New Books

I bought two nice books few days ago from BORDERS; the first one being Jared Diamond’s Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive, while the second one is Lance Armstrong: It’s Not About The Bike which is an autobiography of the cycling legend himself.

I read the review of the first book from a local newspaper in the wake of its inception into worldwide bookstores some years ago and put it on my wish list since. The author, for the record, is the one who wrote another international bestseller in Guns, Germs and Steel, a very important book which is said to have revolutionized the study of global human history. Well, as the title of this book that I bought suggests, it deals with mysterious falls of ancient civilizations and how we can basically learn from them as not to allow similar fate happening to the humankind in the future. Sounds boring? I admit that I was yawning through the first few pages of the introductory section, but it gets better and better though as the content goes deeper. Perhaps this is not kind of read for most of you guys- it was not my kind if you ask me few years back either- but I guess sometime we need to divert from stuffs that are already common, especially it triggers you forward. Pondering on this critique for the book makes me want to read through its pages more and more;

'Collapse is probably the most important book you’ll ever
read’- The Age

The second book, as mentioned earlier, is a life journal of Lance Armstrong, a seven-time our de France champion as of today. I have been sneaking a peek at this book for quite sometime before, the most notable one being at the bookrack of Kinokuniya during the time when I was still in Malaysia. I remember the reason I did not pick it for purchase was first, the price was somewhat mind-boggling, and second, even though sports icon biographies have always been my favourite, Lance’s life story is a fairly different case because he cycles. Deep down I still hope that someday I would read that book though. Anyway this book was published somewhere in the year 2000, during the time his Tour de France won were only accumulated to three albeit already legendary enough. I have to admit that I was hugely marvelled by this fellow, because the reason I was keen to read his story was solely based on his reputation as a true champion, but later only I discovered that he is also a cancer survivor, and is now an activist who set up his own foundation. Talk about a champion who never stops to inspire.

With these two much-anticipated books already in possession, expect not to see me shopping for new ones anytime soon. Nonetheless I am still browsing through Ebay time and again in search of a good bargain for Orwell’s 1984 anyway. I already have the online version however; the problem is I cannot see myself holding on in front of the notebook to read it. In the meantime I will try to finish up Collapse while gearing up for the new semester. Wait, that sounds like winter holiday is going to end soon. Oh, my.

Books Galore@UNSW

UNSW was having its annual bookfair, dubbed as one of the largest of its kind in Sydney which only ends today. I am not in the right frame of mood for any good books lately- no thanks to the huh-hahs of the hectic university life and the dreadful mid-sem test- but I still came back from the Roundhouse last Thursday with a box full of books anyway. And I was not about to finish yet; yesterday I went there again and bought two more to add to stacks of my collection. I choose the word collection, because from experience majority of them will be left intact for a long period of time. Stuffs that we bought and kept unscathed are called collection, am I right? I pity these books, and piles of their other companions that I left in Malaysia. They always cried out, telling me that they want to be read. But what can I do?

Anyway I did not find any book that is on my wishlist during the bookfair, (that is weird enough, because I still managed to come back with the box) so I decided to casually have a look and remain optimistic that I could find ones that by the least attract me, or whose author I recognize. Ultimately I settled for Catch Me If You Can by Frank W. Abagnale which I watched the movie chiefly because it is Spielberg's, The Family by Mario Puzo because I know he wrote the widely-renowned The Godfather series so my predict says this book must be good as well, Bad As I Wanna Be, the biography of NBA badboy Dennis Rodman which I have already read but I like the idea of having it as my collection anyway partly because the fact that it bears an enganging personal experience with Zahira, Lord of The Flies by William Golding which is not really my type of read but I saw NikNazmi recommends it on his page so I decided why not to give it a try, among them. Trying to seek for something serious but could not find any that really thrilled me, I nonchalantly picked a people's almanac and a fancy dictionary of dates, added to a couple of past years' editions of Reader's Digest which cost me only ten cent each and a few copies of NewScientist (which, again, is weird for me who have never had any interest in science). Thinking about the mistress 2000 miles away, I also spent sometime searching through the heaps of books and ended up buying five for her, which I hope she likes. In total, twelve books and a handful of magazines, costing me merely a little less than $30!

Now come the real problem; I need to endure their howling for being left safe and sound in the comfort of the bookrack for possibly the next few years.