The Seychelles Affair by Mike Hoare - Awesome book about a coup in Seychelles that went horribly wrong. Seychelles is a group of islands in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Kenya. Mike Hoare, the author, was a legendary British mercenary who had fought many unconventional wars in Congo and elsewhere. After his heroics in Central Africa, Mike Hoare or Mad Mike as he was lovingly known, settled down in South Africa. In 1981, some politicians from Seychelles, who were exiled in UK after an earlier coup, contacted Mike to stage a coup so that they could regain power. Mike was always game for such things. But, money was a problem. So, they kept cutting corners till the whole project started looking very risky. But, Mad Mike was not someone who would give up.

They went ahead with the plan. All went well till they reached Mahe airport in Seychelles on a chartered flight.

The group of mercenaries had concealed their weapons in the baggage. It was hard to detect. But, may be due to their bad luck, one mercenary's luggage was thoroughly checked and when his secret cargo was about to be exposed, he assembled his gear quickly and started shooting to escape. That's it. The coup began much sooner and in a totally disorganized fashion.

By this time, Mike and rest of his gang had cleared customs and were waiting outside in a bus to go their safe house. One other mercenary came out yelling to get ready for action.

These were battle hardened special forces operators. In no time, they got their luggage out, assembled their weapons and took control of the airport.

Seychelles, at that time, did not have proper military. It was slowly aligning with socialist countries and there was a small contingent of Tanzanian soldiers in a barrack next to the airport. Those soldiers engaged these mercenaries in an occasional fire exchange.

Mike and his gang of mercenaries had taken control of the airport and air traffic control. In all this confusion, an Air India jet was on its way from Zimbabwe. Mike wanted to deny landing permission for this air craft because he knew it risked getting blown up for no reason due to intermittent fire exchange between his team and Tanzanian soldiers.

But, Air India plane had already descended and did not have enough fuel to regain the altitude and fly to next stop to fuel.So, they let it land. The Air India crew did not know anything about what was going on the ground. It was a miracle that plane did not explode. First there was an abandoned army truck on the run way. Secondly bullets and grenades were being exchanged. Somehow the plane touched down and pilots got out to see what was going on. Only when they met by mercenaries they became vaguely aware of what was going on.

Situation had gotten worse for Mike and his men. Their plan was totally screwed up. Although Seychelles did not have much army, the element of surprise was lost and chances of staging a successful coup was dwindling minute by minute.

Mike Hoare and his team treated Air India pilots and crew well. They explained them the situation.

The plane had landed somehow but it was going to be extremely tricky and risky to take off because it was going to be an easy target for rocket propelled grenades or some other kind of armament of Tanzanian soldiers who were getting frustrated by Mike's mercenaries who were holding the fort well.

Mike used his connections and called up the shaken government and ensured that Air India flight would be refueled and allowed to fly out without being hit by Tanzanian artillery. At least this was what he was promised.

When Air India flight was ready to leave, some mercenaries who did not see any hope wanted to leave on the plane. Air India crew was only grateful to fly them anywhere they liked. It seems like they were on some kind of high. Here was a situation close to plane being hijacked but hijackers were  so friendly. So, pilots got too friendly too.

Mike Hoare was not very keen to leave without finishing the business. He was still confident that they could pull it off because he knew poorly trained Tanzanian soldiers were no match to his band of special forces veterans. But, most of his gang was not willing.

Air India pilots offered to fly them all to Bombay. Mike and his team laughed off that idea because they were not going to get any good treatment there. They would have been tried for hijacking and thrown into jail for rest of their lives.

Since most of the mercenaries were from South Africa and South African regime had implicitly approved of the coup, Mike thought they were better off flying to South Africa. Air India crew was not willing to do that without some friendly persuasion. During those days, India and South Africa did not have any relationship due to apartheid. Finally plane which was supposed to be going to Bombay, changed direction and headed to South Africa.

In South Africa, Mike and his mercenaries were arrested and put through the trial. Although Mike and his plans were indirectly blessed by the powers, they could not publicly own up to that. So, they had to put Mike and his cronies through the process. Mike and his associates got jail terms up to 3 years.

Some of the mercenaries who had gone to Seychelles earlier for prep work were tried in Seychelles and sentenced to death. Later their sentence was commuted and they were returned to their native countries.

Mike Hoare may be known more as a mercenary. However, he was also an accomplished and educated person. He was a chartered accountant  in good standing. His license was cancelled after he was convicted in this affair. Mike writes in a very simple and nice style. This book reads very well.

Looking forward to read other books by Mike. Mike wrote a few more books describing his exploits in Congo and elsewhere.

History sometimes repeats. A few years back another coup attempt went awry. This did not include Mike Hoare. But, included other similar figures. You can read about that at - The Wonga Coup: Guns, Thugs, and a Ruthless Determination to Create Mayhem in an Oil-Rich Corner of Africa by Adam Roberts

My Blog entry about the above book at - http://maheshuh.blogspot.com/search?q=wonga+coup

Great read!

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 12:20 PM EST

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Max by Juval Aviv - Fictional account about late media mogul Robert Maxwell. Better read is - Robert Maxwell, Israel's Superspy: The Life and Murder of a Media Mogul by Gordon Thomas.

Hunting the Jackal: A Special Forces and CIA Soldier's Fifty Years on the Frontlines of the War Against Terrorism by Billy Waugh and Tim Keown  - Great book by Billy Waugh who has worked as a special forces operator for 50 odd years. It's extremely captivating to hear from someone who has seen it all and done it all. In this book, among many interesting high octane missions, the author describes one particular mission that took place in Sudan which ultimately lead to the capture of international terrorist the Jackal.

I, Phoolan Devi: The Autobiography of India's Bandit Queen by Phoolan Devi and etc. - Autobiography of India's own bandit queen. Very well written. Phoolan Devi, herself, was illiterate. So, the publishers had her tell her story and then good writers to distill her life into a nice book. Great read!

