Connections to "This I Believe"

Even though "This I Believe" is about people's personal stories and beliefs, it's very relatable. I have connected to many of the chapters.

In Robert A. Heinlein's chapter, "Our Noble, Essential Decency", he talks about all the people he believes in.

What really struck me was when Heinlein wrote; "I believe in my fellow citizens. Our headlines are splashed with crime. Yet for every criminal, there are ten thousand honest, decent, kindly men," (Heinlein 120).

If you watch the news, the majority if the headlines are consumed with negatives things. We are focused on the handful of people who do horrible things.

I think most of us can connect to this. I have teachers who give the whole class a talk about our bad behavior, lack of focus, determination, etc. 99% of the time, in their speech, the teachers say "And it's only two or three of you who are doing this." But the rest of this class still gets lectured and possibly punished just because of these few kids.

Currently, Mason High school is being looked down at because a few people decided to vandalize the school bathrooms. And in my gym class, we are constantly being lectured about our lack of effort. It's really only two or three people who refuse to jog four laps because they might get sweaty. Like seriously??? There are people who have to walk miles and miles everyday just for water. You can run four laps.

This book actually connects to what we are currently learning in English. These chapters that people write have similar characteristics to creative non-fiction:

• Author's voice
• Persuasion 
• Personal stories/connections
• About 3 pages

Temple Grandin's chapter in "This I Believe"

I'm loving This I Believe! Most people wouldn't even give the book a second look when they found out it was about people talking about their personal philosophies. I have to admit that I was a little skeptical at first. I thought it would be people just blabbing on and convincing you on their believes. But i was wrong...

I know I mentioned this in my last post, but it's just so cool that there is  80 different authors in the book! 80 different stories. 80 different opinions. 80 different ideas.

One of my favorite chapters in the book so far is Seeing in Beautiful, Precise Pictures by Temple Grandin. Some of you may know who Temple Grandin is. If you don't, she is a doctor of animal science, a professor, a best selling author, and an engineer. I almost forgot! She is also autistic. There is a movie about her! Check out the trailer below:

In her chapter, Temple writes; "Here's how my brain works: It's like the search engine Google for images. If you say the world "love" to me, I'll surf the Internet inside my brain. Then, a series of images pops into my head. What I'll see is a picture of a mother horse with a foal; or I think of 'Herbie, the Love Bug' ; scenes from the movie Love Story; or the Beatles song 'Love, love, all you need is love...'" (Grandin 87)

I think Temple writes about how her mind works to show the reader that just because you are different and your differences may hold you back, you still can accomplish anything. Most people didn't believe that Temple could do the things she did because she was autistic.

I've seen the movie, Temple Grandin and it's a really inspiring, so you guys should check it out! :)

"This I Believe"

My older brother gave me this book he had to read for English a couple years ago. He thought I would like it. He was right...

"This I Believe" is different from any other book I have read. It's about the philosophies of different people.  In this book, there is about 80 different authors. They each have a little chapter in the book about 3 or 4 pages long describing their beliefs.

It's actually more interesting than it sounds. The authors describe how events in their lives changed or formed their beliefs. Other authors in the book, just described their beliefs. For example, Sarah Adam's chapter is called "Be Cool to the Pizza Dude". She writes about the reason you should be nice to the pizza delivery man. Elvia Bautista writes about how the murder of her brother affected her. She puts flowers on every grave in the cemetery. "I go because I believe that no matter where you came from or what you believe in , when you die, you want flowers on your grave and people who visit you and remember you that way," (Bautista 18).

Some of the authors in "This I Believe" are regular people like you and I. But there are famous people who are included in this book. Which is kinda cool to hear what they believe in. Some of these famous people include; Albert Einstein, Bill Gates, Newt Gingrich, John McCain, and Helen Keller.

"The Life of Pi" Book Review

It took me a little more than 3 weeks to finish "The Life of Pi". I would give this book two stars. Keep reading to find out why. :)

"The Life of Pi" is about the life of Pi Patel. (Hints the title "The Life of Pi") Although you get an overview of Pi's entire life, the book is mainly focus on Pi's survival on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger.

When I first started reading this book, I didn't think it would be very realistic. I mean who can say they were stranded on a lifeboat with a tiger? Other than that, the book is very realistic. I think this hurts the quality of the book in a way because nothing keeps you on the edge of your seat. For example; Pi talks about the sharks that are always swimming around the lifeboat, but they never attack. Realistically, sharks don't usually attacked humans or boats unless threatened. I was excepting the sharks to maybe bite off a piece of the lifeboat, but they were harmless the whole book.

Overall, I thought the book was very boring. Honestly, I struggled to get through it. Most of the book contained LONG paragraphs because there was no dialogue. (Pi was the only human on the lifeboat)

I would not recommend this book to people who get bored with books easily. Unless you are expecting to get stranded on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger, (the book is a good survival manual) I would not read this book.