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Just finished these 2:

"The Son Also Rises" by Gregory Clark. No it's not a cheap imitation of Hemingway's. It's a book written by Economic Historian Gregory Clark. His main argument is that socioeconomic mobility is much slower than expected. He uses a new method to analyze this. Specifically he uses surname analysis. Which has the advantage being able to reach back further in time. Current method only able to reach back 3-4 generations. With surnames you could trace 10-15 generations or more.

Clark found out that socioeconomic mobility is indeed very slow and largely immune to government social policy. Surnames which were elite 10-15 generations ago are still elite today although less elite than in the past. So there is indeed social mobility downward but it is slow.

Clark uses the surname analysis method for England, Sweden, India, Japan, and China. For China he has to use rare surnames only. So this means his findings is correct across all cultures, not just Western cultures.

How do we increase the rate of socioeconomic mobility? Clark said only 1 thing seem to work: exogamous marriage (marriage between SES class). Unfortunately some society discourage this practice and prefer endogamous marriage instead. He gave example India as a society which practice endogamous marriage. As a consequence he said "India is a uniquely immobile society". He doesn't see India changing anytime soon. Based on data he collected from Indian matrimonial website Brahmin still prefers to date other Brahmin. In short SES mobility is low everywhere but India's is extremely low/non-existent.

That brings me to my own observation. The Chinese-Indonesians form an economic elite. Most of the time they only marry their own (ie. endogamous marriage). This is primarily because of religion. Based on Clark's theory I predict they will remain economic elite. This one is my own prediction not Clark's

However Clark did mention similar situation as the Chinese-Indonesian which happens in Egypt among their Coptic Christian minority. The Coptic Christian is better educated and have higher income than the rest of Egypt. Clark suspect this happens because of jizya tax (ie extra tax that non-muslim must pay). Jizya tax means most of the convert to Islam were lower class families. Upper class families remain Christian. Egypt was strongly Christian before the Arab invasion. After they converted lower class Muslim families no longer intermarry with upper class Christian families. Hence the muslim stopped rising in SES. Nowadays Egypt no longer have Jizya tax BUT their religion still forbids intermarriage so the SES status of the Coptic is fossilized at the upper level.

One last thing and maybe most controversial. Clark said the mechanism with which social status is passed down from parents to offspring is suspicicously similar to genetic mechanism. Hence that's why he recommends the only sure fire way to make sure your descendants are successful is to marry successful person from successful families. So not only your spouse must be successful his/her family must also be successful. If your spouse is successful BUT her family is not then most likely she is a one-off success. But if her family is also successful then that's how you know that she comes from a long line of successful people and most likely to produce successful offspring.

All in all Clark's book remind me of Javanese saying "Bibit, Bebet, Bobot". "Bibit" means your spouse must be bibit unggul (ie comes from successful family). "Bobot" means your spouse must be successful on her own. I don't know what Bebet means. This shows once again that we still have a lot to learn from tradtiional wisdom.

• The Straight Dope on Bahasa Indonesia While this isn't a formal treatment and some parts are outdated, I found this really useful when first learning Bahasa. The section titled "The twenty questions" actually became the most valuable part of the document. Almost every single time I met a new person, I would get asked these questions.
  
• Northern Illinois University has a good number of resources including Indonesian in 7 Days and an Overview of Indonesian Grammar and Morphology. These should help you get an idea of Indonesian's use of prefixes, suffixes, and affixes.
  
• While there are a lot of Indonesian phrase books, I found Instant Indonesian to be particularly helpful in the early stages. The examples are organized in a manner that helped me rapidly generalize about the language and expand beyond just the basic phrases. Think of this as a collection of templates to start your education.
  
• While Tuttle's Concise Indonesian Dictionary is not very comprehensive, I carried it in my backpack almost every day during my first few months in Indonesia.
  
• The English to Indonesian and Indonesian to English dictionaries by Echols and Shadily are the definitive dictionaries, but they can be a bit pricey outside of Indonesia. Inside any Gramedia in Indonesia you can get each one for around 15-20$US.
  
• The best online dictionary I've found is Sederet especially now that KEBI (Kamus Besar Indonesia) seems to be down.
  
• Wikibooks also has a pretty good introduction with links to other resources
  
• Lastly the collection of books by John Wolff are a bit dry, but they are also the most in depth for really learning the details of the language.
  
  Good luck learning bahasa. It's a fun, accessible language, and knowing just a little bit will really go a long way towards bringing yourself closer to the people of Indonesia.

