[Book Review] The Intelligent Entrepreneur: How Three Harvard Business School Graduates Learned the 10 Rules of Successful Entrepreneurship by Bill Murphy Jr.

Rating: 4.5/5

Genre: Non-Fiction, Business

Book Review:

      As the name suggested, this book is about how to become an entrepreneur. But, more importantly, it is about how to become one intelligently. It starts off with why a lot of entrepreneurs fail. Then it presents 10 rules that will help you to become a successful entrepreneur. If you are planning on becoming an entrepreneur, you should really read this book. If you are not, you might as well read this book because it is quite intesting. It’s fun to read and along the way, who knows, you might change your mind and want to become an entrepreneur.

Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker by Kevin Mitnick, Steve Wozniak, and William L. Simon

Rating: 4.5/5

Genre: Non-fiction, Biography

Book Review

Kevin Mitnick was a notorious hacker. He was very good at what he did. He was able to get into a lot of secured placed without getting caught for several years. But then, in the end, like most hackers, he got caught, served his term, and came out clean. Now, he is one of the most skillful security professional.

This book is based on his story. It starts since he was young. So, I kindda understand why he becomes a hackers. In a way, he’s like Steve Jobs. Mitnick and Jobs are geniuses. They are not happy with what traditional education can give them. So, they need to find a way out to express themselves. Jobs went on founding Apple, while Kevin turned out to be a hacker.

This book is not only fun, but also informative. Before reading this book, I know quite a bit about security. But still, I learned a lot more from this book. But don’t be scared by the term “security”. The content of this book is not very technical. This book is meant for general public. For example, to get confidential information, you just need to use “social engineering”. You just have to pretend to be one of employees who are allowed to have the information. How? Well, you just need to know how the inside people talk to each other. Then, you search for the right telephone numbers. You call them. You pretend to be one of them. And, people will give you the information you want. Most people are just too trusting. The question is do you have the guts to pull this off. Well, Mitnick does.

[Book Review] Steve Jobs--The Exclusive Biography by Walter Issacson

Rating: 3/5

Genre: Non-Fiction, Biography

Book Review:

       The reasons I like biography is that it is inspring. I’d like to know more about someone I admire, and Steve Jobs was one of them. I started  out knowing next to nothing about Steve Jobs (although I own an iPod nano and a Mac book pro). I was kind of curious about the people behind it. From this book, I learn a lot about Steve Jobs, his invention, and his company. To most people, Steve was a Genious. But who would have known that he had a very conflicting personality. He was a firm believer in Hindu and Zen. Yet, he was obnoxious and very hard to deal with. He’d like to be at the intersection of technology and humanity. Yet, he was no humanitarian. He did everything in his own way regardless of whether his action will hurt others. I’m glad that I get to know that side of him.

[Book Review] The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux

Rating: 3/5

Genre: Novel

Book Review

Most of us probably heard of “The Phantom of the Operas”. It is reproduced over and over again in various form. I first saw it in the broadway musical produced by Andrew Loyd Webber. Then I saw it again, when hollywood made it in the movie form. And, this is my third time. This time is in book, audiobook. 

As in other novel, the book is more elaborated. It contains a lot of details which is left out by musicals or movies. Also some parts, some important parts, are quite different from the musical and movie production. It is interesting. But I find it quite difficult to follow (esp. for non-native speaker), because it contains so many Theatrical terminology. But it  was alright. On the average, I enjoyed it. 

[Book Review] Too Good to Leave, Too Bad to Stay by Mira Kirshenbaum

Rating: 3.5/5

Genre: Non-fiction

Book Review

Do you know the term “Relationship ambivalence”? It is a state where you feel that your relationship is too good to leave, and, at the same time, you also feel that your relationship is too bad to stay. You feel like screwed up if you make either of the choices. So you don’t decide. You leave it to fate. You wait for the sign to tell you what to do. It may take months, years, or even decades for that sign to come. When the sign came, you’d ask yourself, why did’t I see this coming?, why have I waited for so long?,...

On the other hand, if might find the sign which convince you that your relation ship is too good to leave. And again, when the sign comes, you'd ask yourself,  why have I had to live with uneasy feeling, when the only problems in my relationship are so little and trivial and there is nothing fundamentally wrong with my relationship.

[Book Review] The Facebook Effect by David Kirkpatrick

Rating: 4/5

Genre: Non-fiction

Book Review

It is clear from the title that this book is about FACEBOOK. The most widely-used social networking website in the world. Out of curiosity, I read this book after watching the movie “Social Networks”, which is about Facebook. In my opinion, the movie is not based on this book. But based on another book “The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal” by  Ben Mezrich. So this book presents another point of view for Facebook, and unquestionably Mark Zuckerberg.

[BookReview] The Reader by Bernhard Schlink

Rating: 3/5
Genre: Novel

Book Review
I picked this book by the recommendation from one of my friends. She told me that it was a good story, only if you don’t know the story before I read it, and it was.

This story is translated from A Germany novel, “Der Vorleser”. It is the story during the Holocaust, told by the main character Michael Berg. Most of the storytelling is engaging, but some parts are not. The more exciting part is the place where the book surprises me. I won’t spoil you with what that is. You have to read the book.

Overall, I think this is a good book. It worthes my time reading this book.

[BookReview] THE Leader's Way: Business, Buddhism and happiness in an interconnected world by His Holyiness The Dalai Lama and Laurens Van Den Muyzenberg

At first glace, business and religion seem to live in different world. But, in fact, both share the common purpose. They both seek happiness.  

The main idea of this book is to apply right view and right conduct to the free market world. The book consists of three parts. Part one focuses on a personal level. It presents the meaning of right view and right conduct that a leader should have, and instructs how one can train his/her mind in busy daily life. Part two moves on to what role leaders should play in an organization. Finally, Part three discusses the right role of the organization in our society.

[BookReview] The Social Network Business Plan: 18 Strategies That Will Create Great Wealth by David Silver

Rating: 4/5

Summary


This book focuses on online recommender community, which is a platform (e.g., a website) where the members gather to rate, review, and recommend services and products. An online community will succeed since

[BookReview] Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion by Gary Vaynerchuk

Rating: 5/5

This book talks about the importance of building a "personal brand", which becomes increasingly easier during this internet era. If you have decided to leave a mark in this world or if you want to be known in public, you might want to read this book. The author, Gary Vaynerchuk, is a successful business developer. He believes that effort will bring you success, even if you don't have a lot of money (like big companies have). This is inline with another book "Outlier by Malcolm Galdwell", where the author believes that a great one (e.g.,Bill Gates) practices what (s)he is good at for at least 10,000 hours (I will blog about it later). Vaynerchuk acknowledges that continuously investing effort in a certain thing is hard. But, if you passionate about it, you can push it through. If you love what you do, you will be happy when putting in effort.