When an apple falls, does it roll far or stay close to its tree?
Is it an exact clone of all the other apples the tree produces or something entirely different?
This is the question that has perplexed the public about Marina for the simple reason that she is the daughter of the man who has governed Malaysia for almost twenty-four years. Does she echo him in his view of the world, or does she chart her own path?
Why is it that in her own public life, in her writing and speeches, she expresses opinions that seem to contradict his?
This book hopes to detail how she has navigated her life as the daughter of a charismatic politician and a loving father, even as sometimes she has chafed at being constantly under his shadow. It talks about how she has struggled to find her own identity, to defend her worldview at times and to reconcile them with his at others.
She tells the story of growing up as the daughter of Malaysia’s most influential leader, from the values instilled in her as a child, right up to the day he was forced to step down as the 7th Prime Minister after leading the historic ouster of the government he used to lead.
Catagory: Biographies, Diaries & True Accounts
Step by Step
Step by Step is the compelling and insightful biography of Pemba Gelje Sherpa, one of his generation’s most accomplished Nepalese mountaineers. Having climbed twenty-one peaks over 8,000 metres, including eight ascents of Everest, Pemba reveals his remarkable journey from a humble village boy to a world-renowned guide and environmentalist. Through candid conversations along the trek to Everest Base Camp, the biographer captures the essence of Pemba’s character, values, and vision. Pemba belongs to the new breed of Sherpas who are passionate about preserving the Himalayas, empowering their communities, and carving their own path in life.
Sang Kancil
Ordinary is not as ordinary as you think. History is written by the loudest and most charismatic victors, but are silent about the true movers and shakers: the rebels, the honest servants, the quiet doers, the square pegs in a round hole, and the ordinary believers who kept showing up.
Through seven moving tales of courage, prolific Malaysian writer, James Chai, shows us in his debut book how:
– A frail 70-year-old woman became the face of Malaysia’s largest protest that helped overturn the longest-ruling regime in the world;
– A mother-of-two fought through gender and racial unfairness and became the first Asian woman to win the ‘Nobel Prize for Cancer Research’;
– A middle-aged, middle-level government servant exposed the largest white-collar crime in the world;
– A punk graphic artist persevered through multiple arrests and drew one of the most recognisable activist artworks in the region;
– An indigenous retiree battled powerful governments and corporations to usher in one of the largest environmental victories in Southeast Asia;
– A group of leaderless Sikh organisation saved the lives of thousands in the worst flood in modern Malaysian history; and
– A suburban bottom-of-class student found his way through modern history’s bloodiest wars and won the Pulitzer Prize.
Sang Kancil will force us to reassess what is truly important and remind us of what we are capable of. Filled with research-backed theories, this book is a call-to-action for the underdogs battling our own giants.
Wais Na Misis
If you have enjoyed and learned from the snippets of my life as a ‘Wais Na Misis’, through my Instagram and Facebook posts, you’ll most certainly get a kick out of the untold stories you’ll find in the pages of this book.
It wasn’t always easy for me, but when life threw me lemons I didn’t dodge or flinch. Instinctively, I caught every piece and turned the bunch into lemonade, lemon meringue pie, lemon-scented hand soap, and home deodorizer, and sold them all! Sometimes, I’d wonder when another lemon would come my way just so I can use it to my advantage again.
You get the picture.
As a mompreneur, I was never given any manual on how to effectively navigate through life. But it somehow knew what it needed to teach me, through experiences and the people around me, at the right moment.
So, here I am paying it forward to you, my fellow wais na misis.
Being wise takes time. It takes a lot of experience and a load of crushing and pruning in order to reach the stage of becoming fine wine that everyone can enjoy.
May this book serve as your bestie; the handy dandy survival guide you’re looking for as you journey into the intimidating yet marvelous world of motherhood and entrepreneurship. Each page is brimming with meaty tips and tricks that I have learned from the best mentor l’ve ever had–LIFE.
Eggs for Dinner
Eggs for Dinner encompasses business innovation through a touching personal journey.
This book is timely addressing the impact of COVID-19 and the essentials on how to survive in this precarious environment. Guy’s journey via Israel, Europe, the USA, Thailand, and finally the opening of the highly successful restaurant, Wild Honey in Singapore, has given him a wealth of experience in the restaurant business.
Wachs gives a vivid and touching account of growing up in Israel the son of a restaurateur, failed ventures, the rigours of hotel school in the Black Forest in Germany, and his time working in New York. Accounts of meeting movie stars to driving Russian presidents to secret locations are some of the colourful experiences he shares. His journey took him to Thailand where a successful stint in Bangkok and a move to Singapore culminated in his lifelong dream of opening his own restaurant. Surviving the worst of the pandemic focuses Wachs on the future of both his business and his personal life.
