Sunday Reads

• Why Turkey's stability matters (BBC) 
• China's South China Sea arguments only prove its own perverse logic of history (FirstPost)
• Why you need to read and how to do it efficiently (Medium)
  

Also read: Man in New Zealand quits his job to play Pokemon Go full-time (BBC)

Sunday Reads

This post comes after more than two months since the last post. 

General Reads

• Inside the Bubble: Aboard the Air Force One. (BBC)
• China's Mediterranean Odyssey (Diplomat)
• Increase your return on failure (Harvard BR)

Photo Gallery 

• Russia's Flourishing Capital (Der Spiegel)

Controversial Read

• All the People God Kills in the Bible (Vocativ)

Anecdote

"How's your wife and my kids?" asked Rod Marsh (Australia) from behind the stumps.

"The wife's fine," replied the England batsman, Ian Botham, "but the kids are retarded."

Sunday Reads + Anecdote

• The power of Wet Waste (NIE)

• The Tennis Files: Have top players been paid to lose? (BBC Magazine)

• Ash and Cash saga in Netaji files (Telegraph India)

• How close are we to creating Artificial Intelligence? (Aeon)

Sunday Bonus: What really happens at a Jallikattu - in pictures. (Swarajya)

Sunday Anecdote: 

In a county match in England, Greg Thomas was bowling to Viv Richards and getting a few to whizz past the bat. After Richards played and missed another one, Thomas said: "It's red, it's round. Now fucken hit it!". This obviously angered Richards who proceeded to hit the next ball out of the ground. Richards: "You know what it looks like now go and get it."

Sunday Reads

• Nine things successful people do differently. (Harvard Business Review)

• Who is a better strategist: Obama or Putin? (Foreign Policy)

• Inside Iran's revolutionary courts. (BBC)

• Zaheer Khan: The calm operator and the creator of doubts. (Hindu)

Video: World's Smartest Building + Sunday Reads

In the last several years, thousands of large multi-storey buildings have come up in different parts of India. Most of the technology companies have offices in buildings that come with gleaming glass walls, centrally air-conditioning, biometric entry/exit, work stations, open cabins, and food centres. 

If you work, or aspire to work, in such an office building, then watch the video on the smartest building in the world. You may want to work here! 

Click here to watch the video.

• China's economy is stumbling, but by how much? (BBC) Also read How China lost its swagger. (CNN Money) This two pieces are for Ramya (the Physics girl).

• The politics of iconography. (Hindu)

• The enchantment of falling in love and the vortex of desire. (Brain Pickings)

Sunday Reads

• Does atheism have to be anti-religious? (BBC)

• Pakistan hate, Indian disdain. (FP)

• 1965 War: Shastri blasted US & UN for support to Pakistan. (New IE)

• In Rajasthan desert, education for girl child blooms. (BS)
  

Also, glimpse at some of the world's exclusive cars.

Sunday Reads

• Distraction is a kind of obesity of the mind. (Guardian)

• The darker side of Buddhism. (BBC)

• Modi Government's first year, by Swapan Dasgupta. (ET)

• Why is Pakistan such a mess? Blame India. (FP)

Sunday Reads - Modi's trips + Don't expect Math to make sense

• The advantages of losing memory. (BBC)

• Don't expect Math to make sense. (NYT)

• The great escape that changed Africa's future. (Guardian)

• Modi's trips and China's islands. (Diplomat)

Sunday Read - The Derision of Madmen

This Sunday, I will share only one read: The Derision of Madmen, from the pages of the Kolkata-based Telegraph.

Sunday Reads - Apple's Reluctant Reformation

• Fall of a hero. (BBC)
• Apple's Reluctant Reformation. (Economist)
• Humans are wired for bad news, angry faces and sad memories. (Aeon)
• The mouse that roars. (FP)

Sunday Reads - Old India + Freezing people to death

• Lesson from Old India: When an economy just doesn't get better. (NYT)
• Myths about the Islamic State: Crazy, irrational, afraid of female soldiers. (Vox)
• I freeze people to cheat death. (BBC Future)
• The Hedge Fund and the Despot. (BusinessWeek)

Camus on Love & Happiness

Tuesday Quiz will not be published this week. 

Instead I will share a wonderful illustration depicting the thoughts of Albert Camus on love and happiness.I found it here. Go ahead, share this on your FB wall and elsewhere. It would help if you share the link to this blog page. Thank you!

Sunday Reads - Heavy Duty Edition

• The U.S. is an oligarchy, not a democracy. (BBC Echo Chambers)

• A Silicon Valley disaster: A 21-year-old Stanford kid got U.S.$30 million, then everything blew up. (Business Insider)

• The Bill Watterson (Creator of Calvin and Hobbes) interview. (The Comics Journal)

• Singh's Last Sigh; Statistics, Optics and Harsh Reality. (New IE)

• If the Family loses its hand... (Outlook India)

Saturday Infographic - Indirect Path to Success

Sourced from Visual.ly

by annavital.
Explore more visuals like this one on the web's largest information design community - Visually.

Sunday Reads - Behind the Curtains

Just two reads. But brilliant stories. About ordinary folks. 

• Last prop of the many lifeless people. (New IE)

• Your son, from a trench in Flanders. (Outlook India)

Sunday Reads - Comatose Lives & India's Invisible Women

• India's invisible widows, divorcees and single women. (BBC)
• How to think. (Farman Street)
• Can we learn about privacy from porn stars? (NYT)
• Life is elsewhere. (Outlook India)
  
  

Sunday Graphic: Apple versus Samsung, from Reuters blog.

Sunday Reads - The art of dying & A graveyard for homosexuals

• The art of dying. (Lapham)
• Inside Navy SEAL Team Six's deadliest day. (FP)
• A graveyard for homosexuals. (Newsweek)
• 26/11 & how India deals with terrorism. (New IE)

16 Nuggets of Wisdom from Steve Jobs

Be inspired!

16 Inspirational Quotes From the Late, Great Steve Jobs from HubSpot All-in-one Marketing Software

Source: Hub Spot

Roger Federer's Advice on Talent, Defeat and Ambition

Roger Federer is one of my most favourite sportspersons. The incredible tennis star is hugely talented yet very very humble. 

I especially like Federer's perspective on work and happiness: "Sometimes you're just happy playing. Some people, some media, unfortunately, don't understand that it's okay just to play tennis and enjoy it. They always think you have to win everything, it always needs to be a success story, and if it's not, obviously, what is the point? Maybe you have to go back and think, Why have I started playing tennis? Because I just like it. It's actually sort of a dream hobby that became somewhat of a job. Some people just don't get that, ever." 

Video - The World is Awesome in 60 Facts

Source: YouTube & Earth Unplugged Channel