Quotes from the Outside Reading

Here are a couple of interesting quotes that I found in my outside reading book:
1. "We were brothers. All of us. We had to work together, live together, eat together, sleep together, fail together, and succeed together. We had to know what each other was going to do at any moment and know how we would react to each situation with them. It was our job" (Kranz 83).
2. "At Mission Control, cetain things were understood. Every mission must achieve its objecties, and it ust be accomplished on schedule if we were to keep John F. Kennedy's pledge to land a mon on the moon in this decade" (Kranz 208).

Shakespeare

So far in the Shakespeare book, the story has gone nowhere. I feel like the plot has the potential to be interesting, but it is jsut talking and planning, no action. Yes, the book is literally about nothing, as stated in the title. But I still feel myself getting mad at Shakespeare for not getting the show on the road, so to speak. Although the characters are michevious and often very funny to read about, the story, like I said before, has gone nowhere. I am interested to see what will happen when Don Pedro's plan to set up Benedick and Beatrice goes into action. It seems intruging to me to think about what will happen when these two worst enemies who both hate even thinking about love, fall in love. It makes me chuckle inside already.

Comparisons?

When I look at the two books I am currently reading, Much Ado About Nothing and Failure is Not an Option, I do not see many similarities between the two. Much Ado is a love story and, as the title reveals, really should not be taken seriously by the reader. It is apparent that Shakespeare did not intend to make this a story that people are affected by, but the book is still interesting and fun to read. Failure, on the other hand, is a nonfiction book that gives you insight on the evolution of the space program and also teaches the reading about many themes that they can use throughout their life.

Science in the Book

One aspect of the book that has impressed me was the explanation of the Scientific aspects of NASA. The author explains fairly well how the rocket team had to find a new chemical for all the rockets because the old fuel was not producing enough thrust per pound to get the larger rockets into orbit. After months of experimenting with chemicals, NASA finally found its perfect fuel for the launch. The chemical is called Ammonium per chlorate, and it gave the astronauts the perfect amount of power to lift the multi-ton spaceship off the ground and into space. The chemical is so powerful that the American space program still uses it today for its space launches.

Halfway Reflection of the Book

Like I said before, the writing style of the author is a large negative to the bok. I sometimes feel myself drifting off into other thoughts while reading the book. It seems to me that Gene doesn't try to 'spice up' the books words and writing styles. The thing that keeps the reader interested is the story of his rise through the ranks of the infant Space Program and all the trials, sucesses, and failures of the program, and with it, the U.S. itself.

Writing Styles of the Book

Gene Kranz's writing style is not very complicated. He (obviously) writes nonfiction. But he is comletely straightforward. He does not add any inuendos or imagery at all. Gene's writing style seems to reflect his personality perfectly. He is a hard worker, no nonsense, straight to the point person. He never fools around, always meets his deadlines, and his leadership was the exact job description of what NASA needed at the time. His writing style is just that. Blunt, descriptive, and not very interesting. Some people would think that the book wouldn't be very interesting, but it is actually the story that keeps you into it.

Outside Reading Post #3

One of the themes is see prevailing in this book is not only the important human characteristic of never giving up (as demostrated by the books title), but that hard work may at some times be a bad thing. It seems to me, as I stated in my last post, that Gene's wife is simply sick and tired of him never being home and would enjoy his increased company. However, Mr. Kranz's excrutiatingly hard work has left him stuck at Cape Cavnaveral until further notice. There is simply not enough time in the week, the month, of even the year to take an 'unnecessary' break and visit his family. I sense that this will be a major conflict later on in the book when the Space Race really takes off and the Americans set a goal of being the first to put a man on the moon.

