Moonwalking with Einstein

“Moonwalking with Einstein” is a very fascinating book. It is written like a documentary, with an amazing narrative; followes the author, a journalist, as he decides to enter the world of Memory Championships and how he goes on to win one of them. And it has a lot to say about Memory and Learning. At its core the book is not about memory competitions or to teaching you quick ways to memorize the digits of pi; it is about the intricate relationship between memory, learning and creativity....

April 16, 2017 · 3 min · 584 words · Me

Richard Stallman

If you are a programmer, or remotely relate to the field of computers, you should know Richard Stallman. And even if you aren’t a programmer, there are good reasons to know him. Richard Stallman is the man behind GNU project and FSF foundation, and worked on creating gcc compiler, Emacs editor, GPL license. His contributions were major driving force behind what we today know as Linux OS (essentially GNU/Linux OS), and the culture of free and open source software....

April 15, 2017 · 4 min · 647 words · Me

Setting up for Failure

I write today, with my mind full of conflicted feelings: sadness, guilt. Failing at a task, where you are responsible for others and expected to do perform well (for good enough reasons) is painful. Questioning your self-worth in times like these, is the most obvious way to deal with the disappointment that washes you. I feel like I often set myself up for failure. Like I can see in plain sight that keeping up with this behavior is not going to get to where I ought to go....

November 30, 2016 · 2 min · 260 words · Me

Reading

My review of 3 books that I read recently **Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke ** This is my first book by the famed sci-fi author of 2001 space odyssey. Having seen it in my scifi recommendations, I found this book in my library. It is not very long(at ~250 pages) The premise is benevolent aliens landing on the earth, and the aftermath. A major theme is the degradation of human creativity in the lack of conflict/competition....

October 1, 2016 · 2 min · 398 words · Me

Book Review : Animal Farm by George Orwell

Animal Farm is a short but widely praised book by the author George Orwell. This is a precursor to his much more famous(regarded as one of the best) sci-fi dystopian novel “1984”. Hunting for sci-fi classics, I originally aimed to read only “1984”, but came upon this book when I saw its measly price and small stature at a local bookstore. I read Animal Farm after “1984”. The Book: For those of you who don’t know, this book is not just a work of fiction about farm animals, it is a reflection on the socio-political-economical struggles of the 20th century....

April 23, 2016 · 3 min · 561 words · Me

Review : Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance

This was a book I was very eager to read. It was the 2nd biography I read. So I am not a very good judge of what a biography should be. Things i liked: # The physical copy itself, is solid, and quite attractive. # The colored pages in between, showing photos of various times in Musk’s life. # Easy to read, easy to follow. # Covers other aspects of Musk’s personality as well, eccentricities and criticism....

June 25, 2015 · 3 min · 593 words · Me

Intro to Elon Musk 2

It is important to understand how Musk operates in order to comprehend his extraordinary success. Musk is a risk taker. He time and again, promises to do the impossible. He purposefully commits to doing things that are really really difficult. What’s the most amazing thing you can imagine in a product: he will promise that in the next model, coming out in 2 years. It is easy to call him delusional....

June 22, 2015 · 4 min · 837 words · Me

Intro to Elon Musk

(A primer to my review of Elon Musk Biography by Ashlee Vance) I first came to know about Elon Musk, by reading about a new private space company launched their first rocket in orbit. I certainly at the time, was not aware of the huge significance of it. The name “Elon Musk”, from then on, would continually pop-up in news. Later i’m reading a highly passioned Oatmeal article about why Tesla Model S is the best car ever built with highest safety rating, customer satisfaction; and it’s electric, meaning doesn’t kill mother earth....

June 22, 2015 · 3 min · 613 words · Me

Review : The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins

MY BRIEF STORY This is the first book i have read by Richard Dawkins. I picked up the book 2 years ago, largely being drawn to the sensationalist title. I started reading, barely 20 pages in, and lost the motivation to go on. The writing was thick, littered with quotes, examples, formal terms. Someday, I thought. I finally picked it up a week go, determined to finish; confident that the interim 2 years would have made me better equipped....

June 14, 2015 · 4 min · 800 words · Me

Explained : The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins

This is a brief summary of what Richard Dawkins argues in his book “The God Delusion”. These are not my opinions. I simply state his arguments in very short, easy to understand form, omitting quite a few. I expanded on the new and non-obvious stuff, that I found interesting and dumbed down the others. I will express my opinions and disagreements with his ideology in a different post. TL;DR Every false belief should be destroyed, especially those which cause more harm, than good....

June 13, 2015 · 10 min · 2096 words · Me