Bought a book entitled Kaum-Kaum Yang Putus by Harun Yahya and Noghts in Rodanthe by Nicholas Sparks.

Both my wife and me love reading love stories by Nicholas Sparks....

It appears that this year alone I have bought about five books on project management.The latest acquisition is The Portable MBA in Project Management by Eric Verzuh. Thee books,I hope, will enhance my knowledge in PM.

Bought another book on PM as a collection. It is entitled PM by Phil Baguley.

I just completed reading The Age of Unreason. It is fore meaningful foe people aroung my age i.e The Third Age for we can reflect better than the younger ones who have less life experience.

I agree with Charles Handy the author that to change we have to be unreasonable.

From: Mohd Adib Noh Date: Fri May 23, 2003 6:24:28 PM Asia/Singapore
To: Subject: [bookcafe] Getting someone to read..
Reply-To: bookcafe@yahoogroups.com

Hi, Most of us are reading a few books in a year but there are quite a number of our friends or relatives or classmates or office mates who never read a book in a year-some even 20 years! What do you think if we make it a personal project for everyone of us to get someone close to us who never read a book a year to start reading at least a book a year to start with? I think it would be a small contribution we all can do for someone who miss all the fun and the benefits of reading.It is good for the country as well... For your info, I have tried this idea and it worked. Below is the reply from a friend that I managed to convert from a non-reader( never read a book for the last 20 years after school) to start reading.I asked him how I did it to him and below is his reply:(After you do it,please report back to the bookcafe mailinglist).
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Dear Adib, Thank you for remembering me as the 'awakened' personality or shall I say I was your 'eureka' ! To be frank I never miss out any dailies but to read a book somebody have to literally put a gun at my temple.!! My wife is just the extreme. She will stay right up to midnight to finish the novel. much to my chagrin. I only can say that this is real mad to read until tears begin to drop (I literally saw her sobbing while holding a book) And no sooner than she bought a book she has to return to the same bookshop to buy another one because she finished reading the very book she bought a couple of days back. You know what make me read the book you loaned to me ? I think it is more of the aproach and the assurances that I will definitely find the book interesting not to mention that you keep my ego intact.. I remember your encouraging remarks like 'you will be talking to the author' The fact that you gave me your precious belonging make me feel that I must not waste the opportunity to explore the reason why there is such thing called 'book worm' AND the choice of book is very important to start an interest in reading. The book you lent me Jeffrey Archer - short stories suited me well as a beginner which made me bought another book of similar pattern by the same author.It made me realised that not only it will enrich one's thought but will also expand one's vission. AND later when my wife caught me reading at the hall alone till wee hours of the morning made me 'blushed' If you want to start similar project IMHO you just follow similar path that you have done to me i.e. 1. identify the person - one at a time (some one close to you) 2. give him a good start by giving him the right book - not necessarily you choice 3 monitor him (not to pressure but to hook him on) - the deadline you gave me to complete the book was cleverly executed (remember you extend the deadline once you realised that I was ON with my reading) 4. Be sincere with the person. Share his reservation his excitement and be encouraging. I gauged your sincerity when you gave me you own precious book to kickstart my habit and I was DAMN bloody scared if the book got lost or even mutilated 5. Remember, you are merely trying to share your interest with a person and the person is not obliged to follow you. 6. If you feel justify reward him (remeber you gave me a book as a present during my birthday kenduri ?) Lead by example A leader has a lot to show If it is your project, gentle and persuasive monitoring is required (cann't really remember your reference to a project except if you turn your eye away from it , it will turn naughty. Hey ! apart from that I have the ability to read :)- grin -----

Thanks Asmadi for the book present all the way from Lancaster,England. The book is entitled The Lake District- a place that I visited once during my student days in early 70's. I love to go hiking there again.

To-day is a special day for my son and me. It is a first for both of us
in queing up for a book. We never had this experience before.But this
is a special book-Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix. We arrived
at KLCC at 6.06am .I know the exact time because I was watching the
clock. After dropping my son at Isetan, he rushed to the Kinokuniya
Bookshop and I went to park my car. By the time I arrived at the
bookshop, my son was 300m away from the entrance. I approached the
girls who were the lucky few to get the books for free and asked them
what time did they come.They told me that it was about 5:30am! May be
these girls did not sleep at all last night. At about 8am, I took
myself to Asian Flavours for teh tarik and roti canai for a breakfast.
There were not many people round at this hour. So I took a book
entitled The Age of Unreason by Charles Handy to keep me company.While
savouring the crispy roti canai, I smiled to myself-happy that my son
is NOW A READER( albeit a JUNIOR READER,Peter.) .I am happy to note
that he was willing to stand for 2 hrs 40 minutes waiting to buy a
book! IMHO, reading is the gateway to knowledge and knowledge is
power.To-day is one of the milestones in my odyssey to inculcate the
culture of reading to my son. Thanks to Allah swt for opening my son's
mind and heart to reading. Btw, it also saved me about RM 30 from the
book list price.

--Adib,only read the first book.

And to-day, my guru in PM told me to buy another book by Charles Handy. It is entitled The Age of Unreason. I read the other two-The Empty Raid Coat and The Elephant and The Flea.

Thanks Michael for the present of a book on information. I love to receive books as presents .
Similarly, I also love to give books to others.

Believe me, what comes around ,goes around!

A few days ago ,I bought a book entitled The NEW Project Management by Prof Frame. The price is RM 127!

