The Bookshop Guru: 2012

Tuesday, 18 December 2012

Love, Money, and Luck ~~ What more do you want? A free lunch as well.

The Bookshop Guru

“Help others achieve their dreams and you will achieve yours,” by Les Brown

Please, before you read this book don’t judge if you don’t know me. Maybe when you have read this book you may want to criticise what I have written. Even then I don’t think you will fully understand, because I don’t even understand myself sometimes. Because I live with bipolar disorder a chronic condition that apparently affects over 1% of the population. It’s a condition that has plagued me with a black cloud of depression most of my life, I believe.

My story will take you from the streets of America as a young boy to a discovery in the jungle of India to an enlightenment and maturity of the present day in England.

It’s a truthful account about my experience combined with a street philosophy as a way of looking at life with open eyes. Some of the stories I shall tell may shock or question your belief but try to keep an open mind. We all have that survival instinct so let your mind free and become a survivor.

As we travel through my life looking at fate, luck, love, money and many more interesting subjects you will find the philosophy that should be helpful in your life. Out of every negative comes some positives; its natures balance. Be careful what you wish for though, because as you will see dreams do come true. I will show you how poor decisions can have lasting effects and how mistakes we make sometimes show us the path we must lead. I wish I didn’t make so many mistakes but then the saying goes “it is said that only a fool learns from his own mistakes, a wise man from the mistakes of others, “an anonymous quote. Now, don’t go jumping of a bridge, though, that’s not a bad idea, only joking.

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LOVE, MONEY, and LUCK this is my story.
What more do you want? A free lunch as well.

To me it seems that we all strive constantly for more each day, whether that’s more material wealth or just a better understanding of who we are and why we are here. Yet, when we depart this world we leave with nothing of earthly value.

The only real worth is the love we have encountered in our life. This book is about love and finding who we really are. The kind of philosophy and experience I have learnt will possibly help you in your life, I sincerely hope so.

How I came to write this book is some ways is the result of being hospitalised. No. Not because I was writing a book that happened later. I mean the computer didn’t blow up and put me in hospital, although at times I have felt like chucking my laptop straight out the window. I have less patience now with computers than a dog on heat.

You can call me Tony, so let the story begin...

Are you listening, what are you dreaming?

As Jesus said, “belief is everything.”

In my latest book “It’s Never Too Late” read how dreams do come true, but be careful what you wish for. Understand the secret of greed and you will attain one of the secrets of prosperity. The book will also take you on a journey and explores love, money, luck, and much more.

Click Here

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P.S. Tomorrow Never Comes

Hey, Chuck. Did you bring any spending money? Viva la vida loca.

Conducting Survey into Precognitive Choices

Which would you prefer half-price digital or paperback?

Never late, but sorry.

Read my latest book "It's Never Too Late" by Anthony Fox, published by Chipmunka Publishing

Sunday, 25 November 2012

Dead of Night - A Poem

The Bookshop Guru

Below is a poem I wrote some time ago which often reflects our time.

Dead of Night

Cruel acts of night pass by,

Families scatter.

Never to unite their blood spilled to mix in muddy pools.

A whistle in the wind,

Terror rules.

Unnatural times, an asylum of some.

Who torture with revenge without guilt.

Then in a passing second another life is lost.

Not counted just a casualty of chaos.

Time to stop this madness.

Before we ask where next.

A boy with a bullet screams out a killer in the dead of night.

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In my book “It’s Never Too Late” read how dreams do come true, but be careful what you wish for. Understand the secret of greed and you will attain one of the secrets of prosperity. The book will also take you on a journey and explores love, money, luck, and much more.

Click Here

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P.S. Tomorrow Never Comes

Hey, Chuck. Did you bring any spending money? Viva la vida loca.

Conducting a Survey into Precognitive Choices

Which would you prefer half-price digital or paperback?

Never late, but sorry.

Read my book "It's Never Too Late" by Anthony Fox, published by Chipmunka Publishing

Sunday, 4 November 2012

Adding Alpha - Do Computers Have the Edge?

The Bookshop Guru

Making money trading in stocks, shares, commodities, and currencies for the investment banks and institutions in today’s cyberspace currently relies heavily on ‘algo-trading’. Algo-trading is a term used to describe the algorithmic software which is used to gain that alpha edge against an increasingly frenetic trading market where milliseconds can mean millions in buy and sell decisions in veiled trading markets.

