Librarywala.com Interviews: Stephen Gallup, Author of 'What About the Boy?"

Hey there, Librarywalas!

A few weeks ago, we had posted an introduction(First Look) to Stephen Gallup’s much awaited memoir “What About the Boy?” A story of undying devotion to his developmentally challenged son, the book promises to take readers on an emotional roller-coaster like none other. We got chatting with the author, and asked him some pertinent questions about his book.

1.   “I had no reason to be over-optimistic,

But somehow in his smile I could brave bad weather.

What about the boy?

What about the boy?

What about the boy, he saw it all!”

…So goes the chorus of the Tommy soundtrack by The Who.  How did you identify with these specific lyrics when you chose the title of the book?

You are quite right about the source of the title. Like my book, Tommy happens to be about a disabled kid. Another similarity is that, in the rock opera, the boy Tommy inspires a messianic movement, and there are points in our story at which the search for a response to Joseph’s condition leads his mother and me into cult-like situations.

But the reason for the title What About the Boy? is not complicated. The adults have their own agendas. Early in my story, the doctors suggest counseling for Joseph’s mother and me, rather than exerting themselves to understand his problem. We, his parents, are not immune to being side-tracked into battles that don’t have a direct bearing on the problem. “What about the boy?” means just what it says: How much of all this adult activity really pertains to what the child needs?

2.       Tell us a little bit about the book. What should readers expect from it?

Ultimately, this is a true story about people who faced an uphill battle in the absence of dependable guideposts and forged ahead only on the basis of what felt right. Readers with an interest in children will likely be affected more strongly than others. Some parents have told me this story made them want to hug their kids.

3.       Why did you feel the need to document your life and your son’s story? How long did you take to write the book? Was it difficult?

At first, the writing was simply an effort to make sense of it all. And it became an emotional outlet. In those days, I never imagined that any of it would be published.

Writing about this ended up consuming most of my creative energies for a period of at least two decades. That’s not to say I worked on it all that time. Many times I put it aside for a year or more, and just pondered it. Each time I picked it up again, I had new thoughts and a more refined concept of what the story was all about. Making sense of the experience has certainly been difficult for me, but it has led me to an understanding I otherwise never would have had, and hopefully to transform the specifics of our story into something everyone can recognize.

“Is it possible to push a kid too hard? Absolutely! Pushing is the opposite extreme of complacency, and both are wrong. It’s especially wrong if the child perceives that becoming ‘perfect’ is his or her only hope of winning the parents’ acceptance.”

4.       You have tremendously gone out of the way to better your son’s life, even opting for highly unconventional, scientifically unproven methods, which have been met with resistance in some circles. What would you like to say to these skeptics?

My essential message to skeptics is this: When families come to professionals with a little child who has obvious problems, they expect those problems to be taken seriously. If they perceive that the doctor’s office amounts to a revolving door that dumps them back outside, with nothing having been accomplished, you shouldn’t be surprised when they go elsewhere. In this book, I am not arguing in favor of any specific alternative treatment. I’m only saying that doing nothing is no option. You don’t approve of what we did? That’s fine. What do you think would have been better, and why is it not being offered?

5.       You say that “wellness and potential are every child’s birthright. And I’m quite sure society is served when children have it.” Please elaborate.

The first part of that statement is simply an article of faith. I cannot prove it to be true, but I doubt there will be much debate. As people live and make choices, and mistakes, we naturally find that our future options in life become more limited as a result. But little kids have done nothing to limit their options! I believe each kid deserves a chance to step into life and do his best.

And there really should be no argument with regard to the effect on society when this happens. Look at it from the point of view of a taxpayer. With regard to a stranger’s child, born on the other side of the city, which would you prefer? Someone who remained helpless and dependent on the world for everything, throughout his life? Or someone able to grow and take a productive role in the world—and who knows, maybe even one day solve a problem for you?

6.       What is your opinion of the Librarywala service in India, and the blog?

Since our earlier contact, I have spent some time browsing around the Librarywala blog and I like it very much. The site seems to include a nice balance of types of books, fiction as well as nonfiction and also both new releases and classics. We mustn't forget the classics! I regret that I know little about the cultural life in India, but I believe you are filling a very important role….

Mr. Gallup’s story is one of courage, love and an undying belief that a silver lining does exist. In a heart-wrenching story where all hope for a better future may have been decimated, the father’s pledge to his son depicts that no one is immune to the sunshine effects of hope. In this day and age of sky-high parental expectations, the book teaches us that one must not forget to let children be children, and to fill their lives with affection over expectation.

