Defining Moments In History

What a book ! What a thick book ! A book close to 800 pages, which reported the defining moments in history from year 1900 until beginning of 2007... What a collections of stories !!! Amazing ....

Well, in regards to huge collections like this... there is always a double edge sword. The pro part; well, we have a book that recorded almost everything. In opposite; since it needs to record everything, details and deep studies are quite minimal. Of course, there are always some advantages in reading a summary. Obviously, it saves us a lot of time. In long run, it is convenient for readers to refer back.... So, overall it is quite a good book to keep. The only setback perhaps is the minimal details as mentioned above... At the end, those we know remains as known but those unknown may still refer as unknown, LOL.

In fact, I ended up spending more time; as I need to google a bit on certain issues' background. As such, it took me really lots of time and I need to have determination and real effort to finish it. Thank god I did it and big thanks to the author as it surely benefits me along the way. Meanwhile, as for rating; I am going to rate this book at 7 out of the 10. 3 points being deducted as I am giving the said 3 points to Google, LOL. Overall, a nice collection for every history lover... At the price of RM 103.50, it seems to be a bit pricey.. but, do not neglect the fact that you are collecting histories from year 1900-2007 in a single book (although damn thick, LOL). So, worth it... LOL 

Soccernomics

Soccernomics? Wait a minute... Soccer or economics? Yes, it is the combination of both !!! Amazing, right?

The two combined topic good enough to convince me. In fact, over the years, I had been wondering why nobody combines sports with economics... After all, Arsene Wenger had already showed the whole England how important data analysis since his arrival in 1996.

In fact, it took me more than a week to read and re-read this book. Yes, I read twice. First attempt was to read the whole thing... second attempt was to revise a few interesting parts. Having said that, I really love this book.

Few interesting points from the perspective of football fan (in fact, kinda shock on certain details as I thought I know enough football, LOL):

1. The reluctance and resistant shown by the English to accept "tactical" stuff ~ proper tactical guidance were seen as laughing stock those days. Wow... now I can imagine how hard Wenger was when he arrived at highbury (1996).

2. Club's victory and long term successes is determined by the club efforts in providing a competitive salary cap. In other words, salaries to attract stars and salaries to hold on with existing stars are the main factor (92%) contributing to a club's long term glories. In opposite, transfers market (by buying and selling stars) merely contributed 16% to a club's long run glories. ~~~ Well, it answers my long doubt question... looks like Wenger's philosophy to sell a star each season is totally wrong !!! LOL.

3. The facts that even club like Chelsea and Real Madrid ignore the basic problem of a player ~ Adaptability. Anelka's issue at Bernabaeu is an open stories those days. (well, served him right !!! LOL). But, Drogba's stories at West London was a real shock to me !!!

4. The facts that BPL clubs are one of the worst businesses in the world... Yet, millionaires are putting their monies in...Are they really buying simply due to their passionate in football? LOL!

Author did a very sharp forecasting at the end... Both author suggest that future football glories lies with modern town (or perhaps capital) clubs with the reason that millionaires are more than willing to invest in clubs based in capital rather than those based in cowboy town. Well, it means that club in London, Paris, Moscow and etc.are going to attract huge monies sooner or later. Right now, Chelsea had just won their first Champions League trophy (forget about how they won it though...LOL)... and Paris Saint-Germain looks to be another Citeh in France league soon. So, they are right !!! Bingo !!!

As a conclusion, Soccernomics is a real nice book for the game's intelligentia. Both authors explain trends on and off the pitch that helps us to understand to a much greater extend. Although there could be concepts that you do not fully agree on (Still think Guss Hiddink is over-rated! LOL)... but we have to appreciate how they dig out statistics and how they presented the whole concepts in such an excellent book. I hope I have the time to re-read this book again. Having said that... I rated this book at 9/10. I know I am bias... but, football remains something passionate to me... just like how I remain passionate in my books as well as my life... Football forever !!!

The Science of Success: How Market-Based Management Built the World's Largest Private Company

Frankly, I hardly buy management books as I am not really keen to dig further into business management. The real fact is.. for the rest of my life, I may not have the opportunity to handle a big company, LOL. Moreover, I am pretty clear on my future directions. As such, management will perhaps never be my cup of tea for the rest of my life... LOL

So, what attracts me to this book? Well, I bought it for a simple reason ~~~ my curiosity to find out what the heck is MBM (Market Based Management), LOL. Overall, this is a nice book to read. For those who love management stuff, I think this is a good choice of book to read. As for those who are not so keen on management (like myself), think twice before u buy it, LOL. Shame to say that but I actually fall asleep few times while reading this, LOL. With due respect to the author and the inventor of MBM, I realized how creative the whole MBM is and I also appreciate the practical part of having MBM in today's business world. However, as I myself is not involved in the said industry, I merely took it as leisure reading at the end. At the end, I gain a lot... but, it surely did not help me to progress further...