There are a host of different strategies deployed in ‘algo-trading’ to achieve that elusive alpha edge. Some algorithms are designed to slice and dice trades into smaller multiple trades in the hope that another algo system doesn't spot the pattern and alert the opposition and lose the potentially profitable edge. Pattern spotting software of all shades and colors is deployed to gain the alpha edge and crunch huge amounts of data waiting for the triggers to buy or sell.

The inherent problem with algorithms whether their based on neural networks, genetic algorithms, knowledge discovery systems, or any other type of pattern recognition software is the paradox in automated pattern discovery systems in extracting random data sets and the association of interestingness as a measure of the usefulness of the data patterns revealed, because there is no prior knowledge of the likely interesting data associations to be found before automation. “If you do not expect it, you will not find the unexpected, for it is hard to find and difficult.” (Padmanabhan & Tuzhilin, 1999)

The essence of this is that it is easy, to spot a pattern, because it is already there – so designing algorithms to look for certain criteria and predicting a pattern would be more profitable. The use of artificial intelligence is still in its infancy relative to how much we really understand the capacity of the human brain. We only use about 10% of our brain capacity, and the rest is mostly conjecture and theories. The human brain has billions of neuron connections, yet even the most advanced neural networks only use a handful of connections and they are used in a wide range of applications such as stock market analysis and recognizing trends, cancer screening classification, etc.

It’s not about computer power like the SETI project where spare computer processing power cycles are combined from around the world, to number crunch and analyze segments of the night sky. The problem is that artificial intelligence is based essentially on learning, and adapting to the data sets, while at the same time, using classification to modify its process – but, it’s not forward-thinking, it doesn't need more computer processing power or memory, it lacks perception – the ability we humans call intuition.

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Some of the most successful sage investors (like - Warren Buffet) have built fortunes based largely on simple investment strategies, over the long term. Short-term fluctuations, and gambling on the outcome, is the global daily routine of investment institutions and banks, and how they make their money, but, the paradox is that when one is making money, the other is not. It remains to be seen if real transparency exists in these trades or is hidden within veiled accountancy practices. We have seen the outcome of greed, in cases like Enron and Barings Bank – when the light is switched on all is revealed. Don't get mistaken, computers and software systems are vital for a multitude of social and economic purposes, but they don’t have the alpha edge, in my opinion.

The human mind will always be more powerful than any computer because it has that hidden element of perception. An example of this would be George Soros who made a mint in the 1990s. Is anyone for polo?

Are you listening, what are you dreaming?

Click Here

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P.S. Tomorrow Never Comes

Hey, Chuck. Did you bring any spending money? Viva la vida loca.

Conducting a Survey into Precognitive Choices

Which would you prefer half-price digital or paperback?

Never late, but sorry.

Read my book "It's Never Too Late" by Anthony Fox, published by Chipmunka Publishing

Friday, 26 October 2012

Bird Flu - The Next Plague

The Bookshop Guru

Book Review: Everything You Need To Know About Bird Flu & What You Can Do To Prepare For It by Jo Revill

I thought this book I recently discovered at my local thrift shop would make an interesting book review, partly because it is a serious book about the potential threat from bird flu and the affects it will have should a pandemic human influenza occur in the near future and also because I like to review obscure interesting books rather than the common novels that everyone and their granny's review.

This book by Jo Revill is easy to read and appreciate the implications that would come from a pandemic caused by the jump of the virus which is endemic in wild birds and as yet to mutate into a form that would create panic among the world because of how lethal the strain of bird flu can be to humans.

Bird flu or avian flu is a virus that is common among wild birds that migrate from country to country around the world. The problem from what I have read is that many of these species of wild birds are asymptomatic and they can carry the virus without showing any signs of symptoms associated with bird flu, which tends to make the problem more obtuse and difficult to track. Clearly if many birds are suddenly dying it is easy to first spot these birds and they can be tested for bird flu, but there is the problem as some do not as previously mentioned.

The strain H5N1 which was first recognised as a lethal form of bird flu in the years leading up to 2005 when the world woke up to the potential threat because of how the virus could potentially mutate to a human form of influenza. The problem with any preventative measures such as a vaccine are complicated by the fact that any vaccine could take up to 4 – 6 month to produce, because the exact genetic makeup of the subtype of the strain of virus will not be prior known before a pandemic is identified. The preceding months any available vaccines may offer little or no resistance against the new mutated strain (subtype) of the virus. The current consensus is that vaccines based on the previous virus subtype H5N1 may offer some protection but this all depends on how the proteins used by the virus to attach itself to the cells of the organism it has infected namely us.

