Liar's Poker

Liar's Poker by Michael Lewis

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The book starts off hilariously, then starts delving into the Wall Street business. The parts where Michael Lewis shares the anecdotes from his life as the bond salesman are the best in the book.
Few paras I had to read like 2-3 times to catch the whole meaning. Like the part where author explains about how the junk bonds were created by taking over some established firms, or the parts where mortgage bonds are explained .
Overall a great book to read if you can't get enough of Wall Street phenomenon from the movies like Wall Street and Margin Call.



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India Unbound

India Unbound: The Social and Economic Revolution from Independence to the Global Information Age by Gurcharan Das

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The book covers economic history of India and the major social and political impacts that the economic policies had on the Indians. The book starts with the state of affairs of Indian society just before Independence and highlights the importance of British rule. The author, Mr. Das stresses how Britishers helped Indians set up a comptent railway network and an effective bureaucracy.
Mr. Das notes early on that India had two economic paths to take after independence - on of Gandhian self sufficient economy and other of Nehruvian model of setting up big technological industries.
India after independence went with the Nehruvian vision of mixed economy, wherein public enterprises were set up to promote important industries with help of foreign capital and technology.
Throughout the book, Mr. Das rues about the woes of this model and discusses how this model was inefficient and ineffective. He also comes down heavily on the way Indian politicians and bureaucracy stifled private industries.
He then discusses the Indian economic setup after the 1991 economic reforms and how it has changed the way an common Indian thinks. Throughout the book, Mr Das has also shares some interesting anecdotes from his professional life along with the stories of famous industrialists like GD Birla, Tatas, Dhiru Bhai Ambani, Subhash Chandra, Sam Pitroda and others.




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