Hobsbawm painstakingly, albeit eruditely … Continue reading Fully Connected – Julia Hobsbawm
Endurance: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Emil Zátopek by Rick Broadbent
Grit, Gumption and Greatness. These were the three infallible attributes of the man voted by the Runners World Magazine as the Greatest Runner of All Time. Setting a slew of world records (18 in total), achieving the incredible treble victories (5000 metres; 10,000 metres and the Marathon) at the Helsinki Olympics in 1952, and leaving … Continue reading Endurance: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Emil Zátopek by Rick Broadbent
Dunkirk: Fight To The Last Man by Hugh Sebag-Montefiore
Hugh Sebag-Montefiore in this stirring and meticulously researched account, narrates the gallantry, grit and gumption of the British Expeditionary Forces (“BEF”) in their fierce albeit futile defense of France from rampaging German forces, before a miraculous evacuation back to British shores via Dunkirk. What makes this 75th Anniversary Edition an absolutely must have is … Continue reading Dunkirk: Fight To The Last Man by Hugh Sebag-Montefiore
Crossing The Line: How Australian Cricket Lost Its Way – Gideon Haigh
On the 24th of March 2018, at Cape Town’s Newlands Stadium, the Australian cricketers were being run ragged by the hosts. Clueless against the resoluteness of Aiden Markram and the nonchalance of A B De Villiers, shoulders began to sag and heads to bend. The series was already on a knife edge, and not just … Continue reading Crossing The Line: How Australian Cricket Lost Its Way – Gideon Haigh
Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo
A scintillating piece of narrative non-fiction by the Pulitzer Prize winning Katherine Boo, “Behind the Beautiful Forevers”, has at its bedrock the squalor, sentiments and sanguine atmosphere surrounding the sprawling Annawadi slum in the glitzy Metropolis of Mumbai, the financial nerve centre of India. Squatting behind the glamorous 5 star hotels and the renovated International … Continue reading Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo