RESEARCH

This skill is definitely one of the ten most important skills in my book. You don't have to go to school to learn this skill. And the emergence of internet makes it a much more interesting skill to learn.

There are tons and tons of books covering almost all subjects under the sun. You can't buy many of these books from your mainstream bookstores in your neighborhood.

To expose myself to many of these books is often the only way to see through the lies and propaganda put out by vested interests.

Why should you care about the veracity of what you read at schools and put out by the main stream media?

Because these communication channels often do not give you the true picture of what is really happening in the real world.

In order to have a better grasp of what is really happening around you, you need to expose yourself to as many different points of views as possible.

You need to learn to gain access to ideas and knowledge that are often difficult to find and denied to you.

Sometimes you have to pay for the information because they are not available in the libraries or bookstores. In the early 1990s, long before the days of internet, I paid a total of US$300 for 3 books (fewer than 300 pages in each book) to one United Kingdom publisher which sold through mail order.

The reason I bought those books from this UK publisher was I didn't know where else to get them in Australia, where I was living at the time.

Those books were definitely overpriced, but they covered subjects that I didn't know existed and I was interested in. I managed to learn something new from those books. I didn't feel too bad about being conned because, at the very least, I learned not to buy from them again. The best thing about those books was the Further Reading list at the end of the books.

The Further Reading list is one of my favorite parts inside a book.

Quite often, in addition to a list of books to read, the author will add comments about how useful some of the books in the list are. And sometimes some interesting book catalogs and product catalogs will be mentioned too.

I like reading book catalogs. Mind you, not book catalogs from main stream booksellers like Borders (USA).

I prefer reading book catalogs and product catalogs that sells books covering subjects that I didn't even know existed.

Information is power. Information is money. Need I say more?

SOME TIPS ON DOING RESEARCH

Many years ago I started learning about research by memorizing the required information about a book: title, author, publisher, place of publication, year of publication, and edition number.

In looking for books that are in existence and current, I use Books In Print, First Search (in WorldCat), and websites with book reviews such as www.amazon.com.

None of these directories are comprehensive on their own. But together they cover an impressive number of books that have been published or shall be published.

You might need to be a library member in order to use Books In Print and First Search (in WorldCat),

Books In Print is a directory of books. It lists the prices and the latest editions and other information of most of the books published in USA.

First Search (in WorldCat) is a database that shows the stock of many libraries around the world. This database does not show every library in the world. But in USA, it serves my needs. Whenever I cannot find a book in my local library in USA, I can request most of the books I want, through an inter library loan request, from other USA and Canadian libraries.

And websites such as www.amazon.com and www.epinions.com often has many readers writing in and giving their views about many of the books that have been published.

Before I spend my precious time getting hold of and reading any book, I try to get a feel of how good the book is by reading the readers' comments, particularly those negative comments, about the book in www.amazon.com and www.epinions.com.

You have to take these comments with a grain of salt. What is to stop a malicious person from giving unfair comments about the book? What is to stop an author from giving false positive comments about his own book?

Take all the comments as a whole and, paying particular attention to the negative comments, decide whether the book is probably the best book on the subject and worth your precious time reading.

Is there a better book on the same subject? Click on the subject links and other titles mentioned on the same webpage, and Books In Print, and First Search (in WorldCat).

Another hobby of mine is go to a library or bookshop and look for interesting books on the shelves covering the subjects I am interested in. I have found many interesting books using this method.