Books, My Mentor!

The very main purpose of my blog is to share what I’m interested in, what is happening in my life, what I intend to do in life. Today I am about to share the books I read. There is no denying that one of the sources of my knowledge is of course books. There are only a few in engineering who are interested in reading books which are not related to their field. I am one of them. I also know a few of them like Engr. Francisco Bilog, Engr. Sonny Andalis who just arrived from Singapore for a 5 day vacation (thanks for the dinner! Hehe!). Let me share the books which mentored me and I hope that you would also learn from these books that I will share, most especially to those that shares the same interest as mine be it in attitude, religion, beliefs, entertainment and sports.

Let me start off with The Holy Bible

This may not be the exact book that I’ve read. You may read whatever bible you would want to read as long as you would learn and be a better person from it. The interest came from my family of course, a very religious family. I am not saying that I am a very religious person, it just so happen that I belong to one but I am not as religious as them. But I do read the Bible. You would ask why? Basically two reasons, one is of course spirituality the other is because of the interesting stories you would find in this book and those stories are part of history. The stories I love most in the Bible is the story of Joseph “The Dreamer”. I also love the story of Saul then became Paul, from persecutor of Christ but then became a loyal servant after miracles happened to his life and after which spread Christianity mostly to the pagan nations. He is the reason why most of us are Christians today. There are stories like “David and Goliath”, stories of “Solomon”, “Samson and Delilah”, etc. which would give us inspiration and learn lessons from it. A must read book, besides this is the most read book of all time. It’s about time you read this one.

Inspirational and Self-Help Books


I would like to give credit to Catherine Ocampo Mayor for sharing with me her book 25 ways to win with people and letting me know the books of John Maxwell. I really learn a lot from those books. Makes me see where my mistakes are and I believe it somehow equipped me to be a better person. And if you are a leader or would want to be a leader, John Maxwell’s “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership” is for you to read. And if you are looking for inspirational stories about love, friendship, marriage, attitude, courage, etc., Jack Canfield and Mark Viktor Hanssen’s “Chicken Soup for the Soul is a must read for you. “The Purpose Driven Life” is also a very good inspirational book at the same time giving spirituality to the reader. If you want to succeed in life as well as in business and your goals, Og Mandino’s “The Greatest Salesman in the World” is a good one to read. The lesson in persistence is the best part that I loved in this book. It says there,

“I will persist until I succeed!

I am not delivered unto this world into defeat nor does failure course my veins. I am not a sheep waiting to be prodded by his shepherd. I am a lion and I refuse to talk, walk and sleep with the sheep. The slaughterhouse of failure is not my destiny.

I will persist until I succeed!”

Big thanks to my very good friend Judy Anne Ortiz for sharing me Og Mandino’s Books. Another book that this friend shared to me is the book “Tuesdays With Morrie”
which is a book written by Mitch Albom where the subject is non-other than his college mentor Morris “Morrie” Schwartz. This is a story of courage and death. A true account of the life of this college professor where meeting sessions with his former student, the author, took place every Tuesday. A very dramatic story which made me cry at end.

Another short story book I’ve read is a short novel by Antoine de St-Exupery, “The Little Prince”
where the main character travels from different planets and learn lessons of life. One popular quote from this book is about perception towards people. It says there

“But the eyes are blind…it is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

I’ve known this book since high school but never read this one because I was not into reading in my high school years.

One of the most amusing adventure novel series is non-other than the Harry Potter Series.
J.K Rowling really made this a phenomenal hit. If you don't have anything to read, then go for this one. The adventures in the book are complete and the author really described each scene vividly that you would not stop reading each and every book 'till the very end.

When it comes to love stories I would suggest Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s “Love in the Times of Cholera”.
This is a love that sprang amidst the epidemic cholera. It tells us of the story of Florentino Ariza falling in love with the lovely Fermina Daza. Fermina during the courtship when they were young fell in love because of the mystery of his suitor but later realized that what she felt was just infatuation. The woman married another man but the man waited until the death of the husband and were then reunited. Thanks to a Kring Yoshida for sharing this to me.

The very first book that I started to read is a book which I borrowed from my sister. I have nothing to do so I decided to take a peek of it but then I started to enjoy reading it. This is the book “The Client”
which was written by Lawyer John Grisham. The book is about the a boy who is the key to solve a mystery killing. The book is a legal fiction, suspense and drama. All books of John Grisham are equally interesting. You can also try “The Pelican Brief”, “A Time to Kill”, “The Firm” and others.

If you want to give a financial up start for your kids as well as for your own then Robert Kiyosaki's "Rich Kid, Smart Kid" is the book for you.
In this book the seven types of intelligence was discussed and an example of the person with such completete intelligences is non-other than Tiger Woods. This book gives awareness to business and finance for your kid but in a manner that the reader could easily understand.

Let me include some of the books which I was reading when I was in high school. I am a chess fanatic and can play chess competitively. How did I do that? By reading chess books of course. Here are some good chess books that I had.

There are still plenty of chess books which I haven't included here. But I do think that these three books are good materials to start playing competitive chess.

No matter what books you read or prefer, the most important thing about reading it is to be entertained and to learn from it. You may opt to carry the principles that each and every book is teaching and you may not. It is your choice. But I know for a fact that it thought me a lot in life, belief as well as in principle. I hope you would be able to read some of the books that I suggest. Have fun reading!