Quick Review: Brandwashed by Martin Lindstrom

Brandwashed: How Marketers and Advertisers Obscure the Truth, Manipulate Our Minds, and Persuade Us to Buy by Martin Lindstrom
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The author has a long experience of working with some of the big marketing giants. His insights into what type of weird tactics marketers can use to get revenues and keep the cash register ringing amazes the reader at times. For example, he quotes an example of a restaurant serving fish. The restaurant gets the supply from the deck and from there it hires a small fisherman boat to deliver the supply to the restaurant. Customers can see the fish being delivered by the fisherman and they tend to believe that they are being served the freshest of the day's catch by the locals. Well, but now you know what the truth is.
The book is a good read if you are a shopaholic addicted about the brands. It will give you deep insights into brand's extremely smart tactics and you can hope to get some respite from that temptation to spend huge amounts on not so valuable stuff, because now you might be a little more enlightened than the other mortals.
Though it didn't work for me. Hope it works for you.

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The Three Mistakes of My Life by Chetan Bhagat


My rating: 2 of 5 stars


The book though interesting to read till the last page, doestn't seem to be the best of literary work of Chetan Bhagat. The story revolves around three friends who try to make a living by opening a cricket shop. The events turn out to be ugly during Gujrat riots. The title doesn;t seem to be aptly justified in the story. The three mistakes that writer talks of don't seem to fit in the story in a compulsive manner. The story seems to be full of bollywood masala- may be the writer was waiting for another movie offer after writing the book. It is a decent read for quick entertainment.




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Guest Blogging

This is my first blog post as a professional blogger.
Here I have done some industry analysis on patterns of shopping online and things one should keep in mind while ordering. The new site Shopsocially has started a new variation of the concept of shopping with recommendations from friends. Article talks about some advantages of having the peer reviews for your purchases.

First day at IIM Lucknow

From the moment I boarded my flight from Hyderabad to Lucknow, I was excited and anxious to reach the IIML campus as soon as possible. After having left the city of Nizams on a rainy day, it was quite a shock for me the moment I landed in the city of Nawabs. The mercury levels were beyond 40, I guess. The sun was in its full glare. Anyways, the heat could not lower my anxiety to get to the campus. An hour’s ride and I was on the gates of Hell. As I entered, on the road across, there was a big statue of Lord Krishna as charioteer of Arjuna on the left and Mahatma Gandhi leading the Dandi March on right. So I had finally arrived at Hell.
The first thing to do after reaching the campus was to get a room. It took a couple of hours before I was finally in my room after completing all the formalities and now it was time to explore the campus. Apart from the academic buildings and hostels, the campus was full of trees and there was lot of greenery all around. I was sure that come rains and it would be an awesome view of the mother nature.
The favorite spot of the students, as I figured out was Just Tea – a students’ venture(though it sells a lot more products than just tea these days) and Gossips & Bytes. I had heard about a new sports complex which was inaugurated a few days ago and it was time to check that out now. As expected, the facilities were truly world class there especially the swimming pool and an air conditioned gym, and wow they had a snooker table as well. I thought that life might not be that tough in Hell but it was to be decided in the days to come.

The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't

The book is a good read for anyone who is working in a corporate environment and feels being threatened aor harassed at times.The book clearly demarcates the boundaries between a temoporary and a certified asshole. The only thing different thing about this book from others on similar subject is that the author,a Stanford professor uses the slightly objectionable world so freely in the book.
Though the "asshole" word might be already used in the closed cubicles of the office even by the top bosses of the organization to describe the creepy weasles in the group but to get the written and public acknowledgement from a Stanford professor adds a little veracity to the fact that such a breed do exist.
I liked the idea of having a token asshole in the organisation who can be like a reverse ideal for the people.The other team members can learn what is bad behaviour in the organization and how not to be a one.
The Total Cost of Asshole(TCA) incurred by the companies on an annual basis though calculated roughly in the book, gives a good idea of how severely a company can suffer on account of such bunch of jerks.
The author also talks about the virtues of being a asshole and gives example of Apple's Steve Jobs(google Steve Jobs + ass to know more) but he still holds strong reservations about having such people in an organisation.His advise is to follow a stern "No Asshole Rule"- not only in word but also in actions because life is too short to waste on such morons.

Disadvantages of being in a startup

It is a long lasting turmoil in the mind of a software engineer about whether to join a startup or not. It's always the choice between being a big fish in a small pond and being a small fish in the ocean.
Well, if you are thinking of joining a startup, here are the few things you should keep in mind before taking the decision.

1. Long working hours:The startups are always synonymous with long working hours in a 10x10 box with short lunch and sleep breaks.

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2.Poor employee benefits:The facilities that are provided by startups are of no match to the ones provided by big corporate giants.These things do not seem to matter a lot while joining a startup but play a big role in determining how comfortable your life can be.

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3.Uncertaininty of the project:It is very difficult to tell if the product that you are working on will eventually see the light of the day or not.The competing products from rivals and the timing of the release f your project might make a lot of difference in determining the future of the startup.

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4.Very few IPOs:There is no guarantee that the company will eventually have an IPO.The IPO of a startup is very rare in these times of recession.

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5.Little job security:This is true for the biggies as well, but why to take the risk with the startups?

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The list may be longer than this. But if you are game for it, willing to take risks and want to change the world, then it might be the fit for you.

Karl,Aaj aur Kal

Karl Aaj Aur Kal by Cyrus Broacha


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
It's a book with a raw humor that we hardly see in the books. And that coming from MTV VJ Cyrus adds to the fun of reading the book since you know what to expect from the book- random foolishness and crazy stuff accompanied with a story to go with,so that readers don't think that it's a book about MTV one-liners or the insane script of their TV shows.
The one I can remember is "Relationships are like under wears, the more you use them , the more comfortable they get."
The book is short and crisp and it succeeds in tickling your funny bone (only if you have one).I couldn't stop myself laughing out loudly at times. The F*** world dialogs between Kunal and a movie director was simply amazing.
Read this book when you are tired of reading the intellectual stuff and want something light to refresh your mind and laugh out loud.

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