A Game As Old As Empire

I read this companion book to John Perkin's Confessions of a Economic Hitmen, A Game As Old as Empire in just two days. Again, it has given me an good insight on the world of shadowy economic activities that mainstream publications do not frequently publish.

The edition comprised of several authors writing of their experiences with the global corporatacy that launders dirty money, pays low wages to third world workers whilst asking them to work in appalling conditions. Worse still, the chapter on the Congo, which has the 80% of Coltan, an important mineral resource for electronic components in computer notebooks and mobile phones really shocked me.

Congo has seen two civil wars, primarily instigated by foreign armies from Uganda and Rwanda, and also blatantly invaded by them. Resources like Coltan are being looted from Congo's warehouses, illegally mined and then exported by these two countries to Western corporations. The cost of this: 4 million lives as documented in the book with numerous footnotes to other sources.

I guess while the workers of the Third World suffer, highly paid financiers in tax-free zones like Jersey launders money in dubious transactions for the dictators and corrupt officials of the same countries. One chapter on Nigeria, also talked about Shell's involvement with government forces in counter-insurgency operations against groups that are opposed to western oil companies drilling for oil in that country.

The multinational corporations therefore has now become the new Empire of the 20th and 21st Century. It works seamlessly through all countries, with total disregard for human suffering and only interested in promoting their own profits and gains; accordingly to this book.

What we as individual citizens do to stop this? The book suggests in its last chapter the following:

1. Know Thyself - Get to know yourself and the role you play in society. Maybe, as a consumer, you can refuse to buy products that harm the environment.
2. Be informed and Challenge Your Preconceptions
3. Be inspired and Trust the Movement
4. Believe in Activism: A Little Does go a long Way
5. Push your Comfort Zone and Expand Your Skills
6. Provide a Service to Those in Long-Term Struggle
7. Look Forward with Hope

I have always wondered why there is always anti-globalisation protesters that seem to be conducting demonstrations in IMF, WTO, World Bank and other big organization meetings. In the news reports, people seem so passionate and determined in their cause. I did not know that the purpose was actually to show their commitment of solidarity with the people that had been exploited by the very effects of globalisation; but who knows what are their motivations are anyway. This is after all a shadowy world of men who would do anything within their power to ensure their continued existence in this profitable scheme.

Interesting read, but would only recommend it if you are into the talk of economic hitmen, the name for the people that John Perkins had termed.

Saper vedere and Everyday Greatness

Stumbled upon this Latin quote "Saper Vedere" from Leonardo Da Vinci in a Everyday Greatness, a book containing the best stories from Reader's Digest. Immediately, did a search on it and found that it meant "Knowing How to See.

Found an Internet link in A D V E N T U R E S in C Y B E R S O U N D and it clearly explains as below:

"An artist by disposition and endowment, he found that his eyes were his main avenue to knowledge; to Leonardo, sight was man's highest sense organ because sight alone conveyed the facts of experience immediately, correctly, and with certainty. Hence, every phenomenon perceived became an object of knowledge. Saper vedere ("knowing how to see") became the great theme of his studies of man's works and nature's creations. His creativity reached out into every realm in which graphic representation is used: he was painter, sculptor, architect, and engineer. But he went even beyond that. His superb intellect, his unusual powers of observation, and his mastery of the art of drawing led him to the study of nature itself, which he pursued with method and penetrating logic, and in which his art and his science were equally revealed."

So, in effect Leonardo did not depend on knowledge from books themselves, but through his powers of observation and experimentation of different fields of knowledge was he able to innovate and create more knowledge. He is definitely the greatest knowledge producer of all time!

Anyway, Everyday Greatness is also fantastic book; culling out short stories which I feel had some heart-warming endings for some and also inspiring in its message. The story of John Brady and Hazel truly touched me. I hope to finish it soon.... Life is also about fulfilling our inner soul, by reading stories like these, and hopefully being able to emulate the people in their noble behaviour and actions.

