Biography Organizer: Fill & Download for Free

If you have ever lived in Japan for an extended period of time, the answer would be somewhat obvious.PS4 is a stationary system where you have to sit at home and generally commit a fair bit of time. For things like loading and connecting not to mention waiting in most FPS.Meanwhile, most Japanese people rarely have that much time that is stationary and at home. A lot of time is spent on public commuting. Another thing about commuting is that no one talks on the phone. PS4 has a lot of great games that are all aimed at young men in their teens all the way up to their mid to late twenties. Boys and men in that age group have very little time to commit to long stories. Short games with quick load times that are transportable are much more adapted to the pace of life in modern Japan.There is also something about the design and style of games for the PS4 (though also made by a Japanese company) that is more appropriate for Western audiences. They are mainly FPS (first person shooters) played online. The highly competitive nature of the games along with the bloodshed are not exactly in line with young Japanese sensibilities which are mainly looking for ways to pass the time.On top of which, the PS4 needs to be played on a TV. Most Japanese people live at home in apartments. This means that their activities are highly visible for the rest of their family. Long binges (quite possible if you live alone or in a basement in the house) are invitations for criticism. Living on your own with a rigorous schedule and late nights does not allow for much energy to commit to games, especially competitive ones that can be quite stressful.This is one of the reasons that there is a huge app surge in Japan. The only reason that the Wii does well is because of how well oriented it is to families and allowing kids to get rid of some of their energy without jumping all over the place.The Playstation systems have always had Western audiences in mind. And they are very good at it.This also has to do with the very different biographies and DNA of the companies. Nintendo was originally a manufacturer of Japanese Trump which is why the official name still bears the word “Karuta” in it from when it was making cards called Hanafuda in 1889. Nintendo is a large company in Japan but it isn’t really a massive Keiretsu (Large organization of businesses).Sony is very much a recent addition having little experience before the release of the Playstation in 1994, which emerged after a failed joint venture with Nintendo. It is a large multinational and is very much shaped by its interaction with the West. In a way, it is much more of a Western influenced company than Nintendo is. It also has 7 times the revenue and over 20 times the number of employees that Nintendo has. Sony is almost the definition of a keiretsu.So, both companies are successful with the audiences that they intended to be. More than 30% of Japanese homes don’t even have a computer and I know many people in companies who can’t even touch type. Yet, even my 11 year old niece has an iPhone.Hope this helps provide some context. Happy to provide more information if there is something else you are looking for.

When I was small, a part of our primary school curriculum were stories of valiant young Pioneers (Communist schoolchildren) who helped the Soviet resistance fighters during the Nazi occupation. We were expected to know their names and recite their heroic deeds. School walls were often adorned with their portraits. Many pioneer units bore their names, and the kids there were required to know their biographies in particular detail.One of the Pioneer unit where I had the privilege to belong bore the name of Zina Portnova. She was in her teens when she found employment in a German canteen as a dishwasher. She used it as an opportunity to poison scores of German troops, some of them to death. In detention, she managed to grab an officer’s sidearm and shoot him. She was later tortured and executed—we were recounted all the gory details time and time again.As far as I remember, none of the adults at the time had a problem teaching us that kids participating in armed insurgency, poisoning and killing other people, with all the danger they incur on themselves and their family, is a very good thing. Later, when I read about the classic Christian education, with the plethora of God’s saint martyrs and all the details of how they were tortured to death, it became clear how all of this was a necessary attribute of totalitarian conditioning.During the 1970s, the relentless preparation of Soviet kids for the life of heroic deeds and self-sacrifice subsided. Those responsible for propaganda and education at last realized that the idea of children poisoning and shooting people may sometimes work in many other unexpected ways.Nowadays, as far as I know, the veneration of kids who participated in patriotic insurgency follows a much less brutal pattern. It’s a good thing to help people who fight for a good cause, but kids must first grow big and strong, and get a good education, before they join the fight. The rising militaristic mood during Putin’s rule sometimes takes grotesque forms, but so far it seems to be more like individual grassroot stupidity than an organized totalitarian push.Picture: the Zina Portnova story as I remember it. (Somehow, this is firmly intertwined in my brain with the fictional Swedish children book character Pippi Longstocking. How wicked.)

