Review – Outsizing by Steve Coughran #ARC #greenleafbooks

Title- Outsizing

Publisher- Greenleaf books

Pages- 296

Genre- Business and self help

My rating- 4/5 🍩🍩🍩🍩.

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This books provides in depth analysis of how businesses and economy; are changing with time and how few companies have traits that keeps them floating , when data shows that 67% of business go bankrupt in 10 years.

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Book divides whole basic characteristics of a lasting business in 6 parts and details each one so that reader may gain insights into what is actually happening in complex environment that we live in.

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There is a lots of useful information. If you have a bit of basic knowledge about business this book can act as a knowledge booster .
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There are practical contemporary examples and success/ failure stories from business world. In nutshell everyone should do what Amazon is doing. That can be oversimplified takeaway message.
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But there us a big bag of knowledge in those pages.
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Author intelligently shows that with time business is changing. It was production centric in start. Then it became customer centric. And now it is becoming experience based.

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Every business should try to do what Amazon and Uber and apple are doing for so long. To stay relevant and flourishing.

What I didn’t appreciate was;

1. Diagrams are not easy to read on kindle

2. At few junctures writing becomes a little too complex and technical.
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.But it is a book to learn basics of how small startups can convert into big giants. I liked the fact that present economics is of experience creation and customer centric approach is must.

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Thanks netgalley and publisher for review copy.

#bookreview #earc #greenleafbooks #stevecoughran #businessbooks #nonfictiknbooks #bookblogger

Review , The Intelligence trap by David Robson. #hachetteindia

Title- The intelligence trap

Author- David Ronson

Pages- 270

Publisher- Hachette books

Genre- nonfiction, psychology

My Rating- 4/5. 🏵️🏵️🏵️🏵️

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Happy SundayFriends,
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I have just completed , “The Intelligence trap by @davidrobson and #gifted by @hachette_india.
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Book is about human stupidity which hides in secret areas behind veils of pseudo or incomplete intelligence. It appears as if total stupidity is constant and when it is reduced in one cognitive field it can grow in other areas.
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After reading it you will have few doubts on topper in your class or pundit sitting on tv.
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Book is highly readable and enjoyable ( especially after a slow chapter one) and second half is so wonderful and joy to read as it carries contemporary case studies.

🏵️🏵️🏵️🏵️.
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Book details falliability of human intelligence with relevant and interesting stories. Imagine any great thinker from history and you will find even their brains were not flawless and they also committed many mistakes which are available in public domain.
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There is Einstein, Edison, NASA, BP, Steve Jobs and many many great minds.
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Latest scientific and psychological research finds centrestage and may be a bit tepid to read in between great interesting case studies.
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And I agree with #rolfdobelli who has written in its review that book is;
“Brilliant…..
mesmerizing…
essential…;

read for any curious mind who is aware of infinite bounds of human stupidity.
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.A really great book for nonfiction and psychology buffs.
As author has specified that difficult books are retained for longer, so he has not tried to over simplify things.

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Drawback of the writing is lots of psychology research. This is not easily understood by amateur reader.

Book is little complex I first part after that it eases down.

#hachetteindia#rolfdobelli#nobfiction#hardcover
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Review ,”Where the man will take us”. By Atul Jalan #review#penguinindia

Title- Where the man will take us

Author- Atul Jalan

Publisher- Penguin portfolio

Genre- nonfiction, technology

Pages- 272

My rating- 3/5

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QOTD- ❓ Do you prefer honest review or sugar coated review of each book?
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This book is flooding bookstagramindia for last two weeks and being nonfiction reader I spontaneously ordered it. It has awesome cover and feel when you hold it.

Everybody is praising it, but I would like to put forward my personal opinion, so that you may get a wholesome idea about it.
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1. It has shadow of #yuvalnoahharari book #homodeus. Parts on #AI and future, dataism, driverless car and ethics, deep blue, AI and jobs appear familiar.
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What he has portrayed and discussed , we have already read in Harari’s book. There is compilation of important events in the field of technology in various areas.

