Features Archives - Penguin Random House SEA

Read an exclusive excerpt from Happy Ever After

Posted on June 17, 2025 by simransingh

Happy Ever After: Transform Your Leaders, Teams, and Organizations with HAPPY System™ is a robust book based on leading industry research on what it takes to create sustainable change, bringing together the latest breakthroughs in neuroscience, wisdom from ancient philosophies, thought leadership on coaching and experience of working with hundreds of leaders across the world.

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How Can Organizations Develop a Culture of Coaching?

Creating a sustainable culture of coaching in an organization goes beyond one off initiatives for leaders to work with external coaches—it requires embedding coaching and being coach-like in our daily interactions as a core organizational value. The following steps outline how organizations can cultivate this culture, from defining a coaching philosophy to aligning coaching practices with strategic objectives.

Defining the coaching culture

Begin by establishing a shared understanding that coaching is essential for growth and development of individuals, teams, and organizations at all levels. This sets a foundation where employees and leaders alike see coaching as an integral part of their developmental journey.

Training managers in coaching skills

Equip managers with coaching skills that enable them to ask powerful questions, encourage self-discovery, and provide constructive feedback. Trained managers model a coaching approach, inspiring others and gradually infusing coaching into the organization’s daily interactions.

Democratizing coaching access

Make coaching available across all staff levels to develop an environment where everyone feels valued and supported. Access to coaching for all employees unlocks their potential, leading to higher engagement and a more resilient workforce.

Implementing a systematic approach

Develop structured coaching systems tailored to the organization’s needs. This might include creating a global network of coaches, cultivating in-house coaching capabilities, or establishing partnerships with local providers. Define success metrics to ensure these initiatives have measurable impact.

Aligning coaching with business strategies

Integrate coaching with organizational goals, ensuring that coaching initiatives are designed to support broader strategies. This alignment maximizes the relevance and effectiveness of coaching, reinforcing its role in achieving the organization’s vision.

Embracing learning and celebrating success

Deploy coaching in a way that feels natural by celebrating success stories, sharing testimonials, and highlighting real impacts. This encourages employees to embrace the value of coaching, making it a part of the organization’s fabric.

Providing support structures

Offer ongoing training, supervision, and recognition for internal coaches to maintain high-quality coaching standards. Integrating coaching into organizational processes ensures it remains a vital part of the work environment.

Engaging stakeholders and building partnerships

Engage key stakeholders and establish partnerships with external coaching experts to enrich the organization’s coaching capabilities and ensure seamless integration of coaching initiatives.

Together, these steps build a coaching culture that empowers employees, drives growth, and aligns with organizational goals, positioning coaching as a strategic asset for organizational success.

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This book re-defines the way we relate to ourselves, our teams and life itself. It is a must-have book for any leader who wishes to turn possibilities into reality for themselves, their teams and organisation. Get your copy now.

Pride Month Reading List

Posted on June 6, 2025June 6, 2025 by simransingh

This Pride Month, not only are we celebrating love but the power that Pride brings with it. How are we celebrating that? Well, you know it. With books and stories that have touched our heart. At the heart of Pride lies a spectrum of stories, tender, bold, defiant, and quietly transformative. And what better way to celebrate than through the pages of books that have moved us, challenged us, and lingered with us long after the last chapter? We felt deeply connected to the characters and all that they went through, whether it’s deep or on the lighter side of life. So, of course, we wanted to share our list of books with you.

Here’s what we’re reading this month:

Boys’ Love follows the life of Jon, a Filipino gay man and his coming out of the closet in conservative and Catholic Philippines. He becomes a journalist and lives briefly in the United Kingdom and the United States, but returns home to a colourful country that is beginning to change. He forges friendships and alliances in gay Manila, meets and break ups with lovers, and lives with eyes wide open to the possibilities of hope.

Inspired by Filipino mythology and folk tales but written with a Gothic take, My Lady Hiraya is a sapphic romance fantasy novel that follows Elise’s dogged pursuit of her lost love and the love she finds along the way.

