Reading

// bookshelf

120 books read · avg rating 3.9

Mostly non-fiction — I tend to gravitate towards books on technology, history, and finance, with the occasional memoir or novel thrown in. Spy thrillers, geopolitics, and anything about how the world actually works. Trying to read more fiction going forward.

2026

Designing Data-Intensive Applications Martin Kleppmann ★★★★★

2025

Voice for the Voiceless: Over Seven Decades of Struggle with China for My Land and My People – A New York Times Bestselling Memoir of Spiritual Exile and Freedom Dalai Lama XIV ★★★☆☆

I Have the Streets: A Kutti Cricket Story R. Ashwin ★★★★☆

The Bitcoin Standard: The Decentralized Alternative to Central Banking Saifedean Ammous ★★★★☆

In Other Words Jhumpa Lahiri ★★★☆☆

Unaccustomed Earth Jhumpa Lahiri ★★★★☆

Ants Among Elephants: An Untouchable Family and the Making of Modern India Sujatha Gidla ★★★☆☆

Shantaram Gregory David Roberts ★★★☆☆

2024

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need Bill Gates ★★★★☆

No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention Reed Hastings ★★★★☆

System Design Interview – An insider's guide Alex Xu ★★★★★

2023

The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War Ben Macintyre ★★★★★

The KGB and Other Russian Spies (Spies Around the World) Michael E. Goodman ★★★☆☆

Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt Michael Lewis ★★★★☆

Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology Chris Miller ★★★★☆

The Wisdom Of Finance: Discovering Humanity in the World of Risk and Return Mihir Desai ★★★☆☆

An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook's Battle for Domination Sheera Frenkel ★★★☆☆

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less Greg McKeown ★★★☆☆

2022

The Imperial Cruise: A Secret History of Empire and War James D. Bradley ★★★☆☆

The War on the West: An Instant NYT Bestselling History of the Modern World Douglas Murray ★★☆☆☆

A Promised Land Barack Obama ★★★★☆

Hacking Darwin: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Humanity Jamie Metzl ★★★★☆

Masala Lab : The Science of Indian Cooking Krish Ashok ★★★★☆

The Resistance Training Revolution: The No-Cardio Way to Burn Fat and Age-Proof Your Body—in Only 60 Minutes a Week Sal Di Stefano ★★★★☆

The Art of War Sun Tzu ★★★☆☆

The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America Richard Rothstein ★★★★☆

2021

Beautiful California: A Sunset Pictorial Dorothy Krell ★★★☆☆

The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008 Paul Krugman ★★★★☆

The Doctor and the Saint: The Ambedkar - Gandhi Debate Arundhati Roy ★★★★☆

The Paradoxical Prime Minister Shashi Tharoor ★★★★☆

Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury ★★★☆☆

The Kaoboys of R&AW: Down Memory Lane B. Raman ★★★★☆

The Psychology of Money: Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness Morgan Housel ★★★★☆

Jugalbandi: The BJP Before Modi Vinay Sitapati ★★★★★

The Getaway (Diary of a Wimpy Kid, #12) Jeff Kinney ★★★☆☆

Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End Atul Gawande ★★★★★

Rejection Proof: How I Beat Fear and Became Invincible Through 100 Days of Rejection Jia Jiang ★★★★☆

The China Mirage: The Hidden History of American Disaster in Asia James D. Bradley ★★★★★

Memoirs of a Geisha Arthur Golden ★★★☆☆

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail Cheryl Strayed ★★★☆☆

Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It Chris Voss ★★★★★

When Breath Becomes Air Paul Kalanithi ★★★★★

White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism Robin DiAngelo ★★★★☆

2020

Mindf*ck: Cambridge Analytica and the Plot to Break America Christopher Wylie ★★★★★

Outliers: The Story of Success Malcolm Gladwell ★★★★☆

How Will You Measure Your Life? Clayton M. Christensen ★★★★☆

Truck de India!: A Hitchhiker's Guide to Hindustan Rajat Ubhaykar ★★★☆☆

Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don't Know Malcolm Gladwell ★★★☆☆

Engineering America: Teaching a Penguin How to Fly Siya Raj Purohit ★★★★★

2019

Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike Phil Knight ★★★★★

Many Lives, Many Masters: The True Story of a Prominent Psychiatrist, His Young Patient, and the Past Life Therapy That Changed Both Their Lives Brian L. Weiss ★★☆☆☆

Life is What You Make It: A Story of Love, Hope and How Determination Can Overcome Even Destiny Preeti Shenoy ★★★★☆

