It all began some time circa 1994 when somehow I started to read again since I graduated in July, 1976.Previously, I was too busy with my career.It's better late than never.I love the books and bookshops especially the ones with cafes inside,and enjoy the company of fellow bookworms..but not silverfish that eat my books;-)
Monday, July 10, 2006
Thursday, June 08, 2006
The damaged spine
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Latest photo of my bookshelf
April and May books
1.The World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman
2.The Travellers by John Twelve Hawks
Comments: Initially, the books were interesting but they drag along...I am struggling to finish reading them.
So far,in May 2006 I bought two books:
1.Blink
2.Operation Red Jericho
No comments on the above yet.
Operation Red Jericho
At The Borders
These are the moments that I enjoy when my kids are still with me....soon,he has to start working and having a family of his own.Just like I did almost 30 years ago.
That is life...I can't eat the cake and still have it.Both of us share a chees cake;-)
Thursday, March 09, 2006
The Wedding-Continue from Notebook
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Continue reading...
I hope to read it this month.
Monday, February 27, 2006
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Bookcrossers Meeting-Feb.,2006
There are 10 more months to go, but during Ramadhan,I will be reading only Quran.That will leave me only 9 months. This year, I must restrain myself from impluse buying of books. I need a plan.
I hope to learn from fellow booklovers on what books to buy this year.
Friday, January 13, 2006
Saturday, January 07, 2006
Reading backlog:-(

Oh my God! To my consternation,I have discovered that there are at least a dozen books I bought last year and probably also the year below that I have not read.It conclude one thing that My rate of buying far exceeded my rate of reading.
To set the momentum for the new year,I have finished reading False Impressions by Jeffrey Archer and now I am reading The Curious Incident of The Dog by Mark Haddon.
For the record,here is a list (not exhaustive) of the books bought but NOT read last year:-
1.Gentlemen and Players
2.Who Run This Place
3.The Rule of Four
4.Cairo Triology
5.Six Stories by Douglas Adam
6.Blind Assasin
7.MindGames
8.International Jew
9.Execution
10.Federal Express
11.leading Change
12.Mac OSX
13.Egypt-Myths and Legends
14.Atlas of the Quran
15.The messengers and The Messages
16.Explaination of Important Lessons
17The Quranic Way
18.Simplicity
19.Legends-Collection of short Novels by famous writers
20.becoming Effective Leader
With the above list,I don't need to buy any books for this year.As all book lovers will do, they will keep on buying new books when they see ones they like.
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
PM Books
PM is a discipline where the real test of the pudding is in the eating.One has to get involved or engaged in order to get real understanding and subsequently the knowledge. According to my guru,I have only discovered the philosphy and the path to the world of knowledge in project management.
Recently,he recommended a book for me to read:
Title: Project Management-A systems approach to planning,Scheduling and Controlling.
Author: Dr Haorld Kerzner
Sunday, October 30, 2005
Oct 2005 update
For the last six months,my reading is half my normal rate a book a month.However my rate of buying books remains active-about a book month. Now,I have at least six books I bought but I have not read.
By the way, the last book I bought is Gentlemen & Players and the lastest book I read is The Brokers by John Grisham.
Saturday, August 06, 2005
FedEx Delivers
Saturday, July 16, 2005
HP and Half-Blood Prince
Now, I am reading Execution and just started reading The Zahir by Paulo Caelho.
Friday, June 17, 2005
Saturday, April 02, 2005
Red Herrings and White Elephants
First, let me thank Kura-Kura for his kindness in giving me the book entitled Red Herrings and White Elephants.You can read his posting here. This is not the first time.I look forward to a few more;-)
I cannot comment yet on the book because I have not finished reading it yet,but I want to say something about giving books to friends, relatives and business associates. Personally, I also do buy and give away books. And a few friends also give me books as present. Thank to you all.By the way, there is a group of Malaysian Bookcrossers who are active in giving away books.
The act of giving away something to someone is very satisfying.The feeling is yours and yours only.I honestly donot know how to put it in writing due to the limitation of my ability to properly describe the feelings.But it is a great feeling if you took the trouble to look for the book and bought it to give away.Some books can change people lives...
It was fascinating to read Kura-Kura's Freedom from Temptation.I was amused how he managed to control his temptation successfully.Congratulation!
