Book review: How to be like Walt by Pat Wiliams, Jim Denney

Think of Disney and we immediately associate it with fun, adventure and larger than life quality.
I( and maybe everyone) have grown up watching the Walt Disney classics be it Cinderella, Mary Poppins, Snow White etc. The book is about the man behind it all: animation, Disney land : Walt Disney.
Not only is this book about the life of this legendary genius but also great perspective on what all of us can learn from him.
Firstly: After reading this book, Walt Disney has become one of the most inspirational people I have read about.
Surprisingly Walt Disney was a self educated man." Successful people are those who have learned how to learn. Whether college educated or self educated, successful people depend on themselves, not others for their knowledge, skills or wisdom. People who are committed to life long learning have everything they need to shape their destinies."
Walt Disney died early of lung cancer. Williams sketches a real biography, showing Walt as as a real person, bringing out the possible flaws and the genius in him. It is extraordinary how he lived his life with a sense of urgency, adventure, with utmost focus and unlimited creativity which requires tremendous courage, the 'plussing' persistence, the triumph over so many failures and the vision.Phew that's a lot!
As Walt says he started with a mouse. And he went onto achieve an extraordinary amount in one lifetime.
He teaches you to think beyond your lifetime if you want to achieve something worthwhile.
" If you live your life right, things happen the way they are supposed to."
Some people live on after they die. It rings so true for Walt.

Book Recommendation: Outliers

" The three qualities that work has to have if it is to be satisfying and meaningful are: autonomy, complexity and a connection between effort and reward."- Malcolm Gladwell In Outliers.
Picked up this book by Gladwell(his latest) called Outliers. It is such an insightful read. In case you haven't read any of Gladwell, you must do, they provide insight and dimensions to ordinarily accepted phenomenon.
In Outliers he questions the really famous and successful people(like Gates) and probes into what makes them so successful. The answers extremely hard work( 10,000 hours), getting the right opportunities( luck) and the right cultural legacy.
The best of Gladwell: He weaves stories to make his point. Strong stories that stick. Makes his books so riveting and drives the point home.
A point he makes about why Asians are ordinarily better at math(with a few tweaks): "We sometimes think of mathematics as an innate ability. You either have it or you don't. But mathematics is not so much ability as attitude. You master mathematics if you are willing to try. Success is the function of persistence and doggedness and the willingness to work hard for 22 minutes to make sense of something that most people give up after 30 seconds".
From my experience, that 's pretty much true for everything.
Loved the book.

Book review: Unaccustomed earth

Just finished Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri on Divyani's recommendation.
Its been a while I have read fiction that I liked.
If you haven't read this book, it is awesome.
And I was no Jhumpa Lahiri fan, especially after reading the Namesake( don't read it its terrible). I was also tired of people writing about immigration and the issues people deal with , but that is besides the point.
I haven't read the whole book only half of it: the story of Hema and Kaushik. Its amazing.
Read it as soon as you can.

A note on Lahiri's writing style: It's simple. Love the underlying humour in places. And loooove her excellent observation and the nuances of which she incorporates in her writing. Appreciate it even more since I have stayed in the US as well now.
Go read Hema and Kaushik. I won't spoil the story for you even a bit here.

Romy's Book review: Pour your heart into it

This is my first book review for my blog. Initially I actually thought I would do a blog of only book reviews but the rate I write is far greater than the rate at which I digest books.
I am on a non fiction phase of reading so you will pretty much find non fiction stuff in all my reviews.

The book I picked up: Pour your heart into it: How Startbucks became a company one coffee cup at a time. by Howard Schulz

Review: This is one of the best business biographies I have read. Howard Schultz the CEO of Starbucks started the coffee chain by working as an employee in Starbucks( not to confuse it with what it is now, it used to originally never sell coffee as in expresso and only coffee beans and such).

The book charts the journey of Howard and Starbuck's( how he transformed it into the giant ubiquitous coffee chain from his humble beginnings).
There are some very interesting facts about the company. Starbucks has pretty much got to where it is by pure word of mouth advertising. Shows how powerful word of mouth can be.
Also Starbucks painstakingly and meticulously serves the best coffee. Schulz says that less than 10% of the customers really understand how good the quality is but the company never compromises on the quality(and the efforts that go into it) no matter what.
After reading the book you realise how value and product oriented the company is. Americans have started to view Starbucks as a corporate entity present around every corner, but the company actually goes out of its way to educate their customers, understand their needs and serve great coffee. Wow.

One of those unputdownable books.
Rating:9/10