I asked if he himself enjoyed reading himself and was often found with a magazine or a book. He confessed that he was a couch potato and preferred to watch movies and television. Therein lies the crux of the issue. Children who read tend to pick up the habit from their parents. If there are reading materials strewn about the house, or if parents recommend interesting books for their children to read from young, the habit will catch on very naturally.
Prof Tommy Koh once shared at a breakfast talk that the cultured person is one who has read history and literature, and he recommended very highly some of the literacy classics of Southeast Asia, such as the Ramayana and the Analects. He said that every time he travels, his wife would pack two books in his luggage and he had the happy excuse of staying in his hotel room to read in the evenings, rather than spend the evening wondering what to do with himself.
I have a list of 2009 books I would like to recommend for adult readers and a separate list for younger boys. (Please see below.)
As we herald in a new year, my wish is for every Rafflesian to be a lifelong reader. No one can be lonely when they continually bask in the warmth of a good book and no one can be dogmatic or narrow-minded if they are constantly exposed to ideas and perspectives from different people.
A Dozen Good Reads for Boys
(Non-fiction)
• A History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21.A_Short_History_of_Nearly_Everything
• A Little History of the World by E H Grombich
http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=9780300108835
• Undercover Economist by Tim Harford
http://timharford.com/undercovereconomist/
• 1421: The Year China Discovered the World by Gavin Menzies
http://www.1421.tv/
• The Pig that Wants to be Eaten (and 99 Other Thought Experiments) by Julian Baggini
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2005/sep/03/highereducation.news
• The Economic Naturalist: Why Economics Explains Almost Everything by
Robert Frank
http://www.robert-h-frank.com/book.html
(Fiction)
• The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
http://www.powells.com/review/2003_07_05.html
• The Narnia Chronicles by C S Lewis
http://www.narniachronicles.com/
• The Hobbit by J R Tolkien
http://www.lord-of-the-rings.org/hobbit.html
• The Waterworks by El Doctorow
http://www.davidlouisedelman.com/book-reviews/the-waterworks/
• Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
http://www.powells.com/biblio/17-9781400078776-0
• Heartland by Daren Shiau
http://asian-literature.suite101.com/article.cfm/review_heartland_by_daren_shiau
My Top 10 Books for Adults in 2009
• Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
http://www.gladwell.com/outliers/index.html
• The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything by Ken Robinson
http://www.theelementbook.com
• How the Mighty Fall And Why Some Companies Never Give In by Tim Collins
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_21/b4132026786379.htm
• The Flipside: Finding the Hidden Opportunities in Life by Adam J Jackson
http://www.adamjjackson.com/flipside.html
• The Opposable Mind: How Successful Leaders Win Through Integrative Thinking by Roger Martin
http://www.volans.com/volans-outreach/volans-reviews/volans-top-books/the-opposable-mind-by-roger-l-martin
• Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us by Seth Godin
http://www.ted.com/talks/seth_godin_on_the_tribes_we_lead.html
• Smart World: Breakthrough Creativity and the New Science of Ideas by Richard Ogle
http://www.garamondagency.com/index.php?id=111
• Strategic Intuition: The Creative Spark in Human Achievement by William Duggan
http://columbiapress.typepad.com/strategic_intuition/what-is-stra.html
• Iconoclast: A Neuroscientist Reveals How to Think Differently by Gregory Berns
http://usacac.army.mil/BLOG/blogs/reflectionsfromfront/archive/2009/06/22/on-the-nightstand-iconoclast-by-gregory-berns.aspx
• Free: The Future of a Radical Price by Chris Anderson
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2009/07/06/090706crbo_books_gladwell
