Author: Sujatha Gidla Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The word outcast is used to refer to those who have been rejected by society or a social group. It literally means outside of caste, which is the social hierarchy in which many in India have lived and still live. Previously known as untouchables and now usually referred to officially... Continue Reading →
Author: Max Fisher Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ In this book, Max Fisher explores the impacts of social media on our brains and our social connections and on our social and political structures. Most of these impacts are clearly negative, and while I’m sure many social media companies would argue that their products have positive impacts as well,... Continue Reading →
Author: Adrian Wooldridge Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 I had mixed feelings about this book. I’ve read both The Tyranny of Merit and The Meritocracy Trap. The first covers how meritocracy is a double-edged sword that both rewards people for effort but can punish them for failure and blame them for that outcome. The second reviews how the... Continue Reading →
Author: Geoff White Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This book tells the story of several cyberattacks that took place around the world all thought to be the work of the Lazarus group. This includes the Wannacry virus that brought down a good portion of the NHS, the Sony Pictures hack that led to both great embarrassment and commercial... Continue Reading →
Author: Antonia Bolingbroke-Kent Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This is the second book on India I’ve read for my Around the World Book Tour, and I liked it much more than the first one. For me, good travel writing not only gives an account of the author’s journey, but puts the place they’re travelling to into context. The... Continue Reading →
Author: James C. Scott Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ When I started this book, I thought it would be a slightly dry and moderately vain attempt by a Political Scientist to stretch into several other social sciences to cobble together a mildly interesting theory explaining things that happened thousands of years ago that likely had little relevance today.... Continue Reading →
Author: Carl Erik Fisher Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I was only a few chapters into this book when I realised it would likely become one of my favourites of the year. Fisher combines his personal expertise as an addiction physician with his personal experience as a former alcoholic to discuss the history of addiction, and, more specifically,... Continue Reading →
Author: Monisha Rajesh Rating: ⭐️⭐️.5 Although Rajesh’s parents are Indian, she grew up mostly in the UK (apart from a brief two-year stint where her family returned to India during her childhood), so she’d never explored the country much beyond visiting relatives and such, so, partially inspired by Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80... Continue Reading →
Author: Sean McMeekin Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This book is a very thorough look into the Russian Revolution, tracing the movements and interactions of all the significant players, including the imperial family, the various governments, the Bolsheviks and the military. Having never studied Russian history in much detail, the Russian Revolution has always been one of those... Continue Reading →
Thoughts on the non-fiction books I finished in January
The Kat Bite 