Profile Of: rajiv popat

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About Me:

I like to think of myself as, well, myself. Who else? Besides software development and writing, human beings and books are my hobbies. Oh and you can catch the rest of me at my blog URL below.

Web Presence:

http://www.thousandtyone.com
Books" I've been Reading:
Steve Jobs
Book Name: Steve Jobs
SubTitle:
Author Name: Walter Isaacson
Book Description: A quote from Jobs that is in the book -- I hate it when people call themselves entrepreneurs when what they are really trying to do is launch a startup and then sell or go public, so they can cash in and move on. They’re unwilling to do the work it takes to build a real company, which is the hardest work in business. That’s how you really make a contribution and add to the legacy of those who went before. You build a company that will still stand for something a generation or two from now. That’s what Walt Disney did, and Hewlett and Packard, and the people who built Intel. They created a company to last, not just to make money. That’s what I want Apple to be.
Accidental Genius: Using Writing to Generate Your Best Ideas, Insight, and Content
Book Name: Accidental Genius: Using Writing to Generate Your Best Ideas, Insight, and Content
SubTitle:
Author Name: Mark Levy
Book Description: Interesting read on free writing which shows you can use free writing to enhance your thoughts and analyze problems from different perspectives. The premise being that your brain is much more active and articulate when you are writing than it is when you are speaking or thinking about things.
Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah
Book Name: Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah
SubTitle:
Author Name: Richard Bach
Book Description: In the cloud-washed airspace between the cornfields of Illinois and blue infinity, a man puts his faith in the propeller of his biplane. For disillusioned writer and itinerant barnstormer Richard Bach, belief is as real as a full tank of gas and sparks firing in the cylinders...until he meets Donald Shimoda--former mechanic and self-described messiah who can make wrenches fly and Richard's imagination soar.... In Illusions, the unforgettable follow-up to his phenomenal bestseller Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Richard Bach takes to the air to discover the ageless truths that give our souls wings: that people don't need airplanes to soar...that even the darkest clouds have meaning once we lift ourselves above them... and that messiahs can be found in the unlikeliest places--like hay fields, one-traffic-light midwestern towns, and most of all, deep within ourselves. (Found inside book flap).
Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Book Name: Jonathan Livingston Seagull
SubTitle:
Author Name: Richard Bach
Book Description: An epic story of Gull who seeks meaning in flight; where Richard Bach uses flight as a metaphor to touch your heart and move you in ways that change you forever.
Tribal Leadership: Leveraging Natural Groups to Build a Thriving Organization
Book Name: Tribal Leadership: Leveraging Natural Groups to Build a Thriving Organization
SubTitle:
Author Name: Dave Logan,John King,Halee Fischer-Wright
Book Description: The book explains the four stages of culture and how it moves from one stage to another. From the way culture works in street gangs to the way it works in organizations that change the world and build world class products, the book is an attempt to observe some of the best organizational examples of rich cultures around the globe and learn from the leaders who were instrumental in shaping these cultures.
Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose
Book Name: Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose
SubTitle:
Author Name: Tony Hsieh
Book Description: Zappo’s CEO Tony Hsieh talks about his life as an entrepreneur and the life of Zappos, a company with a culture that is all about delivering happiness to its customers and employees. From a company struggling to survive to a hugely profitable company that was acquired by Amazon and still manages to retain its individual touch, the story will touch you in more ways than you can think. Running in parallel are Tony’s own realizations and lessons which will move you and act as validations for your own thoughts if you’ve ever thought about your work having a higher purpose and a cause than just making a buck.
Quirk: Brain Science Makes Sense of Your Peculiar Personality
Book Name: Quirk: Brain Science Makes Sense of Your Peculiar Personality
SubTitle:
Author Name: Hannah Holmes
Book Description: This book is an absolutely interesting insight into the human being through researches done using mice. If nervousness is bad for you why does evolution allow nervous mice to exist? Is loyalty all about morality or is it just good biology? This book raises interesting question and then peeks into one of the most divine designs ever, the brain of humans and animal, for some very intriguing answers to understand how evolution works.
Emotional Intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ
Book Name: Emotional Intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ
SubTitle:
Author Name: Prof. Daniel Goleman Ph.D.
Book Description: In this book Daniel Goleman challenges the premise that IQ is a good measure of intelligence and introduces the readers to the premise that our emotions form a huge part of our intelligence and how we navigate the universe. From how the functions of Amygdala to the functions of Prefrontal cortex the book explains how our emotional brain works. The book also explains emotions using simple scientific explanations, for example Goleman talks about how mirror neurons tend to make a person more empathetic. A must read for anyone who wants to understand how our emotional brain works and utilize this information to try becomming a better individual.
