IN BRIEF (June 18)

Memoir of Thai businessman

Vikrom Kromadit is the developer of three industrial parks in Thailand and two in Vietnam. His name frequently appears on Forbes' top 50 list of Thailand's richest men. He's also one of the country's most active philanthropists. At the age of 60, he wrote down his unusual experiences and reflections on life during a three-month Buddhist retreat at a temple. Kromadit's best-selling autobiography, Be a Better Man, now has a Chinese version. It tells how he became a business icon after he graduated from National Taiwan University, with abundant dramatic moments to challenge readers' imagination.

Women's world is a better one

Muriel de Saint Sauveur has brought her answer to "a better world" to China. Her book A Women's World, A Better World? has found more than 100 successful women in various fields and their opinions on an equal and more prosperous world. The author, also a director of the French Mazars Group, says women are more sensitive and merciful. Their engagement in the world will promote society to a better place. Her ideal society is not one dominated by either gender, but a place where everyone has equal chances to contribute. Several of her interviewees come from China, including the artist and architect Wang Xiaohui, who designed a venue for the 2010 Shanghai Expo.

It's China's turn to have superheroes

A superhero comic book from China, Dragon Resurrection, is now available in the United States. This time the saviors are siblings from Qingdao, Shandong province, and the enemy is the US military. It also involves a Chinese dragon, DNA code, kidnapping and Hulk-like transformation. The English book is made in China. This is Dark Horse Comics' first launch of a Chinese superhero novel, from the Chinese animation company, DeZerlin Media. Created by Zhang Lin from the firm, the story is scripted by the Emmy-nominated producer Mark Byers.

Share the wealth, find happiness

Wealth goes to the nation, but where is our happiness? Gao Qiang, the scriptwriter of the documentary, China's Memorandum, asked the question in his namesake book. Gao has combed through the urgent problems he considers to be plaguing today's China: rocketing housing prices, growing middle class, the aging population's late-life care, an expensive and restricted medical system and the power of micro blog. Gao hopes to establish a feasible Chinese model that will properly distribute the wealth of the nation to average citizens.

Octopus' Garden children's book

Ringo Starr is turning an old Beatles favorite into a children's book. The drummer has a deal with Simon & Schuster's Children Books for Octopus' Garden, based on one of the few songs the drummer wrote and sang while with the Beatles. The publisher announced the book will be published in Britain this fall and in the United States in early 2014. The book will be illustrated by Ben Cort, whose credits include Aliens Love Underpants.

China Daily-Reuters