Road to Recovery: Singapore's Journey Through the Global Crisis
Sanchita Basu Das
Singapore: ISEAS Publishing, 2010
ISBN: 9789814311052

Singapore has been one of the nations severely affected by the 2008-09 global financial and economic crisis. The city state came under pressure through the financial, trade, and confidence channels. To counter these shocks, Singapore policymakers undertook unprecedented monetary and fiscal policy measures. They subsequently charted a revival strategy that would help the country emerge stronger after the crisis. These all-encompassing policies together with the global economic recovery in 2009 helped the city state bounce back faster and stronger than many other regional economies. This book provides an insight into the events that occurred during the crisis ad Singapore's successful navigation to economic recovery.

There's No Carrot in Carrot Cake: 101 Hawker Dishes Singaporeans Love
Ruth Wan & Roger Hiew
Singapore: Epigram Books, 2010
ISBN: 9789810828653

Who needs carrot in carrot cake when there's plenty of magic in the mix? Just trust your nose and listen to your taste buds. Still, if you have to know the intriguing ingredients in your Mee Pok, Nasi Lemak and Roti Prata, this book reveals all. With descriptions of 101 inimitable street foods. Over 120 full-colour pictures. Easy-to-follow food tours. Must-visit foodcourts and hawker centres and how to get there. Ten things you need to know before embarking on your food adventure. And a penetrative foreword by Singapore's most distinguished foodie: our ambassador Tommy Koh. So order a bowl of feisty Laksa, align your chopsticks and delve into Singapore's other success story.

The Binding Tie: Chinese Intergenerational Relations in Modern Singapore
Kristina Göransson
Singapore: NUS Press, 2010
ISBN: 9789971694814

Since gaining independence in 1965, Singapore has become the most trade-intensive economy in the world and the richest country in Southeast Asia. This transformation has been accompanied by the emergence of a deep generational divide. More complex than simple disparities of education or changes in income and consumption patterns, this growing gulf encompasses language, religion, and social memory. The Binding Tie explores how expectations and obligations between generations are being challenged, reworked, and reaffirmed in the face of far-reaching societal change.

The family remains a pivotal feature of Singaporean society and the primary unit of support. The author focuses on the middle generation, caught between elderly parents who grew up speaking dialect and their own children who speak English and Mandarin. In analyzing the forces that bind these generations together, she deploys the idea of an intergenerational "contract," which serves as a metaphor for customary obligations and expectations. She convincingly examines the many different levels at which the contract operates within Singaporean families and offers striking examples of the meaningful ways in which intergenerational support and transactions are performed, resisted, and renegotiated. Her rich material, drawn from ethnographic fieldwork among middle-class Chinese, provides insights into the complex interplay of fragmenting and integrating forces.

The Binding Tie makes a critical contribution to the study of intergenerational relations in modern, rapidly changing societies and conveys a vivid and nuanced pictured of the challenges Singaporean families face in today's hypermodern world. It will be of interest to researchers and studnets in a range of fields, including anthropology, sociology, Asian studies, demography, development studies, and family studies.

Your Singapore Through Their Eyes 2009: Singapo(RE)presents
Jean Wong, Jesslene Lee, Charis Tan, Ho Hui Qi, & Jessica Teck (eds.)
Singapore: Celestial, 2010
ISBN: 9789814022620

Presenting and representing Singapore, these little snippets of our nation, as seen through the eyes of our youths, are gathered together in this anthology to form a beautiful mural depicting Singapore.

Filled with insightful thoughts and nostalgic memories, this anthology articulates young Singaporeans' ideals and showcases a vibrant image of our nation.

Ernst & Young: An Account of 120 Years in Singapore
Lee Geok Boi
Singapore: Ernst & Young LLP, 2010
ISBN: 9789810861117

This account of Ernst & Young in Singapore is a telling which entwines the history of the practice with Singaporean and global developments in accountancy, trade and corporate culture.

It is a story of young men with foresight who went into a profession that started with very few regulations but grew into one of the most regulated. It is also the story of people who saw the potential of an island surrounded by pirates, warring princes and opportunistic traders and empire builders. Long before the recognition of global economics as a powerful engine of growth - or destruction - Singapore has been part of a region with centuries of experience in international trade. Where there is money, there will be accountants, and accountancy as a profession developed in tandem with the growth of corporations, investment flows and capital markets in the 19th and 20th century.

