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司徒華（先生）－香港人熟悉的名字，不少中國人聽過的香港人。對於司徒華的印象，離不開教協、支聯會、民主派、立法局、六四事件等等。想真一些，其實對他的故事並不清楚。收到此書作餽贈，情理上是欣然試看吧。完成這書的過程有些迂迴: 讀過上半部，因事忙，倒放下一些日子。放下再拿起完成，皆因此書可讀性非常高，文筆铺排很好，內容真摯充實。

司徒華開首先鋪排家庭背景, 父母親兄弟姐妹及童年回鄉走離的印記, 目睹日軍侵略而盟生的愛國心。自己讀書的情懷乃至於香港英式殖民政府管治下司徒華參與的有中國影響的「學友社」及多年來的教育事業參與。作者的愛國心路歷程是容易引起共鳴的。

中部總結近三十年香港的社會民主政制發展。為老師薪金制與殖民政府的抗爭；教協會的成立和管理；金禧學校事件；起草法委員的體驗；立法局議員選舉爭議；六四與支聯會成立與周年活動； 黃雀救援行動的輕輕描述；九七前港督的交替；香港回歸及以後政黨的成立、演變、政改和政制爭議；真是一書寫出三十年香港這地小却國際聞名的城市歷史啊！對於司徒華爭取的民主及對香港特首直選的堅持，我是有所保留的；對於他的民主信念，偶爾覺有失中庸之道。然而他自己的目標努力堅持而不怕得罪人不屈於權，其情操是稀有而可敬的。

後本部對於志同道合政治戰友的描寫； 對於多年的學生教育和師生之情；對後輩殷切的希望－並不是要他們成大人物，而是平平淡淡，老老實實的做個普通人。對於愛人臨終諾言的信守； 對於自己身患惡疾的淡然和一生的淡泊；作者的人格修養躍然紙上，也是最感人的。

司徒華在序中提到中國作家中，鲁迅對他影響最深。魯迅堅持理想，無懼惡勢力，愛國愛民。讀罷司徒華的回憶錄, 在他身上，感受到那種「橫眉冷對千夫指，俯首甘為孺子牛」無悔的傲骨； 叫我怎不佩服這現代版的「鲁迅」。在资本主義先進和物質尚算豐富的香港社會，做一個「擇善而固執之」而肯為自己的理念給作出一生的時間, 怎可不珍惜呢。

這本Oxford University Press 出版的回憶錄體現司徒華認真豐盛的人生。真是一本好書。

It is a book of the calling to the author to serve the homeless in San Francisco and what she has done.  The author is no other than the famous Danielle Steel.    If you visit any book store or library, her books are everywhere.  She is one of the most popular authors, with millions and millions of her novels sold.

Ms. Steel has worked anonymously for eleven years to provide food, clothing, beddings, tools and toiletries for the homeless on the streets of San Francisco.     This book is a recording of her personal experience in taking to the streets, with a small team, to help the homeless of San Francisco.

After the loss of his son and the breakdown of her marriage, she falls into a personal abyss, where she receives the personal calling to serve the homeless. This calling mingles with the resistance and fear she has to overcome to take to the street to provide the blankets for the homeless for the first night in San Francisco.  Second and many following nights are not getting easier either.  Each of her trips brings inspiration and motivation for her and team to go back to the streets for the many years to follow.

The book has many small personal stories of the few homeless folks – one with cancer, one pregnant woman; one in search of jobs.  Unlike her many novels, these stories do not have the drama, and do not have known start nor known endings.  They are glimpses of the unfortunate lives in the nights that the author and team have provided for them.   Yet the simple and incomplete portraits are touching; and provide a powerful image of the dark sides of the many stories on the streets of San Francisco.

Determined to supply the homeless with the basic necessities to keep the needed alive, Danielle Steel offer much more than the material comfort, she offers them respect and a voice to plead for more effective action to aid this deprived population.

This book is different from her many bestselling novels and is a worthy read.

It almost brings more drama to this detective story with the twist J K Rowling disguises her book under the name of Robert Galbraith.

When Robert Galbraith is discovered to be J K Rowling (the author of Harry Potter), the book attracts many times more the audience.   Another evidence how the fame and track record can bring to the table.  Could any readers have discovered the mystery of the author?  Well, it is of the same style, of mature technique, of strong and different characters, and of the style to create a climax at the end.  For me, the identify of the author would be safe if it has not been revealed on newspaper.

The plot starts with the death of a super-model Lula who was adopted by a rich family.  She falls from the balcony of her luxurious apartment and is dead on the scene.  Her history of mental instability, drug issue, relationship problem, together with implied incompetence of the police, rule the death as a suicide.  Just when the case turns cool in the eyes of paparazzi, John Bristow, Lula’s brother, brings the case to a private investigator, Cormoran Strike.

