I stayed home last Sunday instead going to the weekly food tripping. So, I took the opportunity to “fix” my library. Actually, it is not a library per se but a collection of books that I bought over years since senior high school. Lately, since the formal end of my MBA studies in 2002, I started purchasing books, mostly business books estimated to the tune of more than P50 thousand pesos. And these books are piled up in my table and bedroom floor. Couple of times, my mom wanted me to donate or sell the books but I couldn’t part with my precious and so I decided to drag myself to arrange it. Boy oh boy! What an arduous task it has been. Sorting and arranging the books at the bookshelves, which are located at overhead of my table and consist of 2 levels with 2 smaller side shelves and all the while reminiscing about what the books are about. All in all including my college and MBA thesis papers, my collection amounted to 234 volumes! These don’t include books that are somehow “missing”. I didn’t read all the books in my collection yet and there are some I didn’t even finished reading at all but I did read most of them. Of the total, my and my brother’s engineering books accounted for less than 60 books. The rest are grouped into science fiction, history, general management, marketing, operations management, statistics, accounting, finance, investing, strategic management, philosophy, literature, business biography, organization and leadership, and general interest books. These books are written either in English or in Chinese language. At the top of my book list is the 280 pages business plan that I successfully defended lately followed by my 150 pages college thesis on thermogravimetric analysis of Philippine woods. The thickest book in my collection is none other the 3000 pages (?) of Perry’s Chemical Engineer’s Handbook. Actually, it is too big, too thick, and too heavy for a “hand” book but nevertheless I owed Perry (who ever he is) a great deal since I relied on his handbook heavily during my board examination (in which I manage to place 10th overall). The next thickest books in my collection are the historical annals of both the Eastern and Western Han dynasty. These books are written some 2000 years ago and are considered among the 24 Chinese historical classics. Included among my history book collections is Edward Gibbon’s monumental history classic, “The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire”. I bought this book during my senior high school years not knowing that it is a classic masterpiece. The book is not a monotonous narrative but rather it is written in prose form akin to a novel, which makes for an interesting read I would say. Also, Last year, I bought a book titled, “War, past, present, and future”, written by Jeremy Black. This book is about the analysis of war in anthropological, socio – cultural, and historical perspective. It is quite an interesting and informative book since it divorces wars from its political dimensions and as well as from the war technology, battle tactics, war strategy, and military leadership. I also own two books on Filipino – Chinese history in my collection list. They are “Chinese in the Philippine Economy” and “Overseas Chinese in ASEAN”. These books deal with Oversea Chinese in Southeast Asia particularly in the late 19th century until before WWII. It is very informative and it offered me an explain on a lot of things in the Filipino Chinese community as well as provided me a framework in analyzing present issues affecting the community and its eventual evolution. Of course, I definitely have a book on the general Chinese history. I bought the book from Hong Kong and it is first published in the early 20th century. Biographic stories of historical figures make up the rest of my history book collection. Compared to the serious analytical nature of my history book collections, my science fiction collections are more inspiring in the sense that it fueled my imagination since my collections are mostly made up of Start Trek novels, particularly the Dominion war series, Kahless, and The Fury series. Who wouldn’t be inspired to take up the challenge of “to boldly go where no man has gone before”? In tandem to the adventurous nature of my science fiction books are my literature collection, which consists of my college English books and the 4 - volume Chinese wuxia novel, “To Laugh at the World”, The 300 Poetries of Tang, and Selected Poetries of Tang and Sung Dynasty though I must admit that I didn’t finish reading the poetries. I also had Homer’s “Iliad” among my collection. I bought the book in senior high after I learned that it was Alexander the Great’s favorite book. The book forms the basis of the recent movie, “Troy” starring Brad Pitt. However, the book or the epic is the over exaggerated version of the movie with gods and mortals as the main characters. The book is generally boring especially in the middle part where Homer introduces in detail the names of the lords of the Mycenaean army and a brief history of each. The part I like most is