The Blog of Small Things

                                                 Name : 2G saga unfolds Author : A.Raja     Year of Publication : 2018     Genre : Non-fiction , Politics    Rating : ***(3  stars out of 5) Mention 2G anywhere in India and the associated image is not that of villagers with mobile phones but a wickedly smiling A.Raja walking off with 1.76 lakh crores of public money. The book is a defence document of the ex-tainted ex-minister, written much before his acquittal by a special court in late 2017. The book's only literary value comes when the author suddenly stops his flow of thoughts to randomly quote a philosopher. What was dubbed as the biggest scam in Indian history led instead to a lame acquittal vindicating this book. After having read this book and Shalini Singh (the firebrand journalist who first lit the 2G...

Name : Midnight in Chernobyl Author : Adam Higginbotham     Year of Publication : 2019     Genre : Non-fiction , Science    Rating : ****(4  stars out of 5) Name : Chernobyl  - History of a tragedy Author : Serhii Plokhy     Year of Publication : 2018     Genre : Non-fiction , Science    Rating : ***(3  stars out of 5) This is a duplex review covering two important books on the Chernobyl disaster. This was no ordinary technological disaster. It's significance can be gauged from Gorbachev's comment years later that the Chernobyl disaster “even more than my launch of perestroika, was perhaps the real cause of the collapse of the Soviet Union five years later." While Plokhy's work shines in analyzing the political ramifications in Ukraine (considering it is his home) , Higginbotham focuses on the science behind the catastrophe. I would prefer Higginbotham's work to Plokhy's b...

Name : The Lone Empress - A portrait of Jayalalithaa Author : Vaasanthi     Year of Publication : 2019     Genre : Non-fiction    Rating : * (1  star out of 5) The subject of this biography had obtained an injunction against it's release and the book could get released only after the subject's demise. After reading the book, one wonders whether Amma had read the book at all as the tome is hagiography masquerading as biography. For a book running into 350 pages, the book lacks any original insight and all the author's interviews are with Amma's sympathizers or school friends. Almost all the criticisms of Amma's authoritarian rule are attributed as emanating from the Opposition while the people of TN are perpetually besotted with their favorite "Rosappu amma". The woman is in jail convicted for corruption and the author laments how the lady used to luxuries had to adapt to the spartan settings of a jail. If only the most "intell...