After losing a leg in Afghanistan and a recent broke-up from his pretty and rich girlfriend, Strike is scraping by with one client and credits are many.  As Strike and his new temp, Robin, take up the investigation, twists and turns, together with another death, are abundant before the real murderer is tracked down at the very last.  Along the way,  Strike meets up  different characters and uses brilliant skills to get these people to reveal their secrets – the rich and the poor, the simple and the sophisticated personality, the bright and dark sides.

The book is not short of characters in the glittering heights of society – luxurious, comfortable life, snobbishness in full display with stupidity and darkness. Tansy, the only witness of the Lula’s falling and insistence of a murder, is widely reported as a woman of stupidity and drug issue.  She is filing a divorce with her famous director husband.  Is she really stupid, can the witness be trusted?   Tansy’s sister Ursula, wife of a lawyer firm partner, has her own affair with Lula’s unlikeable uncle.   Then comes the celebrities – the actor Evan and fiancé of Lula, the rap singer Deeby, the designer Guy and his model.

There are characters who live meagerly.   Lula’s biological mother Marlene, with a super-model as her daughter, lives with more greed than guiltiness of leaving her daughter to an adopted family.  Lula’s unusual friend, Rochelle, is mentally unstable, and in a poor social circle, and has enjoyed the intermittent glamorous display of Lula’s life.  Why they would be looked upon as friends, the real reason unfolds towards the end.

Plus the middle class – the security guard Wilson, the temp Robin and her fiancé Matthew.   Robin, Strike’s temp, is among the best –  simple, happy, caring and smart.

Robert Galbraith (aka J K Rowling) has once again told a very good story and shares her personal observation of the lives of many, in vastly different social circles.

I look forward to the sequel and the continual partnership of Cormoran and Robin.

Moonwalking with Einstein: the Art and Science of Remembering Everything by Joshua Foer.

Technology enables companies to offer free storage to store stuff, last I heard, up to 1 TB per user.  “Is there such a capacity for humans to remember everything?”    More importantly, can our brain retrieve the information?

This is a true story of a journalist in his journey into the finals of US Memory Championships.  In the championships, among many things, it tests the ability to remember names, numbers, people, cards using variety of techniques such as memory palace, intensive reading.  The true story covers a variety of memory techniques; and enriched by a parallel documentation of the history of memory management from internal to external media; intertwined with the stories of a few unusual human beings.

This is a story of “what one could achieve with commitment” and “the history of memory management”.

The author provides content and flavor; and tells the story in both a personal and professional manner.  He turns a seemingly dry topic into a very enjoyable read.   Not to mention that the reader grasps a few useful techniques to remember better.

If you are looking for a good read, or ways to reverse your perception of failing memory, check this out, and I hope you would enjoy the read as much as I do.

I was recently working on a program involving partners who conduct businesses in different languages, different styles, different processes with different quality standards.   “A tale of two cities” came in my mind – for whatever conflict is in modern business, it seems petty when it came to what happened in the story that took place in London and Paris in the epoch of French Revolution.

With a powerful opening of the book –

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,

it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness . . .

It is a novel of human nature, of romance, and of French revolution.  The novel was written in 1850s. I read the version first published in 1906 and was last reprinted in 1979 by Everyman’s library.   In this computer era with constant refresh of technology, the novel stands the test of time and has been a joy to read and probably read again.

The novel depicts the brutality and peasants oppression of French aristocracy in the years leading up to the French revolution, with the subsequent revenge of similar, if not greater scale, towards the former aristocrats in the early years of the revolution.

The story centers round several protagonists.   Dr. Manette, a respectable man of his profession and of humanity, imprisoned for years in prison of Bastille, for committing no crime, other than reporting a crime of an aristocrat.  His loving daughter, Miss Manette, who grows up in the absence of his father, has a natural bondage with Dr. Manette, as he escaped to London.

Defarge, the wine shop owner, becomes a man of significance leading up to Bastille attack and the French revolution.   His wife, with life-long resentment towards the aristocrats, turns into a woman of brutality in her indiscriminate revenge towards the fallen French class.

Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton, from Paris and London respectively, brought together in fate and common love for Miss Manette.  Darnay is a French aristocrat, who could not stand the unfairness of the society, moved to London to start a life of teaching profession.  He is a victim to the revolution despite his virtuous nature and was sentenced to beheading.  Carton, an English barrister, of unparallel talent, lives an ill-spent life out of habit.  Carton decides to redeem his life out of his unrequited love for Darney’s wife (Miss Manette).  He disguises himself as Darnay and replaces him in prison on the day of the execution.

