When I was in Secondary School, we had a class named “Social Studies”, which was basically studying different countries around the world and how that compared to Singapore (as well as how to analyse different texts that you find for bias and reliability). One of the topics we studied was the IRA and the Troubles,… Read More Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe
One day, Cher messaged me to ask me to read Hannibal and Me so that she had someone to discuss it. I assumed that she was done and borrowed the book, but as it turns out, we finished around the same time. We’ve had a bit of a chat about the book on telegram, but… Read More Hannibal and Me by Andreas Kluth
I reviewed Murder by the Book a little while back, but to be honest, I only stumbled upon it because I was looking for this – The Inheritor’s Powder. In The Inheritor’s Powder, Sandra Hempel takes us through the murder of George Bodle, and through that murder, the history of arsenic as a poison and… Read More The Inheritor’s Powder by Sandra Hempel
Last year, I read about Bletchley Park and found out about a whole new side to WWII that I never even knew about. This year, I found this book, about the secret American code-breaking operation, and realised that Bletchley Park is just half of the story. Like the title says, Code Girls is about the… Read More Code Girls by Liza Mundy
Like everyone else, I’ve taken the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator a couple of times. However, I have noticed that my indicator has changed every time I take it – I’ve always thought that the results depend on my mood at the moment, but reading this has made me realise that my way of thinking is different… Read More The Personality Brokers by Merve Emre
I picked up this book on the basis of its subtitle “Journey through the dark ages”. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m currently listening to two history-related podcasts; one on the history of Britain and one on the history of the English language. The podcasts do go into the Middle Ages (I’m there right now) and… Read More In the Land of Giants by Max Adams
As you might have guessed, this is a book I borrowed in preparation for the upcoming family trip. I haven’t been to Scotland before and it’s not a country I know a lot about so I thought I’d start by reading about their national dress. Scottish Tartan and Highland Dress is a pretty tiny book… Read More Scottish Tartan and Highland Dress by Fiona MacDonald
The previous time we went to England, my dad (and bro and I) fell in love with the cheeses in their sandwiches, so much so that when we came back, he asked me to help him find the cheddar cheese that he ate. With all that cheese on the mind, it’s no wonder that I… Read More Cheddar Gorge by John Squire
As part of my research into the world of Genji, I decided to read up about the history of Kimono. Unfortunately, most library books are for reference, so I borrowed the only one that wasn’t – The Kimono: History and Style. This book is a very beautiful book that takes a pictorial look at the… Read More The Kimono: History and Style by Ito Sacico
One great thing about this World of Genji research project is that it’s getting me to read all sorts of books I wouldn’t normally pick up, such as this history of Kyoto city. The Tale of Genji is set during the height of the Heian period in Heian-Kyo (premodern Kyoto). Since the World of Shining… Read More Kyoto: An Urban History of Japan’s Premodern Capital by Matthew Stavros