the last part wherein Hector drove the Mycenaean army from the gates of Troy to the ships and how Patroculous with Achilles blessing, wore the latter’s armor (which is made by the god, Vulcan) and battle Hector, only to be slain later on and how Achilles avenge his friend’s death by killing Hector and drag his corpse around the city for 7 times. The book ends with the ransom of Hector by King Priam of Troy and his funeral. Quite dramatic and interestingly similar to Star Wars III or was it the other way around. My philosophy book collections consist of ethics book, a general introduction to western and oriental philosophies. One of my favorite ethic books is “Bioethics” written by Timbreza. It made me question my own ethical considerations in genetics and bioscience issues like cloning. However, my favorite book in the list is Richard Bach’s “Illusions”. The book is actually a college book report but I liked the book because it expounded the matrix like ideas (mind conquers everything or everything is in the mind, sounds Platonic) way before the Matrix came out. There is however, a book that I couldn’t get myself to finish reading after all these years because of the depth of its thought. Stephen Hawkings’ “A Brief History of Time” is actually an astrophysics book but the philosophy underlying the theory is so huge and rattling that I couldn’t sleep for a week (back in the early 1990’s) trying to comprehend the thoughts he expounded in the first 5 – 10 pages of the book. I’ll probably read it again if I’m mentally prepared for it. Sun Tsu’s Art of Warfare, the original Chinese version head the list of my general interest books. I read the book a couple of times already and I could memorize the first chapter. What can I say? Sun Tsu is a genius even if he lived 2500 years ago. Included in the lists are “The Cultural Traditions of Fookien” (which I haven’t read), which deals about the traditions of the Filipino Chinese native homeland, Fookien. I bought it because I wanted to understand the cultural genesis of my race. Then there is the “Genomics Age”, and “Food for All”, books dealing with the future of genetic manipulation and its effects on both food and human health. Unfortunately, I haven’t removed the wrappers yet. I also happen to buy way back in middle 1990’s, “The Art of Kissing” and the “Sex in a Minute”. Boy! I didn’t know that there are many ways to kiss and that there is in fact a science or an art to it. Wish I could get to try out some of the techniques other than French Kissing. Let me see there is the Lip – O – Suction kiss, the Wet Kiss, the Upside Down Kiss…… I also bought a time management book more than a decade ago but somehow, I can’t manage the time to read it! I also have a stress management manual but I’m either too stress to read it or that I’m not that stress enough to even bother with it. I also have a book on heart attack prevention, which I haven’t read about it and strangely, I couldn’t figure out why I bought it in the first place since I’m not planning to be a doctor and the obvious solution to preventing a heart attack is eat less and work out more. Maybe, I will donate that book later on. Another book in my general interest collections is “Understanding Body Language”. I bought the book because I’m impressed and amazed with my professor’s ability to “know” a person in just 5 minutes of meeting the person. Apparently, he could “read” a person. Well, I could never do what he does but I did learn something from the book. It is about eye contact and how to read a person using his eye movement. According to the book, eyes don’t lie. Eyes move in a certain direction when it is accessing memory or fact or emotion. If a person is telling a supposed fact but his eye is not in the proper direction, chances are the person is lying. Related to this book is another book that I had but that I couldn’t find, the “48 Laws of Power”. The book is quite popular a few years back. In fact, senator Maceda wrote a newspaper column regarding it. I never get to finish that book as I only read up to the third law and I actually forgotten all about it already. I wish I could find the book and read it. Rounding up my general interest books is my tea book, “Healthy Teas”. I bought this book because I’m interested with the therapeutic properties of teas. But to my amazement, I found out there are actually a great many varieties of teas even though I already knew some of it. In addition to that the author even describe the characteristics of each variety in terms of color and taste and he also provided several tea recipes. In my study of tea, I went to the point of actually sampling the teas and try to correlate with what the author says about it. I already tried Chamomile teas from the local coffee shop, the traditional Chrysanthemum teas, the Oolong tea, the Tiequanying tea, the Japanese Hojicha and another Japanese tea. Right now, I’m trying to sample Earl Grey. Hmmm, maybe its about time I visited the local coffee shop for one. (to be continued…)
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