By: ryan    12:05 PM  Books, Harvey McKinnon   No comments

Title: The Power of Giving
Author: Azim Jamal & Harvey McKinnon
Publisher: penguin Books
ISBN: 9781585427512

Side Cover text
Giving does more than just improve the lives of others; it affects our own lives profoundly. With benefits ranging from the practical, improved health and professional connections, to the intangible, creating feelings of hope and a sense of connection with others, giving is an essential but often overlooked human need.

When most of us think of giving, we usually think only terms of time or money, things we would like to share but have barely enough of for ourselves. In The Power of Giving, Azim Jamal and Harvey MsKinnon help us move beyond that idea, and guide us through the benefits and importance of giving kindness, ideas, advice, attention, skills, time, and hope to others. This down-to-earth handbook to every facets of giving uses poignant stories and real-world advice to help us determine what each of us has to give, and much more.

Full of inspirational ideas, The Power of Giving features:

• exercises to help you discover what you have to offer
• advice on teaching children how to give
• a discussion of the power of giving forgiveness
• an explanation of the benefits of giving what we ourselves need to receive
• a new afterword on the importance of giving in hard times, when we may feel least able to, yet will reap the richest rewards from doing so

The Power of Giving is a must read for anyone interested in improving the world and their own lives. 

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The Joy Of Living

 By: ryan    10:24 AM  Books, Buddhism, Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche   No comments

Title: The Joy of Living - Unlocking The Secret & Science of Hapiness
Author: Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche
Publisher: Harmony Books
ISBN: 9780307346254

Side Cover text

For millennia,Buddhists have enjoyed the limitless benefits of meditation. But how does it work? And why? The principles behind this ancient practice have long eluded some of the best minds in modern science.

Until now.

In this groundbreaking work, world-renowned Buddhist teacher Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche invites us to join him in unlocking the secrets behind the practice of meditation. Working with neuroscientists at the Waisman Labatory for Brain Imaging and Behaviour, Yongey Mingyur provides clear insights into modern research indicating that systematic training in meditation can enhance activity in areas of the brain associated with happiness and compassion. He has also worked with physicists across the country to develop a fresh scientifically based interpretation of the Buddhist understanding of the nature of reality.

With an infectious joy and insatiable curiosity, Yongey Mingyur weaves together the principles of Tibetan Buddhism, neuroscience, and quantum physics in a way that will forever change the way we understand the human experience. Using the basic meditation practices he provides, we can discover paths through everyday problems, transforming obstacles into opportunities to recognize the unlimited potential of our own minds.

With a foreword by bestselling author Daniel Goleman, The Joy of Living is a stunning breakthrough, an illuminating vision of the science of Buddhism and a handbook for transforming our minds, bodies, and lives.

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Who is the author:

Born in 1975 in Nubri, Nepal, Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche is a rising star among the new generation of Tibetan Buddhists masters trained outside of Tibet. DFeeply versed in the practical and philosophical disciplines of the ancient tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, he also conversant in the practical issues and details of modern culture. His candid, often humorous accounts of his own personal difficulties have endeared him to thousands of Buddhist and non-Buddhist students around the world. More information about Yongey Mingyur, his teachings, his activities can be found on the Yongey Foundation website, mingyur.org. 

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Why You Should Read The Book: 

I knew this book for a very long time from some of the reviews featured in Buddhist's websites and magazines. I spotted a few copies too in local bookstore, however I never got to read them. But once after I got it and started to read it, I can't stop reading it. This book provide the clearest explanation on meditation. Rinpoche takes difficult practice and presents it in a very simplified way to anyone able to understand.

I remember one of my friend said that, when reading this book, read it quietly, casually and have No intention to meditate. By this way, just let Rinpoche's kindness and sense of humor come through the pages. Having stress from works, studies, relationship, health or wealth are all factors deteriorates our mind, this book is definitely the book that can actually calm your mind to embrace a peaceful state in mind.  

Here is the simply prayer that Rinpoche shares with us:

May all sentient beings have happiness

And the cause of happiness.

May all sentient beings be free

Form suffering and the cause of sufferings.

May all sentient being have joy and the causes of joy.

May all sentient beings remain in great equanimity,

Free from attachment and aversion. 

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Where can you buy it:
Popular bookstores
MPH bookstores
Kinokuniya
Borders

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iPhone: The Missing Manual (4th Edition)

 By: ryan    4:11 PM  Books, David Pogue   No comments

Title: iPhone The Missing Manual (4th Edition)
Author: David Pogue
Publisher: O' Reilly
ISBN: 9781449393656

Back Cover text
Answes found here!

iPhone: The Missing Manual. With the iOS 4 software and the new iPhone 4, Apple has a world-class hit on its hands, This sleek, highly refined pocket computer comes with everything, cellphone, iPod, Internet, camcoder; except a printed manual. Fortunately, David Pogue is back with this expanded edition of his witty, full-color guide: the world's most popular iPhone book.

