The Lost Symbol -Dan Brown

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta - Those who have started to take leave to add a delicious holiday Idul Fitri with the work of Dan Brown's latest thriller, "The Lost Symbol" after the sequel to "Da Vinci Code" was released Tuesday (15 / 9). This novel tells the conspiracy secret society of Freemasonry in the United States government.

Brown remains a symbol of experts presents the story of Robert Langdon with a quick story and make readers difficult to divert from the pages of books. His novel is also controversial, as usual.

"Da Vinci Code", for instance, uncover a conspiracy that holds the secret that Jesus had children. "The Lost Symbol" is no exception. This novel reveals the secrets of Freemasonry in the United States government.

Not surprisingly, this novel uses the U.S. capital, Washington, as the location of the story. Like "Da Vince Code", Langdon would expose the secret Freemanson by traces of architecture in Washington.

Of course, there is an enemy with a strong character, almost like a character in the comic. In the "Da Vinci Code" is a scary albino monk. In "The Lost Symbol" appears muscular tattooed men who call themselves Mal'akh (means angel in Hebrew).

"The Lost Symbol" opened with a scene where Mal'akh inaugurated into a high position in Freemasonry. Langdon's moving story of when a private plane to fly to Washington because it was invited to speak in a single event in the Capitol building - the parliament building his United States.

We arrived at the Capitol that the readers began to hold his breath. The invitation was a fake. He was invited by a wealthy friend and member of Freemasonry, Peter Solomon. But even Solomon was found dead with Masonic symbols tattooed hand and pointed to a picture of George Washington from 1865.

Washington - such as some American presidents such as Benjamin Franklin, Teddy Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and Gerald Ford - indeed members of Freemasonry. This background makes a lot of colored buildings in Washington Masonic beliefs.

Like Brown's earlier novel, Langdon will be accompanied by a beautiful woman while adventuring. In "The Lost Hollywood", the woman is the brother of Peter Solomon, Katherine Solomon.

With Katherine, Langdon face Mal'akh who had the motive to find the hidden Masonic temple. The temple, according to his faith, can make him do the transformation.

source : Tempo Interaktif

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KAMA SUTRA

The Kama Sutra, the world's oldest guide to the pleasures of sex, was written in the fourth century by the scholar Vatsyayana as an enduring collection of the ancient Eastern lessons of lovemaking. From the consummation of new love to the taboo arts, it was composed for the worthy intention of preventing the "seperation of the married pair." And now these classic love texts are revealed in richly sensual detail for couples to discover how to celebrate love as an ecstatic expression of life's spirit and beauty.

Experience new and lasting fulfillment with this classically romantic program as it reveals all the elements of lovemaking, including ambiance, seduction, arousal, massage, kissing and oral love, extended orgasm and an incredible variety of sexual positions to stimulate a couple. The Kama Sutra teaches a man how to give the greatest pleasure to his young bride or his lifelong partner in love. So open your mind and your heart and take an encompassing and sensitive exploration of the ancient secrets of sexual love and ecstasy for couples.

Dr. Patti Britton, Ph.D., F.A.A.C.S. is a nationally recognized, board-certified clinical sexologist and sexuality educator. For more than two decades she has coached thousands of women, men, and couples toward optimal sexual fulfillment. California based, Dr. Britton is currently on the faculty of the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality.
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Les enfants d’ailleurs nominated for the Angoulême Youth Prize

Congratulations to Bannister and Nykko, whose first book, Les enfants d’ailleurs, has been nominated for this year’s « Essentiel Jeunesse » (”Essential Youth”) prize of the Angoulême International Comics Festival, a very high honour indeed! They are in some extremely good company, with some the best comics and cartoonists from around the world.

Find out more about the award and the nominees at the Angoulême Festival’s website. This year’s Festival is being held from the 24th to the 27th of January.

site info : www.flightcomics.com Read More..

Forever Peace

In 2043, Julian Class is a soldier in the Ngumi War. The poor nations of the world have united in revolt against the wealthy nations, and the war is fought between guerrillas on one side, and machines called "soldierboys" on the other. The soldierboys are remotely controlled by troops like Julian through a mind-computer link that also produces a joint consciousness among those connected. Julian's soldierboy platoon is stationed in Panama.
Our Pick: A-

In his off-duty time, Julian returns to his civilian career, as a research physicist at a university in Houston. There he works with a team, which includes his girlfriend Amelia Harding, on the Jupiter Project, a plan to drop nanoforge into Jupiter and Io. The idea is to produce a huge supercollider in an attempt to recreate the conditions that existed at the beginning of the universe.

