June 15, 2019 Leave a Comment
All That Remains: A Life in Death is written by the renowned forensic anthropologist Sue Black, on death, mortality, and solving crimes. I read most of this book during my transatlantic flight. There was a shortage of tissues. I was acutely aware of that constraint and exercised great self-control particularly while reading her personal accounts […]
June 1, 2019 Leave a Comment
This is an unusual reading choice. The little prince might say this is for grown-ups. Yet again, I do not recall how I stumbled on the book. It is definitely a great read, agreeing with or not agreeing with the author on everything. Generally speaking, I like books by academics, except on some occasions when […]
May 25, 2019 Leave a Comment
I had a couple hours of gap at Stanford after touring the photonics and quantum computing labs, and before an evening programme on campus. Habitually I walked into the bookshop and found Twyla Tharp’s The Creative Habit. Reading the first couple of chapters was the best way to spend that time. There is always something […]
May 12, 2019 Leave a Comment
Yuval Noah Harari’s brief history of humankind is brief enough that I could read it and listen to its audiobook in one weekend. It is long enough that my reading chair could do with shaking my weight off it. Leaving its accuracy aside, since I am not a historian myself (not yet, neither you nor […]
May 9, 2019 Leave a Comment
Throughout the multiple phases of the Exascale Initiative, when people asked me what I was working on, I kept it simple and crisp: Exascale Computing. I learned to laser-focus on the meaningful challenges and develop simplicity elsewhere in life. Today I am very proud to share with you one sweet fruit of our endeavour: the […]
May 4, 2019 Leave a Comment
In 1948, Hemingway added an introduction to this book, that had been originally published in 1929. In this introduction, we learn that Hemingway wrote its first draft very quickly and every day to the point of complete exhaustion such that he completed it in only six weeks. He then spent a great deal of effort […]
April 21, 2019 Leave a Comment
I read a few articles by Robert Pozen, and the seven-part series on personal productivity by Pozen and Justin Fox, all published by Harvard Business Review. A wealth of great advice is worthy of sharing here. Pozen wrote a book called Extreme Productivity that I have not read. It is better to put great advice […]
April 14, 2019 Leave a Comment
Matthew Siegel recommended Inventing the Truth to us. More specifically, two chapters, “Introduction” by William Zinsser & “Life With Mother” by Russell Baker were part of last week’s assignment for his course on Writing Creative Nonfiction: Fearless and Authentic Narratives. I ordered a second-hand copy. It arrived in the post on Friday evening. Brown, beautifully […]
April 7, 2019 Leave a Comment
This weekend, I attended the Women Leaders: Mastering Organisational Strategy workshop given by Dikla Camel Hurwitz at Stanford Graduate School of Business. In short, my summary is: attend it if you have a chance, regardless of your gender. I personally think many discussions and practices we had would be very useful for male professionals as […]
March 30, 2019 Leave a Comment
This book, the Seven Levels of Communication by Michael J. Maher, arrived in the post. Very excitedly, I opened the package. After a quick glance at its cover with the subtitle “Go from Relationships to Referrals”. My heart sank to the deep dark valley in King’s Canyon. “Relationships to Referrals” those words immediately projected to […]