I guess Reader's Digest is the very original magazine that really is a good read. I remember my mum used to subscribe them when I was young and I used to pick them up to read in little chunks. Never did realise that it has such profound stories that can uplift people. Looks like its only other match would be Chicken Soup for the Soul by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen; had managed to see a VCD title, but not their books.

Man's Search for Meaning

This book, Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E Frankl is perhaps one of the most influential works in my life. I stumbled upon it in the polytechnic's library during my final semester (there is a reason for this...)

In it, Viktor discusses his experiences in a Nazi concentration camp, and his later development of logotherapy. In a very humanist perspective, Viktor espouses that every person has the freedom of choice even in the most stressful and depressing situations.

In my mind after so many years after reading this book was that Viktor made an observation that the death rate between Christmas 1944 and New Year 1945 was highest in the concentration camp. The reason he concluded was that the prisoners would lose all the naive hope of ever been liberated from the concentration camp and return home. As the time came closer, they would then be so disappointed and and also lose their courage to continue living. He says "The prisoner who has lost faith in the future - his future was doomed. With his loss of belief in the future, he also lost his spiritual hold; he let himself decline and become subject to mental and physical decay".

He also cited Nietzsche's words " He who has the why to live for can bear to live with almost any how".

Perhaps, I felt the paragraph in page 98 below reflected some philosophical thoughts by him on the meaning of life:

"What was really needed was a fundamental change in our attitude toward life. We had to learn ourselves, We had to learn ourselves and, furthermore, we had to teach the despairing men, that it did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think ourselves as those who were being questioned by life - daily and hourly. Our answer must consist, not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual."

There you are...

Fictional Past

After The Alchemist, I began to think that maybe I should rekindle my appreciation of fiction books. I remember distinctly that I read plenty of fiction during my school time at least until my tertiary education when I started to divert to more non-fiction books.

It seems it was only yesterday that I used to read the popular writers like Sidney Sheldon (just found out he just passed away in 2007), Issac Asimov (Foundation series, one of my all time favourites) and others that I now vaguely remember.

However, another writer that I can recall was Czech writer Milan Kundera whose books tend to be short stories with I can remember to sometimes funny and ironic in the storyline. I remembered reading The Unbearable Lightness of Being, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting and Immortality. Can't exactly remember their storylines since it has been so long ago. Maybe I should consider revisiting them sometime again.

The popular fiction that I read by Sidney Sheldon were books like Sands of Time which I can immediately remember because I bought it with meagre pocket money I had saved during school time. Also, bought a range of Foundation Series which has the mathematician Hari Seldon trying to help galactic mankind and steer them away from the brink of destruction. Ah... the stories of a galactic empire and a group of scientists that invented a branch of science called psychohistory, the ability of mathematics to predict the course of human history really expanded my young mind (although these are science fiction stuff, I thought it was going to possible that sometime in the future this would really be invented)

Going even further back in my younger days, especially in secondary school days, I was trying very hard to remember the Fantasy author that I read, then finally remembered it was Piers Anthony. Went to his website to see his bibliography to refresh my memory and I finally found the books that I had read was actually the Xanth Series. There are a total of 32 titles and counting, so I would think I had read the first top few.

I guess what we read in the past, especially during our youth will definitely shape and form our interests in the future although it seemed that I had missed a good deal of such book genres since I switched to non-fiction.

Well, its been nearly fifteen years since the time of that switch. Maybe I should try to balance my reading between the different book genres. It could perhaps give me a broader perspective of life, knowledge and wisdom.

Career Breakpoints

I just finished another book, The Career Break Book by Lonely Planet. This is largely a travel reference book, with lots of tips of where to go during a time of career breaks. Great advice given with several off-beaten tracks that is not usually taken by travellers.

There were several examples of people taking their career breaks, and generally they changed their perspectives on work and do not go back to their original job/career.

Not much to say, except, if anyone is thinking of stopping their normal worklife routine, and thinking of going for a career break, this is a book to look for. BTW, mostly it seems that people from the US, Europe or Australia do this.

