Not for the money, nor the fame, but do it for the glory of realising one little dream after another.
2009年利物浦大學國際學生大使台灣代表。
【資訊】留學利物浦常見問題集

Selected Category: 【書籍】書籍評論 Books (28)

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[For your enjoyment of the book, no plot is revealed in the following article.]



This is my second book by Eco.  Somehow I finally understand the force that had always been pulling me away from his books.  Though I had enjoyed Baudolino very much, Foucault's Pendulum is a completely different experience.  Don't get me wrong, though.  Eco is great.  The fault can only be the readers' if the reading produces pain, rather than joy.  One has to be adequately informed, prior to their reading, in a wide range of ideas and theories in order to insure the utmost pleasure.


Eco's books are all translated from the Italian by William Weaver.  Both deserve credit for the success of the books.  It is difficult and extremely complicated.  It is also very delicate to handle.   In addition to the intricate plot, some things just simply exceed the limit of translation.  Thus the most primary knowledge that could help increase the readers' enjoyment is their ability to comprehend a few European languages.  Some Italian, French, Spanish, German, and even Latin would immediately boost your interest up a notch. 
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One of my favorite ways to spend the weekend, or any free time I have at hand is to walk into a book store with a marvelous collection of English books and see what treasure there is waiting for me to uncover. However, it has become harder and harder to find what I define as 'treasure'. I suppose this has very much to do with my growing appetite for reading, and hopefully my growing maturity in the habit as well. A good book is not easy to find. A great book is even harder. Yet they exist. And to prove that to you, I now present to you the five books that have completely changed my life.

我在週末或是任何空閒時間最喜歡做的事情就是走進書店看看有什麼寶可以挖。不過好書越來越難找。極品好書就更別說了。也許是因為累積下來我讀得書越來越多，也或者是因為我的閱讀習慣越來越成熟[希望啦]，不過挖寶的歷險記是一次比一次艱難！不過呢，好書還是有的。所以接下來就是要介紹五本完全改變我生命的書籍。由於都是原文書，所以本篇文章的內文我都是先打英文，才將重點整理出來打成中文。而我比須先聲明，我從來都沒修過翻譯，對於翻譯可以說是一翹不通。所以中英都看得懂得朋友們，請別雞蛋裡挑骨頭。Typo歡迎告知，但翻譯內容就別太強求了，好嗎？


1. The Speed Reading Book by Tony Buzan
2. Yoga for you by Indra Devi
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by Esther and Jerry Hicks

This is the only book you'll ever need to enrich yourself in anyway.  Learn how to make all your wildest dreams come true, and learn to appreciate what you have just so you can have more! 

Sure, by all means dismiss the idea as some rediculous money sucking scheme.  And you're more than welcome to ignore this book when you are given the opportunity to purchase it.  Please do so at your own cost.  You'll never find out how much more you could have and how much more you could have been as a result of depriving yourself of the chance to understand what this is all about. 

Once you have given yourself the opportunity to know what it is, and understand it, you'll be able to use it to better your life in each and any way you can imagine!  Let's just stop and think for a minute?  What made England possible for me?  Have I not attracted that into my life?  Because of my strong "want" to go to England, each and everything that has ever happened to me, I've attracted to help me reach my goal.  How is it possible that an average English teacher is able to save enough money to afford this?  Well, who ever said anything about "saving" enough?  I only wanted to "have" enough money. 

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by Alan Armstrong


Any book containing kids and talking animals may very well be classified as 'children's literature'.  But a truly well-written work need to charm not only the young readers, but also older adult readers as well.  Whittington certainly lured two grownups into reading chapter after chapter aloud every night before bed.

A group of unwanted animals are living in Bernie's barn.  The Lady, a duck, is in charge of all the animals.  Whittington, the cat, comes along one day and wins her approval to stay at the barn.   The cat then begins to tell the story of his ancerstor - the famous rat-killer that brought fortune to her owner, Dick Whittington.  While he tells his story, Ben, Bernie's grandson struggles with reading.  The barn animals and Abby, his sister encourages and supports Ben's progress.  They believe in him.  And so did he.

Not only is this story  of a legend, but also a story that teachers and parents can learn something from.  With positive attitudes and belief, any kid can walk out of the dark and see light just as everyone else does. 
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by Umberto Eco

If you are able to find satisfaction in reading a contemporary novel, then congratulations.  Because they are of a rare kind.  But if you are able to find the satisfaction of a number of books within one, then that one book must be the diamond among books.  I dare not proclaim Baudolino as such, but it is definitely a rare gemstone.

What you can expect is a tint of the Da Vinci Code and the Historian, but more sophisticated; the legend of King Arthur, but more humor; fairy tales and folk-tales, but much more serious.

Baudolino has more luck than anything else.  The story of his amazing adventure, battle, and romance unfolds as he narrates it to his newly acquainted friend - Niketas.  The enchanting tale of Baudolino consists of love, war, loyalty, betrayal, and murder. 

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  by Elizabeth Kostova

Transylvania, garlic, the cross.  They have one thing in common - vampires.

The Historian is written in a form not unlike our other well-known best-seller The Da Vinci Code.  A mystery awaits to be solved, and ancient secrets are revealed by people seeming least related to them.  One can find action, romance, mystery, death, and of course a slight of humor.  These seem to be the essential ingredients to a successful novel today.

However, many would probably agree that The Da Vinci Code has more charisma because it was largely based on reliable resources. Many of the sources of reference do exist and the historical events mentioned in the story also did truly happen.  Nevertheless, if the reader happens to be a fan of Bram Stoker's Dracula, then they might as well consider this the sequel to it.

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By B.K.S. Iyengar

Light on Life is a book no yoga practitioners should ever miss out.   The wise and more than experienced octogenarian shares with us his own stories and gives advice to his yogic readers.  It is full of wisdom, yet just as enjoyable as any other book.  The journey every yogi or yogini has to take may be long and difficult.  This is when the book certainly comes in handy in helping to boost up one's spirituality.

I remember that first asana session after having begun the book.  It was the most delightful session I think I have ever had in my entire yogic experience.  The final resting asana was so profound that it took me a few minutes after to realize that I was back in the real world.  Afterwards, i was physically light and spiritually unbound. 

Then when I saw that the guru refers to himself only as a person who is 'close' to becoming a yogi, I realized that I, myself, did not deserve the title 'yogini'.  I quickly changed all the profiles on the internet from 'yogini' to 'yogini becoming'. 

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Here is a list of the earlier book reviews.  Click on the title of the book to read the review posted on my old blog.

Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
Mrs.Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
Taipei Mutt by Eric Mader-Lin
Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
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