Below is my email to my bookcafe on getting a friend to read:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/berisman

On 18/5/03, I placed an order for Harry Potter and The order of the Phoenix.
This is the 5th book by JK Rowling.

I am now half way into a small book of 82 pages. The title is called Time in The Life of the Muslim by Dr Yusuf al-Qaradawi and published by Islamic Inc,Cairo.

I strongly recommend to all my fellow muslims to read this book. It is about time ;hence it is about life that many of us wasted away every second and yet we ask Allah to give us a longer life.

Isn't it a mockery to ask for more and yet we are throwing it away all the time?
Would you give money to someone whom you have given but keep it spending it wastefully?
You know the answer before you finish reading the question.

To-day I 'discovered' BIG Bookshop at Ampang Park,KL and found a few good hard covers books sold at deep discounted prices. These books are marked down because they are "oldies" as compared to new arrivals but they are still good. If my wife were to buy a book,then I know it is good value for money.

Last week I bought a magazine called Writers Digest. What motivated me to spend RM 30 for the magazine is about its special articles on writing. It tells about the lives of writers, and HOW TO GET INSPIRED, HOW TO GET INVOLVED AND HOW TO GET STARTED writing!
I love writing but I am not there yet.

Now, I am trying to get into the flow of writing...
My favourite author Nicholas Sparks advised: Read, Research and wRite!
-another 3R I have to abide by if I want to be writer. It is a long way to go for me ; but I know how to get there.

When I left my bookcafe meeting this afternoon,there were three persons including yours truly.I hoe to see more more attending the gahtering next time. Anyway, we discussed a few things and Tim will report later.

One project I suggest is to get another friend/office-mate/relative who never read a book a year to read a book this year.This is an interesting challenge.

My bookcafe egroup will be having our second gathering next Wednesday14/5/03. It is a public holiday due to Maulid Rasul( Prophet Muhamad's birthday). InsyaAllah, I will be there even though there are only two of us.

I look forward to see as many people as possible.

I am happy to note that my youngest son is reading novels. Thanks to the government efforts introducing English literature in schools and to his peers for telling my son that they read this and that book.

I am still struggling to inculcate the culture of reading to my other sons:-(

At night, I read management books, and in the morning I read religous books.

Now, I have problem when to read novels and the like?
May be after zuhur prayer just to make me easier to have after siesta;-)

I never buy any book that costs more than RM 200, but to-day I just did. It is actually for my new business as the " new flea" on the block. It contains the success stories of project leaders and managers. I hope to use some of the stories in my lectures or discourse.

I like it because I believe story telling is a powerful medium to deliver a message- be it moral or management ideas or lessons.

My thanks to TimKwan for moderating my bookcafe egroup.

Yesterday, I took my son to British Council Library. I like the setting,especially with the cafe' bar inside the library but I observe not many books to borrow:-(

Borrowed a colletion of short stories-Elementals by A.S Byatt.

Kunikoniya bookshop is promoting Literature this month. I have got three vouchers worth RM 30!
Now, what books I must buy?
Btw, I have at least ten more books that I bought but have yet to read!

Yesterday, I bought a book that I was looking for months. It will cost me around USD80 if I were to buy and fedex to KL from USA. But I was lucky to have to pay only RM 127 for the book at Kunikoniya. Lesson learnt: Just wait for a few months, then you can save a few hundreds bucks.if you can't wait, just buy-which I do many times!

It is entitled : Building Project Management Competency

Now, I have two PM books to read this month(April ,2003). Another one is Radical Project Management!

Yesterday,just finish browsing surah al-Rahman.
Now, I continue reading The Elephant and the Flea, but I broke my own rule never to read the last chapter before I even finish the book.
My friend who recommended the book told that the last chapter was very sad.I agree with him that it is very sad for mankind.

If you are reading this and wish to know,please do not ask me. Just go and read the book.

Just finish writing a speech for a senior government officer to deliver during the opening of a seminar conducted by my company.Wheww! I prefer to go jogging than writing speeches....

Now, let me do some reading on Tafsir Fizillil Quran.

Too busy with my xproject course that I have neglected my reading.

On the way to buy bread for my son to-day, I dropped by at Kunikoniya Bookshop and bought The Elephant and the Flea.

At KB airport last night, I bought a booklet on Tarikat and Tasauf. It is a short note on the meaning of tarikat. Many talk about it, but as always only a few really understand it. I am still reading to understand it...

Bought another book-The Mindgame by Yong May. She also wrote The Flame Tree. The book cost me RM 9.90!

To-date , I lent three books to my friends:
Al-Khushok(TSO)
Realities of Faith(DWO)
Speeches(MHH)

I hope they will read the books and reap benefits as much or better than I did.

Another interesting book that I forget is Speeches for An Inquiring Mind by Imtiaz Ahmad. InsyaAllah, I will reprint this book and distribute them for free.

When I was in Makkah and Madinah, I bought the following books:
1. The Right Way-by Ibn Taimiyah
2. Madinah -Kelebihan dan Sejarah by Abdul basit Ab Rahman
3. Shahih Qudsi Hadiths by Magdy Fathi El-Sayed
4. The Kaabah is the Centre of the World
5. Time in the Life of The Muslim-by Dr Yusuf al- Qaradawi
6. Al-Quran-The Miracle of the Miracles- by Ahmed Deedat
7. The Seekers of Truth
8 The Ideal Muslim-by Dr Muhamad ali al-Hashimi
9.Selected Quranic Verses
10.Don't be Sad-by al-Qarnee