Fyodor Dostoevsky - The Brothers Karamazov

Before reading the book, I was forewarned by its introduction that Einstein declared that he had learnt more from Dostoevsky than from any other thinker. This suggested to me that I was about to read something deep and concentrated, and the book turned out to be just that.

The book is a very thick one, despite the fact that the story covers a very short time span. As its length suggests, the story is very complicated, and I don't feel the need to summarized the plot, as Wikipedia has it all. As I read it, I came across some parts where I sensed that there was a deeper meaning, but I failed to grasp exactly what it was. For example, I'm pretty sure that the disparity between the Karamazov brothers represents something, but I'm not sure what. Many times did I feel that I was not mature enough for the book. I think I would greatly benefit from reading a guide book on this novel, so as to better understand the greatness of the book.

However, one part of the book left an impression on me. I encountered a 13 year old boy called Kolya who read books voraciously, talked to people with authority and boldness, and seemed to know surprisingly a lot for his age. He was well aware of his precocity, and was therefore rather vain. While reading about him, I felt a certain envy, because for the past few month, I have been reading a lot to know more and become a more intelligent person, or to become a "human", one could say. This was after I had read the introduction to the "Great Books of the Western World" series, which emphasized the importance of liberal education(that is, reading great books) and which propelled me to read and read to become a "better" and "intelligent" person, almost some sort of a "superior" person. However, in the book, Alyosha Karamazov, who is portrayed as a person who loves all and is loved by all, tells Kolya that he is "perverted by all this nonsense". This made me look back at myself; I realized that my zeal for knowledge was for my betterment only, not for others. It dawned on me that learning for the sake of improving myself is a rather incomplete goal, whereas learning to improve humanity is a more complete one. Knowledge should be the means, not the goal.

John Lusk - The Mouse Driver Chronicles

This book is a story about how two students in Wharton School of Business, John Lusk and Kyle Harrison, decided to walk the path of entrepreneurship despite their MBAs. Kyle Harrison had come up with the idea of making a computer mouse that looked like the head of a golf driver: hence the name MouseDriver. Knowing hardly anything about manufacturing and distribution, they work passionately to make their business a success, making mistakes on the way but also learning from them. Platinum Concepts, their company, doesn't make them into millionaires, but it becomes a moderate success in two years, and this is where the book ends.

After reading this, I'm not sure whether I'm intrigued to follow a career of entrepreneurship. Being an entrepreneur definitely sounds exciting, because you get to do whatever you want, and you can earn a lot of money, but it is also very risky. While reading, I thought about what I should learn in college; I would ideally like to study either religious, political or international studies, but I'm not sure whether studying these will give me financial security. Should I face reality, and pursue an education that will feed me, such as a MBA? Leaving the speculations aside, I'd like to comment that I liked finding out how was the life of an entrepreneur, but other than that, I feel that I haven't learnt much from reading this book.

Michael R. LeGault - Think!: why crucial decisions can't be made in the blink of an eye

The book talks on and on about critical thinking. The main argument is intuition vs. critical thinking. It seems that the author wrote this book as a response to another book, called Blink!, which supports intuitive thinking. Well, after reading Think!, I feel as if I am more superior than normal humans, as if other humans, who indulge themselves in pleasure driven, complacent life, who are easily manipulated by propaganda and political correctness unconsciously. Political correctness is how the author describes populism, where people support an opinion, such as radical feminism, because it is popular, because it is the 'safe' option to take. The author strongly opposes political correctness as it is 'ready-made' ideology, an ideology one adopts blindly without evaluating it critically.

I in most part agreed with the author, and realised that I too was sometimes victim of political correctness, as in the case of carbon dioxide induced global warming. The book also focuses on the importance of reading, as knowledge is essential to think critically. This reiterated for me the importance of books in improving the quality of human life, in helping to achieve humans to be the best we can be. However, the book left a tinge of irony behind; thanks to its emphasis on critical thinking and evaluation, I realised that this book itself should be also critically analyzed with skepticism, and that it would be inane to believe every word of the author. To judge on the credibility of the book, I guess I'll have to read a whole range of other books.