January 3, 2013 1 Book Peek

Quick look at a few books

BOOK PEEK

January 3, 2013 2 Book Peek

Contents of the issue dated January 3, 2013

Reviews

‘Disaster Science and Management’ by Tushar Bhattacharya - TMH

‘Winning at Innovation: The A-to-F Model’ by Fernando Trías de Bes

and Philip Kotler - Pan Macmillan

‘Think Everest: Scaling mountains with the mind’ - 2e - Atul and

Anita Karwal – Viva

‘Bureaucrazy Gets Crazier: IAS unmasked’ by M. K. Kaw - Konark

‘Body Language’ by Hedwig Lewis – 3e – Sage

‘What the CEO Really Wants from You: The 4 As for managerial

success’ by R. Gopalakrishnan – Harper

New arrivals - From Sage

Reader’s reads - Chandan Sharma, DholDhamaka.com

Reading for a child - Raveen Sastry, hoopos.com

Short snatches

‘Three Decades of HIV/AIDS in Asia’ Edited by Jai P. Narain – Sage

‘The Wave Rider: A chronicle of the Information Age’ by Ajit

Balakrishnan – Macmillan

‘Centurion: The father, the son and the spirit of cricket’ by Pramesh

Ratnakar – Harper

‘How to Live to 110: Your comprehensive guide to a healthy life’ by

Brian Kirby and Tim Kirby - Magna

‘Confessions of a Microfinance Heretic: How microlending lost its way

and betrayed the poor’ by Hugh Sinclair - Harper

‘Making News: A straight-shooting guide to media relations’ by David

Henderson

(Subscriptions: http://bit.ly/ShriMagz)

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January 3, 2013 3 Book Peek

Disaster recovery

In a post-disaster scenario, the most essential

non-food item is clothes, says Tushar

Bhattacharya in ‘Disaster Science and

Management’ (TMH). “However, experience shows

that children’s clothing needs are not prioritised.

This may be because of the logistic problems of

procurement of different sizes of garments for

different age groups,” he adds. One other point

that the author highlights is the need for due

importance to local culture and traditions when

distributing clothes. “As an example, in a large

part of the country, Hindu widows, under no

circumstances, would wear coloured saris.

Therefore, without the knowledge of the aid providers, a large section of the

women may be ‘excluded’ from the benefits: this could be as high as 10 to

12% and they are the more vulnerable ones.” Also, in the north eastern

parts of the country, the women in particular…

January 3, 2013 4 Book Peek

Peak pursuit

There are 14 to 15 different routes for climbing

Everest or Chomulungma (as it is called in Tibet),

each with its own set of strident difficulties, write

Atul and Anita Karwal in ‘Think Everest: Scaling

mountains with the mind’ (Viva).

“Everest is a three-sided pyramid. The three edges or

the ridges of the pyramid form the three main routes

– the South-East Ridge Route, the North-East Ridge

Route and the West Ridge Route.” The first route is

from Nepal, the traditional one famous for the first

successful ascent by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing

Norgay in 1953, one learns.

There are various agencies based at Kathmandu offering logistic solutions

for mountaineering teams, in the form of equipment, supplies, clothing,

porters, food, tents, and Sherpas, inform the Karwals.

Among the Sherpas, there is a hierarchy, with the porters at the lowest

level; the more skilful and experienced ones among them graduating to the

level of ‘Climbing Sherpas’; the ‘Head Sherpa’ at the next level responsible

for supervising a group of Sherpas and laying of routes; and a select few…

January 3, 2013 5 Book Peek

Unspoken messages

Your body language impacts your success in life,

declares Hedwig Lewis in ‘Body Language’ (Sage).

Reminding that, whatever be your profession, it

inadvertently has to do, by and large, with social

interactions and personal encounters, the author

adds that the success of any encounter begins

the moment someone lays eyes on you.

“One of the first things they notice about you is

your aura, that distinctive atmosphere that

surrounds you. You create it, and you are

responsible for what it says about you and whom

it attracts.” For starters, ‘body language’ is the

communication of personal feelings, emotions, attitudes, and thoughts

through body movements – gestures, postures, and distance – either

consciously or involuntarily, more often subconsciously, and accompanied

or unaccompanied by the spoken language…

January 3, 2013 6 Book Peek

‘State of India’s Livelihoods Report 2012’ – Ed: Vipin Sharma – Sage, Access

‘Microfinance India: The Social Performance Report 2012’ by Girija Srinivasan

– Sage, Access

‘Microfinance India: State of the Sector Report 2012’ by Venugopalan

Puhazhendhi – Sage, Access

Address for sending review copies of new books

New arrivals

January 3, 2013 7 Book Peek

Chandan Sharma, Founder, DholDhamaka.com

I recently read ‘Peak: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo

from Maslow’ by Chip Conley, the reference of which I got

from one of the previous books I was reading. That’s how it

always happened with me: one book always leads to another.

This is a great book as I discovered, beyond the economics

theory of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, about how the

concept applies almost everywhere in our lives. Conley has

very beautifully crafted the theory for his life, his organisation, his

customers as well as for his investors. For me it was a great insight, as I got

a tool which could be directly implemented in the business to understand

my customers from a very different perspective. The book already seems to

be doing pretty well in the business community for its simplicity of language

and practicality.

About DholDhamaka.com

With a name that evokes the spirit of celebration, DholDhamaka.com is a

colourful customer-centric company that provides party and celebration

related solutions under one roof. The company established under the name

DholDhamaka.com Retail Pvt. Ltd is headquartered at New Delhi.

Representing many colours of our lives, the name DholDhamaka.com

signifies the company’s belief in celebrating all occasions through various

sound, lighting and colourful decorations. Foraying into the Indian e-

commerce arena in the year 2010, the company has served around 1,500

cities across India. Well-entrenched in the web domain, DholDhamaka.com

has no physical store and currently operates through its online portal

www.DholDhamaka.com.

Reader’s Reads

January 3, 2013 8 Book Peek

Raveen Sastry, Co-founder and Chief Revenue Officer, hoopos.com

The first book I would like to mention is ‘In the night garden - a

lovely present’ by Andrew Davenport. Our daughter watches

this serial on the TV and she knows the

characters. Also, the book has big pictures

and very little text which is easy for our 1.6-

year-old to understand. Apart from having

big pictures there is also the learning part

for the kid. It teaches numbers 1, 2, 3, 4,

5 and the aspect of sharing.

Another book is ‘My first book of 123’ from Om Kidz. It’s a

book for teaching numbers for small kids. If the book says 5

puppies, then she knows that there are 5 animals in the

picture and the animals in the picture are dogs. She learns

two things at the same time.

About hoopos.com

hoopos.com is an online store that caters to the needs of moms-to-be and

kids aged 0-12 years. Headquartered in Bangalore, the company was

founded in January 2011 by a four-member team of experts from retail and

e-commerce backgrounds. The website went live in September, 2011. The

company is funded by Helion Venture Partners, a highly reputed Venture

Capital firm – a USD 600+ mn fund with over 40 investee companies and a

huge focus on e-commerce. hoopos.com offers products across 13 different

categories ranging from apparel, baby essentials to traditional toys and even

furniture for kids.

Reading for a child

January 3, 2013 9 Book Peek

Short snatches

Published by: Shrinikethan, Chennai http://bit.ly/ShriMap

Edited by: D. Murali http://bit.ly/dMurali http://bit.ly/TopTalk

January 3, 2013