Do write in with your opinions.

Till then,

Happy Reading! 

Librarywala.com Reviews: "The Tenth Unknown" by Jvalant Sampat

It is often said that an author’s debut novel is always semi-autobiographical in nature. To that extent, we may safely deduce at least one fact about Jvalant Nalin Sampat after reading The Tenth Unknown. He was the bright-eyed student who sat on the first bench in every History class while his friends stared at the ceiling with glazed eyes! Historical thrillers, with their mix of fact and fiction, have held readers captive for years but the genre is largely unexplored in India. However, Sampat’s ‘The Tenth Unknown’ can be called India’s answer to The Da Vinci Code.

The novel begins in March 1939, a few months before the start of World War II. The narrative is weaved on the same lines as Talbot Mundy’s 1923 novel The Nine Unknown. Folklore suggests that The Nine Unknowns are a two millennia-old fictional secret society founded by King Asoka to preserve and improve on nine books of secret knowledge. Each of the books deals with a different branch of potentially hazardous knowledge, spanning subjects from psychological warfare to cosmology.  These books are hidden in clandestine locations in different parts of the world. The fast-paced, high-octane thriller depicts how the first of these is acquired by German archaeologists during the British Raj in India, knowledge of which goes on to become the backbone of Adolf Hitler’s success. The ensuing race of the Germans to get their hands on the remaining eight, the British attempts to thwart their efforts coupled with the Nine Unknowns desperately trying to protect these books makes for a brilliant read.

The characters in this book are meticulously constructed, with just the right shades of grey to make them relatable to readers.  The world of Prithvi Rathore, the elite arrogant Anglicized Indian is turned upside down when his grandfather, one of the Nine Unknowns, assigns him to protect the books from the Nazis. Dismissive of the Indian nationalist movement, one sees a change in Prithvi’s heart once he is refused entry at the Madras Gymkhana on account of his skin color. He scours the world with valor in his search for the all-powerful literature. On the other hand, Joseph Heidler, reluctant member of the Nazi party, who is assigned to hunt down the remaining books, makes for a superb antagonist.

The one thing that jumps out as one flips the pages of this book is the painstaking research that has gone into making this book a delectable mix of intrigue and action. Travelling from the ruins of Nalanda University to the mystic Angkor Wat, the locations too have been depicted with great precision. The author’s natural flair for the English language places the book on a pedestal that not many Indian authors find generally place on.

The book jumps from conversations in one country to the conspiracies of the other swiftly, which might make it a tough read for some. However, this book delivers on quality of prose, astonishing obscurities and insightful characterization. It’s a must-read and would make a great companion for a solitary train journey.

We give The Tenth Unknown a 4 on 5.

You can read it with us at -http://librarywala.com/WEB/BookDetail.aspx?BID=13705

Do share your opinions with us. 

Till then,

Happy Reading :)

Book Review: Strategic Acceleration "Succeed at the Speed of Life" by Tony Jeary

We're absolutely flooded with book reviews of late, all so articulate, we hardly have a choice but to publish them in our little corner of the cyberspace. The book in question is "Strategic Acceleration" by Tony Jeary, coach to the world's biggest CEOs. In an era of information anxiety and cut-throat competition, this is a must-read. While the world deals with the debt crisis and stock market losses as best they can, one can learn how to strategize their way to success with focus and clarity by following the tenets of this book. 

The word “strategy” is a tricky one.

On the one hand, we all know its importance. We know that great things can’t happen without one, and bad things happen when there’s not one. “Strategic thinkers” are assumed to be the best kind of thinkers, at the pinnacle of success.

On the other hand, we use the word “strategy” typically more as part of an excuse than anything else. “Why would we build that website when we don’t even have a web strategy?” “We can’t decide to move into that market until we have a market strategy.” “We shouldn’t even consider moving in that direction because it doesn’t sync up with our strategy.”

It’s as if adding “strategy” to the end of any kind of initiative automatically makes it heavier, more important, and oftentimes now too complicated and serious to even consider.

Which is one of the reasons I enjoy Tony Jeary’s Strategic Acceleration so much. It demystifies “strategy” and turns it into the action-rooted idea that it’s meant to be. And I’ll confess: much of what’s in it is stuff I already know. But it’s also stuff I’m not doing. Jeary simplifies it and makes you not only get, but also want to do it.