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 11:39 AM EST

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The Volunteer: The Incredible True Story of an Israeli Spy on the Trail of International Terrorists by Michael Ross (Author), Jonathan Kay (Author)

Excellent memoir by a spy who worked for Israeli intelligence agency Mossad. Very well written. The author, Ross, is a Canadian by birth, who went to Israel by chance, liked the country so much so that he chose to convert to Judaism, became a Israeli citizen and then chose to serve in Israeli armed forces and then in famous Mossad. In this book, the author very tactfully writes about his life in Mossad. As a former secret officer, it is not possible to write about all his work due to its sensitive nature. That's where the authors excel. It's indeed an art to write interestingly when your hands are tied by code of ethics. A great book if you like to read about real life spies and their lives.

The Company She Keeps by Georgia Durante - Simply incredible story of one gutsy woman- the author- Georgia Durante. I could not really imagine one single person could go through so many testing times, trials and tribulations in one life time. Georgia not only went through many such tests but also emerged stronger and wiser from each experience. 'That does not kill you only makes you stronger' is no more true than in Georgia's case. Georgia grew up in Rochester. She went on to become one of the top models in 1970s. She was the famous 'Kodak Girl' for several years. She worked in other show biz related stuff. However, while she was going through her life, she also ran into many interesting people and situations created by them. Can you imagine a top model getting involved with mafia characters? On top of it, getting married to someone who was a pretty big guy in mafia those days? How about being the get away driver on some heists? Georgia had all those experiences and came pretty close to death  many times. Then when she thought she was finally out of mafia related mess, a psycho gets into her life and becomes totally obsessed with her. This psycho nearly killed her in his obsession for her. Police could not help much against this maniac. So, Georgia had to go back to mob to get some help to get rid of this guy. Then FBI which was after mob was after Georgia. They wanted to cut some deals too. If you do not cooperate with FBI, they can set mob against you by spreading rumors that you are working against the mob. If you do cooperate with FBI, mob will come after you. What did Georgia do and how she came out of it? Then Georgia's daughter, who grew up in such dangerous conditions, became a drug addict. Georgia really did not need this. So, she put her in some de-addiction center in Montana. In the mean time, she was having enough problems from her third husband. While she thought, she finally met a good man, he died in a plane crash. Since Georgia had trusted all her money with her last man, she does not ready access to her own money. So, she is almost destitute once again! This goes on and on again. Ordinary people would have surely given up but not this gutsy woman. Finally, things start to change for better for Georgia. She now runs a very successful movie related business employing several people. Finally her life has been back on track. This is truly an inspiring book. At the end, like anybody who has gone through so much in one life time, Georgia also gets philosophical. She  delivers some good points about life and God's choices etc. All in all a great read! If you watch bollywood films, have you watched 'Chandni Bar'? You may find some similarities. That movie ends in tragedy and in this one there is some good happening at the end.

Too Big to Fail by Andrew Ross Sorkin - Last year's financial disaster on the wall street is a great material for writers. As expected, many books have already come and many more are in the process. As expected, many writers wanted to be the first to come out with a book that chronicled those heady some 60 days in September and October of 2008 when everyone thought the world (at least the financial) has come to an end. It did seem so. With a major bank failing everyday, shotgun mergers between banks brokered by federal government, banks being nationalized. Everyone asked what's going on and nobody really knew other than what we read in news papers. No complete picture. This book, really a big one in size, systematically chronicles the disaster as seen by some of the very people who were part of it. All credit to the author who has beautifully dramatized the book. You really get a ringside seat and watch the meltdown blow by blow. Great book!

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Posted by Mahesh at 10:28 PM EST

Updated: Monday, 16 November 2009 11:08 AM EST

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Recently finished reading this book. Earlier, I was reading some books on late president John F Kennedy(JFK). Did not know much about his younger brother Robert F Kennedy. Was intrigued to learn that Robert Kennedy (RFK) was the man who made JFK the president by completely owning the management of JFK's presidential campaign. JFK knew his brother was probably the only person he could rely on for anything. So, he made RFK the attorney general in JFK's government.

JFK did not live to complete his term. He was assassinated in Dallas in 1963. That's a different story. There are may conspiracy theories and what not. Just search on the net or try to search for books. There are way to many books on JFK's assassination. It is amazing that it close to 50 years since JFK's assassination, new information and books keep coming along. Anyway, RFK was devastated after his brother JFK's death. He went into shell for a while. He knew he could not continue as attorney general under Lyndon B Johnson who was vice president at the time of JFK's death and became the president afterwards. So, RFK put his life on slow gear for a while.

It always bothered RFK that he or nobody really knew who killed his brother JFK and for what. There were many theories. Cuban exiles might have done it because they were disgruntled at JFK for not supporting them enough to overthrow Castro. Mob might have killed JFK because mob helped him get elected and after becoming president he did not return favors. Soviets, Israelis and many more possibilities. RFK was always trying to find the real killers using his informal contacts and connections. Some powerful people who probably had something to do with JFK's assassination did not like RFK continuing to pursue his private investigation into finding out who assassinated JFK and for what.

RFK had presidential ambitions. But, not in 1968. Like everyone else, he thought Johnson would go for re-election. So, RFK thought he would run in 1972. But, out of the blue, to everyone's surprise, Johnson announced that he was not going to run. So, democratic ticket was wide open. Johnson had his favorite in Herbert Humprey. There was another candidate Eugene McCarthy. RFK was startled. He could not wait any longer. He had to run for the president of USA. So, he too announced his candidacy for democratic ticket. This disappointed others because he chose to do it very late after others had made plans thinking that he was not going to.

Deciding to run for democratic ticket in 1968 probably sealed RFK's fate. As said earlier, people knew that he was still investigating JFK's death on his own. He did not believe in the hogwash of Warren report  that parroted out what nobody believed about JFK's death. So, vested interests who were responsible for JFK's death were very concerned that if RFK became the president, he would go full speed and their fate might get in danger. So, it is said the powerful people started to plan a mission that would send RFK also to the place where they had sent his brother JFK for not playing well with those powerful forces.

