The Last Lecture is a book by Randy Pausch. The book is based on a lecture Pausch gave at Carnegie Mellon University in 2007, in which he discussed his childhood dreams, his career as a professor and researcher, and his battle with cancer. The book was published in 2008 and became a New York Times … Read more
The book starts with a description of what water is, how it’s all around us, and how it’s essential to life. Then, David Foster Wallace dives into why we should care about water. He argues that we often take water for granted, even though it’s so essential to our survival. He also discusses how our … Read more
1776 by David McCullough is a book about the American Revolution. It tells the story of the men who fought for independence and how they managed to win against all odds. The book also covers the events leading up to the war, such as the Boston Tea Party and the Battle of Bunker Hill. 1776 … Read more
Within the book domination and marriage are closely linked as well as the interrelated themes of marriage and sexuality. There was a hierarchy, which placed virgins at the top, then widows who did not remarry, and then married people at the bottom. It was felt that God must love virgins most and that married people … Read more
Pendragon: The Merchant of Death by D. J . MacHale is about 14 year old Bobby Pendragon who is going to save the world. It all starts when his uncle, Uncle Press, visits his house before he goes to a basketball game. He tells Bobby that there are some people who need their help and … Read more
I’ll be looking at the physiological approach and mainly focusing on the emotional problems. In the book, Disclaimer, Catherine Ravenscroft hides her secret for 20 years, after which a self-published book The Perfect Stranger appears on her nightstand and it is about her and her long kept secret. The secret itself is an emotional problem … Read more
Another book written by Jack London is called “The Seed of McCoy. ” This book talks about a two different crews of men sailing the sea. His story is mostly wrapped around this one crew of men on a boat called the Pyrenees that happens to have a cargo full of burning wheat. The men … Read more
Most people can remember their parents reading them bedtime stories as a kid, but I can’t recall if my parents did. That could be a reason as to why I was never crazy about books, and surely never wanted to read one. I eventually gave into reading and found that I loved it. My favorite … Read more
Overtime, as literature changes and the purpose of it changes as well. Writers have transitioned from modern ideals to postmodern principles, infatuating life and the lessons seek to pass it on. Post-Modernist like to refer to other pieces of literature and either praise the work or challenge it. In Toni Morrison’s Jazz, not only do … Read more
From the very beginning of the book, Rousseau rejects the idea that any political authority is found in nature but rather the only natural authority is that of a father over their children. This only exists for the preservation of the child. This is consistent with the words of Hobbes who also say the relationship … Read more
The short stories, “the Magic Barrel” and “The German Refugee” displays Bernard Malamud’s sorrow over his mother’s death. “The Magic Barrel is about a young Jewish man named Leo Finkle, who has been studying six years to be a rabbi at a Jewish university called Yeshiva University in Brooklyn, New York. The story is ultimately … Read more
Imagine a situation where one’s most valued person in their life turned against them. Think how they would honestly feel and how would they act? Larry Watson writes an incredible book, Montana 1948. The main character, David, who is twelve years old, lives in Bentrock, Montana and was born into a high up family who … Read more
We can say from The Master and Margarita that while Jesus and Christianity is mentioned and relevant in the book, Bulgakov stays away from the sophisticated display of Jesus. What intrigues me is the Jesus that Bulgakov displays doesn’t like the secretary going after him almost in a secretive type of way. There are many … Read more
The rule following, intelligent girl, goes by the name of Alex Bailey. In the book, “The Land of Stories,” written by Chris Colfer, Alex is on a search for the most wanted criminal in all of the kingdoms, the Masked Man. Alex had reason to believe that the Masked Man is her late father, who … Read more
In the book Watership Down by Richard Adams, a group of rabbits set off together after hearing a concerning prophecy that their warren would be attacked soon. They venture off into the unknown, traveling through different warrens; meeting new friends and enemies on their way. Throughout the journey, there was one significant leader that helped … Read more
Widely called the greatest poet of his time in Mexico, Octavio Paz brought about a life that in several ways was typical in the Mexican intelligentsia he describes inside Labyrinth of Solitude. He published a lot more than thirty books regarding poetry, fought with the Loyalists in the nation, and served his country to be … Read more
In his book, “Bless Me, Ultima”, author Rudolfo Anaya documents through a fictional novel, the life experiences of a child, Antonio, who is deeply conflicted by his cultural and religious identity, he describes the struggles, the tragedies, and the dilemmas that this young boy has to endure and witness throughout his life. The book takes … Read more
For the Felicity of Reading – Jay Elliott It gripes me to say reading has not always been my favorite hobby, but writing (English) has never seemed to do much for me but that perspective has been adjusting as of late. Reading has been a favorite of my pleasures for most of my life but … Read more
