Sidenotes of Life

It goes without saying that I am an Introvert, 100% (well, maybe 80%?). When I first know the term from Susan Cain's TED Talk, I feel a great sense of relief. That I am pretty much normal. That it is okay to be introverted with all of its strengths and weakness. But, recently I think I am playing it too safe, too comfortable. In the middle of a new environment abroad, I need more social fabric than I initially thought. I come across this book from Mba Asnin's IG Story. Curious, I search for the book sample on Kindle, and I am caught! It's sooo hilarious and relatable. At this point, I was already so skeptical about any books on introverts because it has been so cliché and boring. This book comes with a fresh kick without sounding ‘holier than thou’. I immediately order the book from Amazon and it comes right on 24th December, of what feels like a perfect Christmas gift from me to myself haha. The writer, Jessica Pan, is a Chinese-American who moved to London with her husban...

The Covid-19 Catastrophe is a book by Richard Horton, Editor-in-Chief of The Lancet. It is written between April-May 2020 and is very short, only 133 pages including the reference. I found it by chance when I search for another book in the Altstadt library. My campus adopts a quite uncommon way to organize its massive collection. Rather than ordered by subject, it is stacked according to the year the book was purchased by the university library. I find the system quite strange but later found that it has its own advantage. When I see the book purchased from 2020 onwards, all the books are still so new it feels like it comes straight from the bookstore but you can have it for free, which is amazing. Reading The Covid-19 Catastrophe in 2023 surely feels different. Just one day before 2022 end, Jokowi announce that all restrictions on crowds and mobility in Indonesia have been lifted, stating that people can resume activities normally like pre-pandemic. In Germany, life pretty much has re...

I have one favorite bookstore in Düsseldorf. On the corner of Königsallee, lies a four-floor bookstore called Mayersche. I like to spend time there. This may seem like a trivial thing for Germans, but as an Indonesian, I am amazed that all books here are open and unsealed. I mean… technically people can just sit there and read on the nice sofa that the bookstore provides without buying it. This business model certainly will not work in Indonesia.  Anyway, I struck on this quite provoking book with an intriguing title: “Why the Germans do it Better?”. As someone who studies in Germany, I feel I know little to nothing about this country, so this book could give me a primer in a more engaging way than typical introduction book. John Kampfner, a British journalist, argue how German can rise from such a turbulent histories in the past and come as a strong and resilient country now. I can say that this book is very interesting. Albeit sometimes I feel the need to hide the cover whenever ...

This past few months has been a pleasurable reading time for me. I borrowed import books from Bookabuku, I read in the library and I slide through many eBooks in between. I read many interesting topic, mostly around personal development, career advice, personal finance and public health (or development). But, this book called "Goodbye Things" is my number one reading. It is so profound, it change the way I look upon everything around me.  I already see this book many times in Periplus or Kinokuniya (and later Gramed because the translated version already published), yet I was not interested to read this because it feels like "Ok, well, another book by another Japanese trying to spread the joy of tidying to the rest of the world." I think of it as another Marie Kondo wave. Don't get me wrong, I like Marie's idea of Spark Joy. I read her book, I watch her Netflix. But for me, it is just a method of tidying. And, as a quite messy person, I took jus...

Hola~ it’s been a while since I wrote my previous book review. Hari ini gw ingin membagi pengalaman gw membaca 23 Episentrum. Buku ini gw pinjem dari perpusat plus suplemennya. Awal ngeliat, gw emang penasaran banget sama buku-bukunya Adenita ( 9 Matahari dan 23 Episentrum). Jadi, apa sih 23 Episentrum itu? 23 Episentrum menceritakan tentang perjalanan karier tiga anak muda yang penuh kegalauan hidup *halah* Matari sebagai sosok sentral dari buku ini, adalah seorang reporter muda di stasiun TV terkemuka. Cita-cita Matari adalah menjadi seorang News Anchor which is one step more from her current job as reporter. But, she’s got a big target : melunasi hutang-hutang biaya kuliahnya. Ya, Matari kuliah dengan biayanya sendiri yang diperoleh dari hutang ke teman-temannya yang berjumlah 23 orang. Dia bersikeras untuk terus kuliah walaupun kondisi keuangannya tidak memungkinkan. Semua itu dilakukan karena Matari yakin, gelar sarjana adalah tiketnya untuk mendapatkan pekerjaan yang le...

"Dengan kesaksian tak ternilai, dengan bukti-bukti yang kau simpan, separuh anggota mafia hukum bisa diseret ke pengadilan. Sebelum semua terlambat, sebelum seluruh negeri ini berubah dari negeri para bedebah menjadi negeri di ujung tanduk " halaman 256 Saya mengakhiri "perjalanan" membaca novel ini tepat pukul 19.00. Percaya atau tidak, novel ini hanya menceritakan kisah selama 48 jam. Masih seperti Negeri Para Bedebah, alur cerita bergerak cepat sekali, melaju dari satu penangkapan, lolos, penjebakan lagi, dan seterusnya. Tokoh utama dari novel ini tetap Thomas atau Tommy -panggilan oleh keluarganya. Jika di novel pertama Thomas berurusan dengan berbagai kejahatan perbankan dan "dampak sistematis"nya, maka di novel kedua, ia telah masuk ke babak yang berbeda, mengambil ranah sebagai konsultan politik untuk kandidat calon presiden terkuat di Indonesia. Thomas berurusan dengan kerasnya dunia politik dan berbagai manipulasi dan konspir...