Book Review: No Hurry in Africa

No Hurry in Africa

by Theresa Munanga

The Premise

The book is a collection of Journal written by Theresa Munanga, who served as a Peace Corp Volunteer in Kenya from 2004 to 2007. The book was published via iUniverse, copyright dated 8/11/2010, so there was quite a few years in between experience and publication. It was a common story at the time where there was a Dot-Com meltdown, followed by a terrorist attack, followed by general recession. This is her story, about being a Peace Corp Volunteer.

The Beginning

Of course, there's a beginning. She detailed a short bio before going into the process of Peace Corp Application process. It was short on details, though, since by Chapter 1, the story starts in Kenya. This is also where August 2004 Newsletter, which is how she kept in touch with her friends and family, began. Pictures are small and rare. However, they are illustrative enough to hint the lifestyle in Kenya, which is primitive and frequently without electricity.

Chapter 2 involves a lot of observations regarding life in Kenya as she settles into the Peace Corp lifestyle. A lot of comments how without reliable electricity, there's no refrigeration, nor there is indoor plumbing, something Americans take for granted. Filthy roads, filthy house, filthy toilet; such is life without modern conveniences. 

The Culture

She wrote some cultural notes by the time of late November 2004, which was soon enough after her arrival. There was constant awareness of HIV/AIDS epidemic, made worse by cultural tradition of polygamy. How the culture also discriminate against women, treating them as second class citizen to have less rights and freedom than men. There are also some interesting tidbits, about how cell phones with text messages is the way to communicate since it's very cheap to text people, whereas voice communication is extremely expensive in comparison.

She didn't stay long in the assigned Catholic School teaching CISCO system. The way she wrote it, it seems like the nuns of the school is taking advantage of Peace Corps program to hire cheap teachers, instead of contributing to the community. Greed will result in nothingness, as she parted way with the school. That was in May 2005, or less than one year of serving.

The Rest of the Story

The rest of the book deals with comparatively pleasant activities: taking a vacation, going shopping, dealing with scorpions, frogs, and other bugs and creatures in the house. There's also a second location that was much better than the first. In fact, she loves it there that she decided to extend her service. Unfortunately, it was cut short due to medical issues. Still, except for occasional corruption and fighting, her later experience was relatively smooth in comparison with the earlier ones. This is a sign of growth.

The Conclusion

The author wrote well, and a great example of a brave, dedicated Peace Corp Volunteer. She wrote well, and the book reflects the written language the newsletters are written. The narrative style isn't of oral, but literary. A thing I notice about the newsletters is that they are heavy on impressions, but light on details. As someone who values detailed descriptions, that is somewhat disappointing for me. However, I understand that not everyone is as detail-oriented as me. I think that her primary intention is to convey emotional feelings, and in that endeavor, she succeeds very well. I can read the passages and feel as if I can feel her feelings. Highly recommended for good emotional content and lifestyle of a Peace Corp Volunteer.

Book Review: The Essentials of Living Aboard a Boat

The Essentials of Living Aboard a Boat

by Mark Nicholas

The Premise

Smelling the sweet salty air of the ocean. Living on a boat, gently rocked by the swells, selling the house for a dream boat and sail the mighty ocean. That is the dream that many people have and willing to pursue. Except, as Mark Nicholas wrote in the book, doesn't happen in real life. First time buyers, surprised by the "hidden" aspects of living aboard a boat, decided to sell the boat after that one big sailing journey. The author pulled no punches. Most liveaboards aren't sailing their boats. They're stuck in a marina, which depending upon management, maybe closer to being a dump than an exotic marine experience.

The Decision

Assuming that you have already decided to buy a boat, not for pleasure, but for liveaboard, then the author details the steps necessary to find, choose, and actually purchase said boat. Another aspects of living aboard a boat is the marina. Do you have access to a marina? Is it a good one? The best boat in the world won't save you from a bad marina. The author made that abundantly clear. The good news is you can just sail away to another marina, assuming you're not tied down to the land, such as having a 9 to 5 job, or worse, a house!

