Rashmi Chaudhary

ATOMIC HABITS It’s too early to tell if it’s an effective book; but it sure is an inspiring one. Its appeal lies in making good habits seem so easily attainable. It highlights the power of tiny changes; of getting 1% better every day. Like, it’s better to exercise for two minutes than to not exercise at all. It’s better to read just one page than to not read at all. Or for bad habits, try smoking one cigarette less even if you can’t quit smoking altogether. It illustrates how a single and simple change can turn into a good habit; like by changing your environment to reduce friction towards the desired habit - place a bowl of fruits on your study table than storing it out of sight. Or signing up at a gym close to your place than one off route. It encourages locking your decisions before you give in to temptation. A lot of these tricks seem obvious and known; but entirely doable! The author, James Clear draws from the Japanese philosophy of Kaizen: micro changes, from Physics: the path of least resistance, from Biology: the response of our brains to instant gratification, etc. The drawback of the book, I felt, lies in that it lays a better roadmap for building good habits than for kicking bad ones. That said, after reading the book, I have begun going for a walk; remains to see how long I continue :)

The Beauty Myth Why do we suffer for the sake of beauty? Why do we deny ourselves the pleasures men take for granted? Why do we starve ourselves, consuming even less calories than our counterparts in famine-stricken areas? Why are we ready to go under the knife at enormous and sometimes, even fatal, risks? Why is an aging man 'distinguished' while an aging woman ‘atrophied’? Why do women feel competitive with each other? Naomi Wolf raises and answers all these questions and more in her book, The Beauty Myth. It is, simply said, an eye-opener. It not just forces us to question the societal norms of beauty, but also traces the journey of feminism and extrapolates the heights we could have reached had we not been shackled by "beauty". This unreal "Iron Maiden" concept is the lodestone that holds us back. It is the glass ceiling that obstructs our growth. She examines the role of media, advertising, the law and the government to show how our pain has been trivialised to create a booming economy and, more importantly, to ‘keep us in our place’. While we remain preoccupied counting the number of calories we have eaten, or the number of wrinkles in the mirror; men count the number of customers they have won their firm that day. While our eyes stay glued to the weighing scales, men have the time and freedom to look at their company’s profitability. While we envy and snipe at the firmer, younger girls; men mentor their juniors into reaching greater heights. This cycle needs to change; and it can if we are able to liberate ourselves from the gilded prison of beauty. We need to accept ourselves for who we are. We need to learn to age with pride, letting the lines on our faces map the path our rich lives have chartered. We must let go and enjoy the decadence of food, the delights of camaraderie and the delirium of sex. We don’t need to look a certain way to be befriended, loved or even to get the job we deserve. The Beauty Myth is a must-read for all women.