Manoj's Review on Books

4000 weeks spells out the approximate lifespan of human beings on earth, it leads to an important constraint that needs to be highlighted, it's the finitude of life. Having said that Oliver Burkeman hasn't scripted a bunch of productive hacks and methods to organize our tasks, by implementing the Eisenhower matrix. On the contrary, in a life bound by finitude, will it be considered wise to spend the currency of time filled with preconceived notions, which is exactly the question Oliver provokes us to explore.    Pre-modern or maybe even prehistoric humans weren’t troubled by such thoughts for whom life presented a relatively insignificant prelude for an eternity in heaven as German sociologist Hartmut Rosa points out. While on the other end of the spectrum we have modern humans who are driving themselves to be pathologically productive, at least a handful of them. Consider the case of Danielle Steel who has authored 190+ books by 2021, delivering at the rate of 7 books a year ...

Harish Bhat, a brand custodian for Tata Sons, has held diverse roles within the organization for over 3 decades, primarily focused on the marketing aspect of a respective business line. The Curious Marketer is a collection of various articles written for established newspapers for many years during his senior management stint with Tata group. All the articles have a marketing perspective and the insights derived from a curious observation of customer behavior. An observation of customer response which can arise either from proactive or reactive positioning of brands in the market.  From a proactive positioning standpoint, Lifebuoy’s marketing stint during 2013 Kumbh Mela offers a breakout perspective, the choice of occasion is by far the largest human gathering in the world with a turnout of 12 crore. An initiative ‘Lifebuoy se haath dhoye kya?’ was stamped on 2.5 million hot rotis toasting over heated tawa from a collection of 100 dhabas during the mela. It served as an excellent ...

Do wild animals breed in captivity ? Considering the range of species known and unknown to mankind, there can never be a singular answer. However, the carnivorous animals or the ones predatory in nature have an inclination to express celibacy in confinement. Freedom can be a valuable possession isn’t, the inherent nature of an animal to live or die on its own terms. There are theories of vitiated instincts under captivity but under an evolving nature of species, it's certainly hard to pinpoint.  Why should one refrain from adopting such a beautiful white cat with shining blue eyes ? The whimsical correlations of features come into play, it’s hard to train such cats, they can be hit by a moving vehicle due to lack of ability to dodge or may not even find them if they happen to be lost. Well, such cats predominantly happen to be deaf, they live in their own world devoid of a critical sense to navigate the world.  The attempt of Charles Darwin to explain the origin of species acr...

Lori Gottlieb is an established psychotherapist who encountered a break in relationship that overwhelmed her. She found it hard to endure the breakup and eventually took the funny option, consult a therapist for herself. In the year-long consulting process, Lori was taking therapy sessions for herself and consulted her own patients on the other side.  During the sessions, she understands that loss tends to be multilayered, actual loss is one part of it but what the loss represents is far more critical. A solution to the loss lies in completely acknowledging it’s representation, an aspect that’s easier said than done.  As the sessions progressed, Lori understood that the crux of many of her patients' issues happen to be reflected in her own life as well. A spark of thought that never occurred to her before undergoing therapy sessions herself.   Overall, the book walks a respective reader through the mental construct of Lori’s patients and her own self while drawing a ...

The title of the book is definitely intriguing if not provoking, how can someone be against empathy? It’s the ability to feel the pain, happiness or other forms of emotions experienced by another fellow human. The definition itself will provide sufficient defence in it’s favour while an argument against the said trait can at best be weak, which was my initial reaction. Having gone through Paul’s impressive online course on psychology, I was curious to understand his counterpoints.  When a large section of people have an inclination towards an emotional rather than rational appeal, can empathy prove to be an effective tool towards social equity. Empathy became a topic of discussion after a gun shootout against strangers by a juvenile student in the first decade of the 21st century. A clamorous public outcry with repeated media coverage of the said incident led to the projection of empathy as a critical tool for prevention of crimes thereby creating space for a fair and peaceful comm...

It was an interesting title that made me pick the book, more in anticipation of a funny novel that’s bound to showcase comical interplay of events between a couple and their relatives. However, once I dipped into the first few pages, it dawned on me that Oliver Sacks was a neurologist and am about to read interesting titbits of true stories cherry picked from the long list of the author’s patients. A curious case was brought in for Oliver’s diagnosis of the problem and identify a solution. The gentleman came in for a session with Oliver and exhibited remarkable expression of intelligence while having displayed noticeable competence towards his associated domain of work. Even after a long conversation no issues emerged to the surface until he was asked to recognize personalities. The gentleman was completely at sea and the idea of a face recognition seemed far fetched to him, a neurological condition named Prosopagnosia. As he turned to retreat back home after the session, he strangely...