RFK started doing well in democratic primaries. In a very short time, he got significant lead over his other democratic opponents. He had just won the all important California primary. After winning the California primary, he gave a speech to his cheering supporters at a hotel in Los Angeles. After the ceremony, he was getting out to go home. He was passing through hotel's kitchen to use the back door. Suddenly a man leapt from nowhere and pumped bullets into RFK. RFK was badly wounded. After a brief time at hospital, RFK was gone. Dead. Assassinated very much like his brother JFK was.

Well, authorities caught someone called Srihan Srihan. He was a palestinian american. They said he killed RFK because he was angry at RFK and America for supporting Israel against Palestinians. He was tried and sentenced to death. His sentence was later reduced to life. The man is still serving his time in some prison in California.

But, was RFK's killing that simple? This is the question the book tries to ask. It makes a case that Srihan was not the only person involved. Probably there were few more assassins. Because there were bullets fired at RFK from the front and back. Lone killer would not have been able to do so under normal circumstances. So, authors started investigating. They pursued conspiracy theories. Was Srihan programmed using hypnosis to act under the orders of his remote controller? This question gets very interesting when authors systematically explore the possibility using medical experts and some damning evidence found with Srihan. Srihan's note book and his mindless scribbling of hatred against RFK beg more questions if he was brain-washed. It is interesting that there was a novel and a movie based on the novel called 'Manchurian Candidate'. In the movie, same thing happens. A man with no motives is hypnotized  into killing the presidential candidates. Which came first? Novel or the conspiracy theory? By the way, Manchurian Candidate was re-made recently. Good movie to watch.

Lot of questions. Few answers. RFK's death did not generate as much curiosity as his brother JFK's death did. Soon after that americans got mired in Richard Nixon scandal. Nobody paid much attention to JFK and RFK assassinations.

Good book. It could have been a great political thriller if the writing style were more captivating. It reads more like a police report than a book. Gets boring at times. Thankfully, I read it on my Kindle. So, when I got bored I just asked Kindle to read it for me.

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 3:17 PM EST

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A very refreshing and interesting book about Indian diaspora spread all across the globe. I have always been very interested to hear about someone's personal account of how their near and dear ones settled all across the globe. Every family in India these days has somebody or the other in popular countries like USA, Canada or UK. But, what has always interested me is about those Indian who have made some of the most obscure countries their home. That too for decades and in some case for centuries. I have seen Gujarati traders of East Africa who have been trading there for generations. Similarly I was intrigued by cricketers of Indian origin in other countries.

This is the book that describes about author's extended family's migration from India to Fiji, USA, Hong Kong, New Zealand and South Africa. Author herself was born in the USA, spent time in New Zealand and then returned to the USA. Her parents grew up in Fiji.

If you read this book, you will understand how Indian diaspora got to where it is now. You will learn about indentured labor which was so essential for colonialism especially after the abolition of slavery. Although this reads more like one particular family's memoir, you will surely relate to it and understand a lot about the general phenomenon.

It is usually hard to keep readers interested when things become very particular to one's own family. Author does a fabulous job. She does not write pages after pages about her family alone. She just uses their names and incidents as a backdrop but tries very hard to bring out things of commonality and importance relevant to the heart of the matter - that's Indian diaspora all over the world.

This book reads more like a nice novel than somebody's family memoir. That's what got me finish this book. I must say I read it in record time as well. Fairly large book. But, the style and narration is very good. You become part of the book. Characters become very familiar. You will want to know more and more about them. Very well crafted.

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 11:38 AM EDT

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You have heard that most of the communications is non-verbal. This book will convince you of that. Excellent mix of academic studies and practical applications.

This book methodically examines non-verbal behaviors and discusses how they originate, where they originate, how to read them, how to use them effectively. The book looks at non-verbal behavior, popularly termed as body language, in day-to-day life's scenarios.

An eye opening and perspective changing  landmark book. Very rarely a book achieves such a sweet balance between academic theory and practical applications. This is one such book.

Posting some of my notes as mind maps.

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Posted by Mahesh at 6:41 AM EDT

Updated: Thursday, 20 August 2009 6:57 AM EDT

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Interesting book about former president Late Ronald Regan and his legacy.

Since American society is now going through a mega transformation, no wonder it is of interest to many people to look at what brought us to this state. It is not necessarily a bad state but one that is making people really wonder if all the prosperity and wealth that we enjoyed over last 20 years was real. Whether it was real or not, how did we get here? What we lost in the process? Were the gains worth it compared to societal decline that we fail to see? Who sowed the seeds of the gradual decay? How did their choices and decision started off the decaying process?

A lot of questions. Witch hunting has to begin somewhere.

This book takes a critical look at Regan and his policies. It tries to make a case for how his policies started the process of general rot in the society. How his policies favored the rich and screwed the poor. How Regan and his cronies manipulated American population. Regan is regarded as the person who deregulated many things and gave more free hand to private enterprises. In that process how he let them make tonnes of money at the expense of common people. How he and his cronies engineered the systematic transfer of wealth from tax payers to some favored rich. It goes on and on.

Makes an interesting read. Regan was the president almost 20 years back. It is hard pin all the blame on him but one thing is sure the era of excesses began during that time. When going was good, everyone was happy. When things turned sour in 2008, no wonder we were left asking how we ever got into this stage. So, from that perspective, it does not hurt to ask tough questions of ourselves and our leaders.

Very well written book. Reads fast. Simple and lucid narration. Good book if you are interested in socio-political history over last 30 years.

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 11:39 AM EDT

Updated: Saturday, 25 July 2009 11:53 AM EDT

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A Case of Exploding Mangoes (Vintage) by Mohammed Hanif

Very interesting book. If you are from the Indian sub-continent and if you have any interest in the intriguing political scene of 1980s, you will surely enjoy this book.

