GEORGE CLOONEY

An autobiography of George Clooney. He was born in Kentucky. His father Nick Clooney was in the showbiz and that was one of the motivating factor for young George to look at showbiz as the career to choose.

Also a very good baseball player (known as a good hitter but average fielder) and was once called by Cincinati Red for trial but to no success. Through his cousin (Miguel Ferrer) he was introduced seriously to showbiz and began to attend auditions. Used to be in Roseanne and the Killer Tomatoes series.

He went for E.R audition and was given the part for Dr Greene but later change to Dr Ross (he was too going for Dr Greene character !!!). His first movie was Quentin's Tarantino From Dusk till Dawn and the list goes on ...

RIZAL

TIPS ON HOW TO ENJOY READING

Set times.

You should have a few set times during every day when you’ll read for at least 5-10 minutes. These are times that you will read no matter what — triggers that happen each day. For example, make it a habit to read during breakfast and lunch (and even dinner if you eat alone). And if you also read every time you’re sitting on the can, and when you go to bed, you now have four times a day when you read for 10 minutes each — or 40 minutes a day. That’s a great start, and by itself would be an excellent daily reading habit. But there’s more you can do.

Always carry a book.

Wherever you go, take a book with you. When I leave the house, I always make sure to have my drivers license, my keys and my book, at a minimum. The book stays with me in the car, and I take it into the office and to appointments and pretty much everywhere I go, unless I know I definitely won’t be reading (like at a movie). If there is a time when you have to wait (like at a doctor’s office or at the DMV), whip out your book and read. Great way to pass the time.

Make a list.

Keep a list of all the great books you want to read. You can keep this in your journal, in a pocket notebook, on your personal home page, on your personal wiki, wherever. Be sure to add to it whenever you hear about a good book, online or in person. Keep a running list, and cross out the ones you read. Tech trick: create a Gmail account for your book list, and email the address every time you hear about a good book. Now your inbox will be your reading list. When you’ve read a book, file it under “Done”. If you want, you can even reply to the message (to the same address) with notes about the book, and those will be in the same conversation thread, so now your Gmail account is your reading log too.

Find a quiet place.

Find a place in your home where you can sit in a comfortable chair (don’t lay down unless you’re going to sleep) and curl up with a good book without interruptions. There should be no television or computer near the chair to minimize distractions, and no music or noisy family members/roommates. If you don’t have a place like this, create one.

THE FIRST BILLION

A fiction writing by Chris Reich about John "Jett" a former fighter pilot who at present day is a CEO of a security related company and in the process of taking over a telco in Russia, Mercury Broadband.

It hit a big problem due to the relation between Mercury Broadband with the Russian mob (which Jett knows nothing about it...). Once it's confirmed, that is after Jett paid a large sum of money to a computer hackers to get the needed info, he sent his no 2 guy, Grafton to Russia to investigate. And like a normal plot in a crime movie, Grafton was caught.

It was Jett's girlfriend who save the day. Cate (Jett's girl) is actually the daughter of the mob leader and with her help Jett manage to rescue Grafton and finalize the take over deal. The company was later rename to Novastar and like most of fiction writing ...at the end of the day it's happy ending.

RIZAL

GLENN HODDLE : MY WORLD CUP STORY

An inside story from Glenn Hoddle about the 1998 World Cup from the preparation until the elimination. Among others :

1) Not to include Gazza in the final team listing

2) Include to future stars Michael Owen and David Beckham

They manage to qualify after drawing with Italy in Rome. Their overall result :

First Round
=========
Won against Tunisia
Lost to Romania (with Hagi) 1-2
Won against Colombia 2-0

Qualify for last 16
=============
Lost against Argentina (penalty shootout). Beckham was red carded.

RUDE AWAKENING

A book written by Maryann Keller who has vast experience dealing with General Motor (GM) management culture. It's a story that reveals what was the actual problem that contributes to the fall of the giant company that once was the pride of america automobile industry.

The terms "14th floor" was very important because that is the area where most of the decision makers of GM were LOCATED located. Also the issue of GM attitude towards Japanese automobile company invasion to the US auto scene which to them is " NOT A BIG DEAL, WE CAN HANDLE THAT". The problem was they are serious in improving lots of thing accept for the improvement of the cars which was their biggest disadvantage compare to the Japanese cars.

Also the story of the partying cultures although during bad performance results. GM however accept the importance to joint force with Japanese company and finally decided to work with Toyota forming a company GM-Toyota.

Their first project is a Chevy Nova.The joint venture did not hit very well as the American is having hard time to adapt some of the Japanese working culture especially KAIZEN. No proper training on the robotic training also create problems.In 1986 Ford exceed GM total sales and becomes the number one automotive company in the US.Overall it's a very straight forward telling the truth writting and it's clear running a very big company and merging with another company from another country is not an easy task.

THE PRESENT

Last weekend I've the opportunity to read this book authored by Spencer Johnson. It's a simple book but full with surprises. The book concentrate on THE PRESENT , the best gift from you to yourself. It's a fictional story of a boy and an old man.

One day the old man promised to the boy that he'll give the best ever present to the boy and every day the boy will visit the old man to get his present.You'll have to wait until the mid phase of the book to actually know what is THE PRESENT.

