Your Life, Uploaded: the digital way to better memory, health and productivity
Gordon Bell and Jim Gemmell
(Plume, Rs. 499)
Digital technology has invaded our lives like never before. What's more, it has provided easy options in every walk of life, be it health, communication or entertainment.
In this book, tech wizard Gordon Bell and Jim Gemmell unveil a guide to the next digital revolution. Using extensive research findings, Bell and Gemmell explain the ever-increasing access to personal memories using technology — from Internet and Facebook to hard-drives.
Our lives are filled with astonishing volumes of data — financial transactions, medical data, school transcripts, family photo albums. What do we do with them? Are they easily accessible when we need them? Over the past decade, Bell and Gemmell have been working on a project titled MyLifeBits to find answers to such queries.
The result? An amazing enhancement of human experience from health, education and productivity to just reminiscing about good times. And then, when you are gone, your memories, your life will still be accessible to your grandchildren.
Man of Science: S. Chandrasekhar
Edited by Radhika Ramnath
(Harper Collins, Rs. 499)
Astronomer, astrophysicist and cosmologist Carl Sagan had this to say about Professor Chandrasekhar, under whom he studied at the University of Chicago: “I discovered what true mathematical elegance is from Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar.”
Last year, to coincide with the centenary of S. Chandrasekhar, his niece Radhika Ramnath, put together this book to salute one of India's greatest scientists. The world recognises the Nobel laureate as one of the most outstanding astrophysicists. In this book, Radhika paints a more rounded picture of the great man… that of a caring uncle, a devoted husband and a compassionate brother. Being part of his immediate family gave Radhika an insider's insight into the other facets of the man and the scientist.
The book is split into two parts. The first section is a compilation of his most famous essays and lectures that lays before the reader Chandrasekhar's love for science and his motherland. The second part is a string of memories by his large family… wife Lalitha who spent sixty years supporting him through thick and thin, his brother Balakrishnan and sister Vidya, who shared their childhood with him in Madras, and various nieces and nephews who loved him and at the same time, were in awe of him.
The added bonus is a foreword by APJ Abdul Kalam, whose apt words sum up the reason for reading this book: “… will be an effective guide in the lives of the denizens of the modern, globalised world in which distances have shrunk…., but the need for bonding… is felt much more urgently.”
iCon: Steve Jobs – the greatest Second Act in the history of business
Jeffrey S. Young & William L. Simon
(Wiley India, Rs. 715)
Here's a man who rose from being an outcast high school electronics nerd to becoming the driving force behind Apple and an avatar of computer revolution, only to be driven away from the company in disgrace.
This book is all these and also about how Jobs worked his way toward an astounding comeback, revolutionising the entertainment industry with Pixar, reclaiming the throne at Apple, and, by creating the iPod, becoming arguably the greatest innovator of the digital age.
Drawing from various sources, Young and Simon lend a fresh edge to Jobs' iconic return to digital power. This completely unauthorised portrait also reveals more about Jobs' role in the remarkable rise of Pixar, and examines his dramatic recapture of Apple.
‘iCon' is a must-read for all those who want to understand a master of three industries: movies, music and computers.
Un-Bound: Indian Women @ Work
Gita Aravamudan
(Penguin, Rs. 250)
In today's tech-driven world, women form a major part of the workforce in any organisation. But have working conditions really changed for the modern career woman in our country? What are the pros and cons of being career-driven? How safe is she at the workplace? Does a highly-paid woman software engineer still have to pay a dowry? Babies and BlackBerry phones … do they go together?
Journalist and writer on gender issues, Gita Aravamudan tries to find answers to questions such as these in her third book, through a series of interviews she conducted with women from all walks of life across the country. Gita believes the rules of the workplace are changing as the number of women looking for a career is on the rise.
In this book, biz icons such as Biocon's Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, and Meena Ganesh, former CEO, TESCO Hindustan Service Centre, rub shoulders with hairstylist Rachel and call centre employee Sumathi and discuss topics such as gender discrimination and the difficulties of balancing home and office.
The stories here are real, and they provide a valuable guide to the brave new world of today's women professionals.
