Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones

 

Since "7 habits", I think I never found a book as good as the theory mentioned in 7 Habits. The said 7 habits served me well for the past 20 years to becomes the highly effective people as claimed by the late Stephen Covey. Now, I am into this atomic habits. The topic itself sounds appealing in the first place. Secondly, I was in a forum on books and this book keep on bombarding my fb wall in the said forum. So, here I am with a book that usually would not appear in my book shelf. 

At the end... I did not finish this book. This is a boring and dull book. Basically, the four concepts are too simple to practice and I humbly think that this is how I practice my life for the past 20 years. As such, this book does not deliver what I want and I ended up gave up half way. 

My expectation on this book was high in the first place. After all, it was highly recommended by all friends in my forum. The so called "atomic" habits are nothing new under the sun. We had this sort of ideas everywhere and perhaps the author only did his best to use the right words to "upgrade" the whole concept. For example, I hate the repeating words of "Laws" being highlighted throughout the book. To me, it is a "principle" at most! Law??? No way... 

Finally, this book could have been written in less than 100 pages. There are a lot of repetition and the author mumbling the same stuff over and over again. In fact, this book can easily be sum up by reading the chapter summaries. So, for a full rating of 10, I am going to rate this book at 1. The idea is good (nothing special though), but it is just too wordy to finish it up... 

塞北三朝：西夏

 

上了一堂辽史，是时候继续前进了。这回，我们来到了西夏。如果说辽史我一窍不通，那么西夏历史我简直就是一无所知！😀

一开始，因为对于西夏的无知，所以我好期待这本西夏史。但是，除了母系权威和一再的战火连篇，我还真的找不到什么历史价值。如果说上一本辽史本来就不那么精彩，那这一本西夏史就真的平淡无味了。。。

作者秉着一贯幽默有趣的神笔，的确为这本书添上了平淡却不失精彩的层次。但是，西夏的故事的确不是我的那杯茶。我喜欢阅读历史。更喜欢的是历史所带来的反思和警惕作用。西夏历史虽然筑成了中华民族的一小部分，但是缺乏的始终是可歌可泣的历史典故。或许，党项基于没有文笔上的遗产，因此流通的正史也是非常有限的。

满分10分，没法子，这回只能给个两分。再次声明，这本书的作者是很用心拟写的。但是，我个人就是没办法体会西夏史所遗留下来的历史价值！

蔡康永的情商课：为你自己活一次

 好久没看书了。。。四个多月，疫情的干扰让我加速成长。有些人开不了工，难得偷闲度月（如年？）。我却恰恰相反。现在，终于可以偷个半日闲把书架上的图书慢慢啃掉。都说四个多月了，一开始当然得酝酿读书的情绪。好吧，就来本轻松写意的书籍呗！

结果是。。。好选不选，竟然选了一本那么沉闷的书籍。基于太久不看书，一开始想找本比较轻松又不需要绞尽脑汁的“开胃书”。的确，这本书的确是不会伤到脑细胞。原因是，这本书根本没办法把我的脑袋敲醒！！！

第一，一开始我并不认同作者的情商理论。毕竟，我没有菜主播的那种智慧。里头的理论我怎么读都是一堆我不认同的歪理。第二，好讨厌每个理论的开头白：我有个艺人朋友！以作者的文学角度，应该会有更新鲜的开端吧！或许，作者有心那么写。毕竟，这也是为自己而活的表现吧！第三，我很努力的把这本书啃到一半。以我的毅力，我很少那么容易放弃。但，这一回，我还真的投降了。

我不知道其他读者对于这本书的评价。以我个人而言，这本书我真的不太喜欢。10分满分，本人给予0分！或许是年龄和忙碌的关系，对于这类书籍，好像越来越难产生共鸣。（油腻中年男子的困惑？）最后，再次申明，本人非常喜欢蔡康永的主持风格。总觉得，蔡康永一直是台湾主持界，最有内涵的主持人。虽然尝试爱屋及乌；但是，这本书我还真的举白旗了。。。

