HT Picks; New Reads

Exploring the many dimensions of overconfidence
This is an urgent look at the impact of overconfidence on modern society and what we can do to combat it. Every one of us knows overconfidence intimately, although it is perhaps easiest to spot in others. The uncle who knows everything. The city planners who consistently underestimate timelines and costs. The stranger who lectures you on your subject. In fact, the less we know, the more confident we are. But what if this foolhardy overconfidence has a reason to persist? What if it is a superpower that gives us longer lives, more motivation and, above all, the ability to influence others? From businesspersons to politicians, leaders to newsmakers, we place our trust in people who appear to know what they are doing. What if overconfidence is the secret to their success? Can it lead to disaster? Are we capable of seeing through false confidence in time?Drawing on research in psychology, political science and evolutionary biology — weighing up the evidence and the countere vidence — behavioural biologist Vivek Nityananda explores the many dimensions of overconfidence, what it means for modern society and how we can combat it in our everyday lives. An urgent, compelling — and entertaining — read.*
Shaping the spread of ideas, viruses, and trends
Twenty-five years after the publication of his groundbreaking first book, Malcolm Gladwell returns with a brand new volume that reframes the lessons of The Tipping Point in a startling and revealing light. Why in the late 1980s and early ’90s did Los Angeles become the bank robbery capital of the world? What is the Magic Third and what does it have to do with racial equity? What do big cats and clusters of teen suicides have in common? These are just some of the questions Malcolm Gladwell addresses in this new work, which revisits the phenomenon of epidemics and examines the ways in which we have learned to tinker with and shape the spread of ideas, viruses, and trends – sometimes with great success, sometimes with disastrous consequences.Gladwell shows that, whether in neighbourhoods, schools, zoos, or conference rooms, today’s epidemics are no longer singular occurrences, but turbocharged versions of their earlier counterparts and we are more tempted than ever to try and manipulate tipping points for their own ends. Yet these efforts often come at a cost, creating difficult trade-offs and unexpected dilemmas. Above all, we must recognise our responsibility – as individuals and as a society – to take tipping points seriously if we want to change the world for the better. With this thought-provoking new book, his most personal yet, Gladwell gives us the insights we need to meet these challenges in innovative ways.*
A moving story of genius and vulnerability
For Nissem Ezekiel’s birth centenary, his daughter Kavita Ezekiel Mendonca, offers memoirs and poems by Adil Jussawalla, Gieve Patel, Jeet Thayil, Kamal Balsara-Bacha, Menka Shivdasani, Saleem Peeradina, Sudeep Sen and Sujatha Mathai, among others. While Daljit Nagra has called it an “inexhaustible and illuminating book about an essential Indian poet of international significance”, Malashri Lal asks: “How does one write about a father who is an iconic figure in Indian poetry, a mentor to the next generation, and a person who showered love on a daughter he had named “Kavita” — the epitome of poetry?”This commemorative volume for Nissim Ezekiel’s hundredth birth anniversary this year blends personal narrative with public fame to present a collection of tributes, interviews, and poetry interspersed with photographs that allow the reader into a deeply moving story of genius and vulnerability.*
*All copy from book flap.