The Kiss of Life: How A Superhero and My Son Defeated Cancer
by Emraan Hashmi
He became famous for his liplocks, but in this moving book, B-Town actor Hashmi narrates how he and his wife Parveen Shahani dealt with their son Ayaan’s battle with cancer. Co-authored with Bilal Siddiqi, the book sensitively chronicles the painful path the three-year-old—now six—travels, and the trauma and triumph of his parents.
Love, Loss, and What We Ate: A Memoir
by Padma Lakshmi
We don’t know what she ate with Salman Rushdie, but Padma Lakshmi’s autobiography is the story of a girl with a weakness for rice, which she took a fancy to in her grandmother’s kitchen, though she never felt at ease in any city or country because of her peregrination. It is the story of tough women and elegant Brahmins, interrupted with recipes; the narrative is both sensual and evocative.
A Different Kind of Daughter: The Girl Who Hid from the Taliban in Plain Sight
by Maria Toorpakai
A chronicle of the double life of Maria Toorpakai, Pakistan’s top-ranked woman squash player who had to dress as a boy to play football, and even win a weight- lifting championship.
The Sleep Revolution
by Arianna Huffington
The founder of Huffington Post talks about sleep deprivation which has become a life-threatening epidemic of our age.
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business
by Charles Duhigg
How are habits formed and what transforms them, and how the right habits are the key to success of various global achievers.
The Third Wave
by Steve Case
The title is borrowed from Alvin Toffler and discusses the Third Wave where the Internet will transform lifestyles in sectors like healthcare, education, energy and more.
The Universe in Your Hand
by Christophe Galfard
Einstein has been the subject of many a tome, but rarely has there been a science book that pushes the envelope on his theory of relativity, and quantum mechanics. Stephen Hawking’s protégé Christophe Galfard’s chatty analogy-ridden book makes the mysteries of the string theory accessible to the lay reader.
Incarnations: India in 50 Lives
by Sunil Khilnani
A book that tells the history of India through 50 Indians, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 last summer in 15-minute segments, is a rediscovery of a 2,500-year-old civilisation in candid prose. And the portraits are not only of famous personalities like Mahatma Gandhi, M F Husain and Dara Shikoh, but also of unknown heroes like Indian nationalist and shipping magnate Chidambaram Pillai, who encouraged Indians to use ships and tried to undercut Imperial shipping. Missing: Jawaharlal Nehru and British Viceroys.
The First Firangis
by Jonathan Gil Harris
A New Zealander who has ‘gone native’ is transformed by his Indian experience—germs, the weather and migrants.
When Breath Becomes Air
by Paul Kalanithi
The book written by a neurosurgeon dying of cancer (it was published after his death) explores the transition from a doctor to a patient and his journey.