Find Book Lovers to Find Good Books

GoodReads sends me a weekly email with the aggregated updates of my 100 friends: reviews, new books added to their to-read shelves, scathing reviews, glowing reviews, generous ratings and grumpy status updates. It’s a gold mine. If an interesting title or cover catches me eye, I click to find out more, I check the Amazon reviews, I find out a bit about the author, I find extracts online and see if it really interests me. I trawl Amazon listmania to see which lists the book is on.

Over time, I’ve made a mental shortlist of GoodReads friends who have good taste and I keep a keen, greedy eye on their bookshelves. Some deserve a shout-out:

• Marcus – The Man with the Golden Bookshelf
• Trevor – One of the most prolific reviewers on GoodReads – High quality reviews.
• Narain Jashanmal – GM of a leading chain of bookstores in the UAE – ’nuff said.
• Aedan – a prolific reader, friend and former colleague.
• Iain – a prolific reader, friend and former colleague.
• Shaahima – friend and bibliophile (aren’t we all?)
• Guy Gonzalez – a poet who works in the publishing industry.
• Frederick – I’ve no idea who he is but he has good taste in books!

I also started an experimental group on Facebook called Book Lovas, which has 30 members at the moment, some of whom are casual book lovers while some are hard-core book-lusty bibliophiles. I also discover interesting books recommended on various blogs that turn up in my RSS feeds.

The quality of a network is dependent on the quality of the people in it, and I’m happy to say I’ve some great people in my network.

Join “Book Lovas” on Facebook or add me on GoodReads.

• John Boyd
• The OODA Loop

Please follow the topics to be notified when someone asks a question. Thank you.

Here’s a list of cool Quora threads:

Business

• What are some sites that are similar to mixergy.com with interviews of successful business leaders?
• What are some blogs a new startup should send press releases to?
• What is the most effective way to get the word out about a new product?

Coolness

• Did you know that Nokia started out making rubber boots, Sony made rice cookers, and Lamborghini made tractors? What’s the best pivot in business you’ve ever heard?
• Michael Wolfe’s awesome answer to a question about Dropbox vs Windows Live Sync.
• What is the funniest answer on Quora?
• Cool category for bookworms! Book Recommendations

Follow me on Quora.

I have learnt much – and no doubt still have much to learn. It’s not difficult to list the lessons I’ve learnt but as a poet once wrote, “I want instead to see if you yourself will pass this way.”

However, I will share the single most important thing I learnt over and over again in a thousand different ways:

Fear Nothing.

The natural progression from this lesson is obvious. Happy New Decade, and much power to you.

So here’s my contribution to the meme, in response to Cameron Schaefer’s post. Although my to-read list kept getting larger, I didn’t read this year as much as I did last year. But I did read a lot more fiction.

1. We Are Now Beginning Our Descent by James Meek

I stumbled across James Meek at the Emirates Literature Festival in March 2010. He had some great insights on the writer’s craft, emphasizing especially how important it was for a writer to read good writers. In person, he wished me luck in writing the great “Emirati” novel. I didn’t have the heart to explain I was an expatriate

The People’s Act of Love by James Meek is probably the greatest Russian novel written by a Scotsman. It is an original story about a Czech regiment stuck in Siberia, a town with no children, and an escaped convict on the run from a cannibalistic fellow-convict. I can’t wait to see how it’s adapted for the screen, and how Johnny Depp fares

For this slot, however, I’ll go with Meek’s next novel, We Are Now Beginning Our Descent, which although less polished than TPAOL, bursts with beautiful writing. It is the story of a foreign correspondent’s unusual love affair, which moves between Afghanistan and the West. It will make you laugh, it will make you sad, it will even irritate you, but I loved it. Read my goodreads review of this book. Oh, and this book is heading for the screen, too.

2. Inside the Kingdom: Kings, Clerics, Modernists, Terrorists, and the Struggle for Saudi Arabia

Yes, you can live in the middle-east and grow blind and numb to it because you take it for granted. Or, you don’t take interest in it because you don’t like it. Either way, I live in the nearby (very-different) Emirates but never really bothered to acquaint myself with Saudi Arabia. But wow, Robert Lacey’s book lifts the veil from an opaque society, chronicling the ideological, political and cultural progress of Saudi Arabia since the 1970s. Highly recommended.

