• What inspired you to write the book?

I was inspired by experiences and emotions from my past, all my trainings, interactions with corporates & people around me. All of my books contain personal parts of me while other parts I had to research. I can say though that like Echo, this book brings back my shared experiences to the readers.

• Names of the spiritual leaders that you look up to?

I am inspired by many & the best part is that I can compartmentalise each of these inspirations & draw out the best when I need it the most. But if you still insist then I would name Gautam Buddha as an everlasting inspiration to me & Sadhguru as someone who has moved me in recent times.

• Why you chose to write on this particular genre?

I have a confession to make: I love self-help books, not just any self-help book, though. If it tells me that yoga is the answer to all of my problems, it’s going in the trash (well, recycling). If it insists that a change in attitude is all it takes to change my life, it becomes a door stopper. And if it uses the words “vibrational” or “manifest” more than a couple times? I’m having a bonfire with it.

• If you had to tell the name of one favourite book on the same genre, which one would it be? 

Ikigai by Hector Garcia.

•Is it important for a writer to be a reader?

When I wrote this book, I wrote with myself as a role model reader of this book, I kept it short & crispy. The advice in this book is so thorough that I had to write a journal specifically for taking notes while I wrote the book since I wanted to keep it short in the book. By the end, I wanted the readers to be not just energized, either — I wanted them to be prepared to make some meaningful shifts in their life without going overboard. If I wouldn’t have been an avid reader, I would’ve never been able to get this perception.

• The tagline for “The Midas Touch” is “99 Pages To Acquire The Art Of Alchemy & Forge Champions”. Any specific reason for choosing ’99 pages’ and the metaphor of “the art of alchemy”?

The book basically is inspired by the legend of King Midas, so the idea was to equate the transformation of an individual into something that is nothing short of the value that gold holds & of course hence the metaphor “Art of Alchemy” since alchemy is defined as “The medieval forerunner of chemistry, concerned with the transmutation of matter, in particular with attempts to convert base metals into gold or find a universal elixir.”

And 99 pages because I feel that the attention span of an individual is drastically reducing & this means that people don’t like to read something too long & in order to ensure that the reader is captivated & holds onto the book I kept it short and at 99 pages. But this is only for the ebook, for the paperback it obviously shall turnout to more pages what with the fonts being bigger.

• What are some simple habits that one can/should inculcate in oneself to live a life with more positivity? Some examples from your own lifestyle.

Keep it simple. Wake up early, eat only to fill your stomach upto 70% & remember that Karmic balances matter so ensure that your Karmic P&L is properly adjusted.

• If you’re planning to work on your next book, what genre is it going to be?

Same as the earlier one, Self Help.

Ratings: 4.5/5⭐
Genre: Non Fiction; Self help, Philosophy
Number of Pages: 143
Format: Kindle
Publication date: 6th July 2020
Publisher: Hay House India

The bedside book of life is a beautiful book inside out. Filled with spirituality, philosophy and positivity, it is an impressive piece of work that can be read and savoured again and again. I’d say it is rightly titled as “the bedside book of life” as you can read this book before you start your day as well as prior to going to bed.

“In life, there are no failures. What we see as a failure is training for our success because if we never stop trying, we will surely succeed one day. We only fail when we stop trying.”

The chapters are short and precise to the topics that have been dealt with. I liked the narration the most as it is really soothing as well as motivating at the same time. The reference to some good quotes and passages from other famous books makes it an impressive read. The personal experiences of the author which have been mentioned in this book makes it all the more moving.

There were chapters which I found very relatable at a personal level and then there were chapters which got me thinking about the magical and highly sophisticated universe we live in.

Again, this is only for folks who read and like philosophy and spirituality related books else you might fall asleep reading.

If you ask me though, I’d highly recommend this book.

Ratings: 4.5/5⭐
Genre: Non-fiction; Self help
Number of Pages: 110
Format: Kindle
Publisher: Flipping Pages

The Midas Touch by Dr. Sheetal Nair is a small yet highly motivating book which deals with the art of alchemy and forging champions. It has an out-of-the-box perspective when talking about leadership, personality development, skill enhancement and growth in terms of knowledge and power. The book has 22 chapters, each of them consistently interesting with appropriate explanations and relevant quotes and real life and relatable instances.

The author has creatively mixed and comparatively studied the ancient culture and modern knowledge and has aesthetically used both Vedic and Greeko-Roman references.

The narration is engaging and moderately paced. The language is very lucid and easy to comprehend. I liked the fact that the author has passed on the wisdom in small and precise chunks, keeping in mind the attention span of the audience. This book is for everyone who wants to emerge as a hero/leader/champion in their lives and hence I’d definitely recommend this masterpiece to one and all.

“Do not seek for the “average” path but follow an inspiration, at least one in life in a given period of time, where you feel that you can express yourself.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Sheetal Nair holds doctorate in Training and Development from North Central University, Arizona & is an MBA from Symbiosis International University. He also holds Diploma in Corporate Law from IIM-Calcutta. He is a certified PFA counsellor from John Hopkins University, USA & has also learnt Comprehensive Teaching & Learning techniques from Harvard University.

He is an orator of repute and a trainer certified by NSDC (National Skill Development Corporation) & Dale Carnegie Associates, USA.
He has been a Guest Faculty & has conducted workshops at Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies (Pune), SIES (Mumbai), Parul University (Vadodara), Navrachana University (Vadodara), Gujarat Forensic Science University (Gandhinagar), Raksha Shakti University (Ahmedabad), ISBM (Kolkata) etc.
He currently is the Corporate Head at DSS Group of Companies & is currently serving on the Board of Studies for School of Internal Security & Police Administration (Raksha Shakti University).

He’s a very positive, happy and humble soul.

Ratings: 4/5⭐
Genre: Fiction; Thriller: Cyber Crime
Number of Pages: 154
Format: Kindle
Publication date: 23rd June 2020
Publisher: Leadstart Publishing Pvt Ltd

SUMMARY

Gangs of Social Media deals with some real world issues in form of an engaging story. The whole nation of India is under a digital lockdown when all the services of Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp are blocked for 12 hours because of a ransomware attack which holds all the data of people sharing fake news/information on these platforms as hostages and claims 1,00,000 INR in exchange, else the devices will be destroyed and all the data will be leaked publicly.
The National Cyber Crime Department, the National Head of Facebook and Twitter desperately try to find a solution, and the person behind the cyber attack. In the end, the culprit does confess his deed over a voice call and demands for a “Fake News Bill”. Although, he’s not caught but the lesson he teaches the public in a few hours now makes people think twice before sharing anything on social media.

PERSONAL REVIEWS

I like the book very much for the topic it deals with. Social Media and all the content which is circulated on it. While I’m a strong believer that Social Media has really allowed people to express themselves more freely than ever before, there has to be a check on fake news and propaganda that gets shared everyday just because it resonates with someone’s beliefs and ideology. Also, a lot of content that’s shared and posted causes a lot of negativity and biased opinions on religion, politics, systems and so on.
I liked the usage of local languages and references from Indian Television shows by the author which makes the plot and characters more relatable. The language is lucid and easy. The plot is simple but the plot twists makes the story more intriguing. It has a strong and appealing message to every age group and therefore, I feel everyone should give this a read.