Catch up with reading when traveling

The good thing of traveling almost every weekend is that I'm able to catch up with my readings. The 1 hour wait before flight, 2.15 hours in the flight and not forgetting the delays - gave me ample time to read. Alhamdulillah, managed to finish 3 books and another 2 books in progress. It has been awhile since I did book review, so let's do it.

First book:

The Upside of Irrationality by Dan Ariely

Honestly, after reading his first book, Predictably Irrational, I wanted to write like him. I like the way he proved the theory by simple experience on humans. For example (the one that I remember), he did experiments whether those who has experience painful pain before can stand pain longer than those who never had. He invited those who has survived war or painful experience such as burn to put their fingers (or hand?) into hot water and hold it as long as they can. True enough, those who had painful experience can hold longer than those who never had such experience. Throughout the book, there are many experiments that he shared to prove well known human reactions that previously we known but never scientifically proven. Love this book but I still prefer the first one over this.

Second book:

Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle by Dan Senor & Saul Singer

When I saw my husband reading this book, I was like why are you reading a book about Israel. He asked me to read the first chapter and I was hooked. Then I realized I didn't know much about Israel apart that what I read in Facebook. Yes, I admitted what Israel did to Palestine people was cruel and I hate them for that. However, this book tells a story of how Israel, started from Jewish immigrants around the world with no country, managed to build a "country" (I still think they stole that land from Palestine) with growing economies and so many innovations. Initially I thought the reason their economy is developing rapidy is because US and other developed countries gave them money and assistance. Then, when I finished ready that book, I realized that it wasn't the case at the beginning of Israel's existence. Also, there's a lot of positive things that we can learn from this book. Totally recommended this for everyone to read.

 Third book:

If I'd Know Then (What I Know Now) by Ellen Spragins

This book collects stories from famous ladies about their childhood challenges and asked them to write a letter to their younger self. Very inspiring and I realized that what I felt during my teenager years wasn't so different from anybody else. So glad to know that I'm normal. hehe. After finished reading it, I kept on thinking what would I write to my younger self. My younger self would be quite disappointed knowing that I'm not an architect. Sorry kid, world is more complicated than what you think. Anyway, this is good book for light reading and suitable for teenagers.

In progress 1:

Superfreakonomics by Steve Levitt, Stephen Dubner and Juan Ibeas

I bought the illustrated edition in Big Bad Wolf. Super cheap for hard cover and coloured edition but the downside is that it is heavy which is not suitable for traveling. I only get to read it when I'm home back in Subang. The first book, Freakonomics which I didn't finish reading (hehe) and now I'm reading the second one. I love the illustrated version as they put graphs, pictures and facts at the side of the page to make it more interesting and easy to understand. 

In progress 2:

Secret Letters from Monk who Sold his Ferrari by Robin Sharma

Just started last week and I can predict that this book will be done by next week. It is very addictive and the story that the author told really an eye-opener. It made me thinking about choices that I took in this life like for example coming to Miri. The more I read this book, the more I'm convince that this is a wrong decision. I keep on questioning myself what the hell am I doing here? Over and over again. Haih...