by Neal Shusterman
published in 2007
At no time in this book are "clappers" described in this book, if I read this book correctly. As I am reading this book the mention a fear of clappers, a cult of some sort. People will actually freak out if someone starts clapping. I know this because an entire school starts freaking out and evacuating when the main characters start clapping to escape. Makes no sense whatsoever. Like I said before, everything makes sense at the end of the book. Clappers are the equivilance to our suicide bombers. Clappers have their bombs infused into their blood that ignite upon stress, so clapping is one method to ignite the bomb. Clappers intend to bring about chaos and change. That is about the extent of what the book describes clappers to be. I'd be scared of people like that too because they have no defined motive. They just have a sense that something has to happen and because of that no one has any idea what kinds of things are running through their heads. Even though I would be scared of people like this, in this book, clappers were described to be against the unwinding of people and the way Shusterman used them to help reach his conclusion was well done and the clappers can't be hated as our terrorists are.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Friday, January 15, 2010
Unwind
Unwind by Neal Shusterman
published in 2007
Another interesting thing about this book is a scary story told about one of the first unwinds, Humphrey Dunfee. The sounds an awful lot like someone else we've all heard of, Humpty Dumpty. Well like Humpty, Humphrey got split into a bunch a pieces, part of being one of the first unwounds. But his parents regretted their choice and tried to gather up all his parts to make him whole again. Would that person think the same way as the original? That's only if the procedure for a reconstruction plan of a person actually worked, because errors exist. But it is just a story in a book. Or is it? This book is full of twists so Humphrey Dunfree's parents are one of the biggest. They reveal themselves at the end of the book by bringing together all of Humphrey's parts so they can have one big reunion, and I bet it is not the kind of reunion you readers are thinking of. The end of this book nicely brought everything to a close and even gave people a little heart for the unwounds.
published in 2007
Another interesting thing about this book is a scary story told about one of the first unwinds, Humphrey Dunfee. The sounds an awful lot like someone else we've all heard of, Humpty Dumpty. Well like Humpty, Humphrey got split into a bunch a pieces, part of being one of the first unwounds. But his parents regretted their choice and tried to gather up all his parts to make him whole again. Would that person think the same way as the original? That's only if the procedure for a reconstruction plan of a person actually worked, because errors exist. But it is just a story in a book. Or is it? This book is full of twists so Humphrey Dunfree's parents are one of the biggest. They reveal themselves at the end of the book by bringing together all of Humphrey's parts so they can have one big reunion, and I bet it is not the kind of reunion you readers are thinking of. The end of this book nicely brought everything to a close and even gave people a little heart for the unwounds.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Unwind
Unwind by Neal Shusterman
published in 2007
First thought when looking at this book is ghastly. The cover shows a faded shape of a person. Presumably this book is about ghosts just from that. This book, in fact, is about how some kids just never die. In “Unwind”, kids, under eighteen, who are not promising are a problem. The solution is to have these kids unwound, thereby giving them the title of unwounds. To be unwound is to have one's body completely torn apart so that the parts may be used for other people. While reading this book, this was the hardest concept to grasp. Imagine if it happened to you, knowing your life was not really meant anything and all you had to look forward to was knowing your body parts did something. Obviously, the unwounds don't like being unwound, so they tend to run away if given the chance. This book is about how three kids escape their status of unwounds by running away. Eventually, when they are eighteen, they are no longer unwounds because the law say that eighteen is the age limit for adults which nulls the unwound status. Think about what kind of world these people were living in to allow the unwinding of kids. People can live decent lives without certain organs. But the society of “Unwind” values human efficiency over quantity. In comparison to our own government, unwinding would be an ethical issue, such as abortion. They both raise a look into the pros and cons of each issue.
published in 2007
First thought when looking at this book is ghastly. The cover shows a faded shape of a person. Presumably this book is about ghosts just from that. This book, in fact, is about how some kids just never die. In “Unwind”, kids, under eighteen, who are not promising are a problem. The solution is to have these kids unwound, thereby giving them the title of unwounds. To be unwound is to have one's body completely torn apart so that the parts may be used for other people. While reading this book, this was the hardest concept to grasp. Imagine if it happened to you, knowing your life was not really meant anything and all you had to look forward to was knowing your body parts did something. Obviously, the unwounds don't like being unwound, so they tend to run away if given the chance. This book is about how three kids escape their status of unwounds by running away. Eventually, when they are eighteen, they are no longer unwounds because the law say that eighteen is the age limit for adults which nulls the unwound status. Think about what kind of world these people were living in to allow the unwinding of kids. People can live decent lives without certain organs. But the society of “Unwind” values human efficiency over quantity. In comparison to our own government, unwinding would be an ethical issue, such as abortion. They both raise a look into the pros and cons of each issue.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
The Tipping Point
By Malcolm Gladwell
Published in 2000
Gladwell goes into looking at how neutral a facial expression can be. He describes how three reporters were reacting to a variety of subjects. Based on a scale of 1-21, 1 being the most negative and 21 being the most positive, two of the reporters were seen as unbiased to a political subject on Mondale and Reagan, two people from different political parties. The third reporter, working for ABC News, seemed to change his facial features in a more positive way when speaking of Reagan. The analysis of that is that he is biased towards Reagan. From just his facial expressions, he influenced just about 75% of the people watching ABC News into voting for Reagan in an election. I like to think of my facial expressions as being neutral. My friends seem to think so, and I feel as if my face seems to decide that it has to look happy half the time and neutral the other half the time, which seems to mean that I am unhappy. That is just what I have been told. Personally I'm not to sure, but I could agree with it.