All of us are created with built-in desires or nafs.As we pass though this life, so many things attract our attention and seduce our desires.Some are good and some are not good for us.We have to make that choice. I have read of one sufi guru who refused to visit shops in order to avoid the feeling to buy and have unnecessary things.His main concern is to protect his heart from worldly desires.
There is a BIG gap between what we desire and what we need.As Mahatma Ghandi said: "This is world is enough for everyone's need but not for everyone's greed."
To Kura-Kura,terima kasih.
PS: A few years back, I have set up a mailinglist for booklovers here.You are welcome to join the community about reading ,books and bookshops.-from my blog The Reader
Friday, February 11, 2005
No novels in January,2005
As time is limited,I must priotise my reading in the following manner:
1.Religous books
2.Management books
3.Novels
Tuesday, December 07, 2004
Rani Manicka
While browsing the bookshelves at MPH, I also bought Little Black Book of Stories by A.S. Byatt and The Book That Changed My Life ,edited by Diane Osen.
During the month of Ramadhan, I did not read any books other than Quran.Now, it is time to diversify to books written by fellow human beings.
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
The Five People You Meet in Heaven
My rating for :Are you afraid of the Dark by Sheldon is 3/5. Dan Brown's thrillers are much better.
Wednesday, October 06, 2004
Sidney Sheldon
1.Are you afraidd of The Dark? by Sidney Sheldon
and
2.Speed reading secrets by Steven Franks.
Wednesday, September 15, 2004
Small is Beautiful
Below is a review on Small is beautiful taken from amazon.com:
Not Only Beautiful, But Also Practical, December 19, 2003
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Schumacher makes economics come alive with wit, humor, and practicality. His approach is qualitative, not quantitative. A recurring statement throughout the book epitomizes his philosophy, "Why use the computer if you can make the calculation on the back of an envelope"? He gives the science a personality when identifying the disparities between the rich and poor, the educated and uneducated, and the gap between city people and country-folk.
Small is Beautiful created a humanistic economics movement. It's a wholistic approach containing ethical, ecological, and metaphysical components that are missing from the statistical models that solely measure GNP. Schumacher sounded the alarm regarding globalization when asking "how much further 'growth' will be possible, since infinate growth in a finite environment is an obvious impossibility". He was critical of a society that generates unbounded materialism, and motivated by greed and envy.
Some of the more interesting of the 20 essays are: "Peace and Permanence", "The Role of Economics", "Buddhist Economics", "The Greatest Resource - Education", "Technology with a Human Face", "Development of Intermediate Technology", and "Two Million Villages".
Although the book was written in 1973, it is as timely now as it was then. The 25th anniversary edition contains provocative updates provided as sidebars by contributors such as Hazel Henderson, Peter Warshall, Amory Lovins, Godric Bader, et al. --This text refers to the Paperback edition
Monday, September 13, 2004
Firewall
Saturday, September 04, 2004
1511 H[KOMBAT]
I asked Ibnu Ariff to recommmed a good novel and he brought me one corner near the cashier dedicated to Sastera. He recommend two books by Faisal Tehrani( whom I know personally),and I decided to buy 1511H.
Btw,last night I got a call from the editor of a newspapers offering me to be a weekly columnist for book reviews. I replied to him that I agree in principle subjected to my time and capability.
Monday, August 16, 2004
Kitchen-by Yoshimoto
Tuesday, August 10, 2004
EXECUTION
To-day, I bought a copy for myself.
The book was written by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan with Charles Burck.
Saturday, July 24, 2004
Al-Ubudiyyah by Ibn Taymiyah
Thursday, July 22, 2004
HOW TO ACHIEVE HAPPINESS
Tuesday, July 20, 2004
The Rule of Four
Monday, July 12, 2004
Who runs this place?
To-day, I just read the Preface so I could not give any comments,but it provokes my mind Who Runs Malaysia?
Saturday, July 10, 2004
Hadith 40 etc
I t promised to finish reading it last year but keep on delaying....
In fact, it is not the only one; the Tafsir by Ibn Kathir and other 10 ten books are sitting on my coffee table. They are all ever ready to be read by me...
But one thing I wish not to neglect is reading at least one 'ain of Qur'an everyday.
Saturday, July 03, 2004
The Gods of Management
Tuesday, June 22, 2004
Watchman
Sunday, June 13, 2004
Tuesday, June 01, 2004
Almost French
Friday, May 28, 2004
21 Laws of Leadership
To increase my knowledge, to-day I bought another book called 21 Irrefutable Laws of leadership by James L Garlow.
