Mensa Think Smart Book

MENSA THINK-SMART BO by Abbie F. Salny
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

To read more reviews check out: Reviews by Shuvam
1. Introduction:

Mensa is an international organization of high IQ people. Originating from England, it has spread across 100 countries, which also include India where I live. Under this impression, I picked up this book. I wasn’t hoping much from a small 128-page book read, but what I found is a profound knowledge that I can utilize everywhere. The question is how this book fairs from all perspective? Before I begin, a brief about the book: It was published by the Harper-Collins publisher and the book which I read was published in 1986.

2. Central Theme:

The book revolves around the subject of intelligence, such as mathematical ability and verbal skills. The subject matter discussed varies in nature, yet they all are relevant as they sum up to make the overall IQ of a person. Each aspect of one’s intelligence is dealt in small bits of the chapter. This makes it reader-friendly as you will be able to absorb new information in a human manner.

In the initial two chapters, the book describes what is Mensa and the history of Mensa. Then, it proceeds to the main topic in 8 chapters. These chapters agenda consist of core information, followed by many mind-boggling puzzles to solve. The last two chapters consist of a list of puzzles which simulate the standard IQ test conducted by Mensa.

3. Pros:

What I enjoyed about this book is that it is a small read and hence anyone can follow through this book and learn a few fine methods to improve one’s memory. In fact, the 10th chapter “The psychopracticality of everyday life” describes how to use this newly gained information in everyday life. In the meanwhile, it throws light on some of the practical skills such as lateral thinking and cryptography.

4. Cons:

Many times, the author uses Mensa specific examples and tools to explain a certain aspect of information. While puzzles may be okay, the repetition about Mensa while describing something, can feel a bit intimidating to non-members. Also, the puzzles do not come graded according to the level which you will find in other puzzle books, so that can make it difficult for you to gauze your intelligence.

5. Conclusion:

The book is a nice read if you want to learn in brief about how our brain works and how to make optimum use of it. I would recommend this to every reader as it is applicable to everyone. In case, you have already read a great deal on this subject then you might not find anything new as you might have come across a few of the techniques in other books.

108 Questions & Answers on Mutual Funds & SIP

108 Questions & Answers on Mutual Funds & SIP by Yadnya Investments
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

To read more reviews check out my blog: Reviews by Shuvam

1. Introduction:

As evident from the title, the book deals with the mutual fund and SIP. The book which I am reading is published in 2017 by notionpress.com. It is written by Yadnya Investment, an online portal for financial advice for the Indians. The book contains 168 pages and it is a collection of mutual fund related financial jargons and doubts explained in simple terms. Let’s discover what the book is about and how the book fairs in all the aspects.

2. Central Theme:

The book revolves around Mutual funds and SIP systems prevalent in Indian Market. As such, it bids to simplify and explain the current mutual fund market in India. Any reader who is curious to know about various facets of a mutual fund will benefit considerably from the book. The Yadnya Investment even has its YouTube channel which will further solidify the content, although the book is a standalone version and can be read on its own.

3. Pros:

Although I was aware of the fact the book is laid down in an FAQ manner, I never expected the book to be so reader-friendly. The book explains the common FAQs asked by the Indian investors regarding mutual fund and systematic transactions such as SIP, STP, and SWP. Since I belong to the engineering background, I was suspicious at first, thinking that the book might simply contain a list of questions and answers. But to my utter surprise, the book was organized in a manner that any layman can read it from cover to cover.

One thing that I would say in advance to the readers is that since the book is organized in a way, you would come across some term which might not be explained in earlier parts. But if you keep patience, then you will realize that authors have explained almost all the terms and jargons that are either relevant or that come in earlier parts of the book. And not just about the funds, but the authors have also explained the process of how you should choose the ideal fund for you.

The book is supplemented with different references that will help readers to further understand the topic in a holistic manner. In this journey, I took the help of invetopedia.com and moneycontrol.com (Note: This is completely my personal experience and I am not doing any paid advertisement in any form). In this way, I could quickly grasp the finance concepts relevant to me as an investor.

