If you are looking for some Xmas books, either for your own reading, or as gifts, here we offer some ideas:
Mao: The Unknown Story
By Jung Chang/Jon Halliday
Penned by the team behind Wild Swans, the book presents the revered founder of the PRC in his most unflattering and brutal light. Mao: The Unknown Story is not skint on gore or violence and presents the leader as not really a Chinese communist as much as he was a bloodthirsty revolutionary. Filled with indictments of all persuasions, the historical biography is certainly not the final say on Mao Zedong, but is the most damming to be published thus far.
Disney War
By James B Stewart
This in-depth look at the saccharine world of Disney is anything but sweet -- explaining the fall-out between CEO Michael Eisner and longtime friend-cum studio chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg, followed by the rupture between Eisner and another old friend, Michael Ovitz, whom he appointed president and then immediately wanted to fire. The tales of backstabbing corporate intrigue are riveting; to boot, this is a must read on how not to run a company.
Sightseeing
By Rattawut Lapcharoensap
Modern Thai fiction is usually dominated by tales of debauchery, incarceration and mythical vision quests. Thai-American Lapcharoensap offers a different take on the Thailand not seen in brochures or recounted in travel logs in his collection of short stories. Subjects tackled by the young author include tales of interracial marriage, cutthroat cockfighting rivalries and local views on luxury resorts.
Freakonomics
By Steven D Levittt and Stephen J Dubner
When economics is applied to sumo wrestlers, abortion rates and crime, it is a book begs to be read. You may find yourself arguing aloud with while you read. If you don't want to become annoyed during your nightly reading, fear not: this book has so been talked about at cocktail parties and referenced in other writing, you could probably get by just knowing what you've heard and read from others.
China Inc. How the Rise of the Next Superpower Challenges America and the World
By Ted C Fishman
Former commodities trader Fishman takes the reader inside the political, economic and faceless manufacturing side of China, informing readers that the development of the mainland is merely on its first legs and its rise will be unavoidable.
Blink
By Malcolm Gladwell
The author of the Tipping Point is positioning himself as a must-read author, so at least scan this book.
Pol Pot: Anatomy of a Nightmare
By Philip Short
After devoting years of study to the life of Mao Zedong, veteran BBC correspondent Philip Short returns with his impeccably researched chronicle of the most notorious Khmer Rouge figure, Pol Pot. Using high-profile figures of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge regime as sources, Short paints a vivid account of Pol Pot as both Phnom Penh society boy and part revolutionary, who's self-inflicted bouts of paranoia resulted in one of the most infamous purges in modern history.
The World is Flat
By Thomas L Friedman
If you live in Asia, this can be rather a ho-hum read. The good news is that he's got conservative Americans thinking about globalization.
Maximum City: Bombay lost and found
By Sekutu Mehta
Published in late 2004 and released in soft-cover in the early months of 2005, Maximum City presents Bombay through the eyes of a New York-based journalist returning to the city for the first time in 21 years. Mehta weaves through the never-ending myriad of urbanization, emerging with tragic and comic observations of the Bombay-mind and the colourful residents of the clogged dwelling.
1776
By David McCullough
This book seriously makes you wonder how the Americans managed to win this war as it focuses on the inexperienced George Washington's battle mistakes in the first year of the War of Independence. Also makes you realise underdogs can win, and with dramatic consequences.