During one of his duty periods, Julian's platoon is sent to intimidate a Costa Rican village. Things go wrong, however, and in the riot that results, Julian accidently kills a boy. The army psychologist removes him from combat duty, worried about his potential for suicide. Rather than being discharged, Julian is merely reassigned to his civilian position.

Back in Houston, Amelia discloses that a colleague has discovered that the Jupiter Project could destroy the universe. But a fanatical religious group known as the Enders, with members secretly planted in positions of power, have found out about the discovery, and they see it as a way to bring about God's final judgment. When the Enders successfully suppress the report, Julian, Amelia and a group of colleagues must find another way to stop the Jupiter Project, and with it, the Ngumi War.
A thematic sequel to a classic work

While Forever Peace is not a sequel to The Forever War in the usual sense, author Joe Haldeman considers it a thematic sequel. And while he does use Peace to reexamine some the issues he raised in War, it's a very different novel. The army in The Forever War was an impersonal, monolithic organization with a single purpose: to defeat the enemy. The Ngumi War is a more complex affair, and the army fighting it is a more complex and diverse entity, with its own internal conflicting factions.

In one of the more interesting and compelling observations, one of Julian's research colleagues with intimate ties to the military asserts that most of the generals he knows are actually pacifists. Despite that, the army in Forever Peace, while not united, is as manipulative of its soldiers as the one in The Forever War. In fact, Julian's colleagues exploit that manipulation to its fullest to implement their final plan.

Another major difference between the two novels is the complexity and diversity of the characters. Forever Peace is much more concerned with broad social issues outside of military life, and Haldeman brings these issues to the forefront through strong characterization, not merely focusing on Julian and Amelia, but creating a supporting cast with interesting traits and abilities.

Unfortunately, the novel doesn't end as well as it could, because Haldeman crowds the last two years of the world's transformation into a few pages, leaving the feeling that while the novel he wrote is a fine book, there's a story just as compelling that he has chosen not to tell. Overall, though, it's a worthy successor to The Forever War, and well worth reading.

It didn't blow me away like The Forever War did, but I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. -- Clint

info from site http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue56/books.html

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Being 20 Something Is Hard

Author : Dewi Pravitasari
Synopsis :

Saraswati Senotono (Sara) adalah seorang psikolog cantik yang cukup sukses lewat klinik ngetop yang didirikan bersama rekan-rekan seniornya. Profesi yang dijalaninya menuntut Sara untuk dapat selalu objektif dalam membantu memecahkan masalah klien-kliennya.

Setelah dapat menghindar selama 4 tahun lamanya, suatu hari Sara harus dihadapkan pada kenyataan akan kembalinya sang Mantan Pacar (Zani) yang pernah menggoreskan sejarah kelam bagi dirinya. Di sini Sara harus dapat memisahkan masalah profesionalisme dengan masalah pribadinya, mengingat Zani adalah seorang klien yang harus tetap dilayani dengan baik.

Tidak hanya itu, di hari yang sama Sara pun tak sengaja bertemu dengan kakak tiri Zani (Radit) yang pernah juga menjadi seseorang yang spesial dalam hidupnya. Pertemuan dengan mereka berdua membawa Sara pada kenangan masa lalu, dengan sejarah kelam di pertengahan umur 20-an., masa di mana ia tidak bisa memecahkan masalahnya sendiri.

“ Being Twenty-Something is Hard ” menceritakan tentang beratnya hidup yang dijalani oleh orang dalam fase umur 20 hingga 29 tahun, dan sebagian orang di awal umur 30-an. Semua orang muda ingin hidup ideal, hidup yang bahagia dan sesuai dengan yang diinginkannya, tanpa harus bersusah payah atau bersyukur atas apa yang telah dimilikinya. Hal itu wajar, karena di fase ini mereka masih memiliki ambisi yang besar, mimpi setinggi langit serta energi yang luar biasa besar. Padahal hidup itu tidak selalu ideal, bahkan lebih sering terasa pahit. Pada akhirnya yang timbul adalah stress, khawatir dan kegelisahan karena tak bisa menerima kenyataan.

