Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup

Wow!!!!

What a read.....Simply amazing!!!!

Thank you Alfred A. Knopf and Penguin Random House for sending me this free copy of Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup.

First off, this is the first book I have finished reading in 2 days. I just couldn't put it down. Great investigative journalism by John Carreyrou. The story, the characters, the setting grips you from the beginning until the last page. While I have followed Theranos's story in media, I had no idea it was this bad. It's like a mafia of Silicon Valley startup. 

Coming to Elizabeth Holmes, the author in the last paragraph has asked if she is a sociopath, John, in my opinion she is a sociopath. A young girl blinded by money and power taking ex-statesmen like Kissinger, George Schultz, James Mattis and high profile executives of companies like Walgreens and Safeway to a fantasy ride. I am just going to call them dumb asses. How can you not see it? Holmes never showed the technology work in person and everybody was rallying with her. I mean how dumb can you be?????? I found it funny even more pathologic that Elizabeth Holmes was mimicking Steve Jobs when it came to dressing herself up in black turtleneck t-shirt and black slacks. I can buy a Stanford dropout making it big with a tech company. But Elizabeth Holmes was science ill-literate when it came to engineering ( 2 semesters in chemical engineering does not qualify you to next Steve Jobs in laboratory science technology). She may have had a passion but no real knowledge to turn it into practice. Dressing like Steve Jobs and talking in a deep voice does not make you him. 

Overall, this is an amazing read. I highly recommend this book to whoever wants to get an inside scoop on the sage of Theranos.

Gene Machine: The Race to Decipher the Secrets of the Ribosome

Almost everyone with some formal education behind them knows or have at least heard about DNA, the genetic library of our cell but how about Ribosomes? The very machinery that translates the genetic material to protein, not as glamorous as DNA right? In Gene Machine by Dr. Venki Ramakrishnan takes us on a journey that ended with discovery of structure of the ribosome to be precise it's two units 30S and 50S. Figuring out a structure of a biological molecule during the times when electron microscopy was in its infancy certainly was a challenge that was mitigated by crystallography. The book describes in details the struggles, the collaborations, the competition, the passion and above all helpful nature of fellow scientists without whom it would have taken just a little longer for this breakthrough discovery. On a personal level this is a memoir of Dr. Ramakrishnan, Indian born scientist who went on to win a Nobel price for his work on ribosome structure. Apart from the chapters dedicated to details about crystallography and extensive discussion of structure of biological molecules, he reflects on the practice of rewarding scientists it's pros and cons and how there are many new awards that compete with Nobel price such as Breakthrough award that is almost 7-8 x more financially rewarding. However, I highly doubt that anyone would trade the Nobel for any other science prize. No discovery is made in isolation and collaboration is how science develops and new inventions are made. This is no better proved anywhere else as in the case of ribosomal research. Ideas were borrowed, data obtained by someone else manipulated, research methods were copied. In the end it was a matter of right people with right skills coming in close contact that won them a Nobel. Dr. Ramakrishnan is frank in showing his gratitude to all those who helped him and it speaks volumes of the his humble nature.

For me this book was interesting apart from my usual interest in science is that how Dr. Ramakrishnan who was born in the same state, Gujarat in India went on to become a grad student in physics and then changed his research to molecular biology and persisting at it for 30+ years and eventually winning a Nobel and eventually becoming president of Royal Society joining the ranks of Newton and Rutherford who were former presidents certainly gives one goosebumps. That in itself is a larger than any success story.

Overall, I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in history of structural biology as it applies to ribosomes. Even if you are peripherally knowledgeable of biology of subcelluar molecules, this book is worth your time. I think it will make a great gift for a grad student in biology.

This book focuses on the second part (RNA → Protein) of Central Dogma (DNA → RNA → Proteins).

Weird War 2

Genre: Military History, World War II
Recommendation: Recommended.
Readability: Good. Short chapters.

Thank you Thistle publishing for offering me this advanced copy of Weird War Two for review. Many books have been written about World War II and this book is not another book regurgitating the same material from different author's perspective. Needless to say WWII was gruesome with uncountable lives lost and psychological trauma suffered for years by those who survived. The echoes of this war was felt in all aspects be it economical, social, cultural, personal, political, psychological, and on and on the list goes. During those times of hardship and unbelievable tragedy there were some anecdotes and events that momentarily made you forget the suffering and made you laugh out loud. This book is a collection of such anecdotes and events that were too trivial to gain attention and were sidelined by past authors and scholars. Some are plain weird, some made you question the sanity of those leading this war and some are outright ridiculous. It is a quick read with each anecdote not more than a page and half in length. If you are a WWII historian or simple looking to get a better understanding of the mindset of those who lived during those times, pick up this book and have a good laugh and learn a thing or two along the way. You may need to do fact checking for yourself but hey, like I said this book is collection of ridiculous and borderline unbelievable anecdotes and events so who cares. about facts. Read anyways

Elizabeth Warren by Antonia Felix

Genre: Biography, Politics.
Recommendation: Recommended.
Readability: Good.

Elizabeth Warren by Antonia Felix can be classified as a brief biography of Elizabeth Warren with considerable pages devoted to Warren's work in the field of consumer financial protection. You can almost get a clear picture of the field of Consumer Financial Protection work if you are not familiar with it by reading this book. The material is built on the books Warren authored and co-authored with her daughter and other law professors while she was teaching at various law schools.

As far as the biography part goes, it does a good job giving the readers a succinct portrait of Warren's personal and professional life. If you are a Warren fan or simply deciding to support if she throws her name in the hat for presidential nomination in 2020, this book might give you information to help you make informed decision.

Overall, this is a quick and interesting read. Some parts can be boring especially where the author belabors on Warren's work on consumer financial protection work. I think you can skip those pages without missing much or loosing the gist of the matter.