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好睡：新的睡眠科学与医学

睡眠，一直是我四十年来的问题。我相信，它也是很多人的问题。因此，这本书的出现，绝对是我的福音。。。

可惜。。。期望越高，失望还真的高的不得了。我不怪作者，怪就怪在一开始我并没有在书局翻阅。一看到“好睡”这个标题，我就认定这本书一定能帮到我。因此，当我很兴奋的阅读时，才发现这本书完全不是我要的那杯茶。

第一，这本书的原理偏向于心理学上的睡眠治疗法。对于失眠四十年的我来说，这一些理论我早就了如指掌。毕竟，里头的方法我也运用了四十年。第二，作者不断的引入他的其他书籍。感觉上，作者就是要我们买完他的作品才能好好的睡上一觉。 第三，这本书可能对于刚刚患上失眠症的人，的确是有些帮助。但是，对于我这样的失眠佼佼者来说， 这本书简直就是百无一用。

批评了那么多，这本书肯定评价不高。10分满分，基于作用不大，只能勉强给个1分。这一分充其量只能是因为作者帮我复习了一些老方法。具体来说，这本书我想得到和我最后得到的都不多。

謝沅瑾最專業的經典居家風水

最近，看风水书看上瘾了，哈哈。之前是翻阅旧书，这一轮干脆去书局逛一逛。结果，一次过买了好几本风水书籍。。。

这一本又如何呢？老实说，这一本糟透了！每一个领域总有各个不同方法来实现领域里的精华。这有点像金融业般；里头有价值投资者，有技术性投资者。因此，风水领域肯定也塑造出不同派系。对于谢老师这一派系，本人真的没办法苟同。第一，这一派系有点偏向古代的一些理论。对于我个人而言，古时的理论虽好，但必须跟着时代的脚步不断进化。比如说，书里提到的水晶吊灯在谢老师的风水角度，就非常的不恰当。试问，当今宅屋有那一间不是有吊灯的呢？再来，谢老师化解方式我也是不是很赞同。我个人偏向于利用宇宙能量来解决所有问题。我相信易经中的一切宇宙能量足于解决风水问题。而且，风水应该是提供人类一切舒适的好能量。但是，如果没有自身的努力；多好的风水也是徒然。

10分满分，本人基于不同派系（没办法苟同作者的心血之作），只能打个1分。这本书应该有它的支持者。但，我选择用另外一种方式去诠释所谓的风水。这本书也不是没有带给我任何益处。至少，我接触了不同派系的理论。书籍没有好坏，领悟才是重点！

翻書就懂居家風水

又是风水。。。最近，的确有需要风水的时候，所以，旧的风水书开始排上用场了。。。

最后一次阅读这本书是在2013年。当年，关于这本书，我的评价是不错的。这一回，这本书我读得反而不是很起劲。第一，五年前我提到作者写太多了（多余的多）。这一轮，感觉上有过之而无不及，哈哈！总觉的作者放了太多无谓的资料。基本上，这类资料读者也未必看的懂。而且，作者没有引导读者去挖掘这些多余资料的必要性。因此，感觉上，就是多此一举。第二，随着年龄的增长，对于风水的研究也无形中有所提升。毕竟，这些年，帮朋友看屋子也得到了不少实践经验。因此，这本书所提到一切视乎不再那么吸引我了。

10分满分，这轮只能打个两分。人总要进步。一丁点的进步也证明了活着的价值。当年，这本书让我获益不浅。当今，这本书虽不再吸引我，但没有当年的获益，肯定造就不了今时今日的我。这就是阅读的乐趣吧！

我在投资银行的黑色闹剧：关于那些华尔街混蛋与几亿美元的交易

我很少购买翻译书。但是，这本书的褒贬不一。因此，最后选择购买价格较低的翻译版。而且，好久没有阅读繁体字书籍了。因此，这本书来的正是时候。

这本翻译书买对了。第一，这本书整体上不会有太多金融术语。因此，翻译的难度不高；读者也不需要谷歌来解答里头的术语。 第二，最近挺闷的。因此，这类“闹剧”书籍来的真是时候。这本书基本上和【华尔街之狼】有异曲同工的效果。作者的胡闹和【华尔街之狼】简直就是一体的。毒品，嘲弄，欺诈等等，的确造就了这本书所谓的闹剧。第三，这本书如果是以原版英文版价钱购买（比较贵）其实并不划算。都说是闹剧了，当然只值得闹剧的价钱，呵呵。

