There were story books like Aladdin, Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves and also simple encyclopedias which had a lot of pictures. I particularly liked the one that talked about dinosaurs.
In primary school, I loved going to the district library in Bentong, Pahang, after lunch. My late grandfather would take me there, leave me to read, and come to pick me up around closing time. This was the time of Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys and Charlie Brown.
In high school, our English teacher Ms Lucy were upset that we ignored the school library. She decided that if Mohammad didn't come to the mountain, the mountain would come to Mohammad. So she brought the books to class and we had to read at least two. This was when I discovered fantasy books of elves, witches and wizards.
This was then followed by Sidney Sheldon novels and the gem that is The Godfather by Mario Puzo. The latter was my father's and it came in handy during a university entrance interview.
The reading experience got better as I found employment. Obviously, making your own money means you have more choices of what books to buy. So here are some books that I have read and find useful and interesting. They are, of course, business-related books, because that is my interest.
1. Start-up Nation
Israel has about seven million people, has less than friendly neighbours in the Middle East, and no natural resources to speak of. But it has more start-up companies than bigger nations like Japan, Canada or the UK. It drew some US$2 billion in venture capital in 2008, as much as what the UK got in the same year.
If you use Google, you would notice that it tries to predict what you're typing. That's Israeli technology. Ditto for the camera in a pill that can explore the human body. Author Dan Senor and Saul Singer argue Israel has a unique entrepreneurial culture that comes from the military.
It's a really fun book.
2. The Billionaire Who Wasn't
If you have been to an airport, you would probably notice the Duty Free Shoppers or DFS stores. It is the world's largest duty free retail chain. This book is about the co-founder of DFS, an Irish-American called Chuck Feeney, who made his billions and secretly gave it away to good causes like education and healthcare.
Yes, you read that right. He and his three partners made almost US$8 billion by the time DFS was sold in 1997 but back in the eighties he had agreed to transfer his fortune, except for some set aside for wife and children, to his foundation.
The Atlantic Philanthropies (www.atlanticphilanthropies.org) is still around and it has given grants of more than US$5.4 billion as at the end of 2010. As the world population has now reached seven billion, we definitely need more Chuck Feeneys.
3. More Money Than God
Sebastian Mallaby's history of the hedge fund industry is a wonderful tale of secretive money managers who are the new elite. These smart and driven people collect money from the wealthy and make billion dollar bets around the world.
Mr Mallaby seems to take the side of hedge funds that are the new Goldmans and Morgans of the day. Unlike bank traders who risk other people's money, hedge fund bosses mostly have their own money in their funds. Banks know that central banks are there to rescue them in a crisis, hedge funds have no such safety nets.
But there are funds that have failed and posed problems to the financial system like Long Term Capital Management's US$120 billion portfolio. Mr Mallaby also has some ideas about regulating these big funds.
4. Barbarians at the Gate
This is the book that I think every financial journalist needs to read. It is about the takeover fight for America's RJR Nabisco, the maker of Oreos biscuits and Salem cigarettes, in 1988.
The chief executive officer of RJR Nabisco, Ross Johnson, wanted to buy out all of the company's shareholders. But he faces opposition from Kohlberg, Kravis Roberts, a private equity fund that is also one of the pioneers of the leveraged-buy out (LBO) deal. An LBO basically means using a lot of borrowings to buy a company.
5. Naked Economics
This book would have really helped me in university but it came out about five years too late. Charles Wheelan, a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago, delivers an entertaining understanding of economic principles.
Chapters like Why is Bill Gates so much richer than you are provides an understanding of human capital and why investing in it results in us earning more money and living better lives.
But Wheelan warns that his book is not economics for dummies. Rather it is economics for smart people who never studied econo-mics.
Obviously any list would not do justice to the wide range of books available out there. Other books that would make my special mention list would be Inside the Kingdom, an insightful read about Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil producer; The King of Oil, a story about commodities trader Marc Rich whose company eventually became what is today the commodities giant called Glencore; and last but not least, anything by Jeffrey Archer.
There are many good books out there. The trick is not to stop looking for them.
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