tarik2an

Intended as a reading for business-people in companies, this collection of articles can also be useful for any other people in other organizations. Many articles get overly technical such as “Marketing Myopia” and “Balanced Scorecard”, but more are fairly translatable in general organizational discussion.

This book has done a good job explaining some of the most notable philosophers and their influential ideas. This is especially true in the entries of modern and contemporary period continental philosophers. Figures such as Heidegger and Derrida whose books are condemned as difficult to follow are explained here clearly without any shred of doubt left. The flowcharts, images and pictures are perhaps there to attract those who have no appetite with philosophy at all, but they are somewhat helpful and not at all redundant.

However, I would say that book's title is sort of a misnomer since this is not an introductory book but rather a mini-encyclopedia about philosophers. That being said, this book also fails to summarize the complete thoughts of prominent philosophers, as is expected from an introductory philosophy book. Instead, it delves into one particular idea of each philosopher so much that it ignores his/her contributions in other areas. For example, the entry about Thomas Hobbes entirely discusses his epistemological idea about physicalism, while obviously his political “homo homini lupus” ideas are more famous and influential.

In short, this book is helpful but only as a supplement for beginning enthusiasts of philosophy. Those completely new to the subject should find another introduction that is more suitable to their needs.

Probably the most helpful of all self-help books I have read, even though this can be hardly called one such books. This compilation of several journal articles on Harvard Business Review stands to its title: it gives you suggestions on how yourself can be managed. It means you get to set yourself to the standard of CEOs or professional managers working in their companies, as the articles are originally intended to. That being said, most of the articles deal with how leaders should pay attention to their responsibilities and needs. However, the man on the street can learn very much from its articles, too. Some of the writings are especially accessible for an average person, such as Peter F. Drucker's Managing Oneself.

If you have trouble with self-worth and self-esteem, you will feel many times better after reading Mr. Rogers' memorable sayings.

The man was like a modern day prophet.

As a linguistics student, reading about Chomsky reminds me that even a practitioner on the humanities could make a significant contribution on how we run our world. Chomsky's linguistics (which has thankfully become a standard on how we are doing the discipline) focuses less on describing language phenomena but on explaining things related on how humans are able to use language. He seeks a scientific pursuit of understanding the human language, and so his thoughts on the subject are clear-cut, unlike many philosophers and literary theorists with their obscure jargon and confusing reasoning. His theory on universal grammar sheds light that we humans are endowed with a special ability to create things. Our behaviors are not determined only by our environment. We have the creative ability to do things. And so, in facing our world where injustices prevail and ordinary people are driven out from contributing to their community, we have the means within ourselves to initiate change. The government may deceive us and mislead us, but we can learn about their tricks.

I cannot say whether the book correctly introduces or misrepresents Chomsky's ideas since I have not read a single book written by him. The way it delivers his massage, though, is engaging and thought-provoking. Language and literature students should try to learn from his example.

Lots of new insights that help me to be mindful of what I eat and how I eat it. Some of the hacks are actually the same tips repeated more than once. But for the purpose of the book, I think it's more of a feature than a book. Afterall, discussing nutrition can be very confusing. Will definitely re-read this book, at least next year.

Although sometimes bored by the self-deprecating and laborious-thinking narrator, I found many glimpses of enlightenment in this brief novel. Every lover who has read this book might wonder which chapter their love story is in now. With each chapter, you will see your assumptions about love in general and dating culture in particular challenged, and for good reasons. I'd like to think of this novel as a literal introduction to the subject of love as Sophie's World is an outright beginner's course in philosophy. As such, perhaps it is better not to read this book for the plot as you will be in a massive boredom trying to find action in the dense paragraphs of Alain de Botton.

Definitely would read again some time.

I like that this book doesn't become preachy with their formula of forming habits. The advice listed here are helpful, but the author is also careful to be aware of the limits of the prescriptions that he wrote. The tips are also useful and can be applied to other areas outside of personal development, such as business and parenting. If you have read Charles Duhigg's The Power of Habit, this book can be a perfect companion because it gets more practical on how you can actually make habits work for you.

I wanted to give this book at least 3 stars. I really did.

Liu Cixin's “The Three Body Problem” trilogy was amazing. I literally had an out-of-body experience just from reading it. Descriptions about aliens, the failing nature of humans, and our mind-boggling insignificance in the universe had made me ugly cry by the end of the series. Heck, even Barack Obama used these books to escape from his day-to-day politics. But like many other expansive stories, some plot points are left unaddressed and untold. This is where Baoshu came in with this fan fiction sequel to try to fill in the gaps

The ideas presented on “The Redemption of Time” are intriguing, just like on the trilogy. Being relatively untrained on hardcore philosophy and/or science, maybe a lot of the explanations in this novel just went above my head. However, I like the discussion about the concept of time, especially the idea that “time is freedom.” I am also drawn to the battle of ideology between The Master and The Lurker, whether we should prioritize space or we have to preserve time. This all makes little sense to you readers, but once you get the hang of it I bet you'll be interested too.

