Dongri to Dubai

Dongri To Dubai: Six Decades of The Mumbai Mafia by S Hussain Zaidi

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


If you are interested in the underworld, you can read it once. The author gives a fleeting glimpse of oldies like Haji Mastan, Varda bhai etc. and mostly concentrates on Dawood. The book clearly reflects the author being a reporter as most of the book looks like several newspaper reports put together. A kind of linearity we expect on biographies is missing for the book. Still, you can read it to know about the life of Dawood and the rise of Mafia in Bombay.



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The Krishna Key

The Krishna Key by Ashwin Sanghi

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I was skeptical as to whether he is trying really hard to become Dan Brown of India. turns out it is true! But I really liked how well he tried to build up the premise and how much research he has done. Though he is not an author who can engage you in general, the story will help you to peg on.
  The only complaint I have is how he is closely following Dan Brown . A mercenary, a secret group, a professor of history....everything is eerily similar to Brown's style of writing. But I like how he tried to connect a lot of things. I was also surprised that I didn't know so many things about Indian history. The only thing is , of many things he mentioned , I am not sure what sources are credible and what are fiction he wrote for the sake of book!
A brave attempt nevertheless, and a thumbs up to Ashwin Sanghi. He lived up to his fan's expectations and deleivered another awesome book!

I only hope, he becomes as famous as  Amish Tripathi.



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The Brain that changes itself

The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science by Norman Doidge

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I expected it to be more technical but it is a book written for a common man. Very interesting experiences. Makes you wonder at brain, life etc...
I highly recommend it to anybody interested in the wonder called Brain..



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Turbelence : Book by Samit Basu

Turbulence by Samit Basu

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I liked The Game World Trilogy a lot and had high expectations on Samit-Basu. But this is a big disappointment as it looks very very ordinary. The imagination looks like a little child's who watched too many super-hero movies. I think after you watch too many super-hero movies and read so many comics, anything you try in that area will eventually look like an existing super-hero.
   Even the plot was very hazy and the ending felt as if he didnt know what to do and just finished it someway. It all looked like a B-grade action movie. Suddenly  Tia and Jai's gang become insignificant and he never explains the Iron-man suit (it even becomes a suit-case just like the Iron Man movie!!). The whole thing is so badly written that I cannot believe that someone as imaginative as a person who wrote the amazing Game World Trilogy could have written it. Maybe even I could have had a better imagination if I started with the basic premise of the plot.

Bottomline: If you liked Game World Trilogy, don't read this. Your appreciation of Samit Basu will dampen!



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The Unwaba Revelations:Game World Trilogy-3

The Unwaba Revelations by Samit Basu

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


   I always had second thoughts on this book because after all that happened in the second, I was not sure how he could manage to close the trilogy thrilling enough. As I expected, the last few pages were interesting and relevant. The rest all, even the battle pages were boring and looked like they were written to just fill up the pages. Alsso he created so many characters that he couldn't give enough importance to any. Characters which were the main one's in the beginning too get very less pages in the third part. Aswin character was completely neglected(it was not etched properly,intentionally i guess, right from the beginning). Even Kirin and Maya do nothing in this book. I agree that it was all supposed to be part of the plan but seeing pages and pages of Rakshas-Ravian war is not exactly interesting.

     Still, I am satisfied with the ending and the trilogy as a whole. The only regret I have is this trilogy also turned out to be like maximum trilogies, awesome and exciting first part and downhill from there. Still, am proud that an Indian managed to successfully pull off a 1500 page fantasy trilogy!



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