Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Finished reading the book. Tough read.ay require reading a couple of times more. Almost like a text book. Difficult to digest the first time around. Kind fo sequel to Fooled by randomness by the same author.

Talks of rare and uncertain and unpredictable events, how they change the fortunes or course of events and history in the most significant manner. Has scant regard for what we term as bell curve and the ability to anticipate and extrapolate things based on past.Harps on the fact that if things are so predictable based on graphs and bell curve the markets and history would have been dull right through

It is the unpreditable events that have shaped the world more and have had a greater bearing on the world rather thanthe predcitable and anticipatable ones.

The loss or gain from Black swan or the rare events have a greater bearing than the regular ones.
Author is very well read and takes reference of various philosophers and scientists and mathematicians.

Has great regard for Karl Popper and Benoit Mandelbroit a mathematician , economist... who pioneered Fractals .

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.

Lokpal and Jan lokpal

One can easily gauge the frustration level amongst all on the corruption levels across the country. Anna has done a great job galvanising the masses and has set in motion and given a great momentum.
But to assume that a Jan Lokpal would be panacea for all corruption is living in fool's paradise. There is merit in the demand for Citizen's charter or something which puts the onus for timelines on various aspects but we can not create a super dictatorial body to oversee everyone. That is , like some one mentioned is hoping for a benevolent dicatotorship. This is very tempting but never benovolent. Government has been most foolish. Citizens are frustrated that nothing has happened for years but Jan Lokpal is the be all and end all is just arrogance and not respecting a system which is good but not great. Atleast we are not a failed nation like pakistan. Intentions of Team Anna is great but the methods and processes are not. In India Laws and laws are there , the gap has been in implementing and enforcing and not having no laws
I just hope both paties come to the negotiating table and make concessions and save the situation. No point in holding on to rigid positions. Govt and Congress are foolish and let us hope that Team Anna is different
Unreasonable deadlines , however frustrated you are and throwing the existing system aside is not on.

India's world Cup win against Sri Lanka 2011

Great end to the world cup 2011. Both India and Sri Lanka lost one match each at the group stage, India Against South Africa ( a mathc they should have easily won ) and Sri Lanka agaionst Pakistan

Knock out stage , India beat Australia, with good contributions from Tendular , Yuvraj. Ponting scored a century but Aussies lost, something very similar to what used to happen with Temndulkar. Just shows the resilience of this India team. Several small to medium contributions from got us to the total of 260. Very creditable chase.

In Semis India outplayed Pakistan, Tendulkar scoring a scratchy but most valuable 85 (4 lives ). In Tedulkar;s case it always used to be excellent, clinical inninings cutr short by one mistake. For a change this was different. Good bowling and fielding performance from India. India beat Pakistan for the fifth time ( no losses till now) in world cup.

Against Sri Lanka, a good start by India fielding first, excellent fielding and bowling to start with completely undone by terrible bowling and fielding inb the last 5 overs, Last 5 overs , India gave 63 runs. Jayawardena scoring a fantastic 100. A total of 275 was a tall order especially chasing in world cup final with all the pressuer and that too playing in front of home crowd.

Sehwag getting out to the second ball of the match and Tendulkar looking very good but getting out for 18 with the score reading 31, it looked a lost casue and a familiar thing. This time for a change , as had been happening right through the tournament, Virat Kohli for sometime, Gambhir and Dhoni,who promoted himself ahead of Yuvraj to have the right left combination going, played very well and took India through to the total. Excellent and timely knock by Dhoni , who had looked woefully out of touch till the final.
Excellent team effort with major contributions from Yuvraj, Tendulkarm Zaheer , Raised their game in the the knock out stage and almost every one in the team and in the final , a grand knock by Dhoni, Captain cool.

It was in a way , revenge for the Quarters loss to Sri Lanka way back in 1996. One distinctly rememembers , that India chasing a not great total of 250+ was comfortably placed at 100 for 1 or 2 , once Tendular got out for 60+, the entire team collapsed.

IPL madness

After the first auction one was prepared for surprises, but still the current auction surprised one.One was not prepared for the kind of money that was on offer. Just imagine a Gautam Gambhir ( he atleast is more deserving ) getting $ 2 Mio and a Robin Uthappa getting $ 2 mio.

Robin Uthappa , one would think is more a baseball talent than a cricket talent. Twenty 20 is changing the way the game is played. You can't even call it cricket. There is more emphasis on raw strength rather than skill and finesses. Since in this format, there are very few attacking fielders, less skilled batsman get away with false shots.

And the remuneration is made to hitters and nor to skilled people.

Is Yusuf Pathan a better cricketer than Laxman.? This format has possibly brought hordes of people to the grounds and to watch but it will also kill the game as it was played earlier. It will get closer to baseball and move away from the conventional cricket.

While a Tendulkar still does well in this format, that is a tribute to his versatility rather than a credit to his unquestionable cricketing skill.

A Umesh Yadav gets close to $ 1 mio, that is around Rs 4 Crs. He is not a India regular , neither in One day format nor Tests.

Test matches which call for conventional skills and One day also which calls for skill +innovation to a large extent may die. One dayers, atleast was a healthy combination of technical skills and ability to test one's stroke making capability . While Test matches can sometime become completely defensive ( though these days , that is not the case ) , one day matches tested the defensive skills + attacking skills.

Twenty 20 just predominantly tests the strength and maximum remuneration is linked to that format, is a sure shot way to kill the game.

Markets override anything else. BCCI with its enormous money , can do something to make test matches and ODI s more popular. They do nothing. BCCI is doig well financially inspite of its unprofessional and lackadaisical approach. Indian talent , spin and pace is barren.After a Tendular, Dravid and Laxman, batting may also start looking thin. Less said about spinning talent in the country the better.

Book " Saving capitalism from Capitalists " by Raghuram Rajan and Luis Zingales

Just completed reading the book. Well researched and structured book. The authors talk of something similar to the cosy club syndrome in Capitalism.

In principle they are free market proponents. They clearly advocate free market with a well developed financial markets but have pointed out how free markets never are free. They talk of how the system generally degenerates in to a entry barriers built by incumbents. The set of people who are thriving make special efforts to build barriers for new entrants in various ways.

How new technologies can kill existing Companies and with it the livelihood of many people. This becomes such an emotional issue that Governments ( with their political agenda) have to necessarily support the inferior or less productive companies just to ensure that workers are protected. Protection of this kind and not allowing entry to more productive and better technology Companies could be a big drain. It would be a good idea to compensate the workers with a pension or some kind of social security and close out the low productive units. But the cost of continuation of inferior units is not quantifiable Vis a Vis the human cost of laying off workers .

The authors continually talk of how Capitalism can never thrive without a proper regulatory framework , not to stifle the free market but to make sure that the free market is genuinly free and does not become a captive of incumbents and their machinations to keep the advantage with them.

The authors , with examples make a great case for Financial development and how a very well developed financial system fosters better competition, better products, lifestyle. They make a good case for , how a good financial system which is available to meritorious people , effectively nullifies the incumbents advantages, Their postulate is that a developed and good financial system is a necessity in keeping Capitalism pristine or shall we say free of the clutches of vested interests.

They talk of measures to ensure which includes

Strong social security ( built over the years and not just at the time of severance)

Regulated but not interfered and well developed financial systems and so on on so forth

Need to read once more to fully understand and capture all of what the authors say.