What's this book about? It is supposed to be a novel. But, it is based on the real life events that led to the death of dictator Zia Ul Haq who ruled Pakistan from 1977 to 1988.

Except one or two characters, all other characters in this book are real. Zia Ul Haq is real. His ever powerful ISI chief Akthar is real and so are many others. Other two characters may be real too but since they are not known very well, I think they are introduced to make sure the book comes as a novel.

Book reads like fine political thriller. At times it gets comical especially if you know how politics and idiot politicians of the subcontinent operate.

After reading the book, if you still have some lingering doubts, do read more about Haq in Wikipedia at - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zia-ul-Haq.

His assassination, conspiracy theories, who may have played part in his killing etc. are very well discussed again in Wikipedia at - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracy_theories_about_the_death_of_Zia-ul-Haq

Mohammed Hanif, as the BBC head for Urdu service, I am sure, knows far more than what he could comfortably record in his book. But, it is still a good read.

Language of the book at times gets little tedious and takes away the sensational aspect away. That's one are book could have been better. Thrillers are supposed to be page turners without requiring reader to really 'read'  it.

All in all  a great read.

One thing that comes to mind after I finish reading every one of these political thrillers is, what kind of things go on at the highest levels of our society, who really rules us, what are their motives, how they choose between friends and foes, how they pull off daring conspiracies, is this world full of conspiring people who after each other.

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 1:31 PM EDT

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Kill Khalid: The Failed Mossad Assassination of Khalid Mishal and the Rise of Hamas (Hardcover)

by Paul McGeough

This book makes a very interesting reading if you are in anyway fascinated by middle eastern politics, terrorism, Israel-Palestine conflict etc.

You may have heard about 'Hamas'- Palestinian militant revolutionary organization. However, its leader Khalid Mishal (Mashal) is relatively unknown despite his popularity in the region.

In 1997, Mossad - the famed and much feared Israeli intelligence agency - launched an audacious bid on Mishal's life at Amman, the capital of neighboring country Jordan. Israel has been known for its past liquidations of Arab leaders especially Palestinian leaders which Israel found as threat to its security. If you want to know more about past state-sponsored killings of Israel, watch the movie 'Munich'.

Attempt on Khalid Mishal's life did not go as planned. The plan was to spray a secret poison into his ears and make it look like as a fumble between people walking on the road. A group of Mossad agents went to Amman posing as Canadian tourists, tracked Mishal and sprayed the poison when he was about to enter his office. But, the script did not go well. It did not look like an innocent incident like two people dashing to each other on the street. Mishal's body guard noticed something unusual, chased the assassins and caught some of them. Then Jordanian police caught some more. Overall operation was a disaster. For Mossad, it was big humiliation.

What happened after this incident is the main content of this book. It was an earth shattering incident in the middle eastern diplomatic circles. In order to understand the nature of the problem, you have to understand very delicate political details during 1997 between Israel and its neighbors. Jordan was the only country which was trying its best with utmost sincerity to improve its relationship with Israel. Late King Hussain of Jordan had gone out of his way and much against the wishes of the people of the region to renew peace efforts with Israel. While giving an impression of reciprocity from outside, Israel had taken the risk of sabotaging Jordan's goodwill, that too on Jordanian soil.

There was a flurry of diplomatic activities soon after the incident. Mishal had been sprayed with unknown poison which was going to kill him silently in 48 to 72 hours. Mossad agents had been captured. King Hussain was livid and making calls to all political leaders to put pressure on Israel. People like then president of USA Clinton and important people like many US secretaries, politicians, Canadian politicians etc. get involved and situation becomes really explosive and ugly.

King Hussain makes Israel to deliver antidote for the poison lest he walks out of peace process. He also negotiates the release of many important Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails as the condition to return captured Mossad agents and maintain relationship with Israel. USA is very disappointed with Israel for backstabbing the entire peace process which President Clinton personally oversaw. Canada is livid because Mossad agents used forged Canadian passports to arrive in Jordan as Canadian tourists. Israel is embarrassed beyond belief as people in Israel, after being used to eye popping successes of Mossad in previous operations, are baying for the blood of then prime minister Netanyahu, Mossad chief Yotom. King Hussain is in dilemma because he has to extract maximum mileage from this situation while carefully preserving his power base and maintain delicate equation with another Palestinian stalwart late Yasir Arafat and difficult neighbors such as Syria, Iraq and important Arab allies such Egypt, Iran etc.

Great read. The book written on real facts and incidents reads better than spy thriller.

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 12:19 PM EDT

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Recently read 'Dadagiriya Dinagalu' a three volume set by Sridhar Murthy aka Agni Sridhar. The books are in my native Indian language Kannada. 'Dadagiriya Dingalu' roughly means 'my days in the mob'.

Agni Sridhar is the editor of Kannada weekly tabloid Agni (Fire). Journalism is his latest profession. For over 2 decades he was a prominent figure in India's IT hub Bangalore's underworld.

Probably it is the first time any mob boss has written his own biography. There are several books on mob people by other people. It is rare that the mob figure himself has written about his own life story.

Makes a very interesting read for those who have interest and followed mob scene in Bangalore. First volume introduces the author and his entry into crime world. The first volume ends with an era. The era of Kotwal Ramachandra who was once the uncrowned king of Bangalore underworld. During late 70s and early 80s, he had created such a menace in Bangalore with tacit support from politicians and police that there are legends about his mafia exploits.

Second volume traces the rise of Sridhar with another mob boss M.P.Jairaj. After eliminating Kotwal, Sridhar became a trusted aide of MP Jairaj. Second volume ends with the elimination of M.P.Jairaj and the introduction of the most colorful of all mob bosses Muthappa Rai. Muthappa Rai brought true Bombay style gangsterism to Bangalore as he was closely associated with Bombay underworld. Muthappa Rai is credited to have introduced gun culture to Bangalore underworld prior to which only crude weapons such as swords and knives ruled the roost.

