Ankur Sharma

While last year I had announced the top 10 books I read; based on the feedback I got, I realised it makes more sense to rather zero into my top 5 books this year. Few patterns emerged, when I started reflecting on my reads this year : My top 3 books were written by women. While this happened organically, I see this as a reflection of my reading which has opened to diverse voices. Three of my top 5 books were authored/co-authored by prolific bloggers who share their learnings every week for free and yet have managed to write a book which sells. I subscribed/read/shared their blogs long before I read their books, helping me understand first hand the power of building a network by sharing your thoughts for free. With my 5-year-old son picking up reading this year, I started reading a lot more children books, some read to him as night time stories while others recommended by him so that we can share notes on these books. It is refreshing to have a child’s perspective on book...

I am a voracious reader and by experimentation have figured out that books and longreads are always better in ideas sticking longer with you than blogs, since they help reinforce the ideas with structure. Also, with them, you have the liberty to take pauses to deliberate on the idea and come back.  This year, 2018, I ran an experiment via books. I went deeper into specific themes and ideas via books. In 2018, my themes to understand ideas were Crypto, Behavioural Psychology and Greek Mythology. The reason I chose these themes were varied but primarily to understand the long term impact on I being a product person and parent of a 4 year old. Apart from these themes, I also read Autobiographies/Biographies which have remained my constant companion for over 5 years now, considering they help me peek into people mind - People who are/were successful in their respective fields.  Without further ado, here are my top 10 books. I am adding Goodreads link ins...

(Photo credit: Illustration by Emily Marcus/Standard-Examiner) Dear You, You changed me when we met. You zapped me. You made me, me . You see, before, I was fat. With you, I am an athlete. Before I had a job. With you, I have a career. Before, I was ugly. With you, I am a lover. And I am a friend as well, and not lonely. I am not scared any more. I am alive. We are so much better as one, you know. As one, we work. Love, One Half of Us. Inspired from "Dear You" of Freaks

that they are "MASS" mailers. They are not written to me, they are not written for me and yet they land up in my inbox day after day, week after week, month after month.  So here is a solution: I need these mass mailers to be renamed as -mailers where denotes my name I need -mailers to talk to me Don't ask me how for #2. After all every time I transact with your website, your Facebook page, your Twitter profile; I leave so much of my critical information there like my name, browsing history, demographics - go and use that Make me partner in crime - use my information to benefit me.  See which city/country/hotel/airline I book and get deals on those for me at my -mailer See what do I read and publish that for me at my -mailer. Don't give all the junk authors I don't care about When you will do all this, may be our relationship can finally get better!

It is becoming a rarity (because of work and me juggling at least two books at a time), but yesterday , after a long time, I finished a book in just few hours. The book's name is " Sh*t My Dad Says " and it is written by Justin Halpern . An insanely hilarious book, the lesson it imparted was prophetic. And yes, for most of the book, though I was laughing my heads off, I still managed to jot down my most favorite excerpts (call them gems!) from the book, for keepsake and for sharing with you all, so that it can make you wiser, just as it made me. From " Sh*t My Dad Says " by Justin Halpern On Showing Fear : " When it's asshole-tightening time, that's when you see what people are made of. Or at least what their assholes is made of . On Sharing : "....If he wants to be an asshole and not share, then that's his right. You always have the right to be an asshole - you just shouldn't use that right very often ." On Dea...

For people who know me, know how close reading and books are to my heart and how Shweta (my wife) and I have this whole library stock of books at our home. In just between yesterday and today, I have been able to mop off 2 books which I was reading at a snail's pace. Apart from that, I started off 2 new ones, out of which I did finish off one just in few hours, which is becoming a rarity now-a-days. Hence it will be understatement to say that this week has been phenomenal to me, at least, up until now. The two I wrapped up, though covered diametrically opposite aspects, at the heart, they both were business books: The Real Deal by James Caan is a brave and courageous autobiography, which covers nifty aspects of businesses. What, actually makes it brave was that, despite being a celebrity, James Caan, stayed truthful in his personal stories and with a lot of candor, spoke about the journey which he undertook to find himself, considering he was an Asian and a Mus...

I usually don't read a book just because everyone else is reading it - it makes me thinks conventionally, corrupts my thought process into more of a mass one, not the kind I usually love to live with. But if I can take the liberty of paraphrasing Steven Levy from " In The Plex ", with his new book, Walter Isaacson made me chase everyone elses' tail lights, and for the first time, I am kind of proud at being conventional. From today, I am going to start reading Steve Jobs in Hardcover, which has gotten shipped at a 50% pre-release discount, from Indiaplaza (Yes, Flipkart ; they pipped you this time!), a couple of days back.  Now if you please excuse me, I have to go to get some carrot juice for Mr. Jobs! It's Halloween after all!