老实说，这本书娱乐性非常高。这是一本名副其实看看就算的书籍。里头没有太多的启发性。作者和我们分享的仅仅是投资银行不择手段的一面。除此以外，整本书基本上都是闹剧。因此，这本书其实是毫无教育性的。充其量。。。只是一本有趣的轻松读物罢了。

本人其实挺享受这本书籍的。但是，看完了之后，这本书的确没给我留下什么影响。而且，我很肯定未来我也绝对不会再翻阅此书。因此，10分满分，只能给个两分。这两分也纯粹只是娱乐效果罢了。。。

Think and Grow Rich: The 21st-Century Edition: Revised and Updated

I am going to do a short (a very short one) review on this book. The main reason is: this book no more motivates me like those days, haha... In fact, 20 years ago, I love this book so much. However, I did not reread this book after the first read. After all, there is a long list of reread books pending my precious time, haha.

This is the revised and updated version. So, I thought might as well give it a try. At the end, the so called revised and updated parts offered nothing except trying to praise every single content in the book. Examples given in the book are so "lame". Imagine people like Steve Jobs being quoted in the context. Irrelevant, right? I thought the published trying their best to re-brand the whole book. However, the assumptions given just make the whole book worse.

Relatively, I still preferred the original version. At the same time, I decided not to reread this book again in the future. This book shaped my life twenty years ago. However... as the practices in this book become my habit, it totally lost its attractiveness. This book serves as a motivational stuff for youngsters and those who are new into the entrepreneurship. But, for oldies like me, I do not find it inspiring anymore. As such, for a full rating of 10, I am going to rate this book at 1. 

The Financial Spread Betting Handbook: The definitive guide to making money trading spread bets

Accidentally found this book in the offer section... Out of curiosity, I grab this book at the offered price. After spending two days reading it, now I know why it ends up in the offer section, LOL.

Before I complaint further, let me introduce this book. This is a book about spread betting. Spread betting is actually something very common in Europe. In Malaysia context, it is not something relevant. To cut it short, spread betting is purely to speculate in the market (regardless of products) by taking advantage on the spread differences without commission being charged. So, it is more or less an over the counter products. The facts that it does not involve exchange showed the irrelevance part in Malaysia context.

Well... let me continue on the complaints, LOL... This is a beginner book for those who want to know about spread betting. Nothing much can be gain from this book. The author did his part to introduce the spread betting. However, that is the only thing in this book. In my humble opinion, any readers can easily get this sort of info by googling. So, to me, this book offers nothing.

For a full rating of 10, I am going to rate this book at 0/10. With due respect to the author; unfortunately, I really gain nothing by reading this book. 

Stop Orders: A practical guide to using stop orders for traders and investors

This title of this book is very attractive. After all, "stop" is the most important part in trading. Besides, with the font size and total number of pages, I think I can easily finish this book within a couple of days. So, here I am with the most basic stuff in trading.

Ended up, I spend less than two days to finish the whole book. Why? Is it too good or is it too bad? Well, the answer is no for both. This book is an introduction for the "stop". For beginners, it is a very good book to start with. For intermediate or advance players, this book really too simple and does not offer anything. Hence, although I am not the expert; but, being in this industry for more than 15 years, this book does not meet my requirement to have further thoughts on it.

Having said that, I can only rate this book at 0/10. Perhaps this is a book towards someone who intend to use brokers who might guarantee their stop! (guaranteed?) Well, this sums up the whole thing about this book. Not my cup of tea for sure. 

