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Book Summary: The Autobiography of Malcolm X

Hendra Harahap — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 19:30:00 GMT

Title: The Autobiography of Malcolm X as Told to Alex Haley Link to Amazon.com: The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex HaleyI was interested to read this autobiography because of a book titled "Impossible Man", story of life of Michael Muhammad Knight, who read Malcolm X's autobiography upon a friend's suggestion, who was so inspired by the book that then he embraced Islam, and even further studied Islam in Pakistan, although for some reasons he had later said his goodbye to Islam.Link to Amazon.com: Impossible ManSummary of Malcolm X's life in this book:- Born on May 19, 1925 ...

Upgrade to Snow Leopard: Newbie Experience

Hendra Harahap — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 13:13:00 GMT

So I received my Snow Leopard Upgrade DVD two days ago (Sep 8, 2009). Since I bought my macbook end of June 2009 (yes, I'm a n00b to mac by all means), I paid only US$9.95 for it under the Mac OS X Snow Leopard Up-to-Date Program (visit www.apple.com/macosx/uptodate/), instead of US$29 (or US$25?, here is a link to Amazon.com: Mac OS X version 10.6 Snow Leopard).I took my time before actually doing the upgrade for these reasons:- First, I needed to finish some works I thought better to have them done under the old system, just in case the ...

Recommended Book: The Origin of Financial Crises by George Cooper

Hendra Harahap — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 22:05:00 GMT

Link to Amazon.com:The Origin of Financial Crises: Central Banks, Credit Bubbles, and the Efficient Market Fallacy (Vintage)This book argues that if we are to break out of the damaging cycle of booms and busts, all participants should recognize the proper role and limitations of macroeconomic policy. The writer points out that there are inconsistencies in macroeconomic policy, wherein:(i) policy makers will let market move freely when asset prices are increasing even further when warnings of bubbles are all around, with the defense of the Efficient Market Theories (EMT, that assets prices are always and everywhere at the correct price, ...

Tahapan Pendirian Perseroan Terbatas (PT)

Hendra Harahap — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 17:37:00 GMT

Catatan:Untuk mendirikan sebuah Perseroan Terbatas (PT) jasa/peran Notaris mutlak diperlukan. Pendiri PT akan terbantu oleh Notaris (serta penyedia jasa terkait lainnya), yaitu dalam hal pelengkapan berbagai dokumen yang diperlukan/disyaratkan.Tulisan ini menggambarkan tahapan-tahapan yang dilalui untuk pengurusan yang dilakukan secara elektronis melalui Dirjen Administrasi Hukum Umum (www.sisminbakum.go.id). Permohonan/penyampaian secara manual (non elektronis) dimungkinkan oleh peraturan, yaitu dengan tahapan-tahapan yang kira-kira sama.1. Pengajuan Nama Secara Elektronis- Akan ditolak bila:sudah dipakai secara sah oleh perseroan lainmirip dengan nama lembaga negara/pemerintah/internasional, atau merek terkenal (kecuali telah mendapat ijin dari yang bersangkutan)bertentangan kesusilaantidak sesuai dengan maksud/tujuan/kegiatan usahahanya terdiri atas angka/rangkaian angka; terdiri dari ...

Recommended Book: Slideology by Nancy Duarte

Hendra Harahap — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 00:10:00 GMT

Title: Slideology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations (Author: Nancy Duarte)First edition, Sep 2008Highly impressed by how Al Gore presented his "An Inconvenient Truth" (which landed him Nobel Prize and Academy Award), I am interested in finding lessons on how to create good presentation slides and non-boring charts/diagrams. I tried to find samples/templates on the net to no avail.Then I found this book (I decided to buy it because I saw it featured Al Gore in one of its case studies). I think this book gives valuable insights on how to create great presentations, excerpts are as follows:1. ...

Recommended Book: Bright from the Start

Hendra Harahap — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 10:01:00 GMT

Title: Bright from the Start: The Simple, Science-Backed Way to Nurture Your Child’s Developing Mind from Birth to Age 3 (Author: Dr. Jill Stamm and Paula Spencer - Re-published from my old blog @FriendsterBlog (Jan 2008)I like this book for the fact that it is so logical. It teaches parents how to get babies’ attention, to form bonding and communicate with babies through much care, singing, talking, playing, and all activities. All seems too simple, but the author assures you with scientific researches and studies in psychology, neuroscience, etc.The book focus more on what parents should do to get ...

Recommended Book: iWoz by Steve Wozniak and Gina Smith

Hendra Harahap — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 09:40:00 GMT

Title: iWoz (by Steve Wozniak and Gina Smith) - Re-published from my old blog @FriendsterBlog (Jan 2007)This book is about Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Computer, who single-handedly created the Apple I and the famous Apple II. He’s also inventor of many other less-known amazing things.Steve Jobs may be more popular, but I think I like Steve Wozniak more, I believe he is really a kind, honest man. And of course, he’s a genius, brilliant man.The story starts from his childhood time, when his father (worked in secret projects for US government) taught him a lot about engineering ...

Book I Read: The Walmart Effect

Hendra Harahap — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 09:24:00 GMT

Title: The Wal-Mart Effect - How the World’s Most Powerful Company Really Works and How It’s Transforming the American EconomyAuthor: Charles Fishman- Re-published from my old blog @FriendsterBlog (Jul 2006)This book shows us the effects given by the giant company Wal-Mart to the US economy (and to the world to some extent). The company is so big that the average American is within 10-25 miles of range to its stores. It is one of the biggest employer (if not the biggest) in the US (and also maybe Mexico), consistently delivers its famous promise ‘everyday low price’, so hard ...