In Worship the Body, an owner of a furniture workshop, Jaime drops by a restaurant to cool off with a glass of beer. Working in that restaurant, Jun waits on him in that random visit. Something happens between them as their eyes meet over the glass of beer which Jaime considers an accident and Jun considers luck. Their paths will once again cross, but in an unexpected way.

Have I Got Something To Tell You is collection of stories that explore the intersections and conflicts in family lives and sexuality that are typical in contemporary Asian societies, yet also universal. These stories are set from post-independent Malaysia to the early decades of the 21st century, the Covid-19 pandemic years – gay men’s love cannot be understood by their family or nation; and an endearing but heart-breaking love between two young men, one with hearing-impairment.

Riverrun is a rite-of-passage novel on the life of Danilo Cruz, a young gay man who grows up in a colourful and chaotic military dictatorship in the Philippines. The book is shaped like a memoir, and glides from childhood to young adulthood.

The Dogs follows the story of Tian, a middle-aged man, moves into an old flat that had once belonged to his late father, to live out the rest of his life. As he goes about his days, he starts to reminisce about his childhood in a kampong in Singapore in the 1950s, and his friendship with Heng Chong, a schoolmate. As he looks back, he gains a deeper understanding of his own past.

The Zero Season takes us to 1949, where a young Etienne Legast is in trouble, estranged from his pious Catholic family, has fled a messy love affair with an older man at the end of the war, and returns home to Paris for a funeral – only to find himself quick drawn into a deadly debt and an unexpected romance with an orphaned Cambodian student radical. Though the two young men come from different worlds, they soon develop a bond that helps them transcend their respective tragedies.

Orchids of the Rainforest is a novel about reconciling identities with culture and heritage, while realising that acceptance is sometimes found in the unlikeliest of places. This book follows the lives of three cousins who are dealing with their personal troubles and trying to break the shackles of tradition.

In Death and the Maiden we meet Stella, a ghost boy in a skirt who lives in an abandoned tower in the middle of the capital. He calls himself the Eleventh Floor Theater Administrator. Every evening he wakes up to repeat the same routine, caring for lost children, watching a spectacular parade of the Defeated Gamblers. The boy wonders why the Reaper whom he lived with had not yet sent his soul away.

Have you got the feels yet? Trust us when we say that you don’t want to miss out on these stories.

Get your copies today.

New Books Releasing in June 2025

Posted on May 31, 2025 by simransingh

It’s that time of the year when summer is in full swing and readers want light summer reads, books to take on vacation, stories that will accompany you on rainy days and more. Whether you’re traveling, sheltering from the heat with the A/C on full blast, or enjoying a rainy afternoon with a cup of tea, June’s literary offerings promise a journey for every kind of reader.

This month, we bring you a diverse and thought-provoking selection. From multigenerational sagas and poignant queer narratives to sharp romantic comedies and timely geopolitical analysis. Here are the books releasing this month:

This novel follows the life of Jon, a Filipino gay man and his coming out of the closet in conservative and Catholic Philippines. He becomes a journalist and lives briefly in the United Kingdom and the United States, but returns home to a colourful country that is beginning to change.

He forges friendships and alliances in gay Manila, meets and break ups with lovers, and lives with eyes wide open to the possibilities of hope.

Here you will get a narrative line that is enriched with different prose forms like vignettes, poems, songs, speeches, reviews, feature articles, portraits of people and sketches of places.

Ah Lam is married off to Cheng Lei, the son of a wealthy merchant, to help improve her family’s situation as she is of age. Ming Zhu, Ah Lam’s daughter, befriends a wealthy Muslim Javanese entrepreneur family and falls for Arya, an aspiring scholar, whom she later marries despite her parents’ disagreement for their different cultural and religious backgrounds under the authoritarian New Order regime. Dido, one of Ming Zhu’s twin children and a Peranakan woman, faces gender and cultural challenges as she is torn between her hybrid ethnicity and cultural roots while growing up in the disorienting Reformasi era and riots.