4. Cons:

The downside of this book is that it is meant for the Indian financial market only. So, all the examples and figures used in the book are only useful for Indian investors. Also, since the book cannot be updated like web pages, you will need to refer online to know the current values and figures.

Just to mention, I had a class on how to read a corporate balance sheet, complemented by the YouTube videos. So, those who are completely new to finance might feel averse to a multitude of financial jargons at first. For them, I would suggest reading basic finance online or on YouTube.

Now, when it comes to reviewing I would also say regarding the physical structure of the book. The pages were made of excellent quality, but I found the cover a bit disappointing as my book cover was somehow bent outward and it was stiff, which made it difficult for me to change the pages. Nevertheless, the excellent content made up for these slight inconveniences.

5. Conclusion:

I understand that the text below will be iterative but for those who are skipping through the article will find it useful. I would recommend this book to all the beginner Indian investors who are interested to learn about Mutual funds and methods of getting into it. Age is not the factor here as the language is plain and simple. I would suggest that you should complement this book with online resources for holistic learning.

For experts or those who are looking for specific advice may better seek financial advice rather than refereeing to the book. Nonetheless, it will serve as a fine refresher course.

Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World

Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Introduction:

I am reading the book Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World which is published by Hachette India in the year 2016. It is the fifth book by Cal Newport, the author of the best-selling book, So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love. This book contains 263 pages and it belongs to the self-help/productivity genre. Before I begin my review, I would like to say that I might be a bit biased towards the book as it is one of my favorite books and after scrutinizing everything I believe in what the author wants to say. Still, I had put effort to be as objective as possible.

Central Theme:

The book is all based around one topic “DEEP WORK”. The word ‘deep-work’ is coined by Cal Newport to represent the work and the dedication that a person shows for his time and job. According to the author Deep work is “Professional activities performed in the state of distraction-free concentration that pushes your cognitive capabilities to their limit. These efforts create new value, improve your skill, and are hard to replicate.” For minorities, this might be common sense to success, but as the author argues, the majority of knowledge workers are lacking this skill and at the same time such skill is becoming valuable in the current economy.

The book has two parts. In the 1st part, he describes what is deep work and why deep work is important for us. He draws his example from many current generation knowledge workers and shows its correlation with past time craftsman worker theory (On that point, I presume it only strengthens the points from his earlier book “So good they can’t ignore” which speaks about craftsmanship). He also goes on to show how deep work can exponentially improve our work-life balance and at the same time can help to boost our morale and productivity at the same time.

In the 2nd part, he prescribes practical tips on how to help eliminate shallow and non-productive work and replace it with productive deep work. For many of the knowledge worker this part can be difficult to realize, but if put into practice, the author believes, will make your life peaceful and fruitful. He takes snippets from his life events and correlates each rule to a practical example.

Pros:

How do you even know that you need deep work in your life? The author goes on to show varied examples and personality like Bill Gates, Nate Silver, and Carl Jung, etc. who developed this habit (although these personalities would not have described it as deep work) to achieve some of the greatest feat of humankind. All of them are live examples to show what deep work can certainly do for you.

You might say, “So what, I am all right with my current state!”. But that may not be the actual case. The author has gone to great depth to show how we knowledge workers are being pushed to think low productive work like messaging, emails, meetings etc. as the important stuff while neglecting deep work as a tool for success. This is how I feel I came to connect with what the author wants to say and how it can help me to improve my life whether it's professionally or personally.

Cons:

Although it’s a treasure trove of examples, at times the point gets bit iterative. Maybe, the fact that when you are flagging warning against the upcoming trends of today requires you to give multitudes of examples. But nonetheless, I believe the examples could have been written in a few numbers. Also, I was expecting a few exercises that I could have implemented right away. Although more than half of the book includes practical steps, it doesn’t give readers anything immediate to implement on. So many readers might just skip through it as a novel read.

Conclusion:

I was already a great fan of Cal Newport and I follow his blog. And I was happy to get to read this book. I would recommend this book to those who are in the knowledge arena like officers and managers. Also, anyone who wants to improve their productivity and maintain work-life balance should read this book. Since it doesn’t contain much description on sports and other related fields I would say that you may take your time to read it, but not as a first book, since it might be a bit confusing. Also, students can benefit a great deal out of this book.

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