There is a phenomenon in Singapore in the areas of public services where others have only praise and envy for our systems and policies and yet Singaporeans can only see the weaknesses. These areas include health, public transport and education. Here are some books taking a balanced and objective look at various aspects of our education system and its evolution over the years.

• Many Pathways One Mission: Fifty Years Of Singapore Education. Edited by Lim Lai Cheng. This study of the 50 years of Singapore education since 1957 is in an innovative format. Detachable facsimiles of certificates, letters and other archival material, actual postage stamps and the report cards of well-known persons are included in the extensively illustrated volume. Lively, illustrated vignettes and memories of the personalities and achievement of individual teachers and others who have played essential parts in the ups and downs of Singapore education convey the realities of its history.

• Mathematics Education: The Singapore Journey. Edited by Wong Khoon Yoong and Lee Peng Yee. This comprehensive book is a review of research and practices of mathematics education in Singapore. It traces the fascinating journey from the original development of the Singapore mathematics curriculum in the 1950s to the present day, and reports on diverse findings about the Singapore experience that are not readily available in print.

• Examinations In Singapore: Change And Continuity (1891-2007) by Tan Yap Kwang, Chow Hong Kheng and Christine Goh. This is a groundbreaking historical account of the examination systems used in Singapore schools since 1891 when a Centre for the Cambridge Local Examinations was set up. The chapter on the 1891-1945 period includes information on exams used by the occupying Japanese and also the Cambridge Local exams which, surprisingly, took place in the Sime Road Internment Camp. The account of the changing period 1946-1970s includes discussion of the 1961 examination boycott. In the last section, the substantial policy shifts, the Goh Keng Swee Reforms, are summarised and their impact assessed.

• Teaching Reading And Writing: Supporting Learners In The English Classroom. Edited by Tay May Yin, Caroline Ho and Peter Teo. These 16 separately referenced papers on the teaching of reading and writing are by Singapore practitioners who link their own varied experiences of classroom situations with other educational strategies.

• For A Better Age: Musings Of A Teacher by Eugene Wijeysingha. Eugene Wijeysingha has spent 35 years in education, including an 8-year spell as Principal of Raffles Institution. To mark the occasion of the school's 185th year, he has written a memoir of his experiences as a teacher, mostly focused on his years in that venerable institution. He shares his thoughts on what education is, what lessons were learned along the way, turning Raffles Institution into an independent school, developing a suitable educational programme and safeguarding the status of teachers.

• Shaping Singapore's Future: Thinking Schools, Learning Nation. Edited by Tan, Jason and Ng Pak Tee. The vision of Thinking Schools, Learning Nation (TSLN) was launched in 1997 by the Singapore Ministry of Education in an effort to develop a total learning environment in the country and to revolutionise teaching and learning in all schools. The various chapters in this book examine different aspect of TSLN, such as ability-driven education, innovation and enterprise, and national education. They also discuss issues concerning school-stakeholder partnerships, teacher education, and teachers' lives amid a period of rapid education reform.

There is a phenomenon in Singapore in the areas of public services where others have only praise and envy for our systems and policies and yet Singaporeans can only see the weaknesses. These areas include health, public transport and education. Here are some books taking a balanced and objective look at various aspects of our education system and its evolution over the years.

• Many Pathways One Mission: Fifty Years Of Singapore Education. Edited by Lim Lai Cheng. This study of the 50 years of Singapore education since 1957 is in an innovative format. Detachable facsimiles of certificates, letters and other archival material, actual postage stamps and the report cards of well-known persons are included in the extensively illustrated volume. Lively, illustrated vignettes and memories of the personalities and achievement of individual teachers and others who have played essential parts in the ups and downs of Singapore education convey the realities of its history.

• Mathematics Education: The Singapore Journey. Edited by Wong Khoon Yoong and Lee Peng Yee. This comprehensive book is a review of research and practices of mathematics education in Singapore. It traces the fascinating journey from the original development of the Singapore mathematics curriculum in the 1950s to the present day, and reports on diverse findings about the Singapore experience that are not readily available in print.

• Examinations In Singapore: Change And Continuity (1891-2007) by Tan Yap Kwang, Chow Hong Kheng and Christine Goh. This is a groundbreaking historical account of the examination systems used in Singapore schools since 1891 when a Centre for the Cambridge Local Examinations was set up. The chapter on the 1891-1945 period includes information on exams used by the occupying Japanese and also the Cambridge Local exams which, surprisingly, took place in the Sime Road Internment Camp. The account of the changing period 1946-1970s includes discussion of the 1961 examination boycott. In the last section, the substantial policy shifts, the Goh Keng Swee Reforms, are summarised and their impact assessed.

• Teaching Reading And Writing: Supporting Learners In The English Classroom. Edited by Tay May Yin, Caroline Ho and Peter Teo. These 16 separately referenced papers on the teaching of reading and writing are by Singapore practitioners who link their own varied experiences of classroom situations with other educational strategies.