Here are five key takeaways for me:

1.    The three enemies of speed and results are a) absence of clarity, b) lack of focus and c) poor execution. Jeary centers his book around this three principles, and it makes for an extremely logical process. Get clear, get focused and then get to work.

2.    I’ve underrated the importance of clarity. Of all the great takeaways I personally had, I definitely come back to the importance of clarity. It seems I simply skip this step in my mind and want to get right into planning and execution. But you have to be sure of what you’re planning for, and you have to be sure everyone else knows what you’re planning for. You can’t assume they get it. And you definitely can’t assume they are as passionate and sold out to it as you are. So spending time clarifying the vision is never worthless exercise. In Jeary’s words, “Clarity is achieved when ideas and concepts are clearly explained and presented internally and externally.”

3.    Critical Success Factors are... critical. Jeary coined the term “Critical Success Factors” for those things that have the most influence in gaining success toward the end goal. We too easily spend valuable resources on not-so-critical factors. Meetings come to mind, as does email management. When you’re clear on the objectives, then clarifying your Critical Success Factors becomes markedly easier. Then you simply have to focus on them. As Jeary explains, “As simple as it sounds, focus is the ability to keep those main things the main thing as we go.”

4.    You need a system for success. As fun as it is to just react, and as boring as it is to do the same ol’ stuff all the time, systems are critical to achieve success. Even if you’re clear on where you’re going, and you’re focused on the best ways to get there, it still won’t happen if you don’t execute those things that must happen with excellence. So how do you communicate for better execution? What defines success (that you can measure)? What are the benchmarks? Get systematic about your success so you can clearly determine when and if it’s successful.

5.    Speed matters. We may like to gripe about the pace of life, and how nice it would be to slow down, but the fact is that our lives are only going to get faster. Which means businesses must be fast. And successful. And strategic. What worked 20 years ago from those strategic giants we so admire won’t work today. Sure, the principles can still be applied, but in the heart of the action, the pace of business changes how we actually make all this stuff happen. Find ways to get faster without sacrificing value or excellence.

 Brett Duncan is Vice President of Global Marketing at Mannatech, located in Coppell, Texas. He also shares his marketing ideas regularly at his blog, MarketingInProgress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @bdunc1. 

Book Review: Who Moved My Cheese?

Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson is a fable about the importance of embracing change. It is about two mice and two little humans that live in a maze. They have a supply of cheese that they live on until one day it is moved. The two mice quickly go and search for the cheese while the two humans stay behind thinking the cheese will come back.  As time goes by, they realize that they need to start moving to find cheese, but one of the humans refuses to do so. Weak of hunger, one of the humans sets out to find the cheese and finds clues along the way as to where it is. He ultimately finds the cheese and meets up with the mice who found the cheese much earlier.

The moral of the story is that change is inevitable and the best thing to do is be prepared to embrace it or get left behind. The two mice were prepared and ready to go searching for new cheese the minute it moved while the two little humans weren’t. By the time one of the little humans realized this, he almost died due to lack of cheese from waiting so long. As in the business world, the person who doesn’t adjust for change is left in the dust. This was the little human who refused to go look for the cheese thinking it would come back. 

This is a short fable that does an excellent job at illustrating the importance of embracing change in the business world. It is a best seller that everyone should read, especially those in the business world!

This review was sent in by Adam Bruk, an online marketing specialist tracking retail trends in Socks 4 Life(http://www.socks4life.com/diabetic-socks/). During his free time, he enjoys reading business books and golfing.

Book Review: 'Spin-Free Economics' and 'Animal Spirits'

When a man with a shining Ph.D. at the end of his name who was written a bestselling book called Businomics is interested in a guest post on our blog, we Librarywalas think we're doing something right. His name is Dr.Bill Conerly, Ph.D. and he is also co-author of Thinking Economics, a high school textbook used in 24 states in U.S.A. Two of his articles are required reading in graduate courses at MIT and Wharton. 

He sent in his review titled "Good Books on Economics" from the Businomics Blog, recommending 2 books on the subject that will make the average man comprehend the nuances of modern economics. Do read on:

Nariman Behravesh's Spin-Free Economics is THE book I'll recommend when I'm asked to recommend a book for the layman.  It's not too technical, but it covers all the key elements involved in modern discussions of economics. In contrast to many other books I've browsed, this book is written in clear English.  If you wonder how a Ph.D. can do that, there's a simple explanation:  Behravesh has been working outside academia for decades.