The novel is rich of human bondage, from the struggle of Dr. Manette in the historical moments, his forgiveness of Darnay’s identity, the unbreakable father-daughter bondage, to the romantic love between Darnay and Miss Manette.

The novel ends with the ultimate redemption of  Carton in his sacrifice for the well beings of Manette and Darnay – “It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to, than I have ever known”.

It is no doubt an impressive novel.  Each read would give a deeper appreciation of the author, better understanding of the characters, and newer discovery of what may have missed.

How difficult is it to transgress boundaries of cultures and languages?

Popular Japanese author, bestselling book series, award winning, TV series produced with high ratings and sold overseas, movies made and remade in US; yet none of his books has an English translation.

This is a book review on his debut to become a vastly popular author of many books.  I read the Chinese translation of the novel.

This is a novel of many twists, depicting mind-boggling series of criminal events and the dark sides of the human minds.  It starts with a mysterious murder of a pawn shop owner at a desolate building where kids take the vent area as playground.

The boy of the pawn shop owner, Ryoji, 10-year old, is detached, and has maturity beyond his age.  He lives under the same roof to witness the affair of his mother and the pawn shop assistant.  Soon, the murder was followed by another death of its suspect.

The girl of the suspect, Yukiho, another 10-year old, lives with her single mom who betrays her daughter for money. Yukiho has beauty and grace not matching her poor upbringing, was taken in custody by her aunt who teachers tea ceremony and flower arrangement.

Ryoli struggles in his life – been a pimp, a producer of illegal ATM card, did pirate software, a computer shop owner.  In the whole book, there may be only two times that he reveals himself, once to his partner on their last conversation that “his life is like walking in the white night”.

Yukiho grows up to be a classy beauty, popular in schools, married to a well-off white-collared man, became a self-made boutique owner, remarried to an even richer family.  She has money, fame, beauty and her charm works on everyone with the exception of one man (Kazunari).  Her life is smooth; yet she is surrounded by mysteries and evil happenings to people who are in her way; and she does not reveal her real nature. “She does not live under the sun and she relies on other types of light to live.”

The detective, Junzo, could not let go of the first murder case at the desolate building.  He is convinced the crime has not ended which drive his relentless effort in the next 20 years to stop it.  Yet, for each of the criminal events, it unfolds the dark side of both the criminals and victims, alike.

The second half of the novel folds the many seemingly unrelated events together. While Ryoli and Yukiho never have a direct dialog in the whole novel, they seem to be borne to mutually dependent on each other.  The criminal events, delicately plotted by Ryoli, are all for the benefits of Yukiho.

As detective Junzo unties the knots of each criminal event, in Ryoli’s escape from the pursuit, he accidentally kills himself during the opening ceremony of another boutique of Yukiho.   And facing the dead body, Yukiho replies to the detective that “she does not know this man”.   That goes her last bit of hope, genuineness and warmth.

The story was made into popular TV series in Japan and movie in Korea.  While in the drama, the relationship of Ryoli and Yukiho is described as lovers.   In the book, their relationship is one of the “symbiosis”, as “shrimp gobies” and “pistol shrimp”, where they live different lives, and yet dependent on each other for survival.

Why would both Yukiho and Ryoli not able to walk under the sun?  Why would Ryoli do so many things for Yukiho?  What is Ryoli’s redemption?  Who is the real love of Yukiho?

These questions are not directly answered in the book, yet, the book would leave you plenty of food for thought.

This book has received a number of literary awards.   I hope you would enjoy it as much as I do.

A wonderful book and yet I am a bit reserved to recommend to my friends.

The book “Istanbul – Memories and the City”, by Orhan Pamuk, is a sophisticated story of the author and the city of Istanbul with deeply weaved content of how the author seeks his own identity.   Blending reminiscence with history; personal story with portraits of poets and pashas (rulers), parallel self journey with the melancholy of the city in its poverty, ruins  & the ever gone glory of the Ottoman Empire;   it takes effort to read and appreciate the masterful unfolding of the reminiscence.

The book presents a unique portrait of the city Istanbul, and yet it is not for tourists looking for pleasing sceneries.  It starts with the author’s memory of his childhood in a communal apartment building, the subtle relationship of the families in a rapidly fading bourgeois family in Istanbul and the failing relationship of his parents.   Central to the theme are the ruins and the melancholy of the city, since its fall from glory, from the Ottoman Empire era.  It persistently describes hüzün (melancholy) in the many Istanbul residents’ character.

The chapters on the Turkish poets and writers are hard and drilling; it parallels the author’s own struggle in all his school years, the inferiority to his brother’s success; and how painting has been his source of success; and his loss of identify when the passion of painting deserts him.  The breakdown of his family: death of elders, separation of the parents with his long journey in finding his way parallels the ever decline of the city, the city’s melancholy.