Also, the translation is just perfect and feels as if it's not fan fiction but a canonical work from Cixin himself. I suspect that this is thanks to Ken Liu, who had also done a great job delivering the English version of the first and third books in the trilogy.

So why did I give it only 2 stars? Here are some defects that ruined my experience reading it:

1. There's this kinda sexist attitude throughout the book. Actually, even the original trilogy made questionable characterizations of its female cast, e.g. big emphasis about femininity, their tendency as care-givers, their disposition towards feelings rather than thoughts. Baoshu seems to have taken the clue and dials it up to eleven. He described Sophon (a recurring humanoid character from the trilogy) as being inspired by a certain porn star (which I first thought was fictional but actually exists in real life). Many of the female characters act just like they do in male-oriented romance, which is a trashy move coming from the author. This should be pure hard science fiction that can be read by anyone of any background, but sadly these sexist overtones will make the novel inaccessible for half of the population. I myself couldn't recommend this book for my female friends because of this problem.
2. The latter parts of the novel (which are more about creating a new story as opposed to fill in some information gaps in the original novels) deliver the juicy bits about speculations and theories related to life, the universe, and everything. But the way it is delivered feels like just a power fantasy fiction. Yun Tianming suddenly receives powers that make him somehow invincible and look younger. From this point on, he's nothing more than an empty character. At some moment in the novel I began to wonder, “Am I reading a science fiction novel, or am I reading Sword Art Online?”
3. This might not be a big deal for others, but it is to me. This author just randomly dropped a reference to Suzumiya Haruhi and then went on to slander it as “stupid cartoon.” No, sir, “Endless Eight” is one of the best arcs in the Suzumiya Haruhi light novels. In fact, it is my favorite after “The Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi.” I know it has some relevance to your story, but this juvenile remark about anime has really made me doubt your seriousness about the ideas you're trying to present through your book here.

So, should you readers try it? I'll say you might want to judge for yourself whether you like it or not, but only if 1) you're not a female (I think you'll be disgusted by its portrayal of women characters), 2) you really, really, really like “The Three Body Problem” trilogy and is thirsty for more content, and 3) you can discern between the serious sci-fi concepts and the silly tropes that are the stuff of trashy fiction.

This book makes some great points about the problem with police officers and the concept of policing overall, but I do think that the arguments are all over the place. That's why it's hard for me to support its conclusion.

This book serves as a useful introduction to information science, with a heavy focus on information organization.

It is easy to read and gives a lot of everyday examples and cases to show why it is important to study information, although the book could be a lot shorter than it is.

Was hoping for the discussions of philosophical ramifications of the quantum theory, but turns out this book is more concerned with explaining its roots and development. I'm not saying it should have been presented any other way, it's just that this book seems to be impenetrable for those with nonexistent (or near-nonexistent) knowledge of physics. So here's an advance note for those who want to read this introductory book: please make sure that you are familiar with physics and/or chemistry beforehand.

Perhaps I will return to this later after refreshing my high school physics/chemistry from other books.

Exactly what it says on the can. You are going to learn how to be miserable so that you can be able to avoid the sources of misery.

“Greatness” is a concept that's very close to “success”, in the sense that both are extremely difficult to describe objectively. However, this book uses a very specific understanding of “greatness” and builds on it to argue that we can never really plan to achieve greatness. Rather, things can become great if we don't plan on it and focus instead on making gains. These are all very abstract explanations, but I get it.

This book affirms what I truly believe about greatness: the more you pursue it, the less likely you're able to achieve it. But again, this depends on what you mean by “greatness”, and for the book's specific intention of the meaning of “greatness”, the authors' argument makes sense. It's really hard to point out specifically. Just try reading the book for a little bit, I guess? You can get a glimpse to their answer to “Why greatness cannot be planned?” on the concluding chapter.

Overall, this was a great and important read.

This book is a translation of the ancient Chinese text Tao Te Ching. According to the introduction of this rendering, tao means “the way of all life,” teh can be interpreted as “the fit use of life by men,” and ching stands for “ a text or classic.” it contains 81 very short chapters discussing the nature of this world, as well as human relations.

At first, I was really confused with the sayings, as words and lines seem to be unrelated to one another. However, as I kept reading and not thinking too much about it, an understanding about the gist of the text dawned upon me. I think it's the repetitiveness of the chapters that eventually allow me to capture the meaning behind the seemingly confusing and platitude-ish wording.

