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Top 20 Must-Read Books on Cricket and Cricketers — HarperCollins Publishers India

For several decades now, cricket in India has been considered a religion, and its players revered as gods. With the ongoing IPL fever gripping the nation (we’d rather have IPL fever than any other kind of fever at this point), we thought you might enjoy a selection of our finest books on cricket and cricketers. Whether you’re an avid cricket enthusiast, a novice looking to learn what the fuss the is all about, or simply a fan wanting to know their idol better, there’s a gem in this list for everyone!

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Buy Let's Talk Money: You've Worked Hard for It, Now Make It Work for You by Monika Halan

About the book

We work hard to earn our money. But regardless of how much we earn, the money worry never goes away. Bills, rent, EMIs, medical costs, vacations, kids’ education and, somewhere at the back of the head, the niggling fear of being underprepared for our own retirement.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if our money worked for us just as we work hard for it? What if we had a proven system to identify dud investment schemes? What if we could just plug seamlessly into a simple, jargon-free plan to get more value out of our money for tomorrow, and have a super good life today as well?

India’s most trusted name in personal finance, Monika Halan offers you a feet-on-the-ground system to build financial security. Not a get-rich-quick guide, this book provides you a smarter way to live your dream life, rather than stay worried about the ‘right’ investment or ‘perfect’ insurance. Unlike many personal finance books, Let’s Talk Money is written specifically for you, keeping the Indian context in mind.

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Buy Karna: The Great Warrior Book By Ranjit Desai | HarperCollins India

About the book

‘Who am I?’ It was a question that had troubled him all his life. His whole life had seemed entangled in the answer. His dignity, his destination, his ambitions — they all seemed linked to that entanglement. The irony was that the truth, instead of liberating him, had made him rudderless. In the Mahabharata, Karna is known to be the only warrior who could match Arjuna. Born of a god and a mother who abandons him at birth, Karna is mistreated from birth. Rejected by Drona, taunted by Draupadi, insulted by his blood brothers, misunderstood by many and manipulated even by the gods, Karna is the classic tragic hero. In his novel Radheya, Ranjit Desai, the author of Marathi classics like Shriman Yogi and Swami, gives voice to the angst and loneliness of Karna. Translated into English for the first time, the novel brings to surface the many sides to Karna’s character: his compassionate nature, his hurt and hubris, the love for his wife, his allegiance to Duryodhana, and his complicated relationship with Krishna.

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Buy Kargil: From Surprise To Victory by Malik V P General | HarperCollins India

About the book

In February 1999, Pakistani Army personnel, disguised as jihadi militants, infiltrated into mountainous Kargil and occupied key vantage points. Their intrusion triggered a limited war between the world’s newest nuclear states. It was a bitter battle, and one that threw up important lessons for India’s defence preparedness, as also its responses to conflicts such as this. This incisive book by General V.P. Malik, former Chief of the Army Staff, analyses the reasoning behind the Pakistani Army’s moves and tactics and reviews crucial issues such as the extent of intelligence and surveillance failure on the Indian side and the measures necessary to redress these failings. Away from questions of strategy and tactics, however, Kargil is also a reminder of the unalloyed heroism that was on display during those grim weeks, heroism that become a benchmark for valour.

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Top 5 Book Everyone Should Read in Pandemic

Pandemics, work from home, and isolation. While these words pretty much sum up the last year, there was one thing that kept us going — books! That’s why, we’ve put together a list of our 5 most popular books from 2020 that pulled us through days when we couldn’t watch any more bingeable television. 

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

With Paulo Coelho’s visionary blend of spirituality, magical realism and folklore, The Alchemist is a story with the power to inspire nations and change people’s lives.

Ivory Throne by Manu S. Pillai

Extensively researched and vividly rendered, The Ivory Throne conjures up a dramatic world of political intrigues and factions, black magic and conspiracies, crafty ceremonies and splendorous temple treasures, all harnessed in a tragic contest for power and authority in the age of empire.

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

The Namesake is the brainchild of Jhumpa Lahiri. The story unfolds with Ashima’s grandmother coming to know that Ashima is pregnant. She was very excited when she came to know this and extremely happy as well on the fact that she would have the opportunity to name the family’s first Sahib.

Attitude is Everything by Jeff Keller

Whether your outlook is negative, positive or somewhere in between, Jeff Keller, motivational speaker and coach, will show you how to take control and unleash your hidden potential through three powerful steps: Think! Speak! Act!

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

The White Tiger is a tale of two Indias. A young man’s journey from the darkness of village life to the light of entrepreneurial success is utterly amoral, brilliantly irreverent, deeply endearing and altogether unforgettable. Now available as a Netflix film starring Priyanka Chopra and Raj Kumar Rao!

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HarperCollins India to publish ‘Gene Machine’ by Nobel Prize-winning scientist Venkataraman Ramakrishnan

On the occasion of National Science Day, HarperCollins India is proud to announce that it will publish Gene Machine in September 2018. Written by Nobel Prize-winning scientist Venkataraman Ramakrishnan, it is one of the biggest books on popular science to be published globally this year.

About the book:

Gene Machine is a groundbreaking book of non-fiction and popular science by Indian-born Nobel Prize-winning scientist Venkataraman Ramakrishnan. OneWorld in the UK and Basic Books in the US will publish in September 2018.

Gene Machine is the thrilling story of how scientists unlocked the secrets of the ribosome, our gene-reading machine, revolutionizing our understanding of how life works. Venkataraman Ramakrishnan was one of the three molecular biologists behind the discovery; they were awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their contribution.