The training of accountants and the practice of accountancy grew more standardised as corporations became more multinational and global economic ties became more connected. The need to improve abilities to invest in growth and penetrate new markets led to accounting firm mergers, drawing together Asian and international firms. Such mergers in Singapore and elsewhere are part of the bigger drive to enhance client service delivery and build on the expertise and skills that are much needed in today's complex world of corporate and financial services.

Thus, this is a story of how the profession of accountancy has developed - and how Ernst & Young grew with it.

Natural History Drawings: The Complete William Farquhar Collection: Malay Peninsula 1803-1818
Singapore: Editions Didier Millet, 2010
ISBN: 9789814217699

This book brings together for the first time all 477 pieces in William Farquhar's extensive collection of natural history drawings, commissioned during his service as the British Resident and Commandant of Melaka from 1803 to 1818. Farquhar had a deep interest in the flora and fauna of the region, and made several important zoological and botanical discoveries. In an era when photography was non-existent, the only means of recording nature and wildlife was through painting. The Chinese artists that Farquhar commissioned employed traditional Chinese brush techniques while attempting to show the perspective and naturalism that Western painting demanded, resulting in works that are a charming mix of two different art traditions.

Authoritative essays on Farquhar and the background of the drawings, and detailed captions that examine the context of each watercolour bring the collection - and the hundreds of species depicted - to life. Natural History Drawings: The Complete William Farquhar Collection, Malay Peninsula 1803-1818, is a colourful tour of the plants and animals present in the Malay Peninsula during Farquhar's time. It not only showcases some of the most fascinating wildlife still present in the region today, but is also an important record of the species that have been lost or are diminished in number, making it a valuable addition to the nature lover's library, and indispensable to those with a serious interest in the natural history of the region.  

Constitutional Law in Malaysia & Singapore (3rd ed.)
Kevin Y.L. Tan & Thio Li-Ann
Singapore: LexisNexis, 2010
ISBN: 9789812367952

With the publication of its first edition in 1991, this book established itself as the standard casebook in Constitutional Law for law schools in Malaysia and Singapore. In the short span of just 18 years, the jurisprudence that has been developed by the courts in both countries has grown to such an extent that this might well be the last time that the relevant case law of both countries can be practically accommodated in a single volume. The authors have retained the structural topical approach that made this volume unique and successful. Convinced that constitutional law can only be truly appreciated from a sound understanding of a country's history, economy, sociology and politics, this volume offers the student and casual reader, a wide range of readings covering these areas. Where appropriate, relevant introduction, notes, questions and commentaries have been provided. Together with copious references, this approach will hopefully pique the interest of readers and provide guideposts to those who are motivated to probe deeper.

Singapore Version 2.0: Alternative Proposals For a Better Singapore
Gerald Giam
Singapore: Gerald Giam, 2010
ISBN: 9789810852740

Singapore Version 2.0 is a comprehensive take on the important public issues of he day. Written with heartfelt honesty and candour, it examines and offers refreshing perspectives on the issues that affect Singaporeans. Author Gerald Giam also relates his personal journey from being a civil servant to a blogger and political party activist. This book promises to be an important contribution to the burgeoning public discourse in Singapore.

&Words: Poems Singapore and Beyond
Edwin Thumboo (ed.)
Singapore: Ethos Books, 2010
ISBN: 9789810863210

Anthologies are well-established institutions. They are especially useful in promoting interest in poetry. &Words: Poems Singapore and Beyond attempts to do so through a fresh approach. First, it provides a selection of Singapore poems in English, arranged in four broad sections: Identity, Homeland, Living, Words. Second, the selection includes poems in World Englishes which suggest their wide variety as well as how the shared experience of colonialism and the recovery from it, often generates a number of common responses. They offer opportunities to compare poems. Third, there are translations from Chinese, Malay, and Tamil, reminding readers that Singapore poetry is more than just that in English. Finally a section 'Four Short Forms: Couplet, Haiku, Quatrain, Pantun' to encourage teachers and students to try their hand at writing.

