The Rosie Project, Graeme Simsion, 2013

Rating: 5/5

I enjoy the occasional romcom movie but I'm not a fan of this genre as far as books are concerned. The Rosie Project, the first of a trilogy, is a notable exception, however. It's a delightful read, funny and bitter-sweet.

The book's opening line, "I may have found the solution to the Wife Problem" is the perfect opening to this heart-warming tale. Don Tillman, who has Asperger's Syndrome, is a 39-year old genetics professor at a reputed Australian University and embarks on a project to find a wife (the Wife Project) with the aid of a sixteen-page questionnaire. In the process, he meets Rosie Jarman, poles apart from himself, who would probably score a zero on his questionnaire and who upends his life. Don and Rosie start spending time together, and despite their misgivings, get attracted towards each other. On the way, Don embarks on the Father Project where he helps Rosie in finding her biological father among 44 doctors in her mother's medical class. He has just two close friends, womanising Gene and his psychologist wife Claudia, who guide him along the way. The book is narrated in the first person, and there are clear differences between Don's version of events and how they actually transpire. This makes the book even more endearing.

The book is not without its drawbacks. While the book does talk about the challenges faced by Don with his parents, during his childhood and in social settings, it does not really delve into the difficulties faced by a person with Asperger's. Consequently, a reader with a near one with Asperger's could view the book as a trivialisation. Such a reader should be willing to overlook that aspect to enjoy this book -- it's a romcom after all. Also, the book becomes somewhat soppy towards the end. But given the overall breeziness of the book, I was willing to overlook it.

Simpsion was an information systems consultant with a PhD in data modelling and had co-authored a book on that subject. That background makes The Rosie Project even more remarkable. Overall, it's a feel-good book that leaves you with a smile on your lips, perfect for the current Covid-related environment or for any other time for that matter. An interesting sidenote is that Don Tillman now has his own Twitter account, @ProfDonTillman.

Pros: Heart-warming and feel-good, funny, a very easy read

Cons: Some may consider this a trivialisation of Asperger's, a bit soppy at the end

Being Mortal, Atul Gawande, 2014

Rating: 5/5

I must admit I approached this book with some trepidation -- this book has been hyped up quite a bit, is written by a practicing surgeon and is about aging and terminal illnesses, mundane topics. But was I incredibly and pleasantly surprised! This book is one of the most useful books that I have read and is remarkable from beginning to end.

Gawande starts off by making the point that unlike in the past, when death was sudden, there is now a prolonged period of aging and the inexorable decay of the body and faculties. He wonders how we reached a situation where the only option for the elderly is to get "institutionalised" and lose control of their lives. The book essentially focuses on the issues with the current medical approach towards terminal illnesses, especially of older people, and towards aging. As Gawande puts it, this approach concentrates on repair of health, even if it means just slightly prolonging the inevitable and tremendously increasing the pain, rather than on the sustenance of the soul. And this sustenance may mean different things for different people -- as one of his patients says, "the best thing in your life is when you can go yourself to the bathroom".

One of the things that I liked about the book was its prescriptive nature -- it does not stop at just laying out the trouble with modern medical care. With real examples, he details what medical practitioners can do to overcome the above issues, and more importantly, what individuals can and should do when grappling with their own aging or that of their loved ones. Ultimately, the job of medicine is not to ensure health and survival but to enable well-being. And in this context, it is important to have difficult conversations and also knowing when to let go.

This is the first book that I have read of Gawande and found him to be an impressive writer. The book is a fascinating and easy read despite the seriousness of the subject, and he has filled the book with personal anecdotes that are immensely relatable to. His brave description of his father's last days, who himself was a medical practitioner, add to the credibility of his arguments and enhance our learnings too. Parts of the book can be a bit depressing given an element of morbidness but I would strongly recommend this to any reader, whether she is elderly herself, has aging parents, or even otherwise.

Pros: Superbly written, tremendously useful for everyone

Cons: Slightly depressing perhaps

Recursion, Blake Crouch, 2019

Rating: 4/5

I love good mind-bending, time-turning stories, movies such as Inception and Interstellar for example. And for the most part, Recursion does not disappoint.