As such, rating wise... Out of 10, I said 4 on my very personal part. In the future, I may read this book again whenever I feel I need it. But, at the moment, it will remains as one of those books in my shelf. For those who keen on management stuff.... go dig it and I believe you will digest something meaningful inside this book...

Hitler's Private Library: The Book That Shaped His Life

What a book ! What an amazing research by Timothy W. Ryback !!! The title of this excellent book is a bit misleading, since it contains a far richer tapestry of material than merely telling us what books Hitler owned and read... So, initially; it was quite boring when I flipped through few pages. Eventually... when I realized there are more than what I hoped for, I get hooked with the book for the past 48 hours...LOL.

He (Hitler) was of course a man known for burning books than collecting them... and yet according to the author's research, he owned an estimated 16,000 volumes by the time he died. If we judge a book by its cover, we should also judge the collector by his collections. In fact, this book is the reason (perhaps inspirations...) why I started my blog on my very personal private library. It came across my mind (the idea to blog it) when I first saw this book in Amazon... Moreover, it is easier to retrace what you read (and what you gain from reading it) from a tapestry of blog. After all, I do not dig through my book shelves that frequent, LOL...

So, this book basically covers the dictator's reading life from World War I to his suicide in 1945. One thing that keeps on pondered me while I digested the whole book is... how did this mighty fella found his time to read so many books??? As according to the author: "... his library grew incrementally... that year, his book collection was among the few notable possessions he recorded on his tax declaration... During the 1930s, Hitler's collection expanded dramatically...". Amazing !!! Take myself and this book as example... it was on my shelf since last year. Yet, now only I have time to sit down and get hooked by it. Yet, we are talking about the collections of books by one of the mighty fella in World War I... The more I think about this, the more I felt guilty about myself.... sigh!!! Want more evidence? Read on... "According to Kubizek, his (Hitler) passion for books have nothing to do with leisure or pleasure. It was deadly serious business..." ~~~ Wow !!!

48 hours to finish this book is consider fast... However, it also lies with the facts that I actually know zero on some of Hitler's collections. Since I do not know some of the books and facts as mentioned, I am not in the right position to rate this book. However, I personally love it as it opens up my mind on one of the mystery guy in World War I. In fact, I love to explore further on the twist and turn in regards to German history during World War I. But, since I am not Hitler and my reading habit has not reach the level of "deadly serious business", I am still stuck with half or semi-literate in this context, LOL. Having said that, this book certainly works as a good motivator for me... I need to speed up my learning process and I need to put extra efforts to make it a "deadly serious business" in the future...  Come on, Alex... you can do it !!! LOL... 

The Shortest History of Europe

The shortest history ~~~ Yes, indeed... this is the shortest Europe history book that I had ever read before. Short... yet, details enough as a quick read book. Credit must be given to the author ... creative, innovative and simply awesome !

John Hirst takes us on a fascinating journey through antiquity to the middle ages and beyond, bringing European civilisation to life in all its peculiarity and exuberance... He begins with a look at its basis in Greek and Roman learning, Judeo-Christian religion and a Germanic warrior culture. He explains how this unlikely alliance came about and how, over the centuries, it has contributed to the rise and fall of republics, kingdoms and empires. He discusses the hapless crusades and all-conquering longboats, foreign conquest and the origin of languages, as well as the arrival of such figures as the chivalrous knight, the belligerent pope and the enlightened citizen. In fact, the very first chapter already tells the whole story (What a summary! Thumbs up!). As such, this is why I am so attracted to his innovation in writing a history book. After all, history books are known to be boring... LOL

Overall, this was a great read... As such; rating wise, I am giving 10 out of 10 from the perspective of quick read. However, it is only suitable for those who are familiar with Europe history. After all, this is more like a summary. Hence, there is not enough details for those who want to explore further. Having said that, I will still recommend this book. It is short (The title tells the whole story ~~~ the shortest history! LOL)... so reading it would not take up very much time but it will give you a great pleasure and sufficient knowledge... I just like it...