Reading Naked Economics by Charles Wheelan. Real-life economic scenarios explained clearly for the average Joe (e.g. goverment & economy, federal reserve, trade & globalization). Easy on the brain-cells...fun read so far. Only complaint is the book's too short...I want more!! *sigh* Can't wait to get started on this pile:

Fiction
-- Sailing to Sarantium
-- Lord of Emperors
-- The Last Light of the Sun
-- Anansi Boys
-- 5 Discworld titles

Non-fiction
-- The Working Poor: Invisible in America
-- Affluenza
-- The Consumer Society
-- Dealing with People You Can't Stand
-- The Science of Vampires

Authors I like: Guy Gavriel Kay, Jack Vance, Raymond Feist, Alan Alford, Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Jane Austen, The Bronté sisters and George Eliot.

Kinokuniya mostly because I love the comics section...can kill two birds with one stone. Once in a while I'll check out Borders.

I have a copy of Anansi Boys but haven't got to it just yet (still reading other stuff). If you've never read anything by Neil Gaiman before then I wouldn't recommend starting on this just because the author has a slightly offbeat style that needs getting used to...viz. "God is dead, meet the kids".

Better for you to begin with Good Omens (co-authored by Terry Pratchett) and Neverwhere. If you like his style, only then proceed to Anansi Boys. Otherwise, you'll be lost and might not appreciate Gaimen's genius.

Since your friend is a Gaimen fan then you should have no problem acquainting yourself with all the abovementioned books for free...so you have nothing to lose.

LOL...I think it works the other way around. List your interests first-lah. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of magazine titles available in Malaysia. We're book-readers, not mind-readers.

Anyway, if no one here wants to help you, just do a websearch. Most (USA & UK) magazine publications have websites. Check out their archived articles and then you'll have an idea as to whether or not the mag caters to your interest. God helps those who help themselves...hehe

I read/buy only 2 mags a month...the UK and USA editions of MacWorld, a publication devoted to users of Apple computers/products.

Don't know if it's still in stock, but I saw a copy of Neuromancer in Kinokuniya KLCC last week.

This post has been edited by satur9: Nov 17 2005, 02:44 PM

I'm not familiar with any books featuring family relationships but here are some non-fiction titles which stray from your preferred corporate/marketing themes:

Extreme Survival by Dr Kenneth Kamler
This book was reviewed in The Star and caught my interest. The subtitle says it all: "A doctor explores the limits of human endurance". Six distinct environments are covered: jungle, high seas, desert, underwater, high altitude, and outer space. I enjoyed the last three the most.

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
Dead bodies and the various ways in which they are useful. Notice that the author isn't a doctor; Roach is a journalist, so rest assured this isn't some dry medical textbook. Written in a down-to-earth style with a bit of humour thrown in.



By "addictive" I assume you mean "more entertaining and accessible". In which case, I agree with you. But I would still recommend Naked Economics over Freakanomics. The former is a better quality read in my opinion. To each his own, I guess.