Ben Nguyen > Recent Status Updates

This is honestly a fantastic book so far. Some scenes left me very embarrassed and I had to pause the audiobook and come back to it later HAHA. Genuinely having a really good time though. Can't wait to see what this book has in store for me.

It's pretty mid. Very corporate-core. Not down to earth. The lessons in here were made for out of touch people. Advice like 'listen to your co-workers', 'be vulnerable' is wild. How out of touch can upper management even be??

Dropped. Lost interest in the book. May come back another time I don't know.

Read the Story of Your Life on recommendation from Lan. I quite liked the story. It mixed the technical elements of a Sci-Fi story with emotional beats and it made for a compelling story. I liked the way it explored the implication of beings who know the future. Would we strive to meet what is expected of us?

26/06/23: Started! Doing it with Fr Mike in a year so it'll be a long time before this book gets finished lol

15/06/23: Started here! Decent enough start. I can't over the amusing fact the author is from Sydney but also from the Eastern suburbs lmao.

It's a really nice book and a short read too. I was surprised to find out it was adapted from a play! Regardless the book left me very emotional because the stories were so sweet. It's a great book to read when you're in a block and need something to get back into reading.

Thanks to Dannii for recommending this book to me! I may have put on my shelf a long time ago but I think it's finally time I visit this book after reading the Laws of Human Nature! I need an easy book 🫠🫠

Great book! It's a great continuation from Personalities Plus as delved into detail on the key issues that were brought up in the previous book. I wanna revisit this book but it feels a little hard with a Kindle. Lowkey thinking of buying the paperback to make revisiting it an easier experience lol

IT'S A BIG BOOK. It's gonna take me approx 2 months to get this one finished 🫠🫠

I'm putting this book on hold. Although I have confidence in my faith, my knowledge is too limited and it is too difficult to understand and appreciate what it is trying to say. I'll be back again

I would say this is an enjoyable read. It presents a realistic picture of Chinese ambitions for the next 10-15 years especially in the context of what Xi Jinping wants. It's written in a way that is easy to understand and doesn't require too much prior knowledge to enjoy it.

A pretty good read so far. The concepts in this book aren't too complex and it is interesting to see the extent of Xi Jinping's ambition in his attempt to become as prominent in the Chinese Communist canon like Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping

It's an interesting book! Traces the history of Eschatology and I find it fascinating that the Old Testament was influenced by their surroundings. Haven't read as much I would have liked since I have COVID but it's been a good read (started 29/11)

It is a beautiful story. People tell me that this book will change me in some way. I cannot answer what larger lessons it taught me but I can say that there were moments that left me frustrated, defeated, sorrowful, joyous and grateful. It is a symphony of so many emotions and I felt like I was drifting around, feeling terrible at one point but so happy on the end. What a trip. If I had to nominate a lesson now....

Excellent book so far. Everything fits but man, some of the cruelty that Jude encounters feel unjustified. I can't help but feel for one specific arc that it exists purely as a plot device and it is frustrating. It is possible to conceive of a world where he never has to go through that but the author does it anymore. Also the level of self-destructivity from him borders on comical at points, still respect it though.

Yikes, Jude is such a nice, wholesome person who has such a sad history. I can only wish for his story to have a happy ending. If it's anything like what people have been telling me, it seems I'll be in for a roller-coaster of emotions. Still excited nonetheless! It's been really well-written so far.

Dropped. Will pick up later. Placement got in the way and I think that I took the most important information which was mostly in the initial parts of the book (i.e. Chapter 1).

A short read but a powerful one. Offers lots of interesting insight and puts it in a digestible format compared to Meditations and Seneca's Letters. It's nice to listen to an audiobook version of this (52 minutes approx) and do something in the meantime and reflect on its lessons. Good stuff

Initially wanted to finish this book a good while before my first placement but here I am, just starting this book about 3 days before placement. I'm happy to got around to finishing Aquinas in the end (as confusing and complicated as it was) and now we're moving into the next book!

Lots of fun little stories! I love the way he exposes little bits of himself and explores it. It's so fascinating to compare John Green's style when it comes to novels and then when it comes to non-fiction texts like this. It's a casual read and definitely not too strenuous on my small brain :)

The book is a good introduction into the works of Thomas Aquinas. It navigates through the basics of his philosophy whilst also providing an introduction into Aristotelian metaphysics. From there it branches into his justification for God's existence and the implications it has on our identity and our values. I frankly did not understand what was happening most of the time, I think I will need to re-read this later.

Needed to do my reading reps without melting my brain and accidently sleeping in the process. Wanted to read this after Aquinas but it's all good 😎

Fantastic book! The writing was great and it made for a dramatic yet easy read. Even though I didn't really like how they characterised Lily initially as this hopeless romantic who intensely falls for Ryle. I still came to respect the author for how much emotion she managed to pull out of me even when I felt cringy and it just made me uncomfortable at her interactions with Ryle. Good stuff!

New book how exciting! I forgot who recommended me this book and I'm sorry about that! Whoever did suggest reading this, please remind me because I would like to know :) Victoria told me to read it and see if I like it because Kim is currently reading it. Let's see how it goes <3

Putting this book on hold for now. Frankly I'm burnt out from reading due to assignments and the growing gap between reading sessions makes it more difficult to know where I'm up to at the moment. Until we meet again :(

Fantastic book! It's been a long, long while since I was absorbed in a book. I found Henrietta's life to of special interest, so the beginning of the book was definitely my favourite. I personally thought it slowed down a little for me during Skloot's initial interactions with Deborah but when they closer that was when it started to get better. I didn't even expect Deborah to die I was devastated. :(

Time to start reading again! I'm looking forward to what this book has to offer especially given its my first experience in a historical text with a narrative element plus science mixed in! I'm not very familiar with these texts and I hope it won't be too overwhelming for a casual science audience such as myself.

Some great insights so far! Unfortunately, I have stalled on the book and I have lowkey lost the motivation to read, especially with assignments going around. However, just as my friends can go to the gym, so too can I read or at the very least, work on myself while exams pile up.