Book Review - Guide to Investing in Gold and Silver (Michael Maloney)

Guide to Investing in Gold and Silver (Michael Maloney) is a book that I grabbed the minute I finish reading Rich Dad's Conspiracy of the Rich. Because in the book, there is a recommendation to keep part of our wealth as Precious Metals so that our purchasing power is maintained.

In this book it makes a strong case to purchase Gold and Silver and to tell you the truth, it opens up my horizon reading this book. This book also proves that history repeats itself and if history is of any mirror or lesson, it is time to start preparing. I urge all of you to grab this book, read it fast and start considering precious metals as part of your portfolio. In fact, a large part of your portfolio.

Together with my economic background, these two books have help me to connect the dots and give me a better picture that we are really heading for disaster ever since the Gold standard is history in 1971.

In this book there are also some practical tips on how to make your investment grow fast. But this is on the pretext that you are able to control your greed and fear, two main emotions that drive all markets.

I strongly recommend you'll to pick up the book, start to gather data on Dow, Gold and Silver prices and start to invest in the cycle. I am doing it now.

I am not giving any stars for this book but I will give it 5 starts out of 5 for urgency to read it. Start thinking about precious metal investing!

Book Review - Rich Dad's Conspiracy of the Rich (Robert T. Kiyosaki)

Rich Dad's Conspiracy of the Rich (Robert T. Kiyosaki) is the new book from the Rich Dad franchise. Being a great fan of reading (but yet to take action) Rich Dad's series of book, I rushed to the bookstore to grab it the minute it is available and devour it within 1 week.

This book is seriously attention grabbing and what makes this book so special is the points made inside the book was something that I have studied in the university. I did not know that I was studying about the conspiracy at all.

Basically the book is pointing to a certain trend that most people should pay attention to especially poor and middle class. The 'reckless' printing of US dollars is going to bring us to an age of high inflation definitely, and I say this with confidence because I have studied it. Unless the US government do something about it which I seriously doubt so, not because they do not want to but circumstances does not allow.

How to be prepared for the trend? The concrete steps are not inside as usual for Rich Dad's book, but in the book it share the new world order that is already here in the world of money and to profit from it you need to follow the rules. And these rules are

1) Money is knowledge
2) Learn how to use debt
3) Learn to Control Cashflow
4) Prepare for Bad times and you will only know Good times
5) The need for speed
6) Learn the Language of Money
7) Life is a team sport. Choose your team carefully.
8) Since money is becoming worth-less and less, Learn to Print your own

In the book, I came to know many facts about the Federal Reserve of US and some of them are shocking indeed for instance, the Federal Reserve is set up by a group of private bankers. Its origin starts from a meeting in Jekyll Island (sounds scary right?)

Still not enough information to make you buy the book? Well inside the book, Robert shared what needs to be learnt in order to increase your financial literacy. Warning: They sound simple but skills needed to be learnt in order to learn these lessons.

I give this book 5 stars out of 5 and I strongly recommend it to everyone to read it and I suggest you read it fast and take immediate action.

Book Review - Click (George Fraser)

Click: The Ten Truths for Building Extraordinary Relationship (George Fraser) is a book about building good relationship with people.

In the book, George says that to have a perfect relationship, you would need the following, Chemistry, Fit and Timing. And he shares ten ways on how to improve these three areas to achieve the great relationships that we all desire. The popularity of social networks has shown human's deep desire for connections. This book serves to be the right supplement to help achieve this desire in the most comfortable and right way.

Some of the Truth that have impact me the most are Truth #3: Love Serve Give and Add Value First, Truth #5: Bless Them and Release Them and Truth #6: Trust First; Distrust must be Earned.

Truth #3: Love Serve Give and Add Value First

In life how many times have we wanted something real bad or grudge that someone did not give us something. We always want to take but never take time to think how we can give back to society. Common excuse is, when I have enough, I will give. But when is enough enough? "Add Value First" is a great principle to follow in my opinion as I have been trying to follow it whenever possible and have seen the results. You will be surprised that what you give out most of the time comes back in greater value to you. Of course I am not saying we do it for the greater value that we are going to receive later on because genuine giving is the one that will give you the greater value.

