ASHIM

Didn't quite like it. Sure, very detailed and good insights but something from the start just set me off. Agassi saying i hated tennis but I played and my dad made me go through insane routines doesn't appeal to me. I wish I got that kind of an environment for any sport. Not taking away anything, but to me it feels like a book from a very privileged position. Not my read.

Fastest I've ever read a book, and for legit reasons. A good friend recommended and sent me this book on Sunday. On Thursday night, i feel like I've seen a movie across 4 days. Insaneee!

First chapter and I was like “In uncle ki problem kya hai?! Chill maaro na life mein” Oh boy, how this story turned around. For some reason, I could only visualise him as the grumpy old guy from ‘Up'.

I had genuine positive emotion for him and others by the time I finished.

Someone told me there's a movie as well, will definitely not watch. I want to preserve my visual memory of it.

Also, thanks Maddy for the book. Hope you're enjoying the concepts of neuroplasticity.

One of my absolute favourites. Our brain is so adaptable to what we let it experience. People can change, it takes effort, and do wonderful things with their lives.
Our brain is just beautiful and amazing in so many ways.

A very technical book about designing fast cars, focusing towards F1 cars gradually, as it follows Newey's career. Many bits get way too detailed and technical for a fan to follow. Nevertheless, the anecdotes and the gossip are fun to read.

Fun little book for a newbie like me to get acquainted with the world of coffee. Coffee lovers always seem to me like they're part of a cult, and now I know why. Coffee is complex, from the brewing methods, to bean varieties, to machines to make coffee, to the variables in the entire cherry to cup journey.

PS. Recently got gifted an aero press, so thought it's worth spending my time on this. If you want a freshly brewed cup of coffee, I can be your barista!

Read a comic after 15-16 years. Strange feeling. They're a little hard to read now, or maybe I need to get used to them.

Warm and comforting.
I'd never read Ruskin Bond in my childhood, but this book (first of his) tells me a lot about his style of writing. Full of nature, small things that mostly go unobserved and everything joyous.
Will come back to read these nuggets of comfort and happiness.

Completed this during a 3.5 hour flight to Trivandrum. I was literally and metaphorically high!

I originally thought it was about the story of Gotama Budhha himself, but the story is about another man who lived at the same time as the Buddha. It is an interesting journey of this man, where he lives many different experiences and his learnings / insights keep on evolving through the places he travels, emotions he feels, people he meets. I loved it, his thirst to learn and unlearn. I often felt the journey was similar to mine and how my beliefs have evolved and also changed over the course of time.

This one insight is worthy enough to be mentioned: Some people are searching for something, some people are finding something. There's such a gentle and beautiful difference. I would definitely recommend this. Would have given 4.5 stars if I could. I'm definitely re-reading this in the future.

Weirdly I feel like I am behaving and talking like a monk now hahaha, all calm and wise. I've landed now (birthday surfing week!!) But I still feel a little high.

A very light and casual read. Told me a lot about the Danish way of creating homes and a glimpse into what life in Nordic countries would be like. It appeals to me.

I would recommend this to someone who is very passionate about building businesses / start-ups / new categories. It has a lot of good insights and rationales about building new categories and how one has better chances of dominating them. The concepts are very fundamental and make sense.

However, a lot of the content feels repetitive at times. Also, I felt sometimes that this was just their way of diversifying their revenue sources or to say “Hey, I've published a book.” Could have easily been a podcast, YouTube video or a shorter book.

Nevertheless, keeping the critic aside, I learnt from them and that's enough!

An epic road trip by Che across Latin America to celebrate his friend's birthday. So much uncertainty, it feels good to get validation on my own journey. Shows the real side of romanticised spontaneous road trips, which includes all sorts of memories and stories.

There's a movie too!

Thodi zyada sad hai but can read

A little too detailed to enjoy reading for pleasure. Good for writing reports in school projects or for people who really want to know each detail of his life.
Or maybe I'm just not in the phase where I gaga over him.
Great nonetheless!