Sridhar as he claims in the books is a well read and well educated person. Due to circumstances he had to enter and stay in mafia. He makes his stance clear in several cases. Very open and candid style. These books I am sure to have opened several Pandora's boxes as many still living figures from police, politics and other walks of society prominently figure. Sridhar writes without any apparent malice or favor against his foes or friends. That is refreshing.

Sridhar claims to have left all mafia associations behind him and has become respected journalist. Hope it is true. Hope he pens many good books in the future. He certainly has what it takes to write good books.

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 1:07 PM EST

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One more elegant spiritual masterpiece by spiritual master Sri Eknath Easwaran.

In this book Sri Easwaran explores one of the certain things in life - the death. As they say the other certain thing is tax. There are IRS manuals to help us understand taxes :) To understand death, in a way it is better understood, this is the book.

Easwaran demystifies the subject of death and helps removes dislike or fear or myriad of other negative emotions we may have about this certainty in life. Death is inevitable. How can one overcome physical death and prepare oneself for the journey beyond death? This book explores them using day to day incidents and examples.

Even if we do not care about death, one or the other time in life, most of us have a glimpse of it much before the real death comes to us. After such an experience, it is normal for many to wonder about death. It may be for a moment or for years. That is one of the times to pick up this book and reflect on the wisdom from someone who spent years preparing for death. In that preparation he led a purposeful life. Sri Easwaran, many thanks to you.

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 4:37 AM EST

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The author Badowski worked as the executive assistant of Jack Welch, legendary ex-CEO of GE, for good 15 odd years. In this book she shares her experiences of how she and Jack worked together as a successful team and what we can take away regarding how to work with our superiors.

This is not a generic 'how to manage up?' book. It is better termed as a journal of author's term as admin of Jack Welch. In that journal she does try to highlight few gems of wisdom of managing up.

Roger Gittines assisted Badowski to write the book. I mention his name here because he probably deserves kudos along with the author for such nice style in which the entire book is written. Very easy to read. KISS - Keep it simple and stupid (or sexy) is well illustrated here. Had not read a book in such a refreshing style in a long time.

There is a lot of good information about how to be part of a team and how to excel. Impatience is not always bad as sense of urgency is many times required especially from the top. Without that many time the whole organization become complacent. It is absolutely fine to disagree even with the people at the top. To make your disagreement palatable, always disagree but offer alternatives. Always be prepared. Always keep thinking about what is next. Be very well organized. Here organization techniques are mainly applicable operations people but we all can also benefit from some good tips for organizing our files and data.

Above mentioned concepts and many more all described very well with examples drawn from author's interactions with Jack Welch. Those who have read about Jack Welch know that he never tolerated stupid people. Whatever that meant. So the book can be read as the book from some who was smart enough for Jack Welch is probably smart enough for many.

Excellent book.

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 1:08 AM EDT

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Make sure you are comfortably lying down while you read this book. Standing or sitting is simply too dangerous a position to assume while reading this book. In any posture other than lying flat, you will fall down to ground laughing your brains off as you read this book. Why fall and then roll on the floor laughing loud. You might as well lie down and roll with laughter while you read this book.

The author has delivered a masterpiece which is a satire about bosses. If you know anything about Buddha and his teachings, you will certainly appreciate author has very creatively used Buddha's teachings in his satire and to make fun of bosses.

If you are looking for serious ways and techniques for managing up, you may not find much here. Not that good stuff is not here but author's hilarious style masks anything serious and useful in it. You will simply laugh your way till you lay down this book. May be when you read for second time, you can attempt to consciously curb the funny parts and try to get some serious stuff.

Honestly, I have not come across such bosses which many managing up books talk about. May be because of knowledge industry I am in. I can not think of how a fire breathing bosses can even exist in today's world. These days people will shove their resignations up boss' 'heart' and move on if the boss is crazy. But, we have seen such firebrand bosses who are found in administrative and operational roles where their need to more tactical than strategic.

The book starts of with 'Zen and the art of managing up'. This itself cracks me up. Then comes three sections about dealing with the elephant. First handling the elephant, second managing the elephant and third throwing the elephant. Things get advanced and more funny as you turn pages.

Some Jewels:

"We are all one with the corporation. It has no beginning and no end. So relax. Nothing really matters that much." - Do not take this literally. As they - " take your job seriously but not yourself."

Modern day Buddha's nine step path to Nirvana.

1)Not caring

2)Not hoping

3)Not speaking

4)Not reacting

5)Not judging

6)Not listening

7)Not thinking

8)Not feeling

9) Not planning

One extra step

10) Not giving up.

Read this book and you will know which book to pick up when you need some laugh.

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Posted by Mahesh at 12:07 AM EDT

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This is a great non-technical book which can serve as an introduction to forensic accounting.

BCCI was once a high flyer banks because of who's who did business with it. It clients included infamous and notorious people such as Panamanian strong man Manuel Noriega, dread terrorist Abu Nidal, shady arms dealers such as Adnan Khashogi among many others.

BCCI is classic story of a business entity which burnt out like bright star too much glitter too short. It collapsed under the weight of its own misdeeds. The bank ignored every rule of ethical business with a sole aim of growth. It did not mind cutting corners, flouting rules with gay abandon, took money without caring for the source, incorporated itself in pieces in several countries. Even auditors could not construct a full picture of this bank till government agencies had some undercover operations going. BCCI is supposedly the biggest "ponzi" scheme in the history.

BCCI was started by an ambitious Pakistani called Agha Khan Abedi. After serving in several banks, this smart banker wanted to be his own boss and using his contacts in rich sheikdoms, he started the bank with initial deposits from several rich sheikhs of the middle east. BCCI bought several banks in the world and thus became one of the leading banks.

US customs and DEA were conducting under cover operations on drug mafia at the same time as when BCCI was growing. When undercover agents started understanding how the drug mafia used banking system, they stumbled upon on many innovative schemes employed by several banks. But BCCI was at the top of the list with unheard of practices and making use of every loop hole in the system. So the focus shifted from drug busts to banking system investigation.

