Saturday 4 September 2010

Tuesdays with Morrie

My sister just came back for the weekend and brought me the book she bought me from KL - Mitch Albom's Tuesdays with Morrie. I added this book to my list of must-reads after I finished reading The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch (my sister bought me that book from KL too!).

For some reason, I've always looked up to academics and reading books like these just made me respect them even more. By the way, both books are non-fiction. If you are like me and enjoy quiet time finding meaning and contemplating the transitions in life through different perspectives, then I would really recommend you read these books.

I think that when we were younger, we read books for two reasons: 1) we felt we should 2) we found entertainment in reading. But as we grow older, I realize there is only one reason for reading and, that is, to learn. Reading becomes a form of necessary form of self-instructed learning that never stops. Through reading, we gain in a moment what others gained from experience throughout their lives. What's special about reading is that we get to learn from people who we will never meet or have long long since left this world. Wow, imagine that.

I once read but did not complete Wuthering heights by Emily Bronte. I wondered what her voice sounded like and what caused her to write a novel so full of... or rather, lack of, empathy.

Biographies tell us a lot about a person but we will never know everything that a person thought about in his mind - all the syntheses of information that took place within the depths of a mind will never fully be known. But sometimes, from great people, even a little leak is enough to change us.

I guess, people do not become great simply by doing more; people become great when they think differently.

Anyway, I am going to share with you now an interesting site. No, in fact, it's a collection of materials which you will find terrifically complementary to your studies (I'm assuming you're somebody who likes to learn):

www.khanacademy.org

Learn more about Khan Academy here (wiki) - yeah, I do notice I wiki a lot! It's got lots and lots of videos (I think more than 2000 of them) teaching you, in a really really really simple way (REALLY, I'm not AT ALL kidding) - anything from Chemistry to Economics! And what's more, it's ENTIRELY FREE! I couldn't believe it myself but it is!

And you know, what I believe is, Khan (the founder of Khan Academy) is one of the best teachers I've ever met (well, not literally, I haven't actually met him in the flesh) - he's got the ability to make simple concepts which others make complicated. And that to me is a rare, rare find. You get to meet teachers like this only once in a while! So grab your chance to learn from him ^^ especially if you're still in high school. I recommend this to all my high school students!