Michael E Browne - Physics for Engineering and Science - Schaum's outline

Physics for Engineering and Science covers lot of physics from classical mechanics to electromagnetism, from thermodynamics to quantum mechanics. It has 37 chapters covering various topics. In each chapter the author explained theory first and then worked out problems related to that. Really good book to refresh or relearn the subject. Midway I completed Professor Walter Lewin's video lecture on physics. That made it easy to follow this book.
When it came to special relativity and quantum mechanics felt little bit difficult to follow. No wonder why school kids tend to mug up the physics phenomenon on formula basis. To get a holistic view need to put lot of effort and need to refer various books.
But overall I believe I got a decent grip on most of physics phenomena.

Professor Walter Lewin

If you are a student of physics, should never miss the lectures from professor Walter Lewin from MIT. It is freely available in MIT Open CourseWare portal and YouTube.
The lectures are more like events wherein he explains theory and performs relevant and terrific experiments in the stipulated 50 minutes time.

Thoroughly enjoyed his two thought provoking courses in classical mechanics and electricity and magnetism. After completing each of those sessions (around 71 sessions!!), I was convinced about the physics phenomenon he just covered really makes sense and relevant in the real world.

Topics - projectiles, uniform circular motion, Newton’s 3 law, weight, gravity, force, torque, simple harmonic motion, friction, hooke’s law, work, energy, momentum, angular momentum, inelastic and elastic collision, orbit, doppler effect, equilibrium, Archimedis, thermal expansion, ideal gas, Pascal, hydrostatic principle, Buoyancy, uncertainty principle, electric field, Gauss law, Magnetism, Electro magnetism, Light, Interference, Diffraction, Rainbow, Big bang

Martin Lings, Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources

I don't remember what prompted me to check the popular comparison on Quran and science. The primary motive was to verify the validity and divinity of Quran. I pursued the subject for a while and I am convinced that the single most factor for early followers to embrace Islam was the life of prophet. I went through some of the website to find the best biography on Muhammad (saw). My list narrowed down to three. First one by Martin Lings, second by Karen Armstrong and third by the title Sealed Nectar. The first one was freely available in the Internet and the author converted to islam while completing this book's work. So I decided to read this book.

Amazing factors of this biography are that the book is not apologetic and the literary standard of the book is very high since the author himself was a Shakespearean scholar.

The earliest followers of Islam were convinced that Muhammad had been frequently contacted by an angel to bring down the Quran and to reveal other information, and also to teach him the new religion. This is the base of faith. As the influence of Islam increased more and more people were convinced about the prophet and thereby the religion. The staunch opponents of Islam at various stages were those having their own vested interest against the new order or too proud to renounce their tradition for the sake of the new religion.

And finally the prophet died after the  completion of the new religion, lasting a great legacy but severing the divine link between the almighty and people. It was not ending there. He will meet his ummath - his people - at Kauthar - the river at heaven.

Data center fundamentals

Data center fundamentals written by Mauricio Arregoces and Maurizio Portolani, covers the basics of all technologies used in data center. The book has various sections explaining compute, networking, content switching, security and performance aspects of data center.
Part 1 gives high level explanation of all technologies used in data center. This should give good idea about data center to most of the readers. Part 2 and 3 are technical deep dive into individual technologies and protocols. I haven't gone through each of the section. But this is one stop to refer to any technology pertaining to data center.
Part 4 is about actual design of data center considering the factuals presented in the preceding sections.

Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

Why I picked this book? 
- Because it is the number one novel voted by readers, published in www.modernlibrary.com. That was the only reason to pick it.

Now what I think about it? 
- One of the best and lengthiest book I've read.

Key take away ?
- In a nutshell the book illustrates living a rational life and its consequence versus (non-)living an irrational (non-)life and its aftermath.
- Power of logic in day-to-day life
- Do you find morality has no logic or it is irrational ? Morality is rational, not irrational.
- Do you feel pain as the reward of your deeds ? Happiness should be the reward (of rational deeds), not pain. If it is pain, check your premise.
- How important and integrated is one's work to life ? It is most. And same is the case with one's personal life to overall. No sacrifice on both.
- Rise of capitalism - celebration of human capability
- Decline of socialism - reward to deserved according to their achievements
- Degeneration of communism - free thinking and I am acting for myself - selfishness as a creed.

Stephen Covey, The seven habits of highly effective people

There are two ways to learn lessons and bring changes in life. First is the most formative way, learning from our own experience. Eventhough this is the best way, life is too short to experiment on each and everything. By the time we realize certain things, it may be too late.
Other way which may be less effective which is to learn from others or from a book or from a training.
I sought for a training and then found and enrolled for one titled "The 7 habits of highly effective people". That training gave a new perspective to personality development. It is an inside-out approach i.e, to develop inside first before concentrating on personality techniques.
Recently I completed the book by the same trainer, Stephen Covey. I found it to be very useful.