Interesting books to read this week

At a moment when AI, automation, and relentless disruption are forcing companies to rethink how they build and scale, The Algorithm by Jon McNeill offers a strikingly contrarian idea—the future of innovation may depend less on adding more, and more on systematically removing what doesn’t work. As former president of Tesla, McNeill witnessed firsthand the company’s most critical phase, right when it teetered on the edge of collapse before scaling into a global powerhouse. 

Trauma Nation
Nishtha Lamba
Aleph Book Company
Pp 232, Rs 799

Trauma is a silent epidemic in India. It hides in plain sight, embedding itself in our bodies, families, and communities— manifesting as anxiety, depression, physical illnesses, addictions, and various other mental health issues. In Trauma Nation, Nishtha Lamba, traces the origins and trajectories of trauma through events that impact our lives—toxic relationships, childhood wounds, accidents, and historical tragedies.

Wild Wild East
Tanul Thakur
Westland Books
Pp 492, Rs 999

This is the story of three men ravaged by the vagaries of the H-1B visa programme. It is also the story of two nations, of transcontinental human trafficking, of corporate and immigration fraud, of wage violations so enormous that their official amount over the last two decades reaches at least $121.48 million. The real figure must be a 100 times more. Wild Wild East unveils a scam that affects millions of American and Indian workers. 

Dalit Women and the Fullness of Life
Christina Dhanuja
Penguin Random House
Pp 272, Rs 699

Christina Dhanuja confronts the narrow frames that have long confined how Dalit women are seen and understood. Too often rendered as symbols of all-consuming suffering or resilience alone, these are human lives portrayed without interiority and wholeness. This book refuses that erasure. Dhanuja examines how reductive and unidimensional narratives take hold in institutions, media discourse and social imagination, and what it takes to break them apart.

A Brief History Of The Universe 
Sarah Alam Malik
Simon & Schuster
Pp 256, Rs 799

The desire to explore and understand what lies beyond us is at the heart of scientific discovery. Ever since the ancient Babylonians tracked celestial objects on clay tablets, the search for meaning in an infinitely vast universe has been a profoundly human pursuit. In this spellbinding book, A Brief History Of The Universe, Sarah Alam Malik takes us on a journey through the discoveries that shaped our perception of the cosmos.