• For A Better Age: Musings Of A Teacher by Eugene Wijeysingha. Eugene Wijeysingha has spent 35 years in education, including an 8-year spell as Principal of Raffles Institution. To mark the occasion of the school's 185th year, he has written a memoir of his experiences as a teacher, mostly focused on his years in that venerable institution. He shares his thoughts on what education is, what lessons were learned along the way, turning Raffles Institution into an independent school, developing a suitable educational programme and safeguarding the status of teachers.

• Shaping Singapore's Future: Thinking Schools, Learning Nation. Edited by Tan, Jason and Ng Pak Tee. The vision of Thinking Schools, Learning Nation (TSLN) was launched in 1997 by the Singapore Ministry of Education in an effort to develop a total learning environment in the country and to revolutionise teaching and learning in all schools. The various chapters in this book examine different aspect of TSLN, such as ability-driven education, innovation and enterprise, and national education. They also discuss issues concerning school-stakeholder partnerships, teacher education, and teachers' lives amid a period of rapid education reform.

by Sim Van der Ryn, Stuart Cowan
Publisher: Island Press 2007-03-28 | 256 Pages | ISBN: 1597261416 | PDF | 2.3 MB


Ecological Design is a landmark volume that helped usher in an exciting new era in green design and sustainability planning. Since its initial publication in 1996, the book has been critically important in sparking dialogue and triggering collaboration across spatial scales and design professions in pursuit of buildings, products, and landscapes with radically decreased environmental impacts. This 10th anniversary edition makes the work available to a new generation of practitioners and thinkers concerned with moving our society onto a more sustainable path. Using examples from architecture, industrial ecology, sustainable agriculture, ecological wastewater treatment, and many other fields, Ecological Design provides a framework for integrating human design with living systems. Drawing on complex systems, ecology, and early examples of green building and design, the book challenges us to go further, creating buildings, infrastructures, and landscapes that are truly restorative rather than merely diminishing the rate at which things are getting worse.

by Martin Pegler
Visual Reference Publications | ISBN: 158471025X | October 1, 2002 | PDF | 200 pages | 150 Mb


Product Description:
Now, more than ever, supermarkets are inviting, exciting, adventuresome, and sometimes even theatrical. New formats, layouts and presentations are emerging so quickly that it's nearly impossible to keep abreast of the trends.

At a time when consumers are more educated, aware and mobile; when competition between food stores is keener and more intense, Designing the World's Best Supermarkets presents an abundance of ideas and perspectives from around the world on store architecture, signage, lighting techniques, floor design, food case innovation, fixturing, wall art and texture, and thematic concepts.

Showcasing over 50 projects with over 300 full-color images and illuminating text, you will experience comprehensive coverage of the most up-to-date supermarket design trends from the U.S. and around the world.

This volume is edited by Martin M. Pegler, an internationally-recognized expert in the field of visual merchandising and store design.

Designing the World’s Best Supermarkets is a veritable travelog of food presentation from around the world. If you’re searching for visual inspiration and expert editorial commentary, this volume is an incomparable sourcebook.


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Security in Northeast Asia is coming into the spotlight again with North Korea's recent nuclear weapon tests. North Korea shall be an interesting subject for a future post. But for this post, I thought it would be better to focus on security issues closer to heart for the Southeast Asian region. Here, weapons of mass destruction are certainly a concern but they often pale in significance compared to more "mundane" security threats, including non-traditional ones. These are a few books that provide a good overview of the wide range of security concerns in this region:

• Terrorism In South And Southeast Asia In The Coming Decade. Edited by Daljit Singh. The papers in this volume addresses threats at the international, regional and national levels. At the international level, the scholars point out that the threat from terrorism will be a protracted one; the growth of sanctuaries in the tribal areas of Pakistan that harbour Al Qaeda and other extremist groups enhance the threat globally; and that the US withdrawal from Iraq should be seen to be taking place after defeating Al Qaeda there. Contributors believe in the importance of state effectiveness and good governance that provides sound legal regimes, and efficient, credible and transparent judicial systems; effective local police forces trained for counter-terrorist operations. Ideally the police and intelligence services should lead this fight but where the use of the military is unavoidable, care should be taken not to over-militarise responses which could result in innocent civilian casualties. They also agree on the need to contest and defeat extremist ideology, best done by Muslim communities themselves, and better regional and international cooperation, particularly at the operations level.

• Long Shadow, The: Nuclear Weapons And Security In 21st Century Asia. Edited by Muthiah Alagappa. The 18 separately referenced papers in this substantial study of nuclear weapons and security issues in Asia is the fruit of three years of cooperative research and discussion by some 60 specialists from 14 countries. The two introductory papers, which overview Asia's perspectives and strategies are followed by separate investigations of the nuclear polices of the six nuclear weapon states; the three Asian nuclear-capable states; the two aspirant nuclear weapon states; the three allies of nuclear weapon states; and a paper on "non-aligned" ASEAN. Deterrence, long-term issues and regional stability are explored in the final two papers.