2. It is written with US readers in mind with very less space dedicated to Indian context. There is Trump, his inauguration, 2016 Us elections, Hillary, Obama and US cimema and silicon valley.
.Basic soul of book is not there for Indian reader. You have to understand USA and Europe to feel at home.

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3. Author assumes reader to be semi- expert in all sci-fi series, Hollywood movies, mathemetics, Europen arts, basic physics and lots of philosophy books.

He uses names of obscure philosophers and mathematicians like they are hero of a marvel movie.

I was not aware of many names mentioned.
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4. Repitition of things like CRISPR, Moore, Kurzweil and nanobots.

Few facts are explained two or three times.
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5. At points becomes little too technical like Maths and art, periodic table, astronomy.
These chapters could easily be ommited to keep book focussed.

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6. There is a long poem, somewhere which is not too great. It was totally unnecessary.
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What I liked-

I liked chapters on fake news, blockchain and nanotechnology. They are simplified and useful for general readers. These are highlights of the book.

He has successfully simplified and explained these facets of technology.

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Overall nice book considering it covers relevant and practical topics which are going to affect us in coming years.
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🏵️🏵️🏵️🏵️🏵️.
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I would have liked to see chapter on how man is affecting ecological balance in place of chapter on mathematics; because that is where man is actually taking us- to ecological catastrophe.
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I congratulate @atuljalan for very good nonfiction book and thank @penguinbooks for publishing it.
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I hope for bright writing future for the author.

#penguinindia#revuew#bookblogger

#Review “Things my son needs to know about World”, by #fredrick backman

Title- Things my son needs to know about World

Author- Fredrick backma

Pages- 166

Genre- fiction

My rating- 4/5

Publisher- Penguin books

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Frederick Backman is my favourite author currently and I Just finished another great book by him.
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1. He is funny and deeply realistic in his discription of events and moments.
He gets tight hold on a particular moment of time and then dissects layer by layer its happenings in most hilariously possible way.
He tries to be so absurd but still stays so relevant.

He uses common circumstances and presents them in such a funny variation.

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2. Book is about a dad trying to be perfect in fatherhood in which he fails partially on many occasions but still is not embarassed to accept he is trying to be a better father.
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3. His explanation about wars, human stupidity, book avery, love and happiness are wonderfully balanced.

There is deep philosophy hidden in those funny pages.
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4. He loves football, movies and food and this is visible on every page. In between the chspters there are funny nuggets.
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5. His relationship with his wife is so charming and deep and he leaves no inch in praising her for everything he has ever achieved.
Finally he describes personal trajedy in which his wife supports him like a lion.
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A really good book in typical backman style. More you read him, greater fan you become.
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I recommend to everyone looking for quality writing.

#newbooks#currentread#bestbooks#mustread

Review#of love and other demons by #Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Title- Of love and other demons

Author- Gabo
Pages- 160
Genre- fiction

My rating 4/5

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Hi friends,

This is Gabo @gabrielgarciamarquez this time with his #magicalrealism.
This is my second #gabo book after #100yearsofsolitude both published by #penginbooks.
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This book is about love which can sprout in most unpredictable circumstances and about love ve which can rot in a corner of neglected relationships.
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Marquez and his wife are in disillusionment about their aging marriage and right then to exacerbate their poor destiny a rabid dog bites their daughter Maria; who bears the burden of this small bite on ankle throughout the story.
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🧔🧔🧔🧔🧔.
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Burden is heavier than rabies. It is burden of dogma, taboo, demons, forced faith and unexpressed truths of human psyche.
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Story is written in his masterful, effortless prose.

When he say someone walking in ankle deep sewer you can smell it and when he describes bones of oxen in front of rusty factory, you can imagine it; unbearably close.
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Book is small, can be read in two days and a good one to converse with master writer who has won #nobelprize in literature.