Truth #5: Bless Them and Release Them

We have seen in many newspaper report that someone has been with an abusive spouse for X number of years where X is a number that most people cannot fathom. Relationship takes two parties to form. Sometimes we genuinely want this relationship to carry on but if the other party do not seem to want it continue or has been doing things that hurts you. Sometime, it may be better to wish them well and let go the relationship. In the book, it says that letting go means to stop "warming" the relationship, just gradually reduce contacting the person and then just stop altogether. Letting go is always the hardest part that is why we try to ignore it but yes to have 'perfect' relationship in your life, we have to let go those relationship that are bad and the other party is not willing to mend it.

Truth #6: Trust First; Distrust must be Earned

How many times because of fear of being cheated, we have allowed ourselves to be restrained? Our potential not realised? Ask yourself this question. How many bad guys are there? How many good guys are there? If the bad guys are more than the good guys, chances are our prisons and rehabilitation centers might have been overcrowded by now. No right? I subscribe to Confucius's philosophy that all people are good by nature. Of course that does not mean that I let my guard down. I just trust them first and then just be wary when they touch certain trigger points. I feel in this way, my potential can be realised and I get to enjoy the relationship that I have.

This is a great book to have and I wish that all CEOs out there would read this book as well and use the Truths in the book to build a better working environment for all their staff. As for individuals, I strongly recommend that you grab the book and apply the principles in your life to achieve that beautiful network of relationship that I am sure you have deep desire for.

Book Review - The Present (Spencer Johnson)

The Present (Spencer Johnson) writes about valuable lessons that I feel is greatly important for us modern people.

Are you very busy with your work and commitments? After finishing your work do you feel a sense of emptiness inside? This is the book for you if you answer 'Yes' to these questions. I am sure many of us have heard of this book since it has been published for a few years but the lessons taught inside is timeless.

Enjoying the moment, living each moment fully is something we wanted but a principle that we do not understand well, because just thinking of it, there seems to be quite a fair bit of 'technical' problem. This book will tell us how we can do that with easy-to-understand guiding principles to help us. This book is strongly recommended for all of us who are so overwhelmed by this world we are in. The lessons inside is definitely priceless.

Strongly recommended book to read. On a side note, Spencer Johnson new book is out and it is titled "Peaks and Valleys".

Book Review - The Answer (John Assaraf, Smith Murray)

The Answer (John Assaraf, Smith Murray) was a book that had an interesting story behind why I bought.

I was fascinated by Law of Attraction again, so I pick up the book and read. I even watch the video to get myself immerse again into understanding the Law. Now I know about this book "The Answer" a long time back and I do know that John Assaraf is one of the mentor featured in the Secret. But this time it was very different. John stood out from the video, not literally of course. His name keeps on ringing in my mind.

At that time, Harris at Suntec City was having a clearance sale (and it still is now) so being an avid bookworm, I went to the sale. And "The Answer" stood out a couple of time because it was one of those books that was found in most shelves (I wonder is it because that this book is difficult to classify). Anyway, since it stood out so many times, I guess it is not harm reading it since the title sounds attractive, "Grow Any Business, Achieve Financial Freedom and Live an Extraordinary Life" which I am sure this is what everyone wants to do.

When I was reading this book, I was blown away because there are two parts to the book. The first part of the book does talk about The Secret and gives you the scientific background of it. (Yes, there is scientific background to The Secret.) So it gives me a better understanding how it works. The second part is the one I strongly recommend to entrepreneurs. This second part is a MUST-READ. I can never stress enough. If you really want to grow your business, you MUST-READ the second half. I am very sure you will benefit TREMENDOUSLY from it.

Basically the second half tells you how to find the customers you need, designing your marketing materials to get the customer you want and also design the business model to get the customer you want. Now of course most of this things are cliche in any entrepreneurship books but I can tell you this book is very different.

