10 buku dari 2012

10 buku pilihan saya daripada rezeki pembacaan tahun lalu. Alhamdulillah.

Sumber: Marie Claire

Love in a Headscarf. Shelina Janmohamed (Beacon Press, 2010)
Petikan daripada entri asal: "If I have daughters who can read and old enough to begin thinking about relationships, I'd tell them to read this book."

Sumber: Open Library

Zeitoun. Dave Eggers (Vintage, 2010)
Petikan daripada entri asal: "One of the concerns of the US government during Hurrincane Katrina was stopping so-called terrorists hiding within in the US from taking advantage of the chaotic situation. The US Army along with FEMA, paramilitary forces including security firm Blackwater, and other government agencies were sent into crisis areas to look for suspicious persons and activities. They ran into Abdulrahman and his friends at one of Abdulrahman's rental houses and immediately thought they in possession of some stolen goods. This was when Abdulrahman's real nightmare began."

Sumber: Karya Bestari

Penawar Duka Pengubat Sengsara. Ustaz Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abibin (Karya Bestari, 2012)
Petikan daripada entri asal: "Penawar Duka Pengubat Sengsara mengfokuskan aspek rohani dan akidah, berbeza daripada buku-buku beliau yang lain yang ada menyentuh tentang aspek seperti kemasyarakatan, siasah dan sejarah. Puisi-puisi kerohanian Ustaz Dr Asri yang menutup dan membuka bab-bab buku ini meniupkan rasa syahdu ke dalam hati pembaca termasuklah pembaca yang berhati kematu seperti saya."

Sumber: Sensei's Library

The Master of Go. Kawabata Yasunari, translated by Edward G. Seidensticker (Vintage, 1996)
Petikan daripada entri asal: "Reading this book with just a rudimentary understanding of Go was certainly a handicap. What made me stay to the end was Kawabata's detailed account of what happened throughout the match, the people involved, and how they revealed clues about the two masters of the game. Go was merely the stage on which a human drama unfolded."

Sumber: CraveWorthy

Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind: How to Be Seen and Heard in the Overcrowded Marketplace. Al Ries & Jack Trout (McGraw-Hill, 2000)
Petikan daripada entri asal: "Positioning is not about being the first, it is more about not be overlooked by customers who are overwhelmed by the choices available in the market. Good positioning means getting through to the customers’ mind."

Sumber: Kedai Buku Anda

Travelog Wartawan Islam. Roslan Hamid (Kemilau Publika, 2011)
Petikan daripada entri asal: "Pengalaman peribadi tuan Roslan Hamid seperti menziarahi makam Imam Bukhari dan masyarakat Islam di Uzbekistan, keengganan seorang imam masjid untuk ditemuramah kerana rasa tidak yakinnya terhahap ketelusan akhbar, serta kesibukan yang menelan setiap peluang untuk beribadat atau masa untuk bersama-sama keluarga; mendorong beliau untuk mengucapkan selamat tinggal kepada dunia kewartawanan pada tahun 1998, ketika berada di meja Pengarang Luar Negara."

Sumber: Tamarind Books

Growing Up in Tregganu. Awang Goneng (Monsoon Books, 2007)
Petikan daripada entri asal: "Growing Up in Trengganu is the kind of book I could never write, primarily because I never grew up long enough in a place to become acquainted with it, to have the kind of connection that Awang Goneng has with Trengganu, place he says no longer exist. I can't argue with him there."

Sumber: Az-Zahra

Secangkir Teh Pengubat Letih. Ustaz Hasrizal Abdul Jamil (Galeri Ilmu, 2010)
Petikan daripada entri asal: "Turki juga saksi terkuburnya khilafah Uthamaniyyah, institusi pemerintahan Islam yang pernah menjadi tunggak umat Islam sedunia. Ustaz Hasrizal mendedikasikan satu bab khas mengenai tragedi ini. Jika ditinjau lebih mendalam, kita sebagai umat Islam umpama pelanduk yang adakalanya terlupa jerat, sedangkan jerat tidak pernah melupakan pelanduk."

Sumber: PTS

40 Hadis Palsu Popular. Abdul Razak Muthalib (PTS Islamika, 2011)
Petikan daripada entri asal: "Jangan kerana niat ingin bertazkirah, kita terheret ke neraka. Semoga kita dilindungi Allah daripada kesilapan ini."