The book's title makes it sound like a Fox News product, but that's terribly misleading.  It's broadly mainstream.   I agree with almost all of it.  Where I disagree,  Behravesh is presenting a more mainstream view than I take.  But about 95 percent of his content is I heartily endorse.  Who said we economists never agree?  (In fact, Behravesh has a chapter about what we economists agree on--it's surprisingly more than you might think.)

An interesting book--which I recommend only for people who have fully internalized Behravesh's book--is George Akerloff and Robert Shiller's Animal Spirits.  They look at how we humans are fallible and prone to errors, a topic in which both authors have contributed academic research.  They are challenging the mainstream view described by Behravesh--but only around the edges.  Unfortunately, they emphasize those edges, rather than the core of economics which works tremendously well.

For instance, back in the late 1960s two economists (Milton Friedman and Edmund Phelps) figured out that there is no long-term tradeoff between inflation and unemployment.  Bringing inflation down permanently requires only a temporary price in higher unemployment.  Later research found that low inflation tends to be steady inflation, which is very favorable to long-term economic growth.  The conclusion: keep inflation low, and don't try to fight unemployment with higher inflation.

Akerloff and Shiller challenge the basis for this conclusion when the inflation rate is in the neighborhood of zero.  And they are probably right.   However, huge economic damage has come from policymakers who tried to use inflation to reduce unemployment, triggering the boom-bust cycles of the 1970s.  Akerloff and Shiller say that Canada's effort to bring inflation from two percent to zero percent may have caused unemployment to be 1.5 percentage points higher than it otherwise would be.  However, they don't mention that when the basic lesson was ignored in the U.S., we had unemployment rise to nine percent in 1975 and well over ten percent in 1982.  I would prefer that the general public around the world learn the basic lesson, even if that means occassional errors through lack of understanding the advanced lesson.

 If you're headed to a Ph.D. program in economics, read this book.  If you just want to understand general economics, which works almost all of the time, stick with Behravesh.

Book Review: The Complete Guide to Spotting Accounting Fraud and Cover-Ups

Our Librarywala website has a whole lot of corporate members and they're feeling slightly ignored with our reviews on books in the fiction category. So we gladly dedicate this book review to all of them!

The book we bring to you was the first place winner of the Indie Awards held in 2010 in the Finance Category. Guest reviewer, Erin E. Schmidt Smith pitched in this week with her review of Martha Maeda's brilliant book on accounting fraud. By all standards, this is a book that will definitely help you spot a muddled up balance sheet when you see one! This is what she says about it:

When I first started The Complete Guide to Spotting Accounting Fraud & Cover-Ups: Everything You Need to Know Explained Simply by Martha Maeda (Atlantic Publishing Group, 2010), I thought I was going to be bored. Actually, this book is quite fascinating. It promises to be easy to read, and it lives up to that promise, even for someone who'd had no background in accounting or finances.

There are plenty of examples, including the cases of Bernard Madoff and Martha Stewart and examples from Coca-Cola, AOL, the International Olympic Committee and more that show how the lessons apply to real life. As a psychology major, I found the discussion of psychopathic personality disorder in business especially fascinating.

 This book is also very thorough. It discusses in detail the different kinds of frauds that are most likely to occur, why they occur, and who is most likely to be involved in them. More important, it details the ways owners of businesses large and small and investors can keep an eye out for the various kinds of fraud. Numerous resources went into researching this book, and Maeda shares the particularly valuable and user-friendly resources with the reader.

 According to the introduction, organizations in the USA lose about 7% of their annual revenue to fraud, or an estimated $994 billion total. For these reasons, anyone who runs a business or a charity (even church groups) or who has investments should read through it at least once.

A List of the 5 Most Popular Books on Librarywala.com and The Views of a Happy Librarywala.

Our online book rental website (http://www.librarywala.com/) has been doing a phenomenal job at making readers happy all over the country. Numbers most definitely are the best way to judge a book's popularity. After pouring over Excel sheets and analysing numbers, we bring to you a definitive list of the most circulated books across genres on the site.

A true storyteller keeps the reader hooked by unravelling the suspense at the very end. True to that, we go backwards and start with the 5th most circulated book on our website leading up to the most popular book. 