The current response by various governments around the world has been to stock up with either Tamiflu or Relenza or both in case of a pandemic affecting their populations. The problem with this is both one of not enough vaccines for everyone and if the vaccines will actually work against a new strain, as these viruses naturally mutate very fast and so it would be lucky if the old vaccines worked as a preventative or a treatment measure. It may be like sticking a plaster on a bullet wound.

The major problem with a virus which is airborne is how easily it can spread and attach itself to soft and hard surfaces such as clothes, keyboards, door handles, uncooked food etc. The virus is then easily absorbed into our bodies through wiping our eyes or mouth with our infected hands because the virus can live on surfaces for many hours. Once into our respiratory tract it attacks our white blood cells and causes our immune system to react, but because of our immune system does not have the antigens from a previous infection the immune system goes into overdrive and destroys itself eventually. This usually takes about 2-3 days and long enough for the host to spread the virus, which why a virus is so successful as a biological weapon or an invisible terrorist, it eventually kills the host , but only after a few days and time enough to replicate and spread itself.

The book explains what bird flu is and how it works, and also why the strain H5N1 could be so lethal to humans if the virus mutates enough to cause a human to human pandemic influenza. The book offers practical advice, and endeavours to explain the semantics of why H5N1 is so potentially dangerous to mankind.

The book quotes from leading authorities both on the medical and economic implications a human influenza pandemic would cause. There is a suggestion that 2% of the world economy would be lost and countless millions of deaths dependent on how lethal the virus was. I often think many people and including experts, often underestimate and are over optimistic when it comes to making predictions. There is a saying we are only 3 days away from chaos at any one time and it does not take many unrelated events for there to be a complete breakdown of civilisation.

Are you listening, what are you dreaming?

As Jesus said, “belief is everything.”

Click Here

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P.S. Tomorrow Never Comes

Hey, Chuck. Did you bring any spending money? Viva la vida loca.

Conducting Survey into Precognitive Choices

Which would you prefer half-price digital or paperback?

Never late, but sorry.

Read my latest book "It's Never Too Late" by Anthony Fox, published by Chipmunka Publishing

Saturday, 6 October 2012

The Way of Life – Lao Tzu

The Bookshop Guru

Book Review “The Way of Life – Lao Tzu” by R.B. Blakney

Sometimes it is better to listen and learn than to speak. I found this book in a thrift shop in America on a recent holiday and I believe is still available in print. I have chosen to write a review because the book teaches us how we should live according to the “WAY” defined by Lao Tzu and called “ Tao Te`Ching,” which means “ The Book of the Way and Its Virtue.”

The Tao is often referred to as “The Way” an ancient way of life and philosophy. The Tao or Dao comes from China and has been kept alive by the followers of this philosophy over the many years since it was first recorded by word of mouth, and later written down for future generations.

There are 81 poems translated and below is one which I hope reflects “The Way” as Lao Tzu may have intended to encompass the meaning of the “WAY” and I hope you will see the meaning as I do.

To take all you want

Is never as good

As to stop when you should.

Scheme and be sharp

And you’ll not keep it long.

One never can guard

His home when it’s full

Of jade and fine gold:

Wealth, power, and pride

Bequeath their own doom.

When fame and success

Come to you, then retire.

This is the ordained Way.

Pg61 No 9 poem “The Way of Life – Lao Tzu” by R.B. Blakney

The book is rich in its translation of the original Tao Te Ching and gives the reader plenty of opportunity to grasp what was originally said by Lao Tzu. I found the book easy to read and more importantly, enjoyed reading the poems which are the essence of the writings and philosophy of Taoism. You may want to call it a religion or a doctrine, but I much prefer to listen and read the poems and from there apply what is said to today’s way of life.

Taoism is second only to the philosophy of Confucianism which is also a way to live in harmony with oneself and the world around you. I understand Confucianism as a form of wisdom and Taoism as a means of living with nature, not against it. The two distinct philosophies as opposed to religions are a means to know oneself and to follow a way of life and not a doctrine which is what religion dictates. Christ does not mention religion because it has no basis in fact or truth, and the truth never lies. And religion is man-made and God does not need doctrine and “ Jesus saith unto him, I am the way… .”

