Author: Biz India

Author: Jim O’Neill Publisher: Portfolio: An Imprint of the Penguin Group – 248 pages Book Review by Sonu Chandiram The author Jim O’Neill is chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management. He coined the term BRIC in 2001 and identified the countries covered by this acronym – Brazil, Russia, India and China – as four of the fastest-growing major economies in the world, by population and area. Except for China whose economy is now second in size (having overtaken Japan) to the United States in terms of gross domestic product or GDP, the other three members of the BRIC have one or both key assets – a large and young (read: productive) population and a large geographic area with rich natural resources – that can help enlarge the country’s economy relatively faster than the six largest economies in the world or the G6: the U.S., Japan, Germany, France, United Kingdom and Italy. Note that these six countries also carry large amounts of external debt relative to their GDP, which has slowed their growth. Now about ten years later, he identifies the “next eleven” countries whose GDP will grow rapidly: Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, Turkey and Vietnam. In 2003, Jim O’Neill made predictions on the GDP growth rates of the BRICS and in which years they would overtake, collectively and individually, the GDP sizes of...

Author: Dr. Andy McCabe Publisher: Balboa, a division of Hay House. 205 pages Book Review by Nano Khilnani The last word in this amazingly insightful novel by psychologist Dr. Andy McCabe is the word namaste that Indians say in greeting each other, while clasping their hands together. The Sanskrit word namaste does not merely mean “hello.” When someone says this word, it means they are interested in actually knowing you and want to have a conversation with you. It is a means of minimizing one’s ego at that moment and saying to the person you’re seeing that ‘you are important to me.’ and ‘you are my focus now’ at this time. Hindus clasp their hands together when they are in front of God (shown in numerous forms, each signifying a different value) in a temple or elsewhere. It is a means of paying homage and showing respect. This book is about the life-transforming story of a frustrated writer named City Bear. When he meets a blind beggar in a New York City subway, he is tested for his concern and caring (or lack thereof) for others. Passing the test with flying colors, so to speak, City Bear is rewarded with a life-changing gift by the beggar, who is called The Gifted One in the book. Discover what that gift is, and read his story to find out what happens...

Authors: Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg Publisher: Little, Brown and Company – 380 pages Book Review by:  Laxmi Chaandi Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg are accomplished chefs who are also Honorary Ambassadors of the Culinary Institute of America, an honor bestowed to just a few very accomplished and innovative people by that prestigious organization. They are also well-known writers and award winners in culinary circles. The Flavor Bible, published in 2008, won for them the Nautilus Book Award in 2010. In 2007, they won the Cookbook of the Year award from the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) for their book What to Drink with What to Eat. They are also coauthors of other books: Becoming a Chef, Culinary Artistry, Dining Out, Chef’s Night Out, The Food Lover’s Guide to Wine, and The New American Chef. The husband-and-wife and chef-and-author pair urges you to be original and imaginative in coming up with new dishes, and ingenious in your cooking: to experiment with new  ingredients, various spices, zesty seasonings to develop, most importantly, distinctive flavors in your foods. Here is a description of their cooking as written on the inside flap of The Flavor Bible:   “Cuisine is undergoing a startling historic transformation: With the advent of the global availability of ingredients, dishes are no longer based on geography but on flavor.  This radical shift calls for a new approach...

Author: Paul J. Bailo Publisher: Career Press. 184 pages Book Review by Ramu Nakliba This is a handy reference handbook which should be read carefully at least once in a very quiet room so that the jobseeker absorbs and retains as much essential information as possible so that he thoroughly prepares himself mentally and psychologically for his phone interview. Then he should refer to the important parts of the book every now and then, and more often, as the phone interview date nears. Being prepared for the all-important opportunity you are looking for, cannot be overemphasized. In the Introduction itself, Paul J. Bailo gives the jobseeker five key points to remember in being a successful phone interviewee: be yourself; prepare, prepare, prepare; listen, think, speak; be confident, professional and assertive; and be brief, be bold, be done. Paul J. Bailo has developed a package called Phone Interview Pro for jobseekers. It consists of the The Essential Phone Interview Handbook, an evaluation of the candidate, and an online education program. Beyond mastering the five points or key elements of a successful phone interview, the author says that the phone interview is a like a first date. You want to make sure it goes well, so that you will be given the opportunity to the second step: a face-to-face interview. And when you have the first of successful in-person interviews, you...

Author: Carol Roth Publisher: Ben Bella Books -300 pages Book Review by:  Sonu Chandiram An entrepreneur may be just an investor in a business or may take an active role in running it, as much as being physically present in the location of the enterprise. Many books on entrepreneurship extol the benefits of being an entrepreneur or a business owner. Make more money than you ever dreamed off, the authors point out on the covers (so that they can make the money with skyrocketing sales of their book). In a business, the only limit to the amount of money you can make is the one you set upon it, they write. The sky is the limit, they add, unlike in your job where you pretty much know your income limit, give or take a few hundred or a few thousand dollars. Here are some more of the blurbs you find on the jackets of books on making money through a business: Enjoy the freedom to take time off from your business at anytime. Set the hours of work you want, and the number and lengths of vacations you jolly well please to give yourself. Be your own boss. Fire your current boss. If your job is boring or not what you really want to do in life, get rid of it now. And on and on, focusing on the...