Response to Graham's post

            I really liked graham’s blog post, and agreed with his viewpoints about the themes of the book Hunted Past Reason by Richard Matheson. In his post, graham delves deep into a thought that has been proposed before but has never quite been though of in this way. Graham brings forth the though of how every single human is inside a shell, and underneath that shell may be something completely different than what you thought was in there. He explains how humans may create a fake facade just to hide their true personality. This theory has been proposed many times before, but graham then goes on to explain why we create such disguises to cover our true emotions, and when we do show our true colors.

            He gives us an example from his book, of how a bully may act tough, and in charge, but may really be scared, taking his emotions out on others, because of the fact that he is abused at home, and his mother is a drunk. That bully may have created that disguise/ social standing because he is angry/ jealous at other kids because of their good fortune. Graham also explains how we only show our true colors in extreme or dire situations, or when we just can’t hide our inner selves any longer. We only come out when that heavy burden inside of us is just too heavy to be shared alone, so we must share our true self with others.

            Another reason I really liked grahams post was because of the way he organized it. He first threw at us a brief summary of the book that only included the important points in the story, and the points he needed to talk about his thoughts. Then he talked about the thoughts he had while he was reading, and also elaborated on some parts of the story to make his point clearer. Then, he concluded by wrapping up his thoughts on fake identities by explaining what we could do to make sure we never had to make a fake identity in the beginning.

            All in all, I really enjoyed grahams post, and am looking forward to reading this book because of how interesting it sounded in the summery. Of all the posts graham wrote, this one stood out the most because it was recommended, as an all star blog post, and so I went to see why it was so good. In conclusion, grahams post really makes me think about how we can never really know a person to the deepest corners of their heart and mind, because there is always something hidden.

grahams post:  http://guttentagfurlein.blogspot.com/2011/02/hunted-past-reason.html      

        

the monstrumologist (not for the faint of heart)

             i am currently reading a  book called the Monstrumologist by rick yancy. this book is a gruesome and horrific yet addicctive book. basically what is going on is that an orphaned child whose father worked for the monstrumologist goes to live with the montstrumologist  and be his assistant. the mostrumologist is basicaly a scientist that studies monters by the way. the book is in the form of the diary that the boy (will henry) keeps. in it, will henry explains in gruesome detail the journey him and the "doctor" embarks on to explain why there is a rouge group of "anthropophagi" (a monster) in america, and not in its native habitat in africa. i realize the summmary is somewhat unclear, but you'll just have to read this suspensful book to be informed of the monsters that plague our world.

           in this book, rick yancy digs deep into mans deepest fears and thoughts, and plays with the psychological aspects that make up our mind. this book is a dark, violent piece of literature that takes the fears of man almost 3 centuries ago and mutates them into a modern selection of words that frighten us.

wherein i spake of most disastrous chances,
of moving accidents by flood and field,
of hair-breadth scapes i' the imminent deadly breach...
and of the cannibals that each other eat,
the Anthropophagi, and men whose heads
do grow beneath their shoulders.
-Shakespheare, othello   

the andromeda strain

            I just recently finished an addictive book called "the andromeda strain" by micheal crichton. the basic plot of this book is that the government sends eleven satelites into space. the intention is for the satelites to collect any possible forms of life while in orbit. when brought back, this new form of unicellular life is intended to be studied by a group of dedicated scienntists. however the goverments intention is to use them to try to create weapons of amss destruction. when the eleven satelites land on earth, ten of them are retrieved with nothing in them. the last one lands in an isolated village in arizona. after one day, the villagers decide to open the sattelite bvecause no one came to retrieve it. after only a few hours after opening, the villagers start to die of very rapidly. coincidence??
         This book really made me wonder about what would WE do in a worldwide health crises. the swine flu epidemic may have given us a glimpse, but that was bacteria that our current technology, and understanding of medicine made sense of. what if we were faced with a totally new foreighn, otherworldly disease from returning spacecraft. what if went against all our biological laws. life forms on earth have to have certain charectaristics to be considered liveng, but that doesnt have to be true for all life forms in this universe. maybe our charectaristics depend on the charecteristics that our habitat, or planet has. call me paranoid, but it could happen.
           Our current technology can see into the microscopic universe, scientists know that the electron is the smallest particle of matter  in the world. but to me, everything we know is just a hunch. the electron is the smallest particle.... we dont know that, thats just based on what we can see. the wall is white... we cant be sure, maybe its actually yellow, but the way our eye works, makes our brain iterpret it as the color white. we may think that our body works one way: that our heart pumps blood to our body cells, but our body may be actually working in a whole different way, we just cant see it. everything is based on what we can see, hear, feeal, smell. but that is what makes us human.