Tribute to Michael Jackson

Michael Joseph Jackson was born August 29, 1958 in Gary, Indiana to a working-class family. The son of African-American parents Joseph Walter "Joe" Jackson and Katherine Esther, he was the seventh of nine children. Jackson showed musical talent early in his life, performing in front of classmates and others during a Christmas recital at the age of five. In 1964, Jackson and Marlon joined the Jackson Brothers—a band formed by brothers Jackie, Tito and Jermaine.

Jackson later began performing backup vocals and dancing; at the age of eight, he and Jermaine assumed lead vocals, and the group's name was changed to The Jackson 5. The Jackson 5 recorded several songs, including "Big Boy", for the local record label Steeltown in 1967 and signed with Motown Records in 1968. the band continued to tour internationally, releasing six more albums between 1976 and 1984. From 1976 to 1984, Michael Jackson was the lead songwriter of the group.

Jones and Jackson jointly produced Off the Wall. Released in 1979, it was the first album to generate four US top 10 hits, and eventually sold over 20 million copies worldwide. After Jackson's early 1982 contribution, "Someone In the Dark", to the film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, which won him a Grammy for Best Album for Children,[28] Epic issued his second album, Thriller. In what would turn out to be the apex of his career, the album remained in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 for 80 consecutive weeks, 37 at the peak.

To be continued... to see a list of books click here

A few books on Michael Jackson

* On Michael Jackson
* Michael Jackson the Early Years
* The Solo Years

Mahashweta by Sudha Murthy

Mahashweta by Sudha Murthy is an inspiring story of courage and resilience in a world marred by illusions and betrayals. This poignant tale offers hope and solace to the victims of the prejudices that govern society even today. The story is about Anupama, who's fairytale marriage to Anand falls apart when she discovers a white patch on her foot and learns that she has leukoderma. She is abandoned by her uncaring in-laws and insensitive husband and is forced to return to her fathers home in the village. The social stigma of a married woman living with her parents, her stepmothers continual barbs and the ostracism that accompanies her skin condition force her to contemplate suicide. Determined to rebuild her life against all odds, Anupama goes to Bombay where she finds success, respect and the promise of an enduring friendship.

Sudha Murthy has portrayed various aspects of Indian society – arranged marriages, dominating mother in-law, helpful friends, hypocrite relatives, a cursing stepmother, and worried parents of a young Indian girl.

Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely

Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely, an MIT professor, combines economic theory with some interesting experiments that test people's behavior to unravel why we act irrationally under certain circumstances. The introduction is a pretty good sample of what you'll be getting. If it doesn't appeal to you, don't bother continuing.

Dan Ariely discusses how behavior changes in social vs. economic realms. (Turns out we're happy to help for free--a social norm--but not so much if we're paid--we transition to a market norm.) He goes through concepts such as arbitrary coherence (once we associate a price to something, even arbitrarily, we use that price as a baseline from then on); the "decoy effect" (if we are given 3 options and 1 of them is a carefully placed, undesirable decoy, we will be unwittingly guided to one of the remaining choices, but not the other); the placebo effect; priming; the power of "free" (and our overriding fear of loss); and cheating (how we would never do it in some circumstances but don't really think of it in others).

It reminded me of Daniel Gilbert's Stumbling on Happiness. It will likely appeal to folks who liked Freakonomics, Stumbling on Happiness, or something by Malcolm Gladwell. For similar books click here...

Word Power Made Easy by Norman Lewis

Word Power Made Easy by Norman Lewis needs no introduction, enjoying popularity since its first print. Ask youself- Do you always use the right word? Can you pronounce and spell it the right way? Do you know how to avoid illiterate expressions? Do you speak grammatically correct language? If the answer to any of these questions is NO, you ought to read Word Power Made Easy. Now thoroughly revised to eliminate outmoded references and to to reflect current idioms, it remains the best and quickest means to a better vocabulary in the English language.

Each chapter of ends with review. Each section ends with a progressive check. With progress checks and reviews, you can even keep a tab on your improvement rate, and see how fast you are broadening your vocabulary. Numerous tests will help you increase and retain the knowledge you acquired. Word Power Made Easy does more than just ass words to you vocabulary. It teaches ideas and a method of broadening knowledge as an integral part of the vocabulary building process. And the latest word list has alos been included. There is no reason to wait anymore for this wonder by Norman Lewis!

For a good list of books on English and grammar click here

10% Discount on Books : coupon code BOOKSDISC010

Dear readers you can now avail 10% Discount on all Book purchases using the coupon code BOOKSDISC010 during checkout. The discount applies on all purchases above Rs 500 on Infibeam.com. The offer is for a limited time only (first come first serve). Recently Infibeam.com have added a good collection of Indian books recently, that include Amar Chitra Katha, tinkle and many others...

Outliers: The Story Of Success by Malcolm Gladwell

In this stunning new book Outliers (from the bestselling author of The Tipping Point and Blink) Malcolm Gladwell takes us on an invigorating intellectual journey to show us what makes an extreme overachiever. Why are people successful? For centuries, humankind has grappled with this question, searching for the secret to accomplishing great things. He reveals that we pay far too much attention to what successful people are like, and too little attention to where successful people are from: their culture, their family, and their generation. Brilliant and entertaining, this is a landmark work that will simultaneously delight and illuminate.

A brilliant new book OutLiers examines how the careers of Bill Gates and the performance of world-class football players are alike; what top fighter pilots and The Beatles have in common; why so many top lawyers are Jewish; why Asians are good at maths; and why it is correct to say that the mathematician who solved Fermat's Theorem is not a genius. Just as he did in Blink, Gladwell overturns many of our conventional notions and creates an entirely new model for seeing the world.

