Young actor opens his books
By Suwitcha Chaiyong
Photos by Varuth Hirunyatheb
Did you know
A movie version of Norwegian Wood was released in 2010.
Rising actor Na-Prach Rattanamit (Pound) first became known from his part in the music video for Lomosonic’s song, “Kho (Warm Eyes).” More recently, the 24-year-old actor landed a leading role in the romantic comedy movie, Rak Mod Kaew (Love on the Rocks), which will hit cinemas on December 25.
Apart from his acting career, Pound works as a freelance architect. When he manages to find some free time, Pound enjoys reading.
Pound became interested in reading in primary school, when he read the famous Harry Porter fantasy series. The young actor later became interested in philosophy books and biographies, because they help to inspire new ideas.
Student Weekly recently asked Pound to tell us about five of his favourite books.
Title: Sophie’s World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy
Author Jostein Gaarder
Translator: Saipin Suputtamongkol
Publisher: Kob Fai
This is the book that first got Pound interested in philosophy. He found out about the book when it was required reading during his ethics and aesthetics class at university. Sophie’s World is about a 14-year-old girl named Sophie who receives notes in her mail box asking questions such as, “Who are you?” and “Where does the world come from?.” Sophie learns about various philosophers by trying to answer the questions.
“I like this book a lot. It’s fun to read because it raises interesting questions. With these questions, we learn from a naturalist, a physicist, a philosopher and others about many ideas such as evolutionary theory.”
Title: Wicha Soodthai Thee Mahawitayalai Maidai Son (The Last Subject: Not in a University Course)
Author: Sarinee Achavanuntakul
Publisher: Open Books
This book is a compilation of commencement speeches made by well known people including Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. Pound found that a lot of the speeches encourage new graduates to learn from their own experiences. The actor enjoyed Steve Jobs’ speech the most.
“Steve Jobs mentioned that although he dropped out college, he took a calligraphy class which led to idea of having the Macintosh computer feature beautiful typography. It showed that small things can add up to a huge success.”
Title: Norwegian Wood
Author: Haruki Murakami
Translator: Noppadon Wejsawat
Publisher: Kam Ma Yee
Norwegian Wood is about a student named Kizuki who commits suicide, deeply affecting his best friend, Toru Watanabe, and his girlfriend Naoko.
“I like this novel because it describes the atmosphere in Japan and the perspectives of Japanese people. The characters are developed well with Murakami’s beautiful writing. It’s an intriguing story, even though the characters are always gloomy.”
Title: Time: A User Guide
Author: Stefan Klein
Translator: Mathurapoch Boodwaiyawoot
Publisher: GM Books
Pond received this book from his mom. The young actor admitted that he didn’t used to care much about time and often procrastinated. Time: A User Guide provides information relating to time, such as why some people like mornings while others are night owls, and why time seems to go slowly when we we’re miserable and fast when we’re having fun.
“This book made me realise how important time is. But I’m more concerned about happiness than time. For example, when I travel with my friends, I don’t mind if we run late and miss seeing an attraction, as long as everybody is happy.”
Title: It Hurts Because You Are Young
Author: Kim Rando
Translator: Withiya Chanphan
Publisher: Spring Books
Author Kim Rando, who is a professor at Seoul National University, gives some thoughtful advice to his students.
“This book points out that studying at university isn’t everything in life. While some students don’t take studying seriously, others feel stressed about their grades. Kim Rando describes many situations in society where we have a choice about what kind of person we would like to be.”
Vocabulary
- biography (n): a story of a person’s life written by somebody else
aesthetics (n): the branch of philosophy that studies the principals of beauty, especially in art
naturalist (n): a person who studies plants, animals and other living things
evolutionary (adj): connected with gradual development and change
commencement (n): a ceremony at which students receive their academic degrees
calligraphy (n): beautiful handwriting that you do with a special pen or brush
typography (n): the art or work of preparing books, etc. for printing, especially of designing how the text will look when it is printed
gloomy (adj): sad and without much hope
procrastinate (v): to delay doing something that you should do, usually because you do not want to do it
night owl (n): a person who enjoys staying up late at night
