March 2009 - Posts - Bookends

March 2009 - Posts

Finding the time to read

Posted by Samanth Subramanian at 
In my halcyon reading days, which ended roughly four years ago, I would never read more than one book at a time. This was possible, I realise now, because my work as a freelance journalist afforded me that liberty. I could read also more challenging books more often, having the mental energy to devote to them even after, say, my movie review for the...

More>>

The oddest book title of the year...

Posted by Samanth Subramanian at 
... has been announced . This year, the winner of the Diagram Prize is The 2009-2014 World Outlook for 60-miligram Containers of Fromage Frais . The runners-up: Dorothy L Cheney and Robert M Seyfarth's Baboon Metaphysics ; Brooks D Cash's Curbside Consultation of the Colon ; Mark Hordyszynski's Strip and Knit with Style ; Emmanuel Kowalski's...

More>>

A depressing blast from the past

Posted by Samanth Subramanian at 
Somebody sent me the link to this New York Times story from 1999, on American legislation to "unshackle" banks and financial service firms -- a move that, some say, led to the financial crisis of today. Particularly poignant is this passage: "I think we will look back in 10 years' time and say we should not have done this but we did...

More>>

Five magazines in one

Posted by Samanth Subramanian at 
Via...some source I don't recall now, I learned about Time 's attempt to create a customized magazine for each of its subscribers. It's attempting, in a sense, to do what many, many web sites do, pulling content from various sources and presenting it all in one place -- except that it's never been tried in print before this. The trial...

More>>

Amazon.com in India and other fond thoughts

Posted by Samanth Subramanian at 
I'm excited about the upcoming official launch of Pustak , an online book retail service that has been in beta for about five months now. Right now, this space in India is occupied only by Indiaplaza , and while I've ordered books off that web site before, I've been disappointed roughly 50 per cent of the time, either by very late deliveries...

More>>

Narendra Modi in The Atlantic

Posted by Samanth Subramanian at 
In this month's issue of The Atlantic , we find Robert Kaplan's profile of Narendra Modi -- or rather, what purports to be a profile. Really, from reading the article, it looks like Modi gave Kaplan approximately 30 minutes of his time, and Kaplan doesn't go through the usual grind of talking to people around Modi, trying to build up a fresh...

More>>

Ayn Rand prospers during the economic slowdown

Posted by Samanth Subramanian at 
Sales of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged , according to a service that tracks book trends on Amazon, have surged as the economic slowdown has worsened, and The Guardian offers an explanation . President Barack Obama's economic ideas include plans to tax the rich and the super-rich further, and to rescue floundering banks and homeowners -- a policy...

More>>

Here's a thought for investment managers

Posted by Samanth Subramanian at 
If you had to pick an investment in 1997, would you have ignored various subprime-based securities to choose a book instead? In retrospect, of course, it looks like the wise move. Subprime-based securities are now worth approximately as much as the crud on the bottom of my shoe, whereas a softcover copy of the first Harry Potter book just sold for ...

More>>

Books by their covers

Posted by Samanth Subramanian at 
Via the always wonderful book blog of the New Yorker , I came across this web site , which set off a chain of thought: I don't remember book covers too well, primarily because I've always been so impatient to open the damn thing and start reading. But one cover sticks in my mind. It was of a book called The Adventures of Dennis , a now-forgotten...

More>>

The most depressing thing I've read this week...

Posted by Samanth Subramanian at 
...and it's only Wednesday. Who knows what Friday will bring? In the New York Times , a story headlines itself: " In Tough Times, the Humanities Must Justify Their Worth ." That headline alone is depressing, and reading the story only makes it worse. As the economic slowdown prolongs itself, universities are cutting back on faculty appointments...

More>>

How books turned me into a non-vegetarian

Posted by Samanth Subramanian at 
Reading a travel book over the weekend -- Francis Mayes' A Year in the World , if you must know -- and drooling all over its pages at the descriptions of Italian sausage and lobster ravioli, I realised that it was similar reading that had turned me into a non-vegetarian in the first place. I come, otherwise, from a strictly vegetarian family. But...

More>>