Sumber: Hasani Books

Mudahnya Menjemput Rezeki. Fathuri Salehuddin (Galeri Ilmu, 2012)
Saya belum sempat menulis apa-apa tentang buku ini. Saya membelinya di Pesta Buku Antarabangsa KL tahun lepas dan sempat bersua dengan pengarangnya. Beliau seorang yang mempunyai aura yang begitu positif. Kami sempat berbual sebentar sebelum beliau meurunkan autograf pada naskhah saya. Secara mudahnya :-) buku ini bukan mengenai mencari rezeki, tetapi tentang menjemput rezeki. Apa bezanya? Menjemput rezeki ialah tentang membuat amalan-amalan yang menarik rezeki kepada kita. Gaya penulisan buku ini sangat santai dan nyaman hinggakan saya tidak sedar yang saya menghabiskan dalam masa yang agak singkat. Fahami apakah sebenarnya rezeki dan apa yang patut kita lakukan untuk memandunya masuk ke dalam hidup kita. Turut termuat adalah beberapa kisah benar tentang penjemput rezeki. Pesan pengarang, cubalah pesanan yang dititip dan lihatlah sendiri perubahan.


Begitulah, 10 buah buku pilihan. Jemput baca.

Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind

Source: CraveWorthy

Quickly, what’s the No.1 fast food restaurant chain in Malaysia?

No, don’t tell me the answer. Instead, I want you think about how quickly you came up with the answer? Did it took you more than a minute? Was it based on any statistics?

I’m guessing no and no, right? Because that, my friend, is the power of positioning. Positioning is powerful concept that make or break a company or a product, as this book claims.

I remember attending a writing workshop a few years back. The speaker was constantly asking attendees, who were hoping to get published, to think carefully about positioning. The book market(s) can get crowded very quickly. Publishers aren’t keen to sign up an author unless he or she has something unique to offer.

This is the reason why Pak Latip (Abdul Latip Talib) pretty much rules the local historical novel market. He certainly wasn’t the first local author to write in this genre. But he was the first to successfully market historical novels, a genre that may have been deemed by some published as unprofitable.

He also continues to write historical novels, instead of trying his hand at any other genres. By doing so, Pak Latip is cementing his place in the market, and more importantly in the minds of the readers.

Being the first means he’s going to the one who set the bar. If a new historical novelist gets published, it’s likely that people will ask, is he as good as Pak Latip? If that is the case, then the new historical novelist has no choice but to be better. Or different.

Positioning is not about being the first, it is more about not be overlooked by customers who are overwhelmed by the choices available in the market. Good positioning means getting through to the customers’ mind.

Companies with already good positioning can make mistakes that leads to an unfavourable perceptions about themselves. The authors of this book warns leading companies from going about and telling people they’re the No.1. This type of statement makes the company sound insecure.

If people already know that you’re already No.1, there’s no need repeating it constantly. After a while, customers —people like you and me— will start going, “Yeah, so?” Customers are not dumb.

Also, being No.1 means nothing to the customers if they are treated like #!$@.

Wunderlist is a simple, cross-platform to-do list manager I love using

One of the most important advice my mother gave me when I started working was to have to-do lists. I could be buried under tons of work, and the emails and phone calls would be coming in, sometimes almost endlessly, each with new tasks for me to complete. With my trustly to-do list in hand, I entered them as they came, sorted them according to priority, and tackled every one until they're completed. By end of a working day, seeing my list with nearly all tasks ticked off and completed never fails to bring a smile to my face.

This is why I love to-do apps like Wunderlist. In addition to using the good ol' pen and paper, Wunderlist lets me keep my to-do lists easily update-able and available, thanks to its cross-platform design.

Getting started with Wunderlist is really easy. First, we create the lists using the Add List button. Lists give context to our tasks. We can put personal tasks and work tasks into separate lists. Think of it as having separate lists on separate pages. This gives us a clearer overview of all the tasks we need to do.

I create a list for every project I'm involved in. This helps me remember which tasks is related to which project. A new task in created in list simply by typing the input bar in each lists. I can move tasks between lists simply by dragging and dropping them. Each tasks can be given a date and reminder.

The tasks can be rearranged by click-dragging them over or under one another or using Stars. Stars are normally used for priority tasks, but Wunderlist doesn't restrict the use of Stars for this purpose only. We can also put Stars on recurring tasks, tasks that need to be done repeatedly, like taking out the trash or doing a weekly review of all our projects.

And that's it. Wunderlist also has other features like creating lists and tasks via email and list sharing, but  I haven't tried them out.

What I love most about Wunderlist is its cross-platform design. We can use Wunderlist as web-app through its website and install it on our Windows, Linux, and Mac computers.

I use the Windows-based desktop version of Wunderlist more often than the web-app version because I find it more stable. It works both with and without Internet connection. I'm not always online, so I'd really appreciate it if my apps would work just as well when I'm offline.

Wunderlist synchronises our lists across devices via Internet connection and keeps them updated. For smartphone users, Wunderlist is also available for iPhone, Android, Blackberry, and Windows Phone.

