Hello guys, we are in the middle of 2021 with the future seems to be uncertain and the past seem to be a nightmare. Let’s find some good books to read in 2021.
1)The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham
The one good things which have happened in 2021 is that many people have started investing or getting interested in it.
So if you are one of those people thinking of starting their investment journey which you should think this is the bible for investors. Its best book on investing
Intelligent investor This book is called the Bible 💥 of investment and it’s recommended by many top investors like Waren Buffet. The Author is Benjamin Graham. The book includes 20 chapters. Pages = 591. And the publisher is Harper. The main part of this book is about value investing which means buying securities that appear underpriced by some form of fundamental analysis which is discussed in the books Apart from this the book has talked about two types of investors one is defensive and is enterprising. The defensive investor is unwilling, or unable, to put in the time and effort required to be an enterprising investor. Instead of an active approach, the defensive investor seeks a portfolio that requires minimal effort, research, and monitoring.
The book includes many case studies of companies and how they fail or achieved success Benjamin was an intelligent person whose techniques are still relevant today Conclusion Many new and exciting things are included in this book. However, I would not recommend this book to beginners because it has a lot of technical terms which are quite hard and sometimes boring also to read. But if you are someone passionate about investing like me 😍 then go ahead and read
2) The Dip by Seth Godin
This pandemic has brought a lot of turmoil in our life and this is the perfect time to read and understand this book.
Life is the same as an ECG machine sometimes ups and sometimes down ⠀ ⠀ ⠀
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Let’s see if you have experienced this or not you started doing something new like a business, relationships, Instagram page, or a new job. In the beginning, everything seems so good. People around you were encouraging your likes were increasing every day but all of sudden one day you notice that things are changing, your business no longer makes a profit, likes have started decreasing your boss has suddenly become very angry at you and you don’t know why all these things have happened. If you have experienced this kind of situation where everything seems to be going wrong then you experience what the author called a dip. ⠀
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From early on we have received much advice from our parents, teachers, and relatives and out of that one piece of advice stands common which all of us have heard one time in our life that is don’t quit, never give up and success will come. Although it is true, if we follow this blindly we are bound to fail.⠀
There are certain things in life which we need to quit whether it is quitting a failed career or business or leaving your untrustworthy relationship. So quitting is not bad. In reality, winners are the biggest quitters. ⠀
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But there are few things which we need to see before quitting. ⠀
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1) First, are you quitting because you are tired or you see that there is no future to this career? Quitting should be based upon lack of opportunity, not laziness. ⠀
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2) See there will be some people who will always hate you no matter what you do. So see that you are not quitting because of some individual’s comments. But if the whole market isn’t responding then quit. ⠀
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3) And lastly, see how much progress you are making every day. Success doesn’t happen overnight. But If it doesn’t happen after a year’s struggle too then quit.⠀
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The whole book is about the art of saying no. In life, many people are afraid to quit but ⠀
Remember your goal in life should be to become No 1 in whatever you do. If you can’t become that Quit it and try something else.⠀
3) The Factfullness
Facts are better than dreams. ⠀
The one book which has motivated a lot of people is this. We have seen all the negative news about climate change, Job loss, and global warming all over the news this book try to show us some positive things.
Many wrong things are going on in the world, but as with every coin has two sides there are a lot of positive things too happening.
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In the whole book, the author has challenged various misconceptions that people believe to be true.⠀
Few are as follows:⠀
1) The Gap instinct (Belief that the world is divided)⠀
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In today’s time, there is no difference between the developed and underdeveloped world. This difference was there in 1970- 80 not now. 85% of mankind has been already inside the box named “developed world”. So the world is getting better
2) The Negative instinct. ⠀
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It talks about our tendency to notice the bad more than good. We are not seeing how many people are recovering daily from coronavirus. But we all notice the deaths happening every day. To reduce this always look at the statistics. Remember numbers don’t lie.
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Bad news sells, that’s why the media always show us negative things about the world.
