Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner

It is not quite Economics but a research on various things and reasons for occurences of the same.

General tenency is to short list the most probable causes based on our own perception and may be sometimes from past and arrive at some factors as the most possible reason for the state of things.
For example, reduced crime could be attributed to increased policing, or could be attributed to worsening economic conditions,lower employment etc or could be due to drugs etc. The authors come out with making abortion legal way back in 1970 as the main reason in US for reduced crime in the 1990s. They talk of how unwantd pregnancy meant an unwanted child meant giving up on the child or bringing it up reluctantly or even abandoning it , leading to the child being a left to fend for themslves and getting sucked in to pettyu theft etc .

The authors talk of cheating by teachers in correction of examination papers to appear better. They basically bring out a list of negative and positive incentives which have a bearing on human behaviour and how they react to situations and things.
They in fact carry out detailed verification of the data on answer papers.

They talk of how Ku Klux klan was neautralised. Ku Klux Klan, essentially a racist brother hood amongst whites, had secret communication methods and hierarchy. That itself gave the members a feeling of exclusivity and a sense of power since the information sharing was just amongst the members . The moment this was out and widely publicised , their secrets were out and the apparent power and headiness they used to derive was lost. The authors bring out the fact that breaking the information secrecy had greater impact on breaking the organisation than policing etc.

Incidentally the cover page of Freakonomics with an apple on outside and ornage inside ( slice shown) , trying to bring out the fact that what is apparent outside is not what could be inside. This is part of the logo of Vikram Hospital and their " Different approach..."

Good book but not a earthshaking one in as much as it looks at things differently and bears out with examples the fact that what is apparent and obvious is not what the true cause could be.

Book by Jimmy Burns on Maradona

The book is titled Hand of God, aptly perhaps , the book being written by an Englishman, I think.

The author has done a lot of research getting in touch with a whole lot of people who were either involved directly or indirectly with Maradone during his playing days.

The accent is more on Maradona's activities, his personal life, his tantruns outside the Football field, his excesses, his temper etc.

Quite a spoilt genius whose aggressive behaviour appears , atleast in some parts to have been a response to deep seated complex. He had a himble background and tough growing up, only salvation for him and the family appears to have been Football.

Sad that such a great talent was miiused , ill advised. Obviously with that kind of background, one does not expect him to exercise great judgement which is where people around him should have played a balancing role. They all made merry and sponged off him, pushing in to a greater abyss.

The fact that he was able to perform so well in Mexico 1986 and win the cup for Argentina inspite of what had been happening on the personal front is a testimony of the extraordinary talent. He was a misfit in Barca which demanded discipline. May be a longer stint in Barca would have helped him get more disciplined and may be perform even better for a longer period.
This is what is helping Messi now. He has been part fo Barca and with Pep Guardiola who by all accounts is disciplined without being regimentattive.

Maradona by all accounts was in to drugs, women, Orgies along with the entire groups.

I recall his magic in 1986. I have not seen a better player, a player who could influence the entire team's performance with his individual performance. It was almost unreal.

Messi does have all the makings, but remains to be seen whether he could make the kind of impact that Maradona made in national colours.