Hal itu pun dirasakan Saraswati. Pergantian dari fase remaja menjadi dewasa, dengan segala idealisme pribadi, belum lagi tuntutan orang tua, menceburkan Saraswati dalam sebuah krisis umur 20-an, yang sering disebut Quarter Life Crisis. Keinginan menikah yang tidak menjadi kenyataan pernah menyebabkan dirinya stress berat dan bahkan menjadi seorang alkoholik. Selain Saraswati, akan ada juga tokoh-tokoh lain yang memiliki kekhawatiran yang sama tentang hidup, meski faktor yang menyebabkannya tidak selalu sama.

Lewat rehabilitasi yang dijalaninya, Saraswati akhirnya sadar bahwa masih banyak orang yang lebih tak beruntung dibanding dirinya. Kesadaran itu membuatnya kuat dan mampu meneruskan hidup, serta dapat menilai hidup dengan lebih bijaksana. Melalui perjalanan hidup ini, pembaca akan turut merasakan bagaimana konflik demi konflik yang dihadapi seseorang dapat membantu mendewasakan dirinya.

Klimaks cerita terjadi saat sang tokoh utama dihadapkan pada sebuah kenyataan yang jauh lebih pahit, sesuatu yang tak pernah dibayangkan oleh siapapun. Di sini pembaca akan melihat bahwa hidup itu bukan lagi tentang mimpi. Manusia harus menerima realita takdirnya, dan juga harus bersyukur atas hikmah yang ada di balik setiap kejadian.

Endorsment :

- "Buku ini gak cuma buat cewe tapi juga buat cowok-cowok seumur gue yang udah
ngadepin tuntutan karier dan pernikahan. Inspired by real Phenomenon, reading this
book is a must, coz you will get lessons". [ Ananda Mikola ]
- "Buku ini gila banget! semua tentang kehidupan cewek dan semua konfliknya dirangkum
dalam dialog-dialog menarik sekaligus mengharukan. Bagus & Harus dibaca loh!!"
[ Laudya Cinthya Bella ]
- "I have reading only quarter part of the book and here's my objective opinion : The
story is filled with not only internal dialogues but at the same time internal
conflicts. Just the right capture of what we, twenty something females deal with
our selves all the time. Complicated and yet this book deliver it in a sense of
vulnerability that girls our age can relate with". [ Widi AB3 ]
- "Wah buku ini gue banget!Haha...karena sekarang gw ngerasain hal yang kurang
lebihnya hampir sama! Bagi cewek_cewek yang mengalami nasib sama, wajib baca!!"
[ Luna Maya ]
- "After reading this book, you will realize that the quarter-life crisis is not
worth panicking about, you will learn a lot from the caracters. This book will
keep your mind stimulated!".
[ Susana Tjokro, Penulis Lepas untuk The Jakarta Post ]




Publisher : www.DiwanPublish.com Read More..

Army of Roses: Inside the World of Palestinian Women Suicide Bombers

Barbara Victor

When a patriarchal society breaks with tradition and produces female suicide bombers one ought to pause to reflect. Many could interpret this phenomenon as a sign of patriarchal structures breaking down, with women increasingly being accepted as equals in the roles traditionally reserved for men. Others would point to the degree of desperation attached to living under an oppressive occupation force which leads these women to take their own lives. In her book "Army of Roses", Barbara Victor examines such claims in respect of Palestinian female suicide bombers. Her quest to understand "the social environment that pushes these young women over the edge of personal despair", however, leads her to uncover a deeper truth.

By weaving political analysis and the personal stories of five female suicide bombers together, she takes the reader beyond the surface, highlighting the relevant sociological structures that determine such behaviour. The outcome of such an investigation does not point to equality being achieved but actually reveals deeply embedded inequality in the Palestinian society which denies individual women the freedom to define their own future. And this is to blame for the rise of female suicide bombers.

