How to build a home library

I imagine I'll have this in my future home:

Yum yum!! The ladder, ohh...sexy...

This post is not really a 'how to' on building a home library. It's about how to prepare for one though.


Take two simple steps:
1) Make lots of money to buy a big house that have space for a home library.
2) Buy lots of book to fill the racks.

I'm starting with the second step first.

I've developed a habit of buying too many books at one time and not having enough time to finish reading them. I'm drawn to the bookstores every time I visit the mall. It's like a mental preprogramming, or a post-hypnotic suggestion.

And every time I'm in a bookstore, I couldn't help myself noticing some new bestsellers or more intriguing books I'd really like to read. I've had fantasies of one day buying the whole bookstore. Now, wouldn't that be a scene?!


Me walking towards the book store counter.

Me: Excuse me (see, I'm polite. People who loves to read are polite ;p)

Bookstore staff: Hi, how can I help you?

Me: I'd like to buy all your books, please.

Bookstore staff: Excuse me?!

Me: All your books........please. How much?

Bookstores staff:............

Then, the staff would call the cops on me.

Haha... no, that's not how it ends. I will end up buying the whole store and live happily ever after....WTF!



Anyway.....

As a result, I've successfully flooded my room, my car and my living room with books I'm reading. I try to tuck a book or two everywhere around the house so it is within reach everytime I feel like reading, which is like, all the time. So I end up having dozen of books I've read half way.


I'm producing this list to remind myself of the books I'm currently reading and should finish reading soon.


Books I'm reading (percentage of the book I've read up until now in red):

1) The Female Brain (Louann Brizendine) - 0%, would be so interesting to understand how a women thinks. As impossible as this task may seem, worth trying.......gua. Haha

2) Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)- 20%, Been wanting to read this for a long time.

3) SubContact (Robert K. Benson) - 40%, Anything to do with the subconcious mind, I dig.

4) Mind Set! (John Naisbitt) -0%, From the author of Megatrends, the master of future predictions. Can't wait to read this. Then I'll be more accurate than Nostradamus in predicting the trends of the world ;p

5) The Audacity of Hope (Barack Obama) - 15%, calling myself a big fan of Obama, yet have never read his books to understand his motivations and policies. Shame, shame.

6) My Life: Bill Clinton (Bill Clinton)- 25%, I don't think I'd be able to finish reading this one like, ever! I can finish Fidel Castro and Nelson Mandela's aotubio. Both are equally thick. But this one is filled with so much details of personal nature that the only thing it missed out are when Bill go to the loo to do no.1 or no.2.

7) Instant Confidance (Paul McKenna) - 90%, very engaging book. Bought last week. Almost finishing.

8) Small Giants (Bo Burlingham) -30%, It really made a shift of my thinking about how big a business can be or should be.

9) Secrets of Millionaire Investors (Adam Khoo, Conrad Alvin Lim) -40%, since I'm such a fan of Adam, it's only natural that I would want to get financial advice on investing from him.

10) Self-Esteem (Mathew McKay, Patrick Fanning) -40%, Supposedly the best-selling book on self esteem. The similarities with NLP concepts are interesting.

11) Free Prize inside! (Seth Godin) - 50%, Seth Godin is THE contemporary marketing guru. This guy is so brilliant.

12) How to remember anything (Dean Vaughn) -0%, I've read this system before, there was a file I used to keep about this memory system, but I lost it. So I bought this book to try to relearn it.

13) Purple cow, The Big Moo (two books in one) (Seth Godin) - 50%, Finished reading The Purple Cow. Seth Godin. Remarkable :p

14) Social Intelligence (Daniel Goldman) - 25%, This book will be a much better read if it's not too technical. I'm very interested in the concepts, but the way this book is written makes it so...boring. Will finish it eventually.

15) Jack: Straight From the Gut (Jack Welch) - 5%, I usually don't like hardcover versions. Bought it because it was on sale, 70% leh! Read a few pages, it's really interesting. I dig autobios.


I wish I have more time to read, or can read a bit faster.