For a good list of books click here.

Unruly Times by Prashant Bhawalkar

Unruly Times by Prashant Bhawalkar is a satire on the Indian novel in English. Prashant Bhawalkar was born in Mumbai and studied English Literature at St. Xavier's College. Upon graduation, he worked briefly as a journalist and went on to study journalism at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) in Sydney, Australia.

The main character, Dushyant, is an advertising copywriter in New York, who wants to publish a novel. He is told by people in the industry that he won't be marketable unless he writes a novel about something Indian, There is a double narrative running through the novel - Dushyant's struggle to write as well as the plot of the novel itself. Unruly Times main pre-occupation is the exploitation of identity politics by post-colonial writers. For a good list of related books click here

Sonia by Rasheed Kidwai

In Sonia, A Biography, Rasheed Kidwai tells the extraordinary story of one of India’s most enigmatic women, whose journey from the small Italian town of Orbassano to 10 Janpath, New Delhi, is one of the most fascinating in contemporary India.

Rasheed Kidwai tracks the evolution of Sonia Gandhi against the backdrop of the Congress party’s return to power after years in the Opposition. The last five years have witnessed the Congress president’s growing assurance in her dealings with party stalwarts, with coalition partners and Opposition leaders. Drawing on his long experience as a political journalist, Kidwai chronicles how Rahul Gandhi’s smooth passage into the front rank of the party’s leadership was achieved.

Sonia Gandhi’s transformation from an unsure Congress party president to the unchallenged political chief of the ruling United Progressive Alliance government happened with some speed in the aftermath of the Congress-led coalition’s surprise victory in the 2004 general election. Her renunciation of the prime minister’s post enhanced her moral stature in the public eye, but it is her skilled handling of the equation with the prime minister, Manmohan Singh, that indicates the emergence of a self-confident politician, secure in her position at the helm of national affairs. Rasheed also gives a vivid account of how Sonia Gandhi navigated such critical moments as the ‘office of profit’ crisis, the presidential election, the Indo-US nuclear deal and the vote of confidence. For other books on Sonia click here

My Favourite Wife by Tony Parsons

"My Favourite Wife" by Tony Parsons (The world-wide, mega selling author of "Man and Boy") is a book about where sex, romance and obsession ends, and where true love begins. My Favourite Wife a sizzling tale of sex, romance and second wives. Hot shot young lawyer Bill Holden and his wife Becca move to the booming, gold-rush city of Shanghai. Shanghai, a place of enormous wealth and crushing poverty, where fortunes are made and foreign marriages come apart in spectacular fashion, has a few surprises at stake for Bill. Bill's law firm houses the Holden family in Paradise Mansions - a luxury apartment block where newly rich Chinese men install their second wives: fabulous young beauties like JinJin Li, ex-school teacher, crossword addict and the Holdens' neighbour. After Becca witnesses a tragedy that awakens her to the reality of life beyond the glitzy surface of the city, she returns temporarily to London - and Bill and JinJin are thrown together. Bill wants to be a better man than the millionaire who keeps JinJin Li as a second wife on the side. A better man than anyone who cheats. Becca is his best friend. And, in the end, adrift without his young family, can he give JinJin anything better than she had before? For other books on similar category click here

Curfewed Night by Basharat Peer

Kashmir has been ill-served by India, by Pakistan, by the militants and by its own politicians who have failed to work out a compromise. It has turned the serene valley into the bloodied nose of Asia. “Curfewed Night” is a chronicle from the eyes of a Kashmiri growing up in the valley and watching it transform into a hotbed of violent militancy pitted against state oppression. It is also about people unwilling to lose their identity. What is it about identity that causes people to sacrifice their future in its name? Identity is the most powerful mobilizing force in history. But what happens when identity gets into a perpetual conflict with those who wish to crush it?

Peer tells the story of this valley at peace in the 1980s but also of a people who consciously refused to associate themselves with India. Then- long before the terrorism and violence of that we’ve grown accustomed to- national identity had one litmus test: which side were you on of Miandad’s famous last ball sixer at Sharjah? Peer describes the jubilation that his family, his neighborhood and his valley experienced when Miandad hit Chetan Sharma out of the ground to win Pakistan an impossible victory. Pakistan won and Kashmir jubilated. It wasn’t just Pakistan. Kashmiris supported any and all teams which played against India. They rejected India more than they associate with Pakistan- a point often forgotten by Pakistanis. In subjection Kashmiris held on to their identity and rejected the one imposed on them. For other books on Kashmir and issues in Kashmir click here...

Life is Perfect by Himani Dalmia

Himani Dalmia, the debutant author's attempt at highlighting modern life is interesting and realistic - Himani's characters, like any others in high society metros attending page 3 parties. They are portrayed as matured, thinking individuals, unlike the carefree ones in a typical chick flicks. However, at times, the plot becomes repetitive and the problems seem thrust on the characters. A good read on a lazy Sunday afternoon!

Life is perfect is the tale of Mitali Jaitia, who has what most would most call a perfect life. She has it all - a 20 year old with beauty, intellect, family wealth and even a doting boyfriend. But on the darker side of her , she also has her parent's separation to deal with, come to terms with her cousin's tragic death, accept her dad's bohemian lifestyle and her mother's helplessness.

Mitali's constant struggle at converging her world of abundance and emotional crisis reveals the complexities of her 'perfect world'. Set in the bungalow of an industrial family in Delhi, the story takes shape as Mitali secretly reads her dead cousin's diary and begins to understand herself and her family better. She questions herself that if everything is right then why does it feel so wrong.