Failure is Not an Option #2

In this next chapter in my book the narrarator talks about his time after the first sucessful American man in space. Mr. Kranz details his hard work with making the manual on how to operate the mission control, which was his main duty when he first arrived at the Cape. His growing experience from the frequent launches that take place at Cape Canaveral have helped him write this manual, which figures to be the precedent for every other mission control in the United States. Mr. Kranz knows he is in the middle of American History, but he says that there is really no time to step back and "smell the roses" so to speak. Gene says he is always on the move, always working, getting almost no time at all to sit back, relax, and reflect on his workday like most of his fellow Americans. He also says that the hectic work takes a toll on his growing family. He has a baby on the way, and although his wife says that she fully supports him and his work, he can sense a longing for him from his wife and it seems to me that it eats him up inside.

Failure is Not an Option

My choice of quarter 2 outside reading is a book title Failure is Not An Option, by Gene Kranz. Mr. Kranz was the original head of mission control and really the voice of the space movement during the 20th Century. In the first chapters of the book, we learn about how the space program started out- with only a handful of men in a primitive program nicknamed Mercury. Mr. Kranz was a former WWII Air Force Pilot that was interested in the space race with the Soviets during the early days of the Cold War. His task was to put together a launch manual- the first of its kind- for the days that the space ships would be taking off. He essentially wrote it on the job, as him or any other of his colleagues had any experience with space control. He goes on to talk about how the men had many failures and were viewed as an American failure in the public's eyes. He then details the account of the days before and the day of the first American was going into space. This book is an exciting nonfiction account of how the space program in the United States was started from scratch and turned into one of the most successful in the world.

All My Sons

I thought that All My Sons was an interesting book and drew alot of compassion out from the reader. The fact that Joe Keller kills himself was tragic and unexpected. The increasing sadness I felt as the book went on was a great aspect that the book provided for the reader. The book showed us a darker side of the pursuit of the American Dream and really opened our eyes to the faults of the justice system. It showed us that people will do anything to get out of trouble, including lying and blaming their friends. I felt that the author tried to portray that and taught us about the fact that primitive human nature is not always good. It is all about surivial and our nature is to, whether it is ethical or not, to stay alive.

Review of Godfather

I was absolutely addicted to this book. It had everything I like; drama, action, and a great plot line that had you guessing at every turn. I loved the fact that it gave you an insight on an elaborate operation. The description that the author adds really helps me visualize what is going on and greatly improves the quality of the book. I felt that the book could even be better than the movie, which I plan on seeing now that I can compare the two. I would recommend this book to anyone over 14 because of the violence and adult situations, but I feel that it is interesting enough to keep a 10 year old into it, even it is in an adult mindset.

Godfather- Last Book

The last part of the book details the peace between the families of the United States. Don Corleone, after fully recovering from his shooting wounds, calls a huge meeting so that the wars between them will stop. The meeting is the most important event for the families in many years. In the end, the organizations decide to have a peace for 30 years, with no fighting or all out war, or else.
After the meeting, the Don has a massive heart attack and dies, leaving Michael to run the family with his older brother Freddy in Las vegas managing a hotel and casino. With the help of his advisors, Michael decides to move the Corleone family and its operations out west, where the kids and wives can be safe and live without fear. Michael gives his father's closests advisor and general, Roberto Clemenza, the permission to start his own family in the place of the Corleones in New York. The book ends with Michael starting to set up the new means of making money in Las Vegas.

400 Blows Extra Credit

Literature Review of The 400 Blows

I thought that the film had a lot of potential to be dramatic and interesting but failed in doing so. There are many examples of scenes that were much too long and dragged on until my interest was lost. It was interesting to see a film in French, which helped make the film different, but exciting because the dialect changed the feeling of the film. The subtitles were a bit hard to follow because of the speed of the speaking, but once you got used to them you were able to get what the movie was all about. I felt that the plot lacked any electricity and seemed to plateau during the middle of the movie. I felt that the scenes had a random effect, with no real point or destination.