The Lifestyle

Even worse, if you decided to buy a boat with faulty electrical wirings, on the northern states, in the dead of winter. That is exactly what the author did, and to his credit, managed to turn the poor experience into learning experience. So many people consider only the cost of money, and yet, there's so much to consider. The support of friends and family does factor it significantly. If your spouse in a landlubber, instead of a sailor that you are, then you would want to keep a house, raising the expenditure significantly. The author specified his experience of having to stay in a hotel because his cat was seasick! Yeah, that happens sometimes. You have to be prepared for such eventualities.

Having sources of entertainment in a boat is crucial since living on a boat can be, well, boring. Even if you sail, you're pretty much limited to just the sight of water in all directions. The magic, if you will, is in the journey, and if you're not a sailor to begin with, then perhaps you would want to rent a boat first before buying one. Preferably, a boat that you can sleep in overnight, although I doubt the weather would be stormy as to let you check the seaworthiness of the boat!

Safety and Regulation

Of course, you also need to be fully insured, but that's not all. You also need to navigate the regulations of a boat. That is, your boat must be up to code to in full compliance of government regulation. This goes double if you want to travel internationally. The book does not detail every regulations out there, and most likely, those will quickly go out of date anyway. The important thing is, the author touched the subjects, and it is up to you to research further.

The Conclusion

I suppose it's not the best book possible. It's not the most thorough, most detailed, most comprehensive book available. However, what it lacks in details, it makes up in readability. The author did a good job interweaving his personal experience into what could possibly be a boring informational dump. There's many of them, sure, since that is the purpose of the book, but the snippets of author's experiences here and there makes reading the book very tolerable, and even entertaining at times. If you're not sure about wanting to liveaboard a boat, yet unwilling to read encyclopedic tomes, this book is a perfectly good way to start. Well recommended.

Book Review: 9 Things a Leader Must Do

Book Review: 9 Things a Leader Must Do

The Premise: Good Leaders are all alike

There is this Premise of a book, that a good leader have similar habits and characteristics. This allows them to solve problem efficiently and effectively. They are confident in their ability, and have achieve success in their area of interest. The book has lots of parables and stories, and I keep thinking, "Isn't there a more efficient way to tell these qualities?" But if you can handle the stories, then you're in for a treat because the characteristics and qualities that makes good leaders are well explained in the book.

The Goal: Follow Your Dream!

The first assumption, or premise, is that you can follow your dream. If you don't have the talent to achieve it, then you can develop it. Little is explained in how to exactly do that, but from my personal experience, it is true that if you don't have the proper talent, then you can develop it. It may take years, but you certainly can develop it. The book also have this assumption that you know what your True Dream is. There's a line in there that guards you against mistaking Jealousy as Dream, but on the whole, it is light on the subject. As it is a thin book, I can understand the author chose not to elaborate on it. 

Another thing to worry about is the presence of negative factor and/or people. These are the kind of people who would dominate you and steer you away from your dreams. In other words, they tell you to give up on your dreams. The book advises you to steer away from such people. I believe that is wise. You need to stay away from negative people, and create your own positive environment. 

The author didn't mince words. He titled the chapter "Yank the Diseased Tooth."

The Future

The book advise that you should live out the future today. Choices that you make today will affect your future, and of all the possible futures, you should choose the rosy ones. The ones where you life happily, having achieving your dreams. I concur with that sentiment. The best part? It's not that difficult activity to do.

Generally speaking, all you have to do is extrapolation. If you do a little bit now, and a lot later, what will happen? Also, the book mention something about "War Games", which is basically a "What If?" scenarios. Good leaders habitually seek the worst possible outcome and then do something to avoid it. Keep doing that, and the worst outcome won't happen to them. I think that's good advice. 

The author, as usual, didn't say it outright, but illustrates the point with stories and parables.

The Present

The stories are intermingled both with author's experiences and those of the Bible. If you're okay with that, then you're in for a treat. Have an open mind as to where knowledge comes from, and you will be amply rewarded. The parable of the ants advise that you should have patience and take things one step at at time. That's a very good advice. Do what little you can today, and avoid the burdensome task tomorrow! I think the story perfectly matches the advice.