Recommended Book: The Long Tail by Chris Anderson

Hendra Harahap — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 09:16:00 GMT

Title: The Long Tail (Author: Chris Anderson) - Re-published from my old blog @FriendsterBlog (Jan 2007)Chris Anderson learned that in the web culture (and then in every other things), when so many things are supplied demands follow. I think it’s like Say’s Law "Supply creates its own demand" (although this Say’s Law has its different interpretations).The title "The Long Tail" comes from the shape of the curve (this book used Rhapsody.com’s sales) with volume (of sales, etc) in the Y-axis and inventory in X-axis. In the left side where the hits are, sales are high. That’s the head. And ...

Recommended Book: The World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman

Hendra Harahap — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 08:56:00 GMT

Title: The World is Flat (Author: Thomas L. Friedman) - Re-published from my old blog @FriendsterBlog (Oct 2006)This book points out that the world is now flat, where all the playing fields are leveled. The fall of Berlin Wall in 1989 had triggered more openness throughout the world (end of Cold War, no more Soviet and so on). Coincided by many breakthroughs and advancements of information technology, the openness has quickly and dramatically empowered individuals, groups, companies and even countries to work, collaborate and compete more equally, creatively, intelligently in a new platform which operates without regard to geography, ...

Recommended Book: Undercover Economist by Tim Harford

Hendra Harahap — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 08:37:00 GMT

Title: Undercover Economist (Auhtor: Tim Harford) - - Re-published from my old blog @FriendsterBlog (Jun 2006)The book explains in a fun and entertaining way (among others):- the economics of Starbucks (price targeting, who get the most from Starbucks’ premium price, etc), supermarkets, used car markets, insurance companies, property price (and rental rates)- environmental issues related to free trade- how poor countries stay poor- how China growsusing economic theories like scarcity and externalities), game theory and also marketing theories.Tim Harford argues that free trade and free movement of capital are the best for all. For developing countries, regarding the ...

Recommended Book: Blink by Malcolm Gladwell

Hendra Harahap — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 07:59:00 GMT

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (Author: Malcolm Gladwell) - Re-published from my old blog @FriendsterBlog (Apr 2006)This book tells about the ability of some highly skilled people to make snap judgments. They know things (e.g. quality of things) only by looking or hearing or sensing in a very short duration of time (seconds or even fractions of a second).The author explained that the process of thinking in such cases is done in subconscious level. Art experts can sense instantly and accurately that art objects they see are fake ones (although mostly they cannot provide good explanations for ...

Recommended Book: Freakonomics

Hendra Harahap — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 06:53:00 GMT

Title: Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (by Steven Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner)- Re-published from my old blog @FriendsterBlog (Jan 2006)This is a very interesting book, gives a new perspective on how economics/economists can explain things, answer questions, in unusual ways. Some of the problems covered: how crimes fell dramatically in the 90s in the US (author's conclusion: legalized abortion), how the sumo wrestlers in Japan and teachers in the US are or were cheating, the economics of drug dealers, socioeconomic patterns in naming children.By clever algorithms and asking the right questions, correct information can ...

Novel I Read: A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

Hendra Harahap — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 06:37:00 GMT

Title: A Thousand Splendid Suns (Author: Khaled Hosseini) - Re-published from my old blog @FriendsterBlog (Sep 2007)A Thousand Splendid Suns tells a sad story of two Afghan women, who came from two different places and cultures but eventually gathered in one house in the war-ridden Kabul. A very sad book with all the miseries happened to those two poor women, with so many mean people around them.The author introduced history of Afghanistan: from the monarchy era to the time of Soviet invasion, then the warlords era to the time when the Taliban took control until the Post 9/11 era.I like ...

Recommended Book: The Kite Runner

Hendra Harahap — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 06:08:00 GMT

Title: The Kite Runner (Author: Khaled Hosseini) - Re-published from my old blog @FriendsterBlog (Dec 2005)This is a story about a man (a Pashtun, majority tribe in Afghanistan) revisited his homeland after receiving a letter from an old friend of his family, a letter sending a photograph of a man who used to be his childhood friend, a son of his father’s servant (a Hazara, minority tribe from lower social class).The man told stories of his childhood years, of Afghanistan history(before Russia invasion, during and after the invasion) and of the timewhen he revisited the country when the Taliban was ...

Recommended Book: Anyone Can Do It: Building Coffee Republic from Our Kitchen Table

Hendra Harahap — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 04:47:00 GMT

Re-publish from my old blog @FriendsterBlog (Dec 2005)

Title: Anyone Can Do It: Building Coffee Republic from our Kitchen Table
Authors: Sahar and Bobby Hashemi

This book is about an actual experience of a sister and brother building a business of coffee specialty outlets, from an idea into a real big business.

It started with an idea: One night in 1994 Sahar (the sister) said to her brother Bobby that she missed the experience of drinking coffee in the US, the taste, etc. At that time, to get coffee in London, you have to go to places selling sandwiches; coffees were merely additionals with ...

Recommended Book: A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Hendra Harahap — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 22:30:00 GMT

Title: A curious incident of the dog in the night-time (Author: Mark Haddon) - Re-published from my old blog @FriendsterBlog (Dec 2005)Link to Amazon.com: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-TimeThis novel tells a story with the perspective of an autistic boy, Christopher, 15 years old. The story started with a death of a dog belonged to a neighbor, which made Christopher decided to investigate to find out who themurderer was, which led to surprising and sad revelations. Christopher likes Sherlock Holmes (for being logical) but doesn’t like the author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (who believed in supernatural ...

Welcome

Hendra Harahap — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 03:40:39 GMT

Welcome to my blog. Please check back soon for new entries. ...