Studying for a PhD in Russia, working for 12 years at FPT Corporation as a manager, becoming CEO of Thai Ha Books for the past 18 years, Mr. Nguyen Manh Hung has devoted a lot of effort to the path of promoting education.
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| Dr. Nguyen Manh Hung. Photo: NVCC |
Making books with a spirit of service, Dr. NGUYEN MANH HUNG took the time to talk to Dong Nai Weekend Newspaper about his path to books as well as his concerns in the present and future.
Want to do “something” for books and reading culture
* Doctor, what brought you to the profession of book publishing, making books and promoting reading?
- I have loved reading since I was a child. When I was young, I read anything I could get my hands on, and I devoured it. There were books that I borrowed and had to return the next day, and I stayed up all night reading them. Later, when I went to study in Russia, I had the opportunity to immerse myself in books and read quite a lot. Then, during my 12 years working at FPT, I also read a lot and bought many books to give away. Actually, my passion for giving away books has existed for a long time, since my student days, and perhaps those are the deep seeds of encouraging reading.
In 2007, I decided to change direction and establish Thai Ha Book Joint Stock Company with the desire to create a river of knowledge with like-minded colleagues (Ha is the river, Thai is the light, and this light is not the sun during the day, the moon and stars at night, or the lamp in the dark, but the light of knowledge and intelligence).
* Switching to publishing books while in a position that many people dream of in a large technology company, is this a way to "think differently, do differently" as the title of a book that you recently collaborated with author Professor Truong Nguyen Thanh to publish, could you please share more about this?
- Actually, in each stage of life, each of us has our own passion. However, there are things that are nurtured in our hearts from a young age that sooner or later have the opportunity to explode. When people are at the peak, when they have climbed to the top of a mountain, they will definitely find another mountain to climb. I really like to do things that are new, strange, different, even difficult to challenge myself, especially doing things that help solve big problems, that have a changing nature.
In 2005-2007, I saw that there were still many books lacking, moreover, the books published were quite bad in form, with many errors in content, especially many books that violated copyright. I decided to try, at most I would fail. I told myself, I would spend 3 billion VND, then maybe 5 billion, and if I spent 10 billion VND and failed, I would stop. Not only “think differently, do differently” but also use “reverse thinking” as the name of another book that we also published recently.
| According to Dr. Nguyen Manh Hung, if we read and apply valuable books well in life, people will become much healthier, both physically and mentally, and live much more kindly. |
* You once said that, for you, the happiness of being enlightened is much greater than owning a million-dollar fortune. So from the perspective of a publisher and a messenger of reading promotion, how have you materialized that over the years?
- It's true that having a lot of money is nice, but when you have enough money, money is no longer important to you. What you want then is to do what you like, what you want, what brings happiness to yourself, to those around you and to society. The nature of making money, traveling , entertaining, partying... is ultimately to bring you happiness. Happiness from what you do, what you like is much greater, because it comes from within!
When material wealth reaches a certain level, people care about wisdom. Let's close our eyes and imagine that each book is truly valuable and highly applicable. Thai Ha Books prints several thousand copies and if only 10% of them reach the readers and 10% of them are applied well in life, how great the results will be and how happiness will be multiplied tremendously!
The ATM BOOKSHELF Program alone has donated nearly 300 free bookcases to all parts of the country and several countries, which has certainly helped many people become happy and changed their lives. No million or billion dollars can buy this happiness, the happiness of those who silently promote reading and spread the reading culture.
Encourage reading and writing to spread the spirit of reading in the community
* After 18 years since Thai Ha Books was born, looking back now, what do you feel and what do you appreciate about yourself?
- Recently, we received a delegation of leaders of a Korean publishing company at the company headquarters. The leader really liked the green, clean, beautiful office with lots of books. He was surprised why Vietnam had such a wonderful office and then realized that it was all thanks to reading and applying books. The happiness of 18 years of persistently promoting reading is that simple.
Last week, we attended the Kuala Lumpur International Book Fair and the ASEAN Copyright Book Fair 2025 with many meetings, exchanges, seminars, and discussions with publishing leaders from 24 countries. Most of them knew about Thai Ha Books. Many leaders of international publishing houses came to congratulate us when we received the ASEAN Right Fair book award. Even after returning to Vietnam, we still receive messages and phone calls every day with congratulations. That’s all I can say about the happiness I have achieved over the past 18 years.
18 years of perseverance, never giving up, together with colleagues, partners and readers, the memories are deeply engraved in our minds. The most satisfying thing is that there are millions of readers who have Thai Ha Books in their hearts with more than ten titles printed over 100 thousand copies and hundreds of titles printed over 10 thousand copies that have been well received by readers.
What has not been done is that pirated and fake books are still rampant, and the number of books read by Vietnamese is still too modest compared to surrounding countries such as Malaysia, Thailand, Korea, Japan, etc., and I see that my efforts are still too small.
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| Dr. Nguyen Manh Hung signs books for readers at Nguyen Van Binh Book Street (Ho Chi Minh City). |
* Practically, what is your comment on book making, book publishing and book reading in Vietnam today? What is worth paying attention to in order to build a society with a spirit of promoting reading?
- There are 3 areas here: authors, publishing units and readers. These areas need to be more closely connected, deeper and more cohesive. Currently, about 70% of the books published by Thai Ha Books are still books that have foreign copyrights and are translated into Vietnamese. We are promoting the "Writing Promotion" Program with the hope of having more Vietnamese authors, so that the number of books published by Vietnamese and foreign authors is equal, and eventually there will be more Vietnamese authors.
To have a learning society, we need to bring books and reading culture to every family and every school. Unfortunately, books do not have an immediate impact on our current lives, so we do not really care, unless people have a long-term vision for the future of our children and grandchildren. I think it will take 20-30 years, when a new generation absorbs and absorbs, then there will be fundamental changes.
* In the near future, what are your plans for the book brand you have built over the years?
- The important milestone is 20 years of Thai Ha Books. In addition to the traditional and strong book categories such as parenting books, health books, Buddhist books, management books, cultural and educational books, etc., we are having success in the special book category which is made as gifts and for book lovers and book collectors. We have published 6 books in the pocket book category, abridged books (Pocket book) for the group of readers who want to read less but still have enough content for the whole book or a few hundred or thousands of pages.
And the most important are still the two programs to promote reading and writing, and then there will be other programs to both spread reading culture among the public and bring Vietnamese books to the world.
* Thank you!
Vuong The (performed)
Source: https://baodongnai.com.vn/dong-nai-cuoi-tuan/202506/ong-nguyen-manh-hung-chu-tich-cong-ty-cp-sach-thai-ha-thai-ha-books-lam-sach-de-gop-phan-phat-trien-van-hoa-doc-917017c/
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