It is hard to imagine a life without Google Maps (I’ve lived that life, though can’t remember how I survived navigation before Google Maps). Yet, the journey of how this product came to life is a story of near-failure, unexpected turns, and innovation. In Never Lost Again, Bill Kilday—former marketing head at Keyhole and a key figure in the Maps …
A few months ago, I wrote about my decision to start reading fiction, inspired by a conversation between Tim Ferriss and Claire Hughes Johnson. The idea of reading fiction to build empathy was an out-of-the-box idea (at least for me). However, what makes this experience even more unique is that I read this book in a physical format—something that has …
There are a lot of books that talks about building a team/company. There are books that talks about planes (something I’m forever fascinated about). Very few books can teach you both and this is it. Skunk Works by Ben Rich is a fascinating book (don’t even remember the number of times I’ve listened to this one). It shares behind-the-scenes stories …
There was a lot of chatter among my team members about how great two picture books they read. Here are all the picture books I have read and my favorite parts. Big Panda and Tiny Dragon This story is about two friends, a big panda and a tiny dragon, who travel together during the changing seasons. This is one of …
These two books got into my reading list mostly because of Vivek. The number of times he mentioned instances from this book, I had to know what the Starbucks story is all about. And I’m glad I did read these two. I expected a simple and smooth story about Starbucks. Didn’t expect so many ups and downs within the company. …
An amazing book. The story is exciting, a lot of good life lessons to learn and of course, listening to the book in Trevor’s voice. If there is one book which should be read via audible instead of physical book, this must be it. Top things I recollect from this book.
The book I just completed. This one was hard to complete, but an interesting read nevertheless. The book is more than 29 hours (took me more than a month to complete). Also a lot of characters in the book are complete strangers. Wish I knew a little more about American politics. Three things I take away from this book Hard …
I love reading (actually listening) books. This wasn’t the case a few year back. It all changed with one single book. Radical Candor. Somehow before this book, I never imagined books to have the exact solutions for the business problems I might have. Since the author wrote the book at a different time, in a different context without knowing anything …
This book was recommended by Manas & Geetanjali as a part of our monthly book we read. In fact, the fact that this is just a small book made it easier to finish in one sitting. For anyone reading the book, I would recommend reading this book from physical book or e-book. I missed some of the key parts of …
This book was recommended by Geetanjali & Manas. We decided to read a book every month. This is a massive book. It took me two months to finish this book. This is a totally different kind of book I’ve read so far and something I believe everyone should read at some point. I’m not sure though if there is anything …
This book was first recommended by Ishani while she was reading this. In fact, I loved this book so very much that I completed this book even before she did. Months later, I recommended this book to Vidhi and ended up reading this again. The best thing about this book is the simplicity and practicality of this book. From the …
Every year, I work with a smart bunch of college kids during their summer/winter internship at HackerRank. While I’ve learned a lot of things from them, they usually ask for feedback/advice at the end of the internship. The individual feedback varies from person to person, but there is a standard set of links/books I share with them to read to …
This book was recommended by another colleague. This is written by Paul Kalanithi, an American Neurosurgeon, about his life and illness, battling stage IV lung cancer. Top three thoughts about this book I might remember forever. This book reminds me of a LOT about ‘The Last Lecture’ from Randy Pausch. If you haven’t read the book, you should read the …
Top three things I want to remember from this book and hopefully follow in work and life. It is not easy to build a team on top of honesty and candor. This is not because people are bad or not trustable. We slowly lose the honesty and candor as we grow big. We all try our best to avoid hard …