Review: Bombay Heights

Bombay Heights by Adite Banerjie
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The story centres around Sanjana Kale who moves away from her family in Nagpur to Mumbai, and her work and relationships. This is a cute story, and yet entirely predictable & with no specific differentiating storyline.

Sanjana’s workplace is stressful with her immediate boss being intimidating and trying to put her down all the time. She has to team up with Ashwin Deo who is a video game designer and also her neighbour. She finds him brash initially and difficult to deal with, but gradually finds it difficult to resist his charm. She has just moved away from a relationship with Chethan who still hopes the relationship can be mended. And there is also pressure from the family – her parents & sisters.

How she faces the work pressures, and what on the relationship side is what the story is all about. If you would like to relax with a book which moves fast, this is a book you could read - you will not find much to remember it for though.


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Review: The Molecule of More: How a Single Chemical in Your Brain Drives Love, Sex, and Creativity—and Will Determine the Fate of the Human Race

The Molecule of More: How a Single Chemical in Your Brain Drives Love, Sex, and Creativity—and Will Determine the Fate of the Human Race by Daniel Z. Lieberman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a very interesting book on how just one chemical – Dopamine influences so much of our behaviour. The undue influence Dopamine exerts is amazing considering the fraction the Dopamine circuit occupies in our brains. This is a well written book and very informative as well.

The crux of our behaviour boils down to two outlooks we humans have – here & now matters (which the authors refer to as the H&N circuit) and the future (our desires and actions). Dopamine is largely what determines how we approach the future – high dopamine defining the drive. Dopamine circuits are in two categories – ones which determine our desires and the other which exerts control over our actions.

Responsible action is a delicate balance – excessive dopamine activity can become impractical and is speculated at times even lead to mental illnesses. The influence of Dopamine on politics, sex, relationships, emotions, political affiliations, religion and business is all discussed in a good amount of detail.

This is a book I certainly recommend, though it could have been crisper in the early and middle portions.

My rating: 4.5 / 5.

I got a free ecopy of this book from NetGalley for an honest review.


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Review: The Midnight Line

The Midnight Line by Lee Child
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Jack Reacher novels are always great to relax with. He is character who keeps the book going quickly – however implausible some of the stuff he does is. This book follows the trend, though I personally found the story to be somewhat weak in comparison to many other Jack Reacher novels.

Jack Reacher is wandering around the country – with nothing except a toothbrush, as he always does. He comes a West Point ring with the initials S.R.S engraved. A ring obtained after much effort and achievement – why would anyone give it. Reacher aborts his journey and decides he will follow the trail – if the owner is ok, the search ends.

He follows the trail which leads him to suspected drug dealers. He runs into Arthur Scorpio who is already under observation by the local cops – one Gloria Nakamura. The trail then leads him to Mule Crossing, Wyoming – a place very sparsely populated. He discovers that the owner of the ring is one of twin sisters. Her twin is worried as well and has engaged a private investigator – Terrence Bramall, and all of them meet in Wyoming.

The story then moves to Reacher searching for the twin sister Rose Sanderson and finding out what has happened to her.

While I am a Jack Reacher fan, have to say that the story had far greater potential. It is still a good read - as all Jack Reacher novels are.

My rating: 3.5 / 5


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Review: Why We Sleep: The New Science of Sleep and Dreams

Why We Sleep: The New Science of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Sleep has been a big mystery for long, as it has been unclear what purpose it serves, and why natural selection did not weed it out. After all, in earlier times, the period of sleep must have been one of considerable danger for humans (and even now for many animals and birds). And yet, sleep is a common requirement across the animal kingdom as well. In fact, birds and some sea creatures have the remarkable ability to sleep half a brain at a time.

Matthew Walker is a sleep scientist and does an exceptional job in this book of explaining what sleep achieves for us. In fact, sleep deprivation is extremely dangerous and there is not enough awareness of this. Modern lifestyle has dealt a blow to both our duration and quality of sleep, and the effects are already quite apparent.

While sleep has not completely revealed all its mysteries to us, a lot is now known after painstaking research over several years. Our sleep shuffles between NREM, Light and REM sleep – and all of them have their purpose. NREM sleep fortifies our memory helping in longer term recall, while REM sleep & dreams lend emotional balance and help us get to the big picture. The book discusses a large number of experiments detailing what happens when we skip sleep. Depending on the sleep cycle and the quantum of deprivation, the ill effects are nothing short of disastrous – lower immunity, failing memory, loss of emotional balance, pre-disposition to serious diseases such as diabetes, dementia and even cancer. Getting adequate sleep (~8 hours) on the other hand makes people more creative & productive other than being healthy.

Somehow, our cultures today do not emphasise the importance of sleep, as much as we do exercise and diet. So much so, that sleeping less is mistakenly regarded as a confirmation of working hard and being more ambitious. The assumption that each of us can do with varying periods of sleep is largely a myth as well. While a genetic mutation allows a few to function effectively with around 6 hours of sleep, this is extremely rare. Almost all of us do need ~8 hours of sleep. There are tips on improving sleep quantity as well as quality all through the book, such as regulating caffeine in the later part of the day.

Most of us are guilty of not according sleep the importance it deserves, and this book is an eye opener. This is a book everyone should read. There are very important points of note for individuals, educational institutions, hospitals, organisations and even governments.


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