Awakening: The Abdullah Badawi Years in Malaysia

Pak Lah... one of my "acceptable" leaders behind Tunku Abdul Rahman. In fact, they are the only two leaders who I think are good enough to lead Malaysia. Put aside the weak implementation, Pak Lah is as visionary as Tunku Abdul Rahman. If he was given enough time with better implementer, I believe Pak Lah will ends up as one of the most successful leader in Malaysia. However, there is no "if" in history. Hence, there is no point to discuss further on this.

On this book... interesting... Ok, I admit that I bought this book only when there was a half price offer in local Popular, LOL. Well, it does not mean that I do not like this book. I love it as I love any biography. But... I made a mistake here. I never know that this is actually not a pure biography. It is actually a collection of articles, edited by the author. I did not flip it in the first place. So, my mistake... LOL.

Ended up... I think I love this mistake. This book is actually a nice book. I love the editing way from the author. I think he focus on the "awakening" side with very good view and personal opinion given throughout the book. I may not agree with all their opinions. But, this book made me think and it refreshed tons of memories that happened throughout whole Malaysia during that period.

However... due to its thickness, readers may find boring. There are repetitions in some articles. Same story had been brought up by different writers throughout the book. Hence, I thought the editor can do more by filtering out some of the repeated articles regardless of the significant role played by the writer. I have a feeling that the chosen articles are based on the popularity and status of the writer. I may be wrong. But, I really think some articles are simply not needed.

Overall, I rate this book at 6/10. To me, this is more like a history book. It makes sense to read this book with current political mess in Malaysia right now. At least, we can do a comparison and we finally realized that whatever things that failed Pak Lah in the past may not be the worst... God bless Malaysia... 

The Psychology of Trading: Tools and Techniques for Minding the Markets

I am a big fan of Brett N. Steenbarger. In fact, I collected series of articles written by Brett N. Steenbarger via "Stock, Futures, Options (SFO)" magazine since year 2003. Those articles are like bible to me even until today. However, I actually never read a book by the said author. So, here I am with my first book from my idol.

Ended up... Wow, amazing!!! As much as I love the author's articles, I love this book too. This is a top written book, which includes trading skills as well as psychology and therapy methods to enhance existing trading skills. The author is qualified to do so with his tremendous background as counsellor and active trader.

Furthermore, I thought the author did so well in this book as most ideas are on the proactive side. One good example is the author does not reject emotional issues. Instead, he view it as something norms and there are tons of proactive methods to overcome it. In another words, the author made use of all so called "bad" stuff and overturn it into something useful. That is the amazing part of this book.

On the flaws, I thought this book may not suit every reader. First of all, readers of this book must equip themselves with certain knowledge in psychology and trading skills. Without this, readers may feel lost throughout the book. As for old and bold trader like me, this book is my best book in year 2015!

Initially, I prepared to list down series of good quotes as usual. However, it is a big headache when there are so many quotes qualified as excellent quotes. As such, I found it hard to do just a summary for this book. The only solution is to reread this book annually. (No wonder I found myself still rereading all the author's articles since year 2003) Having said that... I have no hesitation to rate this book at 10/10. This is a must read book for all traders.