• Covering Maritime Piracy In Southeast Asia by Werner Vom Busch and Tobias Rettig. These five papers and five wide-ranging discussion reports are from the 2006 Kuala Lumpur seminar on piracy in Southeast Asia from media/journalistic perspectives. Many aspects of the urgently-perceived subject were raised, including: Indonesia and maritime security in the Malacca/Singapore Straits; causes and context of pirate arsons since the 1990s; and international cooperation in piracy prevention and media coverage of piracy.

• Maritime Security In Southeast Asia. Edited by Kwa Chong Guan and John K Skogan. This book examines maritime security challenges in Southeast Asia and the responses that they provoke. These threats include traditional security threats as well as a range of non-traditional threats, such as piracy and international terrorism, which spill over into the maritime domain. Events such as September 11 and the designation of Southeast Asia as a 'second front' in the war against terrorism, have resulted in the growing realisation that multilateral security cooperation is required in order to manage the security of the seas. Expert contributors identify the nature of Southeast Asia's maritime security problem. They also critically evaluate the various responses by countries and organisations within and without the region.

Security in Northeast Asia is coming into the spotlight again with North Korea's recent nuclear weapon tests. North Korea shall be an interesting subject for a future post. But for this post, I thought it would be better to focus on security issues closer to heart for the Southeast Asian region. Here, weapons of mass destruction are certainly a concern but they often pale in significance compared to more "mundane" security threats, including non-traditional ones. These are a few books that provide a good overview of the wide range of security concerns in this region:

• Terrorism In South And Southeast Asia In The Coming Decade. Edited by Daljit Singh. The papers in this volume addresses threats at the international, regional and national levels. At the international level, the scholars point out that the threat from terrorism will be a protracted one; the growth of sanctuaries in the tribal areas of Pakistan that harbour Al Qaeda and other extremist groups enhance the threat globally; and that the US withdrawal from Iraq should be seen to be taking place after defeating Al Qaeda there. Contributors believe in the importance of state effectiveness and good governance that provides sound legal regimes, and efficient, credible and transparent judicial systems; effective local police forces trained for counter-terrorist operations. Ideally the police and intelligence services should lead this fight but where the use of the military is unavoidable, care should be taken not to over-militarise responses which could result in innocent civilian casualties. They also agree on the need to contest and defeat extremist ideology, best done by Muslim communities themselves, and better regional and international cooperation, particularly at the operations level.

• Long Shadow, The: Nuclear Weapons And Security In 21st Century Asia. Edited by Muthiah Alagappa. The 18 separately referenced papers in this substantial study of nuclear weapons and security issues in Asia is the fruit of three years of cooperative research and discussion by some 60 specialists from 14 countries. The two introductory papers, which overview Asia's perspectives and strategies are followed by separate investigations of the nuclear polices of the six nuclear weapon states; the three Asian nuclear-capable states; the two aspirant nuclear weapon states; the three allies of nuclear weapon states; and a paper on "non-aligned" ASEAN. Deterrence, long-term issues and regional stability are explored in the final two papers.

• Covering Maritime Piracy In Southeast Asia by Werner Vom Busch and Tobias Rettig. These five papers and five wide-ranging discussion reports are from the 2006 Kuala Lumpur seminar on piracy in Southeast Asia from media/journalistic perspectives. Many aspects of the urgently-perceived subject were raised, including: Indonesia and maritime security in the Malacca/Singapore Straits; causes and context of pirate arsons since the 1990s; and international cooperation in piracy prevention and media coverage of piracy.

• Maritime Security In Southeast Asia. Edited by Kwa Chong Guan and John K Skogan. This book examines maritime security challenges in Southeast Asia and the responses that they provoke. These threats include traditional security threats as well as a range of non-traditional threats, such as piracy and international terrorism, which spill over into the maritime domain. Events such as September 11 and the designation of Southeast Asia as a 'second front' in the war against terrorism, have resulted in the growing realisation that multilateral security cooperation is required in order to manage the security of the seas. Expert contributors identify the nature of Southeast Asia's maritime security problem. They also critically evaluate the various responses by countries and organisations within and without the region.

by Martin M Pegler
Visual Reference Publications | ISBN: 1584710586 | December 2001 | PDF | 176 pages | 120 Mb


Product Description
Award-Winning Java Joints! Over 350 full color photos showcase 100 top coffee shop designs from around the world, illustrating just how hot this area of food retailing remains. Cafes and Coffee Shops, by Mike Pegler, reveals the work of renowned and up-and-coming architects-details the atmosphere that gave each establishment award-winning appeal-and coveRs every coffee-shop theme from cafes, and cafeterias and coffee houses to food courts, fast-food outlets and specialty stores. What's more, for each design you'll find: complete presentations of store interiors, lighting schemes and floor plans; full data on the client, project team leaders and construction program; cogent analyses of the design strategy and special challenges each project presented; plus much more.



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