周星驰：做人如果没有梦想，跟咸鱼有什么分别

近年来，对艺人自传都不太感兴趣。理由是，很多自传都很容易对号入座。作者往往随意扭曲事实，然后乱七八糟的胡乱评论。最糟的是，很多这类书籍都是东凑西凑般，把一些道听途说或报章杂志上的文章合拼，然后就造就了一本所谓的自传。但是，这一本的主人翁太吸引我了。从小就看着星爷的戏长大。对星爷的确有一份说不出的怀念。。。

结果是。。。老样子。很多书里提到的都是略有所闻的事迹。整本书没什么新鲜事。作者和星爷的互动几乎是零。读到一半时，已经很想放弃。但，还是勉为其难的把整本书啃完。最后，得到一些对于偶像的怀念，但想要的惊喜（尤其是更多关于偶像的内心世界）真的少之又少。最糟糕的是，作者免不了还是会对号入座的细说星爷的事迹。然后，又很勉强的加入了自己的感想。事实是如何，只有星爷能够告诉我们答案。。。

唯一的优点是。。。作者把整本书排序的井井有条。整本书的次序非常棒。完全不会又凌乱的感觉。可惜，这也只是这本书仅有的优点。。。

弹了那么多，评分方面肯定不高。十分满分，只能给予两分。这本书的主人翁如果不是星爷，我相信评价会更低。有时，名人效应还是存在的，呵呵！

让你挣大钱：操盘手自述

据说，这本书的作者是网上一名蛮出名的外汇分析师。因此，我对这本书还颇有期待的。

和上一本“菲波纳奇”相比，这一本书还真的有过之而无不及（哈哈！）。。。怎么说呢？这本书至少没那么沉闷。作者写的也头头是道。但是，启发性和上一本相比，简直就是双胞胎的版本，呵呵。。。

书里的方法理论上是行得通。但是，这一类法则在很多书里都呈现过。虽然，作者很用心和不吝啬的分享了他的操盘历程，但是，惊喜点还真的很欠缺。。。

十分满分，这一回给个两分。至少，我觉得这一本好过上一本。但是，整体来说，期望越大，还真的失望越大。。。

菲波纳奇高级交易法

菲波纳奇（有些称为蜚波纳奇）理论是我多年来一直探讨的课题。因此，这类书籍我读了好多本。但是，从来就没有一本书籍能够真正挖掘菲波纳奇的奥妙之处。或许，这个理论本身就是圣杯的替身。因此，不会有人能够真正掌握它的奥妙之处。

这一本当然也不例外。老实说，和其他菲波纳奇的书籍相比，这一本书不算太差。但是，里头确实就没什么惊喜。本人用尽了所有精力很努力的把这本书啃完。结果是，读完后完全没什么印象。（更别说有任何启发性的知识！）

10分满分，没办法不给予这本书1分。个人很认可作者的用心。但是，这类书籍就是没有什么突破性。来来去去都是一些你我都懂的运用方法。如我以上所说，或许菲波纳奇本身就是这一切的问题根源。因为，这个理论实在是太高深莫测了。。。

The Manager: Inside the Minds of Football's Leaders

After series of "serious" reading, time is just right for some relaxing stuff...

Ended up... what a boring book!!! In the first place, football is all about excitement and passionate. However, with the addition of management stuff, it suddenly overturns the whole thing into something rigid and boring. My intention to read this book is to get some relax mind after a hectic month. Ended up, the author forced me to think hard and squeeze my mind into more serious stuff (which I do not want at all, haha...).

Secondly, as usual with any sorts of football books, readers are more keen on the inside stories and incidents behind the scenes. This book is rather different. It focuses on the management skill before inserting all quotes from managers to emphasize on his management theories. At the end, it was all in the mess. Apart from the usual management skill, I found nothing interesting on my beloved football.

Thirdly, I personally think that it will be much better if each chapter had focused on a single manager. The title itself already told us that this is a book about managers. To me, it is more a book about the collective part or similarity among managers.  A misleading title? Definitely....

Finally, I browse through the background of the author. It seems that the author is not a traditional football author. He is more on the management side which deals with organisations and peoples. Hence, from the perspective of football fans, the author may not know what we want from a footballing books. At the same time, those who are keen on management stuff may not be so passionate about football too...

