Hey, everyone! It’s me again. Hope you are all doing well and aren’t too stressed out yet. Anyways, let’s all take a little break from school and studying and talk about something a little more interesting: learning global affairs.

Now, that might sound boring to many of you. And, quite frankly, JC-me was very uninterested in this topic either. But I think it’s important to know a little about the world. I’m not suggesting you become an expert overnight or you have to know everything. However, the topic of current affairs will most definitely come up — it could be during an interview panel for a scholarship, a gathering among relatives or just a casual conversation with friends. It could even come up during your university as part of a module — in fact, one CHS module (HSS1000) is essentially just basic global affairs (during my time, it was the Hong Kong protests).

Additionally, some aspects of world affairs can be quite interesting. Now, like I said, past me was very opposed to it. But I think it is easy to be naturally inquisitive about the world, and even if you don’t want to actively read the news or study the topic, even reading historical fiction can be an entry point (I personally recommend the book A Thousand Splendid Suns).

Anyways, if you’re like JC-me and have no interest whatsoever in anything related to global affairs, this article is for you! I’m about to talk about what got me interested in this topic and my suggestions (based on my experience) on what you can do to be more informed about the world. And if you are already interested in this topic, then you can pick up some good recommendations (books, YouTube channels) for further reading. Without further ado, here is my journey with learning global affairs!

Why I Became Interested

As I said, past me was very uninterested in the topic. I was completely opposed to it. I would not care for anything remotely related to the news or current events. I was much more focused on my grades and spent my time reading psychology books, and learning new concepts in the field. It was, after all, my main interest.

However, this all changed when I went for a scholarship interview. During that time, I thought that all I needed for a scholarship were the typical things: good grades and leadership in CCAs. Unfortunately, I was very wrong. When I went for the scholarship interview, they asked about my background. I mentioned that I had studied in Hong Kong for my primary education and the moment they heard that, they immediately asked for my views regarding the Hong Kong protests.

The problem was, I didn’t quite know anything about them. I hadn’t bothered to check on the news, and frankly, I didn’t care then. I had to stutter out a response, feeling panicked on the inside. This only worsened when I saw the expressions of the interviewers — I knew it wasn’t an impressive answer and that they thought it as well. It demonstrated a lack of knowledge and insight into the events around the world, and is the worst interview I’ve ever had. I feel embarrassed even when I write about it now.

Anyways, after that experience, I was determined to not make the same mistake again. I hated the feeling of embarrassment and disliked the explicit lack in my knowledge. And so, I took it upon myself to actually learn something about the world.

Find Books

The first thing I did was to use NLB to find books related to general affairs. After the interview, I decided that I wanted to know more about Hong Kong. So, I typed ‘Hong Kong protests’ in the search engine and hit ‘enter’. I looked at the brief descriptions of the books I might be interested in and then read the reviews. Based on the descriptions online, I selected a book that many people said was ‘well-written’. I then made a trip down to the library (the Toa Payoh library) to borrow the book. Afterwards, I scanned the shelves to see if there was anything else I would be interested in.

From the books available, I picked one about the Israel-Palestine conflict (a particularly hot topic recently) and another about the general history of WWII. Both books seemed interesting; they were considered very big and important events, and I liked the writing style (I had flicked through just to check). They were both written almost in the style of a biography — so not filled with dense, historical facts, but more casual in terms of flow. I borrowed those books, read them, and made notes about the historical facts and events mentioned.

This continued for a while. I would google for good books about large relevant countries/events (e.g. China, US, etc.) and see if NLB had them. I also made a whole list of possible books that I wanted to borrow and read. I would go to the library, borrow all the books I shortlisted, and then go home and make notes while I read.

This lasted for a while until I, at some point, could not be bothered to do it. It was effective, interesting, and engaging (I love reading), but making notes became too tedious at some point. I also wanted to be able to read for fun.

For those who are interested in using books to learn or want to try this method, there are positives: if you love reading, it’s very engaging; if you want a pretty in-depth analysis (even when the book is more of a biography or more of getting people’s perspectives rather than an analysis), it is very good for that; and if you want just a brief general overview or timeline instead of having to Google and get massive amounts of information, I think books can help.

But they can be time-consuming and can be boring for those who aren’t readers. If you prefer more visual/auditory information just for fun, then my next idea is for you!

For those who want my list of books, here are some of them that I would personally recommend:

Vigil: Hong Kong on the Brink
Hitler’s Pawn: The Boy Assassin and the Holocaust
Palestine Speaks: Narratives of Life Under Occupation
Twilight of Democracy: The Failure of Politics and the Parting of Friends

Watch Videos/YouTube

I subscribe to a lot of informative channels on YouTube. I subscribe to YouTubers who talk about anything ranging from law to medicine to philosophy and literature. It was only natural that history would be added to the list. I started out with fun historical content like Oversimplified, who uses humour and funny animations to explain important historical events. I then watched a historian react to his content, which gave greater insight into the videos’ history and accuracy.

I also like the Infographics Show, which covers events like the Roman Empire or famous figures like Gandhi and Mother Teresa. John Oliver does a fun segment called Last Week Tonight, where he covers important events (he did a fantastic job of evaluating the political candidates running for President in the US). Thoughty2 also covers interesting events and phenomena (I loved his cover of Bobby Fischer, a chess legend).

I think for those who like fun videos, this is a pretty decent method of getting a large and varied amount of information while also being entertained. However, I don’t usually take notes, which can make it difficult to retain the majority of the information. I like to laze around in bed and watch these videos, and later on, while some small amount of information is retained, a lot of it is forgotten rather easily. But it is still a fun way, regardless.

Take Relevant Modules at University

I think the way I really learned the most concretely was by taking courses at university. There would be assignments due, every lecture would have just two hours of content, and there usually would be some group project or final exam that required you to actually know the information. This was essentially the most forcing way to get me to learn because I actually wanted good grades.

Of course, this is something you can do only when you are at university. However, I do encourage all university students to try at least one module related to global affairs. It can be a simple 1k level module, the kind that you can S/U. Just try it and see if you can learn anything from it. If you like it, then keep learning more about the world!

Anyways, that’s all from me. Hope you guys enjoyed reading this article, and see you all next time!