Church Unique is a well-written book concerned with the development and implementation of a vision. Will Mancini writes with a passion and desire for leader to be able to see and communicate the God sized vision that God has for their church. Mancini mentions his one purpose in writing: “. to challenge you to find … Read more
Tuesday’s with Morrie tells the story of two men; one who’s battling the terminal diagnoses of ALS, while the other is struggling to realize his purpose in life. The book starts off at a college graduation where the main character, Mitch, is receiving his diploma. He and his favorite college professor, Morrie, have a heartfelt … Read more
The Bell Jar was published in 1963. The book dealt heavily with mental health and how it was treated and perceived at the time. The Bell Jar touched on gender issues at the time and was described as a feminist novel. In the 1950’s numerous historical events took place and references to those events were … Read more
Throughout history, communities have maintained their dominance over the lives of the individual and the collective lives of those within a community. Community, as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary, is “a body of people organized into a political, municipal, or social unity”. Although this is the technical definition, a community can be described in … Read more
Ethan Mordden, in his book ‘Coming Up Roses’ sums up Gypsy as a musical “about how your mother destroys you” (1998, p. 245). The musical originally opened in 1959 on Broadway with a book by Arthur Laurents, music by Jule Styne and lyrics by a young Stephen Sondheim, and was most recently revived in a … Read more
There are several connections between the book “Trash” written Andy Mulligan and “Millions” directed by Danny Boyle as the basis is very similar. Some of the similarities in the themes of the two texts are – Poverty, Friendship & Greed. These points are some of many that you can compare the two texts with. The … Read more
Hey I’m a wizard! I wonder if I can be consider a magical creature too. The human’s anatomy itself is regard in a certain way that fit in the magical category. From a my perspective, most strangest and fascinating factor of a human body stems from its comprised biological systems which created is by a … Read more
“Part of spiritual and emotional maturity is recognizing that it’s not like you’re going to try to fix yourself and become a different person. You remain the same person, but you become awakened” (Kornfield). This thoughtful quote by Jack Kornfield perfectly describes the protagonist’s journey in the book Zack by William Bell. Zack was a … Read more
Do you find your life hard? In Haiti most people have hard lives, but those people work hard and live their lives the way they can. How is it that living with all their daily struggles they manage to find the strength to keep working as hard as they do? In the book Krik Krak, … Read more
Using Humor to Cope Humor, sometimes used as a coping mechanism, to avoid the truth, or simply make light of a difficult situation. The use of humour by some can result in emotions being suppressed, never being allowed to reach the surface. Within the book “In a World Created by a Drunk God” by Hayden … Read more
Summary The Ghost Map was a historical piece of literature that was used to explain the V. cholera epidemic in London. The book, written by Steven Johnson, tells about how the water and the lack of proper sewage systems lead to a disease that killed many citizens and lead to panic for Londoners. Dr. John … Read more
Rose’s Story is a book about the struggles one woman faced through most of her adult life, all while trying to remember her past and also while trying to raise a family of her own. The main character of the story, Rose herself, goes through the “system” so many times having to deal with one … Read more
The book Colors of the Mountain by Da Chen is about the his experience in China during and after the Cultural Revolution. Chen walks us through what it was like to be a child during the Cultural Revolution and how it felt to be under the rule of Chairman Mao. His accounts are each shocking … Read more
The first book I decided to read this summer was The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury. This book was first published in 1946. However, it is set in the distant future, as many of his novels are. Bradbury begins his novel in January of 2030 in Ohio where a rocket is launched into space heading … Read more
In “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” by Ann Brashares she develops each character through their tone in their letters and their thoughts. The book is about four different girls who are all best best friends and have to spend the summer apart. As they each write short letters to each other the reader learns … Read more
“It would be comforting to have something to look up to. Instead, the walls are bare. They have been freshly painted pale blue. An anxious color. Anxiety is blue; failure, grey. He knows those shades. ” This short phrase describes the anxiety level Conrad Jarrett has towards his self being. Throughout the novel there are … Read more
“Against Love”: immediately controversy is conveyed by the title of Laura Kipnis’ article on modern relationships. The reader is put on the defensive as Kipnis starts her argument with strong metaphors attacking one of the most basic human interactions that we see as natural and embrace without question. Namely, love, a word held in superposition … Read more
In an excerpt from his book The God Delusion (2006), Richard Dawkins argues that scientific evidence is fundamental to the establishment that a scientific theory, such as the idea of creationism and theory of evolution, can become a scientific fact. Dawkins states that “if all evidence in the universe turned in favor of creationism. ” … Read more
