Under the Skin

"I told Mr. McIntyre to tell you to trust no one.  This was good advice for the beginning of the clue hunt, when so much would be unknown to you.  But I hope you realize that I do not want you to go through life with that philosophy.  Many people have failed you--I myself have failed you, though I love you more than my own life.  I can tell you that you will have your hearts broken more by the people you love than by the people you hate.  But you must still dare to love.  The rewards are worth far more than the risks." I'm starting to receive recommendations for book reviews, and that makes me ecstatic!  I will definitely do so, as soon as I obtain copies of the books to read.  Today's Book Review is not a recommendation, unless you count the goodreads.com recommendation system.  It takes that books that you like and recommends similar ones, and that's how I was introduced to the 39 Clues series. The 39 Clues are about Amy and Dan...

I don't have a lot to say today.  And it's kind of disorganized, but I just wanted to say something to all of you out there: I am a happy person.  I am a happy person because I am. The world is a better place when you're happy anyways.  My happiness does not stem from just "being young."  To people who say that it does, here's what I'll say to you:  I'm sorry that you're not happy.  Why not try pretending you're happy? Sometimes, it's the best way to become happy. Make the benign assumption.  Assume that everyone has the best intentions and is not trying to be mean.  Assume that everyone is kind.  Assume that everything will go well.  Always find the good part about the situation.  It's not really that hard.  And being more than twenty-five doesn't mean that you can't be happy. I'm easy to amuse, I  know that.  I take joy in very simple things.  I am aware.  And I like it that way.  And I won't gr...

“Whenever you look back and say "if" you know you're in trouble. There is no such thing as "if". The only thing that matters is what really happened.”  Today, it snowed.  And Grandpa and I turned all the sprinklers and such off to avoid the freezing.  It was an interesting process, but I gut-er-done, even if I did get fairly wet! Anyways, sometimes I read a book because the thought struck me.  Not because I had it recommended to me or anything like that.  And that was the case with this book, Pendragon: The Merchant of Death . I have to start with a disclaimer:  this book is quite sci-fi.  I don't like Sci-Fi, so take my review with a grain of salt. Actually, for science fiction, I liked this book pretty well.  Here's my problem biggest problem with this book, and science fiction in general.  They try to explain impossible things with science, and usually they misuse science, or their understanding of the science is thready a...

Perhaps I am a very naive person.  In fact, that's fairly doubtless.  And yet, I somehow like being naive.  Because naivete is possibly the best way to live.  By this, I mean naivete in the way people use the word and not it's actual Merriam-Webster definition. The actual Merriam-Webster definition is "lacking experience, wisdom or judgment;" however, people seem to use it to mean, "lacking edginess and grit." I have been accused of being naive many times in my life.  Here, I answer the questions of "Do you really believe..." with which I'm constantly inundated. 1. Do you really believe that people are good? Yes, I really believe that people are generally good.  I believe that our purest selves are goodness, and that we only become bad when we allow it to be so.  Light is more powerful than dark.  I really believe that.  Today, I read The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (book review to follow), and in the book,  Mr. Hyde ...

When I was teaching American Heritage, we taught a political science concept called the Human Predicament Cycle.  This is the idea that most of human history, with some notable exceptions, has fluctuated between periods of tyranny and anarchy.  It also hypothesizes that, given the choice between the two, most humans would readily pick tyranny over anarchy.  Tyranny is the proverbial devil you know, whereas anarchy is just unstable and unpredictable, and we'd rather be oppressed the same way everyday rather than not knowing who would oppress you tomorrow and how. Eventually, according to the Human Predicament Cycle, those under tyranny will forget that that was their compromise for stability and revolt.  This revolution will usually devolve into anarchy.  This power vacuum will bring competing groups, all grabbing for the power in the power vacuum.  Then, a competing group will come up and a tyrant.  This is why most revolutions to leave tyranny end u...

"What kind of men -- I wondered -- were these that killed by day, drank by night, but prayed each morning?" “The more men see of the world, the bigger their hearts." This week, I did my phlebotomy rotation.  I got the veins the majority of the time, and only had one pass-out (which, I found out, was why the blood draw was happening anyways, so I'm not even convinced it was my fault).  But, I also got to finish some more books. I read the first of the Crispin books, Crispin: The Cross of Lead , a long, long time ago.  Back when it won the Newbery Award.  By the way, it was approximately a month ago that I learned that Newbery in Newbery Award only has one r. Look it up.  It's true.  Anyways, I really liked the book then.  My mother thought it was "okay." I didn't quite understand why she would only say "okay."  I kind of understand now.  I didn't reread Cross of Lead, but I did read At the Edge of the World and The End...

 “The world is not a wish-granting factory.”   “You don't get to choose if you get hurt in this world...but you do have some say in who hurts you. I like my choices.”  How I got around to reading this book is a long story.  First, someone posted this on their facebook.  It is called "17 Rants in 4 Minutes."  I thought it was hilarious and so, I showed it to my brother, Caleb, who said, "Yeah, that's Hank Green.  This is the vlogbrothers." I'd never heard of such a youtube channel.  He explained to me that these two brothers, John and Hank Green, send vlogs to each other which they post on youtube. And honestly, though they only ever address their brother in the video, it's not really just for their brother.  And then, I became a fan of the vlogbrothers. They are so clever and funny, but always intelligent in the way they do it. As it turns out, neither of these brothers is just a vlogger.  Hank Green runs a record company and...