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Making Excellence a Habit: The Secret to Building a World-Class Healthcare System in India
By Dr. V Mohan, Penguin Random House
One of India’s leading diabetologists, Dr V Mohan writes in his memoir about the fundamentals that according to him, make a person achieve meaningful success and conquer fear about failure. He lists hard work, passion for what you do, and focus as a winner's secrets, among other qualities. The book is a handy guide to success based on his personal anecdotes about perseverance, determination, resilience and dedication.As someone who has contributed to research, education and charity, his emphasis on empathy and spirituality arepart of the narrative. From planning diabetes exposandconducting countrywide studies ata time when people were largely ignorant about the lifestyle disease, DrMohan shares his unusual ideas and experiences that made the world take notice.The book, he says, is aimed at igniting aspark in students, young and future doctors, scientists and entrepreneurs.
The Ventilator Project
By Srikant Sastri and Amitabha Bandopadhyay, MacMillan India
In response to the then imminent pandemic crisis, Amitabha Bandyopadhyay and Srikant Sastri formed the IIT Kanpur Ventilator Consortium as a task force to assist a young startup, Nocca Robotics, in building affordable high-quality ventilators for India’s cash-strapped hospitals. In the book is the story of the conception, creation and success of the life-saving device, the Noccarc V310 that was put together in a record 90 days during the lockdown.It is the story of thecollaboration of 20 young and experienced doctors, scientists, engineers, innovators and management professionals with disparate skills and expertise, residing in India and overseas. The book offers ablueprint for socially impactful businesses in the post-Covid era through first-hand lessons gleaned during the task force’s run.The authors say if stakeholders work together with a sense of purpose, there is no dearth of opportunities to apply talents and skillsto fight every odd with tenacity, technology and radical thinking.
Everyday Superfoods
By Nandita Iyer, Bloomsbury
Nutritionist Nandita Iyer describes her book as a dependable partner in healthy lifestyles and shows how to use easily available local superfoods from amarnath towheatgrass in thedaily diet. Using an arsenal of 39 superfoods, the author provides 60 simple recipes to enrich the relationship with food, eating habits, mood and immunity. She highlights the benefits of each ingredient and recipe and discusses how each helps in specific conditions such as diabetes, cancer, digestive health, heart diseases. She also gives practical tips on weekly menu planning, shopping, cooking and storage, superfood swaps, andcreating a kitchen garden.
Imagine If: Stories of Ordinary People with Extraordinary Grit
By Rajvi H Mehta, Westland
The author captures the essence of her guru, B K S Iyengar's teachings, based on the philosophy that by practicing yoga, we can endure what cannot be cured and cure what need not be endured. The book contains inspirational stories of people with amputated limbs, cancer, emotional trauma and other ailments, who found relief in Iyengar yoga. Rajvi believes inyoga’s transformative power and the book tells us how youcan open yourself to yoga. It reminds us that our well-being is the collective connection amongst body, mind, emotions, intellect, consciousness, morality, sociality and conscience. Yoga is a necessary tool for those coping with trauma during turbulent times, writes the author.
The Code-Breaker
By Walter Isaacson, Simon & Schuster India
In telling the story of Nobel Prize winner Jennifer Doudna's revolutionary approach to curing diseases, fending off viruses and having healthier babies, the author Walter Isaacson underlines how science operates. He opens a new world of medical miracles and moral questions while introducing us to CRISPR that can edit DNA. The development of CRISPR in tandem with the race to create vaccines for coronavirus, the author writes, is likely to hasten mankind's transition to the next generation of innovation in medical treatment. The past half-century has been a digital age, based on the microchip, computer, internet and artificial intelligence. But now we are entering a life-science revolution, according to Isaacson. The book is woven like a tale that involves the most profound wonders of nature, from the origins of life to the future of our species. It shows how our new ability to hack evolution will soon start throwing us curveballs.
The Making of a Superhuman
By Sanjeev Nair , Available on Amazon Kindle
In this self-help book based on experience and knowledge, Sajeev Nair weaves modern medical research and ancient textual wisdom from Ayurveda and yoga to build on personalized preventive medicine. He talks of Epigenetic Lifestyle Modifications (EPILIMO), biohacks that everyone can do, to take charge of their health, longevity, and productivity. Nair says peak physical performance is necessary for peak mental performance, and remaining productive through life elevates the sense of achievement and results in peak energy. This in turn contributes to good health. Nair practiced a series of psychological techniques that lead to the formulation of Thought Process Reengineering (TPR), a mental framework that Nair claims to have successfully implemented.
Saying it with poems
To the Bravest Person I Know
By Ayesha Chenoy, Penguin India
From growing up in dysfunctional families to coming of age, from dealing with heartbreak, pain and grief to learning to accept and forgive, this book of poems and a personal letter to the reader, is like a guide through life's difficult situations. Ayesha Chenoy describes her book as modern therapy that can help grapplewithmyriad human emotions. She writesaboutfear and depressionbeingas normal as feeling insecure and hurting others and facing every daunting challenge.The author wrote the book after deriving comfort from the words of Kahlil Gibran, Haruki Murakami, Isabelle Allende during her own struggles. Through her work, she hopes readers understand that they are not alone in their struggles and it is not difficult to navigate life on your own terms.
Where Hope Comes From
By Nikita Gill , Hachette India
Instagram influencer Nikita Gill weaves words to explore the collective trauma of people in the backdrop of the current global crisis. She takes the readers back on the journey of hope by writing about the five stages of grief to the five stages of hope through the life cycle of a star. The collection features her popular poems Love in the Time ofCoronavirus and How to be Strong , with new poems and attractive water colour illustrations. For thosemourning the loss of a loved one or a way of life, Nikita's book helps to heal.
