Rajeev Motwani : Alcohol claims life of a Silicon Valley Pandit

Rajeev Motwani, renowned Stanford University professor and computer scientist, passed away at his home in what appears to be a tragic accident related to overdose of alcohol. Motwani is famous for mentoring and advising Sergey Brin and Larry Page as they built what would be come Google Inc.

Not only was Motwani an early investor in Google and PayPal Inc., he also served as a special advisor to Sequoia Capital and informally for many other start-ups and venture firms.

Check Google's co-founder, Sergey Brin's own words about Rajeev

Here's a Clue: Mr. Kumar, With a Gun, in India

We all know “Q&A,” the novel that became the basis for the smash-hit film “Slumdog Millionaire,” used questions from a television quiz show to prompt flashbacks about its main character’s life story. It's Author, Vikas Swarup has now published his second novel, “Six Suspects" a Bollywood version of the board game Clue with a strain of screwball comedy thrown in. Looks like it's already a blockbuster and being signed in for a film deal with BBC.

Here is the NYtimes book review.. sounds interesting, and worth reading - esp it appears like Agatha Chrisite's Bollywood version.. yummm !.

Related links
NY Times Excerpt
Vikas Swarup's website

Capitalism Beyond the Crisis -

Interesting takeaways quoted from this recent Amartya Sen's book review:

(begin quote) "Indeed, early advocates of the use of markets, including (Adam) Smith, did not take the pure market mechanism to be a freestanding performer of excellence, nor did they take the profit motive to be all that is needed.

....The insufficient regulation of financial activities has implications not only for illegitimate practices, but also for a tendency toward overspeculation that, as Adam Smith argued, tends to grip many human beings in their breathless search for profits. Smith called the promoters of excessive risk in search of profits "prodigals and projectors"—which is quite a good description of issuers of subprime mortgages over the past few years.

....As it happens, these problems were already identified in the eighteenth century by Smith, even though they have been neglected by those who have been in authority in recent years, especially in the United States, and who have been busy citing Adam Smith in support of the unfettered market. " (end quote)

Along with this justification that Adam Smith would encourage government intervention, Sen presents prespectives from other economists like Keynes and Pigou, about how the present crisis donot call for a true Keynesian style "new capitalismm" but do demand a new understanding of older ideas and perspectives - esp importance of non market initiatives and the non profit values that came from them, and need for government involvement in basic healthcare.

Is China recession proof?

A panel of leading Chinese economists explains how the world’s fastest-growing economy keeps expanding despite the global downturn. In this interview, conducted by McKinsey’s Janamitra Devan in March 2009 in Beijing, four distinguished members of the McKinsey Council on China Business Economists explore these questions.


What's next in innovation

Management guru C.K. Prahalad examines the technique of tapping individual consumers to help develop products and create appealing experiences, using the example of Build-a-Bear. Video contribution from McKinsey Quarterly