A must-read for anyone who wants to go into the restaurant business, this is also ultimately a story about navigating difficulties coping with failure and how a humble dishwasher managed to achieve his dream. While so many restaurants have become casualties of COVID-19, Wild Honey continues to be a popular destination, and the reasons for its continued success can be found in the pages of this memoir.
The First Decade
I started a blog. I borrowed USD 16,000. And now, I’ve built a multimillion dollar fashion company, garnered 1.8 million followers on Instagram and managed to squeeze in time to get married and give birth to not one, but four children.
Perfect for young entrepreneurs, this book shares the secrets of my entrepreneurial journey so far-from starting a business with my boyfriend (telling my dad sure was fun), to fundraising, to managing a team of 400 people, to dealing with the good and bad of social media, and to pretending to nod when my tech team talks about cookies.
I share my proud wins for you to get inspired by, and my juicy failures for you to eat popcorn to.
Always a work in progress, my story is unfinished.
But for now, allow me to present to you, The First Decade.
A Gaijin Sarariman
People who work for companies for monthly salaries are known as sarariman in Japan. They are the foot soldiers who, through their hard work and dedication, enabled the meteoric transformation of Japan into a global economic powerhouse from the ruins of the Second World War. Like the famous bushido or the ‘way of the warrior’ of the old samurai clan, these sarariman are a breed of their own, with their own work ethics and social practices. The author has spent over twenty years working closely with these sarariman from various Japanese companies and lived and worked in Tokyo for four years. A Gaijin Sarariman is a first-hand account of the author’s journey, working in Japan as a gaijin (foreign) sarariman, infused with two decades of experience dealing with the local people from all walks of life providing meaningful insights into the unique Japanese culture.
Wild Wisdom
Wild Wisdom recounts the story of social entrepreneur and philanthropist Christine Amour-Levar and the all-female expeditions she has led across the globe via her two non-profit organisations, Women on a Mission and HER Planet Earth. Over a decade, she has taken hundreds of women, of all nationalities, ages and backgrounds, to off the beaten track locations around the world on challenging, often pioneering, expeditions that really push them outside of their comfort zone.
She has run expeditions to some incredible places, from regions of the Arctic circle to the coldest, windiest and most remote continent on earth, Antarctica. Her teams have crossed the largest caves in the world in Vietnam, sailed across remote islands in Asia, were the first all-female team to bike across the frozen Arctic Circle Trail of Greenland and the Danakil Depression of Ethiopia – the hottest place on earth. And all these expeditions have had as mission to raise awareness and funds for vulnerable women, transforming the lives of thousands of women and girls in the process.
By sharing her personal story and highlighting her life lessons, from growing up on multiple continents to leading teams on expeditions, she sets the stage for a new approach to caring for the human condition and the planet, at a deeper, more intrinsic, heart level. Ultimately, this is a story about roots and values, sisterhood and adventure, pushing limits and the power of our common humanity and compassion to drive change and impact the world for the better.
Malaysian Son
Malaysian Son is the story of Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Setiawangsa. Growing up privileged under the authoritarian regime of Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the imprisonment of Anwar Ibrahim led him to join the Reformasi movement.
As a member of the multiracial People’s Justice Party (KEADILAN), he later became the youngest elected state representative in the 2008 General Elections.
In 2018, as Youth Leader of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition, he participated in the 2018 campaign against Prime Minister Najib Razak, spending time in jail and the courts.
PH achieved a historic victory but, in spite of warnings from Nik who was a backbench MP, failed to achieve a cohesive and stable government. It eventually collapsed in 2020, leading to years of political instability that has yet to abate.
Malaysian Son is a must read for all who want to understand the country’s tumultuous recent history.
The Apple and the Tree
When an apple falls, does it roll far or stay close to its tree?
Is it an exact clone of all the other apples the tree produces or something entirely different?
This is the question that has perplexed the public about Marina for the simple reason that she is the daughter of the man who has governed Malaysia for almost twenty-four years. Does she echo him in his view of the world, or does she chart her own path?
Why is it that in her own public life, in her writing and speeches, she expresses opinions that seem to contradict his?
This book hopes to detail how she has navigated her life as the daughter of a charismatic politician and a loving father, even as sometimes she has chafed at being constantly under his shadow. It talks about how she has struggled to find her own identity, to defend her worldview at times and to reconcile them with his at others.
She tells the story of growing up as the daughter of Malaysia’s most influential leader, from the values instilled in her as a child, right up to the day he was forced to step down as the 7th Prime Minister after leading the historic ouster of the government he used to lead.