Books and Beyond

Kali ini bukan ringkasan buku (bukannya lagi kehabisan buku, malah lagi kebanyakan buku jadinya belum kelar-kelar dibaca hahaha), ini tentang headline di koran Kompas 13 Juni 2008. Judul: Kepercayaan Publik Dicederai, Subjudul: Kejaksaan Agung Memalukan dan Indikasikan Perdagangan Perkara. Selain itu, Tajuk Rencana: Percakapan yang Menyentak!

Iya, itu lho tentang percakapan terkait kasus suap itu, yang disadap KPK itu…

Komentar gua: Come on, Kompas… Kepercayaan Publik Dicederai?
Yang jelas kepercayaan gua kaga sedikitpun cedera, kepercayaan gua udah lama hilang, udah kaga ada. Isi percakapan yang disadap itu ngga mengejutkan gua sama sekali, beneran… ya emang begitu lah ya, percakapannya ya emang begitu lah kira-kira. My dear Kompas, yang menyentak bukan percakapannya, buat gua sih, gua justru kaget juga isi rekaman begitu akhirnya bisa diperdengarkan di tv, ditulis transkripnya di koran. Hahaha… Ini justru menghibur… Seru!

Dan aneh bahwa Kompas menulis di Tajuk Rencana: "Kita bertanya mengapa praktik tercela masih saja terjadi di era reformasi, bahkan pada masa kepemimpinan Presiden SBY yang menempatkan perang terhadap korupsi sebagai agenda utama pemerintahannya… dst". Lha… ini kok Kompas jadi mirip politisi-politisi lawan-lawannya Presiden SBY ya… Praktik tercela tidak otomatis hilang sejak reformasi dong, lha penjahat-penjahatnya kan masih itu-itu juga kan…

Gua bukan berniat membela Presiden SBY, apa urusan gua? Tapi gua jelas ngerasa lucu aja banyak banget yang jadi menjelek-jelekkan pemerintahan sekarang ini. Kayak itu orang-orang bakal pada bener aja kalo jadi penguasa hehehe… (Dan please deh, mulai dari sekarang, please ngga usah pada keganjenan pasang-pasang iklan pribadi, percaya ama gua itu lebih banyak mudaratnya… Kalo emang lagi pada masa kampanye ok deh, tapi tetap bikinnya yang pinter lah ya, jangan asal, lama-lama orang-orang bisa muak lho…).

Gua orang yang pesimis, pesimis banget. Gua ngga percaya masalah kebobrokan di negari tercinta ini akan selesai dalam waktu cepat. Mungkin perlu 2 generasi setelah generasi gua sekarang ini baru insya Allah bisa pada bener. Itu juga kalo mulai sekarang anak-anak kecil dididik yang bener supaya punya kesadaran jangan pada jadi penjahat… (Tapi sebenernya, para penjahat sekarang ini emang dididiknya dulu kaga bener ya? Hahaha…).

Dan balik lagi ke kasus suap itu, gua ngga berharap banyak, ngga berharap sama sekali malah. Kalau toh akhirnya ternyata bahkan kaga ada yang dihukum sama sekali pun, ya tak apa lah… Biarin lah… Biar Tuhan yang balas aja lah. (Untuk para penjahat yang udah pada tua, mungkin ngerasa dah dekat ajalnya, ayo selagi ada kesempatan bertobatlah, lebih bagus lagi kalo duit yang dicolong dibalikin, kalo ngga ya udah ngga apa-apa juga).

Apakah sikap gua ini terlalu pasrah? Iya, betul juga ya. Pengecut? Iya mungkin juga. Dalam Islam, apabila kita melihat kebatilan (kejahatan), kita seharusnya merubahnya dengan tangan atau, kalau tak bisa, dengan perkataan, atau selemah-lemahnya adalah kita ngedumel aja dalam hati.

Gua bukan mau ngajak revolusi lho… kan gua udah bilang gua ini pesimis, I don’t even believe revolution will do. Biarlah waktu yang menyembuhkan semua.