The China Study
Book Name: The China Study
SubTitle: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted And the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss, And Long-term Health
Author Name: T. Colin Campbell,Thomas M. Campbell II
Book Description: Quote from the book - What protein consistently and strongly promoted cancer? Casein, which makes up 87% of cow's milk.... This book is written by someone raised on a dairy farm and someone who spent his life trying to prove that the american diet is the way to go...Amazing findings, has the potential to change what your breakfast, lunch and dinner...
The Happiness Advantage
Book Name: The Happiness Advantage
SubTitle: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work
Author Name: Shawn Achor
Book Description: Happiness at your workplace is not just a soft advantage. Shawn Achor has done his extensive research of happiness at workplace and the serious hard advantages it brings to the table. From changes in performance of employees whose managers prime them for success to how the rates of the students change over time when teachers have been falsely primed to believe these students are amazing when they are just borderline average this book has surveys and experiments which may not tell you things you do not already know but will definitely tell you how wrong you were about the magnitude of the advantages happiness brings to your organization and your life.
The Google Story: For Googles 10th Birthday
Book Name: The Google Story: For Googles 10th Birthday
SubTitle:
Author Name: David A. Vise
Book Description: The story of Google’s founders and the formation of Google, the success story behind the company and the hiccups Google faced along the way.
More Joel on Software
Book Name: More Joel on Software
SubTitle: Further Thoughts on Diverse and Occasionally Related Matters That Will Prove of Interest to Software Developers, Designers, ... or Ill Luck, Work with Them in Some Capacity
Author Name: Joel Spolsky
Book Description: Joel Spolsky started his web log in March 2000 in order to offer his insights, based on years of experience, on how to improve the world of programming. This web log has become infamous among the programming world, and is linked to more than 600 other web sites and translated into 30+ languages! Spolsky’s extraordinary writing skills, technical knowledge, and caustic wit have made him a programming guru. With the success of Joel on Software, there has been a strong demand for additional gems and advice, and this book is the answer to those requests. Containing a collection of all–new articles from the original, More Joel on Software has even more of an edge than the original, and the tips for running a business or managing people have far broader application than the software industry. We feel it is safe to say that this is the most useful book you will buy this year.
Rework: Change The Way You Work Forever
Book Name: Rework: Change The Way You Work Forever
SubTitle:
Author Name: Jason Fried,David Heinemeier Hansson
Book Description: Guys at 37Signals asked enterprises and software developers to get real in their First book (Getting real). In this one they “Rework” work. Meetings are toxic, Policies are itches people scratch, Underdo your competition, plans are just guesses (and many more bold ideas in small easy to read chapters). This book explains the classic 37Signal success story and more than anything provides inspiration coming from someone an organization that has been fairly successful at what they do.
The Steve Jobs Way: iLeadership for a New Generation
Book Name: The Steve Jobs Way: iLeadership for a New Generation
SubTitle:
Author Name: Jay Elliot,William L. Simon
Book Description: Written by Jay Elliot, who is a former Senior Vice President of Apple the book is a first person account of apple and how it survived and continues to thrive. While at places Jay comes across as a Steve Jobs fan boy and glorifies everything Jobs did, there are some really useful lessons of leadership and how products that change the world are built, in this book. A good read for all apple fan boys and also for people who want to make awesome products, although the book could have been way better if the “fan boy” tone would have been kept out of it and facts, innovation that jobs brought to the table along with the jobs innovative side was highlighted much more objectively.