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Finally bishop appoints able 36 years old priest to exort demons out of Maria.
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.Garcia got inspiration for Story while he was covering as a journalist unearthing of few graves in church and in which was discovered a female skull with very long hair about four body lenghts of a normal girl.
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This started a great book.
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It also puts light on how uneducated may misinterpret #rabies.
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Role of books and #literature in life of characters is also depicted.
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Review #everything is f*cked by #markmanson

Title- Everything is f*cked

Author- Mark Manson

Publisher- HarperCollins

Pages- 236

Genre- self-help

My rating- 3/5

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I am a bit disappointed with this book. I spend whole weekend reading it but it is not like his previous book.

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1. If you have read Daniel kahneman, Nassim Taleb, Yuval harari, Rolf dobelli and Nietzsche then most of the things would be already read by you.
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2. Book has Mark’s typical storytelling and humour and loads of F vocabulary. But in between long passages to repeat same thing gets boring too frequently.
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3. There are same themes; Auschwitz, a rare medical condition, boring psychological research description, Einstein and splaying of Facebook, Netflix and Twitter.
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4. I wonder if it has highest number of F vocabulary per page. It can work for one book, but not everytime.
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. Author tries to fill pages by repetitive and useless commentary and discussion about hope and human psychology.

Part explaining human thinking are very well explained in book of Daniel Kahneman ‘”Thinking fast and slow.”

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Then Kant and Nietzsche feature in the book throughout.

And then it is turn of Einstein. Same old self help scaffold which pitches in famous greats to validate their theory.

And after reading book what exactly is the message is not clear. You cannot make out if hope is good or bad.

Also you get confused if you should dare to hope or not.

Life Stories of great scientists are narrated in a manner as if Mark was present on the spot with a camera.

At one point he even writes Nietzsche sees a cow and cow swats a fly with its tail. Too dramatized and too fishy.

Due to hype of last books success their was a lot of expectation building around this one but this book failed to live upto it.

Very ordinary book with content which is already well circulated and widely known.

It amazes me how after single successful book authors reap long term benefits and this may also become bestseller even after being mediocre, boring and ordinary.

I recommend if you want quality writing read author mentioned in point 1 of my review.

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#selfhelp#harpercollinsin#markmanson#subtleartofnotgivingafuck#nonfiction#newbooks

Review- ARC#selfhelp# Own your everyday by #jordanleedooley

Title- Own your everyday

Author- Jordan Lee Dooley

Pages- 240

Publisher- #Waterbrook

Genre- feminism, self-help, motivation

My rating- 4/5

Releasing- 15 may 2019

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This book focuses on topic of how women should face disappointment and bear burden of nonrealistic expectations.

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She relates present scenario of social media and false perceptions superimposed over actual purpose of life. Once we fall for these traps, our happiness becomes elusive.
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Author shares her own experiences like her grandmother’s life and illness, his husband’s tryst with destiny and recurrent failures.
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.Story of how she evolved from etsy seller to blogger to speaker to book writer is fascinating.

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She emphasises fact that one should avoid perfectionism and should avoid trap of proving themselves to others. Instead one should be caring, compassionate and supportive to others.

.You should enjoy the process and not the result. And sometimes one should go on even if dreams are partially worked out.

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Book teaches that struggles are part of life and demolition is necessary for rebuilding one’s life.

Writing is simple and engaging but fluency is lagging at few points.

What I liked is use of familiar settings and relatable stories to which everyone can get attached.

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.I liked the quote that,” one can’t be 99% free and call it freedom”.

.You could spot hidden advertising of Etsy and Amazon prime.

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.Nice book to learn few things about pupose of life. It is a pacy read Which is free of unnecessary jargons or linguistics innovations.

Thanks edelweiss plus for review copy.

Review- White dancing elephants by Chaya Bhuvneshwar

Title- White dancing elephants

Author- Chaya Bhuvaneshwar

Publisher- Dzanc books

Pages- 196

Genre- Short stories, feminism

My rating- 4/5

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It is a collection of excellent short stories; stories which wriggle below your skin and if you are an Indian you can relate to lot of situations that come to appear in its pages.
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📕📕📕📕📕📕.