&Words features 170 poems by 73 Singapore poets and 35 overseas poets. It is hoped that this selection will add to the growing interest in Singapore literature, particularly its poetry. This book is also targeted as a supplementary literature text to secondary schools in Singapore.

Divercity Singapore: A Cartoon History of Immigration
Morgan Chua & Justin Zhuang; Cherian George (ed.)
Singapore: Mix Media, 2010
ISBN: 9789810860868

Divercity Singapore: A Cartoon History of Immigration looks at the Singapore story through the eyes of the people who helped it grow from a sleepy fishing village to today's modern metropolis — immigrants. In this book, you will find cartoons drawn by Morgan Chua with accompanying text by Justin Zhuang that traces the contributions of immigrants who have given birth to this unique mix that we now call Singapore. Whether it is our food, festivals, sporting heroes, or architecture, the book shows the work of immigrants, past and present, in all of them. As the book's editor Cherian George writes in the preface of the book, "It’s the cycle of life in Singapore and a story that’s at least 700 years old."

Management of success: Singapore revisited
Terence Chong (ed.)
Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2010
ISBN: 9789814279840

In 1989, the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) published the milestone volume Management of Success: The Moulding of Modern Singapore, edited by Kernial Singh Sandhu and Paul Wheatley, which delved into a wide variety of issues that were integral to the growth of modern Singapore. The world that Singapore faced in 1989 has changed irrevocably. Meanwhile, within Singapore, the city-state has seen two prime ministerial transitions and the installation of third generation leaders who have articulated their vision for the twenty-first century. This new volume serves to update and review public policies from the early 1990s onwards. It gathers prominent thinkers and scholars on Singapore to examine issues of leadership and policy; economic restructuring; societal transformation; foreign relations and national identity. It seeks to outline the impending challenges of the twenty-first century, and to demonstrate a clear trajectory of intellectual analysis of contemporary Singapore for students and scholars alike.

Developing Living Cities: From Analysis to Action
Seetharam Kallidaikurichi & Belinda Yuen (eds.)
Singapore: World Scientific, 2010
ISBN: 9789814304498

With more and more of the world's population projected to live in urban areas, the life and death of cities has become a key factor in urban development considerations. This book attempts to bring an original contribution on the analysis of creating living cities. It advances the concept and framework of a "living city" and also explicates the key attributes of a "living city" that are increasingly critical to the reinvigoration and sustainable growth of cities.

The book also seeks to document and compare Singapore's development as a "living city" with other cities around the world. Authored by researchers and practitioners across different disciplines, the book provides first-hand insights on the development choices that cities can make and expertly draws on case studies to illuminate how innovative cities have a comparative advantage. Written in a simple and accessible manner, this book will appeal to people interested in urban planning, policy and sustainability.

Telltale: 11 Stories
Gwee Li Sui (ed.)
Singapore: Ethos Books, 2010
ISBN: 9789810861520

This anthology of short fiction presents six distinct electrifying voices from Singapore: Alfian bin Sa’at, Wena Poon, Jeffrey Lim, Tan Mei Ching, Claire Tham, and Dave Chua. The modern tales they tell are graphic, gritty, striking, and evocative. They describe experiences marked by short happiness and haunting memories, from the death of a loved one to the menacing forces of nature.

The eleven stories showcased here examine the lives of an array of complex characters. These individuals are tormented by dilemmas that nonetheless go on to shape and direct them. Telltale is an artfully sequenced collection that also includes explanatory notes and a study guide. It stands out as an informative and enriching edition that will speak to a broad range of readers today.

Singapore Contemporary Artists Series: Vincent Leow
Singapore: Singapore Art Museum, 2010
ISBN: 9789814260411

Singapore Contemporary Artists Series: Vincent Leow documents and charts the artist's career that spans over two decades. Through close analysis of significant periods of the artist's life as well as personal responses from artists, curators and art historians on his key works, readers will understand the motivation behind Vincent's thought-provoking installations, paintings, sculptures, mixed media art and art performances. This book will serve as a reference for scholars and writers on the Singapore contemporary art scene.