Reading Recs

LATEST READING RECOMMENDATIONS 

I spent many-an-afternoon at LSE library after my exams, so this list is going to be much anglo-saxon or non-Indian, but I promise I enjoyed all these books quite a lot! 

• Rashmirathi -- beautiful poem by Ram-Dhari Singh 'Dinkar'; esp. Krishna visiting Duryodhana with a peace accord. Bone-chilling

• Gödel Escher Bach -- My first attempt at reading a non-fiction logic book; its great! (incomplete!)

• The Unending Game: Vikram Sood -- In God We Trust, Rest We Monitor; Better than my Game theory class!

• RISE TO KILL FIRST (Ronen Bergman) -- Describes the evolution of the intelligence machinery of the State of Israel. 

• THE AYATOLLAH BEGS TO DIFFER (Hooman Majd) -- Yet to read this book, but apparently have heard very nice reviews about this!

• OUR MOON HAS BLOOD CLOTS (Rakesh Pandita) -- Read this, can't describe.

• WAR AND PEACE (Ongoing) -- Leo Tolstoy : A beautiful sneak peak into the life of the middle class in Napoleon invaded Russia

• THE MITROKHIN ARCHIVES VOL. 1 : If you are into Cold War stuff and a history buff, this is the book for you!! This IS SO COOL!

• WHY THE WEST RULES FOR NOW -- Ian Morris -- My first anthropoligically buttressed society evolution book. I disagree with quite a lot of points, but reach out if you do. I perhaps am wrong because of very little knowledge about settlement patterns historically.

• NERD ALERT: THE ROAD TO SERFDOM -- Freidrich Hayek: 'Even if an omniscient computer program was invented, the fundamental conviction about making optimal decisions for people should be rooted out of a society. '  NOT GOING TO SAY ANY MORE

• NERD ALERT: Charles Manski (1989) Journal of Human Resources: Anatomy of Selection Problem 

• NERD ALERT: ASYMPTOTIC THEORY FOR ECONOMETRICIANS -- Halbert White (Yes this is the White of Robust Standard Errors!!!)

(If you want a nice mental exercise in Econometrics, read the paper, Manski (1989) above and you'll be left wondering HOW THE HELL COULD I MISS THIS?!!)

• I am a huge fan of the Vidura neeti (विदुर निति = विदुरस्य नितिः या सा, षष्ठी तत्पुरुष समास) which is basically a pre-cursor to the world known Chanakya Neeti and an inspiration to the political discourse of the Gupta Empire and the Empires before. 

• One of the books I have been hooked on to recently was 'The Great Game' by Peter Hopkirk, which makes an excellent historical commentary (and necessarily documentation) on the politics that played out between the British and the Tzars of Russia in the 18th and early 19th century which laid ground for the modern day conflict that we observe in Afghanistan.

• The one book I'd recommend for 2008 Financial Crisis buffs like me would be 'The Courage to Act' by Ben Bernanke. IT's the BEST!  

• Another book I'd really recommend for people who are really just looking to pass their time: 'The Economic Naturalist' by Robert Frank. A retired Professor from the Cornell University provides some nice and interesting questions to think about :)

• I am very much looking forward to read the book: 'A Monetary History of the United States' by Anna Schwartz and Milton Friedman, the 800-odd page saga for MonPol enthusiasts!

• Other than these econ-centric books, I've always peeking from time to time into some volumes of ' The Art of Computer Programming'  by Donald Knuth

• I am not much of a novels guy, but I've read only two authors exhaustively: Jeffery Archer and Fredrick Forsyth. By exhaustive, I mean ALL THE BOOKS! (though I am not confident I've read some of their latest books)