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Not much to gain if you’ve already read his autobiography, watched a few of his videos, or read some of his speeches. The value comes in the focus on the flaws of Western democracy, which he tread more delicately in his late 90's/2000 autobiography. Allison et al do drill down to the very essence of the man and there are quite a few gems.The key takeaway from LKY’s style of pragmatism is that he has strong views on generalized principles while tempering them with localized exceptions. To a typic...
When the master speaks, you listen.Beyond the enormous impact LKY had as a statesmen, I believe LKY was the best political thinker of the 20th century. I try to read everything I can from LKY and while this book is not ideal, it unearthed a lot of great content I would otherwise have not been exposed to.
Highly recommended. Another book in the spirit of The Prince focused on understanding populations and politics as they are, not was we wish them to be. This is a fascinating compilation of Lee Kuan Yew's observations on government, citizens, management, Singapore, the West and the East over the last several decades. Some of the portions I found most interesting include:"Democracy should not be made an alibi for inertia. There are many examples of authoritarian governments whose economies have fa...
Lee said "I understood Deng Xiaoping when he said: if 200,000 students have to be shot, shoot them, because the alternative is China in chaos for another 100 years.... Deng understood, and he released it stage by stage. Without Deng, China would have imploded."Don't you know that China has been in chaos since communists spread and occupation?
Lots of otiginal thinking on the Asian politics and dynamics, China, Russia and other global powers. Basically an outsized interview but with great insight and wisdom (mostly). Priginal take on ISIS. Very cautious view on certain counties but that's to be expected from a politition of this caliber.Q:When Lee took over, per capita income was about $400 a year; it is now more than $50,000. He inspired his polyglot population to become the intellectual and technical center of the Asia-Pacific. (c)Q...
Such an insanely smart and competent leader. We'll forever miss your insights.
Until I read this short book I did not know much about Yew except that he took over Singapore after World War II and is the founding father of modern Singapore. Yew was Prime Minister from 1959-1990.Graham Allison and Robert Blackwell two leading strategic thinkers asked Yew questions and also put together information from his voluminous writings and speeches. The book is mainly in a question and answer format, the result is this concise, but important book.I found myself engrossed in the incisi...
Since this is a collection of several interviews, few ideas were old. Nothing too fresh if you've heard Lee Kuan Yew in other contexts before.
On India:"I am against a society which has no sense of nurturing its best to rise to the top. I am against a feudal society where your birth decides where you stay in the pecking order. The example of that, par excellence, is India's caste system."On America:"The ideas of individual supremacy ... when carried to excess, have not worked. They have made it difficult to keep American society cohesive. Asia can see it is not working. Those who want a wholesome society where young girls and old ladie...
I knew very little about Lee kuan Yew prior to stumbling across his name on Goodreads. I will admit that I still know very little about the guy who purportedly was the founding father of a Singapore who famously helped turn the nation from a third world country to a first world one in a single generation. I hardly yet understand what this means. Ah well. It was not needed for reading this text. This book was styled in a interview format as yew was asked many questions where were fundamental to h...
I believe certain parts were taken out of context due to the particular format of this book, but nonetheless I have so much respect for LKY. "I want to be correct, not politically correct" --- so sharp, so wise and so brutally honest!
I got a Chinese copy and read the Ebook of English the previous year, and still possessed the immense impulsion to read it again. The book and his other works scintilate his perceptive state visions and wisdom for international studies,genuinely illuminating and thought-provoking.Acclaimed to be the founding father of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew was one of the rare country leaders winning paramount respects both in Asian regions and western hemisphere. His preeminence not only lies in that he succes...
I got interested in Lee Kuan due to of course his work in Singapore but more so due to my burgeoning interest in foreign policies. It is a fascinating subject in its own right where one needs to access a country just like one would access a human character and personality. This text will be less about book or Lee Kun. He is a legendary leader and master in governance. But rather about how his views and analysis can be used and can shape our mind set with regard to governance and world around.Lee...
The single star rating is 100% related to the copy and paste structure of the book. It is organized to be LKW’s responses to a series of questions but this is accomplished not by finding those questions in actual interviews and directly recording them but taking sentences and paragraphs from multiple different interviews and other materials and mashing them up. For example the material for just the first “answer” combines material from 2011, 1999, 2008, another separate interview in 2011, and 20...
What an incredible book. I had known for a long time that Lee Kuan Yew’s passing away brought the entire nation of Singapore down to tears, where even the sky cried; but I had never truly understood how incredible Lee Kuan Yew was, that is, until I read this book and was astonished by the mind of Lee Kuan Yew. I loved every part of this book, and more so about how well Lee Kuan Yew articulates his ideas. The last chapter, How Lee Kuan Yew Thinks, is by far my favorite. This was a short book, yet...
This book is a recompilation of Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew's speeches, articles and thoughts - organized in a Q&A format, which makes it easy to digest. It will give you a quick but comprehensive understanding of PM Lee's vision, his uncompromised values, and his rule of law. He was a remarkable leader whose thoughts on the world (spoken 10, 15, 20 years ago) still hold true today - some are actually even more relevant today more than ever. If we judge this book under this lens: a quick compreh...
This book is written in an interview style and is quick and easy to read. A good portion of it is basically a racist rant. He starts off disparaging HIspanics, then Indians, and then Islam, blatantly stating that America will be ruined if Hispanics aren't quickly assimilated into WASP culture, that Indians who grow up close to their culture will be lazy and corrupt, and that Islam is a religion of extremism (if all 1.3 billion Muslims were terrorists we'd be in serious trouble). This outlook is
This book is a compilation of different interviews, speeches and essays from and with Lee Kuan Yew, the man who made Singapore what it is today; a prosperous and successful First World country. He is respected by many, and world leaders listen to his views and advice. What makes this book so good is the fact that many things Yew claimed and predicted years ago are actually coming true today. He has a clear mind and a brilliant view on things which he explains in a comprehensible manner that make...
For Americans who think that so-called liberal democracy is neither, and in any case is a dead end, successful modern societies with a different political model always intrigue. In the West, notable such are Hungary and Poland, who have effectively executed a mild and tentative turn away from the most extreme vices of liberal democracy, though there is a long way to go. Singapore, which has apparently successfully blended economic success, certain virtues, and limited democracy, offers another p...
Why read this book? Because world leader's have said LKY is one of the smartest leaders they have ever met. The book isn't to look back at 50 years of Singapore but present LKY's opinion of the world ahead (circa 2013)Some of the stuff he says is relevant today in a the era of PresidentCheetos, such as how to deal with China but not isolating it but by economically competing S.Asia. Then there are things like how Mexican culture will spread in the US that I don’t agree with. He too contradicts t...