Blog Post #7

Over the past few weeks I have been reading World War Z, an apocalyptic horror book by Max Brooks. I watched the film version back when it came out in 2013(probably should have read the book first...) and thought it was really good, but never really got around to reading the book until now.

The story is told by a series of interviews done by Max Brooks, an agent of the United Nations Postwar Commission. The origin of the plague isn't know but a boy from a small Chinese village is identified as Patient Zero. The plague started in China, and even though they tried to contain it, the effort was useless and it continued to spread.

Several nations, mainly ones closer to the devastation, started to initiate nationwide quarantines. The United States it too confident in their ability to handle the threat and tried to stop public panic by marketing a placebo vaccine. Many areas around the world fall into greater chaos, such as Iran and Pakistan who engage in a nuclear war to try and stop the flow of refugees in and out of their countries. A few weeks after, New York City falls gets overrun by the zombies, which didn't really come as a surprise seeing how overconfident the U.S. was. The army was sent in but failed miserably after never being faced with such a relentless opponent.

I only finished about half of the book because of all my test and other schoolwork, but this is one of those book that when you pick it up and start reading it, it's hard to put it down. So far I think that book is great in the sense that you don't know what to expect and that suspense is the reason you want to keep reading.  

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. 

Dover Beach Blog Post

"Who does that man think he is? What makes him think that he can talk to us like that?" Mrs. Bowles screamed as she was try to comfort Mrs. Phelps after what had just happened.

Mrs. Phelps cried into a tissue and then left Mrs. Bowles on the footsteps of the house wondering what to do next. She quietly sat down on the footsteps to the house and she'd made up her mind.

"Poems are evil," she quietly muttered to herself over and over again.

What does this man think? Just because he is a fireman he can go off saying whatever he wants to, what was Mildred thinking marrying the psychopath, thought Mrs. Bowles.

Mrs. Bowles abruptly got up from her quiet thinking session and she went back in deciding to yell at Montag and show him how disrespectful and rude he has been. As she enters back through the door, she sees a book lying on the ground. She decides to take it and run, quietly as no one heard her. She rushes out to her car and starts the engine.

Mrs. Bowles thinking that Montag is a dangerous man goes straight to the fire department and tells the fire chief, Captain Beatty, that he is holding books in his house and is a very dangerous man.

The fire department arrived at his house just minutes after Mrs. Bowles had told them about the stash of books at his house. They called out for him to come out, but all they could hear was the sound of the 100 year old house creaking.

They break down the door only to find that Mildred is only the floor with what seems like an overdose, and Montag is no where to be found.

Montag had left the house minutes earlier and was miles from the house now, most likely never to be seen from his family, friends or the town folks every again.

Inheritance Post #1

On to my third blog post of the semester. Today I have finished about 1/3 of the fourth and final book of the Inheritance Cycle. Christopher Paolini planned the original series around 2003 and 2004 and he planned that there would be 3 books but once he started writing the third book he learned that there were too many words that needed to be fit onto too little of pages. He didn't see a way to put a closing to the book and wrap up his story and characters so he decided to make another book, Inheritance.

This book starts off with the Varden attacking the city of Belatona and Saphira almost getting killed by a death spear. Soon after they attack the Varden capture the city and later an alliance is formed with the werecats. Later on, Roran rejoins the Varden in the city of Dras-Leona where they are making plans to take over the city but can't because Murtagh and his dragon, Thorn are occupying the city. They learn about the underground sewer system and Eragon leads a small group in there where they get captured by some priests, who are mad because Eragon killed their gods, which as I learned are the Ra'zac. They intended to kill Eragon and Arya but they are saved and then Eragon opens the gates to the city and defeat Thorn and Murtagh. In all the confusion Murtagh capture Nausada and thereby leaves Eragon as the leader of the Varden. After that, Eragon is looking for the Vault of Souls and questions Solembum(a werecat) about it. The werecat knows nothing but later Eragon learns it is on Vroengard Island. Eragon tries to talk to Glaedr and learns that everyone in Alagaesia is under some magic that makes them forget about the Vault of Souls after they hear about it.


Eragon and Saphira go to the Island and find the Rock of Kuthian but it won't let them enter until they speak their true names. It takes Eragon and Saphira a few days to learn their true names and once they speak their true names the Rock of Kuthian lets them enter. They see that what is inside is amazing and yields true power. Inside are Eldunari and dragon eggs that were hidden before Galbatorix had taken over. Once Eragon and Saphira leave the Rock of Kuthian the memory that the dragon eggs are there are erased from there memories. TO BE CONTINUED...