Bookwatch: Ashish Pradhan, Siegwerk India

Ashish Pradhan, CEO, Siegwerk India, is all about ink, obviously. However, he is also concerned about ink on paper, specially printed books. Two of his favourite books, which he shared with PrintWeek India, deal with new ways of looking into traditional setups and traditional problems. Is this the reason why within a year of taking the helm of Siegwerk’s India operations, Pradhan, with a young team of professionals, has been making visible changes?

Here are Pradhan’s recommendations:

1. The Art of Thinking Clearly by Rolf Dobelli: The book by the world-class thinker and entrepreneur is an eye-opening look at human psychology and reasoning — essential reading for anyone who wants to avoid ‘cognitive errors’ and make better choices in all aspects of their lives. Simple, clear, and always surprising, this indispensable book will change the way you think and transform your decision-making—work, at home, every day. It reveals, in 99 short chapters, the most common errors of judgment, and how to avoid them.

2. Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. The book deals with the fallibility of human knowledge. The book is the first part of Taleb's four-volume philosophical essay on uncertainty, titled the Incerto. The following books include The Black Swan (2007–2010), The Bed of Procrustes (2010–2016), and Antifragile (2012). The book was selected by Fortune as one of the 75 Smartest Books of All Time. USA Today recounted that many criticisms raised in this book of the financial industry turned out to be justified.