Semoga akan cepat datang masanya dimana orang-orang Indonesia tercinta ini punya rasa malu kalo nyolong, apalagi kalo ketauan. Banyak lagi sih semoga-semoga yang lain, tapi sudah lah mari nonton piala eropa aja nih udah main perancis vs belanda.
(Kalo bisa ya, ngga usah ada kejadian-kejadian aneh-aneh dulu di bidang politik nih, biarkan rakyat nonton bola aja dulu. Iya bolanya orang eropa ini aja dulu dinikmatin, bolanya kita mari kita sama-sama doakan aja, ngga usah berharap mau mereformasi persepakbolaan kita lah, capeee…).

Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty
Author: Muhammad Yunus, Founder of the Grameen Bank

I found out that Muhammad Yunus wrote this book while browsing around www.kivafriends.org, a community of Kiva (see www.kiva.org) users, staff and supporters.

In this book Muhammad Yunus shared his experiences in founding Grameen Bank, really from zero to hero. He was so concerned that the academic world cannot solve the condition of the many poor people and after learning in great surprise that little loan was what really needed, in 1976 he personally lent $27 to 42 villagers in Jobra nearby Chittagong
University, Bangladesh, where he headed the Economics Department. He then approached a bank to get more loans for the poor in Jobra and got that loans which required him as a guarantor. Later he managed to get some banks to open branches that he and his staff could use to give loans to the poorest of the poor. Finally in 1983 a bank to the poor, Grameen Bank (Grameen means village), an independent institution, was born.

Despite many skepticism, cultural and other obstacles, Grameen Bank has helped many poor entrepreneurs, mostly women. We will find some touching stories of Grameen borrowers in this book, the hardworking Grameen staff and Muhammad Yunus’ resourcefulness. Grameen Bank has developed other companies along the way: GrameenPhone, Grameen Shakti (Energy), etc. The success of Grameen brought the replications of Grameen-style micro-finance institutions around the world.

In the end of the book, Muhammad Yunus shared his view that poverty does not belong in civilized human society, that we should and could build a poverty-free world.

Muhammad Yunus also told little stories of his childhood in Chittagong, Bangladesh (he was born in 1940), then his time studying in USA, the time when Bangladesh was struggling to be independent from Pakistan, and other personal stories, but not so much. In 2006, Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank received Nobel Peace Prize "for their efforts to create economic and social development from below". (This book was published in 2003, originally in 1997).

(Complete title –> Bright from the Start: The Simple, Science-Backed Way to Nurture Your Child’s Developing Mind from Birth to Age 3)

I like this book for the fact that it is so logical. It teaches parents how to get babies’ attention, to form bonding and communicate with babies through much care, singing, talking, playing, and all activities. All seems too simple, but the author assures you with scientific researches and studies in phsycology, neuroscience, etc.

The book focus more on what parents should do to get a bright baby, instead of the milestones of what baby should have been able to do at certain ages.

So after reading this book, in order to get a bright baby, I know I have to:
- provide a loving and safe environment
- talk and sing a lot to baby
- hold baby often (not to let her cry for too long)
- make sure to get the right caregiver, if needed (if both parents are working)
- get baby a piano or violin lesson starting age 2 or 3 (the author does not agree to the hype of mozart effect; so it is better for children to know how to play a music instrument instead of just listening to classical musics)
- teach baby a second language (I think I will start talking English with baby soon)

I recommend this book for first-time parents like me. Though the author says it’s never to late to give love and care to babies, I think if your baby is already older than 2 or 3 yo, you will feel awful for not doing what the book suggests from after birth.

I bought another set of books for my wife (an Indonesian version of Baby Book, I think the authors are a family with last name Sears). A good book as well.

Khaled Hosseini is the author of the bestselling "The Kite Runner".

A Thousand Splendid Suns tells a sad story of two Afghan women, who came from two different places and cultures but eventually gathered in one house in the war-ridden Kabul. For me this is a very tiring book with all the miseries happened to those two poor women. I hate that so many people are so very mean.

Like in The Kite Runner, the author introduced some history of Afghanistan. The Monarchy Era then the Soviet Era then the Warlord Era then the Taliban Era until the current post 9/11 era.

I like one quote in the novel saying something like this: An Afghan can defeat all but himself. After all the hardships in fighting the Soviet, I find it sad that the Afghans should suffer from all the fightings among the factions of the Warlords and then came the Talibans and then George Bush…

Too many mean people, stupid people in this world!

I like The Kite Runner better than this one.