For this book I give it a 4.5 stars out of five if you are an entrepreneur reading it, but if you are reading to find out more about The Secret, I will only say that the scientific background it good to read but not a must-read to know more.

Book Review - The Success Principles (Jack Canfield)

The Success Principles (Jack Canfield) is a must read self-help book for those that wants to achieve their dreams or wants to get out of their current situation in terms of relationship, financial, career and any other area which you are tired of.

It contains a lot of bite-size actions that you can take to move yourself from "where you are to where you want to be". Since Jack Canfield is also featured in "The Secret", there are some principles that are related to it. Now there are many non-believers out there. For me, well it does not really matter to me, I take whatever that makes my life better. The secret requires us to be positive in our thoughts and emotions, and I feel comfortable having is so why not?

Some of the principles helps us to be focused on what we want in our lives. How many times have we seen other people leading the lives that we want, it hurts us so much to feel how come we are not and we RESOLVED to do it, only to go back to our routines again? If you have such a feeling, and you are sick of such a feeling and truly want to get out of your current situation then this book is for you.

I would give it a 4.5 stars out of 5 for its bite-sized chapters and easy to follow principles. So if you are sick of your current situation, read the book and apply the principles inside......NOW!!!

Book Review - Say It Like Obama (Shel Leanne)

Say It Like Obama (Shel Leanne) is one of the best book I have read on Public Speaking. We all know that President Obama is one of the best orators we have seen in this modern age. He was able to move the US people, convincing them to give him the 'hot seat' so that he can make the change that they can believe in. Although how Obama performed, we will have to wait for the end of his term before we can evaluate, but I am sure most of us agree that he is a great public speaker.

So how does he do it? Well, this book shed some light into it, or I should say throw a tremendous amount of light into this topic, but I must warn readers that is book is quite technical. I never study languages so I was thrown with a lot of jargons towards the end of the book, but all in all, I enjoyed reading it.

If you are a leader in your organization, it is best that you grab this book and hone your public speaking skills. You will need it if you want your employees to buy your vision and believe that you are the leader they should follow.

I give it 3 out of 5 stars. If this book comes with a CD that has videos of all the speeches transcripted inside the book, I am sure readers can learn a great deal about moving people from Obama and the author. But then again there is YouTube.

Grab this book if you are a leader in your organization or you want to move people with your words.

Book Review - The Definitive Book of Body Language (Barbara & Allan Pease)

The Definitive Book of Body Language (Barbara & Allan Pease) is the first book I come across on Body Language. With the greater emphasis on people's skill, recognizing what your converstation partner is sending out would help you greatly in getting into someone's good books.

This is especially true for sales people. Would it not be great to know the current state of your clients and change your tactics accordingly so that you achieve your objective of clinching sales? Would it not be great to see if your boss is receptive to your idea by observing the signals that his body is sending out? Would it not be great if you know what mood your spouse is and act accordingly so as to avoid any tripwire.

Well this is a great book to start of with. It teaches us a lot of the body signals that are sent out but do note that you need to keep on practise and I would suggest from time to time, you browse through it and apply to your life as much as possible. Only then would you reap full benefit from the book.

I give it a 4 out of 5 stars for its great illustrations, explanations and also insights that it offers for beginners try to figure out the world of body language.

Book Review - The Saint, the Surfer and the CEO (Robin Sharma)

The Saint, the Surfer and the CEO (Robin Sharma) is another wonderful book by Robin Sharma. Continuing from his bestseller book, The Monk who sold his Ferrari, it is written in the form of a story, telling us to live true to our lives, to find out purpose in this world and live for this purpose.

My mind was blown away when I read it as it provides me more insights into how this world works and how limiting belief are inculcate into us, preventing us from achieving what our hearts desire from this life. Some of the lessons taught are how we should treat all happenings in our life, be it good or bad, how we see things through our eyes and mind, and what mindset should we have in order to create abundance in our lives. Interested to know the answers to these questions? Well grab the book now. You will find traces of materials that are found in other self-help material, for instance a deposit account for each relationship you create, projecting a vision with clarity (Law of Attraction) and many more. Grab the book because it will give you more insights into these materials.