This is a story of three generations of women in Indonesia which talks about what happens when intergenerational trauma and family memories haunt their lives and ties to others.

After witnessing the relationships from the two closest people in her life fall apart, Clara was determined not to be the curse’s next victim by avoiding the root cause: falling in love with cliché love interests.

Leading up to college, Clara has managed to avoid getting stuck in situations that will cause her to spend more time than necessary with a cliché love interest. But when she accidentally arrived late to the first day of ASL class, her streak came to an end when Colton Reed, the college star baseball player ended up sitting next to her.

Escaping the curse was going to be a lot more difficult than she thought it would be.

An era of great power rivalry made the rise of Southeast Asia possible. It stimulated common purpose and unity among nations and led to the creation and consolidation of ASEAN.

The question now is, will the return of geopolitics have a similar impact? This is no means assured. In fact, the opposite could happen. The new geopolitics is, after all, quite different from the old. Developments affecting Southeast Asia’s reputation and appeal might destroy ‘Southeast Asia’ not just as a distinct idea, but also as pawns in the hands of great powers.

With so many interestingly crafted stories, we know it can be hard to choose which one to read first. But the good thing is that you get to read all! Stay tuned on our Instagram to know when they release.

Books you can read instead of doomscrolling – Mental Health Awareness Month Edition

Posted on May 23, 2025 by simransingh

This Mental Health Awareness Month, we’re not here to tell you to think positive or be mindful.

In a world overflowing with endless feeds and fleeting updates, it’s easy to fall into the trap of constant scrolling, especially when life feels overwhelming. If you’re feeling frayed, restless, or just plain tired lately, you’re not alone. Doomscrolling might feel like control, like staying informed—but mostly, it just wears us down. But this month, we’re offering an alternative: start reading.

Not because reading will magically solve anything.
Not because you need another thing on your “self-care” checklist.
But because your mind deserves better than an endless scroll of anxiety, outrage, and distraction. Each book here, whether fiction or nonfiction, offers insight into the human experience, mental wellness, and self-discovery. Here’s what we recommend flipping through instead of your social media feed.

Through the powerful stories of her clients, Clinical Psychologist Dr. Cassandra Aasmundsen-Fry explores how buried experiences shape our feelings of being stuck, in our careers, relationships, and personal fulfillment. This book is a journey of embracing our most difficult parts to rediscover hope and reconnection. It is about unearthing and embracing the difficult parts to reconnect with ourselves and with hope.

The story follows its disturbed protagonist over two nights. She is a Harvard-educated mother who struggles to find an outlet for her loaded brain. Meanwhile, her marriage with an asexual husband unravels and she goes through familiar motions of motherhood for their child. She lives entrenched in her mind, facing demons whispering that the love she gets from this family unit won’t make her own life less devastating.

This book is not a prescriptive roadmap to being more efficient in life. Instead, it will guide you to create your own manual to get things done through the power of self-awareness. It will ask you confronting questions that only you can answer; it will show you how to look inward and dig deep into yourself and how to look outward so that you can understand your surroundings.

Woman Turning F*fty is a collection of savagely personal as well as eclectic experiential essays from a former journalist on the margins of middle age. The author ponders timeless questions about life, maturity, and loss, and dips into universal truths that not even hormonal changes can alter.

Beautifully illustrated and easy to dip into, this book provides a toolkit for self-reflection that honors your unique journey. It’s not about fixing yourself—it’s about discovering who you are and embracing your own path to progress. With bite-sized writings and illustrations, it aims to help get us to know ourselves better and appreciate our unique way of progressing in life through self-reflection and evaluation.

Tracy was at the start of her law career and at the cusp of life when she got a debilitating brainstem stroke that affected her breathing, swallowing, speech, eyesight, and severely weakened her left and paralyzed her right. She found herself effectively a thinking statue at the age of thirty-five. In this memoir, author rebuilds her life, she learns life’s basics all over again, discovering the deeper meaning of faith, resilience, and healing.