One dare devil agent from US customs systematically went after BCCI and brought about its collapse. How this undercover agent went about cultivating the contacts within BCCI, how he used his other operation (drug busts) to provide impressive business to BCCI and how at the end he had both drug smugglers and their bankers in his net.

The finale of the bust of quite funny. All kingpins from drug mafia and BCCI were invited to fictitious wedding of this undercover agent. His fiance was also an undercover agent. When the guest came to the wedding, after initial food and drinks, they were asked to join a bachelor party. When the guests showed up at the bachelor party and got out of their limousines, they were promptly arrested and their rights were read out to them.

It was coordinated effort across many countries that effected the closure of BCCI. It was a good thing to have closed the bank. Sad thing is many small time depositors lost their life's savings. Many people who had toiled their lives in their jobs with bank had to see their career gone to dogs.

The final closure and legal actions against BCCI were the subject of many controversies. UAE Sheiks allege that Western world did not want to see a small bank from Islamic world becoming one of the biggest banks. They say they really wanted to pump in around 5 billions even at the end which could have saved small time depositors from the ruin and would have given another chance to the bank. But, regulators say it would have been the worst thing to allow some shady bank like BCCI to continue to operate if one had any respect for law and interest in curbing bad things such as drugs and terrorism.

BCCI brought a new meaning to dirty word "money laundering". If it were not to be detected and closed in time, money laundering would have been formalized and become more important than making money legally.

Great book. Fast read.

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 12:26 AM EDT

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This is one more book about sensational Mordechai Vanunu story that happened almost two decades ago.

It was a huge story because it is not easy to divulge secrets about Israel. And divulging secrets of secrets that too about atomic program - unheard of.

Vanunu was a technician in Israel's Modena reactor which was meant to generate energy only for peaceful purposes. At least that was Israel said to everyone else including US. But, in fact, it was the place where Israel was merrily making atom bombs, hydrogen bombs while proclaiming ' Israel won't be the first to introduce nuclear weapon in the middle east.' They were right making nuclear weapons and introducing then - there is a world of difference.

Vanunu was a restless young man who was not happy with himself or his life. Being an immigrant from Morocco, he was not thrilled about the kind of treatment non-european Jews like him got in Israel where European Jews dominated most of the fields and held all important affairs in their control.

Vanunu was also a hardcore leftist with strong inclinations towards Palestinians and their cause. He sympathized with them and openly took part in their rallies and was also interested in communism. How come a person with so many risks was hired and retained to work on most sensitive departments of Modena is inexplicable especially in the case of Israel which turns down people even when it perceives of slightest risks.

After being disillusioned by his job, one fine day Vanunu took many pictures of sensitive areas of the reactor which when published would prove beyond any doubt the Israel had WMDs.

After resigning from his job, Vanunu went for a world hike traveling across many countries in south Asia, finally landing in Australia where he spent significant time. He shared his secrets with some people in Australia and one of them was an international con-man who felt he could make a ton of money if he could broker a deal between Vanunu and some rich tabloid which was willing to pay any sum for Vanunu's story. Thus Vanunu got introduced to Sunday Mirror tabloid in England.

Sunday Mirror which felt it had landed on the story of the millennium got Vanunu to England and spent weeks verifying and corroborating all that he had to say. Vanunu did not want any monetary payments from his story. He just wanted the world to know about Israel's true intentions. Or at least that's how he came across to everyone.

It was not long before such a news that some former Modena employee was planning on sharing secrets reached Israel's administration through its famed intelligence agency - Mossad. If Israel were to go by text book rules regarding how to handle such situations, it was easy for them to bump off Vanunu anywhere using the stealthy power of Mossad. But, a few things came in between. At least during those times, it was against government policy to kill Israeli citizens especially fellow Jews. Secondly, it was already late in the game and quite a few people and press knew about Vanunu and killing him would have only made any rumors about Vanunu, his plans about sharing secrets about Israel's nuclear capability credible to the world.

This is when the shrewd politicians like Pees, Shamir etc. played a game of genius. They demonstrated how to make lemonade if life hands you a lemon. Here was a man who was going to declare to the world that Israel had nuclear weapons. Israel in fact wanted the world in general and Arab countries in particular that it indeed had nuclear weapons and its enemies be better careful. Israel felt there was not going to much better opportunity than this to get some indirect publicity without any accountability at all. With evidence Vanunu had it was going to be clear beyond any doubt that Israel had bombs and Israel could repeat its broken record tune of not going to be the first to introduce the bomb.

So, Israel gave enough time for Vanunu and tabloids to get ready to publish the story. Just before when it was time to publish the story, Israel put its Mossad machinery into game. Using time tested honey trap (i.e. using sex as a tool in espionage), Vanunu was terribly lonely in London was tricked to follow an attractive woman to Italy. This woman was a Mossad agent and once in Italy it was easy for Mossad to transfer him to Israel where he was going to undergo due course of law.

By doing this Israel played a master stroke. By making Vanunu disappear just in time, there was none to provide any substantiation to what got published in tabloids but the news story was credible enough as it had photos and all details. By announcing to the world the arrest of Vanunu, Israel came clean that it had not killed Vanunu as many would have gone to belieive if Vanunu were to disappear without any trace. By charging Vanunu on very general counts of violation of his employment contract, Israel no where gave an impression that it put any value on his actual disclosures. As far as Israel was concerned it was trying one of its citizens because he had violated his employment contract which did not necessarily mean that he was being tried for disclosing actual nuclear secrets. This is one stone and multiple birds kinda scenario. Great deal for Vanunu.

This book stands out among several books that have been published regarding Vanunu affair. Major emphasis in other books is on the honey trap. No wonder people would salivate on raunchy details of a female spy using her charms to lure Vanunu from the safety of London to Rome only to be arrested by Israel. This book is probably the first book which provide details about the political machinations that went behinds the screens and how master diplomat Simon Peres convinced others of his plan to let Vanunu talk and bringing him back at the right time and they trying him for very generic offense. That's a master stroke.

