Freakonomics

Freakonomics was an amazing book for several reasons. Firstly, it fit the qualification of an interesting non-ficition book. Second, I actually enjoyed reading it. And lastly, it seemed to fit with the theme I have been hearing from all my teachers--to be a critical, independent thinker, and not accept conventional wisdom. Freakonomics did not discuss boring textbook economics, but topics of interest to everyday people, or in some cases just interesting (maybe even random) topics. But it also taught me to experiment even with the most doubtful or a crazy theory as long as there is evidence. Some questions that I have started to develop on my own recently like "how much does a certain upbringing affect the child?" were discussed in the book. I avoid the words "answered in the book" because although the authors wrote about their vague theories, they more just hinted about them through a series of questions. They mostly tried not to outright announce them. So it was entertaining that I had to think while reading the book. There was also the writing style, which although it was not dumbed down or anything, it was a more causal way of writing, which included the occasional joke now and then. So hopefully whenever I am forced to read non-fiction again I can find a book similar to this to read, and it might not be so torturous after all.

Born on a Blue Day

I dislike non-fiction very much, but when I pick up a non-fiction memoir with such an inspiring story as this, then the book is honestly not that bad. I think the only down side of this book was the bland writing style, but it can be overlooked. While I was reading, I found it interesting that the people society shuns because of their lack of social skills are usually the most amazing type of people. Daniel Tammet is just one example. But I think what is more amazing is the success Daniel has had in his social skills and leading a relatively normal life as in moving out of his parent’s house. But I think a lot of these successes come from not only effort on Daniel’s part but the effort, support, and care of his family. For example, in one chapter Daniel talks about how all of his brother and sisters would play games Daniel invented just to spend time with him. I also found that normal things that constitute becoming independent, like moving two hours away to a college, are petty compared to what Daniel did to become more independent—he moved to a foreign country all by himself. He has to work ten times harder than the rest of us to obtain things we take for granted like friends, a job, and independence. But the book does not contain any self pity really. He just states the facts and tells how he learned to deal with his problems. Probably that is what amazed me the most because we complain about the smallest things and he accepts problems much worse than our everyday ones.

Collection of Plays from Oscar Wilde

From this collection, I read The Importance of Being Earnest, Lady Windermere’s Fan, A Woman of No Importance, The Ideal Husband, and Salome. A common and obvious theme of gender roles appears quite a lot in all five of the plays. This leads me to believe that in many others of Wilde’s plays he mentions women’s role in society also. What surprised me was the progressiveness aspect of the ideas. I had the impression that many of the ideas are really revolutionary for Wilde’s time period. Ideas such as a woman’s ability to make decisions for herself and woman’s importance to the society were hinted at throughout. I could not help but notice that Wilde included characters that represented the portion of society that thinks more traditionally of women. Most of the time, the characters were elderly women who favored the old traditions. My favorite play out of the five was The Importance of Being Earnest. I think this is because the play was the most light-hearted, humorous, and enjoyable by far. It has one of the common plots where a series of entertaining misunderstanding create a huge mess, but a big scene resolves everything in the end, pleasing everyone. I now realize that all the present day books and films that follow this pattern could be based on this specific play, or something even earlier than Wilde. My least favorite was Salome. Maybe it was the length that prevented me from connecting with the characters or pulling me into the plot, I just did not enjoy it as much. But overall, I am glad I had a chance to explore the famous Oscar Wilde’s works.

The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo

I can only say that I really did not mind this book. I think it was very entertaining some parts the beginning was very slow moving and the characters at sometimes were very annoying. I guess you can say was a bit disappointed because the book had gotten so much praise from critics and from my friends. I have a theory that the beginning was slow because I was not very into the main character, Mikael Blomkvist's, very long in depth description of the finances of a certain company. Thankfully, once the main mystery was introduced the story improved. But the logic of the situation confuses me, why would a reporter be hired a mystery instead of a detective? Unlike some mysteries which give the facts and the solution right after in the last few pages without once letting on what the dectective suspects, this mystery book has Blomkvist voice his opinions and solutions which influences or steers the reader to the wrong answer. The other main character, Lisbeth Salander, annoyed me because she held people to a different standard. Though I agree her on one argument. She tells Blomkvist that killers should not use the excuse of upbringing to protect them. Although it does have a role, the person should realize that it is morally wrong.

Murder on the Orient Express

This book although crafted like many of Agatha Christie's previous novels, this ending completely different. Instead of one or two culprits--there was a train full of them. It was also of the few mystery that the murderers act was justified. I found very interesting was the addition of two, their purpose to help Hercule Poirot to solve the case. Of course, as is suspected they do not contribute much except the few outlandishly wrong suggestions. Hercule's helpers, Dr. Constantine and M. Bouc, I thought were important because even though they were useless, they represented the ordinary, person. I can guess this is true because several times I bet they voiced some of the solutions readers imagined. One of the more amusing parts of the book was the many stereotypes about nationalities that were thrown about and sometimes were the obstacles blocking the truth. Another reason why I found it so amusing was because most of the time the stereotypes to led to such irrational thoughts. Every time I read a Hercule Poirot, I gawk at how much information is given away through emotions, because Poirot many he analyzes the emotions of the murderer. But as I could not help wondering,would happen if Poirot meets killer who does not act on emotion or doesn't follow normal thinking? It would difficult to solve his usual methods. Hopefully Agatha Christie has already thought of this.

Jane Eyre

I can understand why Jane Eyre became a classic so easily, because this book is enetertaining and has a very unique idea for the zeitgist. One of the points in the book which I disliked a lot was when Jane decides to leave Thornfield and Mr. Rochester. Even though I realize it was necesary to the whole theme of the book, I thought it was quite slow moving at that point. As I said before, the ideas in the book surprised me because I know many ideas like this did not come until later in history. For example, Jane Eyre, a woman, had the ability and the independence to be able to choose between Mr. Rochester and St. John. Also, Jane chose the unstable, passionate Mr. Rochester over the stable, cold, religious St. John. Thhis was an unusual decision for the time and in some cases even today. Another intresting fact is that Mr. Rochester preferred Jane's intelligence to the accompolished Miss. Ingram, who by society is the more attractive option. At the end, Jane's extreme independence and great ledearship was needed by a blinded, vulnerable Mr. Rochester. The fact that the wife was leading the husband is also a very unique idea that is revolutionary. The book was ensaring and I enjoyed reading about how she grew to be a happy woman despite all the suffering she had endured.

The Story of the Trapp Family Singers

I think we all know the very famous musical, The Sound of Music--I know its one of my favorite movies. But as most people can guess Hollywood probably made it more dramatic then the story really was, or at least that is what I thought. But surprisingly enough the Julie Andrews version was pretty close to the real thing, there were some changes here and there though. Unfortunately, the movie ended before the Von Trapp's journey began. In the book, it summarizes their trip to the Americas, their adjusting to a different culture, and living in Vermont. I think it was interesting to go into the mind of a foreigner, seeing America for the first time. The best example of this is when Maria Von Trapp first goes to Macy's and encounters the escalator. She recounts that she is very scared to step on and informs us she still is to this day. The other unique thing about their story and family is, not their size, but how many opportunities they got through out their lives because of their unique family. Even though the family was low on money constantly, the Von Trapps were a choir, made a temporary craft shop, ran a farm, built a home, and lastly created and ran a summer camp. With so many abilities and talents in the family, it isn't that surprising I guess. Usually I do not like memoirs, but being able to see into their exciting adventures was entertaining.