In the middle of reading and applying the techniques. Tony Buzan gets a little technical about all the whys and wherefores of memory, but many of the ideas are useful and I thoroughly recommend that this book be read in conjunction with or before/after doing Ron White’s Memory In A Month.

Like many of the Booker Award winners, there is great detail in the characters and the story, so you need to take the time to absorb it.

I really got into this one as I found the characters to be almost larger than life. They were so genuine, with clear and varied thoughts and feelings.

As offered openly by the author this is a lengthy series of interviews of Aung San Suu Kyi with no particular structure. It is not a biography.

The position and approach she makes to politics and the completely non-aggressive stance of her political party in a country ruled by the military is astonishing.

For the way the book is presented however, it is disappointing. The author constantly tries to pry plans, deep spirited meaning, greater visions out of Aung and she constantly deflects his enquiries offering nothing about her personal (family) life, no deep insights to her beliefs, and refuses to criticise the ruling party (which is part of her philosophy so I am not criticising her position on this).

As I have already noted this is fascinating, it becomes monotonous after a while, and the author gets self-righteous at times trying to promote discussion by promoting his own philosophies and learnings in buddhism.

Worthwhile reading to gain a completely different view on life, but something I’ll put aside for now and get back to another time.

I absolutely loved the movie (saw it first), which was a surprise to me as before that I was almost a complete sci-fi person.

The book however is very different from the movie. Like many of the Booker Award winners, there is great depth to the characters and you need to take the time to get to know them and understand them to appreciate the story.