Author: Biz India

Book Review: Security Metrics: A Beginner’s Guide

Author: Caroline Wong Publisher: McGraw-Hill – 397 pages Book Review by: Venkat Subramaniam This book is not only easy to read and to understand, but it is thoughtfully organized in a highly systematic way. More than an ordinary book on measuring information security levels in an organization and taking the necessary steps to enhance it, this is a detailed reference work on the many aspects, imperatives and nuances of security. It has a short two-page table of contents followed by a nine-page, detailed outline and description of what you will find within its pages, enabling you to quickly get to the chapter and page of the topic you’re looking to find out more about. Or, you may first want to read it chapter by chapter to gain as much information as you want. Then, you can more closely read the chapter and-or the topics on which you seek to get detailed information and develop close understanding and insight on. This almost 400-page guide covers numerous areas of security in its nine parts and 17 chapters, from the why of measuring security and the risks you take if your company is not protected from threats and intrusion, all the way to what precautions you need to take in the relatively new world of cloud computing. Part I entitled “Why Security Metrics?” helps you understand the imperatives of information security and...

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Book Review: Southeast Asia in the New International Era

Authors: Robert Dayley and Clark D. Neher Publisher:  Westview Press (A Member of the Perseus Book Group) – 330 pages Book Review by:  Sonu Chandiram Southeast Asia, a region with about 590 million people (2011 UN population estimate) is defined by the authors of this book as consisting of these eleven countries: Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Vietnam. I asked myself why Hong Kong and Taiwan were not included in this group and I could not find the answer. I have visited and lived in seven of these thirteen countries and one major characteristic is ironically predominant – their diversity. The authors make this point very clear at the outset of this book. These nations of Southeast Asia are about as diverse as they can be in terms of arts, beliefs, customs, dress, economics, food, gross domestic product, human capital, income, languages, mores, natural resources, organized institutions, politics, religions, social behavior, traditions, and just about any other type of comparison. The authors point out that these nations have different cultures, histories, political systems and resource bases, both human and natural. Most people from the West however, are not able to discern these differences. (It’s funny that almost all Asians are termed “Orientals” in Western print news media. So, should all people from Europe and the Americas be termed “Occidentals”?)  That is understandable, just...

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Book Review: Once Upon a Car: The Fall and resurrection of America’s Big Three Automakers – GM., Ford and Chrysler

Author: Bill Vlasic Publisher: William Morrow (An Imprint of HarperCollins  – 394 pages Book Review by:  Sonu Chandiram Bill Vlasic is an award-winning reporter alright but what first struck me as I started to read this book is his ability to hold the reader’s attention. So, add narrative-writing skills to his reporting prowess. I wholeheartedly agree with USA Today’s description of his previous book Taken for a Ride as “a fascinating page-turning read.” In my opinion, that description applies to Once Upon a Car as well. This book relates the historic true story of how two of America’s largest automakers – General Motors and Chrysler – nearly went out of business but were rescued with billions of dollars of taxpayer “bailout” money, and how the third largest U.S. car company Ford was saved from asking for a bailout with thoughtful and clever management by a newly-hired executive, Alan Mulally. This engaging chronicle of events covers the period from 2005 to the recent past and it is rich in descriptions of the scenes, the people and their remarks in corporate offices, factory floors, labor union halls and places in Washington D.C., including the U.S. Capitol and the Oval Office in the White House. It includes key decisions that helped the companies stay in business and saved millions of jobs. Among them were Rick Wagoner’s forced resignation as a condition for...

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Book Review: The New Atlas of World History: Global Events at a Glance

Author: John Haywood Publisher: Princeton University Press – 252 pages Book Review by: Paiso Jamakar This large, colorful book provides the reader with a wondrous text-and-pictorial voyage through not just history but of pre-historic times as well. It takes you through the most significant events in our past while enabling you to actually look at people and things that symbolized them. The quality of production of this gorgeous tome amazed me at first glance and handling. To say that it is professionally designed and manufactured would be an understatement. The thick, strong cover, the exquisite coated paper, the beautiful graphics inside – of the maps, the photos of artifacts, objects, people – are so incredibly stunning. It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words, and with the hundreds of photos in this book, not much has to be written for the reader to learn a lot just by turning the pages and looking at numerous images on the right side. But the author John Haywood also provides you the accompanying stories and descriptions on the left pages as you delight yourself with the illustrations on the right. And, he answers questions that pop up in your mind as you look at the graphics. For example right after his Introduction, John Haywood starts with the pre-historic period of six million to 100,000 years ago with the topic:...

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Rohit Gupta’s “Life, Camera, Action” Wins 9 Awards At 28th Goldie Film Awards

Life, Camera, Action, a drama-feature film, won nine awards at the 28th Goldie Film Awards held in Palatka City near Daytona Beach in Florida on April 27th. The awards were: the Grand Goldie Award for Best Innovative Feature Film; Best Director; Best Actress (Dipti Mehta); Best Cinematography; Best Supporting Actor (Shaheed Woods); Best Song (Chalte Jaana Hain or Have to Keep Walking, sung by “KK” and written by Rohit Gupta, music by Manoj Singh); Best Production Design (Ravi Kumar) ; Best Editing,; and Best Screenplay (Amanda Sodhi and Rohit Gupta). Additionally, Rohit Gupta’s four-minute film Another Day, Another Life got the Grand Goldie Best Short Film award at the ceremony. “We enjoyed Life, Camera Action thoroughly. The filmmaking setting of the characters is fascinating and memorable! Really nice story.” commented Steve Postal, executive director of the Goldie Film Awards. Film director Rohit Gupta is ecstatic. “I am happy that these movies continue to find their audiences. Winning ten awards at the Goldie Film Awards took me completely by surprise not because I think any less of these films, but because all of the others are much larger in scope. This is also a testament to the adage “Belief is where it all begins,” said the director in a phone interview. The plot of both films is filled with pivotal moments, which affect the outcome of the characters’ actions and at each one...

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