Again, the story of lifestyle choices echo in my mind, and also whether there would be people like Santiagos in The Alchemist in some of us, willing to give up being a shepherd and travel to the pyramids in search of treasure. Difficult, but definitely achievable, if sacrifices are made and proper arrangements made to take care of existing financial obligations. There are several practical tips in the book about these valid concerns and alternative measures to consider.

Benefits of course is subjected one circumstances, as in Santiago's case, a treasure, a potential spouse but most importantly, learning so much about life's journey in the process of his travels. Let's hope we can all learn like Santiago if we ever take a career break in any point of our life.

Found a website for those who want to know more as well; great resource

http://www.thecareerbreaksite.com/index.php

Santiago's journey

I do not usually read fiction, but this time I decided I would give Paul Coelho a try as I happen to keep chancing upon his books again and again. I had a glimpse of his name in one of the book reviews in The Straits Times, saw a girl reading it while waiting to register for my masters course and lastly, in a bookshop that stock piles and piles of his titles.

So, I chose The Alchemist, in which the main character Santiago, a Spanish shepherd boy whom left his comfort zone of tending his sheep to go to the Pyramids of Eqypt in search of a treasure that he had dreamt during one of his one night stays in a broken down church.

From then on, he makes the journey to the pyramids and thus starting the spiritual adventure of his lifetime. If you in for a spoiler, click on the link to Wikipedia and the full story will be there.

Its was splendid light reading for me as I could feel being Santiago being caught in a dilemma on whether to pursue his Personal Legend or stay in his comfort zone as a shephard, and also after falling in love with the girl in the oasis.

Maybe, we all hope we are Santiagos as we live in our everyday routine, with dreams of our own which we want to fulfill. But yet we have fears and contradictory thoughts of pursuing the very dreams we so really wish we can. Or maybe most of us just want to be the like crystal glass merchent who is so afraid to fufill his dream of going to Mecca as it would mean he would then have nothing to live for.

In it, Santiago struggles after leaving, and it says clearly with his conversation with the alchemist:

"Why do we have to listen to our hearts" the boy asked, when they had made camp that day.

"Because, wherever your heart is, that is where you'll find your treasure."

"But my heart is agitated." the boy said, "It has its dreams, it gets emotional, and its become passionate over a woman of the desert. It asks things of me, and it keeps me from sleeping many nights, when I'm thinking about her."

"Well, thats good. Your heart is alive. Keep listening to what it has to say."

The story at the end was a pleasant surprise for me, and I smiled to myself how this simple tale could actually lift my spirits up. I must say I did not regret reading this fiction book on a late Sunday afternoon rather than the two other books I normally juggle with. Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi and Critical Mass: How one thing leads to another by Philip Ball was just too heavy for me after a long tiring week of work in the office.

I guess, in terms of pursuing our dreams, we may have our doubts over whether to give up our existing safe and contented state of life to uncertainty, but as always there is a price to pay in such situations.

But what is important that as what the alchemist had said. Listen to your heart it is alive. It may prove to be a satisfying end result as what Santiago had experienced. I will be looking to continue some of other Coelho books. Good light reading that lifts your soul on a lazy weekend yeah.

Superheros - Why Red and Blue?

Ever wonder why the superheros of the comic world are always so heroic, just and self-sacrificing? And have you wondered why in the world are their costumes are always Red and Blue in colour?

Well, just try to recall where did all these superheros originate and you will know the reason. Apparently, the comic/cartoon artists tend to think that their country also exhibit the same attributes as the same superheros I mentioned. (This is of course abit biased and subjective, many people may dispute that!)

I only made this observation a couple days ago while watching Transformers. Also one of my favorite cartoons shows of all time, now made into life-action movie with the best CGI graphics I have seen.

There I was looking at the charismatic Optimus Prime standing on the gigantic telescope with the rest of the Autobots when I suddenly realised his colours were similar to Superman, Spiderman .... erh... Captain America (obviously but also with additional white colour). By the way, I think new Optimus in the movie is the coolest amongst them, although Spidey is also another favourite. Good thing, Optimus was still voiced by Peter Cullen from the cartoon show as I could remember it very well.

Any idea which superheros has the same fashion tastes as our four saviours of world?