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New on the shelf

The Headman was a Woman (Book + DVD)
RM 30.00

A comprehensive ethnography of one of the few remaining hunting and gathering peoples of Southeast Asia, The Headman Was A Women presents the gender concepts, roles and relations of the highly egalitarian Batek of Peninsular Malaysia. Based on longtime fieldwork, the book describes the lives of Batek men and women in the tropical rainforest, and includes discussuins of fieldwork, hunting and gathering, social organization, religion, gender, nonviolence, and cultural persistence in the face of a changing landscape. Rich in detail yet clearly written, The Headman Was a Woman introduces readers to an egalitarian people whose way of life is both thought-provoking and rare. The ethnography is accompanied by a 37-minute DVD, The Batek: Rainforest Foragers of Kelantan, Malaysia. Footage shows vivid highlights of camp life and social activities as well as all of the important economic processes described in the book.


The Headman was a Woman (Book + DVD)
RM 30.00

Hak Untuk Berbeza Pendapat
RM 20.00

Ottoman Connections to the Malay World
RM 39.00

Transfer of Modern Science and Technology to the Mulsim World
RM 40.00

At A Plank Bridge : A Play
RM 18.00

Malaysia Human Rights Report 2010
RM 25.00

Malaysia Human Rights Report 2009
RM 25.00

Unmistakably Chinese, Genuinely Malaysian
RM 19.90

Yusof Gajah Creative Learning Series (Boxset)
RM 40.00

The Lil' Guardians (flashcards)
RM 15.00

The Flow & the Power of Chi Dynamics (VCD)
RM 30.00

Tabu
RM 20.00

Kelabu
RM 24.90

Equality Under Construction
RM 45.00

The Black Cheongsam
RM 24.90
Silverfish magazine
Opinion
Hang Tuah lives
30 Jan, 2012

"Hang Tuah was an aboriginal man like me. He was Semang."

"What?" Jumaat and Subuh say in unison.

"His name was SiTuah, not Hang Tuah; that was the name Malays gave him in Malacca. SiTuah is a common name among the Semang people. It is common to put a prefix Si in front of one's name in our community, like SiTumi." (The Beruas Prophecy by Iskandar Al-Bakri)

Hang Tuah is a great story; so strong that even the Chinese and the Orang Asli want a piece of it. It is a good Malaysian story; unfortunately, it cannot be taught in schools because it is not history; it is a myth, or so says Emeritus Professor Khoo Khay Kim. He is right, of course. Not only is there no historical evidence, the story has many contradictions. (Was it Hang Kasturi he fought or Hang Jebat?) But the Hang Tuah story has far deeper roots than the good professor gives credit, emotional roots, which are not surprising, given that his interest is in history. One dismisses myths at one’s own peril, although it has become increasingly fashionable to do so in some circles (especially in this country).

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News
Malaysia fails media trust barometer
31 Jan, 2012

The Edelman survey of 1000 participants in each country has, certainly, has come up with some strange results. That the majority in Malaysia (a newcomer to the survey) do not trust the media is not news, but I was surprised that 47% still do! What is surprising that in Singapore, 65% trust the media (an increase from 59% last year) and in Indonesia, 80% do (a decrease from 86% last year). What is even more surprising is that in China 79% trust their media, 1% less than 2011. (I guess the cynic would say that they still dare not speak the truth for fear of being reported; censorship works at all levels.) Still, Malaysia is in the red zone with Argentina, Australia, much of Europe, Japan, Korea, Russia and the USA. (We are in good company, it appears.)

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News
Beruas: one step closer to the Commonwealth Prize
Jan 30, 2012

The Beruas Prophecy "has made it through the first stage of the judging process for the Commonwealth Book Prize for best first book ..." said the email from the Commonwealth Foundation in London. The short list will be announced in May, the email said further.

The rules have changed this year. In previous years, there would be a Best Book and a Best First Book. This year there is only the Best First Book. Last year, books were shortlisted by regions and awarded the prize for the region with the winners going in for the final shortlist. We have no idea how it is going to happen this year, considering London appears to be handling all the judging this year.

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Events
Children's writing events by SCBWI
Feb 1, 2012

Calendar of events by the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) Malaysia for 2012 at Silverfish Books, 28-1 Jalan Telawi, Bangsar Baru.

The Talks are organised by SCBWI Malaysia with Yusof Gajah Lingard Literary Agency. All meetings are from 2.30-5.30pm unless otherwise stated. Dates, topics and speakers are subject to change and will be updated as soon as we can on our website as well as on our Facebook page. The main speaker will be Linda Tan, president of SCBWI Malaysia but we will update accordingly when there are other speakers. If you have a topic you wish to discuss, please contact lindalingard@gmail.com. Token entry fee of RM10 for tea and handouts.

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Books
A flawed genius
Jan 19, 2012

I have heard of individuals described in Tamil as either "camphor" brained or "banana-stem" brained. Camphor burns quickly, so people with camphor brains are quick on the uptake and learn quickly. Banana stem will only splutter, at best. (The Director General of an organisation I once worked in was a major banana stem. Returning from a management course, where they had told him he ought to try to get to know his staff better, he stood his bemused officers in a row outside his office and brusquely shook all their hands before disappearing. Scott Adam’s pointy haired boss is real!)