3. Bounce by Matthew Syed

Talent is a myth. I’ve learnt this in 10 different ways this year, hard and easy. Former British Table-Tennis champion Matthew Syed’s Bounce may be the most fierce and passionate demolition of the Talent Myth. The author acknowledges his debt to Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, and for the first chapter Bounce does feel like a second Outliers. But then, Syed changes gears and dives into detailed explanations of how sportsmen achieve success in a world deluded by “Talent”. His assertions are backed by scientific proof, if you can call Psychology a science, that is. I love this book. It’s amazing how the illusion that talent exists (and even worse that we don’t have it) cripples us.

4. The Red and the Black by Stendhal

Stendhal, master of the narrative, displays his deep understanding of human nature with his tight, merciless story of Julien Sorel, probably the most fascinating anti-hero in modern literature. I was hooked. Read my goodreads review.

5. The Machiavellian Enterprise: A Commentary on the Prince

What was Machiavelli, that misunderstood man, upto? What was he really saying in The Prince? Why does he contradict himself so often? What does he really mean? Who is his primary enemy? This is Leo Paul De Alvarez’s scholarly (but never boring) chapter-by-chapter analysis of The Prince. Patiently, the author analyzes Machiavelli’s every assertion, reaching a most interesting conclusion. You cannot appreciate how bold The Prince is until you understand who he was targeting, and what The Prince really is (as opposed to an education for a Prince). I cannot say more – greatness cannot be simplified.

6. Young Stalin by Simon Sebag Montefiore

This is a fresh look at  Stalin in his younger days, based on new material excavated from Russian archives. From Student to Poet to Bank Robber to Revolutionary to Stalin. A chilling look at what ideology can do to a man – for the worse, in this case, but it also shows how Stalin develops the skills that he later used to rule Russia with an iron fist.

7. What Every BODY is Saying by Joe Navarro

Your body’s talking, all the time. Do you know what it’s saying? Written by a former FBI agent. Very readable and a quick read. I’ll be watching you.

8. The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin

A personal chronicle of his journey from chess prodigy to Tai Chi Master. It’s much more than that. Waitzkin first describes how he learnt chess, how he failed to deal with the resulting fame and why, and how he evolved into a martial arts practitioner (Tai Chi Pushing Hands). I think the book is mistitled; Waitzkin is not offering a formula but his reflections on how he has achieved, and continues to achieve, mental evolution. Moving on from Pushing Hands, he is currently training in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu.

9 Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John Le Carre

Control has four suspects. One of them is a double-agent who has infiltrated the Circus (the British Secret Service). Who is the culprit? An intricately plotted novel based on an elegant premise. George Smiley battles it out with his Russian counterpart, Karla. I choose this over The Spy Who Came In From the Cold simply because this book has more pages and so the excitement lasted longer. The other book was just as awesome! Oh, and these are my first Le Carre books. I now regret how I wasted my early youth on Robert Ludlum

10. Duma Key by Stephen King

Yes, yes, I deserve to be whipped for ignoring Stephen King for so long. *cringe* My first Stephen King read *end cringe*. This was a highly enjoyable read – the kind you just can’t stop reading. A great writer can glue you to a book. Salute, Stephen King!

Thanks for reading. Feel free to connect with me on goodreads.

The latest Google eBooks are not available for sale in your location, yet…

Google is working with publishers around the world to let you buy the latest ebooks from top authors. In the meantime, you can still browse millions of free and public domain Google eBooks and read them effortlessly across your devices.

Not happy. Sure, I can read free or out-of-copyright books, but what’s new about that?

So, dear Google, how many years do I have to wait for the ebookstore to be launched in the United Arab Emirates?

Yb rnnioigg eht deen orf ndutoeaci ni oiesimedprvh apcles, ew rea mdiennnogc a lodeaiscebnr ocatfnir fo hte wlrdo’s patpnluioo ot rasdknes. Arw, oashc, mtrsmixee rvhiste steb ni cuhs vnesnrminteo hreew heret si a tcuaiyp fo tdanceiuo. Rsiema oldush ntveis ni eth snocutoircnt fo ocsoshl & stpohasil ni uepccdio stuoinecr – isht si lpaoyrbb teh tebs gonl-ermt nstouloi rof osmteirrr. Tlpan edess os hatt noe dya heter era lersfow, nto ocecnai.