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It is about girls and ladies who have their soul in India ( South India) and bodies in other countries mainly US.
The peculiarities of a traditional soul baking into heat of the changed environment, where non compatibilities surface and haunt protagonists.

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These females face different hurdles and vaccums which they try to counter ( often unsuccessfully) with their limited resources.
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.♾️♾️♾️♾️♾️.

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Author is physician, so medical conditions and terms appear regularly in the text.

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Stories are written in flowing water like prose and story which starts as a ball of wool gradually unwinds revealing its raw core which is always full of pain and remorse.
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Cancer patient facing infedility or abortion which cannot be stopped or AI robot which threatens place of a wife; stories are original and deep in their meaning and leave ripples long after they are finished.
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Descriptions of desire and lovemaking feature many times and Indian folk and religious stories also appear at places.
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Stories have won awards and have appeared in prestigious journals in past.

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I recommend this collection to everyone if you wish to read great original work with poetic prose.

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Thanks publisher @dzancbooks for review copy.

Review#eARC’ Things no one can teach us by Humble the poet

Title- Things no one can teach us

Publisher- HarperCollins

Pages- 256

Expected publication date- October, 2019

Genre- Self help, motivation

EARC, #edelweissplus

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.This book about how to deal with everything that comes your way, when you navigate on this sphere called earth.
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Author ( Humble the poet ; Kanwer Singh), lives in Canada and has creative expertise in music, blogging and book writing. His last book unlearn was very successful. He is famous youtuber and his channel is awesome. He is multi talented guy.
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Book discusses key philosophical nuggets by attaching them to his own life experiences and then he tries to make sense of –
1. What he did in these situations
2. What he thinks that he should have done
3. And what he learnt from that life event.
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And at last he summarises what reader can do correctly in similar situations and problems.
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Best part is honesty in the writing and noncomplicated nature of prose.
You tend to glide through pages. He has revealed his true self and his raw thinking process.

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Book covers all possible areas like career, pets,idols, rage,Ted conference,selfpity, getting offended, finance, creativity, marriage, hapiness and personal relationships..

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Sections describing how to deal with difficult people and difficult situations were that I liked most. Author is very clear in explaining the process. Changing your perspective towards life is the core theme of the work.
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What I didn’t like is that some points may be repetitive and wisdom is generally what an avid book reader might have already encountered in othe self helf books
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There are wonderful poems at the start and end of each section. I liked his poetry.

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If you are tired of jargon filled repetitive self hrlp books full of tricky terms, read this one for honest informative writing.
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Thanks edelweiss plus and publisher for review copy in exchange of honest review.

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.#humblethepoet#projectbananas#harperone#mustread#bestseller

Review- Make your own damn cheese by Dr John Chuback’s #ARC#netgalley

Title- Make your own damn cheese

Author- John Chuback

Genre- self help, philosophy

Pages- 96

Publisher- Health communications

eARC

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This is a small tidy fable and I liked it.

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As author himself states that he has drawn inspiration from a number of different self help gurus , book carries wisdom you know you might have read somewhere in past.
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Story is about a mouse who reads books and is different from all other mice who die in the process of collecting cheese even if they hate it.

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Bibliophile mouse reads two different books and gets confused while they both deliver conflicting wisdom.
Then he seeks answers to his questions.
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Story is simple, engaging and I believe everyone would read it in one sitting and may re read it in future for recapturing its message.

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It covers wisdom about thought process, subconscious mind, meaning of success, meaning of happiness and how to achieve it.

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What I didn’t like is there is lot of presumptions like parallel universe, superconscious, brain vibrations and a lots of fancy flow diagrams.

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.It is combibed wisdom of many great books and gurus presented in simplified fable.

.Story needs little less number of flow diagrams.

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Its strength is its simplicity and correlation with contemporary scenarios of a curious fearful mind.

It shows value of mentors and how shared wisdom of our ancestors help every future generation.

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. Thanks netgalley and publisher for review copy.