Boy, I'm such a dork. I didn't realise I could do simple copy-and-pasting of images into the blog. I was still living in that 'mblog' mode where you have to save the pic, attach it to the blog dbase, select file, attach, ad infinitum...but, well, here I am, honouring (and passing on) a meme tag (smile):

1) Total Number Of Books You Own:

This is a tough one. I have slightly above three hundred at home but my (Penang food-inflated) gut tells me I probably own more. Either that or my adding skills are abysmal.

2) The Last Book You've Bought:

Some other people filling this up might notice that the 'question' is flawed somewhat. If there's one defining trait of bookworms, it's that they hardly buy just one book at a time(!). Or maybe this is just a way of self-excusing my poor memory...especially since I (honestly!) haven't bought any book since late June...almost two months, this has GOT to be a record for me (grin).

Well, I do recall purchasing the following not too long ago (btw, I'm trying VERY HARD not to buy any more books until after August! God help me!!)

 
 
Sachs book is his magnum opus on helping some poor countries of the world fulfil the Millenium Development Goals set for them. Me, I'm just grateful for a book combining Development Economics and concise histories of key Asian-Pacific countries (e.g. China and India).

I got the Covey one because it was going for almost 70% less than it's original retail price. Also because I - like many others I'm sure - was very impressed with his first seven habits/principles. Yeah Covey has a gift for repackaging commonsense but I find that often it's the packaging which packs the essential punch and makes all the difference between, "That was the driest corniest crap I've ever read about" and "Whoah! I gotta learn/do this thing!! NOW!!"

3) The Last Book You've Read:

I take on a few books simul, so - like a frickin' horserace - sometimes you gotta slowmo the camera to confirm exactly which horse came in first. Still, it's at least one of the below:

I stalled on Stark's book a few months back, but the Emergent Conversation rejuvenated my interest in how the early church 'did it'. Very insightful, hope to do a piece on this one day.

I read this book without knowing that it dealt with NLP-related elements, less than a month after being exposed to Neuro-Linguistic Programming for the first time. I've begun a little discussion on it (links can be followed from here) but most Christians I know or have discussed this with seem more keen critique-ing (intead of exploring) the ideas.

4) Five Books That Mean A Lot To Me:

I recall the days of my first job, sitting in a coffee shop at 6.30-ish, waiting for the earliest partner of the firm to open the office, reading (and heavily underlining) this second collection of articles on Arminianism edited by Clark Pinnock. You can read the first essay online, "From Augustine to Arminius: A Personal Pilgrimage in Theology", written by Pinnock himself.

My first foray into Post-Modern Christianity. Haven't looked back since. Sweet is arguably one of the most learned Christian authors on contemporary culture, technology and 'future trends'. 

Era-defining works don't appear every day. This monumental work puts Jesus firmly on the map of ancient Judaism, disintegrating some of my taken-for-granted views of him in the process. Finally, theology becomes less philosophically abstract, more rooted in history, and a lot more personal.

Peter Senge said that profits/salaries/money are like breathing: Of course you need it, but anybody whose life is spent focusing on breathing (other than a lung-doctor!) is either dysfunctional or has seriously missed something. Works like those of Peters bring back the passion, the ideas, the inspiration, the imagination(!) back into the workplace. Boredom and drudgery are replaced by fire and finesse and an appreciation for quality (wherever you find it). Of course it helps that Peters is often said to be the "father of the postmodern corporation" (smile).

Over-criticized and under-read, I suspect. A tour de force of theological and philosophical perspectives on suffering and evil.

5) Tag Five People And Have Them Fill This Out On Their Blogs

Derek
Fishtail
Messy Christian
Donald
Dave Berry