Eht etsb cyhitra ew cna apmrti ot hte ydeen si ot tuadcee htme.

Having trouble reading this? Now you know what it is like for the 776 million people who can’t. Visit www.hope140.org to learn more.

From a customer perspective, this ban is highly inconvenient. From a governance perspective, it makes sense.

The Unspoken

The government’s concern is security. Their presentation of this issue could have been better but their core concern is valid. That is, their unspoken fear of a scenario in which a group of terrorists use a secure foreign network to launch attacks. Whether the probability of this is high or not, I cannot judge – I’m sure the UAE government, which has done a great job of securing us so far, can decide for me.

From the customer’s perspective, this is not just an inconvenience, it is an affront to freedom of speech… oh wait, there isn’t any! Sure, there is a theoretical possibility that monitoring of emails, phone calls and messages can be abused, but this is a question of trust between the customer and the government. Does the customer trust the government to not abuse its power? Does the government trust customers to not misuse their freedom? What “contract” do the two parties have?

Wait a minute, there’s a third player. RIM, a foreign organization! How can I entrust my data to RIM but not the UAE government? Do I have greater trust in the laws of Canada, a country that I have never been to? Or does RIM provide a contract that the UAE government doesn’t?

The Solution

The logical solution here is:

• for the UAE Government to provide assurance that the customer’s privacy will be safe-guarded. Let them become our guardians and not someone we must fear.
• for the UAE Government to reach an understanding with RIM as to what the data will be used for. There is clear rationale for monitoring and RIM cannot ignore it.

There is also a greater issue of privacy, freedom and rights,  which is really another topic. But is it really surprising that a minority wishes to police its own country by all means possible? The few implicitly fear the many, unless they have power over the latter. And no one likes to live in fear in their own country.

Here are some of my sources for great recommendations:

• The prolific Zenpundit’s Recommended Reading posts.
• The “Addtional Reading” section on Steven Pressfield’s website.
• Seed Magazine always has interesting books to recommend.
• GoodReads – a social network for readers. I’ve tried several others, but I’ve settled with GoodReads.
• Various blogs that I follow – too many of those to list, but there’s always the odd gem there.

Your turn – your recommendations please!

The session in question was one by Jamil Qureshi, a sports psychologist & author of The Mind Coach. He had been billed as a hypnotist, a magician, a former cricketer and a practitioner of performance-enhancing psychology – intriguing enough for me to attend!

He began with insights about success, failure and change – concepts adequately and eloquently covered in his book, before proceeding to this fascinating anecdote about the Rogue Monkey.

The Experiment

So a group of researchers conduct an experiment. They place 3 steps inside a cage. The 2nd step is hooked up to an electric shock, the 3rd step has a bunch of bananas, and there is also a cold shower overhead. A monkey is introduced into the cage.

The monkey sees the bananas and thinks, “Bananas!”. He jumps onto step 1, jumps onto step 2, gets a shock and before he has recovered he is showered with cold water. No bananas for him!

A second monkey is then introduced into the cage. “Bananas!” he thinks. But he is blocked by Monkey #1, who bites, kicks and scratches this monkey into submission.

Monkey #3 is introduced into the cage and makes his way for the bananas, but this time, both Monkey #1 & #2 bite, kick and scratch him until he gets the message. Note how Monkey #2 who has not directly experienced the shock or the shower is equally violent as Monkey #1!

More monkeys are introduced into the cage, all of them bitten, kicked and scratched by the preceding monkeys. Meanwhile, unknown to the monkeys, researchers quietly switch off the shock and the shower.

And then, one more monkey is added to the melee. This particular monkey is also scratched, bitten and kicked, but he does not submit. This monkey jumps onto step 1, jumps onto step 2, jumps onto step 3 – and claims the bananas. He is the Rogue Monkey.

The researchers then concluded that 1 out of every 53 monkeys is a rogue monkey. Qureshi closed on that note, challenging us to understand the meaning of the story ourselves.

What have you understood?