As a cure to this sad novel, I am so glad that my friend Daniel lend me a heartwarmer book "Laskar Pelangi" by Andrea Hirata. A very inspiring book, highly recommended.

I’ve been juggling several books lately. Some finished, some almost finished, some are just simply neglected (I promise myself I will read them, though).

Just finished:
- Deception Point by Dan Brown tells a story of a high level deception in the US Government involving a finding of alien fossils under the Arctic Ice. It’s not the typical alien like the green humanoid, it’s just some kind of big mollusks trapped in a rock that was perceived as coming from high above, a meteor.

- Digital Fortress (also by Dan Brown) tells a story inside the NSA (secret agency in the US), where a new data encryption method (created by a bitter ex employee of NSA) would make the current superior encryption of the NSA obsolete, and even worse that the ex employee was threatening the NSA that he would sell the new creation to highest bidder if NSA did not do as he wished (which was to tell the world that NSA has been snooping the public communication with its superior technology).

I like Da Vinci Code and Angels&Demons better.

Not Finished Yet (but almost done):
- A Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez: a lovely family saga, so much drama in so much details. So much personalities, so much confusing similar names. You will be amazed to follow how the family in the story grew; strangely, in every person of it. How a place surrounded by swamps built into a village, grew into small town, connected to other small towns, until the government took over municipality, then war broke between the ruling Democrats and the rebellion Liberals, then peace came, then war again and peace again, then eventually connected to the outside world by the introducing of the train, attracted investors of banana plantations, then there was a massacre triggered by labor strikes, then peace again brought by a devastating years of rains. Interesting. I think I will read another book of Marquez.

Neglected Books:
- A book about a history of world great civilizations that had vanished, the book tells the reasons why they vanished and we have to know the reasons so as not to fall into the same mistakes; and also about successful ones which we can draw lessons so as to survive. I forget the exact title, it belongs to my brother. It is an interesting book, really, but so thick, and well, I will finish it soon and write about it.
- A book about investment. I will write later about this later. I bought this book for my refreshments to my investment knowledge. An easy read, actually.
- A book by Nick Hornby, the title is Fever Fitch, about his crazy love on soccer, on Arsenal. Oh I bought it like years ago… I love Nick Hornby novels, but this one has to wait maybe a long time for me to read.

Next Readings:
Maybe, Stephen Hawking’s books (maybe also Stephen King’s). Maybe also Barack Obama’s books. Not sure yet.

2Recommended by Willy, I read The Life of Pi. A very good story of a boy stranded in a life boat with a Bengal tiger, for months. A mix of religion and zoology stories. I like the first part of the book: the descriptions on the zoo and animals that the boy’s father owned and managed, the strange mind of a boy who simultaneously practiced 3 different religions (Hindu, Christian and Islam), the story of the part of India where the boy lived.

When fist saw the title, I thought the book would be telling something about the magic pi number 3.14. So it is not. Pi is the nickname of the boy.

The part when Pi was suffering in the Pacific Ocean for months, well it is too real, too long. I was kind of hoping that after the sufferings there will be happy stories when the boy later lived in Canada. Well I must say I was a bit disappointed. But overall, it is a very good book.

I saw this book last month in Kinokuniya Plasa Senayan, wondered why the cover is just the same as The Catcher in the Rhye. Then I knew why, it’s written by the same J.D. Salinger. Boy how I want to meet this man. Love the Catcher so much, and so I bought this.

It’s not as enjoyable as the Catcher, with all the long sentences, long (and many times, very very long) paragraphs, so much commas. But if you love Salinger, you would want to read this.

The story is about Franny and Zooey Glass, who are siblings. Franny a student and Zooey an actor. Though super intelligent (were panellists in radio talkshow when they’re kids), they are real freaks and they realize that. They were exposed to eastern religions, thanks to their brothers Seymour (died on suicide) and Buddy (a professional writer who became a hermit) who drilled them  odds things when they’re young.

From the conversations of Zooey and Bessie (the mother), Zooey and Franny, and Franny and Zooey, you will know how broken the family is. Franny is bitter about her college and things around it. Zooey is bitter about acting and things around it, about his brothers Seymour and Buddy who he thinks responsible for what he and Franny had become. Bessie is bitter about how her kids have become (still bitter about deaths of her two kids, one by suicide and the other by freak accident at war). Well, it’s so real.