Everyone knows the term DNA: it is the essence of our being — it determines who we are and what we pass on to our progeny. Mention the ribosome, on the other hand, and you will usually be met with blank faces, even from scientists. And yet without the ribosome, nothing lives. For if DNA is data then the ribosome is the machine that processes that data. Unlocking the secrets of this gene-reading molecule was once among the most fundamental problems in molecular biology. In 2009, Dr Ramakrishnan and two colleagues succeeded in decoding the ribosome, later winning the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their groundbreaking work.

Illuminating, compelling and very lucidly written, Gene Machine tells the fascinating story of one of the greatest scientific discoveries of modern times; it also recounts the author’s personal journey, as he travels from Baroda to the US and finally to Cambridge, working at the cutting-edge of science.

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Top 5 Books by Women: Best Female Authors & Their Books

As in most fields, literature too had excluded women for a long time before allowing them to shine. After having historically put up with rejections, rebuffs and male pseudonyms, they have only started getting their due over the last century.

Check out our broad-ranging list of 100 books by some of our strong, spirited female authors that would leave history shamefaced for ever having dared to relegate women to the margins.

The Forest Of Enchantments by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

The Ramayana, one of the world’s greatest epics, is also a tragic love story. In this brilliant retelling, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni places Sita at the centre of the novel: this is Sita’s version.

Women at War by Vera Hildebrand

Vera Hildebrand presents a wholly fresh perspective on the remarkable women of the Rani of Jhansi Regiment and their place in Indian and world history. The truth is every bit as impressive as the myth.

The Far Field by Madhuri Vijay

With rare acumen and evocative prose, in The Far Field Madhuri Vijay gives a potent critique of Indian politics and class prejudice through the lens of a guileless outsider, while also offering up a profound meditation on grief, guilt and the limits of compassion.

Latitudes of Longing by Shubhangi Swarup

An astounding exploration of intense longings, Shubhangi Swarup’s novel begins in the depths of the Andaman Sea, and follows geological and emotional faultlines through the Irrawaddy delta and the tourist-trap of Thamel, to end amidst the highest glaciers and passes of the Karakorams.

Remnants of a Separation by Aanchal Malhotra

Written as a crossover between history and anthropology, Remnants of a Separation is the product of years of passionate research. It is an alternative history of the Partition — the first and only one told through material memory that makes the event tangible even seven decades later.

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Check Out Our Best in Indian Fiction and Non-fiction

What makes a nation great? Is it simply economic prosperity and military strength — or something more?

It is only a matter of time before India is termed economically developed. But a nation has to learn to survive in tough times too. And for that what is most important is national character, born out of the value systems that exist in our families, what schools teach students and the culture of the nation. In Pathways to Greatness, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam shifts focus from the economic development of India by 2020 to the development of our national character, offering key lessons that will help India withstand the forces of change. In the book he completed just a few months before his death in 2015, one of India’s best-known icons writes about how our nation can lead the whole world on the pathways to greatness.

Buy it here: http://amzn.to/2lpmoCg

Launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Adiyogi is already a bestseller.

‘Shi-va’ is ‘that which is not’, a primordial emptiness; Shiva is also the first-ever yogi, Adiyogi, the one who first perceived this emptiness. Adiyogi is symbol and myth, historic figure and living presence, creator and destroyer, outlaw and ascetic, cosmic dancer and passionate lover, all at once.

A book like no other, this extraordinary document is a tribute to Shiva, the Adiyogi, by a living yogi; a chronicle of the progenitor of mysticism by a contemporary mystic. Here science and philosophy merge seamlessly, so do silence and sound, question and answer–to capture the unspeakable enigma of Adiyogi in a spellbinding wave of words and ideas that will leave one entranced, transformed.

Buy it here: http://amzn.to/2lLxp1K

ISRO pioneer R. Aravamudan narrates the gripping story of the people who built India’s space research programme and how they did it — from the rocket engineers who laid the foundation to the savvy young engineers who keep Indian spaceships flying today. It is the tale of an Indian organisation that defied international bans and embargos, worked with laughably meagre resources, evolved its own technology and grew into a major space power. Today, ISRO creates, builds and launches gigantic rockets which carry the complex spacecraft that form the neural network not just of our own country but those of other countries too. This is a made-in-India story like no other.

Buy it here: http://amzn.to/2lKGw4K

A bomb goes off on a college campus. A shaken Sara and Omar first notice each other. Their eyes lock and there it is — a beginning sparked in chaos, an end foretold. Four years later, their story is remembered, retold by friends, spoken of fondly by their teachers. That story unfolds between these covers: one about the noise that balloons make when they burst; of lessons on using your mother’s death to your advantage; about a cry for help even though all you did was barely scrape your knee; about running faster than the wind, climbing mountains and learning how to keep your balance in a thunderstorm. This is a tale of Pakistan and what it means to live and love in apocalyptic times. Sheheryar B. Sheikh’s The Still Point of the Turning World is a haunting meditation on young people and their awakening — into adulthood, romance and a political space that is constantly shifting around them.

Buy it here: http://amzn.to/2lLzsD6

A political thriller like no other!

The nation sinks deep into mourning as news of former prime minister Rani Shah’s assassination arrives. Intelligence agencies, opposition leaders, the Army top brass, her closest relatives — all seem to be shifting in their chairs even as special investigative teams gear up to file a report. Conspiracy theories abound for there were many who stood to gain if she pulled out of the imminent elections. The needle of suspicion points most immediately to Madam Shah’s close confidante Nazneen Khan, who was seen sitting right beside her in the convoy and, oddly, escaped the bomb blast unscathed. Sabyn Javeri’s tale of intense friendship between two ambitious women unfolds in a country steeped in fanaticism and patriarchy.

Nobody Killed Her is dark noir meets pacey courtroom drama. An electrifying debut you will rave about to everyone you meet.

Buy it here: http://amzn.to/2lVPVqA