And THE PRESENT = Focusing on what is happening RIGHT NOW and appreciating it. And according to the old wise man in order to get the present you'll have to take a break from your regular routine.According to the old man to maximize the present we should LIVE and WORK with PURPOSE. Overall summary of this great book :

a) BE IN THE PRESENT

b) LEARN FROM THE PAST

c) PLAN FOR THE FUTURE

FLIGHT : MY LIFE IN MISSION CONTROL

It's a biography of a great man Chris Kraft the first NASA Flight Director. He was born in a small town called Phoebus and further his study at Virginia Polytech. After his study he was due to join Chance Vought ( but was not accepted because of birth certificate problem).

He join NASA (aeronautical research).Involve in the space mission war between Russia and America (started with the Sputnik 1 mission). When JFK announce the Saturn and Apollo project Chris Kraft join STG (Special task Group). And his first task was to design the first NASA Control Center.Was the mission control director when Apollo 11 (with Neil Amstrong,Buzz Aldrin and Collins) landed on the Moon.

Kraft was also the Man in charge for the last Apollo project , Apollo 17.Interesting fact: When the decision was to be made between Amstrong and Buzz Aldrin, on who'll be the first man in the moon by NASA, they decided on Amstrong because of his down to earth and soft spoken attitude that portrays better true american hero.

THE FUGITIVE GAME

It's a book dedicated to one of the greatest computer hackers.

Among the highlights :

* Utilize a wiretapping program called SAS which is not traceable.

* Use a lot of social engineering to get in to the system

* A guy by the name of De Payne is his second in command

* Hunted by FBI through a double agent eric heinz and a computer security expert Tsutomu Shimomura.

*Kevin finally was traced and caught by FBI (with shimomura assistance) at a remote place called Duraleigh Road, North Carolina.

JESSE JACKSON : THE PHENOMENON

Bought this masterpiece at PayLess Warehouse Sale few weeks back. Rev Jesse Jackson is probably one of the most influenced african-american who contested the presidency election (democrat) in 1984 and 1988. Although he lost the battle (he's african-american anyway ...) what interest me is the motivation and willingness to fight as a minority.Am not surprised if Obama is also looking at this guy as a motivational figure since he's also in the same situation at the moment.p/s : Do you think he can win ???? Maybe ...or ....

NETSCAPE TIME

I bought this book at another warehouse sale by MPH last month pricing at RM 8.00. What a catch !!!. It's a story perfectly written by Jim Clark the co-founder of NetScape together with Marc Andreesen.It's a coincidence really when Jim Clark before that was also the founder of Silicon Graphic (lots of reference pointing back at Silicon Graphic in this book) at the last day of his tenure in SGI was introduced to Mosaic , one of the first browser developed by Marc Andreesen (while studying at Uni of Illinois)Team up with Marc and almost everybody in the previous Mosaic development team to formed NetScape Communications a company with an objective to developed a revolutionary browser code name 'MOSAIC KILLER' IN April 4 , 1994The new browser will boost up the speed of the previous Mosaic up to 10 times !!!! (14.4 Kbps ....but of course it's 14 years ago my friend ) . Also story on NetScape court battle with the University of Illinois to get the rights in using Mosaic as the name of their browser. At the end NetScape decided to use NetScape (which i think was a brilliant move).IPO launching of NetScape create one of the largest increment of share percentage in the history where it opens at USD 71 per share an increment of almost 400%.Another interesting fact is the working culture in NetScape where office hour normally start late in the day because to most of their programmer "A lot of interesting stuff happens after 8 pm"Highly recommended especially those who wanted to know more about NetScape.

YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS

A biography written by James Kaplan dedicated to the original bad boy of tennis Johnny Mac or we know him as John McEnroe. He was born in New York City to a middle class family. After coming through from the youth tournament circuit across the U.S he join Stanford University. He stated the primary reason was Stanford has at that time one of the better tennis team in the country.
He was the world number one tennis from 1984-1988. He compete in the era of Bjorn Borg, Jimmy Connors and several newcomers like Ivan Lendl, Michael Chang. He still hold one of the most outstanding tennis record of all time ...a total career title of 154 !!!(77 single and 77 double).
He won 4 US Open and 3 Wimbledon. However Johnny never won the french and Australian open (some of the few things in this world that is not meant for him ...according to John). One interesting fact about him is his last win where he beat his own brother Patrick (and that's the first time they ever met in pro circuit...)
John McEnroe still plays in the senior circuit and work as a part time tennis commentator in several sport channel in the US.

CONTROL YOUR DESTINY OR SOMEONE ELSE WILL

A book on Jack Welch, arguably the greatest GE CEO ever. Upon his appointment as the CEO in 1981 he revolutionized few concept that improvise the performance of GE as a whole.
No1 or No 2 concept that concentrate on potential business that will be continued only if it can promised position no 1 or no 2 in the market. As mentioned by Jack "You either be the best at what you do or you don't do it at all". This is to be done by providing value added no competitor could match.
Crotonville is another Creation of Jack Welch, a GE training complex. This is the place where Jack will ensure his GE management wholly understand the GE corporate value. One of the famous location is known as "The Pit" a 110 seat meeting hall where he will have a face to face session with his management.
Another concept is known as WorkOut, which is altering GEers behaviour to suits GE vision.
As a whole a simple yet full of interesting concept that could be implemented in our day to day activities.
RIZAL