Published in 2000
Gladwell goes into looking at how neutral a facial expression can be. He describes how three reporters were reacting to a variety of subjects. Based on a scale of 1-21, 1 being the most negative and 21 being the most positive, two of the reporters were seen as unbiased to a political subject on Mondale and Reagan, two people from different political parties. The third reporter, working for ABC News, seemed to change his facial features in a more positive way when speaking of Reagan. The analysis of that is that he is biased towards Reagan. From just his facial expressions, he influenced just about 75% of the people watching ABC News into voting for Reagan in an election. I like to think of my facial expressions as being neutral. My friends seem to think so, and I feel as if my face seems to decide that it has to look happy half the time and neutral the other half the time, which seems to mean that I am unhappy. That is just what I have been told. Personally I'm not to sure, but I could agree with it.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
The Tipping Point
By Malcolm Gladwell
Published in 2000
The salesman, Tom Gau, had a very interesting quote,"if you don't try, you'll never succeed". This quote is described in literary by a special name, that I can't remember, that means that these are words of wisdom. Tom Gau is right, how can something be accomplished if never attempted? In my life, I tend to sit by and let things happen. As described in the book, Tom Gau tries and has moments of success, such as when he able to persuade a home owner to sell his beautiful home at a ridiculously price for its value. But what is success? I see success as a description of how the aspects of a person's life changes. It is when you are in a decent, if not good, position, and it doesn't get worse. Just as long as things don't get worse. But that isn't really a description of success, it is rather a description of life and how I see that life should isn't bad till it gets worse.
Published in 2000
The salesman, Tom Gau, had a very interesting quote,"if you don't try, you'll never succeed". This quote is described in literary by a special name, that I can't remember, that means that these are words of wisdom. Tom Gau is right, how can something be accomplished if never attempted? In my life, I tend to sit by and let things happen. As described in the book, Tom Gau tries and has moments of success, such as when he able to persuade a home owner to sell his beautiful home at a ridiculously price for its value. But what is success? I see success as a description of how the aspects of a person's life changes. It is when you are in a decent, if not good, position, and it doesn't get worse. Just as long as things don't get worse. But that isn't really a description of success, it is rather a description of life and how I see that life should isn't bad till it gets worse.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
The Tipping Point
By Malcolm Gladwell
Published in 2000
The “Tipping Point” is dense. That is to say it brings about an in depth way of describing how epidemics are caused by. I just finished a part where Gladwell explains 3 types of people that can cause epidemics. These people are known as Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen. Connectors basically know lots of people. Mavens are experts in their fields of information and have a need to help others. Salesman are charismatic men who are very good at persuasion. Of course these are not the only ways that Gladwell describes these people, I am only touching on them and their traits. Gladwell knows lots of people to help further describes these people in his book. I know a great amount of people, Facebook tells me I have a lot of friends. I am not sure how to classify them, if I could, as Connectors, Mavens, or Salesmen. The television can be a great help however, because I was watching “Spongebob Squarepants” and saw the best example of a Maven. The episode was about Spongebob sharing his jellyfish jelly with a customer of the Krusty Krab. That customer spreads the word of the amazing taste of a jellyfish jelly krabby patty and everyone listens to him. The word spreads so fast and Mr.Krabs, the owner of the restaurant, becomes obsessed with making a profit of the jelly. That customer is exactly how Gladwell describes a Maven.
Published in 2000
The “Tipping Point” is dense. That is to say it brings about an in depth way of describing how epidemics are caused by. I just finished a part where Gladwell explains 3 types of people that can cause epidemics. These people are known as Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen. Connectors basically know lots of people. Mavens are experts in their fields of information and have a need to help others. Salesman are charismatic men who are very good at persuasion. Of course these are not the only ways that Gladwell describes these people, I am only touching on them and their traits. Gladwell knows lots of people to help further describes these people in his book. I know a great amount of people, Facebook tells me I have a lot of friends. I am not sure how to classify them, if I could, as Connectors, Mavens, or Salesmen. The television can be a great help however, because I was watching “Spongebob Squarepants” and saw the best example of a Maven. The episode was about Spongebob sharing his jellyfish jelly with a customer of the Krusty Krab. That customer spreads the word of the amazing taste of a jellyfish jelly krabby patty and everyone listens to him. The word spreads so fast and Mr.Krabs, the owner of the restaurant, becomes obsessed with making a profit of the jelly. That customer is exactly how Gladwell describes a Maven.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Mission Black List #1
By Eric Maddox with David Seay
published in 2009
One thing I like about this book, other then the insightful facts from the books, is that in the middle of the book, there a pictures. While reading the book, I had a hard time visualizing some of the characteristics of of Iraq. At many times in the book, there are references to many places and people, as I stated before. When reading a book, a good thing to do to keep track is to visualize the plot and setting. The pictures really help with that visualization by giving me a view of the area. They also show the High Value Targets cards. Many books do not have pictures. True, pictures are a bit childish but they can help the reader understand the book. One picture isn't a picture at all. It is a diagram that shows the family tree of Saddam Hussein. This family tree really helps you follow the long complicated array of names the Maddox uses in the book.
published in 2009
One thing I like about this book, other then the insightful facts from the books, is that in the middle of the book, there a pictures. While reading the book, I had a hard time visualizing some of the characteristics of of Iraq. At many times in the book, there are references to many places and people, as I stated before. When reading a book, a good thing to do to keep track is to visualize the plot and setting. The pictures really help with that visualization by giving me a view of the area. They also show the High Value Targets cards. Many books do not have pictures. True, pictures are a bit childish but they can help the reader understand the book. One picture isn't a picture at all. It is a diagram that shows the family tree of Saddam Hussein. This family tree really helps you follow the long complicated array of names the Maddox uses in the book.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)