I’m not very fond of business articles or books. An article explaining ‘Hello World’ in a new programming language excites me more than the article that explains how to make 1000 bucks. But still, I do read some business books that weighs no more than my cellphone does. The book Men of Steel exactly satisfies my filtering criteria.
Men of Steel by Vir Shangvi
When I first saw Men of Steel book in a local book exhibition, the first thing that met my eye was the book cover. It was like a silver plate engraved with the letters Men of Steel. And the book was so thin that I could lift it with my two fingers. I immediately decided to buy this one (pardon my decision making process! 
). Without further ado, let me introduce you the theme of this book – the candid interviews of several business leaders of India. The interviews was done by Vir Shangvi, the renowned media person, for the editorial of Hindustan Times. Men of Steel is actually a collection of such candid interviews. Some of the business leaders that this book covers are: Nandan Nilekani, Ratan Tata, Kumara Mangalam Birla and Vijay Mallaya, to name a few.
I guess the phrase ‘interviews with business leaders’ would be sufficient enough to drive many people away from this book, unless you are an MBAian and destined to manage and lead. But, hold on. This book is not what you think. This book does not talk about the facts and figures of any company. Instead it focuses on the life of the businessmen which we often miss in business interviews. It presents the hurdles that the leaders faced, their personal life stories, the indian economic scenario during the 80s and 90s and how did they come to where they stand now.
The book is not even presented in question-answer format, even though the book is a collection of interviews. Vir Shangvi narrates all the conversations like a story. When you read each story (a.k.a. the interview), you won’t get bored, instead you will be more curious to read the next section of the story. I feel that’s the success of this book and I fell that’s the reason this book one of the best seller!
I won’t say its a must read. But, if you read it your will definitely find it interesting.
