Ordinary Magic
Gregory M Walton
Hachette
Pp 464, Rs 799
The emotional questions we face can define our lives. If you’re expecting an interaction to go wrong, that expectation can make it so. That’s spiralling down. But as esteemed Stanford psychologist Greg M Walton shows, when we see these questions clearly, we can answer them well. Known to social psychologists as wise interventions, these shifts in perspective can help us chart new trajectories for our lives. They help us spiral up.
The Champion Within
Samir Parikh & Divya Jain
Rupa Publications
Pp 216, Rs 295
The Champion Within delves into insights from sport psychology to understand what lies behind the mental strength of some of the greatest athletes ever known, and offers pathways for you to unlock your true potential. This book is designed for everyone—corporate professionals striving for excellence, athletes and performing artists in pursuit of their dreams, and students seeking mental tools to enhance their academic performance.
Abundance
Ezra Klein & Derek Thompson
Hachette
Pp 304, Rs 400
We have the means to build an equitable world without hunger, fuelled by clean energy. Instead, we have a politics driven by scarcity. Bestselling authors Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson have spent decades analysing the political, economic and cultural forces that have led us here. They unpick the barriers to progress and show how we can, and must, shift the political agenda to one that not only protects and preserves, but also builds.
Chasing a Conjecture
Chandrashekhar B Khare
Juggernaut
Pp 328, Rs 799
A conjecture is like an unfulfilled fantasy in the world of pure mathematics. Proving a conjecture is like trying to make a fantasy come true, and it can consume a mathematician for years. This unusual, beguiling memoir is about such a journey. It begins with a child growing up in Mumbai, fascinated by mathematics, and ends with a man, just turned 40, winning a prestigious prize for proving one of the most important conjectures in number theory.
Small Boat
Vincent Delecroix & Helen Stevenson
Simon & Schuster
Pp 160, Rs 399
A dinghy carrying migrants from France to the UK capsizes, causing the deaths of 27 people on board. Despite receiving calls for help, the French authorities wrongly told the migrants they were in British waters and had to call the British authorities for help. By the time rescue vessels arrived, all but two of the migrants had died. The narrator of Delecroix’s fictional account is the woman who took the calls. Accused of failing in her duty, she refuses to be held more responsible than others for this disaster.