Amol

Just average

Reviewed: 17-08-2018

Had to listen to this book at 1.25x speed, otherwise it is toooo slow reading.
Narrator laughs sarcastically at Buddhist beliefs and traditions and events which makes those important things look trivial or untrue.
Could not finish listening the book! Will look for better alternative on Buddhism.
The series of lectures tries to cover a lot about Buddhism though which is appreciable.

Quite good description of a vast continent

Reviewed: 09-08-2018

Australia is a very vast continent. Bill Bryson has covered a lot of things about this continent in a very lucid way and in very much in his own style.
He has covered urban, rural, outback, flora, fauna, aboriginal people, sports, language and much more.

Bill Bryson has done justice to the aboriginal people and their heritage by acknowledging their role in preserving this continent for thousands of years before European occupiers came and giving ample description of aboriginal's treatment at hands of Europeans in past and their present day apathy and alienation.

This book gives a fairly good idea to someone planning to travel around Australia about whats and hows of travelling.

Story of TCS or Mr Ramadorai?

Reviewed: 18-07-2018

With due respect to Mr Ramadorai, this could have been much more interesting, inspiring and informative.
A missed opportunity for "The TCS story".

Economic history of only Europe

Reviewed: 18-07-2018

The title is misleading and the claim that this is economic history of world is totally wrong.
This book is only the economic history of Europe.
Europe started becoming relevant only after its people began occupying outside lands and that is why the author can find anything of relevance to talk about Economics only from 1400.

1 of 3 people found this review helpful

Truthful, engaging, sometimes exaggerated

Reviewed: 18-07-2018

You may not find everything said in this book when you go to India. You will certainly find most of it albeit toned down and less pervasive. Obviously, overstatement and exaggeration helps to sell!
Mind you, it is a different culture and a cultural shock is obvious to westerners.
Story nicely develops and understanding of India gradually matures (becomes more realistic) as the book progresses.
Overall, very good book on India, life in India and people of India.

Facts and reasons

Reviewed: 18-07-2018

This book starts with lots of numbers which made me almost put it down thinking it is just a read of numerous tables of data. But it picks up after initial hour of numbers gets over and that is when the real reason for that initial overload of number becomes relevant. Those numbers with sources attached are proof of Prof Vaidyanathan's reasoning and revelations throughout the book.
I always heard people saying how Nehru's economic policies were not best suitable to India and how the current sensex and FDI obsession is not right. This book clears it to a large extent.

Overrated, not suitable listen while driving etc.

Reviewed: 25-06-2017

I think this book is bit over rated. I bought it by looking at reviews but didn't find that great at all. May be, I was not expecting long pauses in the book reading for breathing and meditating. I listen while driving and walking, obviously don't want those frequent long pauses asking me to lie down calmly and breath!

7 of 12 people found this review helpful

I returned this book - bad narration

Reviewed: 02-06-2017

The narrator actually killed my interest in listening this book within less than 1 hour.

There is no need to pronounce everything so literally phonetically!!

Every Indian listening will find it absurdly strange to hear Indian names and words pronounced in funny sounding accent that lose their meaning.

Every non Indian who anyways would not have known those Indian names and words will find it of no use to hear literal phonetic pronunciation and will not be able to later relate those words heard in this book to same names or words they might hear elsewhere.

I will look for some other book on Swami Vivekananda or wait until this book is narrated by some Indian narrator in normal accent (not uselessly phonetically).

Swami Vivekananda was a great great great personality and every person in this world must know about him. Ill conceived narration of this book is not helping at all.

I am not against the narrator but the particular (meaningless) approach to narration of this book.
My feedback here is not for "story", it is for "performance" which turned me off from this book.

Reader pronunciation is poor

Reviewed: 06-05-2017

Reader has not pronounced city and person names properly.
This takes away the fluency in listening.
It will be better if this book is made available to existing buyers in another reader's voice who can pronounce names of places and persons of regions of India, Afghanistan, Iran.

The current pronunciation is really bad and incomprehensible.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

Bold, real. Must read for all Indians.

Reviewed: 04-04-2017

The book tells the story of Ambani family in detail. A must read for all Indians.
You will come to know that most of the stories about their business practices are actually true.

From the book, one can know how their business practices are in a way responsible for creating and nurturing corruption in India.

The reading is bit poor though, it seems at times that the reader is moving near and far from the mic causing variations in sound level.