The book begins with great promise -- NYPD detective Barry Sutton is called to prevent a possible suicide by a woman suffering from FMS or False Memory Syndrome, an affliction in which the person suddenly wakes up one day with extremely detailed memories of an alternate life that she has led. The extreme vividness of those memories and the conflict with memories of the current life can often drive a person insane. The second chapter, set about 11 years earlier, features Stanford neuroscientist Helena Smith, whose sole mission in life is to find a possible cure for Alzeimer's that he mother suffers from. And there is billionaire visionary entrepreneur Marcus Slade, who employs Helena with the promise of changing the world.

As the plot unfolds, we learn about the demons plaguing the minds of Barry and Helena -- Barry struggles with coming to terms with his daughter's death (an event that he blames himself for) and the subsequent break-up of his marriage while Helena is consumed with making her mother's life better. Barry can't get the FMS suicide off his mind and sets to explore that. Meanwhile, Marcus Slade appears to have his own motivations for hiring Helena and it becomes clear that he will go to any length to achieve them.

The book moves along at breakneck speed with key elements of the plot being revealed within the first 100 pages. But, after that, as the book stretches to its 300+ page length, parts of it seem repetitive and new plot elements make the book somewhat bewildering. I give 5/5 for the first half of the book and 3/5 for the second. The other issue is that time manipulation is always a tricky subject. At one point in the book, Barry is told that "time is an illusion, a construct made of human memory ... there's no such thing as the past, present, or the future". Barry finds it difficult to process it and so did I at the end of the book. But with books or movie of this genre, one needs to accept this inherent issue and enjoy the ride!

Pros: Unique and fascinating plot, page-turner

Cons: Repetitive at times, unresolved plot points inherent in this genre 

Six of Crows, Leigh Bardugo, 2015

Rating: 5/5

It had been a while since I had read a fantasy novel and the Covid-induced lockdown seemed a perfect time to do so. And The Six of Crows, the first of a duology, did not disappoint!

This book is set in the same world as Bardugo's earlier-written Grisha trilogy. The key characters are all new though.  Bardugo has crafted this world exquisitely with different regions, varied characteristics of their residents, interesting dynamics among them and magical elements. I have not read the trilogy but that does not take away from the enjoyment of this book.

This book is essentially about an heist. Six rogue characters (the leader Kaz, a spy called Inej, sharpshooter Jesper, a Grisha called Nina, prisoner Matthias and runaway privileged Wylan) set out from Ketterdam to Fjerda to rescue a scientist who can make a very powerful, magical drug. The motivations for each of them are different. Each chapter is narrated through the eyes of one of the characters (one of five with Wylan being excluded for some reason and the first and last chapters from the perspective of minor characters), making it an interesting read.

The Six of Crows has all the elements of a good fantasy novel - a gripping plot, an interesting set of characters, magical elements, romance (including a gay one), betrayal and some doses of humour. The Grishaverse, as it is referred to, is now replete with online fandom and backstories. Netflix has signed up the Grisha trilogy as well as the Crow duology. So, while this world is no match for that of Harry Potter, it may be worth spending some time in it!

Pros: Superbly detailed, gripping plot, easy read

Cons: Not for the reader who finds fantasy novels childish

The Silent Patient, Alex Michaelides, 2019

Rating: 4/5

The Silent Patient belongs to the genre of mystery/thrillers that's constructed cleverly, is a page-turner, has a big reveal at the end, and which can be kept aside and forgotten once it is read. And for that genre, the book delivers!

The book is centred around two key characters. The first is Alicia Berenson, who appears to have shot her husband, Gabriel, five times in the face and who refuses to speak after the incident (and hence the title of the book). The second is Theo Faber, a criminal psychotherapist, who is extremely keen to work with Alicia, strangely even at the cost of his career.

