A journey through books and reading

The past four days has been a time of reflection and of quiet moments. One corollary benefit of these tranquil days has been the opportunity to read books. In this digital age, I belong to that breed that still prefers the feel of paper when reading.

Throughout my personal journey of reading, I usually choose selected titles. There are books that I later regretted spending time reading them. But there are also books that I have reread. I have discovered that often books have different effects on a person’s life during different stages of one’s personal life.

There is a distinct difference between reading for information and reading for understanding. While I have done both types of reading, it is the books that we read for understanding that are the most enjoyable. These types of books are also the most varied. They range from non-fiction to essays to novels to poetry.

There are very few authors that I have gone out of my way to  read everything they have published. Back in the ‘70s I developed a passion for the genres of science fiction and fantasy. I read all the books written by Isaac Asimov and Tolkien. They were cult authors at that time. Now they have become best sellers and their books have been made into movies. But Asimov’s Robot series and Tolkien’s Hobbit and Lord of the Rings  trilogy have to be read for the movie to be fully appreciated and enjoyed.

From my teenage years up to my present senior citizenship years, two authors that I have faithfully read are Nick Joaquin and F. Sionil Jose – my favorite fiction writers. I find their books so relevant to the Filipino soul.

My favorite Nick Joaquin writings are actually his short stories and the articles he wrote for the “Free Press” under his pen name Quijano de Manila. The Rosales novels of Sionil Jose are historical fiction, at its best, and a serious commentary of Filipino society.

My daughter Aina belongs to the millennial generation and here are five books she recommends. The 100 Year Old Man who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson is the story of a reluctant centenarian, like Forrest Gump, who decides it is not too late to start over.

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell is set over the course of one school year in 1986. It is the story of two misfits smart enough to know first love almost never lasts but brave and desperate enough to try. The Signature of all Things by Elizabeth Gilbert is a family saga of the Whittaker family in the 18th and 19th centuries covering three continents.

I Am Malala The Girl Who Stood Up For Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzal. A true story — the title speaks for itself. The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri is set in India and America. The story is of two brothers, a brilliant woman, a country torn by revolution and a love that lasts beyond death.

Last Friday I finally completed reading Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium of Pope Francis. I started reading this 288-paragraph message last Christmas. But it is the type of reading that you choose selected relevant topics at any one time. Again, as in several past columns, I urge everyone to read this because it is not just a religious reading. It is a serious and analytical commentary on the pressing social issues such as income inequality, the failure of capitalism, the idolatry of money and other topics.

There are books that one keeps for a while before finally reading it. I finally read The Happy Life of Sin an excellent biography of the late Jaime Cardinal Sin whom I really think deserves to be declared a saint someday.

I also reread Catholic Social Teaching: Our Best Kept Secret by Edward DeBerri and James Hug. It is an overview of the history of Catholic Church’s social teaching for students, teachers, lay people and clergy. It presents outlines of both recent and historic documents. I have used this as reference book for my course on Strategic Management in the MBA program of De La Salle University.

I also tell my students that my course goes beyond business – it is a management course. The history of management is a vast subject, spanning thousands of years of civilizations. Builders and Dreamers by Morgen Witzel is about the beginning of management in the  building of the pyramids in Ancient Egypt through the management of monasteries in the Middle Ages to the present global corporations.

There are two books I have bought primarily because they are recommended reading by the Economist magazine. The first is Grand Pursuit by Sylvia Nasar, the author of A Beautiful Mind. This latest book of hers is sub-titled The Story of Economic Genius. It is the epic story of the modern economists — Marx, Engels, Keynes, Schumpeter, Hayek, Samuelson. Friedman, Sen — and how their insights and writings had revolutionary consequences. But, Nasar also writes how their ideas rescued mankind from squalor and deprivation.

The other book is Strategy: A History, which is the history of strategic thinking. It begins with Sun Tzu and Ancient Greece and ends with today’s theories of business strategies.

The tensions in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) and in Ukraine have again brought up the possibility of a power struggle among the world’s superpowers. This time, the issue is not ideologies but geopolitics. I am now reading an updated (2014) edition of The Tragedy of Great Power Politics by John J. Mearsheimer. One question the book seeks to answer is: can China rise peacefully? The author’s answer is no and explains why.

Throughout my life, I have always encouraged people to read and discover the love of books. Whichever genre one prefers, embarking on a journey through books and reading will truly provide fulfilment, joy and growth all at the same time.    

NBDB celebrates World Book & Copyright Day 2014

The National Book Development Board (NBDB) invites everyone to the celebration of World Book and Copyright Day (WBCD) on April 23, Wednesday at Bonifacio High Street in Taguig City. This year, the NBDB is holding a book publishing industry fair to celebrate WBCD 2014, with creative performances, musical acts, exhibitions, workshops, seminars, and more.

For 18 years, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has celebrated the power of books to build a culture of reading and authorship. Sponsored by the Department of Education, IPO, FILCOLS, FILSCAP, Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino, the National Library, Fully Booked, Bonifacio Global City, and ReaderCon, the 2014 celebration of WBCD aims to promote book readership and book development and raise awareness about the importance of copyright in the present climate of the industry.

The NBDB invites readers, writers, publishers, editors, and all those interested to join the WBCD 2014 book publishing industry fair on April 23. For questions about the event, contact Rita Quinto of the NBDB at 5706198 local 806 or [email protected]

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