Little Brother by Cory Doctrow (revised version)

            I have just recently finished reading a book called little brother by Cory Doctrow. This amazing book takes place in the modern day world, and zooms into the life of an eighteen year old boy named Marcus Yallow who really loves technology, mainly computers. A massive terrorist bombing had just taken place in San Francisco, where Marcus lives. And now Marcus’ home has been turned into a police state, where every checkpoint is patrolled and where every citizen is tagged, and watched over by the department of homeland security (DHS). Marcus however, does not like this, and uses his vast knowledge of technology and computers to create a secret organization and fight back against the DHS. 

            One question that continuously comes up in this book is “when does our government stop working for us?” also, “when is it right to overthrow our government and establish a new one?” While I was reading this book, I pondered on these questions a lot. In my opinion, the government would stop working for us when the decisions they make no longer benefit us, but instead harm us. That is also when we would have to overthrow them, and establish a new government based on modern day thinking and necessities. After all, we are a democracy. I sound a lot like the character when I say that the government works for us, we don’t work for them. We pay their salaries, and we should get a better country because of it. This also kind of ties in with what is happening in Egypt. The Egyptian people don’t like their current leader, so they’re overthrowing him. They dont like the way he is runnig the country. They feel that it is their country, and they have to try and take it back from the evil dictator who is ignoring the wants of the people.

            While reading this book, i have been affected greatly. one way i have been affected is that this book has changed the way i now think of our government. Before, i used to be just an obedient little american who would've always done what the government asked of me. But now i realize why our country became a democracy. Not just because we wanted more say in our government but also because we can think of needs and wants that the president or mayor cant think of. sure the president or mayor is more educated on our sountry, and economics and stuff, but they arent perfect, and they cant think of everything. It is our job to aid them in making the decisions that will affect our nation.

           Another way that this book has affected me is that it has gotten me greatly interested in computers. And after finishing this book, i became really interested in computer language. I followed mr.doctrows advice and starteD with a basic language such as python. then i movd on to blitzbasic which is another computer language. i have made  2 programs already with blitzbasic, and am working on more.

            I am really enjoyed reading this book , and recommend it to everyone else. Not only does Cory Doctrow delve into political views, but along the way shares his vast knowledge of computers, and crypto terminology.

Eighth Grade Bites by Heather Brewer

                I have just recently finished reading a great book called Eighth Grade Bites by Heather Brewer. It’s the first of 5 books in the series “The Chronicles of Vladimir Todd”. This book is mainly about a teenage vampire named Vladimir Todd who tries to fit in as an average everyday human. In it Vlad narrates his days at middle school and has a band of vampires after him to make him pay for the sins of his deceased vampire father. There are many other things that go on in this book but you will have to read it to see what.

                During the course of this fast paced book, there were many themes that are put in play. One of the many themes would be secrecy. This is because his aunt Nelly (who is also his caretaker) refuses to tell him of the sins his father committed against his brethren. She tries to hide from him his fathers past secrets. She tells him that some things are better not known about his father.

                I agree with his caretaker, Aunt Nelly about that. Because, she also went on to explain how she once had a dog, but her Father killed it, and now every memory she had of him is now soured by that memory. This made me realize that maybe not everyone is we think they are. Everyone has a little evil in them, but it’s better for us not to know about that evil side, because we will always dwell on it. We humans only want to know about the good in people.

Holes - by louis sachar

             I’ve recently started reading this great book called Holes by Louis Sachar. Basically what happens in this book is that a boy named Stanley yelnats (who is very poor by the way) is arrested for supposedly stealing a pair of sneakers from an orphanage. Now, Stanley is actually innocent, but the judge does not believe this and so sentences him 16 months hard Labour at camp green lake. Stanley finds camp green lake terrible, you have to dig holes every day to build character, and it’s in the middle of a hot, barren land.

            While reading this book, (even though I haven’t gotten very far yet) I started thinking about the justice system in Stanley’s world. It wasn’t very fair, Stanley told the judge the truth, but the judge just wouldn’t believe it about the justice system in our society, and wonder if it is fair or not. To me personally, Stanley was only in the wrong place at the wrong time. This eventually led me to think I guess its fair enough, you do a crime, and then you sit in a cold barred cell, thinking about what you’ve done. Not too unfair, as the saying goes... “Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time”.       

little brother (by cory doctrow)

              I have just recently started reading a book called little brother by Cory Doctrow. This amazing book takes place in the modern day world, and zooms into the life of an eighteen year old boy named Marcus Yallow who really loves technology, mainly computers. A massive terrorist bombing had just taken place in San Francisco, where Marcus lives. And now Marcus’ home has been turned into a police state, where every checkpoint is patrolled and where every citizen is tagged, and watched over by the department of homeland security (DHS). Marcus however, does not like this, and uses his vast knowledge of technology and computers to create a secret organization and fight back against the DHS. 

            One question that continuously comes up in this book is “when does our government stop working for us?” also, “when is it right to overthrow our government and establish a new one?” While I was reading this book, I pondered on these questions a lot. In my opinion, the government would stop working for us when the decisions they make no longer benefit us, but instead harm us. That is also when we would have to overthrow them, and establish a new government based on modern day thinking and necessities. After all, we are a democracy. I sound a lot like the character when I say that the government works for us, we don’t work for them. We pay their salaries, and we should get a better country because of it. This also kind of ties in with what is happening in Egypt. The Egyptian people don’t like their current leader, so they’re overthrowing him.

            I am really enjoying this book so far, and recommend it too everyone else. Not only does Cory Doctrow delve into political views, but along the way shares his vast knowledge of computers, and crypto terminology.

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.