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Bookshelf
Welcome to the latest section of Alma Matters “Bookshelf” - a platform where people can share their comments, feelings and thoughts about various books they read. From business and economics to SCI-FI, thriller and comedy…please feel free to contribute to this section by writing to us at alumni_relations@isb.edu
Recommended Readings by Prof. Krishna B. Kumar
Krishna Kumar is a senior economist at the RAND Corporation. He directs Research and Policy in International Development (RAPID) within RAND Labor and Population and leads the Rosenfeld Program on Asian Development at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. His research and teaching interests are economic growth and development, human capital accumulation, and technological change. He has studied the role of public policy on Indian entrepreneurship and conducted a comparative analysis of the Indian and Chinese education systems.
He has researched the role of economic openness on education and growth, higher education policies in the United States, the effect of tax reform on economic growth, international capital flows, reasons for U.S.–Europe productivity differences, the effect of the Green Revolution on recipient and donor countries, cross-country determinants of firm size, policies to revive the stagnant sub-Saharan African economies, and the role of social capital in economic development. His research has been published in leading journals in economic growth and development and macroeconomics. He teaches development economics at the Pardee RAND Graduate School and global economics at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University and the Indian School of Business.
The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
A novel about a man who settled easily for a "passive peaceableness," as he looks back on his life, that manages to be suspenseful, philosophical, and poignant at the same time. I won't be giving anything away if I say it has the most succinct and haunting summary of the human predicament:"There is accumulation. There is responsibility. And beyond these, there is unrest. There is great unrest."
The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined by Steven Pinker
A reviver of hope for those who are dismayed by all the current conflicts (many of them of the incongruously named civil variety) around the world. Pinker marshals evidence from history, economics, sociology, psychology, and anthropology (not to mention peppers his monumental book with stomach churning descriptions of acts from the past) to argue violence has actually declined over the centuries thanks to civilizing and humanizing processes. Humanity -- crooked, wretched, with our warts and all -- take a bow, for evolving to this most
peaceable of times. Social science writing at its very best.
A Tale of Two Gardens: Poems from India 1952-1995 by Octavio Paz
I suspect this volume of poetry by a one-time Mexican ambassador to India is so slim so that you can carry it with you everywhere, and indulge in it like that illicit extra scoop of ice cream you squeeze out to your bowl when no one is watching! Here is all of "Concert in the Garden: Vina and Mridangam:""It rained. / The hour is an enormous eye. / Inside it, we come and go like reflections. /The river of music / enters my blood. / If I say body, it answers wind. / If I say earth, it answers where? / The world, a double blossom, opens: /sadness of having come, / joy of being here. // I walk lost in my own center."
Ah Paz!
Recommended Readings by Dr Mayank Bharat, Class of 2011
Dr. Bharat, an MBBS doctor has been a part of the hospital sector (both public and private) prior to joining ISB. He also had a short stint at the Public Health Foundation of India to satiate his passion for public health especially in reference to 'application of mass health insurance policy to the Indian context.' He currently works as an Associate Consultant in the Corporate Advisory Division (Healthcare practice) at Feedback Infra.
Dr. Bharat is an 'avid' traveler and loves playing basketball. He is also a great movie buff and believes that if he had not been a doctor or an MBA, he would definitely have been a film critic. He is always game for a healthy discussion on any topic and is particularly interested in socio-political movements, public policy (esp. health & education) and disruptive innovation.
The Bhagavad Gita- by Vedavyasa
Referred by M.K. Gandhi as his 'spiritual dictionary' it's a must read for all- be it the affluent, the homeless, the joyful or the depressed. If you often see yourself questioning the very purpose of life, this is a serious recommendation.
The Tipping Point- by Malcom Gladwell
First part in the series (others being 'Blink' and 'Outliers'), the book seeks to explain and describe the "mysterious" sociological changes that mark everyday life. As Gladwell states, "Ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread like viruses do." The examples of such changes in his book include the rise in popularity and sales of Hush Puppies shoes in the mid-1990s and the steep drop in the New York City crime rate after 1990.
Complications- by Dr. Atul Gawande