The chapters on the author’s childhood, the relationship with his brother, the relationship with his father and the fight with his mother are meticulously constructed with depth and touching detail; revealing the breadth and depth of the storytelling talent of the author.

I particularly enjoy the finishing touch of the book in the last sentence with a confirmation in finding his own way.  It drives home the memories and the melancholy with a high note of positivity; and leaves an interesting temptation for a re-read of the book.

First a disclaimer that it is not a book review, but an idea review.  It is CLEVER!

Have you heard of “CAPTCHA”?  How about “reCAPTCHA”?

If these new words do not ring a bell, how about “distorted text” which you have to echo to sign-in or register in a web site?

A CAPTCHA is a program to differentiate between a human and a computer.   It shows images with hard-to-read and/or distorted text in some sort of sign-in or registration pages.   One needs to recognize the text and then type the same, for the web sites (computer) to know that a human is in front of the screen.  Computer cannot read distorted text as well as human.  It is a kind of program used by many web sites for security, and to prevent abuse or hacking.

reCAPTCHA is a service to digitize books, newspaper and stuff.  Many articles have distorted text that is not recognizable by the computer.  Human being is better in interpreting ambiguity.  Through the use of CAPTCHA, many people have been helping to solve millions of unrecognized words everyday!

Here is the idea – the distorted text from CAPTCHA typically has two words.  Some part of the text, the computer knows what they are; and some part of the text, computer cannot solve the distorted text.  Guess what; if a user could type the recognized portion correctly, then the computer can collect what a human being thinks of the unrecognized portion.  Since many web sites have CAPTCHA, many people are helping with the recognition of these “unrecognized distorted text”.  The collective user input creates a consistent pattern.   The computer uses the pattern to solve the “distorted text” from books, newspaper or old articles.

If you would like to know more, do a search on “CAPTCHA” or “reCAPTCHA”;  and I wish you the Eureka moments of delight.

The autobiography 李娜的“独自上场”  took me trips to a few bookstores in Hong Kong before I finally got a copy, published in Simplified Chinese.  It was published in 2012, and I bought it in 2013.

This is the story of Li Na (李娜) –  “Alone on the Court”.

In Tennis, there are four prestigious Major tournaments every year – Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open.   The dream of most, if not all, tennis player, is to win these tournaments!  Anyone, who wins one, could retire and conclude that he/she has a wonderful career.  Michael Chang won the French open in the year of 1989 at the age of 17!   Li Na has become a household name, after she won French open in the year of 2011, at the age of 29.  She became the first ever Chinese female to win a Tennis Major.  Tennis is an individual game, super-competitive, super-challenging to stay at the top and the player is his/her own boss.

Li Na has told a good story of herself in this book, and is as enjoyable as watching her game on the Court.

The book started with the big glory day after she won the French Open, and how the world has changed over-night.  Then stepped backward to her childhood, her early years in tennis, her family relationship, her retirement from the game, and coming out of the retirement, won the French open, and her changed perspective in life through lessons learned on a tennis court.

The chapters about the relationship with her father were touching and such reflective of family values for many Chinese.  Her father brought her to the game of tennis, and wished that she could become the Champion in the country.  He passed away when Li Na was only 14, and to not distract her from the game, she was not fully informed of his illness until too late.  For the first many years of her career, her father could well be the most motivating factor for Li Na in her tennis career.   This is such a reflection of many Chinese family where the children are typically not too clear on what they want, and the parents work awfully hard to lay a good path for their children;  And a contrast to the Western way where the kids seemingly know what they want at a young age.

Li Na’s early retirement from the game reflects a mid-way consideration of her own career – and she decided to quit the game and go back to University, with her boyfriend (soon husband).   She enjoys school and has been doing well!   While there were many influential persuaders, her return to tennis reflects more her own genuine confirmation of her career path.   And she plays more for herself, than a fulfillment of someone else’ wish.

Like many players, Li Na has to fight over injuries, which included 3 knee surgeries and recoveries.  Her chapters on her relationship with her husband is everything sweet.  It shows how much support he has given to her over the years; and how much Li Na leans on him.  In Tennis, a player is not only challenged with injuries, the up-and-down, the competition but how to stay motivated and stay hungry to win more!  It is a lonely and self-centered journey – a player is all lucky to have family members close-by, supportive and understanding.   Her husband is not only a loving husband, he was once a player, knows the game, has the role of a coach, a councilor, and an emotional outlet.

Li Na concludes the book with dosage of motivation and passion.  She still has her heart in the game, and carries the passion in her life journey.  Lucky for us, tennis fan, to be able to enjoy her matches for a few more years!

My Thumb up for the book!  And I hope that it would become available in other languages soon!