This view is sustained through numerous interviews. Victor talks with the families and friends of the female suicide bombers who provide insights into their aspirations, character and motives. Her interviews with doctors, academics as well as psychologists serve as a framework which helps forge a bigger picture out of the personal stories. Although, the experts place differing emphasis on factors like socio-economics, nationalism, and fundamentalism in their explanations of female suicide terrorism. Interviews with Yasser Arafat, Benjamin Netanyahu, Abdul Aziz Al-Rantisi, Sheik Ahmad Yassin and others provide insights into the thinking of the political actors who capitalize on or condemn such attacks, but who also define the political backdrop against which such attacks are undertaken.

Great care is taken in analysing the first female suicide attack carried out by a Palestinian woman called Wafa Idris on January 27 2002. Her death took the world by surprise including, apparently, the Palestinian leadership who according to evidence presented by Victor, initially tried to cover up their association with the attack. In an interview with a Fatah leader, Victor discovers that Idris' recruitment was made in connection with her brother's planned suicide attack and not hers. Her intended role was to carry a knapsack filled with explosives across a checkpoint, which her brother would later use in his attack. However, Idris crossed the boundaries of her intended role and detonated the device, killing her self and one Israeli man. Only after a positive reaction to the event in the Arab world and noticing that the people where seemingly ready to accept a woman suicide bomber as a 'sahida', a martyr, did the Al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigade claim responsibility for the attack. Idris' attack, with the seal of approval from the political leadership, then served as an example for other women to follow. Her story points to the haphazard genesis of Palestinian female suicide bomber.

However by seeking out personal motives that would lead this young woman to kill herself, Victor unravels the structural factors to discover that her story is not so unique. Similar factors determined the behavior of the subsequent female suicide bombers. Wafa Idris was a woman with no future. Her inability to give her husband children led to the husband and his family being put to shame. Her husband was pressurised to divorce her and to take another wife. She had to move back to her paternal home where she was perceived as nothing but a financial burden. As a 'barren' woman, she had no chance of remarrying. In a society where 'honour' is currency, for a very 'poor' woman with no future, a suicide attack is a quick way to get her family 'rich'. The stories of the subsequent sahidas are similar in the respect that they all shared an inability to control their own lives. For reasons of respectability, honour and societal pressure ,they all undertook the attacks in hope of acquiring honour for their families.

The next layer that Victor adds to her analysis is that in a society which quickly adapts to incorporate female suicide bombers, male figures start to prey on unsuspecting women, and manipulate them to carry out attacks. There is the story Shireen Rabiya a fifteen year old, from a well-to-do family. She was recruited by her uncle who promised her an end to her teenage angst with a promise of entering paradise. Ultimately, she failed in her attempt to blow herself up. Therefore , even in this new role crafted for women, male manipulation continues to remain as the pivotal factor.

The message of this book is that this role enhancement is not an expression of equality. It warns of those who try to mislead us into believing that they are uncovering the structures of inequality. Actually they give rise to it and perpetuated it in the first place. The reader parts with the book with a deeper understanding of the motives that lead women to become suicide bombers. He is aware that such acts will continue to happen as long as prevailing societal structure remains in tact.

info site from : IPCS - Book Review
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47 RONIN (Kisah 47 Ronin)

The tale of the Forty-Seven Ronin, also known as the Forty-Seven Samurai, the Akō vendetta, the Akō Wandering Samurai (赤穂浪士, Akō rōshi?), or the Genroku Akō Incident (元禄赤穂事件, Genroku akō jiken?), is a prototypical Japanese story. Described by one noted Japan scholar as the country's "national legend" [2], it recounts the most famous case involving the samurai code of honor, Bushidō.

The story tells of a group of samurai who were left leaderless (became ronin) after their daimyo-master was forced to commit seppuku (ritual suicide) for assaulting a court official named Kira Yoshinaka, whose title was kōzuké-no-suké. The ronin avenged their master's honor after patiently waiting and planning for over a year to kill Kira. In turn, the ronin were themselves forced to commit seppuku — as they had known they would be — for committing the crime of murder. With little embellishment, this true story was popularized in Japanese culture as emblematic of the loyalty, sacrifice, persistence and honor which all good people should preserve in their daily lives. The popularity of the almost mythical tale was only enhanced by rapid modernization during the Meiji era of Japanese history, when many people in Japan longed for a return to their cultural roots.