Someone in the internet wrote that Salinger’s short stories (Nine Stories, I think that’s the title of the book) are better than the Catcher, so I might buy that one also. Later.

Chris Anderson learned that in the web culture (and then in every other things), when so many things are supplied demands follow. I think it’s like Say’s Law "Supply creates its own demand" (although this Say’s Law has its different interpretations).

The title "The Long Tail" comes from the shape of the curve (this book used Rhapsody.com’s sales) with volume (of sales, etc) in the Y-axis and inventory in X-axis. In the left side where the hits are, sales are high. That’s the head. And the tail is in the right side where all the non-hits when combined are bigger than the hits.

In case of Rhapsody and iTunes, musics are offered not in the same way as the traditional shelves in music stores. They are downloadable, cheap in storage, many non-hits are offered, many obscure songs are there, and everybody from everywhere can buy, and it turns out that the non-hits have buyers.

So it’s a big change from the traditional hit-driven market to niche (non-hit) market. All niche producers (who are empowered by many technologies which are cheap now) can compete with all the big companies and may have customers. Not just in music an movies sold in the net, but the long tail phenomenon can be observed in many other things, as Chis Anderson studied. Many interesting stories, a good read.

It is a story of life of Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Computer, who single-handedly created the Apple I and the famous Apple II. He’s also inventor of many other less-known amazing things.

Steve Jobs may be more popular, but I think I like Steve Wozniak more. I just like him a lot by reading this book. I believe he is really a kind, honest man. And of course, he’s a genius, brilliant man.

The story starts from his childhood time, when his father (worked in secret projects for US government)  taught him a lot about engineering things, making him understand how things work. He was champions to many science projects in school. The story ends in present time, where he spends his time doing charity works although still officially is an employee of Apple Computer.

His knowledge about electronic circuits, his experiments, his works etc has changed the computer world forever. While working at Hewlet-Packard (making calculators), he joined a group of people who interested in computer things and so he came up with the idea of building a computer called the Apple I, but it was the Apple II that gained huge success. Apple Computer, the company which he co-founded with Steve Jobs and some other friends, went public and became a huge company and so he got rich very rich.

Steve Wozniak is the one who changed the looks of computers. Back then, computers are strange machines with panels and switches, without keyboards and monitors.

I really enjoy reading this book. It’s amazing to learn how things have changed so fast in about 20 years in the computer world, how an inventor like Steve Wozniak thinks (he described the logic behind some of his inventions).

It took me some time to finish reading this book, lagi sibuk euy… hehehe…

In this book the author points out how the world is now flat, where all the playing fields are levelled. The fall of Berlin Wall in 1989 had triggerred more openness throughout the world (end of Cold War, no more Soviet and so on), and that coincided by many breakthroughs and advancements of information technology (personal computers, Windows, the Internet, softwares, applications, Google, VOIP, mobile technology and so on) has quickly and dramatically empowered individuals, groups, companies and even countries to work, collaborate and compete more equally, creatively, intelligently in a new platform. This new platform operates without regard to geography, distance, and, in the near future, even language. Everybody everywhere can plug and play with everybody else.

It’s interesting to know how Mr. Friedman as an American is worried that the US is not preparing the current generation well enough to face the future competition to China, India, East Europe and the others. Well, look at us here in Indonesia… Who’s not worried now?

Then Mr. Friedman also admits he realizes that in many ways many parts of the world are still unflat, being left behind, which are the unflattening forces: many people are too sick (by AIDS, malaria, TB, etc), too poor (no access to participate), too frustrated (al-Qaeda and other Islamist terror organizations), and too much consuming natural resources (big cities eating up fuels and polluting the earth).

This is an exciting read, pointing out our modern history now. Mr. Friedman’s comments on Arab-Muslim world should be read by muslims as valuable critics. As a muslim I can admit that most muslims are left behind now (and most left behinds are muslims). So like our heartwarmer Aa Gym always says, we should change: start from the simplest things, start from each one of us, start NOW.

I’d like to say Selamat Idul Fitri, Mohon Maaf Lahir dan Batin to all my muslim friends, and to all my friends in Jakarta: have a nice, safe holidays…