This book touches upon many topics, but one of the most notable here is the concept of wu-wei. According to this article, the term means literally “no doing” and figuratively “effortless doing,” while the translator of this edition worded it as “creative quietism.” Either way, I could find no better way to grasp that concept than to read and feel out the words of Lao Tzu himself.

Of course, this translation is by no means Lao Tzu's actual words. As a student of translation myself, I don't think that any translation can truly replace the source text, the original. Witter Bynner as the translator might have let some of his own biases (particularly of Christianity and the West) slip into the text in its English form. In the introduction, he even admitted that he could not speak Chinese. Instead, he relied on previous English translations and his own experience of being in China for two years. That being said, the translation itself is beautifully written. It pays attention to rhyming and line breaks really well, and the vocabulary he used back in 1944 seems so contemporary, as if he only wrote it in the 2020s.

All in all, although with a grain of salt, I would recommend you to read this Bynner's translation of Tao Te Ching. I might even need to read this more than once.

Although reading this book is such a hard work, the sheer insanity of it all forced me to keep faith with the story, and upon reaching the last page I was baffled. I feel so, so insignificant, but in a good and eye-opening way.

(I'll write a review later, maybe.)

A really short read on how and how not to invest which takes just about one hour to finish (although it comes with a caveat). The writer outlined five hurdles of investing that every young person should avoid. Reading this booklet kind of feels special to me since the advice starts on what to do with investments at 25 years old, which is my current age. He he.

I like most of the bits of advice and warnings Bernstein offered, such as that humans are not particularly good at investments because they suck at long-term planning. However, as with any book about finance, we must take his advice with a grain of salt. As another reviewer pointed out, his inconsistency shows when he wrote against mutual funds yet at the same time told readers to invest in 401(K), which invests the money into (partly) mutual funds.

In short, we should never trust 100% of any financial advice. However, this book has more amount of believable advice than almost any other finance book.

A legendary but aging fisherman has been unable to make a catch for the past 84 days. This led the other fishermen to believe that this particular fisherman is cursed and soon to be a goner. He wants to prove them wrong. So off he goes to the sea, trying to catch the biggest fish he could get. But this journey was not at all what he expected.

That's the synopsis. At first, I wasn't really intrigued by the premise. Even immediately after finishing this novella, I still couldn't figure out why it's so significant for many people. But after thinking more about what I just read (actually, I listened to it through audiobook) and reading about its background and response on Wikipedia, I began to realize that this story can elicit a lot of implied meanings and metaphors, and that is why this story brought Hemingway to his Nobel prize.

I found this book on the Gutenberg Project when I was in junior high. Never heard of the writer before, and I still don't know much about him now. What he wrote, though, is nothing of the ordinary. Indeed, he admitted in this book that his views on Islam are neither “orthodox nor heterodox (i.e. not too common or too uncommon), but something in between.”

A good portion of this book discusses Al-Fatihah, the first chapter of the Quran. It is a central text for muslims, the author argued, because it succinctly presents the central tenets of Islamic belief in God: that we worship God, that we seek help in Him, and that we ask Him to guide us to the straight path. The author also noted the similarity between this chapter and the Christian's Lord's Prayer.

He later expanded his rendering of Al-Fatihah into arguments on why Islam is the best religion, what is true Islam, and how is Islam compatible with science. He distinguishes between Islam and Iman, arguing that those under the creeds of Christianity and Judaism might also be considered muslims, and that what we know today as “muslims” are actually referred to as “mu'mins” (or believers) in the Quran. This is where this book is the most progressive. On the other hand, given that this book was written back in 1920s, it is sure enough that the “science” parts of this book are severely dated. He tried to justify the accordance of Islam with modern science, but like all those who tried to do this, he falls into equating the scripture's timelessness with science's ever-changing nature.

All in all, this is a good quick read for muslims who want to think and reflect of their religion. You will never recite Al-Fatihah in your prayers the same way again.

Not-so-engaging and perhaps confusing stories of Tommy and Tuppence. My main problem with this book is that I think Christie's detailed narrative does not suit a short story format, which makes the reader clueless and doesn't have enough time to enjoy the story. In addition, I couldn't understand most of the references the author was making. Perhaps this book is reserved for only loyal fans who read all of Christie's books.

Cerita tentang sekelompok orang yang terjebak pada suatu situasi dan harus bertahan hidup sebenarnya sudah tergolong pasaran. Namun bedanya, jika biasanya cerita seperti itu digolongkan sebagai cerita misteri, karya Mochtar Lubis ini tidak bisa dibilang novel misteri. Walaupun tetap mengandung unsur suspense, novel ini lebih cocok dikatakan sebagai cerita moral. Moralnya, ya, bahwa manusia harus mengalahkan “harimau” dalam dirinya sendiri sebelum harimau itu menikam orang lain di sekitarnya.

