An interesting read I should say. While the story outline is based on a lot of facts, it is not a real story. A lot of events, the social status and development were all perfectly correct at the time this story is supposed to have happened. He did some very nice research to get this book out. Only the murder and analysis is the fiction part. This is a logical story happened in Manhattan, 1909.

While this is a suspense thriller like many other books and movies, a new method ‘psychoanalysis’ is used to investigate. People who are genuinely interested in psychology will have good fun and some food for thought. Not people, who think they are interested in psychology, mind you! Yeah, I’ve had cases like this come up after understanding the thinking process a little.

Rubenfeld did a fantastic job in weaving all the characters into the story. He used a fictitious character or two to solve the mystery and that blend with the original characters too is exquisite. And the description of the scenes and places is awesome too. I wonder if this has been ever made into a movie. While reading the book, I could actually ‘see’ few shots in black and white or one of those low light silhouette types in my mind I was put off a little during the discussions of European history etc., but otherwise very interesting overall.

One of the few things discussed along the story in this book is psychoanalysis. Especially relationships; between anyone and everyone. The popular Oedipus complex has its own part in the interpretation. A lot of deducing (like in Sherlock Holmes stories) can be done by observing different actions and pondering over it for a while. Who says thinking too much is not good? This psychoanalyst resolved the mystery just by playing over the details and not even visiting the scene or talking to suspects and people involved! And the same was run by a police officer who confirmed every minute detail. Interesting I say!

And one more thing which kept me thinking: Shakespeare’s Hamlet. While I haven’t read it or watched the play, supposedly the most widely translated work after Bible, I do doubt if I will ever get my hand on it. Moreover, I wonder if I can ever understand a bit of his expertise with language. And I seriously wonder if it’s actually English! [:D] Why? There is whole argument about one line from Hamlet: “to be or not to be” throughout the book related to the psychoanalysis and what Hamlet probably meant by that!

Bottom line: I recommend you read this first book by Jed.

Official site: http://www.interpretationofmurder.com/

Buy “The Interpretation of Murder” online from Amazon.com

I was successful in taking home few lessons Robert Kiyosaki taught in this best seller. Though I got my hands on it very late (first published in 2000) I am happy I got to it anyway. There are numerous reviews available online written in the last 8 years. So, I don’t want this post to be more of a review; but my personal experience reading the book. This is what I either learned, realized or stood corrected:

• The Rat Race: He says “waking up in the middle of the night and wondering if a particular bill is paid, or if there are sufficient funds in the bank account to take care of it by due date is a terrible way of living life”. And I did go through this multiple times. This happened to me irrespective of the size of the paycheck. I realize how bad a financial manager I am. Waiting for the next pay check is becoming increasingly embarrassing and insecure!
• Wealth: The definition itself was confusing to me. How much money do I need to earn/ save to be called wealthy? I now understand ‘how wealthy’ a person is- and I can calculate/ measure wealth
• Luxury: Again, the definition in financial terms. A car, a house and many of the ‘typical items conceived as luxury’ are not luxuries all the time! About 80-90% of the times we call a liability a luxury. It’s working negative on the finances, not adding comfort to your life!
• The basics: I’ve never come across the balance sheet and income statement stuff until I completed my graduation. My confidence was always with simple math of addition and subtraction. While it is still true (after reading the book), I do have a platform on which I can stand and THEN add or subtract. This class starts around page 75 in the book, but for me, it was worth the wait
• Financial intelligence: A little knowledge about accounting and a little about investing can make us lead better lives financially. Agreed these are the most boring subjects ever- but after getting an insight into the benefits, am planning to break my head to learn a little if not become very proficient
• Who’s working? In my case, it’s still me earning/ generating money. Though it is going to take some time, I have to draw a plan so that my money works a little too; there should be some money generated every month without me physically present there!
• Credit cards and compound interest: He says “compound interest is one of the best things ever invented”. Now, I want it to work for me, not against!
• Real Estate: I always believed investing in real estate is not my cup of tea. Well, this is the only concept I am still not convinced after reading the book. I still don’t think it’s for someone like me. However, it’s always good to have clarity at it!

Finally: “The trouble with the rat-race is that even if you win, you’re still a rat.” I want to get out of it as soon as I can!

This is a book I put my hands on after ‘Simplicity’. A nice change for me from all the ways that life and work should be organized. It’s about business, money and fraud. It is fun.

I read a book by Jeffery Archer before. But that was a collection of short stories. I like the way this author takes the reader through the story as easily as he could and twists in the very last paragraph, if not the very last line.