Great book!

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Posted by Mahesh at 6:10 PM EDT

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Debugging the Development Process : Practical Strategies for Staying Focused, Hitting Ship Dates, and Building Solid Teams by Steve Maguire

Very good book with tonnes of field proven techniques useful for any software professional. Although written almost 15 years ago, the insights in this book are timeless. Moreover, as someone said "all good things in software engineering were found long time ago. It is just that we never followed them. From time to time we remember some of them and thus comes a new book. All old wine in new bottle."

The author who perfected his skills thru his successful tenure at Microsoft shares a lot of good tips and tricks, insights, wisdom in this book. Good mix of technical topics, project management, people management. All this presented in a very effective fast read style. Good use of casual style.

One thing stuck in my mind. It's common among managers to say things such as "always bring solutions to problems. Don't just bring problems.Be part of the solution. If you are not, then you are the problem." The intention normally behind saying such things to people on your project is to exhort them to think thru the problems, become good at making decisions, reduce dependency on you. These are good motives but if caution is not exercised while insisting that one must always bring a solution to a problem, it may make people not raise problems at all. Not all problems are such that people who find them can also find one or more solutions for them. If we are not open to that possibility, then we risk people not raising issues just because they are afraid that they do not have a solution to the problem they see and you do not want them to bring problems to which they have no solution. Author makes a good point by giving a simple example. Suppose a worker in a nuclear plant sees some problem. But he does not know how to fix it. Do you rather have the worker come and report you the problem or have him not do that because that poor soul does not know how to fix the problem in the nuclear reactor? So, why not have the same attitude when we deal with people? First priority to encourage people to uncover problem regardless of whether have solution or not. After sometime you start seeing a pattern among people who come with problems. If they are not thinking thru even when they can, you can gently steer them in right direction and make them think for themselves. If the people really do not have enough experience or judgment, you should thank them for identifying the problem and bringing to your attention and work with them to come up with a solution. Bottom line is to make sure that people feel absolutely free to raise problems. So, use caution when we say ' be part of the solution else you are the problem.'

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 3:25 AM EDT

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There is a proverb in my language (Kannada) which goes like 'we set a trap to catch a wild boar. But, we caught a tiger." The story in this book is quite similar. A house was bugged with electronic surveillance with a suspicion that dwellers of that house belonged to notorious ANO (Abu Nidal Organization). The electronic surveillance came to good use to provide non-human witness to a murder that took place. The culprits had concocted a nice story to make it look like an act of self defense and if not for the recordings from the surveillance gear, they would have gotten away.

Setting all that aside, this book also is a horrific story of a father who murders his daughter because his 'values' dictate that anyone violating the honor of the family do not deserve to live. The only way to preserve honor and recover from any damage done is by killing the person and this rooting out the cause behind all that.

Man here is an Palestinian immigrant living in Missouri with his family. One of the daughters who has been raised in the US grows up to be a typical teenager. When she rebels against rigid practices of the Palestinian man, he kills her in cold blood. His wife assists in the murder. Very difficult imagine for most people but honor killings are not uncommon in the middle east and in many societies. What do you do given a choice between entire family being castigated from the society and killing one of your own to remain in the society? Chances are being a social 'animal', many will go to any length to remain in so called civil society.

Very well researched book. The first 3/4 of the book which takes us through the initial years of the family which constantly travels between Brazil, Caribbean, Palestine and US, how they adapt to different surroundings, their lively hood, idiosyncrasies etc. is very captivating. The details of the murder are close to a horror movies. The legal process gets quite boring.

All in a nice read if you like such subjects.

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 10:51 PM EDT

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A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah

Using children as combatants is civil wars all over the world is a very tragic but equally common phenomenon. From time to time, we get to see children who are barely 12 years so clad in military fatigues carrying deadly weapons which are many times longer and heavier than kids themselves.

This is a book written by one such soldier who was recruited by army in Sierra Leone to fight rebels. For anyone who has kept up with international news civil war in Sierra Leone, Liberia and other areas in west africa are quite familiar. But, we do not get to hear from people who actually participated in such civil wars because most do not live long enough to write about it and who lived are not fortunate enough to spend rest of their lives in better societies which are considerate to what they went thru and interested in spreading their words so that general public wakes up and does something about it.

The author's story follows a familiar trend. Boy's parents killed either by rebels or army, boy recruited by army or rebels and fights a meaningless war and in the process misses on his childhood and adolescence. That's the high level story. But, the details are mind numbing and moving. One thing those who wanted use child soldiers had to address was how to make these kids resistant blood, gore and violence of the war that too one fought with no rules.Drug them and drug them often and heavily. Right from the initiation child soldiers are made to take drugs ranging from marijuana to cocaine to synthetic drug to herbs such as khath to numb their senses and pains. It is also useful as analgesic which everyone needs while fighting. On top of drugs, fill kids with hatred for the other side by repeating how the other party is responsible for the death of their family and demonstrate the violence and make kids practice all that.

In this book, author traces his life over 4 years in which he loses his family, travels many miles running from rebels and army, gets recruited by army, fights meaning less battles, indulges in heinous acts of violence which most of can not comprehend, gets rehabilitated, makes it to UN to make the world aware of child soldiers, goes back to Sierra Leone, once again gets in the way of civil war which picks up again, manages to escape being recruited or killed the second time, makes a high risk journey to cross over to neighboring country Guinea and makes it to US with the help of friends he had made during his visit to New York for UN address. The details make up a nice book.

First half part of so where the author runs from place to place with his friends and people who become friends by being in similar situation is pretty slow and reads like a diary. The story after the kid is recruited by army to fight rebels reads a captivating novels. The rehabilitation process is very touching as the kid brings out how good the people were to him during the rehabilitation although all he wanted was more drugs and a quick way back to his old life. The escape to the US is not described in detail for unknown reasons.

If you have seen a recent movie 'Blood Diamond', this is a good book to relate to. The movie shows the lives of these child soldiers quite well although the movie centers around the diamond trade for which all the wars in that region are being fought.