This lockdown has given me time to focus on things that usually would get sidelined. I have been reading books, catching up on a lot of movies and shows I had planned to watch, developing my culinary skills, learning new games, spending more time with my wife and our neighbors, catching up with friends, and focusing on physical fitness.Here are a few books I wholeheartedly recommend.A. FictionA couple of years back, someone gifted me a copy of On A Winter’s Night A Traveler. And I was simply blown away by both the story and the way it was told.Daniel Keyes’ Flowers for Algernon, is one of the most heartbreaking things I’ve ever read.Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird might be fiction, but it is also a treatise on morality.Suketu Mehta’s Maximum City might just be one of the greatest city memoirs of all time. And it has helped me with a greater appreciation for Mumbai - which despite all odds, continues to fascinate and enchant millions.Godaan is doubly special, being the swan song as well as the magnum opus of one of India’s greatest writers, Munshi Premchand. A simple tale, told with the unadorned style of the rustic setting where it takes place, Godaan manages to shine a light on the inequity of wealth, caste, and opportunities that plagued India of a century ago (and still does to a large extent). It also manages to put in perspective the privilege most people take for granted, the disparity in the ambitions of the rich and the poor and implores you to question everything about life.Any of Ruskin Bond’s works. You can pick up any book and you’re sure to fall in love with Bond and his memoirs. I have a particularly stronger affinity for the man and his words since most of his stories are based in my state. Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra, Time stops at Shamli, The Room on the Roof, The Blue Umbrella.The Jungle Book is Rudyard Kipling’s seminal work and one of the most famous stories across mediums, having been adapted numerous times for both the big and small screens. However, none of the adaptations do justice to the real story which is far more grisly, and “ugly” - definitely not a children’s book.Khushwant Singh was born at a time of great turbulence, fear, and pain. Train to Pakistan, in just a few pages, brings out the horrors of the 1947 separation, and at the same time reaffirms, to an extent, one’s faith in humanity. But be warned, there are no happy endings here.The Silmarillion by Tolkien might not be his most popular work, but it just shows the amount of work it goes into building a complex fantasy world, replete with a rich history, languages, maps, etc.Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury was a work ahead of its time, warning us about the dangers of government surveillance and censorship long before the digital age.The Complete Calvin and Hobbes is one of my most treasured collection, and something I keep going back to whenever nostalgia hits.Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince works perfectly as a companion to Calvin and Hobbes; as a fond recollection to childhood and a social commentary on the nuances of adulthoodOrwell’s Animal Farm perfectly illustrates the pitfalls of CommunismRowling’s Harry Potter is one of the most popular literary series of all time. And for good reason. As someone who grew up alongside the characters of the book, they’ve left an everlasting imprint on me, especially when it comes to understanding the value of friendship and courageB. Non-fictionPandemic, by Sonia Shah, is a must-read in the current times. It illustrates how the current global, highly interconnected world is a perfect disaster recipe for another global health crisis, and how politics is a major roadblock in devising and implementing a global health crisis mitigation strategy.The Second Sex is a magnum opus for feminism, having written in the 40s by author Simone de Beauvoir, detailing how deeply institutional patriarchy has been and how it shaped the treatment of women as “the other sex” for a long time.In When Women Rule the World, author Kara Cooney, details the lives of six Egyptian Queens who threw caution to the wind and stood up against a patriarchial society long before “feminism” was even a word.Poor Charlie’s Almanac is an account of Charles Munger, one of the most influential investors of all time who was instrumental in the creation of Berkshire Hathway.The Bestseller Code, by Jodie Archer and Matthew Jockers, reveals how intelligent computer programs can predict, with eerie accuracy, the success or failure of a book, and also provides actionable advice on what makes a potential global bestseller.Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything is a wonderful summary of everything since the beginning of the universe.When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management by Roger Lowenstein shows how even Economics Nobel laureates do not have it all figured out.Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner reflects on Murphy's Law and the Law of unintended consequences in the real worldMalcolm Gladwell’s Outliers perfectly explains how even the smallest and random-est of events can completely change the final outcome.Darwin’s On The Origin of Species is the magnum opus on the Theory of EvolutionLiar’s Poker, by Michael Lewis, is far more interesting than it had any right to be. Written about the machinations of Wall Street, it exposes how greed is deeply rooted within the financial industry.C. Autobiographies/BiographiesBelow are some of my favorite biographies/autobiographies, though they are not really my favorite genre.Persepolis is the autobiography of author Marjane Satrapi and recounts her life growing up under the oppressive Iranian RegimeMaus by Art Spiegelman is an illustrated biographical graphic novel depicting the life of the author’s father who survived the Holocaust.The Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank, is one of the greatest autobiographies of all time, about a girl and her scribblings in her personal diary while hiding from the Nazis.Trillion Dollar Coach, a memoir written by three influential corporate leaders, about the life and Bill Campbell, an ex-football coach turned advisor, who deeply influenced the philosophy and working style of the authors and countless other business giants including Steve Jobs.I am Malala is a narration of how Malala Yousafzai’s refusal to bow before the Taliban lead them to shoot a schoolgirl, shining a spotlight how terrorist organizations like the Taliban maintain their grip on the poor, catapulting Malala to international fame and an eventual Nobel Peace Prize.Mighty Be Our Powers is by another Nobel Peace Prize winner, Leymah Gbowee, who, despite never having the chance to complete her education and being married off to an abusive husband who treated her as nothing more than a kid-producing machine, was at the forefront of the female uprising that eventually helped resolve the Second Liberian Civil War.Long Walk to Freedom is the life of Nelson Mandela, one of the most popular proponents of achieving freedom through non-violent means, in his own words.Know My Name is the autobiographical memoir of Chanel Miller, the victim of the widely discussed Stanford rape case and how she came to terms with her reality and weathered immeasurable venom against her in the initial days.D. Self-help/InspirationalThe Bhagavad Gita has lessons on how to lead a good lifeHerman Hesse’s Siddhartha is a riveting read about self-discovery. It just might be the only self-help book you need.Everyday Ubuntu, by Mungi Ngomane, is about the African philosophy of Ubuntu, a sense of togetherness with the universe, in stark contrast to the rising trend of individualism.The Pomodoro Technique, by Francesco Cirillo, is the only productivity hack I find useful.The Power of Nunchi, by Euny Hong, tells you how to “read a room” in order to become better at all relationships — personal, professional, social.