Books I could read this year

1. Men who made new physics.
   It is story of the physicists who heralded the new era of physics.
2. Five Dollar Smile.
   One of the early writings of Shashi Tharoor, perhaps when he was in college. Stories feature subjects which occupy adolescent minds. Subjects like friendship, love, sex and politics are dealt with in a very comical way.
   
3. How I taught my grandma and other stories.
   
4. Old man and his god.
   Both the books by madam Sudha Murty. Most of the stories upheld values, virtuous nature in human beings, human dignity, many ethical and philanthropic subjects.
   
5. Its not about Bike.
   It is all about strength and courage by the cyclist, marathon guy Lance Armstrong, who defeated cancer to get back to race and win the Tour de France 5 times.
   
6. Just do it.
   Very practical advice from Sir. Richard Branson. He just did the Virgin empire and encourages everyone to just do what one wants to do.
   
7. Bridges of Madison County.
   Very romantic one. In fact, the best romantic book I have read so far. Writing is very good and it is a subject which could lie on the borderline of love and infidelity, but author has dealt it in a wonderful way that the reader can understand and sometimes agree with the borderline which it portrays.
   
8. Guide to Earth, Moon and Space.
   Asimov's non-fiction writing. His writing is very lucid and it tries to bring back the questions that a curious child wonders when standing outside and looking at the night sky. Questions like, "What are those shiny things?, Why is it there?, Why is not falling?, Why are so many of them there?, Why is it dark now?, Is sun asleep?, When we travel in a scooter how come moon is also traveling along with us?Can we race ahead of it?". Those are just fun and very valid questions. Asimov tries to answer them all as it can be understood by the child who asks those questions. The book is simply too good. I really loved it.
   
9. Theory of Everything.
   Stephen Hawkings explains science as it evolved from the times of Galileo till the string theory. It is easy to read, and presented in a very concise manner.
   
10. Revenge of the Baby Sat.
    
11. Calvin and Hobbes 1st book.
    Both of them, lovable Calvin and Hobbes adventures.
    
12. Asterix series.
    
    • Asterix the Gaul
    • Asterix and the Golden Sickel
    • Asterix and the Goths.
    • Asterix and the Chieftains Shield.
    • The Mansions of the Gods.
    • Asterix and the Soothsayer.
    • Asterix and Caesar's Gift.
13. Fantastic Voyage.
    Asimov's fiction, which is, in fact is based on the screenplay of a movie by the same name. The book came much earlier than the movie. Three men and a woman, miniature themselves and enter inside the human body,in a miniaturized submarine to do an operation. They will have complete the operation and get out of body within a time limit, otherwise even as their goal fails, everyone stands at a danger of losing something very valuable, the information available with the person they are trying to save at any cost. Asimov has taken take to write fiction in very logical way. Like the troop experience the "Brownian Motion" as they enter inside the body.
    
14. Out of my Comfort Zone.
    Steve Waugh's Biography. While reading this, I had many fits of laughter, many a moments of amusement and wonder at this simple guy with lot of character. Steve is definitely one of my favorite sports person. He is very plain and direct. And a very bold person too as we can see in his auto-biography. Good lessons on leadership and management is presented in his book.
    
15. Krishna and Gopal.
    
16. Savitri
    
17. Buddhist Tales
    From Amar Chitra Katha series, based on folklore, mythology and ancient Indian stories. They deal the moral values, justice, ethical leadership and administration.
    I have more Amar Chitra Katha books to read.
18. Hound of Baskervilles.
    
19. Sign of Four
    
20. Study in Scarlet
    Those were the brilliance of Sir. Arthur Canon Doyle through Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. I read these for the second time as I had completed the sherlock holmes series a long time back.

Many of these books, like "Guide to Earth, Moon and Space", "Theory of Everything", Sherlock Holmes series, I read along with my friend Avinash and we both enjoyed it together.

Apart from these, there are few technical books, I could lay my hands upon. Note , technical books are not meant to be read, they are to be studied thoroughly and worked upon a number of times. So, I cannot put them in the read category.

I could get chance to work with,

• Version Control with Subversion by Ben Collins-Sussman, Brian W. Fitzpatrick, C. Michael Pilato.
  
• Word power made easy by Norman Lewis.
  
• Cryptography and Network Security, by William Stallings.
  

My friend and I had thought at the start of year to compete for the 50bookchallenge. While that was my list of books, I am glad that we got started and next year, I plan to read at least 50 books.

Let me know if you would like to read any of these books, I would be glad to share it with you. You can also have a peek into my online library at books.google.com

Happy New Year 2008 to all!