Terry: Books are my best teachers

Terry Makena Mutua. PHOTO I COURTESY

What you need to know:

  • She is a wife and a mother to two wonderful children. She is very passionate about environment and is an avid reader. She shares with Success about the books she loves to read.

Terry Makena Mutua is a professional care manager working with Executive Healthcare Solutions in Nairobi. She is a Kenyan born in Meru and lives in Nairobi but most people know her as Terry Mckenzie.

She is a wife and a mother to two wonderful children. She is very passionate about environment and is an avid reader. She shares with Success about the books she loves to read.

Your favourite childhood book?

Well I can’t lie I read a lot as a child or rather I didn’t know how to that well. Growing up in upcountry, kid’s outdoor games took the better part of my childhood. However, I remember reading lots of high school national geographic books donated to our school– I found the earth stories fascinating and sneaking my father’s James Hadley Chase collections to school. I’m yet to apologise for losing them all.

What are you reading now?

Right now am reading two books Back to Back by Julia Franck, The 33 Strategies of War by Robert Greene and The Win to Win by Robert Herjavec two hand full books I must say.

What books do you have on request at the library?

Library? With the changing and first moving life in Nairobi, I have moved a lot from walk in library to online library especially on Amazon. I have been looking for two books and finally found them here and I simply can’t wait for The Hypomanic Edge by John D. Gartner and the Crucial Conversations by Al Switzler.

Bad book habits

Top of my bad book habits- people who borrow my books especially hardcopy books and years later never give them back. I always consider it a bad habit to struggle reading a book that you simply don’t like, can’t connect with or relate with. This simply makes you hate books. If you don’t enjoy the book drop it and pick another.

Do you prefer to read one book at a time or several at once?

Reading at least two books at a time works most of the time. For me one book I am reading to learn and the other for the thrill of the story. Some books need lots of concentration and others just flow.

List favourite books you have read this year.

The Emth by Micheal Gerber

Can you read in a bus?

Yes, yes, yes I read in bus or in motion a lot, that’s why I always have a soft copy book in my phone library and a hardcopy book in my handbag. With the current crazy traffics, losing yourself in a good book while in traffic is priceless. If I am driving audio e-book with a headphone is all I need.

Favourite place to read

I work all day and being a mother it’s pretty hard to coil cozy on a seat at home to read a book. This leaves me reading either on my bed at night on soft copy books during the day. My computer actually almost always has a minimized book icon on my toolbar even if I won’t get a second to read it that day.

What’s your policy on book lending?

I have politely stopped giving away hardcopy books, they just don’t come back. But soft copy books I don’t believe in selling I would not hesitate to send to anyone in a blink.

Not even with text books?

Well rules are made for breaking. With text books you can always reconsider.

What makes you love books?

Books are the best teachers for me. They change the way you look at life, solve problems, do your business, talk to people, through them you travel through cultures, cities, and take you to swaps in Mississippi and the ranches in Texas all between covers. You asked why I love books –books simply rock!

What would inspire you to recommend a book?

Books are diverse and knowing what people close to you like reading is the starting point. A good read is a good read. At times in the middle of a book you see people’s characters, real life problems and solutions to real life issues and when you recommend you pray that the right people read.

Have you ever read an inspirational book?

Yes, I have and at every point you need a book you can coil back to awaken your soul, broken self and help you bounce back to life. One of these books for me is ‘Shut Up Stop Whining and Get a Life’ by Larry Winget.

The most inspirational book you have read this year.

Among all, the E-myth inspired me most. It opened my eyes over and over again and I am still in love with it.

Do you prefer keeping books once you read them?

Hardcopies I want to keep them, for my children and grandchildren lol! And there is always that comfort of knowing you can re-read a book over and over again if you wanted to. For me books are for keeps!

Are there any books you have been avoiding?

Sadly yes. I don’t read horror books. I imagine they may distract my peace, once I read a book it runs in my system for days and at times a memory of a well scribed line may make me laugh alone. So, horror out.

Name a book that made you angry.

The Alchemist. I simply don’t understand why the book is highly rated and recommended. To me it is not worth the hype.

A book you didn’t expect to like but did.

That must be Man’s search for meaning by Viktor Frankl. I landed on this book by default almost a month ago while going through book reviews. I still can’t tell why or how I read it nonstop in less than two days. It felt like you had to read the next word, sentence, and chapter and the more you read the more you lost yourself in it. I remember finishing and saying to myself oh! Thank God I can move on with my life!