I recently tried Wunderlist on Android and its works almost just as good. The Andriod phone I tried it on has a smalll screen and this made it a bit tricky for me rearrange tasks in my lists. But if you're using Wunderlist on bigger device, say a Galaxy Tab with a 7-inch screen, you won't have this problem.

So, are you ready to take your to-do lists to the next level? Sign up for a free Wunderkit account and upgrade away.

Teman Perjalanan yang Baru dan Bermanfaat

KEMAS KINI: Link ke podcast BFM dan IKIMfm

Satu petua bernas yang saya belajar daripada Prof Dr Muhaya ialah bagaimana untuk mencuri masa untuk mencari ilmu pengetahuan baru walaupun ketika kita sangat sibuk. Pesan beliau, masa-masa terluang yang dihabiskan berulang alik dari rumah ke tempat rumah, menunggu seseorang, dan seumpamanya boleh digunakan untuk belajar.

Bagaimana? Dengan mendengar audiobook.

Mendengar buku adalah cara yang cepat untuk menyerap ilmu dan maklumat. Kita tidak perlu duduk setempat, kita boleh bergerak jika kita mahu. Sambil memasak, membasuh, atau mengemas. Waktu terperangkap di dalam jam tidak lagi seteruk sangat apabila fikiran kita sedang menyerap input-input berguna.

Saya mencuba petua ini semasa pulang ke kampung minggu lepas. Media pilihan saya bukan audiobook tetapi podcast dari stesyen BFM dan IKIMfm. Kerana saya memang hantu interview. Rakaman podcast dalam bentuk MP3 dimuat turun, dirakam ke CD-ROM, kemudian dimainkan di radio kereta.

Sepanjang perjalanan dari utara tanahair ke ibukota negara, saya ditemani pakar rujuk muamalat Ustaz Dr Zaharuddin Abdul Rahman, tokoh agama Ustaz Dr Zulkifli Mohamad Al-Bakri, business coach Jeevan Sahadevan, antaranya. Rasa kantuk berjaya dihalau, serba sedikit. Kepala dan jiwa juga terisi, sedikit sebanyak.

Terima kasih yang tidak terhingga buat Prof Dr Muhaya.

[ BFM Podcasts ]
[ Muat Turun Audio IKIMfm ]

Baucer Buku 1Malaysia

Alhamdulillah, segala syukur kepada Allah, dan terima kasih buat pihak kerajaan. Sebagai seorang pelajar IPT, saya telah menjadi salah seorang penerima Baucer Buku 1Malaysia (BB1M).

BB1M adalah sebahagian daripada bantuan yang diperuntukkan di bawah Bajet 2012 yang diumumkan tahun lepas. Setiap pelajar yang layak akan menerima baucer buku yang bernilai RM200 untuk tujuan membeli buku-buku yang berkenaan dengan pelajaran. Itulah tujuan utamanya.

Saya mendapat tahu mengenainya sehari selepas ia diedarkan. Sememangnya Allah Maha Mengetahui. Hari pertama rupa-rupanya hari yang teramat sibuk kerana para pelajar menbanjari dewan untuk mengambil baucer masing-masing. Apabila saya datang ke dewan pada hari ke-2, saya cuma beratur selama 5 minit.

Waktu itu sudah hujung semester. Ada pelajar yang sudah selesai segala peperiksaan dan telah pun berangkat pulang ke kampung. Yang masih ada barangkali berfikir kaunter edaran akan ditutup jika mereka lambat mengambilnya. Atau jika tidak diambil pada hari itu, baucer tersebut akan habis.

"Masih boleh ambil lagi kalau selepas ini, tetapi di Unit Kewangan. Saudara perlu menuntutnya sendiri," saya diberitahu oleh pegawai yang bertugas, "Tetapi perlu sebelum 31 Mac ini." Kenapa 31 Mac, saya bertanya. "Baucer ini akan luput pada 31 Mac, hari terakhir untuk menebusnya."

Saya beredar setelah mengucapkan terima kasih kepada pegawai bertugas, dan mencatat tarikh 31 Mac di dalam ingatan saya. Sebenarnya RM200 adalah bukanlah jumlah yang banyak, tetapi ia bukan jumlah yang sedikit. Banyak atau sedikit akan bergantung kepada jenis buku yang bakal dibeli.

Harga buku teks terutamanya yang diimport adalah agak tinggi. Ketika saya masih seorang prasiswazah, saya selalunya perlu membeli empat hingga enam buku teks setiap semester. Harga sebuah buku teks biasanya berada di antara RM60 hingga RM80. Itu zaman saya. Bagi prasiswazah sekarang, harga buku teks dikatakan bermula pada RM70.

Bagi pelajar yang menjalankan penyelidikan, buku rujukan menjadi keperluan. Ke situlah perginya BB1M saya. Seperti kebanyakan buku import, harganya menggerunkan.

Sumber: mediabistro