A vibrant collection of seventeen stories rooted in Malaysia, Tapestry of the Mind introduces you to characters navigating everything from family loss and legal injustice to spiritual crises and societal stigma. Each story is a rich exploration of the mental and emotional threads that bind us.

A charming and wealthy young man who is grieving, begins to hear his late sister’s cat speak, and the conversations change his life. This touching and surreal novel explores grief, memory, and the strange comforts that help us survive loss.

This book demystifies the process of how to come up with effective, problem-solving ideas. It will help you discover how to unlock the transformative power of creative conflict. You will become an expert at sparking creativity. By the time you get to the end of this book, you will have all the tools to brainstorm like a champion.

Mental Health Awareness Month isn’t just about awareness—it’s about action. Choosing a book that speaks to your experience or stretches your perspective can be a small but powerful act of care.

So here’s your challenge: put the feed down. Pick one of these books up.
And start feeling a little more like yourself again.

Which one are you starting with?

Read an exclusive excerpt from The Wisdom of Yolo

Posted on May 16, 2025 by simransingh

What if money wasn’t the obstacle, but the opportunity?
In a world where we’re constantly told to grind harder, save more, and never stop chasing the next big thing, The Wisdom of YOLO lands like a breath of fresh air, and a wake-up call. Nikki Jurado’s bold new book doesn’t just ask how to build wealth, but why we’re building it in the first place.

Part manifesto, part financial guide, and part soul-searching workbook, The Wisdom of YOLO challenges the conventional hustle narrative and invites you to rethink what a “rich life” really looks like. If you’ve ever felt torn between living in the moment and planning for the future, this book might just be the roadmap you didn’t know you needed. Read an excerpt below to know more.

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First things first: YOLO isn’t just about living for the moment. It’s about living fully and intentionally, with an understanding that our time here is precious and limited. It’s about making choices that enrich our lives and create lasting happiness.

So, how does money fit into this picture?

Money, in its essence, is a tool. It’s not an end goal but a means to achieve the life you desire.

When you shift your perspective from chasing money to making money work for you, everything changes. Imagine having the financial freedom to pursue your passions, spend quality time with loved ones, and experience the world without the constant worry of financial instability. This is where the wisdom of YOLO and smart financial practices intersect.

Consider this: What are your core values? What brings you true joy and fulfilment?

The first step in making money work for you is aligning your financial goals with your life goals. It’s about clarity and purpose. Ask yourself, how can your money support your dream life? Rather than getting caught up in the grind of earning and spending, think about investing in experiences, knowledge, and assets that grow over time.

Investing is a key strategy here. But let’s demystify it: Investing isn’t just for the Wall Street elite. It’s a powerful way to make your money work for you, no matter where you start. Whether it’s stocks, real estate, or even a side business, investing can create streams of passive income that free up your time and energy. Imagine earning money while you sleep or while you’re off on your next adventure. Isn’t that the ultimate YOLO move?

But wait, there’s more. Let’s talk about the mindset shift required. It’s about breaking free from the pay cheque-to-pay cheque cycle and embracing a mindset of abundance. This means being wise about your spending, yes, but also being bold in your investments. It’s about taking calculated risks that align with your long-term vision.

What if you could turn every dollar into an ally, working tirelessly to build the life you want?

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Learn more in depth about these tips in The Wisdom of YOLO. Get a copy now and watch your life transform for the better.

Read and exclusive excerpt from The Art and Science of Peak Performance

Posted on May 11, 2025May 11, 2025 by simransingh

If you had the opportunity to become the best version of yourself—physically, mentally, and emotionally—would you be willing to do whatever it takes to achieve it? Would you commit to mastering your habits, upgrading your mindset, and optimizing every area of your life in pursuit of peak performance?

Art and Science of Peak Performance is a comprehensive playbook that will arm you on how you should think about and address sleep, nutrition and supplementation, movement and exercise, mental health and brain optimization, disease and injury prevention, and biohacking and longevity.

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The Morning Ritual for a Good Night’s Sleep

Ironically, getting a good night’s sleep starts the moment you wake up.

