Shifting Gears

Now that we're going to start looking at graphic novels, I'll have to pause my reading on A Beautiful Life. The new graphic novel biography I chose is Gonzo: A Graphic Biography of Hunter S. Thompson by Will Bingley and Anthony Hope Smith. I have read comic books before, such as Persepolis and V for Vendetta, and I always forget how fun they are. WIth Gonzo, not only did I pass virtual page after page very quickly because of the small amount of text, but also because it got more and more interesting as I kept going. At the beginning I was a little bit confused on what was happening (it starts in the future and then the narrator goes back in time to tell the story). 

So basically Hunter Thompson was a drug addict and alcoholic who was known for being the "King of Gonzo." The term gonzo is used in journalism to describe a "style that is written without claims of objectivity, often including the author as part of the story via a first person narrative" (Wikipedia). In gonzo journalism, the reporter describes his experiences and emotions, and can also make use of satire, humor, and profanity. It is definitely not one of the styles of conventional journalism, which really called my attention. 

I've only read the first 60 pages of the book and I can see that Thompson has a very strong personality. There was something specifically that stayed with me at the beginning of the story and it's when he said: "in a caged society, a man's liberty is the meat of his master's power" (pg. 24). This was Thompson's reaction to when the FBI asked him to confess if he had been involved in an incident when he was a teenager. I think he means that even us, free people, are caged and suppressed because our liberty is controlled by our superiors. Even at this young age it is evident throughout the story that he had a rebellious personality and that he wasn't going to be afraid of what anyone thought. 

Another interesting thing that I found was something that Thompson said: "Our early struggles teach us how to fight" (pg. 38). I connected with that phrase immediately because I know exactly what he means. Not so long ago, I have been having to deal with some issues that although they have given me a hard time, they've taught me how to be stronger and "grow" emotionally. I believe that those struggles can help you be tougher and, as Thompson said, fight. 

Anyway, I am liking this graphic biography. Thompson's story sounds very interesting and up until know I have been enjoying the reading. I can't wait to finish it and then watch the documentary (Johnny Depp's in it, so even better). 

I Heart Sleep

I don't think there's something I enjoy more than sleeping. Seriously. Now that I think about it, why didn't I write my Op-Ed article about the awesomeness of sleep? I think about sleeping while riding the bus, during class, while I change classes, and when I'm doing homework. I've just always had the belief that a good night sleep makes you have the best days. However, for the past year and a half, in other words since junior year, I have had the worst nights ever. And I have been worried about it, cause well I love sleep. Junior year and senior year have been the worst years in high school. There has been so much to do, and no time at all. Before junior year, I went to bed no later than 9:30. After the real workload began, I'm going to bed at around 12, which may seem not too bad for many people but too me it's incredibly late. 

After reading this article from the New York Times, I am more concerned about being sleep deprived. I initially thought to myself, "Well, school is almost over. I'm graduating in 5 months which is not too bad. I'll recover when high school is over." But then I realized that in college my sleeping schedule will still be pretty messed up. Many things from the article surprised me, especially the fact that sleep deprivation is connected to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's. In my family, my mom's parents suffer from Alzheimer's disease, so I will most likely develop it if I get to live 60 more years. However, if I keep sleeping so little, then my brain's trash will not be cleaned out and, as the article mentioned it, my brain can develop Alzheimer's at an earlier age due to beta-amyloids that won't be successfully eliminated. I definitely don't want that. If I'm gonna get Alzheimer's I wouldn't want to get it earlier than expected. 

Towards the end of the article, I basically stopped freaking out about it. The fact that there are ways to "clear the brain's waste" for people who have trouble sleeping makes me realize that it's not the end of the world. Plus, now that science has recently learned a lot about sleep, there will probably be more medication for brain metabolism in the near future. Anyways, I love sleep. I'll still do it as much as I can and be happy about it. 

I Present to You My First Vlog

We All Are Ignoramus to Nash

Mull (verb) think about deeply and at length

I am actually LOVING John Nash Jr.'s biography. I just think it is so interesting how he thinks and how he interacts around not-so-relatively stupid people. I mean I think it's so cool that he randomly just told people who didn't reach his superior levels of intelligence that they were stupid. He literally "showed that contempt for all of us: 'You're an ignoramus" (pg. 72). The fact that he could stand up for himself (relatively, only sometimes) with this type of remarks is awesome. Bullies can really make children's lives miserable but he wouldn't let himself bring down. I admire that a lot, especially considering the fact that he had a lot of trouble with social skills. Even people with good social skills can't stand up for themselves now days. It definitely can be an inspiration for people with low self esteem.

Additional to his good self esteem, Nash actually was attracted to other boys. When he discovered that, " he spoke and acted in ways that seemed natural to him only to find himself exposed to his peers' contempt" (pg. 71). However, that wouldn't bring him down. He still acted the way he acted and wasn't going to change just because some ignorant kids would tease him. His classmates would make a lot of pranks on him, but he knew how to give those dumb boys a taste of their own medicine. He also made a lot of pranks on people, accepted he "enjoyed torturing animals" and sometimes involved chemistry in his pranks. Specifically one time, he was involved in a "small explosion in the high school chemistry lab [that] landed him in the principal's office" (pg. 61). 

