Books and magazines from the 2nd Abuja book chat

The second Abuja Book chat took place on World book day, a week ago at The Eugenia Abu Media centre. The theme was the impact of e-books on reading and the sub-theme was Book day theme -share a story. Special guest was Dr Okey Ikechukwu, cerebral columnist, public policy analyst, intellectual and literati. It was […]

The second Abuja Book chat took place on World book day, a week ago at The Eugenia Abu Media centre. The theme was the impact of e-books on reading and the sub-theme was Book day theme -share a story. Special guest was Dr Okey Ikechukwu, cerebral columnist, public policy analyst, intellectual and literati. It was as expected a high level discourse with him in the saddle. Other guests included Richard Ali, co-publisher Parresia, Ronke Aliyu of the NTA, Diran Adekoge of the American embassy and his lovely wife Debbie and their baby. Also in attendance was comedian, MC Amana and his wife. Joining this powerful group of attendees was Farida Yahaya, multiple entrepreneur, and her sister in-law, Baraatu Nasidi, on-line publisher and Dr Akin Oke, innovation entrepreneur and customer service guru, Alkassim Abdulkadir, award winning journalist and Head communication at the Presidential initiative on the North East, Mr Oyekunle, MD Abuja film village and Gina from Ventures park among many others. Please note we had two babies. The second was Baraatu’s son. It was a beautiful afternoon with Dr Ikechukwu giving a seminal opening comment that spoke to the major theme of e-books. As the intellectual that he is, he decided to address it from a wider perspective of the internet and its effects on general human behaviour. How can anyone be asked to cede his wellbeing and validity to a large section of people he has never met who are following him and they decide for him whether he should be happy or not. These people who are following you, he continued are they thugs or good persons, are they thieves, never do wells or people with your interest at heart. He said he could not understand how one could outsource his entire life to people who are not even known to him and be proud that he has two thousand followers while looking down on those with 200. It was a robust opening from the special guest who immediately set the tone for the discourse. Participants talked at length about how books had positively affected their lives and while one half preferred e-books, many others were more in tune with the hard copy of a book which has rewards in the page turning, the smell of paper and the actual finishing of the book. The conversation which was on the eve of the gubernatorial election then veered into all things Nigerian. How can we be better? How can we achieve more? How can we engender trust? At the end of the day, Debbie Adegoke who runs a book fair for children gave a good account of how parents should take responsibility for their children’s reading habits and added that schools do their best but parents are not doing enough as a lot of parents kill the joy of reading in their children by either not buying books for them or not reading to the children. It was a huge take away as many parents attending vowed to do better. In the end, reading materials were shared and discussed.

Overall it was an amazing time and everyone had fun. Here are the books and magazines that came up from this excellent outing. Enjoy.

1) I would like to start this collection with Debbie Adegoke’s submission. According to her, it is the fault of parents that children are not reading enough and she even disagrees that we do not have people who read. She organises children’s book fairs and she finds that kids who are hungry to read are not encouraged by their parents and sometimes parents dismiss and yell at children who tear books. Buy another one she says but still instil the discipline that books must be well kept. She says parents are too busy to read to their children and we all should and we should invest in buying books. So in order to resonate with Debbie, I recommend my most adored book from when I was a child. Lewis Carroll’s magical book, Alice in Wonderland. A book so full of wonder, it fired my imagination. It led me to all the characters from Alice who was growing and shrinking to the tea party full of interesting characters.  Translated into more than sixty-four languages with forty-six films from the different characters, it is must read for children.

2) Our special guest Dr Ikechukwu expressed his reservation about e-books but wanted to let everyone know that reading a book, a hard copy book had several benefits. In salute of his profundity, I recommend any book on public policy, as Dr Ikechukwu is a public policy analyst, a much needed area in Nigeria’s public service space. Also any book on parenting as he is a positive parenting advocate.

3) Part of the activity at the 2nd Abuja book chat was the distribution of copies of an old Oprah magazine which had an interview with the writer Paulo Coelho. Author of one of the world’s most read book, The Alchemist, Paulo told Oprah that his father had committed him to a mental home because he wanted to be a writer rather than an Engineer which his father wanted him to be. Not once but twice he was sent to the lunatic asylum for choosing to be a writer instead of an Engineer. The second time he escaped to America with no money and no English and eventually wrote the bestselling book, The Alchemist. Writers must never take their freedom for granted.

4) The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. This is a much celebrated book about life and pursuing one’s dream. The popular American Actor Will Smith says it is his favourite book of all times. Many who have read it reread it many times to keep them grounded. It is a bedside book which becomes a reference book like The Prophet by Khalil Gibran. The Alchemist is the story of a shepherd named Santiago who goes in search of his personal legend by following his dreams. He starts his journey with a dream about finding treasure in the pyramids of Egypt. He meets a gypsy and an old woman who encourages him to pursue his dream. Some of the quotes that resonate are “And when you want something, all the universe conspires to helping you achieve it.” “It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.” “When we love, we always strive to become better.” and “To realize one’s destiny is a person’s only obligation.”  Truly great book and a must read for any individual who is currently trying to figure out what they want to do in their life.

5) The Time magazine of two weeks ago whose cover story is about optimism. This topic of happiness is the new wealth was discussed robustly by participants and the Time magazine served as a resource. Nothing in this edition of Time magazine can be more profound than the contribution of Bill Gates and several other creative entrepreneurs who are incurable optimists. I bring you a profound quote from Oscar winning film maker and director, “The most radical and rebellious choice you can make is to be optimistic. Optimism is radical. It is the hard choice, the brave choice. And it seems to me most needed now in the face of despair…” Amazing.