This book is a heavy read for me, despite the amiable effort by the author to make it as readable as it can be. The tone is friendly, the style is classroom instructional, and there are humours in the book too. But unless you are trained in literature and are well read, you are going to [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Book Reviews'
How To Read Novels Like A Professor – Thomas C. Foster – Be Inspired As A Reader Or A Writer
August 31st, 2010 4 Comments
Tags: Thomas C. Foster
The Internet Is A Playground By David Thorne – An Insanely Fun And Bizarre Read
June 14th, 2010 2 Comments
I suppose if one is to publish a book based on what he or she writes in his or her website, the book would look something like “The Internet Is A Playground”. I have no idea if the materials are factual. What it does indicate is that the author David Thorne lives in Australia and [...]
Tags: David Thorne
The Cloud Revolution By Charles Babcock – If You Need To Know What Cloud Computing Is As Of Today, This Is It
June 6th, 2010 No Comments
If you happen to fall under the category of someone who has heard of the term “cloud computing”, may have some ideas of what it is, but cannot quite pinpoint what it does and how we can benefit from it, “The Cloud Revolution” written by editor-at-large of InformationWeek Charles Babcock will get you acquainted with [...]
Tags: Charles Babcock · cloud computing · McGraw-Hill · McGraw-Hill Book Review Blogger
Neon Angel, A Memoir Of A Runaway By Cherie Currie – Heart Wrenching and Heart Warming At The Same Time
May 31st, 2010 2 Comments
I seldom read memoirs. But I was curious about the life story told from Cherie Currie’s perspective after watching “The Runaway” played by Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart. “Neon Angel” has enough dramas that can pass as a great fiction. The rise to stardom, the crash, substance abuse, brutal rapes, exploitation by the management, constant struggle [...]
Tags: Cherie Currie · memoir · Runaway
Happiness At Work By Dr. Srikumar Rao – Parables And Advice That Could Be Life Changing
April 24th, 2010 4 Comments
By now, I have joined the workforce for a decade and a half and I consider myself – after years of learning and finding my way - pretty happy at work. I manage to maintain a good level of work life balance, I have built good rapport with my colleagues, and I take pride in my [...]
Tags: McGraw-Hill · McGraw-Hill Book Review Blogger · Srikumar Rao
Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami – That Sense of Loneliness, That Unattainable Love
March 31st, 2010 13 Comments
I have come to the realisation that perhaps there is no such thing as which is my favorite Haruki Murakami novel (my 6th so far). Even though my familiarity to his style has led me to half-expecting what “Sputnik Sweetheart” would become, there is still this element of freshness that kept me from putting the [...]
Tags: Haruki Murakami
Numbers Rule Your World By Kaiser Fung – With Depth, And Figures To Support
March 29th, 2010 3 Comments
It is hard not to make the comparison between “Numbers Rule Your World” and “Freakonomics”. Even the book has made a reference once. Ten real life case studies are used, paired up in five chapters, to illustrate how different aspects of statistics affect our lives. Blogger statistician Kaiser Fung has made the topic surprisingly accessible, narrated [...]
鐵凝《永遠有多遠》- “How Long Is Forever” by Tie Ning
January 15th, 2010 No Comments
While I have read this book in its original language – Chinese – I have found a English translation selling at Amazon.com. It is refreshing to read the work of a China writer in Traditional Chinese because given my very limited exposure to Simplified Chinese, my reading appetite is often confined to either authors from Hong [...]
Tags: Chinese Novel · 鐵凝 · short stories · Tie Ning
Superfreakonomics By Levitt And Dubner – Good Conversational Materials (And It Stops There)
December 27th, 2009 1 Comment
Although this book is not going to change the world – at least I do not think so – like its predecessor “Freakonomics”, “Superfreakonomics” is an entertaining read, full of good conversational materials. That is, if you can remember the numbers and details. Backed by numerous reports (the note section alone takes up 36 pages) [...]
Tags: Stephen J. Dubner · Steven D. Levitt
夢枕獏《香魚師》- “Master Ayu Fisherman”, I Know Nuts About Fishing But I Enjoy Reading This
December 21st, 2009 No Comments
It is only a matter of time before I revisit my childhood passion of reading Japanese novels translated in Chinese. I read Japanese novels translated in English, such as Haruki Murakami. Maybe there is a certain proximity between the two languages – Japanese and Chinese, I suspect that the Chinese translation is probably closer to the [...]
Tags: 夢枕獏 · Chinese Novel
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