While sources do differ as to some of the details, the version given below was carefully assembled from a large range of historical sources, including some still-extant eye-witness accounts of various portions of the saga. The sequence of events and the characters in this historical narrative were presented to a wide, popular readership in the West with the 1871 publication of A.B. Mitford's Tales of Old Japan.[1]

Fictionalized accounts of these events are known as Chūshingura. The story was popularized in numerous plays including bunraku and kabuki; because of the censorship laws of the shogunate in the Genroku era which forbade portrayal of current events, the names were changed. While the version given by the playwrights may have come to be accepted as historical fact by some, the Chushingura was written some 50 years after the fact; and numerous historical records about the actual events which pre-date the Chushingura survive. The bakufu's censorship laws had relaxed somewhat 75 years later, when Japanologist Isaac Titsingh first recorded the story of the 47 ronin as one of the significant events of the Genroku era.

for indonesian books

for more info : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forty-seven_Ronin
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TYRANTS: Historys 100 Most Despots & Dictators

An astonishing compendium of dictators and their crimes against the State. The scope of entries is an all-encompassing chronicle of tyrants. They range from the bizarre to the horrific, from the heartbreaking to the ridiculous. The book includes 100 of history's most infamous despots. In vivid detail it tells the story of the lives that led them to power. And, of course, the destruction and sorrow they invariably left in their wake. These are gripping and compelling portraits of the darker side of power that also disclose the strange and grisly stories that haunt the world's most infamous leaders.

Product details

* Hardcover: 208 pages
* Publisher: Arcturus foulsham (23 Sep 2004)
* Language English
* ISBN-10: 0572030258
* ISBN-13: 978-0572030254
* Product Dimensions: 29.8 x 21.4 x 2.4 cm
* Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 282,532 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)
(Publishers and authors: Improve Your Sales)

for more info : http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tyrants-Historys-Most-Despots-Dictators/dp/0572030258
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Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, born in the stench of eighteenth century Paris, develops a superior olfactory sense, which he uses to create the world's finest perfumes. His work, however, takes a dark turn as he tries to preserve scents in the search for the ultimate perfume.

Perfume is set in the colourful backdrop of 18th century France centering on the life of an unfortunate boy, Jean Baptiste, born in the slums of a Paris fish market. Left for dead amongst rotting fish guts, he inhales the plethora of scents around him. He is rescued by some passers by and is subsequently placed in an orphanage. He is an odd child and a social outcast. Possibly as a result of his traumatic birth, he is blessed with outstanding olfactory senses: from early childhood he displays an uncanny ability for discerning the individual smells of everything around him. The twists and turns of his early life are one continuous tragic story. His quest is to learn the art of perfume making and, once taught, Jean Baptise desires to make the ultimate perfume. His skilfully crafted perfumes have the ability to provoke unexpected reactions in both the wearer and the recipient. During his apprenticeship, he discovers he has no personal smell and is initially devastated. On his journey to create olfactory perfection, he seeks alternative ingredients to his perfumes and, in doing so, leaves a grisly trail...
Written by Nuno Cordeiro

for more info : http://www.imdb.com
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Books : Shia Revival

As nations around the world struggle with the threat of militant Islam, Vali Nasr, one of the leading scholars on the Middle East, provides us with the rare opportunity to understand the political and theological antagonisms within Islam itself. The Shia Revival is a penetrating historical account of sectarian conflicts in the Muslim world, showing that the future rests in finding a peaceful solution to the ancient rivalries between the Shias and the Sunnis.
http://www.cfr.org/publication/11179/
on Indonesian language


Nasr provides a unique and objective understanding of this 1,400-year bitter struggle between the two sects—tracing its roots from the succession of the Prophet Mohammad—forcing us to differentiate the religious and theological aspect of Islam from its political and military rivalries. Outlining the rich history of a people and a vibrant culture that has spanned not only the Middle East but also modern-day Pakistan and India, Nasr explains the traditional hostilities and scrutinizes their current embodiment in the power struggle between Iran and Saudi Arabia for political and spiritual leadership of the Muslim world.

From the provocative rise of Ayatollah Khomeini to the Saudi pressure on the United States to keep Saddam Hussein in power in 1991; from the critical role of the Ayatollah Sistani and the religious establishment in Najaf (Iraq) to the consequences of the recent shift toward Shia power in Iraq through American intervention, Nasr’s poignant and timely analysis of the Shia/Sunni schism brings clarity and insight to the complex, often bloody, events shaping the Muslim world and its relations with the West. Read More..