The Life Stories of Leading Southeast Asian Business People by Peter Church

 reviewed by Antonia P. Sani

This uplifting book provides hope and guidance for businessmen and women of all ages as well as for those about to embark on a business or professional career. It details face-to-face interviews the life stories of leading businessmen and women throughout the ten countries of South East Asia (ASEAN) and their own secrets of success.

This is not a book about wealth. Certainly, many of those interviewed are, or perhaps were, extremely wealthy. It is more about the lives of leading businessmen and women in South East Asia who have added value to their businesses or professions and, in many cases, to their nations. The book also focuses on their thoughts on success and its ingredients.

Many have been badly hurt by economic crisis but their life stories show that many have faced adversity before. Indeed, many started on their paths to success at earlier times of economic and political disarray and after the Great Depression, the Second World War and the fall of national leaders such as President Sukarno of Indonesia.

How the Forbes 400 Make--and Spend--Their Fortunes by Peter W. Bernstein, Annalyn Swan

 reviewed by Antonia P. Sani

What the super-rich and others have to say about money in these pages is sometimes enlightening, sometimes profound, often entertaining, and always revealing. Topics include wealth (“If you can actually count your money, then you are not really a rich man."—J. Paul Getty); investing (“Only buy something that you'd be perfectly happy to hold if the market shut down for ten years."—Warren Buffett); success (“The secret of success is to do common things uncommonly well."—John D. Rockefeller); and leadership (“The buck stops with the guy who signs the checks."—Rupert Murdoch). In addition are proverbs, quips, and other commentary on all aspects of having a fortune.

Advice and Reflections From and For the Real, Former, Almost, and Wanna-Be Super-Rich . . . and Others by Steven D. Price 

 reviewed by Antonia P. Sani

What the super-rich and others have to say about money in these pages is sometimes enlightening, sometimes profound, often entertaining, and always revealing. Topics include wealth (“If you can actually count your money, then you are not really a rich man."—J. Paul Getty); investing (“Only buy something that you'd be perfectly happy to hold if the market shut down for ten years."—Warren Buffett); success (“The secret of success is to do common things uncommonly well."—John D. Rockefeller); and leadership (“The buck stops with the guy who signs the checks."—Rupert Murdoch). In addition are proverbs, quips, and other commentary on all aspects of having a fortune.

 reviewed by Antonia P. Sani

The Very, Very Rich provides revealing insights into the intriguing world of big money, recounting the spectacular success stories of 15 men who made it to the very, very top. In 1972, Max Gunther invited readers to take a journey with him through a gallery of America's most prominent millionaires. The inhabitants framed here are by no means merely ordinary millionaires though, as the minimum qualifying standard to be considered for inclusion is ownership of assets valued at $100 million or more (the equivalent of $500 million today).This classic is now nearly 40 years old but its value endures, since the key steps on the route to wealth do not change with time. These secrets can be learned from, adapted and applied by anyone today.

Crazy Rich Asians Trilogy by Kevin Kwan

 reviewed by Antonia P. Sani

When Nicholas Young hears that his grandmother, Su Yi, is on her deathbed, he rushes to be by her bedside but he's not alone. The entire Shang-Young clan has convened from all corners of the globe to stake claim on their matriarch's massive fortune. With each family member vying to inherit Tyersall Park a trophy estate on 64 prime acres in the heart of Singapore Nicholas's childhood home turns into a hotbed of speculation and sabotage. As her relatives fight over heirlooms, Astrid Leong is at the center of her own storm, desperately in love with her old sweetheart Charlie Wu, but tormented by her ex-husband a man hell bent on destroying Astrid's reputation and relationship.

Meanwhile Kitty Pong, married to China's second richest man, billionaire Jack Bing, still feels second best next to her new step-daughter, famous fashionista Colette Bing. A sweeping novel that takes us from the elegantly appointed mansions of Manila to the secluded private islands in the Sulu Sea, from a kidnapping at Hong Kong's most elite private school to a surprise marriage proposal at an Indian palace, caught on camera by the telephoto lenses of paparazzi, Kevin Kwan's hilarious, gloriously wicked new novel reveals the long-buried secrets of Asia's most privileged families and their rich people problems.

There's Rich, There's Filthy Rich, and Then There's China Rich... by Kevin Kwan

 reviewed by Antonia P. Sani

It's the eve of Rachel Chu's wedding, and she should be over the moon. She has a flawless oval-cut diamond, a wedding dress she loves, and a fiancé willing to give up one of the biggest fortunes in Asia in order to marry her. Still, Rachel mourns the fact that her birth father, a man she never knew, won't be there to walk her down the aisle.

Then a chance accident reveals his identity. Suddenly, Rachel is drawn into a dizzying world of Shanghai splendor, a world where people attend church in a penthouse, where exotic cars race down the boulevard, and where people aren't just crazy rich... they're China rich.

Crazy Rich Asian Trilogy by Kevin Kwan

reviewed by Antonia P. Sani

Crazy Rich Asians is the outrageously funny debut novel about three super-rich, pedigreed Chinese families and the gossip, backbiting, and scheming that occurs when the heir to one of the most massive fortunes in Asia brings home his ABC (American-born Chinese) girlfriend to the wedding of the season.

When Rachel Chu agrees to spend the summer in Singapore with her boyfriend, Nicholas Young, she envisions a humble family home, long drives to explore the island, and quality time with the man she might one day marry. What she doesn't know is that Nick's family home happens to look like a palace, that she'll ride in more private planes than cars, and that with one of Asia's most eligible bachelors on her arm, Rachel might as well have a target on her back. Initiated into a world of dynastic splendor beyond imagination, Rachel meets Astrid, the It Girl of Singapore society; Eddie, whose family practically lives in the pages of the Hong Kong socialite magazines; and Eleanor, Nick's formidable mother, a woman who has very strong feelings about who her son should--and should not--marry. Uproarious, addictive, and filled with jaw-dropping opulence, Crazy Rich Asians is an insider's look at the Asian JetSet; a perfect depiction of the clash between old money and new money; between Overseas Chinese and Mainland Chinese; and a fabulous novel about what it means to be young, in love, and gloriously, crazilyrich.