It’s about a person who builds the largest financial empire starting from zero. He starts his life on streets and uses ruthless means to accumulate the wealth. In the same order, taking advantage of one British government’s announcement related an oil deal, he starts a company and hires an innocent business manager to talk it up and attract investors. Four people – a professor, a doctor, an art dealer and a Lord invest heavily in the company. One unfortunate day, the company is no more and the stocks crash completely.

It’s about the plot by the four investors to steal their money back – Not a penny more, not a penny less! It is awesome homework and wonderful effort. Though it was like a normal book sometimes, I did find it a page turner otherwise. I was in fact thinking cruel for a few days after completing this book, like a villain in movies, though no ideas flashed that will make me a multi-millionaire [;)]. And, Jeffry did not disappoint me when it came to the last line twist. Wow! What an end!

I read this book by Bill Jensen. This is a management/ leadership book published in 2001. It’s all about finding our way in a cluttered world of information overload. If you can read the complete book and draw the conclusion you desire, this is a very useful tool. There’s one concept that I exceptionally liked about his ideas. With certain tools/ building blocks (as he calls them), simplicity can be applied to every form of communication and, most important, can be used as a formatting device to describe projects from start to finish quickly on a single sheet of paper.

This is a very important lesson I learnt. I would say this has in fact strengthened my idea of longing for clarity. It can be a list of objectives, a route map showing the beginning and the destination; whatever we are part of should have clarity. To the least, we should know what the final outcome of a project is and what our role in it is. As it is said, if we don’t know what we are talking about, it’s difficult to say when we are done.

There’s a downside for my [this] learning too. It is so frustrating when others around us are not catching up. I ask a question – and more often than not, I regret asking them in the first place. I seek clarity. I need a direction/ clue to draw find my way out in all the information I already have. Wouldn’t it be frustrating when more information is added to the existing information overload rather than cutting it into bits and pieces and organizing them in one particular order?

If I am not taking the lenience of learning too much [than Bill expects a mere reader to take home] I am confident that this book can be organized better. It is particularly jarring, in a book about simplicity, to find such a cluttered layout; the pages are filled with blocks of oversized type, notes, different typefaces, sidebars, and other distractions. I am not sure if the author in fact wanted to show us how cluttered world is [through his book] and then learn about simplicity but I am taking home what he intended. And for sure this is making a difference in my life – professionally and personally.

The five-step process he offers for launching a new project: Know which few things are important; consider how people will feel when you move forward on these things; use the right tools; create expectations and then manage those expectations; and create a “teachable view” of what you’re trying to achieve.

Oh, no. Not a movie review. This was the first novel of the Bond 007 series, back in 1953! It’s interesting to know the history of 007! Author: Ian Lancaster Fleming.

History of Bond.

CHRONOLOGY OF BOND NOVELS:

1953 Casino Royale 1954 Live and Let Die 1955 Moonraker 1956 Diamonds Are Forever 1957 From Russia, with Love 1958 Dr No 1959 Goldfinger 1960 For Your Eyes Only (Featuring From a View to a Kill, For Your Eyes Only, Quantum of Solace, Risico & The Hildebrand Rarity) 1961 Thunderball 1962 The Spy Who Loved Me 1963 On Her Majesty’s Secret Service 1964 You Only Live Twice 1965 The Man with the Golden Gun 1966 Octopussy & The Living Daylights

CHRONOLOGY OF BOND FILMS
(Official Films)

1962 Dr No Sean Connery 1963 From Russia With Love Sean Connery 1964 Goldfinger Sean Connery 1965 Thunderball Sean Connery 1967 You Only Live Twice Sean Connery 1969 On Her Majesty’s Secret Service George Lazenby 1971 Diamonds Are Forver Sean Connery 1973 Live and Let Die Roger Moore 1974 The Man with the Golden Gun Roger Moore 1977 The Spy Who Loved Me Roger Moore 1979 Moonraker Roger Moore 1981 For Your Eyes Only Roger Moore 1983 Octopussy Roger Moore 1985 A View to a Kill Roger Moore 1987 The Living Daylights Timothy Dalton 1989 Licence to Kill Timothy Dalton 1995 Goldeneye Pierce Brosnan 1997 Tomorrow Never Dies Pierce Brosnan 1999 The World is Not Enough Pierce Brosnan 2002 Die Another Day Pierce Brosnan 2006 Casino Royale Daniel Craig

CHRONOLOGY OF UNOFFICIAL BOND FILMS

1954 Casino Royale (CBS Climax Mystery Theater) 1967 Casino Royale (David Niven, Peter Sellers, Woody Allen) 1983 Never Say Never Again (Sean Connery in Kevin McClory film)