All in all, the book may be a decent read if you are looking for some management stuff in general with leadership in particular. For football fans like me, it is a huge disappointment. As such, I have no hesitation to rate this book at 2/10. It is out of my expectations and it is not the book I want in the first place... 

西藏生死书

这本书我想看很久了。理由有几个。第一，我非常向往有宗教信仰的一天。自小，我一直活在没有真正宗教信仰的国度里。第二，我是一个好奇心很重的人。对于不明白的事，总想打破沙锅问到底。宗教这个很玄的东西留下来太多谜团。因此，很想好好的研究一下这方面的领域。第三，对于圣经和古兰经我是非常熟悉的。但是，这两大宗教的历史背景造成我对于宗教始终抱着观望的态度。简单来说，这两本伟大的书籍尽管伟大，却始终打动不到我。第四，随着年龄的增长，总觉得需要一些心灵上的填补。因此，很向往有个宗教能让我不那么理性的去看待它。

结果。。。真抱歉！尽管这本书的本意是对的，尽管作者很努力的拟写了一本堪称可以和圣经，古兰经比拟的上等之作，本人就是没办法融入里头的世界。老实说，这本书的道理都对。但是，我就是没有办法领悟到里头的精髓。或许这么说，心灵上我需要宗教，但是忙忙碌碌的生活相对的比宗教重要的多了。

这本书让我想起了张德芬老师的【舍得让你爱的人受苦】。其实，张德芬老师在书里也时常提起这本书籍。但是，我读张德芬老师的书可是读的很投入。换回这本书，总觉得纳闷多了。也许，我惯性的很理性去阅读每一本书。因此，阅读张老师的书籍我很容易接受。毕竟，她的书没有太多玄妙和深奥的道理，有的只是现实生活中你我都会遇到的小故事。而，这本【西藏生死书】虽不难理解，但是玄秘的地方还真不少。这时，如果一切以理性为主，读者很难投入这本伟大书籍的真正奥妙。

10分满分，这本书我只打个2分。或许，十年后我会更加懂得欣赏这类书籍。

期货策略（中）

读了上一本，肯定得延续这一本。。。

结果是。。。这本书挺闷的。第一，和上一本一样，这本书还是比较着重于中国期货市场。当然，如上一本品论般，这肯定没错。错就错在中国期货，我们只能看，不能动，多纳闷！

第二，这本书重复了好多【期货兵法】的内容。当让，同一个作者，我也了解这是很难避免的。但是，同一个论点，读了又读，新鲜感肯定受威胁，呵呵。

整体上，这本书拟写的不错。唯一的错就错在以上两点。因此，10分满分，个人只能给予2分。如果硬要掰，还是那一句：【期货兵法】更好！！！

独自徘徊在天堂与地狱之间

忘了当初怎么会购买这本书（买了好久了）。。。但是，感觉上这本书应该很不错。至少，书名很贴切。操盘手基本上就是活在天堂与地狱之间。

结果。。。期望越高，失望还真的免不了。尽管作者拥有若干年的经验，但是书里头却没什么新意。从一开始作者把W.江恩和索罗斯，杰西里费默一并排列赞扬时，我就觉得不对。试问对于W.江恩有些许了解的读者们都知道W.江恩根本称不上什么大师级。而且，把索罗斯和杰西里费默一起排列，简直就是牛头不对马嘴！

最后，作者的两招短线秘笈还真的让我对此书彻底绝望了。第一招，作者觉得突如其来的趋势大扭转是很好的逆势操作机会。当然，我不完全否定它的可能性。毕竟，这一类的操作我也做过。但是，如果把它堪称绝招，我就不敢恭维。预测始终是预测。如果硬要把它说成绝招，恐怕又得徘徊在天堂与地狱之间了。第二招，作者把连续开低走高（开高走低）堪称是另一绝招。还是那一句，预测始终是预测。怎么把预测看成招术了呢？

