My New Web Page--WhatILearnFromReading.Com

I just launch my new website 

"WhatILearnFromReading.com". 

It is a blog where I document what I learn from [my] reading. The recent blog post will be updated on the facebook fan page, below: 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/What-I-Learn-from-Reading/423436971050450

Life is busy. If you don't have time but you like learning new thing, please visit my blog. I hope you will find my content useful. 

What I Learn From Reading Is Coming Soon

For a while, I have been reading a lot. Well, mostly listening, since I usually "read" audiobook. I have also reviewed and done book summary at this blog.

I decided that it's time to escalate my passion and effort for my reading. So I decided to run a new website "www.WhatILearnFromReading.com." Currently, I am touching up the website. I am planning to launch the website on 12/12/12 (nice date, isn't it?) Here is a sample page:

I will document what I learn from reading there. The first book that I will do is "The Intelligent Entrepreneur: How Three Harvard Business School Graduates Learned the 10 Rules of Successful Entrepreneurship" by Bill Murphy Jr. [ Read The Book Review Here ].

I wish you will go there. And, if you find the content interesting,  I hope that you'll come back and visit the website regularly. I hope that you will tell your friends about the website. And, I hope that you'll also tell your enemy about the website :)

As for this blog, I will still keep posting miscellaneous things like cartoonized your picture.

Cartoonize your picture with cartoonize.net

Wanna make your picture like a cartoon? I am looking for one, as I will use my cartoonized image for my new website. So, I went and looked online. I found "cartoonize.net". This picture lets you upload your image and apply cartoon effect to your picture. I tried it, and it's pretty cool. Here is the result:

The nice things about this website are

• It's free!
• You don't need to create any account. Just upload and choose your image
• You can download the image after it is cartoonized. There is a little watermark "cartoonized.net" on the bottom right corner. But you can crop it out. 

There is a desktop version for $19.95, where you can convert your images in batch, and you can do it offline. To me, I think it's expensive because I'm a casual user. For now, online conversion is all I need.

[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.