The 33

Jonathan Franklin; Translated by Lee Won-kyung from English to Korean: Gimmyoung Publisher: 324 pp., 12,000 won

When 33 men became trapped in a remote copper mine in the Atacama Desert in Chile on Aug. 5 last year, all eyes were on their lives hanging in the balance.

The heroic rescue that brought them back to the surface 69 days later will be remembered as a great moment in human history.
The event that turned a dark catastrophe into bright hope is vividly recounted in this book through interviews with some 120 miners, their families, the rescuers and governmental officials.

The book provides a detailed record of how the accident happened and reveals how those trapped overcame fear and despair, until they were finally freed from their underground prison.

Jonathan Franklin, the only print journalist that had front-row access to the scene, tells the story of the miraculous survival and the dramatic rescue of the Chilean miners and it was published simultaneously in Korea, the U.K., the U.S. and France.

The uplifting stories of the 33 miners are presented from a personal point of view, from that of a father, a son and a husband.

-Chung Ah-young

The Brutal Truth about Asian Branding: And How to Break the Vicious Cycle

Joseph Baladi; John Wiley & Sons: 250 pp., $29.95

The economic prowess of Asia has grown dramatically, along with the strong presence of China. However, the region still remains a big consumer of Western brands such as Coke, Nike, and BMW without any of their own great brands. The survey repeatedly finds that Asian consumers prefer Western brands to local ones.

The book questions how the current transition of the world order can be moved East with the absence of Asian brands.

By exploring the five key reasons to figure out the lack of development of Asian brands ― myopic CEO leadership; corporate culture that is by default, rather than by design; charlatan brand practitioners; government agencies that mean well, but should perform better; and advertising agencies with little to no branding competencies, the author does insightful research on the issue.

Through close observations of practices, circumstances, policies, and management attitudes concerning Asian brands, the book tries to reveal what holds Asian brands back from becoming great.

“The single, most profound thing American businessmen figured out a long time ago was that brands fundamentally define people,” said the author. “Unless Asian businesses are able to develop genuine relationships between their brands and consumers ­ in Asia, as well as around the world ­ they will fail to move up the value chain.”

-Chung Ah-young

You Are Not a Gadget

Jaron Lanier; Translated from English to Korean by Kim Sang-hyun; AcornLoft: 320 pp., 20,000 won.

Several years ago, computer scientist-artist Jaron Lanier created a stir with his idea of ``digital Maoism’’ ― the traps of online collectivism. Everything, from ``American Idol’’ to Google searches (or ``Super Star K’’ and Naver in Korea), embodies this idea of collective culture. Lanier argues this diminishes the importance and uniqueness of the individual voice. Moreover, the “hive mind” can easily lead to mob rule.

His latest book ``You Are Not a Gadget’’ further explores his theory of ``cybernetic totalism” and how it affects our society at large. The book is now available in Korean under the title ``Digital Humanism.’’

Comprehensible, convincing and powerful, the book is a must-read for readers living in one of the most wired countries in the world ― where anonymous netizens are thought to have driven many celebrities to depression and even suicide. Cyber ``lynchings’’ reminiscent of Salem witch trials have even spurred nationwide persecutions of ordinary citizens who were caught red-handed by witnesses with a cell phone camera and Internet connection. For the latter issue, Lanier touches upon the light and dark sides of online anonymity.

― Lee Hyo-won

Twitter English

Lee Geun-young; Mirae Books: 288 pp., 13,000 won

More than 2 million Koreans have joined the ranks of the some 200 million Twitterers worldwide. Keeping in mind the national fervor to learn English, it should come as no surprise that a book exploiting the latest online phenomenon to that end has been released.

The book justifies that the some 70 percent of English-speaking Twitterers is reason enough to join the network and access up to millions of potential ``friends.’’ Starting from the basics (signing up for an account), this how-to offers colloquial phrases to memorize and corrects commonly-made grammar mistakes ― though not without faults of its own.

An applied learning section examines the vernacular of such famed Twitterers as Barack Obama, the Dalai Lama and Britney Spears, while pointing out the mistakes of everyone from Kim Yu-na to Shaq. Though the author is correct in believing that Tweets comprise simplified, easy-to-learn, realistic language, is learning through the 140-character constrictions of abbreviated LOL-grammar the best way to conquer English?

― Ines Min