Very touching book. It's so good to know that the author who made it to the US at the age of 16, completed his education from Oberlin college and currently serves in UN. I hope the author does not stop here after a successful book and goes on to do something much more to his cause. And he should and I guess he will as he is in a good position to make difference as part of UN.

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 11:52 PM EDT

Updated: Tuesday, 10 April 2007 12:16 AM EDT

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The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't (Hardcover)
by Robert I. Sutton (Author)


Finally, someone wrote much needed book and dared to call spade a spade.

Well, the a**hole is not something you see in book titles or at least in a book that is written by a highly respected and regarded Stanford professor. But, you have to read some initial part of the book to understand and agree with the author to see why there can not be any other word that so perfectly characterizes all those who vitiates the work place in particular and the world in general.

Jerk, creep, pain in the neck (or ass) are all similar words that people use to describe an a**hole in the workplace. But, most common exclamatory phrase is 'what an a**hole?' after having been screwed by someone who is an a**hole.

These people destruct people and organization systematically. The magnitude of destruction they cause in the lives of people they work with is too high to tolerate such people on day to day basis. If you do decide to survive in such a place, you better have a reward that overshadows having to put up with such people by several magnitudes. In many cases, it is simply not worth it.

Author makes a passionate case for not tolerating such people and creating a work place where it people can achieve their best by giving their best to the company or group they are working for. Sometimes short sighted companies tolerate highly successful people even when they are certified a**holes. But, amount of business such people bring in is miniscule compared to loss of morale and other damages they are causing on their way. Even there is a small case study of a silicon valley sales executive and how much he cost to the company by being an a**hole. The amount calculated does not take into account all damages but even then it runs in 6 figures per year per one person. Imagine having a few such people on your rolls and doing nothing about them.

In my observation, this a**hole phenomenon is mainly concentrated in small companies where individual contributions sometimes are so big that it does seem to make sense for the management to put up with such people just because they are so good. Thankfully in larger companies just due to sheer number of people a**holes get booted out although not as fast as we would like to see them go. It's just a matter of numbers. Majority of the people are nice and they want to work in a nice environment and are sensitive enough to do their best to create a nice environment or at the least do not vitiate it. So, in large companies, we have a company of many such nice people and when an a**hole surfaces, he/she is rejected as a virus. But, as said, depending upon other things it may take a long time before that happens and the company may collapse under such a**hole. The book mentions at least 3-4 such companies where certified a**holes were at the very top. No wonder they brought the companies along with them.

One word of caution. It's not appropriate to brand someone as a**hole just because of a few incidents of nasty behaviors to them. Everyone does exhibit such behavior from time to time in varying degrees. The author gives a good test to determine who are occasional a**holes and who are certified a**holes. Author correctly states that we are all a**holes one time or other. If someone disagrees, he must be a God or an ass(hole).

It is an interesting observation that most of us show our a**holic tendencies more often with people near and dear than people at work. Why? Simple reason - people who are near and dear put up with such behavior more often than our professional acquaintance. It's unfortunate but true. Also, by giving an opportunity to be at our worst form, our near and dear ones prevent us from being in such a form with our professional acquaintance where the impact from being an a**hole could be getting booted out. There should be world a**hole day when we can make it point to kiss and make up with near and dear ones at least once year for being patient and bearing all the times we were at our a**holic best with them. They deserve one such day. If not for them, all of us would have shown our ugly side in places and with people who have kicked in a** and shown us our place.

"It is nice to be important. But, it more important to be nice." If you are here for a long term, it is better to be nice all the time. It is true that nice people do end up last in the short term but at the end, you will emerge as a winner in your own eyes regardless of what others may think of you. All those who won sprints by being a**holes do not even complete the marathon called life. When you are reminiscing all those nice moments at your old age you will inevitably remember all those a**holes who flared real bright for a few years and then burnt out from their own flames of hatred, nastiness and many other such things.

"When you are good to others, you are best to yourself."

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 2:08 PM EDT

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Joel on Software: And on Diverse and Occasionally Related Matters That Will Prove of Interest to Software Developers, Designers, and Managers, and to Those Who, Whether by Good Fortune or Ill Luck, Work with Them in Some Capacity (Paperback)
by Joel Spolsky

This book is mainly a collection of posts of the author on his web site www.joelonsoftware.com.

Very insightful and interesting book. Never had read anything meaningful and useful but also entertaining and such a fast read.

It's also amazing that how well the author and his editor have done a great job of organizing a bunch blog entries into an order that makes a nice book. It's not easy to do and anyone who writes blog knows. When you write disparate pieces here and there, you do not have that whole picture in mind and when such articles are collated together they do not read well. This book is free from such malady.

Joel has been there, seen that and done that in a lot of areas in software. He has worked for large companies such as Microsoft, been a very technical developer and later an entrepreneur and an executive running his company while also cranking out some code. Such people have enormous amount of valuable insight and when they share it thru books like this, a lot of us can benefit.

Joel addresses variety of issues in this book. He talks about basics of computing, hiring right people, project management for large and small companies, business strategy as it applies to software, what future may hold and other topics of general interest to a software professional.

What makes this book so interesting is Joel's extraordinary ability to look at popular things that happened during our times in recent few years and dissect them to illustrate ideas. He uses companies such as Amazon.com to show what strategy they used and why it was right or wrong for a particular reason. Many do know that junglee.com (price comparison web site) that amazon.com had once acquired for eye popping 450 millions was discarded when Amazon.com realized that it was not useful. For an outside observer it may seem how stupid Amazon.com was. But, Joel makes a case that when you are trying conquer new world and that too in a short time span, you sometimes have to go for such things. He differentiate between organic growth and growth by acquisitions very well. It's really nice accompaniment to dry business books and case studies they use in schools.

Great book. Fast read.

Also Joel's web site is a great source for keeping up with his new insights.

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 1:52 PM EDT

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