You're being cryptic so I can't be sure what this is about, but I'm going to be a somewhat bold and recommend a book, Lost in the Cosmos. Walker Percy, the author, calls it somewhat facetiously the "last self-help book" since it lampoons much of the work that self-help books try (and hilariously fail) to do. The essential premise is that one persistent feature of the modern world is alienation and isolation. He takes that premise and runs with it, questioning all the ways modern humans strive to cast away that persistent pressure upon our shoulders. Percy doesn't so much offer answers (how could he, as he doesn't know himself in the same way we don't know ourselves?), but he does offer some fascinating questions to chew on and ways to think that have honestly changed the way I view life.

If you're interested, the Amazon page I linked should allow you to read through the first 10 pages or so, Percy's 6-question quiz that tries to get the reader to think about why it is that we can know so much about so many things, and yet know so little about our own selves.

And what's honestly amazing is that he wrote this 30 years ago, and we know dwarf his ability to have access to information in any variety about any subject, but we still know very little about ourselves.

Now as a disclaimer, the author is Catholic, but spends very little time making any effort at pushing his particular religious inclinations on the reader. Those times when he does talk about his faith, it's easy to read it as an expression of his own journey and not sweat it. It's clear that Percy himself has a troubled relationship even with his own religion, which doesn't have all the answers for why human beings are so lost. My point is that this is not a book focused on conversion at all, and I think it could be more than useful no matter your religious affiliations.

Currently reading Lord of Flies, 1954 and Don Quixote, 1605.

I already have had interest on literature, philosophy and books in general since... since I can remember. :/ But it was Oom Pram's Buru Tetralogie that made me fall deeper in love with books and classic literature in general.

Then, when I have started living abroad to study, I have developed big interests on classic world literature (Heck I even just learned Latin to understand about the 1500 years span of human literatures and maybe to read them myself when I have the sufficient skills to do so. Afterall, one of my personal reasons to learn language is to read the literature on its original language, because nothing match the beauty and uniqueness of one language that may 'lost' in translation).

As a poor student with tight budget and little spare time, I tried to buy second-hand books and read it time to time, like during the commuting time to class, etc.

I know, my finished read-list is not that great. Since the last months I have just finished reading George Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm,,also Chris Hadfield's An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth.

My to-read-list has been reached to dozens and dozens of great titles. I try to fulfill it little by little like a small child.

I don't quite know about classic literature club or anything like that. I do realize that my interests are mostly unmainstream and heavy for my age. Thus I mostly enjoy them myself and I am quite content and happy with it. But if you want someone to discuss or talk, I can offer you a chance to geek-ly talk about that. Just drop a PM on me if you're interested and maybe we can exchange our contacts and do some 'book exchange' within each other.

P. S. Oscar Wilde's Picture of Dorian Grey is also on my to-read-list. Honestly I'm quite surprised to know that there is someone who also read literature from that time.

Mate! I'm a huge jon stewart fan! Glad that you appreciate satire as I do. Here's my thought about satire in indo: I'm not going to jump into conclusion that it's not possible to do satire in Indonesia. In fact there are so many satirists in indo, unfortunately just like any other art form, it's barely unnoticed.

Here's an example, Ryo Kusumo's letter is one of the best satirical piece written in recent years. It's clever. Well written. Deadpan, amusing but in a serious manner. The response to this piece is an entertainment on its own. A range of negative criticism and hilarity. Scrolling through the comment section is a time worth spending. Most people get the intention but those who don't, and they try to elaborate their understanding about the letter. Priceless.

Mate, I'm sure indonesians are open to satire. The challenge is that there are this overwhelming amount of bullshit artists whom make outrageous statements and bullshit promises, ran for public office, got elected, use their power and influence to make bullshit policies. They are so far up their own ass, it makes them so sensitive to any kind of criticism. To their credit they are extremely good for being a bullshit artist. Oh, and don't let me start with how media play its role with their brouhaha. To be fair thou, it is hard being journos in this day and age.

That's why satire is really important in today's political climate, especially if the intention and purpose is to raise an awareness for not only young people, but all the public in general to be more engage and have reasonable conversations about politics. For sure, satire is not a solution to the big problem, but it is like taking cocaine to cure gonorrhoea. I know it's not only stupid, alas, I will get into a lot trouble because of it, and most importantly: it's not going to cure my gonorrhoea! but hey! at least I can have a laugh at my stupidity, not taking myself too seriously, and aware of my ignorant so I could start to understand and question what the main problem is.


PS: if you love the daily show with jon stewart/trevor noah, john oliver, stephen colbert, samantha bee, bassam youssef, I couldn't recommend you enough to read this book. It's such a great insight into what goes behind the scene and its writing process, which is, seriously, the heart of the show. The Daily Show is well-known for its talented writers.They won a lot of Emmy for best writing during Stewart era. I could talk for hours about that show. Also, there is this Malcolm Gladwell piece about satire. I hope you enjoy it.

