Ekta | wisdomekta

Wow, do not waste your time with this book!! The first thing that drew me to read this book was the title, “Surrounded by Idiots: The Four Types of Human Behaviour (or, How to Understand Those Who Cannot Be Understood),” and a bit of colourful cover. At first, I thought that even if it didn't present anything new, at least it could end up being an enriching read.  IT WAS NOT. The book is laid on the traditional and one of the famous personality traits, the DISC Model (Dominance, Inducement, Submission, and Compliance), which has been colourfully used and termed into four “colourful” types of people personalities- Red , Yellow , Blue and Green . Erikson rehashes the personalities into four temperament zones and tries to prove that human behaviour can be deciphered into the four types and, thus, accordingly they can be handled or rather managed by others at the workplace. Sadly, no room was given to human behaviour complexities and other variable factors like relations...

With its beautiful cover and an equally exquisite story, this book is the latest read, titled Swallowing the Sun. I got the chance to attend the book launch event (my first ever!!) of this book and briefly met the author, Lakshmi Puri. "Swallowing the Sun" is not the mythology story of Hanuman, who eats the sun, considering it the ladoo . This historical fiction is an imaginative, compelling tell about the epic feat of progressive thinking of a father, the saga of bold and beautiful girls woven into the fabric of India's fight for Independence, and the various social issues offering a gripping and authentic portrayal of the struggle and its impact on individuals and families. The story is majorly told through the eyes of its feisty young heroine, Malati. As a young girl, Malati fights and defeats the school bully at her village school in Maharashtra. From then onwards, backed by her progressive father, she and her sister Kamala push the boundaries constantly....

The book is a rollercoaster of emotions and requires a robust, strong-minded reader-ship . Spiralling my thoughts and feelings from positive to negative…from good to bad… from hope to faith. The book, in short, is all about following intuition, living each emotion (be it sadness or happiness) and being authentic and raw to our inner callings. This novel (rather an autobiography) told by Glennon Doyle is her life story which tells us  learning to be brave — not just in the workplace but as a partner, parent, friend, and woman trying to navigate a world that doesn't always welcome a female perspective. The book is about her family, friends, her struggles and finding herself.  The book talks about how society defines a woman…how one woman describes another woman...how sometimes our voices are not reached to another ears, and the at last it showcases the urgency to required to know ourselves . My learnings from the books- more we understand ourselves, we begin to tru...

In this world of organisations with fast-moving marketing strategies, a rush of adrenaline to do something big and a hurry to be a winner… companies are paving their mark on the treadmill of profit without giving cognisance and due credit to human effort or emotions. All the business talk about "Leading from the Front and “Walk the Talk” has left numbness in the humane domain of the organisation, leading to burnt-out employees. This book took the courage to talk about leading from the back. The leadership model, “Leading From The Back”, looks simple, uncomplicated, easy to use and understand and promises impressive results. The results are not directly related to short-term wins and profit, but look forward to long-term commitments and bonding. The methods described in the book are simple to read. The book tells the leadership mantra, which is simple but seeks constant practice from those readers who are consciously committed to working on their leadership skills to be...

“The deceased could take either a land route or a water route to get to the field of offerings, which is the ancient Egyptian version of heaven. No matter which path you took, you wound up where you were supposed to be.” We are all sailing through life just to reach the end. The end , i.e. Death, is the ultimate truth being sought by life. The recent read by Jodi Picoult presented this process of life/living and death/dying through a superb tale of fiction and Egyptology. This book is an homage to an ancient Egyptian coffin text, also called “The Book of Two Ways,” which contains one of the first known maps of the underworld. In Egyptian mythology, Water and Land refer to the “Two Ways,” alternate routes to the afterlife. The story is told in multiple timelines about a middle-aged woman, Dawn, who works as Death Doula (an interesting profession which I never knew existed!!) …her choices and her way of questioning her life, and the saga of other related persons in her life...

This recent light read from Turkish-British Novelist and Essayist Elif Shafak concluded with some heavy learning about life, living and people. "The Forty Rules of Love" portrays the concepts of love and friendship weaved into Sufism and relation with god explained through a mystic story . Ella Rubenstein, an American housewife, is seeking meaning and fulfilment. Her self-discovery begins when she is assigned to read a manuscript of a novel titled "Sweet Blasphemy," by Aziz Zahara. As Ella delves into the captivating story of spiritual love between Shams of Tabriz and Rumi (the famous poet), she finds herself drawn to Sufi mysticism and the forty rules that transcend time and culture. Ella's transformation is deeply intertwined with the ancient tale, with differences of 800 years apart, creating a powerful connection between past and present. This book points towards the orifice in our souls, which aches to heal through the essence of love, compassion and ge...

I knew Steven Bartlett through his celebrated podcast, The Diary of a CEO . I admire his courage to be truthful about his weakness and pridefully own it . Bartlett is a British-Nigerian entrepreneur and a famous podcaster. He is the founder of Thirdweb, Flight Story and Flight Story Fund. His book “The Diary of a CEO” underlines that simple ways are the best and the beys are always simple. The book begins with the idea of mastering the self by filling the five interconnected buckets, i.e. knowledge, skills, network, resources, and reputation. Anyone who starts with acquiring knowledge applies it to developing a set of skills. With this acquired knowledge and skill, one develops valuable relationships and expands the networks, thus enhancing the resources and reputation. By setting the tone, he begins his set of 33 Laws with a holistic approach and precise wisdom, explained crisply in simple language and thus presenting the unique way for mastering the self. Each law is exp...