I give it a 4.5 stars out of five. A great gift to anyone who love self-help books. Definitely worth much more than its price. What are you waiting for, go and grab it now, digest what is taught and take concrete steps to achieve your heart's desired dream and lifestyle!

Book Review - Buyology (Martin Lindstrom)

Buyology (Martin Lindstrom) is a book title that, together with the bright yellow cover, attracted my attention when I visited the bookstore.

Basically the book is about neural-marketing. No no don't worry, it does not mean once I read this book I am going to be a marketing guru. It does not bestow me the power to control what you buy. But it is a very insightful book to read.

Do you know that those ads that are meant to discourage smoking or anorexia is actually encouraging it? That because although cigarettes makers are banned from marketing but they have infiltrated into your life to encourage you to smoke without you noticing it? What has religion got to do with the best brand? Which sense should the ads appeal to to make a lasting impression?

You probably might have answer to one of these questions but would it not be great to know the answers to all of them? I know you would love to know the answer to all these questions. So go and grab the book.

This book open up my eyes a bit wider about neural marketing, although I have some pre-knowledge about neural marketing, especially the coke and popcorn experiment mentioned in the book. Sinister it may seem but I feel it is good to know about it.

It is the book for you, if you like psychology or marketing or both. Since I like both, I have benefited from and enjoyed the book immensely. I strongly recommend this book to those who want to be on the forefront of marketing or generally interested to know how humans behave.

I give it 3.5 stars out of 5. The only grip about the book is if only there are more diagrams to explain the concepts inside like symbol and which part of the brain it is refering to. A must-have book for any marketing personnel's library.

Robert Kiyosaki New Book and other New Book Releases-March 2009

These are some new books or soon to release books that I thought readers might be interested.

For fans of Robert Kiyosaki, he is about to release a new book on Real Estate Investment. From Amazon, this book is claimed as "the bible, of real estate advice and techniques every investor needs to navigate through the ups, the downs, and the in-betweens of the real estate market and come out on top." After further reading the Product Description, it seems to be a comprehensive book for Real Estate investors. Hope I can get a copy of it, read it and recommend to you readers, in this blog. For those who cannot wait, maybe you can reserve it in Amazon and have it shipped to you the second it is available.

Book Review - Outliers (Malcolm Gladwell)

Outliers (Malcolm Gladwell) is a must read for people who are hungry for success. Are you one of them? The book tells us the following interesting stories.

1) Air Crashes are usually not a product of machine malfunction but the culture of the pilots.
2) Asians are better at maths than Westerners but there is a way for Westerners to overcome that.
3) How many QUALITY hours you need to put in to be successful
4) The fields that you choose to pursue your dreams is very important.

The book shows us the pattern to achieving success. It discuss how did Bill Gates, Steve Jobs become successful while others fall off from the track to success. How does the above story tells us about success? Well, grab the book and find out. Want to be on the Track to success? Well, do I need to say more?

I found the book an enjoyable and insightful book, similar to other books by Malcolm Gladwell, Tipping Point and Blink. I grab the book when it was on the shelf but only manage to squeeze the book into my schedule recently. What the book tells us about the track to success can be misinterpreted by many as phooey, but I personally feel that hidden inside, there really lies the secret to success, it will depend very much on the angle you look at discussion.

I give this a 4 out of 5 stars as it teaches the track to success. If you have loved his previous books, I strongly encouraged you to grab it.

Book Review - How Starbucks Saved My Life (Michael Gates Gill)

How Starbucks Saved My Life (Michael Gates Gill) tells a real life story of the author. A high flier who has everything planned for him and all he has to do is go with the flow until the dreaded 'R' word came, retrenchment. He has everything he wants materially but life takes a dive when he made several bad decisions and neglected his family. The retrenchment was the final nail in the coffin for him.