TLDR: Yes, it is possible to make a political satire in Indo. And if there is any satirist from indo, instead of criticising their work and telling them that it's impossible and scare them with the status-quo, why not starting to appreciate and trying to understand their intentions. Because, you know, at least they try to do something and speak up about their concerns.

I have the old nexus 7. Still going strong although i fried it once. Literally fried it under the hot sun. I went out for a padi field, left my nexus 7 on the dash board of the company car. came back after4 hours, couldn't turn it on. LOL. Lied my way to get a free RMA and a Brand new nexus....

I am still rocking a Gumdrop case for my nexus and it works very very well. My toddler son often throws my nexus and layeth the smackdown on it and yet nothing happened. It is water splash proof so it works well for viewing hearthstone videos while taking a shower. I even dropped it more than i can remember from 1 metre, waist high and it is still going strong.

I like the rubber texture back where you can easily grip it. It does become very thick though and adds weight to it. so you might want to think about that. It is cheaper than the otterbox.

Also, are you in the market for a tablet? Lg has a good 8 inch one. I love android and has researched and tried making my own apps so yeah. i love to discuss android.

Ha Joon Chang, a Korean economist does an excellent book about this.

All those myths about how free market capitalism is the greatest is fucking bullshit.

https://www.amazon.com/Kicking-Away-Ladder-Development-Perspective/dp/1843310279

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003Z9L4NA/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i1

IMF and the World Bank have essentially become enforcers of the current capitalist regime and basically shame countries who try to adopt self-sufficient policies that can be better for them in the long-run.

1 excellent example he gave in the books is the steel & shipbuilding industry in Korea. 50 years ago the free market wouldn't have thought of investing in them as Korea was a poor country with no resources with super risky projects. The government took the matter into their own hands and it laid the groundwork for the economic miracle that they experienced.

Countries going into debt to invest in their long-term capabilities really made sense to me, just like how you pay for your college & post-graduate fees to better your human capital. If countries always spend within their means, huge infrastructure projects will never get off the ground.

Likewise, if Indonesia's government do not invest in long-term profitable projects, we will never really become developed. The main driver of the economy will be the private market that really don't give a fuck about infrastructure and the likes if it doesn't benefit them (e.g. RGE in Riau having their own ports and electric generators for their paper mills, Lippo having their malls/hospitals/housing relatively well-connected to each other).

One can make an argument that if the government incur debts and use it inefficiently they may well make the economy worse off, but as long as the money stays within the country, it's better than not doing it at all. The book mentions the example of Suharto vs Mobutu Sese Seko who remitted most of the money to Swiss.

But I agree, Indonesia should invest more in projects like this. Debts aren't always bad. Gimana beli rumah kalo ga ada KPR? Gimana mulai bisnis kalo ga ada pinjeman bank?

> Yes, but according to Clark families could escape this Poverty Trap by having their children marrying up.

Muhammad is the perfect example for this. He married Siti Khadijah who was already very rich and well known in Quraysh tribe. I do agree that this thing could happen, but the chance is slim nowadays. In Indonesia, can we classify the phenomenon of Indonesian girls marry bule as an effort to escape Poverty Trap? Since yeah, Chinese rarely want to marry pribumi if not prohibited by the family. Worst thing happens to the lowest caste of Indian (Dalit), they are the untouchable. Every time I read news about them, my heart breaks and I can hear its cracking sound.

> I haven't read any of his book. What do you recommend?

Free Will:
http://www.amazon.com/Free-Will-Sam-Harris/dp/1451683405

Not a comic strip, but I loved this graphic series novel I read as a kid.
The Color of Earth trilogy by Dong Hwa Kim, about the coming of age of a young Korean girl in an older time (not sure when it's set exactly). Lovely story with great graphics.

This book came out in the 1990s by a Japanese author who studied in the USA (Takashi Shiraishi): An Age in Motion. It's about 1910s-1926 or so, centered on Surakarta. It really had quite an impact on the way Indonesian history is viewed (avoiding both the nationalist Indonesian and colonialist schools of thought). I'd recommend it, not only was it groundbreaking but it's an entertaining read if you are interested in politics.

In terms of other books I have read lately... I found this one quite groundbreaking: Indonesian Muslim Intelligentsia and Power by Yudi Latif (viewable on Google Books here. It's not as focused on one time or place but has really interesting ideas about societal formation and intellectuals that makes older books on nationalism seem even out of date. Worth a try if that sounds interesting to you.