The important stuff you need to know

• The iPhone 4. This book unearths all the secrets of the newest iPhone, including its video calling, the dual cameras (with flash), and the world's highest-resolution screen.
• The iOS 4 software. Earlier iPhone gain multitasking, app folders, the iBooks app, better email and Web, and much more. 
• The apps. The catalog of 250,000 add-on programs makes the iPhone's phone features almost secondary. Now you'll know how to find, manage, and exploit those apps. 

The iPhone may be the world's coolest computer, but it's still a computer, with all of a computer's complexities. iPhone: The Missing Manual is a funny, gorgeously illustrated guide to the tips, shortcuts, and workarounds that will turn you, too, into an iPhone addict.

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Why I started the Missing Manual Series

People learn best when information is engaging, clearly written, and funny. Unfortunately, most computer books read like dry catalogs. That's why I created the Missing Manuals. They're entertaining, unafraid to state when a feature is useless or doesn't work right, and -oh, by the way - written by actual writers. And on every page, we answer the simple question: "What's this feature for?"

David Pogue is the New York Times tech columnist, a bestselling author, and the creator of the Missing Manual series. 
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To download the book, click here 

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iPhone Guide Books

 By: ryan    12:14 PM  Bob LeVitus, Books, Edward C. Baig   No comments

Are you getting the most out of your iPhone? For me, definitely not. I am totally new to Apple's gadget. If you're are in the same boat with me, then here are the two books where I find it might suitable for you.

**Thank you so much, Aunty J for getting me this two wonderful books....

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Title: iPhone For Dummies, 4th Edition
Author: Edward C. Baig, Bob LeVitus
Publisher: Wiley
ISBN: 9780470878705

Back Cover text
Find your way with GPS maps, download your favourite apps, and never miss a photo opportunities!
The iPhone continues to get better, and this handy guide keeps you in touch with the newest features. The basics are here too: how to master the multitouch interface, sync your data, send text and MMS messages, browse the Internet, set up iTunes, watch movies and TV shows, share photos, check the weather, find your location and even make phone calls.

• Keep it together - synchronize contacts, calendars, e-mail accounts, and bookmarks between your computer and your iPhone
• Do you multitask? - while on a call, access your e-mail, calendar, or other apps and switch effortlessly between applications
• Video call - wave to your kids, confer with a client, or join a party from across the globe with the FaceTime video-chat feature
• Shake your groove thing - create playlists, scroll through your music library, and customize your listening experience
• All those apps - find the best apps indulge your interests, get applications onto your iPhone, and keep your apps up to date

 More info of the book, click here

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Title: iPod & iTunes Portable Genius
Author: Jesse David Hollington
Publisher: Wiley
ISBN: 9780470382592

Back Cover text
The Genius is in.

You don't have to be a genius to use and iPod and iTunes. But if you want to enjoy the very coolest features, put this savvy Portable Genius guide to work and start ramping up the place. Want to recover content form your iPod? Download applications and podcasts to your iPod touch? Automatically build playlists with the Genius features in iTunes? You'll find cool and useful Genius tips, full-color screenshots, and pages of easy to access shortcuts and tools that will save you loads if time and let you enjoy your iPod and iTunes to the max.

Jesse David Hollington is a contributing editor for iLounge.com, a site about all things iPod, iPhone, and iTunes. He writes technical articles and tutorials as well as the weekly "Ask iLounge" column. he also serves as an administrator of the iLounge Discussion Forums, where he regularly provides support and assistance to many iPod and iTunes users.

Portable Genius
Fun, hip, and straightforward, the new Portable Genius series gives forward-thinking Apple users useful information in hardy, compact books that are easy to navigate and don't skimp on the essentials. Collect the whole series and make the most of your Apple digital lifestyle.

More info about the book, click here
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For more books on iPhone, visit this  

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Room

 By: ryan    11:19 AM  Books, Emma Donoghue   No comments

Title: Room
Author: Emma Donoghue
Publisher: Hachette Book Group
ISBN: 9780316125086

Back Cover text
To Five-Year-Old Jack, Room Is The World. It's where he was born, it's where he and his Ma eat ahd sleeo and play and learn. At night, his Ma shuts him safely in the wardrobe, where he is meant to be asleep when Old Nick visits.