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3) The Straight Line Instinct
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The misconception is that the world population is “Just Increasing”.⠀
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The population is not rising because of more children it’s because of more adults (age 15-74), living in the world due to better medical facilities and increased life expectancy. ⠀
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The number of children is under control and is not expected to increase.⠀
4) The Fear Instinct.⠀
Now think for a second, which headline will get better attention.⠀
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Coronavirus cases are under control and there is no serious threat.⠀⠀⠀
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The highest single-day spike in Covid-19 cases.⠀
The majority of people will read the second headline since we are more prone to negative than positive. And where our attention goes there all advertisers and media companies will go. ⠀
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That’s why negative news is showing more than positive one. So don’t fall prey to them.⠀
5) The Destiny instinct.⠀
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It is an idea that particular religion, gender, or state is better than another. Remember, no one comes into the world with a VIP pass. We all have the same 24 hrs the same brain and the same oxygen to breathe. So never underestimate anyone
4) APJ ABDUL KALAM
“APJ ABDUL KALAM; A LIFE” by Arun Tiwari
#Nonfiction– Autobiography
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(To those who don’t know him)
APJ Abdul Kalam was an Indian aerospace scientist who served as the 11th President of India from 2002 to 2007. He was a recipient of several prestigious awards, including the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honor.
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Review
The book provides a complete glance of his life from the starting in Rameswaram where he used to sell newspapers, To his four decades as a scientist and science administrator, mainly at the Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). His presidency years and the last lecture he gave at IIT Shilong where he collapsed and died from an apparent cardiac arrest on 27 July 2015, aged 83 are all covered in the book.
The book is divided into six-part namely Simulation, Creation, Realization, Expansion and concluding two parts are Dispersion and Emancipation.
The most fascinating thing about Kalam sir was his lifestyle he was an unmarried lonely man without any family however he used to consider every Indian as his family member only. After his death, the things he left behind were a wristwatch, six shirts, four pairs of trousers, three suits, a pair of shoes, and 2,500 books. The author beautifully narrates the personality of Kalam sir as secular and religious; exalted and humble; schooled and unaffected; dynamic and calm; scientific and spiritual – an Indian above all.
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To Conclude
It is difficult to summarise in a short review the enormity of Kalam’s contributions to these fields. To read this book is the only way we can know what he was and what he did. You are sure to be elevated to be a better person after reading the book. And that’s the biggest compliment I can give to it. In 6 parts and 48 chapters, the author nicely covers Dr. Kalam’s entire life.
5) The Four; The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google by Scott Galloway
The book as its title suggests, focuses on World’s four most dominating companies, i.e. Apple, Google, Facebook, and Amazon.
The author explains how the four companies are regulating our day-to-day lives, keeping an eye on us, eavesdropping on our talks, eliminating the smaller competition, and establishing a monopoly.
The author has devoted separate chapters to explaining the business of all the four companies this is the first part of the book and the other part is dedicated to business strategy and tips.
The only thing I didn’t like is the author’s bias criticism towards the four companies. Yes, I agree that Amazon for example has access to cheap capital, a visionary CEO, execution knack, and thus is eating away at traditional retail by appealing to our consumptive brain. Google for example is a virtual monopoly in search which everyone trusts and yet it manages to feed out of content produced by others and builds an ad-based business model that appeals to our brains. Apple has a gargantuan margin due to its luxury branding and cheap production processes and appeals to our sexual appeal. Facebook for example has successfully commercialized our hearts, creates communities that they own, monetizes content generated by users and news publications but yet shirks all responsibility.
However one cannot deny that they have made our lives a hell lot of easy and their services have helped a lot of people. So I think somewhere the fine line between criticism and hatred is missing.
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To Conclude.
This is a great book that explains how businesses are built and run. One can learn many new ideas and concepts in this book. If you want to understand how Apple Facebook Amazon and Google winning all over the globe, if you too want to learn something from their immensely successful strategies, then this is the book for you.
You might think you already knew much about these companies. But believe me, you don’t.
CONCLUSION
Life is becoming better now with ongoing vaccination and unlocking but there is something that will never change. Thousand of people who have died form millions of people who have lost their job.
If we truly want to be self-independent during this changing time, then we have to start the habit of reading books not just for fun but to learn various things too.
Check out all the five books:
1) The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham
2) The Dip by Seth Godin
3) Factfullnes by Anna Rosling Rönnlund
4) APJ Abdul Kalam; A Life by Arun Tiwari
5) The Four Scott Galloway
Until next time; Take care and stay safe
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