Some web recommended by Expats:

• http://www.lang-8.com/
  
• http://livemocha.com/
  
• http://bahasakita.com/
  
  Some books I get on the web:
  http://bayfiles.net/file/PnJj/VE2iTm/RogerNight.rar
  
  Recommendation from my friend. This books also come with 2 audio CD, so you can learn pronunciation:
  > http://filepost.com/files/5mf4d472/T.Y.Co.Ind.part1.rar
  > http://filepost.com/files/c64dm6mm/T.Y.Co.Ind.part2.rar
  > http://filepost.com/files/1bb5d64e/T.Y.Co.Ind.part3.rar
  > http://filepost.com/files/7747dffa/T.Y.Co.Ind.part4.rar
  > http://filepost.com/files/c3dmcm77/T.Y.Co.Ind.part5.rar
  
  Also to learn slang. We use slang on our daily life. Formal language only used inside educational in formal occasion, governmental occasion, and office area in formal occasion. So yeah, I highly recommend this book. If you don't want to buy it, I've provided one in the rar files. In my book the following words didn't exist in our conversation:
  
• Curigation
  
• Gacoan (Only used by native Jakarta or old people)
  
• Gradakan (Only used by native Jakarta or old people)
  
• Kejora (old slang, now we use IjoLumut, stands for "Ikatan jomblo Lucu dan Imut." English: association of cute and funny singles. We also have Jojoba, stands for "jomblo-jomblo bahagia." English: happy singles
  
• Sephia (this is 90's slang)
  
  If there's anything I could help, just ask okay?

I know his background and I also know some of the allegations, cases, etc. I don't want to get embroiled in either trying to refute the allegations or researching more now...

But I just want to point you to this book; I've read it (just download it here) and it told me how the richest people in the world became rich (no, it's not a self-motivation book. Those books are worthless. The writer is an economist and a PhD holder) through various means that are less than... pure. The ways that Sandi got his riches were almost certainly not through that straight of a path. Still, I've met him personally a few times, I've talked with people close to him and one of them is my close friend, so suffice to say that I believe that he has integrity, at least in term of making Jakarta better and in the term of being a good, competent public servant.

>If you could learn any Bahasa Daerah, what would it be and why? I'm learning Kawi for the poetry.

I'm part Javanese and I went to Yogya for university, so I speak and understand some Javanese. Enough to get by. Learning proper Javanese for understanding Wayang and classical poetry would be cool, but it's too tough for me. I'd focus on my Mandarin instead.

​

>What's are your favorite books, fic/non-fic on Indonesia in Indonesian/English/Spanish. I love Indonesian history, but moved to the U.S. before SMA, so everything since then has only been self study.

To start, I'd recommend Nusantara by Vlekke. It's not perfect, it's not complete, but it's a good start. Afterwards, perhaps you could read Indonesia, Etc. by Elisabeth Pisani to know modern-day Indonesia.

If you want to get historical, read The Indianised States of Southeast Asia by Coedes and A History of Java by Raffles. Those are very academic, so be warned.

​

>If YOU had carte blanche to write the most interesting book ever on Indonesian history, what's the title/subject and why?

I'd write about the pre-Islamic period and the interaction between the Indonesian kingdoms with the rest of Asian countries such as China and India. I feel like nobody knows much about this crucial period. Heck, we even had Majapahit ambassadors go to Japan and Korea ffs, yet nobody knows this.

​

>Can we be buddies? I'm on twitter and instagram and stuff.

Only on reddit. I want to remain anonymous.

Harusnya ada, tapi susah juga cari HEPA filter ukuran gede yang harganya ngga lebay.

Kalau sampai ada yang ketemu di mana bisa beli HEPA filter ukuran 20x20" yang murah kaya gini, please bagi-bagi info :')

I think you're right and wrong at the same time about how difficult it is to learn Indonesian.

The American 'FOREIGN SERVICE INSTITUTE' lists Indonesian as harder to learn than most of the major European languages: https://www.state.gov/foreign-language-training/

However, this is only true if you're learning formal, correct Indonesian. IMHO, it's probably the easiest language in the world to learn for practical, everyday use.

Here's the steps I took to learn practical, everyday, Indonesian.

1. Forget learning grammar. If you really do achieve fluency for practical Indonesian, you can always learn it later.
   
   
2. Listen to audio lessons in the shower everyday: https://www.learningindonesian.com/
   
   
3. Learn the most useful 100 words: https://www.amazon.com/Instant-Indonesian-express-different-Phrasebook/dp/0804833710
   
   That's it!
   
   Well . . . not really, but you need to be honest with yourself about the likelihood of remembering words and concepts you have no practical use for.
   
   The only reason I was able to retain what I learned was because I live in Indonesia and really NEED to know the language to get by.