Smelter (noun) an installation or factory for smelting
a metal from its ore. 

Later on, when the author starts to talk about college, I got to this sentence that brought me hope; I saw the light at the end of the tunnel. It said, "College is a time when many ugly ducklings discover that they are swans, not just intellectually but socially" (pg. 69). Literally what I wrote in my iPad note was: "Praise the lord." I just got so excited after reading that sentence simply because I am bored with school. I don't want to be forced to learn things that simply aren't meant for me. I want to graduate already and go to college. I want to be able to learn about subjects that I'm interested in, meet people that don't care about drama like everyone does in high school, and live in a more mature environment. Lucky me because the following sentence was, "most of the boys in Welch Hall - precocious, but immature - found common interests, kindred spirits, and a measure of acceptance painfully lacking in high school" (pg. 69). It's like Sylvia Nasar knew what I was thinking at that moment. Thanks for that Sylvia, you brightened my day. 

Biography Time

The new book I chose is a biography. I read an autobiography earlier in the year, but I want to read a biography now. I think that with this book I am challenging myself much more than usual because of two main reasons. First, this isn't humorous like Tina Fey's autobiography. Second, it's content is huuuge. The books I've read this year have all been short or medium-length. However, this one is approximately 800 pages long on my iPad. And actually there's another reason. The person that the biography is about is not someone I know. I haven't even heard of him. This, however, makes it more interesting for me to read. The biography is  A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar, which talks about John Nash Jr., a mathematical genius who suffered from schizophrenia and won a Nobel Prize. 

Having already read 6.65% of the book (54/811), I can assure you that it's something very different to what I've already read. I already identified the tone and can describe it with different tone words: academic, confident, and objective. Simply look at the word choice that the author utilizes:
- respectability
- pious
- pragmatism
- economize
- schizoid

Precincts: (noun) A district of a city
or town as defined for police
purposes.

While It has all been very introductory until now, the author mainly has talked about John Nash's family and details from his infancy. His mom was very smart, for she managed large enterprises. His dad was an engineer and then enlisted in the army for World War I. Something that the author emphasizes a lot is the way that JN Jr. was not seen as a smart kid when in reality he even skipped grade levels due to his mental ability: "At school, Johnny's immaturity and social awkwardness were initially more apparent than any special intellectual gifts" (pg. 51). I just can't wait to get to the part when he begins to shock people with his intelligence.

Learning How to Cheat Intellectualism

So for winter break I chose to read the book How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read by Pierre Bayard. It's a very short one, only 170 pages on the iPad, which was perfect for me to read while on vacation. After reading Fat Land on paper and then this book on my tablet, I confirmed that I do prefer to read books on my iPad. It's just so much easier to take notes and then go back to find them. Plus it's very easy to just enter a key word or key phrase to find whatever you're looking for. Simply facilitates the process of blogging about books.

Ok, so now the book.  I wanted to read this book because of three main reasons. First of all, this friend who read it told me it was good. Secondly, I found out that it was humorous and confirmed it when I read the back cover of the book. And finally, I began reading the first pages and while doing so found out the author's purpose resulted quite appealing to me: "This advice is intended to help anyone who encounters one of these social dilemmas to resolve it as well as possible, and even to benefit from the situation, while also permitting him or her to reflect deeply on the act of reading" (pg. 13). He was referring to social dilemmas which involved you in discussions of famous books you haven't read.

On a scale from 1 to 10 I'd have to say that to me, How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read is a 5. Why? Well,for starters I was expecting the book to be funnier, due to things I heard from a friend who had read the book already. I also expected the book to be more engaging, but after having to "click" the hyperlink of every footnote on each page, it made my reading very long and kind of boring. The hyperlinks took me to another page were the author would make a reference to a specific book and say wether he had skimmed it (SB), heard about it (HB), thought unknown (UB) or forgotten about it (FB). Additionally, I don't think I can successfully talk about books I haven't read. I feel that maybe I didn't quite connect with the book.

The author divides the book in three parts: Ways of Not Reading, Literary Confrontations and Ways of Behaving. I like the organization of his ideas because he first tells you how you can avoid reading, in what types of situations you may find yourself, and how to deal with them. Overall, it's just ironic that his objective and what he actually "preaches" is non-reading, which we the readers aren't doing while reading his book. Even more ironic is the fact that he is a university professor who needs to talk about a wide variety of books: "Because I teach literature at the university level, there is, in fact, no way to avoid commenting on books that most of the time I haven’t even opened” (pg. 10).

Even though his main point is to say that non-reading is actually better than reading, I still feel that reading is best. The satisfaction I get from reading hard books or classics is very big and even more when I get to discuss them or make smart references about them.

Here are some vocab words that were new to me:

Extol : (verb) to praise enthusiastically

                        

        Soliloquy: (noun) the act of speaking   one's thoughts aloud when by oneself           or regardless of any hearers esp. in a play