Algorithms - I; CLRS, Introduction to Algorithms; MIT 6.006 Introduction to Algorithms

A super book on algorithms and can be used by professionals who wanted to brush up the fundamentals.  "6.006 Introduction to Algorithms" is an online course from MIT which follows this book as the textbook. Topics covered in this course are
- 3. Growth of functions
  * Big-O
- 4. Divide and conquer
  * Recursion
- 6. Heapsort
  * AVL
- 12. Binary Search Tree
- 13. Red-Black tree
- 8. Sorting in linear time
  * Counting Sort
  * RADIX Sort
  * Bucket Sort
- 11. Hash tables
- 22. Elementary Graph Algorithms
  * BFS
  * HFS
  * Topological Sort
  * Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG)
- 24. Single-source shortest paths
  * Bellman-Ford Algorithm
  * Dijkstra's Algorithm
- 15. Dynamic programming
  * Optimal substructure and Overlapping subproblems
- 34. NP-completeness (only introduction, more in next course)

Living the 7 habits, Stories of Courage and Inspiration, Stephen R. Covey

This book is a collection of real stories capturing amazing transformations in people’s life.  Each one of it was very inspiring. Mostly I read a story a day and kept remainder of the day to contemplate it before moving to the next one.

There are around 76 stories, categorized under Individual, Family, Community and Education, and Workplace. Chapters covered in Individual and Families were more touching since I could sense the real pain of those individuals experienced it. And those are the stories of people’s self belief and perseverance to adhere to their principles. Stories covered in the Workplace were also great. In today’s world of deceit, manipulation and personal charisma, to find there are successful people who used universal principles to transform the company and lead a value based life is simply amazing and unbelievable and more than that it gives lot of hope to people who wanted to lead a balanced, quality life.

Overall its a good read.

You

YOU, The owners manual by Mehmet Oz and Michael Roizen

This book educates a common man about their health and body. It also covers the nourishment of body and prevention techniques. I believe the book is targeted for people aged 35 and above. It has lot of great information and if followed correctly, one can significantly improve their quality of life.

Book covers Heart and Arteries; Brain and Nervous System; Bones, Joints and Muscles; Lungs; Digestive System; Liver and Pancreas; Sexual Organs; Sensory Organs; Immune System; Hormones/Glands; Cancer; Diet; Workout and FAQs.

Each chapter is enlightening and motivates to work on the action items provided along with. Book has great section on diet and workout plan. This makes easy to put theory into tangible action plan. 

House of Cards

House of Cards is a US political drama television series streamed in Netflix. This is a fantastic show and I believe one of the super hit series in Netflix. Watched all 5 seasons, 65 episodes and I have never watched such a great political drama before and ofcourse lot of late nights. Looking forward for season 6 :)

Enjoy the show!!

Electronics for dummies by Cathleen Shamieh

After physics I wanted to refresh the concepts of electrical and electronics before going to computer architecture. I had tried various books on the topic before settling with Electronics for dummies by Cathleen Shamieh.

This is not a theory book per se, but have a decent coverage on basics. This book mainly addresses electronic hobbyists. I like the hands on and in detail narration of each task which was giving a real experience with components.

First 2 sections focuses on theory and introduced various electronic components - resistor, capacitor, inductor, diode, transistors, opamps, IC, microcontroller, microphone, sensors and speakers.

Third section outlines practical tips and puts together few sample projects. Section four explains ten ways to explore further and ten electronics parts sources. Saved last 2 sections until I start hands on :-)

Talks by Sheikh Hamza Yusuf

From Wikipedia
Hamza Yusuf (born 1960)^[6] is an American Islamic scholar,^{[3][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]} and is co-founder of Zaytuna College.^[1][14] He is a proponent of classical learning in Islam and has promoted Islamic sciences and classical teaching methodologies throughout the world.^[15]

Arabic course Madina Islamic university

From http://www.kalamullah.com/learning-arabic.html

The Arabic Course for English-Speaking Students is a comprehensive and popular course for the teaching of the Qur’anic and Traditional Arabic, originally devised and taught at the renowned Madinah Islamic University, catering for the non-Arabic speaking students from all over the world. Over the years, this course has enabled students to become competent in their use of the Arabic language and to participate and benefit from scholarly pursuits such as Qur’anic exegeses, hadith, fiqh, sirah, history, and classical and modern Arabic literature. It is concise (consisting of only three books, reasonably short) but extensive in their coverage. It combines modern Arabic vocabulary with Islamic terminology used in the Qur’an and Sunnah. It Helps acquire an understanding of hundreds of Qur’anic verses, ahadith, Arabic parables and poetry." Learning classical Arabic effectively could not be more easier than this course of Madinah Islamic University. A tried and tested course over 40 years with proven track record of success, it is ideal in terms of the the topics covered and short time taken to learn. It is suitable for schools and colleges in the UK and other Western English speaking countries.