Whatever you want to believe this book will open your eyes if you can listen to the words of the poems as the “Way” is a means of finding our journey through life where we seek to find happiness, wealth, and long life. The Tao Te Ching is fundamentally a kind of sanctuary by submitting to its proposal the so-called “Way” you will find its virtue will set you free.

As Matthew said, “Many are called, but few are chosen.” (Matthew 22:14)

To paraphrase from the book – a student may increase his knowledge daily, but the “Way” is not like that. The "Way” will teach you to forgo selfish impulses or desires until your will is undistracted and at rest with the “Way.”

Are you listening, what are you dreaming?

As Jesus said, “Belief is everything.”

Click Here

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P.S. Tomorrow Never Comes

Hey, Chuck. Did you bring any spending money? Viva la vida loca.

Conducting a Survey into Precognitive Choices

Which would you prefer half-price digital or paperback?

Never late, but sorry.

Read my book "It's Never Too Late" by Anthony Fox, published by Chipmunka Publishing

Monday, 27 August 2012

The Bookshop Guru: Tomorrow Never Comes

The Bookshop Guru: Tomorrow Never Comes: The Booshop Guru Tomorrow Never Comes Tomorrow , I will tell you about another story. Today is a new day, and we want to make some ...

Never Late, But Sorry.....Click Here

Tuesday, 24 July 2012

Kamikaze Holiday in Thailand. Tony Blue Scores Again?

The Bookshop Guru

I recently had an amazing and exciting holiday in the land of the smile, and that is Thailand. I started my holiday in Bangkok and spent half my time there before moving down south to the coast.

In Bangkok I soon realized that being stuck in a taxi car at the traffic lights which seemed forever, and I could almost write a dissertation it takes to move forward at certain times of the day and night.

They say the traffic is bad in London, but try it in Bangkok. I decided in the end to go what I called “ Kamikaze’ that is ride pillion on a motor bike taxi which is a lot faster if not exciting because these guys and girls get you there by going through any gap between cars, trucks and buses and you name it they did it. But I would advise it’s not for the faint hearted or anyone with a weak ticker. Of course being single and a dog without a lead I sampled fully the night life.

Boy Oh Boy, what a life – I would say try it before you criticize it. I know I’ve had more pussy then Rooney even before I got to Bangkok and that’s official and the Truth Never Lies. And that was just the icing on the cake. One thing I would say about Thailand is its people love to work and that means everyone from taxi drivers, sales assistants, bar girls and the whole working force. This love of working is not the same in England where people come from Europe and sponge on our welfare system just because they can, and we can’t afford it because we are bankrupt as a country, but they still come and open their big mouths.

The places to go in Bangkok are numerous and you can get good food from the street vendors who are always pleasant and not so in England where most of the time they are racist and don’t know what customer service means.

Soi Cowboy was a place I found by accident and it turned out to be a paradise of love for a single guy who is more of a dog on heat and has less patience than most dogs on heat. The rest of the holiday I spent in Pattaya on the coast. Where purely by chance the first night I found myself in a Go – Go bar. I won’t tell you where - that’s a secret a secret I will keep to myself. But I will give you a clue it’s a street (soi) off the most famous street in Thailand called “ Walking Street’ In this street I found a GO –Go Bar which as I say I found purely by chance and I had to bypass many other go-go bars to get to it. It was especially worth it because I am a dog as I said before without a lead and I like it that way a stray.

The 2nd part of the Kamikaze holiday in Thailand I spent in what I would describe for a single guy is paradise. Anyhow I went into the Go- GO Bar and if I said it was like paradise well it was for a dog like me. I had three girls on my right and three girls on my left. Some girls were naked and some had no knickers on and others had not much else on either, OBTW I had also one on each knee and the girl I had fallen for was on the GO- GO bar dancing with clothes on. So you can guess what I night I had? OBTW I rang the bell more times than I can remember which means you buy every girl in the bar a drink for the princely sum of only about $30 dollars. I enjoyed the pleasure so why not hey? I felt like a football star and spent the next few nights frequenting the same Go- Go Bar. The best experience of my dog life, as a single guy without a lead, and a dog with no limits of where or when I would love, Oh what a place. Go Kamikaze in Thailand!