In Isaacson’s biography, Steve Jobs was certainly camphor brained. He was a ruthless despot, a bully, a though negotiator, a good marketer, an egomaniac, completely bipolar, cunning, spectacularly greedy, arrogant, obnoxious and rude; that is, he had enough ingredients for him to be a successful CEO. But he had more ...

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Opinion
Living in interesting times
January 03, 2012

It was the best of times, and the worst of times for the book industry in 2011; a year of living dangerously. Borders finally shuttered its stores after a long terminal illness. It seemed like the end of an era when, in fact, it was not. The international age of the superstore started only in 1999, when the super chain store opened shop in Singapore. Within 12 years, it was all over. Twelve years is not an era; it is an aberration. It was bizarre to any thinking person: how could bookstores that operated on such small profit margins, most of which they were giving away as discounts on bestsellers, afford to rent such large expensive real estate in prime locations in major cities throughout the world? After killing off thousands of independents over the decade, the romance with the mega bookstore has ended, leaving the landscape looking like Japan and Germany after the second world war.

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News
Silverfish Writing Programme
January 03, 2012

Registration for the next programme that will commence on Saturday, 4 February 2012, was opened in early December. As is usually the case, at this jucture, we are half full. There is always a last minute rush in the days before we close. The early bird discount of 10% ends on (including) 10 January 2012, so please hurry to avoid disappointment.

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News
Create your own local hero
January 03, 2012

MobyLives reported recently: According to the Businessweek report: A (free downloadable barcode) app, called Price Check, allows shoppers to look up Amazon's prices by scanning physical products at a store using their phones.

There is nothing wrong with comparative shopping, nor is there anything wrong with one store checking the price of goods in another (it happens all the time), but to pay one's customers to spy on competition smells of sulphur. Does the app also allow information to be sent back to the mother ship?

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News
Malaysian government allocation for writers
December 21, 2011

A Bernama report on 13 December 2011 said, "The government is prepared to provide allocation so that writers will be more active in producing books to help Malaysia achieve developed nation status by 2020 ... Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah said Malay literature works could illuminate the literary world and mould the people's thinking."

The report added: "In an effort to improve the country's status as a high income economy, the government is prepared to help Malay literature writers," he said. And guess who wants to put up the paper? Utusan Publications and Distributors Sdn Bhd. I will say, no more.

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Books
Saramago's last hurrah
January 03, 2012

Title: Cain
Author: Jose Saramago (Translated by Margaret Jull Costa)
Publisher: Harvill Secker (2011)
Price: RM 69.90

To say Saramago didn't believe in God, would be an understatement. He was a life-long Communist and an atheist, and Cain, his last book that was first published in 2009, a year before he died could be described as his last middle-finger salute to the old guy (whom he has made no secret of disliking).

Cain carries on where Saramago left off in his 1991 masterpiece (depending on who you ask), The Gospel According to Jesus Christ.

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Books
A magical mystery tour
December 21, 2011

Title: 1Q84
Author: Haruki Murakami
Publisher: Harvill Secker
Price: RM91.50

As I have mentioned before, I was determined not to buy this book. First, I decided there was no way I was going to plough through a one-thousand-page tome. I am too old for that, I said. When I actually saw the book, the cheesy jacket and page design, not to mention its wrist spraining heft, it only reinforced my view. If ever there was an argument for the ebook, this is it, I told my friends.

Still, I decided to read a few pages, more to look for faults than anything else. The first paragraph got me hooked.

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Opinion
Sharjah: three stories
December 01, 2011

iOS rules

The Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) professional programme on Tuesday, 15 November was revealing. The event was unusual enough, not to mention fascinating, for me. It was speed-dating on steroids: imagine a hundred and fifty publishing professionals from around the world, buyers and sellers, all confined to a room for six hours (generously watered and fed, no doubt), meeting, matching and making deals, many prearranged or match-made, but several spontaneous.

IQ84

This is one book I had decided I was not going to bother to read. The hype was enough to kill it for me. Then, when I saw the book (from afar) in Frankfurt, I said: there's no way I'm going to waste my time on that huge tome. Then it showed up in the shop, at Silverfish, just before my Sharjah trip. The weight of the book, its cheesy page-design and its oh-so-Japanese Mikado: the pop opera dust jacket (Harvill Secker edition), had me resting my head on my hands with a sigh.

Still, curiosity, go the better of me and I read the first few pages, if for no reason other than to criticise it. I got hooked.

The third-world trap

The professional programme was organise to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the SIBF. All countries want to have book fairs; all countries now have book fairs. Trading rights is the new thing. Sharjah's professional programme was ambitions. While the SIBF was not a humungous affair like Frankfurt, it was targeted and effective with, I suspect, a higher deal rate. Other countries caught in a third-world trap with a '˜can't do' mindset, could do worse than pay attention.

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