Tag Archives: books

Completed the reading challenge!

I thought starting a full-time job should have been a significant hurdle to my hobby: reading books. Little did I know, I actually managed to surpass my 2016 reading challenge by two books. 

To add to that, I also read two non-fiction books, written in gripping fashion by the one and only, Ms. Agatha Christie. And Then There Were None was especially exceptional—the story was too captivating, and it was a non-stopper. 

Here are the books that I’ve managed to read this year:

  1. Dale Carnegie, Public Speaking for Success
  2. Ed Mickolus and Joseph Brannan, Coaching Winning Model United Nations Teams
  3. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
  4. Roger Dawson, Secrets of Power Negotiating
  5. Peter Navarro, Crouching Tiger: What China’s Militarism Means for the World
  6. Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs—This was actually my second reading; I read the wonderful biography first in 2011, starting on the day it was published
  7. Michael D. Barr, The Ruling Elite of Singapore: Networks of Power and Influence
  8. Davis Shambaugh, China’s Future
  9. Avi Shlaim, The Iron Wall—Definitely one of my most favorite readings for 2016, the book was quite thick (almost 900 pages I think), and it opened a whole new horizon in understanding the Israel-Palestinian conflict
  10. Scott Berkun, Confessions of a Public Speaker
  11. Dale Carnegie Training, Stand Up and Deliver
  12. Raj Raghunathan, If You’re So Smaer, Why Aren’t You Happy?
  13. Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, Think Like a Freak
  14. Kurt M. Campbell, The Pivot: The Future of American Statecraft in Asia
  15. Agatha Christie, And Then There Were None—One of the best ever fiction works I’ve ever read in my lifetime
  16. Agatha Christie, The ABC Murders
  17. John McBeth, The Loner: President Yudhoyono’s Decade of Trial and Indecision—Also one of the best books I’ve read under the politics/biographies genre, and it was eye-opening

If you are reading this post, I do encourage you to read more. Reading books helps me to balance my sanity with the business of work. You may think reading non-fiction works burdening—sometimes it is. However, the new insights and understanding that you earn afterwards do make the activity worthwhile. 

Library Tour: Freedom Institute Public Library

Indonesia’s capital city, Jakarta, is not known for its libraries. Compared to New York (the NY Public Library) or Washington, D.C. (Library of Congress), the city that is about as populated as the Big Apple has no well-known library. Of course, there is the national central library. Yet instead, this post will take you to a smaller library only about a kilometer behind that huge library.

Tucked behind trees, and located just across the very place where Indonesia’s independence was proclaimed on August 17, 1945, Freedom Institute Public Library is a tiny oasis in the middle of this bustling metropolis. Tough enough to find a good library, Freedom Institute couples its collection of books with a nice place to write, to find inspiration, or even to (at least try to) find a little quite time in the midst of the noisy Big Durian. Continue reading “Library Tour: Freedom Institute Public Library”