Books

I do read a number of books, fiction / non-fiction mostly scientific. Constant surfer of IEEE Spectrum, Scientific American, Wired, and Computer. Off late I have turned to audio books (thanks to audible.com)

Genes VII, Benjamin, Lewin ISBN: 019879276X—A real monster but very informative book. It is a must for people aspiring to explore biologically inspired computing opportunities.

Genome—The Autobiography of a Species, Matt Ridley ISBN: 185702835X—Very interesting thoughts on mortal blue prints: the genes.

Imitation of Life: How Biology inspiring computing by Nancy Forbes, MIT Press. Good one! I read it twice! Tried writing the author but could not find her mail id :(

Artificial Intelligence Illuminated by Ben Coppin, Jones, Bartlett Publishers. Talks on many familiar things in AI but from a different angle. Interesting

The Making of Memory : From Molecules to Mind by Steven Rose, Anchor Publishers. All engineers, serious in pursuing AI should read this. Steve talks about the long neglected component in imitating animal brain, the memory! I am taking a second read.

Direct from Dell: Strategies that Revolutionized an Industry by Michael Dell, Collins Publishers. The best ever ‘out of box thinker’ I’ve ever listened to. Mr. Dell teaches every one in the society the success of keeping things simple and direct. I wish I could replicate his ideas into science and technology.

The Power Of Simplicity: A Management Guide to Cutting Through the Nonsense and Doing Things Right by Jack Trout, McGraw-Hill. Inspired by Dell, I read this book. Small, simple yet very impressive. I strongly feel every leader or management aspirant should read it at least once. Like business, science has also nurtured chaos into its veins. Its high time we cut through that nonsense. Let me quote few phrases from the book to explain its composure.

A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking, Bantam. You know no body taught me astrophysics better! I wish I live the day to know what is behind those black holes. The most striking factor that hit me was the courage and character he demonstrates in accepting his faulty theories and controversies with people. Truly said “It takes great souls to over come mediocre thoughts”

Phantoms in the Brain : Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind by V. S. Ramachandran, Harper Perennial . The most accessible neuroscience book available. You can see a half empty glass of water as a half full glass of water too… Ram has done a great work in revealing the mysteries of brain functionalities in a easy to understand sense. Kudos for his efforts. I wish I could also bring out salvation to humanity like Ram. You can reach him though http://psy.ucsd.edu/chip/ramabio.html

Digital Fortress by Dan Brown, few people call it a total waste of time but I’d call this brilliant way to kill time.

DaVinci Code by Dan Brown

Angels and Demons by Dan Brown

Deception Point by Dan Brown

The Secret by Rhonda Byrne it was good, I liked it, but to an extend I found this re iterating the same self-improvement concepts. Believe the things you want to be a reality :)

Sundara Kandam by Pazhaniappa Pazha This is my audio book to listen that was in Tamil. I am always fascinated by Indian tales, this audio book reads through the Sundara Kandam, the most important episode of poet Kambar's Ramayana. The Kandam (or episode) portrays lord Hanuman's search for abducted Sita devi, her find by him, his adventures on the trip and the destruction he imparts on Lanka ruled by Ravana as a single person.