SIFAN
...........LIFE OF A TUMBLER
Over the years I have read many books, this doesn't mean that I’m just a bookworm it did not come automatically. As a child I had problems to read and the interest in a book was often quickly lost.
I was not a story reader, needed facts, until I found writers which could really made me bind to a book. These, mostly Dutch, authors belong still to my favourites, writers like Toon Kortooms, Simon Carmiggelt, Harry Mulisch and later Tomas Ross from whom I have scrutinized all books.
With the study of cultures, philosophy and languages came the volumes. I have never thrown a book away.
Here some of my recommendations:
The most detailed, fascinating, and lively account of old Siam was written by the Dutch merchant Jeremias Van Vliet between 1636 and 1640. This volume includes all four of his writings in English translation: the earliest surviving chronicle of Siam's history; a wide-ranging description of the kingdom's geography, economy, society, politics, and religion; a blow-by-blow account of a bloody power struggle over the crown; and the Dutchman's diary during a crisis.
When Asia Was the World: Traveling Merchants, Scholars, Warriors, and Monks Who Created the "Riches of the "East"
t is 1984. The world is in a state of perpetual war and Big Brother sees and controls all. Winston Smith, a member of the Outer Party and propaganda-writer at the Ministry of Truth, is keeping a journal he should not be keeping and falling in love with Julia, a woman he should not be seeing. Outwardly compliant, Winston dreams of rebellion against the oppressive Big Brother, risking everything to recover his lost sense of individuality and control of his own future.
The most detailed, fascinating, and lively account of old Siam was written by the Dutch merchant Jeremias Van Vliet between 1636 and 1640. This volume includes all four of his writings in English translation: the earliest surviving chronicle of Siam's history; a wide-ranging description of the kingdom's geography, economy, society, politics, and religion; a blow-by-blow account of a bloody power struggle over the crown; and the Dutchman's diary during a crisis.