5. The Kite Runner- Khaled Hosseini

About the Book:

"Hosseini's stunning debut novel starts as an eloquent Afghan version of the American immigrant experience in the late 20th century, but betrayal and redemption come to the forefront when the narrator, a writer, returns to his ravaged homeland to rescue the son of his childhood friend after the boy's parents are shot during the Taliban takeover in the mid '90s....Add an incisive, perceptive examination of recent Afghan history and its ramifications in both America and the Middle East, and the result is a complete work of literature that succeeds in exploring the culture of a previously obscure nation that has become a pivot point in the global politics of the new millennium."

Rent it here:

http://www.librarywala.com/WEB/BookDetail.aspx?BID=5510

4. 2 States-The Story of My Marriage by Chetan Bhagat

About the Book:

"Love marriages around the world are simple: Boy loves girl. Girl loves boy. They get married. In India, there are a few more steps: Boy loves Girl. Girl loves Boy. Girl's family has to love boy. Boy's family has to love girl. Girl's Family has to love Boy's Family. Boy's family has to love girl's family. Girl and Boy still love each other. They get married. Welcome to 2 States, a story about Krish and Ananya. They are from two different states of India, deeply in love and want to get married. Of course, their parents don t agree. To convert their love story into a love marriage, the couple have a tough battle in front of them. For it is easy to fight and rebel, but it is much harder to convince. Will they make it?"

Rent it here:

http://www.librarywala.com/WEB/BookDetail.aspx?BID=8716

3. A Thousand Splendid Suns-Khaled Hosseini

About the book:
"The story covers three decades of anti-Soviet jihad, civil war and Taliban tyranny through the lives of two women. Mariam is the scorned illegitimate daughter of a wealthy businessman, forced at age 15 into marrying the 40-year-old Rasheed, who grows increasingly brutal as she fails to produce a child. Eighteen years later, Rasheed takes another wife, 14-year-old Laila, a smart and spirited girl whose only other options, after her parents are killed by rocket fire, are prostitution or starvation. Against a backdrop of unending war, Mariam and Laila become allies in an asymmetrical battle with Rasheed, whose violent misogyny is endorsed by custom and law. His tale is a powerful, harrowing depiction of Afghanistan, but also a lyrical evocation of the lives and enduring hopes of its resilient characters."


Rent it here:
http://www.librarywala.com/WEB/BookDetail.aspx?BID=5424


2. The Lost Symbol- Dan Brown

About the Book:
"The Lost Symbol once again features Dan Brown’s unforgettable protagonist, Robert Langdon. The book’s narrative takes place in a twelve-hour period, and from the first page, readers will feel the thrill of discovery as they follow Langdon through a masterful and unexpected landscape. Dan Brown’s prodigious talent for storytelling, infused with history, codes and intrigue, is on full display in this riveting novel."


Rent it here:
http://www.librarywala.com/WEB/BookDetail.aspx?BID=8502

The number one book won by a huge margin. It is a book loved by many Indians and undoubtedly one of the most popular authors in recent times, Chetan Bhagat.

To the sound of resounding applause, let's usher in the most popular book on Librarywala.com! 

About the book:

"In late-2000, a young boy in Ahmedabad called Govind dreamt of having a business. To accomodate his friends Ish and Omi's passion, they open a cricket shop. Govind's wants to make money and thinks big. Ish is all about nurturing Ali, the batsman with a rare gift. Omi knows his limited capabiltiies and just wants to be with his friends. However, nothing comes easy in a turbulent city. To realize their goals, they will have to face it all - religious politics, earthquakes, riots, unacceptable love and above all, their own mistakes. Will they make it? Can an individual's dreams overcome the nightmares offered by real life? Can we succeed despite a few mistakes? Based on real events, from the bestselling author of "Five Point Someone" and "One Night @ the call centre", comes another dark, witty tale about modern India."

Rent it here:

http://www.librarywala.com/WEB/BookDetail.aspx?BID=6993

On a different note, while we don't rest on our laurels, we definitely appreciate the voices of our loyal customers. Subhash Macha has been a satisfied customer at Librarywala.com for more than 2 and a half years now. He is an avid reader of both English and multi lingual books. His reading appetite gets full at Librarywala.com. Press PLAY to see what the happy Librarywala user had to say about our service: 

Thank you, Mr.Macha. 


Till next time,
Happy reading, Librarywalas.