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
Wednesday, May 19, 2004
Can elephants dance?
Tuesday, May 18, 2004
Saturday, May 15, 2004
Books On Business
during the last six months, I have been buying a few management books in order to learn new scope of business as well as to update my knowledge on the subjects that I already know. Below is the list books:
1.Management Consultancy ISBN 0-7494-3653-0
2.Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? ISBN 0-00-717087-4
3.Trout On Strategy ISBN 0-07-143794-0
4.Leading Change ISBN 0-87584-747-1
5.The Little Book of Business Wisdom ISBN 0-471-36979-9
6.The Portable MBA in Project Management-0-47-26899-2
7.Giving Presentation ISBN 0--19-860681-8
I began readin book no 5 and to finish all the above by end of 2004.
Thursday, May 13, 2004
Friday, August 08, 2003
Monday, July 28, 2003
Sunday, July 13, 2003
Saturday, July 05, 2003
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 -----
Saturday, June 21, 2003
Friday, June 20, 2003
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.
Monday, June 09, 2003
Friday, June 06, 2003
Friday, May 23, 2003
Wednesday, May 21, 2003
Monday, May 19, 2003
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.
Sunday, May 18, 2003
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.
Wednesday, May 14, 2003
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.
Sunday, May 11, 2003
Monday, May 05, 2003
Saturday, May 03, 2003
Friday, May 02, 2003
I like it because I believe story telling is a powerful medium to deliver a message- be it moral or management ideas or lessons.
Sunday, April 27, 2003
Wednesday, April 02, 2003
Monday, March 31, 2003
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!
Friday, March 28, 2003
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.
Thursday, March 27, 2003
Thursday, March 13, 2003
Sunday, March 09, 2003
Friday, March 07, 2003
Monday, March 03, 2003
Thursday, February 27, 2003
Wednesday, February 26, 2003
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
Monday, December 30, 2002
Thursday, December 26, 2002
Tuesday, December 10, 2002
Sunday, December 08, 2002
Saturday, November 30, 2002
I love free trip....anyway, we went there not for our personal gains.
Books bought:
1-Summons- John Grisham( my favourite author)
2-Teams and Teams Building-Phil Baguley
And was given a book for free entitled Solstice by David Hewson.
No more buying books this year for me.
I hope not to buy any more books this year.
Thursday, November 21, 2002
To-day, I have gone 'hungry' on books. Bought four books at Kinokuniya:
1.The Balanced Scorecard
2.Six Sigma
3.Life of Pi
4.Everything's Eventual.
That should enough for the rest of the year 2002.
Friday, October 11, 2002
Thursday, October 10, 2002
Wednesday, October 02, 2002
Sunday, September 15, 2002
Saturday, September 14, 2002
Friday, September 06, 2002
Tuesday, September 03, 2002
Thursday, August 29, 2002
Next two months, I will be reading Project Management books and notes in preparation for my prgofessional exam PMP.
Monday, August 26, 2002
Friday, August 23, 2002
Wednesday, August 21, 2002
Monday, August 19, 2002
Sunday, August 18, 2002
Thursday, August 15, 2002
Tuesday, August 13, 2002
Wednesday, August 07, 2002
Dear friends/sdara,
I am planning to launch a book project. The risk of failure is quite high but I am willing to take the risk. This idea comes from a similar project launched by the people at : http://www.bookcrossing.org It is about promoting the culture of reading. Considering our Malaysian habit, the chance of its success is low. The original idea was to get a few books and leave them at public places for people to take and read and
THEN they pass on to their friends and so on. My modified model of the project is to get a few books and give out to a few friends to read. After the readers read the books, they will check into my website:
http://www.communityzero.com/bookcafe ( an online forum and bulletin board) and post their comments there. After that the readers will identify the next potential readers to read the book and repeat the same
process again. The project can fail in many ways: the potential readers don't read the books or they don't pass the books after reading them. My only monitoring system is through their feedback at the mentioned
website.If they don't give feedback,then I am lost...
For the moment, I am going solo on this project. If it works, then I will extend invitationS to all of you to donate books for the project. In the event anyone of you dare to take the risk to join me in this project,you are
most welcome !
I intend to launch this project at my Palmx Annual Dinner ON 24TH aUGUST,2002 with at least five books.The next five will be at SDARA Egroup Annual Dinner - making it ten books for this year as a trial.
May I have your suggestions on the books that I should buy and distribute for free.Please give as many suggestionS as possible.