Of risk and randomness
Reviewed by Shelly Walia
Antifragile: How to Live in a World We Do Not 
Understand. 
by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Allen Lane, 
London. Pages 519. £25
nassim Nicholas Taleb's response to randomness in life has one difference; he does not bemoan the modernist impulse towards parataxis or a heap of broken images seen in T. S. Eliot's The Wasteland: "These fragments I have shored against my ruins". There is no similar grief, despondency or a kind of lamentation when Taleb admits the arbitrariness of life. Instead, he accepts the idea of fragmentation with animation, exhilaration and celebration, a liberatory move that opposes a life of resilience or ageless rigidity.

Taj attacked, and how
Reviewed by Priyanka Singh
14 hours
by Ankur Chawla.
Rupa. 
Pages 164. Rs 195
THE day multiple attacks by terrorists brought Mumbai down on its knees. The day Indians would not forget soon. The day that makes one shudder, even now.

Poignant tale of survival
Reviewed by Amarinder Gill
Those Who Did Not Die
by Ranjana Padhi. 
Sage. 
Pages 182. Rs 650.
punjab was the Green Revolution state that emerged as the “Grain Bowl of India”. Its success story was parallel to none. However, the 1990s saw the Green Revolution reach a plateau as the yields declined and experts questioned the traditional rice-wheat cultivation. As the Green Revolution weakened, the farmers emerged as vulnerable and hard hit.

The age-old clash of science and religion
Reviewed by Mohammad Imtiaz
Just Seven Days
by Amrit Gupta
Unistar.
Pages 158. Rs 195 
emergence of materialistic thoughts has created a spiritual vacuum in the modern world that has added to the want of divine guidance. There has been a rise in demand of yoga and spiritual masters even in the West. “The twenty-first century man is… confused like Arjuna,” observes the author of this book.The book puts non-attachment, the theme of Bhagavadagita, on “top of the ladder” of life-goals. In this context, the book helps us “to seek ladders and learn climbing.” Many practical methods of meditation are mentioned for an individual and a group. Only control on mind and emotions save the human being from becoming an animal with a tendency of exploitation.

Enter, the Dragon
Reviewed by Gurmeet Kanwal
Clashing Titans: Military 
Strategy and Insecurity Among Asian Great Powers
by Rajeswari 
Pillai Rajagopalan Observer Research 
Foundation-Knowledge World. 
Pages 367. Rs 1,190
president Obama announced in October 2011, that the United States will rebalance its global strategy and “pivot to Asia”. Soon after that, Defence Secretary Leon Panetta indicated that the bulk of the US Navy will redeploy from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. These moves are widely seen to be designed to counter China's growing power and influence as well as marked assertiveness in its maritime neighbourhood. In response to China's rise and uncharacteristic belligerence, its neighbours have begun to upgrade their military capabilities and simultaneously reinforce their relations.

HOME