The Amulet of Samarkand

Djinnes(genies)!!!!!!!!!. The first genie book I have read and man, it just bowled me away. I brought the Amlut of Samarkand half afraid that it would be some kiddish book. Couldn't have been more wrong. The characterization of the genie is too good. Though it does mean that the magician though necessary is not a very interesting character. And the foot notes are full of sarcastic comments though it is pretty much kept in check. I have it when authors overload the books with sarcasm.


Now this is one book I can recommend to one and all. Unlike fooled by randomness which would be passing interest to a non-fin guy. And the book pushed into reading the second part of the trilogy, the Golems eye. Due to this book, i spend half the time in office dreaming when I could just run away home.

By the way, planning to start the driving classes soon. They are not as expensive as I thought it would be. That would take care of at least one of the targets before year end.

Fooled by randomness

A must for everyone ever interested in trading. The book is by a propitiatory trader who has been in the business for a long time. The main philosophy of his trading career has been how not to blow up. Blow up means not just losing money but losing more than expected. There are lots of instances and examples of people who blew up and why they blew up. And he heaps loads and loads of scorn for analysts like me.

Moreover, the book touches upon some of the sublime issues with human behavior. We always tend to compare our success relative to others in our close proximity rather than consider the whole population. For example, no matter how much better off I am as compared to 90% of Indian population, I will still compare my financial well being with the limited number of people I studied with.

Wretched Birthdays

As it happens every year since the past 5 years, Yesterday was another wretched birthday. This day is celebrated every year till your death and in some cases even after your death. The birthday, as the name implies is not the day you were born on but rather a day every year to commemorate that day of the month and the month you were born on. I never in the fast 5 years have got the feeling of celebrating life at birthdays. I have always felt a disgust at the things that I promised to do and never got around to doing then. The things I could have done but couldn't. Truthfully speaking, they are the days I get the blues.

So, this is what I did for birthday. Woke up, office, back home, read a book and off to sleep, after having food at regular intervals. I might not remember what I did the day I was born. But I am pretty sure all I did was wake up and go back to sleep after some milk. This, according to me, is an ideal way to celebrate the day you were born.

On a different note, I really like how some people remember my birthday instead of depending on Orkut. Maybe, they maintain a different database. Whatever it is, I like the gesture. Among those good enough to remember it were my parents and sister, Praveen mavauya, Kanwal, Kris, Katra, Meghana, Skg, Aditya, Vikash and Sanjay. Love you all.

Let’s stop the mushy stuff for now. Let’s have a party this weekend. More than anything else, it’s a good excuse to meet up. Next post is going to be on that book I promised “Fooled by Randomness”.