这本书的本意应该是不错的。但是，个人觉得这本书太肤浅了。作者有意无意的把杰西里费默当成是这本书的精髓。如果是这样，我宁愿从读杰西里费默的【股票作手回忆录】。至少，杰西里费默每一章都呈现出交易的真正“绝招”（而不是如作者般，把肤浅当盖世武功秘笈）。10分满分，基于书的本意和书名还挺到位，个人给予2分。很遗憾，中国操盘手还是没法写出类似【股票作手回忆录】的这类经典书籍。

New Trader,Rich Trader 2: Good Trades, Bad Trades

Steve Burns... an author who wrote some splendid commentary in Darvas's classic "How I made 2,000,000 in the Stock Market". Those days (during the very earlier part of my career), I used to adored Darvas stuff a lot. These days, the concept was still in my mind... but, practically, I am no more the Darvas fans... However, Steve Burns commentary was in my mind. I believe some of his commentary in the above mentioned book did helped to shape my belief and trading concept today. So, here I am with his latest book...

At the end... I am in dilemma on how to comment on this book. Overall, this is a nice book and I found it enjoyable to read. The authors divided this book into three major parts:
Part 1: Managing the Mind to stay in the game (sounds cruel, but very true, LOL)
Part 2: A robust methodology (well, an essential part for traders)
Part 3: Managing Risk (what else if not managing risk?)
Three major parts sounds good in theory. Unfortunately, it is really a "theoretically" book.  Credit must be given to the authors by presenting the "theory" through a conversation between a "new" trader versus "rich" trader. Of course, we had the well-know "Rich Daddy Poor Daddy" series before this. But, I reckon by presenting such a way, readers would not feel bored in reading this book.

As I mentioned above, since this book is more on the "theory" side... it is actually more suitable for beginners or novice. For advance traders, this book at most served as a refresher course. Advance traders might not be able to find anything new in this book. So, for experienced traders, this book may not sound appealing to them at all.

For a full rating of 10, I personally rate this book at 2/10. I love the format on how the theories being presented (new trader vs rich trader). However, this book offered nothing to impress me with my 15 years of trading journey. As I mentioned above, no doubt that it is an enjoyable read. But, I just could not find the gem I am craving for... too bad... 

Technical Analysis Using Multiple Timeframes

Mike Bellafiore (author of One Good Trade & The Playbook) mentioned a lot on this book. As such, here I am with the book highly recommended by my favorite author.

At the end... it is not as good as expected. Well, this is a simple basic book about technical analysis. The so called "using multiple frame" was not really discussed. It is at most just small part of a general and basic technical analysis book for beginners. In due respect to the author's hard work, the contents in this book are easily available via wikipedia or investopedia. Ok, long story short, this book simply sounds too simple to me...

For a full rating of 10; personally, I am going to rate this book at 2/10. This book is well written. It may be a great reference for beginners. But, to advance traders, there is nothing new under the sun...

The Physics of Wall Street: A Brief History of Predicting the Unpredictable

This book was recommended by a buddy recently. Few years back, I read about "Quant Investment: How did James Simons Beat the Market By Using Maths?". Those days, I tried everywhere to get an English version of similar books. I failed and it ended up remains as my only references to the great James Simons. Coincidentally, I was in the Futures Trading Competition and the champion (who beat me off, LOL) is actually the one who buys into James Simons' idea. So, the whole thing remains a myth to me until today. Well, hopefully this book can open up all my doubts and brings me to another world of speculation...

Ended up... this book disappointed me so much. I did not get what I want from this book. Well, I admit that I did not flip through in the first place since it was a recommendation by a buddy. But, I do expect it is more related to the finance and investment side since the title itself consist the wording of "Wall Street". At the end, it is just one of those histories and summaries that we can get from a lot of other books. The author just rearranges it as according to the chronology. Of course, the author does so with considerable style. But, to me... it is just some historical materials that I am so familiar with...

For a full rating of 10, I am going to rate this book at 2. The fact that this book does not meet my expectations contributed to the low rating. For those who are keen to explore on the history of predicting models, this book may still be a good choice. To me, I am too familiar with the said histories and I do not have the intention to dig further into it. It is just not my cup of tea...