Category: Book

Best 100 books of 2007

Editors of Amazon just picked their best 100 books of the year, and the web site listed another 100 customers’ favorite books. You know what, out of these 200 listings (some books are duplicated in both lists), I have only one – The Black Swan, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. You see, it is a good proof that I read not enough books this year and all the books I read were old books.

But still, The Black Swan is a good book worth reading. But what is a Black Swan after all ?

In Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s definition, a Black Swan event is a large-impact, hard-to-predict, and rare event beyond the realm of normal expectations. That’s why, the 9/11 attack is often referred to as a Black Swan event. In fact, I have an example of Black Swan event happened to us couple of years ago. Check out the other post …

Present and perfect moment

Finished the book Chasing Daylight for quite some weeks, but only now manage to write something about it. Not that I was busy, but just not sure whether I shall recommend this book. This is certainly a good book and I learnt a few lessons from it as well, but I felt that the author is a bit too self-focused. Anyway, you will know what I mean when you read this book.

Other than the Passion and Talent lesson, I also share another two “lessons” by the author (not two new lessons though, as I believe all of us already knew those) – those are,

  • seize the present moments, and
  • create your own perfect moments.

Essentially, instead of keep planning, dreaming and guessing – why not just try your best to focus in your present moment ? Make full use of it … don’t waste this very hour, minute and second. In addition, create a perfect moment or great time with your friend / mentor, love one, parents and everyone you meet – every single time.

Simple lessons, but when will we all learn it ?

What is a library ?

According to the book The Black Swan, a library is a collection of unread books.

How true ?! I reckon no matter how big a library is, there are always more unread books than books already read. So next question is, why a library wants to “collect” so many unread books ? I think it is because no matter how knowedgable a reader is, there are always something he or she doesn’t know, and those knowledge are recorded in the unread books. Strange reason, I suppose.

What about my mini-library at home ? It’s a collection of a lot unread books as well, and then some unfinished books, and many books I read but forgot all the content inside already. But then again, once a librarian in school days, my job is not to read book … but to collect unread books 😎

Passion and Talent

While reading the book Supernatural, I spare some time to read a book recommending by my ex-colleague – “Chasing Daylight” by Eugene O’Kelly. This book is about what one shall do before too late. I cannot tell whether it is a good book yet as I am only half way through it. However in the earlier part of the book, there are a few paragraphs that put me in deep thought.

One day when I was 14, my mother, who for years had witnessed my passion for the sport, told me it was important to distinguish that from talent.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“You may have the passion to be a great baseball player,” she said, “but not the talent.”
… She wanted me to hold onto my passion while also following a path where my talent could flower.

The whole idea struck me … I may have the passion to build the greatest web site or the best book cafe in the world; but what if I don’t have the talent to do it ?

Shall I drop the idea ? Or keep pursuing it ? Is there anything on earth that I have passion with and I have the talent to realize it ?

Serial reader

Similar to many book lovers, I am a serial reader (not serial killer). That is, if I read a good book then I will read all the books written by the same author. For example, all the books by Dan Brown (Angels and Demons is actually better than Da Vinci Code, from my point of view); all the “Babylon books” by Imogen Edwards-Jones (I learnt a lot industry knowledge from those books); books by Mitch Albom (Tuesday With Morrie etc. etc.) and books by Malcolm Gladwell (I think Tipping Point is a lot better than Blink).

Another author I followed for years is “archaeological investigative journalist” Graham Hancock, his books about the Pyramid, ancient civilizations and biblical stories are very very fascinating. Finally his newest book “Supernatural” is on sale in local bookstore and you know what, it’s only 700 pages !! Still, could not help but buy it straightaway … hmmm … lots of late night coming 😎