January, 2011 archive

“Billions of Entrepreneurs – How China and India are reshaping their futures and yours”  compares the economic growth of China and India. While most of the India story like Infosys and ICICI bank  is familiar to a person staying in India, it notes how the importance given to technical excellence in China has resulted in the development of the infrastructure of the country. It provides insights on the banking system in China, state control / holding patterns in companies and corruption levels. It  shows how China has increased its influence in South East Asia, especially Burma (Myanmar) while many of the Indian origin people in that country have left. Most news reports carry information on China’s high economic growth rate, but this book helps you understand how the Chinese economy actually works.  

Book : Billions of Entrepreneurs  – How China and India are reshaping their futures and yours by Tarun Khanna

Pages: 351

Publisher : Penguin Books India , 2009

The book Maximum City ,Bombay Lost & Found covers the many aspects of  Bombay (now Mumbai) such as the riots of 1992 -93, the film industry, the diamond merchants, the runaway poet and a Jain family taking Diksha (with backup insurance in place) . Though many aspects of the city have changed in the last decade, this is perhaps the most well researched book on the city I have read.  The writer has spent a lot of time speaking to and observing the life of the people he has written about. The writer spent his childhood in the city and has a network of relatives in the city, and captures the changes in the city over the last 3 decades (except the last decade).

The book is very well written, and is broken into chapters for each aspect of the city. A good read if you want a glimpse of Mumbai in the 1990’s.

Review : Maximum City ,Bombay Lost & Found by Suketu Mehta

Pages: 584

Publisher : Penguin Books India , 2006