Purple Cow, New Edition: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable
Book Name: Purple Cow, New Edition: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable
SubTitle:
Author Name: Seth Godin
Book Description: The world is changing ever more rapidly, and the rules of marketing are no different, writes Godin, the field's reigning guru. The old ways-run-of-the-mill TV commercials, ads in the Wall Street Journal and so on-don't work like they used to, because such messages are so plentiful that consumers have tuned them out. This means you have to toss out everything you know and do something "remarkable" (the way a purple cow in a field of Guernseys would be remarkable) to have any effect at all, writes Godin (Permission Marketing; Unleashing the Ideavirus). He cites companies like HBO, Starbucks and JetBlue, all of which created new ways of doing old businesses and saw their brands sizzle as a result. Godin's style is punchy and irreverent, using short, sharp messages to drive his points home. (Amazon)
Linchpin
Book Name: Linchpin
SubTitle:
Author Name: Seth Godin
Book Description: This is by far Seth’s most passionate book. He’s pulling fewer punches. He’s out for blood. He’s out to make a difference. And that glorious, heartfelt passion is obvious on every page, even if it is in Seth’s usual quiet, lucid, understated manner. A linchpin, as Seth describes it, is somebody in an organization who is indispensable, who cannot be replaced - her role is just far too unique and valuable. And then he goes on to say, well, seriously folks, you need to be one of these people, you really do. To not be one is economic and career suicide. No surprises there - that’s exactly what one would expect Seth to say. But here’s where it gets interesting. In his best-known book, Purple Cow, Seth’s message was, “Everyone’s a marketer now.” In All Marketers Are Liars, his message was, “Everyone’s a storyteller now.” In Tribes, his message was, “Everyone’s a leader now.” And from Linchpin? "Everyone’s an artist now." - (by Hugh MacLeod on Amazon.com)
The Invisible Gorilla: And Other Ways Our Intuitions Deceive Us
Book Name: The Invisible Gorilla: And Other Ways Our Intuitions Deceive Us
SubTitle:
Author Name: Christopher Chabris,Daniel Simons
Book Description: Christopher Chabri and Daniel Simons surprise the world with their classic experiment where people are asked to count the number of passes people in white dress make during a basketball drill video. Halfway through the video a Gorilla appears in the video, beats his chest and walks out of the frame. When asked if people noticed anything strange during the video 50% of people fail to notice the gorilla completely. The book builds on the theory that while our brains are powerful they are nowhere nearly as attentive as we think they are. The book focuses on ways in which illusions deceive our brains and how each one of us have our own versions of what we see.
First, Break All the Rules: What the Worlds Greatest Managers Do Differently
Book Name: First, Break All the Rules: What the Worlds Greatest Managers Do Differently
SubTitle:
Author Name: Marcus Buckingham,Curt Coffman
Book Description: There are many suggested rules for managers. This books tells you why you shouldn't follow them. Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman study the best of the managers around the globe to observe what makes them the best. How the react to situations, how they manage human beings, what they do and what they do not. The one thing common that they find is that most effective managers often break all conventional rules of management. The book is a classic example of research explained in a compelling and engrossing way.
Poke the Box
Book Name: Poke the Box
SubTitle:
Author Name: Seth Godin
Book Description: If you're stuck at the starting line, you don't need more time or permission. You don’t need to wait for a boss’s okay or to be told to push the button; you just need to poke. Poke the Box is a manifesto by bestselling author Seth Godin that just might make you uncomfortable. It’s a call to action about the initiative you’re taking-– in your job or in your life. Godin knows that one of our scarcest resources is the spark of initiative in most organizations (and most careers)-– the person with the guts to say, “I want to start stuff.” Poke the Box just may be the kick in the pants you need to shake up your life (Amazon).
The Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic at Work and at Home
Book Name: The Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic at Work and at Home
SubTitle:
Author Name: Dan Ariely
Book Description: Ariely (Predictably Irrational) expands his research on behavioral economics to offer a more positive and personal take on human irrationality's implications for life, business, and public policy. After a youthful accident left him badly scarred and facing grueling physical therapy, Ariely's treatment required him to accept temporary pain for long-term benefit—a trade-off so antithetical to normal human behavior that it sparked the author's fascination with why we consistently fail to act in our own best interest. The author, professor of behavioral economics at Duke, leads us through experiments that reveals such idiosyncrasies as the IKEA effect (if you build something, pride and sentimental attachment are likely to give you an inflated sense of its quality) and the Baby Jessica effect (why we respond to one person's suffering but not to the suffering of many). (amazon).
Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
Book Name: Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
SubTitle:
Author Name: Dan Ariely
Book Description: A book in which he challenges readers' assumptions about making decisions based on rational thought. Ariely explains, "My goal, by the end of this book, is to help you fundamentally rethink what makes you and the people around you tick. I hope to lead you there by presenting a wide range of scientific experiments, findings, and anecdotes that are in many cases quite amusing. Once you see how systematic certain mistakes are--how we repeat them again and again. I think you will begin to learn how to avoid some of them" (wikipedia).