“Books are uniquely portable magic,” Stephen King wrote in On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. I quite agree with this view. In retrospect, the genres of books which I read gradually varied as of aged. Additionally, those books which I have read, broadened my horizon and improved my comprehension ability to some degree. When … Read more
William Zinsser said in his book, “On Writing Well”, that there is no great audience to write for; instead authors should write for themselves, for expressing their own emotions, passions, and desires. While this is true to some degree, writers should still keep an audience in mind when writing, especially if that writing is meant … Read more
During my junior year of high school, I somewhat became aware of Women’s Right Issue. I have made an effort to evaluate majority of the culture standard that I had previously taken in as it just being “the untaught order of items. ” One of the directions that I took to enlarge my knowledge of … Read more
The two books I read over the summer were Counting By 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan and The Maze Runner by James Dashner. The first book, Counting By 7s takes place in Bakersfield, California, and is about twelve year old Willow Chance who enjoys gardening, diagnosing medical conditions and the number seven. The story is … Read more
The Apology, written by Socrates student Plato, is a narrative of Socrates addressing the Athenss Court of Justice for which he states he is on trial for being an evil doer, and a curious person, who searches into things under the earth and in heaven, and he makes the worse appear the better cause; and … Read more
Richard White’s Organic Machine, and William Cronon’s Changes in the Land, both examine environments as energy flow systems. The energy flow model was utilized by the authors to explain relationships within ecosystems. Richard White’s thesis is to examine the river as an organic machine, as an energy system that, although modified by human intervention, maintains … Read more
Why is it that Europeans ended up conquering so much of the world? Or as Yali puts it in the far beginning of the book, “Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo and brought it to New Guinea, but we black people had little cargo of our own”? Despite all the … Read more
“Chaos theory proves that unpredictability is built into our daily lives. “(Crichton 313). Ian Malcolm’s words resolve the book, Jurassic Park, in a very absolute way. Throughout the book, Malcolm, spoke about chaos theory and his self proclaimed “Malcolm Effect” to explain his reasoning in his predictions. Ian Malcolm had predicted the demise of Jurassic … Read more
The book “Flowers For Algernon”, by Daniel Keys was written in 1961. Later, Richard Heynes decided to produce the movie in 1968 properly called “Charly”. There are both similarities and differences between the two. However, the differences play a more crucial role between the two rather then the similarities. One major difference between the movie … Read more
Generation X’ers have been described as “fanatically independent individuals pathologically ambivalent about the future, and brimming with unsatisfied longings for permanence, for love, and for material possessions. ” (Lauren, p. 64) This less-than-flattering description of our generation has since been expanded by the media to the point that myself and my peers are described as … Read more
Nelson Mandela in his book, Long Walk to Freedom argues through the first five parts that a black individual must deal, coop, and grow through a society that is hindering their lives’ with apartheid and suppression of their rightful land. Rolihlanla Mphakanyiswa or clan name, Madiba was born on July 18, 1918 in a simple … Read more
The destruction of the grand style of the epic is just what Pope was after in his mock epic, “The Rape of the Lock. ” Pope had no such universal goal, or moral pronouncements to make as did Milton. His purpose was merely to expose the life of the nobility of his time. While Milton … Read more
The Halocaust, a horrible time for the world. Just as any war is. War is the single most destructive thing our world has. It can take the lives of millions of people in just a few seconds. War however may seem bad from the perspective of many people, but it is even worse from the … Read more
The book that I have read is Successful Negotiation by, Ginny Pearson Barnes, Ed. D.. I really don’t read many books but I enjoyed reading this one. Ginny has many great points about negotiation. Every aspect about communication is applied when discussing the negotiation process. Negotiation can be very complex when looking in depth about … Read more
Accordion Crimes is a difficult book to place in a single time period because the story takes place over about 100 years, originating in a small Sicilian village, but the main setting and focus is the United States. The various settings introduced in the book influenced the characters in various ways, but one instance of … Read more
The pivotal second chapter of Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, “Of the Principle which gives occasion to the Division of Labour,” opens with the oft-cited claim that the foundation of modern political economy is the human “propensity to truck, barter, and exchange one thing for another. “1 This formulation plays both an analytical and normative … Read more
