A tree is one of the easiest things in the world to ignore. We pass hundreds of them without looking twice. They stand outside our homes, along roads, inside school grounds, beside temples and in the middle of cities. We use their shade, breathe the air around them and depend on the ecological systems they belong to. Yet most of the time, we simply call them part of nature and move on. That ordinary relationship with trees is what makes Boban Idiculla Oonni's TREE: The Sixth

There is something almost absurd about a life being reduced to ten inches. Twenty-two years of pouring tea. Twenty-two years of knowing who wants extra ginger, who will pay tomorrow, who needs a cup on credit, who comes to the cart simply because there is nowhere else to go. Then someone draws a chalk line on the pavement and decides that those ten inches matter more. That is where Shekhar Nerala’s Ten Inches: A Novel of Bada Shehar begins to become interesting. When a Tea Ca

There is a particular kind of loss that comes with leaving home. You can leave a house. You can leave a city. You can even leave a country. But leaving the version of yourself that existed there is much harder. That is what stayed with me while reading Shiraz Nomad's A Place We Used to Call Home. On the surface, this is a memoir about growing up in post-revolution Iran, living through political upheaval, witnessing violence and repression, enduring imprisonment, and eventuall

“What's your price?” It is an uncomfortable question because we are used to putting prices on almost everything. A house has a price. A car has a price. A company has a valuation. Even our time is increasingly measured in money. But what happens when the question is directed at a human being? That discomfort is precisely where Dr. Manjit Hans begins in What's Your Price? Understanding Your Worth. The title initially sounds transactional, almost provocative. Yet the book

Nick Trenton’s I’m Anxious and Can’t Stop Overthinking made me look differently at the noise inside our heads There is something strangely exhausting about an anxious mind. It can take one unanswered message and turn it into a story. One mistake can become evidence of incompetence. One uncertain tomorrow can occupy an entire afternoon. And sometimes, the more we try to solve the thought, the more thoughts we create. That is where Nick Trenton’s I’m Anxious and Can’t Sto

Why do intelligent people make simple problems complicated? Sometimes because the problem really is complicated. But sometimes because complexity makes us feel that we are doing serious thinking. That distinction stayed with me while reading Mukesh Sud's Simple Thinking. The book begins with an idea that sounds almost obvious: when we are surrounded by information, opinions and noise, finding a simple way forward can be more useful than adding another layer of complexit