Tawau, 13 May 2022: The programme “1 Book, 1 Semester 3R: Read, Review, and Revive Competition” (1B1S3RC) has resumed after the one-week Raya break. On April 25, before the Hari Raya holidays, Week 3 participants successfully presented their chapter reviews.  Despite having a one-week break, Week 4 participants did not lose their zeal in the book review competition.

Several Week 3 chapter reviewers expressed their pleasure and satisfaction in reading the book.  One of them, Sarah Naomi Boilil said, “I am so glad that Chapter 35, which is The Winner’s Curse that I chose to present is easy to understand. The winner’s curse, in my understanding, means the winner of an auction of a property, for example, tends to pay more than what the property is actually worth. Therefore, do not be too happy if you are the one who has won an auction. So how can we win an auction without falling victim to the winner’s curse? Ask yourself two questions –first, ‘Is the property worth the bid you are paying?’ and second, ‘How would you feel if you won the auction?’” she said. On the other hand, another Week 3 participant, Ainur Fitria Omar said she was exposed to new ways of thinking and gained a lot of knowledge after reading the book. “It’s really a book worth reading,” she said.

In Week 4 of the competition, four participants presented their chapter reviews. Among them were Nurazlina Hafiqah Muhammad Ali, who gave her review on the cognitive error of Hedonic Treadmill and Jasiebe Joseph who shared her opinions on Beginner’s Luck. “When was the last time you were dreaming of a new car, a partner or a place at a renowned university? And finally your dream came true. You were offered a place at one of the biggest universities in the country. You might feel a surge of happiness initially, but it does not take too long before the thrills and excitement subside and you revert to your previous level of happiness. That’s what I understand from the Hedonic Treadmill. So then, how can we prolong our feelings of happiness?  I have some suggestions for you here – be content with what you have, be kind to yourself, do something meaningful in life and invest in relationships,” Nurazlina commented.

Meanwhile, another participant, Jasiebe demonstrated her zeal by taking the extra mile to do her own research on the main idea of the chapter she reviewed. She also wrote down the meaning of the words, which she did not quite understand so that it would be easier for her to understand the whole chapter.

One of the objectives of the programme is to enable the students to give their praise and criticisms about the book from their point of view. It is noticed that despite having identified the main ideas of the chapters, there was little participation from the audience in the discussion during the readers club meeting. “It would be more beneficial to students if they could share their thoughts in response to the chapter reviews presented each week,” commented Dr Choo.

We hope in the coming weeks, participants will be more actively and critically involved in the book discussion.