By some weird fate, he ended up working in Starbucks and realize how empty his life had been. He could not thoroughly enjoy his live although what he has is what other people have to work their butts off and still might not get it.

If you feel very 'empty' at your job, you cannot enjoy what life have to offer or you picture that your life should not be the way it is right now, then I strongly recommend this book to you. It should provide you with some inspiration and motivation to steer your life in the correct direction.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book so much so I could not stop reading it. The best thing is this book was given to me as a Christmas present. The title did caught my attention several times but I did not intend to buy it at all.

I give it 4 out of 5 stars because it is simple to read, plus the good contents inside. If you have thoroughly enjoyed reading Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom, then you should pounced on this book and enjoy the fiction and lessons behind How Starbucks Saved My Life (Michael Gates Gill).

Book Review - Throwing Sheep in the Boardroom (Matthew Fraser & Soumitra Dutta)

Throwing Sheep in the Boardroom (Matthew Fraser & Soumitra Dutta), the title of this book captured my attention when I was surfing around the bookshops websites in Singapore. Most of you who are familiar with Facebook, you would have thought that this book is probably written about how Facebook is affecting corporates and business. Well you are just about right.

If you are very familiar with Internet trends, you would have known the new buzzword and that is "Web 2.0". The whole book is talking about how technology of "Web 2.0" is affecting these areas, business, media, consumer markets, politics and many more. The great fight between power holders and gatekeepers vs consumers.

Some interesting stuff I read is that all along, someone has indirectly chosen the books I read and the music I listen to by deciding what books to publish and music to be sold. Well of course you might say that you have known this since you know this but do you know that inside this book it shares a fascinating fact that you might drop your specs (if you have one) when you read it. =)

I found this book insightful and covers a lot of areas. At first I find this book a bit dry because it talks about European History (yah I know, I still do not have any idea why it was mentioned, maybe other readers can shed some light on it). I was almost turned off by it and wanted to put the book down, but my curiousity of how Web 2.0 is affecting the world got the better of me and I continue reading. But the later part of the book is definitely an enjoyable read, so much so I do not want to put down the book. =)

For this book, I give it a 3.5 out of 5. I would have given 4 stars if not for the European History (nothing against it, just that I see any need to mention about it).

Book Review - Who Will Cry When You Die (Robin Sharma)

Who Will Cry When You Die (Robin Sharma) is a good book to read when you are traveling on public transport. Inside the book, it contains snippets that allow you to improve your lives, living a more fulfilling life.

What strikes me is the title of this book. For many book lovers of self-help books, you would realize that this title have some striking resemblance of certain content in Stephen Covey's 7th Habit of Highly Effective People. In the 7th Habit book, Stephen Covey ask us to imagine what our ideal funeral would be, what type of speech would our family members make, what is the strength of relationship we share with those making a speech in your ideal funeral. So when I saw this book, I immediately bought it off the shelves without consideration for the price. Haha! Impulse buying.

Anyway, I have no regret buying the book. Inside the book, it contains many short stories or actionable (and low costs) items where we can immediately implement it in our life and see immediate results.

I would recommend readers to buy the book and carry with it if you are taking the public transport, as all Singaporeans would know how long we have to wait for our public transport.

I give it 4 stars out of 5 for the many actionable items inside that can improve our lives. So what is your ideal funeral and Who will cry when you die?

Book Review - Dollar Crisis (Richard Duncan)

Dollar Crisis (Richard Duncan) are for those serious investors who wants to know what are the current economics trends in the world. It talks about what happens when the US flood the world with US dollars (do note because of the current credit crisis, there will be another tsunami of US dollars flooding the world. OH NO! *Slap forehead*)

Sounds like you need to be an economist to enjoy the book? Nope, it cannot be a best seller if that is the case right? All serious investors at any level can enjoy this book because the writings are simple if you have been following the newspapers.