There are a number of people that I have been following through the years, none more impactful to my sleep and morning daily ritual than neuroscientist Dr Andrew Huberman,7 known as the podcaster who ‘got America to care about science’. Also a Stanford School of Medicine associate professor, Huberman hosts Huberman Lab, one of the top health podcasts in the US. His much-followed morning protocol has spurred numerous videos on YouTube documenting how they ‘did the Andrew Huberman morning routine for X days/ weeks and this is what happened’.

When people start writing and vlogging about following something that you do that makes them want to change their life, you know your research and protocol has reached a certain cult status where people have sat up, listened to, and actually done the work.

One of the main things that Huberman discusses in his work is how to set up one’s self throughout the day so you can get a good night’s sleep at the end of it. I have followed his advice and created this morning ritual for myself, with my own personal assessment and with feedback from other experts.

Evening Ritual: Protecting Your Sleep

Your evening ritual, suggests Helene Patounas, should focus on doing things pre-bedtime that would ‘protect’ your sleep, so you get the right quality and amount of shuteye that the body needs to recharge. For Chien Han How, a medical entrepreneur who founded the Sleepwake Centre in Singapore—and a guest/subject matter expert featured in my podcast and previous book Methods to Greatness—the same is true. He recommends getting into a relaxed state before going to sleep, and working on your ‘sleep hygiene’, which essentially is about timing one’s sleep schedule so that your body naturally cues you on when it is time to go to bed and when it is time to wake up.

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Learn more in depth about these rituals in The Art and Science of Peak Performance. Get a copy now and watch your life transform for the better.

New Books Releasing In April 2025

Posted on April 1, 2025 by simransingh

Unmissable, captivating and unputdownable books await you this month. Whether fictional or based on real life, these stories are ones you don’t want to miss. So, whether you’re looking for a book to keep you up all night, an inspiring read to transform your mindset, or simply a captivating escape from the everyday, we’ve got you covered. Take a look at the exciting new releases, and start filling up your reading list—you won’t want to miss these. Happy reading!

Here are the books releasing this month:

Following the stories of three characters, this literary fiction will keep you hooked from the first page. Michelle’s older sister lies in a hospital ward, unconscious and barely breathing. Young Constable Michael Chakrabarti experiences strange happenings during his night shifts. Captain Ishaan heads the newly-inaugurated Department of Supernatural Oddities.

When a mother admits her child in hospital and uses it as childcare, how does she rationalize it? Here’s a story of a woman who struggles to find an outlet for her loaded brain. Her marriage with her asexual husband doesn’t help her worries and all her actions lead her to face her own demons.

Three friends. One mysterious disappearance. Hooked yet? While the two friends try to search for their missing third, they discover things about their friend that they never knew and eventually uncover secrets that they hope will help them find their friend before it’s too late.

Join Fahri Azzat on a rollicking ride through the legal escapades of a Malaysian lawyer, served with a dash of humor and a splash of candor. This collection of essays is like sitting down at the mamak with a witty lawyer friend who has seen it all in the courtroom and isn’t afraid to spill the tea or stir the coffee.

Whether your goal is financial freedom, personal fulfillment, or a purpose-driven existence, The Wisdom of YOLO is your blueprint to making every moment of your only life count. And that is something all need to imbibe, don’t we?

Get ready to make your TBR exciting with all our new releases from April. Happy reading!

Read an exclusive excerpt from Ageless

Posted on March 20, 2025 by simransingh

Ageless aims to bridge the gap between the bench and bedside, to further Dr Michael Khor Kok Seng’s legacy of service to the community and to educate the reader by promoting healthy living and informed choices. Here is an excerpt from the book.

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Gut dysbiosis

The gut is very important to us. We use the word ‘gut’ in both literal and abstract ways. These are all abstracts using the word gut.

No guts = scared, running away

Gut feeling = instinct/intuition

Having guts = courage

A kick in the guts = a big setback

In literal terms, the gut means the intestines or the digestive tract. There are enzymes in the gut that digest the food that we consume. The gut also protects us as a barrier against the bad bacteria that we ingest together with the food that we eat, as well as the poisons and heavy metals that are accidentally taken in.

