A Gentleman in Moscow

A Gentleman in Moscow truly is an enthralling novel that is based on a fictional character Count Alexander Rostov, a count under house arrest at a posh hotel after Russian revolution. The story unfolds with concurrent rise in communism in Russia and the author wonderfully captures the sociopolitical situation as the story of the Count unfolds in that hotel where he has settled into a routine. The routine is disturbed when a he meets a little girl staying at the same hotel whom the count finds intriguing enough to let her show him a thing or two, to make him experience a thing or two, in his otherwise routine life. Count's life in his microcosm is enriched by characters that he interacts on a daily basis such as the the chef and the host of the restaurant where count works as a head waiter. Also, included as his well-wishers are bell boys and a hotel seamstress, Maria. Oh and let's not forget Anna, a film star who is secretly having an affair with count. The story takes an unusual turn when count is forced to take care of a kid which he grows fond of as time progress and eventually adopts her as his daughter. The whole while count Rostov is secretly devising a scheme to flee his house arrest which he accomplishes in a well planned way after he dispensing with his fatherly obligations.

Overall, fans of fiction and nonfiction are equally sure to enjoy this book. The characters are believable , the narrative is coherent, the language is refined, the times post Russian revolution early 20^th century.

Mandela and the General

Thank you Plough Publishing for forwarding me the unpublished copy of Mandela and the General for review. The book goes in publication on Nov 5th. 

This being my second nonfiction graphic novel, I certainly liked this more than my first one on Andy Warhol. The art work is really good and the text is not too "loud" as some graphic novels have. The author manages to capture the essence of relation between Nelson Mandela and General Constand Viljoen. It was through the mutual respect of both the men  that they were able to avoid a massive bloodshed between blacks and south African whites. Although, the books does not go into details, a reader can get a good idea of the political situation at that time. 

It is a quick read and will make a good gift for young adults or anyone who likes reading nonfiction graphic novels.

Becoming Andy Warhol

Thank you Abrams Books for forwarding me a copy of Becoming Andy Warhol's latest edition. This book is my first comic book and I didn't know if I will end up being a fan of comic books or abandon them forever. Well, I am on a fence with my decision. While the pictures and illustrations are done well, it is hard to figure out the characters and who says what making it difficult to follow the story. Also, the story is fast forwarded version of Andy's struggle with art world and his eventual fame as a pop artist. I personally didn't enjoy it as much as I like a coherent story versus having to decipher the emotions, expressions and verbal tone from graphics. But if you are fan of adult comic books then you might want to check this book out.  Keep up the good work Nick Bertozzi and Pierce Hargan.

P.S: I still think I should buy the illustrated/graphic version of American Gods.

P.S: The first Andy Warhol art piece I saw was at my residency director's office. That was my introduction to pop art.

The Last Palace - Europe's Turbulent Century in Five Lives and One Legendary House by Norman Eisen

Thank you Penguin Random House for sending me this unpublished copy (now published as of Sept 4^th) for review.

The Last Palace by Norman Eisen (US ambassador to Czech Republic) is truly an amazing read. To learn the history you can read books written by academic scholars and pour over historical documents which can be boring and downright depressing or you can study an object, a person, an event that has been affected politically, socially, culturally, etc during the time the history of which we are trying to study which in my opinion is more fun and better way of learning. That is exactly what Norman Eisen has done in this book. He takes us through the history of European empire particularly Czechslovakia starting from pre-WWII all the way up to now. The central object that the story revolves around is Otto Petschek's Palace that he obsessively tailored to his vision built just before WWII. How the lives of it's owner Petschek family and eventually it's various occupants were affected with rise of Fascism in Germany and later with Communism in Soviet and eventually establishment of democracy in Czech republic is so vividly articulated. The story of Petschek's Palace is the story of Czech republic in 20^th century. How US foreign policy played a role in helping oust Communism in Czech is worth admiring. All those US ambassadors standing up again Communist regime including Shirley Black, the celebrity actress and how she ushured in the democracy by peripherally supporting and being a witness of the revolution that overthrew the communist regime.

Overall, this is an amazing book that history buffs are sure to enjoy thoroughly.

Dear Los Angeles -The City in Diaries and Letters, 1542 to 2018

I bet everyone has some level of affection to their city, state or country. You know the place where you have lived for the most part of your life and there is something you miss  when you are away from your "home". But how about getting to know a city through other peoples experiences, better yet how about getting to know a place going back in time and how it has evolved over time by studying the contents of someone's diary and letters, not someone's, anyone's whose diary entries found a way into this book called Dear Los Angeles. Like the cover of this book says, it is a book of diary entries and letters from folks with intimate connection to Los Angeles. In it you will find entries by people you absolutely wouldn't have any idea who they are but then there are people such as Ray Bradbury, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Marilyn Monroe, etc to name few well-known celebrities. That being said there is no particular order to this entries not is there any continuation a common theme. To an uninitiated this book might seem little bit on the edge of what we know to be a literary composition but quickly you start finding these entries entertaining and thought provoking. For example, my favorite is this one by some guy Ryan Reynolds from 2017 entry-" People in LA are deathly afraid of gluten. I swear to god, you could rob a liquor store in this city with a bagel.". There are also letters written to celebrities and politicians that captures the sociopolitical state during the time the entries were made. 

Overall, I found this book different, different than what we are used to. I suppose it would made a good addition as a  coffee table book. Flip open any page without having to worry about continuity, read a paragraph and be done with that chapter. Open a random page next time and do the same.

A Change of Hate - By Joe Broadmeadow

Once in a while I read fiction to let my workout my creative side and this book did the job quite well. Don't want to give away the plot but it is an intriguing tale that centers on Samson Armstrong's murder, Director of Homeland Security. Defending the suspect is a flamboyant lawyer Mr. Bennett and his team with colorful characters as Chris, former police officer turned private investigator and Maggie, his co-counsel. Representing the government is AUSA Ms. Esposito whose character in the book has no variation, just someone representing the government. We have Vietnamese mafia to add a little spice to the story and whole lot of characters trying to protect wrongdoings from the government officials. The court drama which is half the book is pretty good as well. Keeps the book glued to your hands. Overall, I think this is an interesting and quick fictional read. 

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.