7/8/11 HOW I CHOOSE MY READING MATERIALS.

I love to read since I was in Lower Secondary School. It start with when I was appointed as the School Librarian. Thereon, I used to take books home to my hostel and in the very begining I read Enide Blyton. The series gave me the intelligent mind ie always searching for loopehole in many things. Today people thought I'm porky, but what I was doing was developing a mind that will never be complacent with what I have done. As a human, nothing that we did is perfect. So, in anything and everyting, despite there are beauties, there always rooms to improve. With that in mind, I will always have my comment on many things as well as improvement measures.

(2) Political chaotic in the 1970s and early 1980s made me having deep interest in politic. I usually absence from my Science classes, and used to go around in Kuala Lumpur to meet all sort of politicians (government and opposition) and social activists. But later I found out, politic is not the key mean to resolve lots of social issues. I began to look at economic and development planning and management subjects. But again, I then discovered, I have no mean of communication of my ideas. Thus I began to read books on public speaking and even writing. Surely later I migrated to literatures especially reading all those peotic out cries and historical and struggle-type novels.

(3) Basically, I read those stuffs that could resolved or fulfill my urge to know, the urge of discoveries. I read stuffs that could help me to work better and to broaden my skill and knowledge in resolving issues at hand be it official or personal. I don't read for hobby or mere the stuffs are interesting. I read to work and I normally would want to practice what had I read. With such an approach, I could sink deep in my reading, as well swim hard.

(4) Nonetheless, there will be some noise who will say:Al Quran is the best book to read. My only challeng to this type of damn shalow mind, did he/she really read te Al Quran. Did she/he really know what he is reading? Did he/she really practice what he/she say? To me to really understand the Al Quran, one needs to read more. Let not be carried away by emotion and prejudice. Muslim, Bukhari, Ibn Sina, Ibn Kahldum, and many others Islamic scholars, they read not only Al Quran to make them great, but many others book even those written by the Greek and Roman.

(5) This writing is to answer a querry made by a reader on my article titled: Socrates. I hope this will help others as well. I just want to share.

Wisma Satok, Kuching
12 August, 2011