Post PARCC Testing Blog

So with PARCC testing week being two weeks ago, and the tests being some of the easiest tests I have ever taken(after OAA's of course). I had tons of time to read after the test, as well as when we were in the Harvard Room. Although I hate the tests and pretty much the week as a whole, I love the amount of time we get to read. I had a solid 7 or 8 hours of reading that week alone and I ended up finishing the book Steve Jobs written by Walter Isaacson.

Job's didn't want the opportunity to get to read the book himself as he thought it would fuel his ego so he told Isaacson to wait until after his death, which was eminent, to publish the book. Steve Job's was in the late stages of battling pancreatic cancer and lost his battle on October 5, 2011. Less than three weeks after his death Walter Isaacson decides it is the perfect time to release the book and does so on the 24th of October. This is a book about Steve and all his endeavors.

This book talks about how Jobs most of his own life building innovative products to make the world we live in easier. He built two technological empires, Pixar and Apple. Throughout the book he talks about how he focuses on certain things and what people should focus on to help them be successful in their lives. His methods, especially pertaining to people, can sometimes be absurd and won't work for most people in the real world, but many aspects of this book can't be overlooked as it teaches us about one of the greatest minds the world has ever seen.

I would give this book a 9.5 out of 10 simply because of the unique perspective it gives us into the business aspect of one of the biggest technological superpowers in the world, but also to one of the most creative minds the world has seen. This book is definitely the best way to learn about Jobs and his creations.

Inheritance Post Part 2

Last weeks blog post was supposed to be the sort of like a plot twist where we were supposed to simply break off from the story and make up our own idea of what should or could have taken place in Fahrenheit 451. I really didn't like that assignment because there are two types of people, creative and pure fact based... I'm that person that is pure fact based and the Dover Beach assignment required a lot of creativity to write and I'm just glad it's over. Now let's get on topic.

I read about half of Inheritance when I wrote part one of the blog post, I finished up the rest of the book in the last month, here's what happens in the second half. Once they leave the Rock of Kuthian they forget about everything on it(which makes it pretty pointless to ever go there). They regroup with the Varden and soon after, attack Urubaen, the city Galbatorix is in.

Eragon, Saphira, and Arya break into the Citadel containing Galbatorix and make their way past a series of traps. Galbatorix subdues them and tells them that he know the true name of the secret language(why does the villain always reveal there secrets), which is referred to as the Word throughout the book. Galbatorix orders Murtagh to fight Eragon, soon after which Galbatorix realizes that Murtagh has broken his oath and send him to the ground, unconcious. After that Eragon sends at Galbatorix which causes him to feel all the pain that he has caused throughout Alagaesia throughout the years. Once the pain and agony is too much for Galbatorix to bear he says to spell that kills him. The spell causes a huge explosion causing the citadel to collapse,

Once the battle is over Nausada is named the High Queen of Human Alagaesia. Arya returns to Du Weldenvarden to help in elections of the new queen after the previous has just died. She also takes the green dragon egg which hatches to her making her the newest dragon rider. Eragon then changes the code of the dragon riders to allow dwarves and urgals to become dragon riders. Ever since Alagaesia has lived in peace, never to be disturbed again(as far as we know).

Now that I am done with the entire Inheritance Cycle, I can say that it was an excellent series and I definitely recommend any of the books to people who like action and fantasy worlds. I thought that this was the third best book in the series, it was still written wonderfully, it's just that the ending was predictable, as the ending to many series' because the villain has to die so the close the book came to a conclusion the more expected everything became. I would still rate this book a 7 out of 10 and strongly recommend it.