The Leader

The book explains different characteristics of good leadership. Love, hate, pride, etc. The author believes that as creatures of God, we are destined to have those characteristics, but advises to apply those properly. Love to give. Hate to steal. Proud of life. By parceling the proper destination for each emotion, we can manage our life well.

Certainly, there are more to it, and the book explains the situations and conditions in deeper explorations. The book ends with 12 steps to applying the 9 things. Find wisdom in others, Add structures, Fear not failures nor impediments. Put Your Goals on Paper. And Pray! Honestly, I was surprised to see the advice of writing down your goals. I believe it is necessary, but the book hasn't hinted it so far, so it comes as a surprise at the end.

The Conclusion

The book is full of wisdom and knowledge, but these things do not come easy. I think there are good lessons in there, but to have the most benefits to you, you need to read and re-read the book, pondering about different interpretations and possibilities. A lot of good advice, even important ones, are frequently just one sentence. They're there, but oh so easily missed!

My suggestion is to use this book as a guide, and supplement the good advice given here elsewhere. This book belongs to the recommended section, with advisory of having to re-read the book from time to time.

Book Review: On Writing by Stephen King

On Writing

by Stephen King

The Premise

There's a series of books titled "On Writing" by various writers. This book is written by the one Stephen King. Fascinatingly told, he described his life from the beginning, about his extremely hard life from childhood to marriage, to Carrie, his first big sale, and to general advice he gives to other prospective, hopeful writers to be. It's a pleasant read, one that can entertain, as well as educate. Or so I like to think.

The Early Life

The fact is, the author relived his childhood life for the first one-third of the book. Brilliant read as always, but what's that got to do with writing? If the author had intended that a sorry boy like him can make it big with hard work, despite all the hard knocking life throws at him, then I'd say that he's successful. However, the passages are rather light on advice, and more of an expository nature. Sometimes I wonder if there's a life lesson in it, but as far as I can discern, there's none.

The Writing Life

A rather abrupt change can be found during the passage of him describing the event when the manuscript of Carrie get sold. After that, it's easy living being a writer. A big desk in the middle of the room. Alcoholic drinks. All that jazz of being a writer.

Which, of course, as he later pointed out, that's not what being a writer is all about. Being a writer means to write, and you need to read, and do it judiciously. He later described the change. The big desk is out, and a smaller cozier desk is in. Make yourself comfortable, and that's what's being a good environment for a writer. I think I can describe it using fewer words than him, but there's no disputing that his words flow well.

He also eschews the use of plotting, preferring the spontaneity of the characters to steer the plot. Unfortunately, I don't work like that, but I understand the constant division between plotter and pantser. Both method are equally valid, but the author belongs firmly of the latter.

The Writing Work

The latter part of the book details the process of writing: Two drafts and a polish. Wait a minimum 6 weeks between drafts. Work on something else in the meantime until you forget the old draft. How first reader is the most valuable of all. These things are things that experienced professionals know, gained from hard experience. And yet, it's all narratively told. Like a kind, elderly grandpa telling his life's story in order to impart wisdom to the grandchildren. 

It also book ended with the tale of his accident. An unfortunate meeting with a van, as it were. It's just as tragic in the latter phase of life as it was in the early one. Yet, it gives me a glimmer of hope, that maybe, I can make it, too, despite being no longer young and strong. That, no matter what may come, I can be a writer. I just need to write 1000 words per day, every day. That's 4 double spaced pages per day. And you can, too.

The Conclusion

Reading the book gives me somewhat conflicted feeling. The book itself is eminently readable, and actually pleasant to read. However, I keep thinking, what's a concise autobiography has anything to do with "On Writing"? Now, if the book is actually called "On Stephen King", then it would be a wonderful book. Brilliant, even. However, after reading one third of the book, it was still on the author, and not on authorship. So, I was confused. Read the book if you want to know what a highly successful writer, being an expert in his craft, is like, to appreciate the book's whole worth. Highly recommended.