Great read!
The story, atleast the starting part (Elizabeth's existential crisis) is very relatable (No, im not married but adjusting with what the society wants). That keeps me hooked. I enjoy her experiences of pleasure in eating in Italy and love the realisations she has. The second part, in India, about spirituality is good too - since it mostly relies on belief along the lines of logic, rather than complete faith. The third part, in Bali, is about love and somehow that wasn't able to keep me interested for long.

Oh, how beautiful is this book!
I was hooked from the first page itself. The way struggle and pain is described, it was almost aspirational. How the spirit is described, I could feel the spirit within myself maybe for the first time. I now want to explore the depths of my spirit, see how strong it is. Is it also made of an iron-coated core of resolve? Maybe cycling or running or TT or trekking will help me find it.

I'm going to find more about this book, if this story has been translated into a movie / show or not. And if not, it fully deserves to be made into a film. How I would love to be a part of its movie making process, making sure the emotions, feelings and poetry is not lost.

Whenever Bahadur ran, I could feel my legs urging me to run, not for proving anything to anyone, but for the “unselfconscious smile of joy”

Blinkist audio read. Meh.

Absolutely amazing book, in terms of how he describes his own mental self and his fight with cancer. His description of his life as a suffer fest hits hard and his personality of someone who can endure also is very relatable. Makes me want to pick up cycling.

However, one star reduced because i haven't gone in the depths of his doping scene.

I can relate to Eric. Overthinking, finding happiness, where is it, what is it, questioning everything. Ofcourse its subjective - Happiness. What it means for me is different for you. But by surveying multiple countries (here 10) he and I found what gives us happiness vs what doesn't.
I now know countries and people of Switzerland, Iceland and maybe Netherlands will make me happier since I align with the lifestyle and values of the region. Have always felt through my time in France and UK that Europe suits me (my sample set only includes US and India).

Fun fact - 1/10 people in Iceland have published a book, 5/10 read at least 8 books a year. Their education system is absolutely brilliant.

Just felt all of what was written were generic opinions, but without context or stories. Takeaways have meanings when you know the struggle and journey.

Just a fun and interesting book on how to improve your memory using simple techniques like creating a mind palace. Came across an extremely cool concept of life logging as well as the importance of our internal brain memories.

Very comforting!
Has helped me on the days when I'm feeling low and shit about myself. Nothing groundbreaking in the content, but thats not the point either. You'll find something, if not everything, very relatable and soothing in that moment. And that's sometimes all you need on a shitty day.

Another good collection of stories. New culture, new stories, new perspectives but some similar situations. Feel more connected to the pain and struggles in small towns, as well as the little joys. Highly recommend this series of books of different cultures.

Simple outcome: Going to North-East India in the next 2 years, for a >2 week backpacking trip.
I really liked the detailed and memorable experiences mentioned, be it positive, neutral or negative. Emotions are natural, and if you remember some of them, they are worth mentioning. Could visualise the travel on the budget couple facing difficulties yet enjoying the conversations and scenic views. They had a plan, yet didn't plan out the way they wanted. Were comfortable with spontaneity.
Only thing I wanted - Photos! Or is it just a simple trick to build the eagerness within, which will take me to NE... My mind thinks.

Not bad, but not great either. It's just a lot of opinions. I admire them, and i bought it simply because i wanted to learn about his perspective.
For me, my biggest win for myself was to better understand my relationship with money and wealth. I never really understood wealth creation. I always associated more money with evil and a negative emotion. Mostly because of how my family and bollywood movies viewed it. But my view has swung to the other side now, and it hopefully will only grow in that direction. If we can use our skills to solve problems for people, there is nothing wrong in letting society reward you with the agreed currency of the world. Ofcourse, it needs to be ethical and non exploitative.
More to learn in this journey though. To any of you reading this, if you can understand what I'm trying to explore, please do suggest more reading material.