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Dont
Book Name: Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Dont
SubTitle:
Author Name: Jim Collins
Book Description: Five years ago, Jim Collins asked the question, "Can a good company become a great company and if so, how?" In Good to Great Collins, the author of Built to Last, concludes that it is possible, but finds there are no silver bullets. Collins and his team of researchers began their quest by sorting through a list of 1,435 companies, looking for those that made substantial improvements in their performance over time. They finally settled on 11--including Fannie Mae, Gillette, Walgreens, and Wells Fargo--and discovered common traits that challenged many of the conventional notions of corporate success. Making the transition from good to great doesn't require a high-profile CEO, the latest technology, innovative change management, or even a fine-tuned business strategy. (amazon). A book on leadership and organizational culture that will change your ideas on forming and nurturing organizations.
Brain Rules for Baby: How to Raise a Smart and Happy Child from Zero to Five
Book Name: Brain Rules for Baby: How to Raise a Smart and Happy Child from Zero to Five
SubTitle:
Author Name: John Medina
Book Description: In his New York Times bestseller Brain Rules, Dr. John Medina showed us how our brains really work—and why we ought to redesign our workplaces and schools. Now, in Brain Rules for Baby, he shares what the latest science says about how to raise smart and happy children from zero to 5. This book is destined to revolutionize parenting. Brain Rules for Baby bridges the gap between what scientists know and what parents practice. Through fascinating and funny stories, Medina, a developmental molecular biologist and dad, unravels how a child’s brain develops--and what you can do to optimize it (amazon).
Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity
Book Name: Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity
SubTitle:
Author Name: Hugh MacLeod
Book Description: A humorous yet deep and insightful book on creativity and creative endeavors. From Sex and Cash theory to the funny cartoons in the book, the book is not just funny, but hugely inspirational for anyone who wants to start his own creative endeavors. Coming from an author who specializes in the strange art form of drawing cartoons behind business cards, this book has a few old ideas and a few new ones but what is truly new about this book is the refreshing perspective in which these ideas are explained and shared.
The Big Short
Book Name: The Big Short
SubTitle: Inside the Doomsday Machine
Author Name: Michael Lewis
Book Description: Here is a quote from this book- read the book about the "Big Short" if you like this quote- even if you don't particularly care about sub prime mortgages, CDO's and the financial crisis . "When a Wall Street firm helped him to get into a trade that seemed perfect in every way, he asked the salesman, "I appreciate this, but I just want to know one thing: How are you going to fuck me?" Heh-heh-heh, c'mon, we'd never do that, the trader started to say, but Danny, though perfectly polite, was insistent. We both know that unadulterated good things like this trade don't just happen between little hedge funds and big Wall Street firms. I'll do it, but only after you explain to me how you are going to fuck me. And the salesman explained how he was going to fuck him. And Danny did the trade."
The Black Swan
Book Name: The Black Swan
SubTitle: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
Author Name: Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Book Description: The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable is a philosophy / literary book by the epistemologist Nassim Nicholas Taleb. The core theme of the book is that the impact of rare events is huge and highly underrated. We are not aware of it, which increases their effect much. Our mind and thinking habits are poorly equipped to handle rare events. The book relates the various cognitive and psychological reasons of this, from multiple perspectives. The book is written in a literary style and covers a wide variety of subjects relating to knowledge, aesthetics, and living life. (wikipedia)
What the Dog Saw
Book Name: What the Dog Saw
SubTitle: And Other Adventures
Author Name: Malcolm Gladwell
Book Description: A compilation of Malcolm’s articles published in The New Yorker, the book is a collection of articles basically covering “the Problem of Other Minds” where Gladwell tries to show his readers the world through the eyes of others. The book gets its title from the story of Cesar Millan taming the wildest of dogs with his touch. While most are busy wondering how Milan tames the dogs, Gladwell is more interested in finding out What the Dog sees and why the dog decides to mellow down.
Blink
Book Name: Blink
SubTitle: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
Author Name: Malcolm Gladwell
Book Description: Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking is a 2005 book by Malcolm Gladwell. It presents in popular science format research from psychology and behavioral economics on the adaptive unconscious; mental processes that work rapidly and automatically from relatively little information. It considers both the strengths of the adaptive unconscious, for example in expert judgment, and its pitfalls such as stereotypes. (wikipedia)
Atlas Shrugged
Book Name: Atlas Shrugged
SubTitle:
Author Name: Ayn Rand
Book Description: An acclaimed master piece, a way of life, an influence on the life of millions of readers, Atlas Shrugged is an astounding story of a man who said that he would stop the motor of the world, and did. Atlas Shrugged raises more questions and challenges conventional wisdom way more than most books that you might have read. The book opens with, "Who is John Galt?” a question whose answer might change your thought process and bring out a different person in you altogether.

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