Yang membuatku tidak seberapa terkesan adalah plotnya yang bagiku mudah tertebak dan ending-nya yang cukup klise. Tapi kelebihan Mochtar Lubis dalam novel ini adalah penjabaran dan deskripsinya yang gamblang, sangat mudah bagi pembaca manapun untuk mengikuti buku ini. Di samping itu, pesan moral yang disampaikan juga tersampaikan tanpa harus terkesan sok-sokan atau pretensius atau apalah.

Tapi secara keseluruhan, buku ini bagus kok. Masih lebih bagus daripada novel-novel moral yang sok-sokan mengajari nilai hidup.

I once read the Indonesian translation of this book, and the experience couldn't have been more different. This biography reads not like a dry explanation about how someone had lived in the past. Martin Lings presented the story of the Prophet almost like a myth. I don't mean “myth” as in “fiction” but as a grand narrative that shows why there are more than a billion humans today that believe in his words, his deeds, and his message. Some might judge that the story might be unconvincing, while others will certainly get stirred by Muhammad's virtuous qualities, as well as his complexities as a human being.

One of the main differences that set this biography apart from many other chronicles about Muhammad is that it does not begin straight from Muhammad's birth. Instead, we are told first about the story of Ibrahim, how he built the Kaaba, how his descendants found the city of Mecca (the focal point of Muhammad's story), who Muhammad's ancestors were, and finally the recent events preceding Muhammad's birth. Another distinguishing feature compared to other English biographies about the Prophet is that Martin Lings wrote using an Early Modern English-like style (such as one you might find in Shakespeare's plays). This can be quite jarring for readers, bearing in mind that this book was written in the 1980s. I'm not entirely sure why Martin Lings did this, but maybe it has to do with the subtitle, “His Life Based on the Earliest Sources.” Perhaps Martin Lings did this because he wanted to show that what he wrote is not based on his taste or liking, but because he just wanted tell it like how classic Arab biographers told the story of Muhammad in classical Arabic. Indeed, all of his sources (which he extensively cited and footnoted in each chapter, which are mostly brief) date just a few centuries from Muhammad's lifetime.

Since this book relies so much on classical sources rather than more contemporary ones, those intending to find factual information or critical analysis (so to speak) about the Prophet may be disappointed. Just like the early Islamic biographies about the Prophet, we can find many instances where supernatural occurrences happened or of miracles supposedly performed by Muhammad. Historical accuracy is not the point of this book. Rather, as I pointed out earlier, this book presents Muhammad as how he is revered and followed by more than a billion Muslims around the globe. Through Martin Lings' writing, you might not be able to find the factual truth about Muhammad, but you might see why many people see Muhammad as the bringer of Truth.

While this book-length essay provides us with how we get to the digital age and how information technology has reshapes us, I really feel that this book is severely outdated. I know, this book was published in 2011, but somehow it's already 20 years late compared to 2017. We now worry about fake news and Donald Trump, or about robots taking over our jobs. Yes, issues regarding isolation, copyright, and new political activism still hold today, but these kinds of discussions have been rendered obsolete by how fast our world is changing.

Very brief introduction to what data science is, how does one work with it, and why people make such a big deal out of it. Although this book won't teach you how to be a data scientist, I think this is a decent point of departure for anyone wishing to learn to analyze data.

I started reading this book merely to get some tips on building better habits and destroying the bad ones. Now, my word of advice is just turn to the appendix and read the step-by-step guide. That appendix, however, only describes you what to do. The author has said that there is no one formula to create a habit, and that you should discover your own way to build your habits. That is what the rest of the book is for.

This book contain stories that stress the importance of habits and why and how you should care about it. True to his background as a journalist, Charles Duhigg is a great storyteller who seamlessly combines powerful narratives of people both extraordinary and ordinary with the results of scientific research. Once you have read all the chapters in the book, then the step-by-step guide will be much more meaningful and compelling for you. After all, telling the stories of people being able/unable to change their habits is just as important as the habit change guide itself. They provide readers with not only the knowledge, but also the motivation to actually take up to the challenge of transforming their habits. This also means that the book is a very slow read, though (that's why I gave it 1 less star). I myself needed 2 months to get to the end of this book, but that's partly because I haven't had a good grasp of what this book really is. I'm not that good at remembering stories, but it seems that the author did a really good job at delivering his tales of successes and failures at habit-building given that I can remember every single story very well now.

If you want to change yourself but don't know how, then this book will offer you many glimpses of enlightenment and the much-needed push to do so.