Viva la Liberta! – Politics in Opera by Anthony Arblaster is published by Verso in 1992 in London, Great Britain. It was the book’s first edition and publication. The book contains 340 pages of text, no illustrations, and includes a tables of contents, nine main chapters, conclusion, notes and and an index. The chapters start … Read more
The story Jurassic Park, by Michael Crichton takes place on a small island near Costa Rica, it’s about a park full of dinosaurs created by Dr. Hammond. The dinosaurs are locked in large cages with electric fences. But as the mathematician Ian Malcolm predicted, nature cannot be controlled. They find this out when the security … Read more
The main difference between The Last of the Mohicans book version by James Fenimore Cooper and The Last of the Mohicans movie version, generally speaking, is that the book has a more adventurous theme and the movie has a more love and romantic theme. Never the less, both stories were extremely interesting. Main details that … Read more
The book I read is called All Things Wise and Wonderful, written by James Herriot. This is the 3rd novel in a chain of five. These novels make a very interesting and famous poem. All Things Bright and Beautiful, All Creatures Great and Small, All Things Wise and Wonderful, The Lord God Made Them All. … Read more
Bantam Books published the book, Beyond the Sea of Ice, by William Sarabande, in December of 1987. This novel of historical fiction is 370 pages of a compelling story of a small band of humans surviving during the Ice Age over 20,000 years ago. I believe the author purposed to teach how the people of … Read more
I read the book Killing Mr. Griffin, by Lois Duncan. There was an English teacher, Mr. Griffin, which nobody liked. He was a tough teacher, and didn’t give anyone an A. Not even the smartest student, Susan McConnell. They disliked him so much that they wanted to try and scare him by kidnapping him. One … Read more
The book The Art of Rock and Roll by Charles T. Brown basically proposes methods for analyzing music and anyone who reads the books should be able to develop techniques for listening to music and making legitimate statements about it. It treats rock and roll as a serious art form and traces it cultural roots … Read more
In the world of historical fiction, there are few new and innovative writers, and not often are new styles developed. In the styles of Leon Uris and James Michener, two prolific modern historical fiction novelists, usually the main characters are chronicled over a short period of time in their lives, and their feelings are used … Read more
Forward \”Incidentally, I despise everything which merely instructs me without increasing or immediately enlivening my activity. \” These are Goethe’s words. With them, as with a heartfelt expression of Ceterum censeo [I judge otherwise], our consideration of the worth and the worthlessness of history may begin. For this work is to set down why, in … Read more
The title of the piece of literature I chose to read was Tiger Eyes, by Judy Blume. This book contained 205 pages. My choice for reading this book was that I enjoyed reading many of her works when I was younger. She always had a way of relating well with the younger generations, which draws … Read more
This story is called Sole Survivor written by Ruthanne McCunn. It is based on a true story of one man’s will to survive. It’s an inspiration to all of mankind. This story is about a steward of the ship “S. S. Benlomond” which was torpedoed during the war. Lim was the only survivor. He survived … Read more
Marion Bauer certainly followed in the tradition of great novels. On My Honor is set in the hot summer of a small city. It explores the stress we put on ourselves to express blame and feel guilt when blamed. The biggest heartache is when you blame yourself for things that could not be prevented, or … Read more
The epic of Sundiata begins with the introduction of the griot, and narrator Mamadu Kouyate. Throughout the epic, the importance of the griot is stressed numerous times. When speaking of griots Mamadu Kouyate states that, we are the repositories which harbor secrets many centuries old. The art of eloquence has no secrets for us; without … Read more
One of the most unique and strange relationships in modern literature exists between Ignatius Reilly and Myrna Minkoff, the two perceived dunces in John Kennedy Tooles A Confederacy of Dunces. The correspondence between them runs throughout the novel. In the beginning, Ignatius feels a certain air of superiority over her, yet she feels that he … Read more
In “Wild Swans” a girl on a train, fondled by a minister, feels disgusted but also hugely curious. Munro describes – as I’ve never seen anyone else do – how people put erotic memories, not always pleasant ones, to use over and over in their lives. Most living writers are not, most of the time, … Read more
The book entitled “Norse Mythology” by Karl Mortensen, is the book I chose to read for my first book report for this semester. The book was translated from the Danish by A. Clinton Crowell. Karl Mortensen was a doctor of philosophy whom attended the University of Copenhagen. The first part of the book is the … Read more
Michael Crichton has penned some of the most engaging, timely, and thoroughly accessible tales to be published in the last twenty-five years. What his novels lack in literary merit and distinctive style they make up for in crisp plotting and edge-of-your-seat suspense. From alien viruses to regenerated dinosaurs, from evil Japanese monoliths to the insidious … Read more
Accordion Crimes is a difficult book to place in a single time period because the story takes place over about 100 years, originating in a small Sicilian village, but the main setting and focus is the United States. The various settings introduced in the book influenced the characters in various ways, but one instance of … Read more