Among the essential metabolites produced by the gut microbiome are vitamins, protein derivatives (amino acid parts), bile acids, and short chain fatty acids (SCFA). Sugars like table sugar and lactose (milk sugar) are quickly absorbed in the upper part of the small intestine, but more complex carbohydrates like starches and fibres are not as easily digested and may travel lower to the large intestine. There, the microbiota help to break down these compounds with their digestive enzymes. The fermentation of indigestible fibres causes the production of SCFA that can be used by the body as a nutrient source but also play an important role in muscle function and possibly the prevention of chronic diseases, including certain cancers and bowel disorders. Clinical studies have shown that SCFA may be useful in the treatment of ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, and antibiotic-associated diarrhoea.

The difference in the composition of the gut microbiota can determine how healthy we are and how long we can live. A healthy gut means a good balance of microbes in our body. These microbes have a lot of functions in the body.

The gut microbiome is a key factor in multiple processes:

It helps to digest and absorb ingested nutrients.

It protects as a barrier against harmful organisms.

It allows the passage into the body of beneficial agents.

It produces essential metabolites like vit B and K.

It provides signalling of peripheral and central nervous systems.

Harm can occur in the body when:

The composition of the gut microbiota is changed, or

The intestinal barrier is compromised.

Some organisms may be pathogenic and cause disease. Although the body and the totality of all these microbes live together peacefully, sometimes there is an imbalance between the synergistic and disease-causing microbes, especially in the elderly. This causes a dysbiosis, a disturbance in the microenvironment in the gut.

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Using a combination of personal anecdotes and thorough research, this book is written with the layman in mind, and lays down the latest scientific evidence in man’s search for healthy longevity.

Read an exclusive excerpt from The Anti-Procrastinator

Posted on March 13, 2025 by simransingh

Unlike most productivity books, The Anti-Procrastinator is not a prescriptive roadmap to being more efficient in life. Instead, it will guide you to create your own manual to get things done through the power of self-awareness.

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After analysing the multiple responses and insights, I noticed three elements were present across the board and kept recurring again and again, like a common denominator of productivity and anti-procrastination: self-awareness, proactivity, and processes.

Self-Awareness

The anti-procrastinators I interviewed were highly self-aware. They knew exactly what worked for them, what didn’t, and their weaknesses and blind spots. As if they were going through a procrastination X-ray, they were able to articulate what they needed to do to make things happen and what their enemies and distractions were. There was no hesitation, and they knew how to tackle the frog—and eat it. They also knew that they had to continuously audit themselves to see what was not working and make adjustments. There was always room to improve, and they were always on the lookout for blind spots.

Proactivity

This group of individuals was decisive and in control, thinking and behaving proactively. They were constantly thinking ahead, foreseeing and planning rather than reacting to external factors and circumstances. They had a plan B in case plan A didn’t work; they packed an umbrella in the bag in case they got caught in the rain. In fact, they didn’t talk about fighting procrastination as much as they talked about preventing it, being two steps ahead, and setting themselves up for success from the first hours of the day. They were not fighting fires; they were preventing them.

Flexible Processes

The anti-procrastinators all had processes, both formal and informal, and there was structure and discipline in the way they approached tasks. Each individual had their own personal recipe developed through trial, error, and iteration. Most workdays looked similar, although not strictly identical, and were pre-planned rather than left to serendipity and inspiration. None of them highlighted motivation as a key driver, but they did emphasize having their own tools and rituals, such as morning and evening routines, calendars, to-do lists, and systems to plan, execute, and measure work. Productivity was calculated and premeditated rather than left to the mercy of goodwill and positive intention.

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Whether you want to learn a new language, run a marathon, learn a new skill, or launch a business, The Anti-Procrastinator will show you that it’s possible, but it starts and ends with you. Self-awareness is the name of the game. Get your copy to learn more.

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