The Book of Why: The New Science of Cause and Effect Judea Pearl ★★★☆☆

The Last Lecture Randy Pausch ★★★★☆

Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics Richard H. Thaler ★★★★☆

Thinking, Fast and Slow Daniel Kahneman ★★★★★

2018

Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup John Carreyrou ★★★★★

Astrophysics for People in a Hurry Neil deGrasse Tyson ★★★☆☆

Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think Hans Rosling ★★★★★

The World After Capital Albert Wenger ★★★★★

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life Mark Manson ★★★★★

2017

The Wealthy Barber Returns : Dramatically Older and Marginally Wiser, David Chilton Offers His Unique Perspectives on the World of Money by David Barr Chilton (2011-01-01) David Chilton ★★★☆☆

Man's Search for Meaning Viktor E. Frankl ★★★★☆

The Difficulty of Being Good: On the Subtle Art of Dharma Gurcharan Das ★★★★★

How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking Jordan Ellenberg ★★★☆☆

Interpreter of Maladies Jhumpa Lahiri ★★★★★

2016

Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need to Know About Global Politics (Politics of Place, #1) Tim Marshall ★★★★★

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind Yuval Noah Harari ★★★★★

Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead Sheryl Sandberg ★★★☆☆

Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty Daron Acemoğlu ★★★☆☆

Capitalism: A Ghost Story Arundhati Roy ★★☆☆☆

Freedom At Midnight Dominique Lapierre ★★★★★

I Too Had a Love Story Ravinder Singh ★★★☆☆

Hind Swaraj or Indian Home Rule Mahatma Gandhi ★★☆☆☆

2015

The Dark Net: Inside the Digital Underworld Jamie Bartlett ★★★☆☆

Animal Farm George Orwell ★★★☆☆

Turning Points: A Journey Through Challenges A.P.J. Abdul Kalam ★★★★☆

My Journey : Transforming Dreams into Actions A.P.J. Abdul Kalam ★★★★★

The Music of the Primes Marcus du Sautoy ★★★★☆

The Bro Code Matt Kuhn ★★★☆☆

Pax Indica: India and the World of the 21st Century Shashi Tharoor ★★★★☆

Fermat's Enigma Simon Singh ★★★★★

The Zoya Factor Anuja Chauhan ★★☆☆☆

The Sign of Four (Sherlock Holmes, #2) Arthur Conan Doyle ★★★★☆

The Pilgrimage Paulo Coelho ★★★★☆

A Study in Scarlet (Sherlock Holmes, #1) Arthur Conan Doyle ★★★★☆

The Da Vinci Code (Robert Langdon, #2) Dan Brown ★★★★☆

Digital Fortress Dan Brown ★★★★☆

Delayed Monsoon Chitralekha Paul ★★★★☆

Anything for You, Ma'am: An IITian's Love Story Raheja Tushar ★★☆☆☆

Countdown Amitav Ghosh ★★★★☆

Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future Peter Thiel ★★★★★

Sh*t My Dad Says Justin Halpern ★★★★☆

Things Fall Apart (The African Trilogy, #1) Chinua Achebe ★★★★☆

Veronika Decides to Die Paulo Coelho ★★★★☆

How to Win Friends & Influence People Dale Carnegie ★★★★☆

The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography Simon Singh ★★★★★

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference Malcolm Gladwell ★★★★★

The God of Small Things Arundhati Roy ★★★☆☆

The Immortals of Meluha (Shiva Trilogy, #1) Amish Tripathi ★★★★☆

The Google Story: Inside the Hottest Business, Media and Technology Success of Our Time David A. Vise ★★★★★

India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy Ramachandra Guha ★★★★★

Train to Pakistan Khushwant Singh ★★★☆☆

A Brief History of Time Stephen W. Hawking ★★★★☆

How Google Works Eric Schmidt ★★★★★

The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini ★★★★★

Girls of Riyadh Rajaa Alsanea ★★★☆☆

One Night at the Call Center Chetan Bhagat ★★★☆☆

The 3 Mistakes of My Life Chetan Bhagat ★★★☆☆

2 States: The Story of My Marriage Chetan Bhagat ★★★☆☆

Five Point Someone: What Not to Do at IIT Chetan Bhagat ★★★☆☆

Nothing Lasts Forever Sidney Sheldon ★★★★☆

Deception Point Dan Brown ★★★★☆

Angels & Demons (Robert Langdon, #1) Dan Brown ★★★★☆

The Alchemist Paulo Coelho ★★★★★

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything Steven D. Levitt ★★☆☆☆

Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!: Adventures of a Curious Character Richard P. Feynman ★★★★☆

The Diary of a Young Girl Anne Frank ★★★★☆

A Thousand Splendid Suns Khaled Hosseini ★★★★★

2011

P.S. I Love You (P.S. I Love You, #1) Cecelia Ahern ★★★★☆

View on Goodreads →