published in 2009
by Jack McDevitt
This book describe one major problem with time travel, you can not create paradoxes in the timestream. That is to say you can not make something that happen in history inexistant. In the book, Michael and a collegue wanted to test what would happen if they had a book in a briefcase and went back five minutes in time to take the book out. His collegue was the one to take the tripped and died because of a heart attack because of their attempt to change reality. However, in future attempts to remove items from the past, this cardiac arrest principle does not occur because the main characters decide that they will return the objects back to their time after they have served their purpose. How this makes sense, I have no idea.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Time Travelers Never Die
published in 2009
by Jack McDevitt
"Time Travelers Never Die" is a book about Adrian Shelborne, who suddenly finds that his father, Michael Shelborne, has disappeared. As he rummages through his father's belonging, he finds that he has been left a note from his father that he has been left a key to a rental mailbox. Inside this mailbox, Shel finds that his father has created time machines in the form of Q-pods, a hand-held device. Michael has asked that these devices be destroyed, but Shel has a better use, searching for his father in time. So Shel goes back in time to warn his father that he will disappear in the next few days. So Michael decides to leave and come back in two weeks saying he was on a work-related trip. Michael, however, does not return and Shel is worried. Shel, having no experience in foreign languages, enlists the help of a friend who teaches ancient languages at a university, David Dryden, to search through the time stream.
by Jack McDevitt
"Time Travelers Never Die" is a book about Adrian Shelborne, who suddenly finds that his father, Michael Shelborne, has disappeared. As he rummages through his father's belonging, he finds that he has been left a note from his father that he has been left a key to a rental mailbox. Inside this mailbox, Shel finds that his father has created time machines in the form of Q-pods, a hand-held device. Michael has asked that these devices be destroyed, but Shel has a better use, searching for his father in time. So Shel goes back in time to warn his father that he will disappear in the next few days. So Michael decides to leave and come back in two weeks saying he was on a work-related trip. Michael, however, does not return and Shel is worried. Shel, having no experience in foreign languages, enlists the help of a friend who teaches ancient languages at a university, David Dryden, to search through the time stream.
Monday, April 26, 2010
The Positive Power of Praising People
Published in 1994
by Jerry D. Twentier
Something I have only just noticed is that Twentier focuses mainly on one relationship in this book, the employer to employee relationship. Twentier says that the higher one moves up the work ladder, the farther that person distances themselves from their employees. This is just because managers pay less attention to the chatter amoung their employees. This chatter exists in places such as bathrooms. Twentier focuses on making this relationship better. One method he describes that everyone should use daily is empathy. Employees and employers should emphasize and understand where each side is coming from. Employees may perceive that their manager is unwilling to listen to their problems. They don't understand that a few years ago, their employers were in that same situation. People hurt each other everyday because they do not understand how the other person feels. If everyone felt the pain of something like bullying, would it still continue?
by Jerry D. Twentier
Something I have only just noticed is that Twentier focuses mainly on one relationship in this book, the employer to employee relationship. Twentier says that the higher one moves up the work ladder, the farther that person distances themselves from their employees. This is just because managers pay less attention to the chatter amoung their employees. This chatter exists in places such as bathrooms. Twentier focuses on making this relationship better. One method he describes that everyone should use daily is empathy. Employees and employers should emphasize and understand where each side is coming from. Employees may perceive that their manager is unwilling to listen to their problems. They don't understand that a few years ago, their employers were in that same situation. People hurt each other everyday because they do not understand how the other person feels. If everyone felt the pain of something like bullying, would it still continue?
The Positive Power of Praising People
Published in 1994
by Jerry D. Twentier
Twentier has a lot to say about the positive power of praising people, but there is one thing that he states that makes the most sense. That statement is that the best way to acknowledge people is by listening. Listening is the most important skill in everyday. People listen to learn characteristics about their environment and absorb that information to make use of it later. Twentier describes listening much the same way, in that it requires full attention to the speaker. By giving the speaker your full attention, the speaker's message can be clearly understood and one can notice the small physical changes exhibited by the speaker that may help to understand the message meant to be given. Listening is not only an auditory action, but requires all the senses. To understand something, the most amount of senses possible must be used to understand a subject. Like a motor. It helps to be able to see a motor spin, see where the wires connect, hear the sounds, and possibly touch the work being done, but tasting is a useless trait.