Room is home to Jack,but to Ma it's prison where she has been help for seven years. Through her fierce love for her son, she has created a life for him in this eleven-by-eleven-foot space. But with Jack's curiosity building alongside her own desperation she knows that Room cannot contain either much longer.

Room is a tale at once shocking, riveting, exhilarating, a story of unconquerable love in harrowing circumstances, and of the diamond-hard bond between a mother and her child.
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"Emma Donoghue's writing is superb alchemy, changing innocence into horror and horror into tenderness. Room is a book to read in one sitting, When it's over you look up; the world looks the same but you are somehow different and that feeling lingers for days."
-Audrey Niffenegger, author of the Time Traveler's Wife and Her Fearful Symmetry

"I loved Room. Such incredible imagination, and dazzling use of language. And with all this, an entirely credible, endearing little boy. It's unlike anything I've ever read before." 

-Anita Shreve, author of the Pilot's Wife and Rescue

"Room is one of the most profoundly affecting books I've read in a long time. jack moved me greatly. His voice, his story, his innocence, his love for Ma, combine to create something very unusual and, I think, something very important."

-John Boyne, author of the Boy in the Stripped Pajamas

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Who's Emma Donoghue:

Born and raised in Dublin, has written several works of historical fiction, including the bestselling Slammerkin. She lives in London, Ontario, with her partner and their two young children.

 (Image from Mirror.co.uk)

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Why You Should Read This Book: 

Room is the book where everyone, book's reviews and magazines seems to be talking or comments about lately. And fortunately I managed to get myself a copy and wanted to see what all the hype is all about. You can read the back cover text above so you roughly know what the book is about. The book cover itself look like a kids book. But once you read and understand what the Room was about, the cover made a perfect sense.

This book is divided into five sections and each ending on a remarkable point. Told from the perspective of a five-year-old child sounded like something quickly bore but eventually what follows is wonderful. At some point, I felt I could predict what is coming next but turn out something totally new and surprises that keep the pace racing along. Once again, another book that definitely a page turner.

I couldn't recommend this book more. All in all, this is superb. It is intense, powerful and emotional.You'll thanks Emma for letting you spend some time with Jack and Ma in the Room. 

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For more info about the book, please visit:
EmmaDonoghue
RoomTheBook

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Charlie St. Cloud

 By: ryan    10:43 AM  Ben Sherwood, Books   No comments

Title: Charlie St. Cloud
Author: Ben Sherwood
Publisher: Bantamdell
ISBN: 9780553584028

 (Film Tie-In cover) 

Back Cover text
In a snug New England fishing village, Charlie St. Cloud tends the lawns and monuments of am ancient cemetery where his younger brother, Sam, is buried. After surviving the car accident that claimed his brother's life, Charlie is graced with an extraordinary gift: He can see, talk to and even play catch with Sam's spirit. Into this magical world comes Tess Caroll, a captivating woman training for a solo sailing trip around the globe. Fate steers her boat into a treacherous storm that propels her into Charlie;s life. Their beautiful and uncommon connection leads to a race against time and a choice between death and life, between past and the future, between holding on and letting go and the discovery that miracles can happen if we simply open our hearts.   
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Reading the first chapter already make you don't want to put down the book. This book really takes you to a great adventure of life, memories, hope, death and future. The plot is fun and fast paced and the best thing is you'll love the ending. To me, it's so well written that I didn't want the story to end. There are much critiques on the movie but I don't think you will when read the book. That's why I hate book that becoming a movie.

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Here is the trailer for the movie

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 Note: This book was originally published as The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud

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Popular Pre-Renovation Sales Promotion

 By: ryan    9:26 AM  Worth A Read   No comments

Calling all book's lovers

Popular Ikano is having Pre-Renovation Sales promotion starting 29 Sept 2010 till 10 Oct 2010.

• Rebates are up to 70%
• Free exclusive gift for every new application or renewal of Popular Adult Card
• Free RM5 voucher with any purchase of RM100 and above in a single receipt

This is the time to get those books that on your wish-list but. As I am a totally "banana" here so I only notice that  Popular Ikano are throwing 20% discounts on all English books. Others dept such as Chinese, Music and Stationary, errrr... I don't really know. Sorry!!

Eventually went over Ikano to buy my new IPhone car charger and eventually just walk-in Popular for window shopping and also eventually they are having this sales. So eventually the book's buying nerves are rushing to my head. Therefore end up buying a few titles that I wanted to get all this while for further 10% rebate. Extra 10% seems little but is better than nothing right? Must be kiasu abit when buying "papers" nowadays.

So folks, you know where to heads on this weekend. Happy buying!!

BRING along your Popular's member card to avoid disappointment.

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