This book is just not for me

 

"Why I dislike this book?" I always ask myself while reading this book. "Youthquake 4.0 : A Whole Generation and the New Industrial Revolution", a book by Rocky Scopelliti, a futurologist, trying to look into the future by taking in account of two global forces: Millennials and the fourth industrial revolution characterized by distributed trust in the form of blockchain, big data, and A.I. Ironic that the book talks about trust equals to reputation but I don't know much about the author himself.

The first thing that strikes me is just how many graphs are there in the book. Charts after charts, histograms after histograms, I just feel like being bombarded with statistics. I am sure that the author did his homework. With all the graphs and statistics, I am sure that the points the author wants pass to the readers are no doubt well researched. He has points but just fails in the "passing" part.

 

That's pretty common pitfall of a scientist. Whenever scientists try to convince the wide audience, they just think that by showing more data will do. What makes thing worst is the lack of metaphors. Despite the simple language used, the author makes sure that none of the trendiest technological jargons is missed out. To me it just seems like it talks about many things, but at the same time nothing at all. 

Then I realize that this book might not really aimed for a wide audience. To quote: "The insights in this book are for the individuals, leaders and policymakers seeking to unlock opportunities by developing specific adaption or transformation strategies from the interplay between Millennial mind and the emerging technologies in the Fourth Industrial Revolution." To put simply, this book's target audience is the managers! One must keep this in mind only then the book makes sense. In fact the book does present itself like Power Point slides compiled into a book, slides interweaved with graphs and histograms. Plus, each chapter is completed with a bullet point summary, exactly like a Power Point presentation, which further affirms that this is a book for manager. The entire book just feels like those boring high level meeting that I have during the work.

So why I dislike this book? Simply, it is just not my cup of tea. May be, just may be one day in the future my point of view will change or may be when I myself become a manager, I might eventually like this book. But come to think about it, the actual main reason why I dislike it is that, I feel like I am being "forced" to read it by upper management. Manager bought it as a "gift" for us, we have to read it, and we have to do a presentation about it. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate it as a gift. But to me, reading is my hobby, so I prefer to choose my type of books to read.

I completed my first marathon!

I completed the Penang Bridge Marathon! It might be hard to believe but this was the first marathon I had ever participate in. I ran 5k, 10k, half-marathon, and even an ultra, just strangely never a marathon before. However it was not an easy 42.195k, mainly due to my mental hurdle. Going into the race day, my confidence was at all time low, to say the least.

Failing to complete the Penang Eco run for the second time in a row, severe altitude sickness while hiking towards EBC that resulted in a heli-evac to the hospital, I was seriously doubting my capability and the limit of my body. "Am I becoming weak?" I questioned myself frequently. Although the COT was set at 7 hours, which I had previously considered generous, my goal was simply to finish. 

The last time I joined Penang Bridge Marathon was 11 years ago. I was still in high school that time! "How time flies..." I sighed as if I was already an old man. I arrived at the starting point 15mins before gun off, just the way I liked: arrive in time and get into business straight away. The race started off good.

Slowly and steadily, I covered the first 20km with relative ease. After that I was kinda half running and half walking, and taking my time at every water station to drink and eat. The good thing about the marathon was the pacers. Until this point I knew I was way in front of 5hours30-pacers while 5hour-pacers were within striking distance. The hope of finishing within 5 hours was not too far off. So far so good but not for long. Some angry clouds were brewing. Occasional wind brought a few raindrops brushing my skin. A thunder storm was approaching.

After I reached the turning point at the Seberang Perai end of the bridge, the storm hit all of us at full force. It was not just raining cats and dogs, it rained sideways! The wind was not in my favor either, blowing directly against me while I was heading towards the direction of Penang island. It actually hurt when the rain hit my face. I could barely open my eyes. Forget about running. Walking through the storm was difficult enough in itself. Slower than ever, the 5hours30 pacers ran pass me...

Shit!

I couldn't totally slow down either. While the rain hurt, what worried me the most was the lighting. What was left between me and the finish line was all on the bridge and it was super exposed. It could strike any one the runners, anytime. At this point, the 5 hour target was far long gone in my head. I was just trying my best to run, hoping to get off the bridge as soon as possible. 

After the mid point of the bridge with 7k to go, luckily the lighting and wind slowed down but the rain was still pouring. Surprisingly, I still managed to squeeze out some strength, pick up some speed, and actually took over the 5hours30 pacers. "Let's see if I could chase the 5hours pacers."

Spirit high again! I felt like I flied through the last 5k, taking over tonnes of people along the way. The feeling was soooooo gooooood... This was definitely the highlight of my entire run. I even tried to sprint through the final kilometer. 5hours and 19mins. My finish time. 

Finishing the marathon, what I felt was not accomplished but happily relieved. With it, I regained my confidence in long distance foot race again. The feel good run through the last 5k made me feel like I could actually do better. This feeling of hitting the sweet spot has become the new cornerstone of my passion in running.