by Jerry D. Twentier
Twentier has a lot to say about the positive power of praising people, but there is one thing that he states that makes the most sense. That statement is that the best way to acknowledge people is by listening. Listening is the most important skill in everyday. People listen to learn characteristics about their environment and absorb that information to make use of it later. Twentier describes listening much the same way, in that it requires full attention to the speaker. By giving the speaker your full attention, the speaker's message can be clearly understood and one can notice the small physical changes exhibited by the speaker that may help to understand the message meant to be given. Listening is not only an auditory action, but requires all the senses. To understand something, the most amount of senses possible must be used to understand a subject. Like a motor. It helps to be able to see a motor spin, see where the wires connect, hear the sounds, and possibly touch the work being done, but tasting is a useless trait.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
The Secret Country
Published in 2003
by Pamela Dean
That last question from my last blog is a great topic. How do the swords really work? The children in the book have gathered up different theories. Either Secret Country is real or they are all hallucinating and imaging the same world at the same time. They fit perfectly into the storyline of Secret Country because they replace the royal children of the kingdom. So, somehow, the original royal children just cease to exist. The swords do not even make sense by how they were placed in the areas because, after reading further through th book, the swords are that of two ancient reknown wizards. If the swords started in Secret Country, how would they end up in actual reality, which lacks magic? Dean's plotline is just a little hard to follow, but still makes for a better read than some other plotlines I have read.
by Pamela Dean
That last question from my last blog is a great topic. How do the swords really work? The children in the book have gathered up different theories. Either Secret Country is real or they are all hallucinating and imaging the same world at the same time. They fit perfectly into the storyline of Secret Country because they replace the royal children of the kingdom. So, somehow, the original royal children just cease to exist. The swords do not even make sense by how they were placed in the areas because, after reading further through th book, the swords are that of two ancient reknown wizards. If the swords started in Secret Country, how would they end up in actual reality, which lacks magic? Dean's plotline is just a little hard to follow, but still makes for a better read than some other plotlines I have read.
Friday, March 26, 2010
The Secret Country
Published in 2003
by Pamela Dean
When I first picked up this book, I read that it was about children who play a fantasy world together. Then all the sudden, they can no longer play this game because two are separated from the others and the world cannot be continued. Then, to solve the problem, Dean creates a bridge between reality and their fantasy world, through the use of swords. Somehow, swords that could let them travel to "Secret Country" existed near their homes and they could all play together. None of this really makes any sense. Why? Because I don't think Dean can keep my attention long enough in the ordinary parts of her book and I tend to skim over things. Does it really make sense for swords to be in easily found places and just to have kids find them? How do the swords even work? How would they be able to relate a made-up fantasy world and make it reality?
by Pamela Dean
When I first picked up this book, I read that it was about children who play a fantasy world together. Then all the sudden, they can no longer play this game because two are separated from the others and the world cannot be continued. Then, to solve the problem, Dean creates a bridge between reality and their fantasy world, through the use of swords. Somehow, swords that could let them travel to "Secret Country" existed near their homes and they could all play together. None of this really makes any sense. Why? Because I don't think Dean can keep my attention long enough in the ordinary parts of her book and I tend to skim over things. Does it really make sense for swords to be in easily found places and just to have kids find them? How do the swords even work? How would they be able to relate a made-up fantasy world and make it reality?
Saturday, March 20, 2010
The Positive Power of Praising People
Published in 1994
by Jerry D. Twentier
Prettium is the Latin noun for price. I have taken Latin, so I would know. Twentier makes a connection between the English word for praise and this Latin word. Praise is derived from prettium. To be derived from a word is to share similar meanings. This means that praise is similar to price or highly valued. To be valued is to be helpful in some manner. Helpful can be defined many ways. Say there are two flashlights. They both perform their functions equally. However, one looks better than another because it is black, while the other is a conglomeration of mix-matched colors. The black one is more valued just because it looks better. Sometimes looks are valued not for vanity, but for the simply reason that people just like things cause they look better. It is a value in human society that exists everywhere because everything has a price.
by Jerry D. Twentier
Prettium is the Latin noun for price. I have taken Latin, so I would know. Twentier makes a connection between the English word for praise and this Latin word. Praise is derived from prettium. To be derived from a word is to share similar meanings. This means that praise is similar to price or highly valued. To be valued is to be helpful in some manner. Helpful can be defined many ways. Say there are two flashlights. They both perform their functions equally. However, one looks better than another because it is black, while the other is a conglomeration of mix-matched colors. The black one is more valued just because it looks better. Sometimes looks are valued not for vanity, but for the simply reason that people just like things cause they look better. It is a value in human society that exists everywhere because everything has a price.
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