Blogs and books: Here's what entrepreneurs are reading during the lockdown

Ever since the COVID-19 lockdown was imposed, people have been trying to stay super-productive and positive. One of the best ways of doing so, was by reading informative blogs and books on a daily basis.

In an interaction with some entrepreneurs, they offered many excellent book and blog recommendations to enrich your life. They added that sometimes people need a mix of fiction, non-fiction and self-help books to help them get through these difficult times.

Here are the recommendations of some entrepreneurs for the most popular blogs and books that you can read during these days of social distancing…

MATHEW CHANDY – SLEEP EVANGELIST AND MANAGING DIRECTOR, DUROFLEX MATTRESSES

Mathew Chandy is the Managing Director at Duroflex, but he prefers to call himself a 'Sleep evangelist'. He is a Law graduate from National Law School and comes with professional experience across diverse industries including Law, Banking in various international markets and an entrepreneurial stint in the Restaurant Business.

RECOMMENDED BOOKS

Why we sleep by Matt Walker

This book had a huge impact on me this year. It was enlightening and empowering to learn how sleep could be a super drug to help us outperform at work, run for longer, look younger and most importantly, build immunity against viruses. Sleep is free, is legal, is pleasurable and has no side effects! It can be the perfect antidote we all need in this time of viruses.

The Inevitable by Kevin Kelly

This book chronicles and predicts the 12 technological trends that are shaping the new age. The book was published 3 years ago, and reading it today is quite eerie, because all of his futuristic ideas have already started becoming today’s reality!

The Hard thing about Hard Things by Ben Horowitz

One of the few brutally honest books about how difficult it really is to be an entrepreneur. His chapter on 'War-time CEOs versus peace-time CEOs' is especially illuminating in these extremely difficult "war like" times.

RECOMMENDED BLOGS:

Entreleadership

My absolute favorite blog is "Entreleadership". They carry wonderful chronicles of entrepreneurship and leadership. I listen to them regularly while I run in the mornings, and it just energises me and fills me with ideas for the rest of the day.

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GITA RAMANAN- CEO AND COFOUNDER, Design Cafe

Gita found her calling in Architecture & Design due to her interests in scientific logic, innovation and creativity. After graduating with a B. Arch from BMS School of Architecture, Bengaluru, she worked with well-renowned architects with specific exposure to premium homes, hospitality and recreational design. Gita is also a graduate of ISB, Hyderabad’s Entrepreneurial Management programme and was selected by Goldman-Sachs for its worldwide 10,000 Women Entrepreneur Programme.

RECOMMENDED BOOKS:

'Small is beautiful' by Dr. E F Schumacher and 'Poor Economics' by Abhijit Banerjee & Esther Duflo

Economics has always been an interest, but never one I followed through on. This book helped me understand how large and small events have a ramification on the individual - at a personal and professional level. This has never been as important as now.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Harry Potter collection

A wonderfully enchanting and rich world where good triumphs over evil. I like the reassurance sometimes and as everyone else looks to me for reassurance, I look at fiction. And even though I personally love all the respective movies (well most of them), the books were way better.

RECOMMENDED BLOGS:

Architonic and Bruised Passports

I've been following Architonic for quite some time now, for their inspirational designs and depth in terms of covering international designs. https://linkin.bio/architonicag

And of course, I also follow the very popular 'Bruised Passports', to keep my passion for travelling satiated with their beautiful content!

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VINEETA SINGH- CEO, SUGAR COSMETICS

Vineeta Singh is the CEO of SUGAR Cosmetics – a cult-favourite makeup brand. She has an individual TEDx talk to her credit where she has shared candid details about her journey. She is also a fitness buff with numerous ultra-marathons and triathlons to her credit. Being an avid runner for the last decade, she has completed the Comrades Ultra-marathon which is 89 km long, thrice from 2012-14. Apart from that, Vineeta and her husband, are also the first Indian couple to finish the long-distance Ironman triathlon in Austria (3.8km swim, 180km cycle, 42.2km run) – which is widely regarded as the toughest single-day sporting event in the world.

RECOMMENDED BOOK

Shoe Dog by Phil Knight

I'd highly recommend this book which is the one of the most honest and candid memoirs from one of the most successful entrepreneurs I have come across. This one is a great read for anyone who wants to learn about the real story behind the success of any business, that's largely full of chaos, struggle and sacrifice. It's true when people say, there is way more learning from the stories of hustle than success!

RECOMMENDED BLOG:

The Farnam Street Blog

My recommendations on the blog read, after the SUGAR Cosmetics blog which currently has some great articles about self - care & simple WFH tips for the quarantine time we are in, I'd recommend ‘The Farnam Street (or FS) Blog’. This blog helps give you that edge by “Mastering the best of what other people have already figured out.” The blog puts out articles with ideas that can be applied to many areas of your life which revolves around work, leadership, decisions and more.

ANAND BAROT – CEO BOUNCE INC INDIA     

Anand leads the Bounceinc India business and is Director of Stratospheric Entertainment Pvt Limited (SEPL) which holds the exclusive rights for Bounceinc in India. During his career, Anand has had the best of the both of worlds having studied and graduated from IIT Bombay and IIM Lucknow. He has had significant exposure with industry leaders and top brands of the world such as the Boston Consulting Group and American Express. Eventually Anand decided to take the plunge and took to entrepreneurship.

RECOMMENDED BOOKS:

Shantaram by Gregory Roberts

I had heard about this book and was fascinated by the premise of having nothing and building from it. It follows journey of a man restarting his life in a foreign land by building relationships with people he meets on the way. The fact that it is based on Mumbai is an added attraction. When we as humans are helpless in this crisis, reading a story of a helpless man who wants to build himself up from scratch, gives me hope.

Transcendence by Dr APJ Abdul Kalam

I have always admired Dr Kalam and this book was his last. It is probably the only book written by any head of state on a spiritual leader. The world today needs both science and spirituality to get out of these times. It is this fusion of science and spirituality in this book that drove me towards this book.

Best stories from around the world by Deepa Agarwal

This is a book I picked up at the airport long time back. It is a collection of timeless stories from some of the best authors the world has seen. In this time when the world has paused and looking to restart itself, I wanted to know the stories which have stood the test of time.