The book peels off layer after layer of the mystery at a rapid pace with Theo as the narrator, exploring Theo's motivations and the mystery of Gabriel's death through their backstories (Alicia's diary in her case). One interesting aspect of the book is the usage of Alcestis as a trope - a Greek heroine who sacrificed her life to bring back her husband from death and also the title given by Alicia to a self-potrait painted after her husband's murder.

Standard elements of this genre have been liberally used. For example, there are the usual red herrings on the way. And I felt just a little bit cheated by the aid used for the plot twist at the end. But nevertheless, the end is quite satisfying and most of the motivations of the various characters are explained by the time we finish the book. This is Michaelides' debut novel and is quite impressive for that.

Pros: Page-turner, clever plot, a fairly satisfying end

Cons: A read-and-forget type of book

David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants, Malcolm Gladwell, 2013

Rating: 4/5

One way to approach David and Goliath is to treat it as a collection of essays or interesting stories rather than as a book - a reader could pick up any one of the nine chapters of the book (divided equally into three sections) or even the introduction and read it on a standalone basis. It did not work as a single cohesive book for me, however.

It starts with an interesting take on the story of David and Goliath, set  over three thousand years ago in the Valley of Elah in modern-day Israel. Unlike the traditional interpretation of the underdog beating the giant in that famous battle, Gladwell argues that David's success was due to the strategy that he adopted - he was a projectile warrior pitted against infantryman Goliath and in most such battles, the former would usually prevail. And that interesting version of the tale sets the tone for the book!

The book is packaged into three sections - the first two discuss how disadvantages can be advantages and vice versa, and how some difficulties can actually be desirable. Each anecdote has a "David" of sorts. And they usually succeed because they change the rules of the game and adopt atypical tactics or they are forced to do so due to some inherent challenges that they have. Apparently, underdog strategies increases the possibility of the weaker side winning from 29% to 64%! But underdog strategies are hard to adopt. The third section is about the limits of using power and I'm still not clear how that fit into the overall theme.

Some of the anecdotes are extremely interesting and cover a range of topics such as a junior school basketball team, the choice of colleges, the London bombings during World War II and even Ikea. Others are less fascinating though or seem out of context. Like some of his other books, Gladwell does not really have much substance on the topic of his book itself and he ends up force-fitting examples to justify the title. But I found many of the stories interesting and informative. Like I said at the beginning, I approached this as a collection of essays and that merited a 4/5 rating for this book.

Pros: Interesting anecdotes, diverse topics

Cons: Parts forcibly fitted into a whole

Guns, Germs and Steel, Jared Diamond, 1997

Rating: 4/5

At the outset, let me warn you that this book is a laborious read - I had to alternate it with another "lighter" book while reading it. But, at the end, there is an incredible sense of achievement in the ability to understand human evolution better!

Jared Diamond is an enviable polymath - he has significant knowledge on multiple fields including anthropology, biology, ecology, and geography and puts together this knowledge in Guns, Germs and Steel for us to understand how humans evolved the way they did. He seeks to answer a question put to him by a politician acquaintance in New Guinea, basically, why human development occured at different rates on different continents. Or in other words, why didn't native Americans reach Europe and colonise it rather than the other way around. Diamond repeatedly makes the point that race had nothing to do with this. He attempts to answer this basic question over 500 pages, by discussing the history of human evolution, the progress of food production, the translation of that into guns, germs and steel (the building blocks that enabled some humans to develop faster than others) and then finally gives examples of such different rates of development across different parts of the world.

As to be expected with a book of this size exploring just a single question, parts of the book are dry to read and some parts are repetitive. The lack of the fifth star in the rating is simply on account of this. But the book succeeded in making me think of issues that I would never have and gives an entirely different perspective of commonly-held beliefs about human evolution. And during this journey, I picked up some fascinating pieces of information. For example, that the first cultivated plants in the Americas (bottle gourd) was not as food but as containers. Or that of the modern world's 6,000 languages, 1,000 belong to just New Guinea! All of this makes the book a satisfying read eventually.

Pros: Extremely informative, challenges commonly-held views about human evolution, interesting trivia

Cons: Laborious read, repetitive at parts