Books in my life

Now that I am spending most of my cash on diving, I don’t really hang out that much so I read quite a lot of books this year. Being cashless has its own advantages :):):) Sometimes you might know a person by looking at the books she or he is reading, so here are the books I have read this year and I did not mention them yet on my blog. Just for you to know me better lah.

The Dilbert Principle - by Scott Adams
This book describes how is to work for DHL and for any other multinational company for that matter. The best management book I think and I am thinking of buying one for the whole team + senior management :).

The Fountainhead – by Ayn Rand
I got this book from Oana when she visited me in Singapore. I think it is a fantastic book and I got to read it exactly when I needed to reinforce some of my believes and values. This book helped a lot in that and in taking some decisions. Good timing Oana :):):) I can see myself in that book, not sure if that is good or bad though… This book is special because of other reasons as well, I met a nice Singaporean girl when I was reading it on the MRT coming back from KL. She left a promising but apparently phony career to take a more relevant job. Very inspiring (both the book and the girl).

Jonathan Livingston Seagull – by Richard Bach
If I want to be ironic, then I would describe this book as a combination of an AIESEC training and the messages from the Matrix Trilogy. But I won’t be ironic cause I got it from a nice girl, so I just say that it is a very very beautiful book. It is so nice that worth reading several times. It has a very interesting energy.

The end of poverty – Jeffrey D. Sachs
This book I have read quite a while ago, but I never mentioned on my blog, though it had a huge impact on my thinking. It is a very simple book about how to eradicate poverty. I think the dude is a genius and the book is absolutely fantastic. It is a must read for everybody who wants to change the world or want to work with governments or just want to know what is happening around the world and it is not shown in the news:)

Attila The Hun – John Man
Yes, actually there is a book like this :):):) If you have seen the movie (yes, there is a movie as well, I am quite famous huh?) then probably you have a bit of brushed picture of him, but this book seems to give a more realistic picture of who he was and what he had done. Though at some places I do not really agree with the author, maybe just because I am a HUNgarian :).

The Unbearable Lightness of Being – Milan Kundera
Another nice girl gave me this book quite a while ago (yeah, all the nice girls give me books) and I read it quite a while ago but I think I never managed to write about it. It explains a lot of things from my previous experiences, however not that sure if I agree with everything. But very good book, a good description of human psychology :):):)

Five men you meet in heaven – Mitch Albom
I found the concept and the message of the book very interesting. I mean it is tackling a subject that is concerning every one of us: getting along with our life and our past. But his style is not necessarily my favorite. Good book to read on the bus to work and back :):)

THE BUDDHA, GEOFF & ME - Edward Canfor-Dumas
Fantastic Book. Reading this book is like being on an AIESEC training :) It has a very good and relevant story and it is very well written. I got a lot of good energy from this book and I managed to learn a lot about Buddhism as well. I did not know much about this religion before and even though I live among Buddhist, I did not managed to learn much about their religion because I was fairly ignorant before.

Love in the time of cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Of course this book is about love :) Dah… But is a well written one. A good combination between realistic and romantic ideas and it describes the very different forms of love. So however wants to be an expert in love, needs to read it. :):):) It’s the kind of book that makes you reflect a lot about yourself and about the things written in it. It’s the kind of book that keeps coming back in your mind and you think of it fairly often even after you have read it.

So yeah, these are the ones that shaped me this year so far. Going diving again at the end of September, so will be able to read some other books as well.