Of course I do not deny that economist would have a better insights as to what this book has to offer. Best part of the book is it predicted the credit crisis that is happening now. Read page 189 for more details once you have bought the book.

For the economist out there, this is the usual fight between which approach to the economy is good. Keynesian or monetarist? Round XXX! Fight! (Cannot remember how many times they contest each other)

The book serves its purpose for the savvy investors in providing the causes, consequences and cures for the US dollar flood. Investors are strongly encourage to get the book and read, or should I say 'devour' it!

I give this book 3.5 stars out of five. Not a fun read for any laymen but a must-read for serious investors.

Book Review - Four Hour Work Week (Timothy Ferriss)

Four Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss is the book for you if you hate your job now or you are tired of the rat race and want to find the solution to get out of it.

In the book, there is a step-by-step guide to get yourself to work from home, assuming that you can do that without violating any company's policy. Once you are able to work from home, you can start to work on the plans that are stipulated inside the book.

Part of the plans is to start a program and then turn it into autopilot so that it can generates passive income for you. What struck me to buy the book is because of its title. Yes, everyone is looking forward to working only 4 hours a week. What if I tell you, this 4 hours work is the maximum you would need when the business goes to autopilot. Would that not be more attractive to you? Inside, Timothy Ferris also shares more insights into his life as to how to save more money while travelling, only possible given the lifestyle he has worked hard to get.

When reading this book, I am amazed at the solutions he used to get himself out, how he test out various aspect of his business such as marketing, customer service to improve his returns and all these test are carried out at the lowest costs.

This is definitely a must-have for those who really want out of the rat race or am tired of being at the mercy of a greedy people's mistakes.

I give it 4 out of 5 stars for the implementable solutions that is presented. Hurry get the book, read it and most importantly take actions. The consequences is much higher if you do not!

Book Review - Business Journey to the East (Wee Chow Hou, Fred Combe)

Business Journey to the East by Wee Chow Hou, Fred Combe is the book for you if you answer "Yes" to the following sentence:

1) I want my business to succeed in Asia.
2) I do not want to risk the chance of making a fatal mistake when doing business in Asia.
3) I want to know what are the pitfalls of doing business in Asia.
4) I want to know how to gain the upperhand in negotiating with my Asian partners.
5) I want to know if I need a good voice when singing together with my Asian business partners.
6) I want to know more about the "face" concept and guanxi.

This book is especially written for Westerners who are interested or are doing business in Asia, especially Mainland China. It can open anyone's horizon and rid some perceptions that people outside Asia or even those inside Asia have.

This book can help you to cut short the time to build guanxi in Asia, avoid or reduce the costs of corruptions and teach you the importance of learning body language and reading people. This is a must for all executives who have business in Asia or are Operations Head in Asia. A strongly recommended book.

I give it 4 out of 5 stars for easy reading (since it is written for business executives) and good contents that even Asians would find it a joy to read.



Other related books

Book Review - How to Lie with Statistics (Darrell Huff)

How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff is a book for you if you ever have this feeling when you look at a survey results, you are shocked by it. The results are out of your expectations. Or when you look at a certain diagrams, you are shocked by the extent of it. Or you are curious to know the trick behind how marketers, politicians and any other people that uses data, use visual presentation, survey methods and statistical methods to get the desired results they want and 'market' their ideas to you.

It is a very simple to read book, even non-statistician would have enjoyed this book immensely. Aptly describe by the author Darrell Huff, this book is for the laymen to learn some 'self-defense', not to be easily deceived by tricks.

I am a statistician myself and I have benefited greatly from this book. Not that I would use this tricks to deceive people but it opened up another world for me. Yes, being a statistician I am less easily deceived by the survey results published in the newspapers but this book also includes visual presentations as well which statistician might have overlooked its importance.

I strongly recommend this book to all people, so that we can have a better representation of the world and not be easily swayed.

For this book, I give it 3.5 out of 5 stars for its easy reading for both statisticians and non-statisticians. It is a good weekend-reading book.