The Godfather Book 3

In this chapter of the book, Sonny Corleone takes over the family operations while his father is in the hospital. Sonny lives up to his reputation as a hothead by vowing to avenge his father's shooting by going after Solozzo and his allies. Sonny faces high criticism from his elder's, but he goes on with the plan anyway. Michael, the youngest son looking to make a name for himself in the family, volunteers to assassinate Sollozzo. He is sucessful, but is forced to right away get on a plane and go into hiding in Sicily, Italy.

The Godfather Part II

This second part of the Godfather is when the book really starts to get off the ground. Book 1 was more of an introduction to the family and the daily happenings of the Italian Mafia. In this part of the book, an Arabian drug dealer named Solozzo comes to the Don with a proposal. He is setting up a drug trading route through mexico and columbia with another New York 'family.' There is alot of money to be made in this industry and many high ranking officials in the Corleone family feel that it would be best to get into drug trading. Solozzo asks the Don only for his protection, since he has many powerful political connections. The Don respectfully declines Solozzo's offer, fearing that there is too much risk in the business. The Don seems to be happy with the money he is making with his sucessful Olive Oil importing company. Solozzo stomps out of The Don's office, fuming.
A few weeks later, when the Don is in downtown New York shopping for fresh fruits, his is shot in a hit and run by two of Solozzo's men. Fortunately, they failed to kill him. Sonny promptly takes over the running of the family business and finds out that the Don's bodyguard had mysteriously been 'sick' that day. He immediately sends two of his men to kill him, knowing that he had been payed off by Solozzo.

Black Boy (End)

Black Boy presented my styles and themes to me while reading. The first thing I noticed was that he started each chapter with an exciting event that tried to catch your attention. He had great dialogue in his book and his explanations of events were simple and to the point. One thing that he could have added to help make the book more interesting was the details of settings. His descriptions of scenes and people seemed to me like they were a little bland. In adding detail he could have kept the reader interested and added excitment and color to his book.
A theme that I saw emerging as a read the book was the opening of Richards eyes to the racsism of the time in the South. He seems comepletely oblivious to the danger he faces everyday when he interacts with white people at his job and on the streets. All the other black kids seem to have learned the ways interaction with the opposite race. I think the reason Richard had so much trouble adapting to the life that the other Black kids follow is because he moved around so much and had virtually no parents to teach him right and wrong in interacting with Whites. He kind of had to learn on his own, and that made him below the learning curve until he was about 17. Another reason is that he has a very strong will and doesn't seem to take no for an answer, which had the potential to come back and haunt him.

The Godfather

I chose The Godfather written by Mario Puzo as my outside reading book. Although I personally have never seen the movie, I have heard that the book is much more interesting and detailed than its film counterpart.
In the first part of the book we meet the whole family of characters. The whole operation is run by a family named the Corleones. The head of the family and the chief operator is called "Don" Vito Corleone, otherwise known as "The Godfather." The couple of chapters details the wedding of his daughter, Chrissy. We also meet his oldest son, Sonny or Santino, who despite his very large temper is believed to be the heir the the Corleone throne. We also meet Freddy, his second son and more of a servant than anything. Freddy is viewed by most outsiders as someone who will always be an assistant to the Don of the family. Finally there is Michael Corleone. Mike betrayed his father and family and enrolled in the army during World War II and now is going to college at Dartmouth University. He is the most like the Don in emotional features and was thought to be the best fit for the head position in the Family until he severed ties with them.

Black Boy

This part of Black Boy was an 'awakening' for Richard to the outside world. First, after consistent begging on the part of his mother and his friends, Richard joins his grandmother's church.
Uncle Tom's temper flares up after he asks Richard what time it is. The conversation seems like a perfectly harmless one to Richard, and to me, but Uncle Tom seems to absolutely snap. I think that Tom's anger towards his nephew has been building up inside of him for a long time, and this little slip of Richard's mouth drives him over the edge. Luckily for Richard, he finds razors to prevent himself from getting whipped. This shows Richard's iron clad will, he simply refuses to get beaten or do anything else that he feels is unfair. I have a feeling that this could come back to haunt him in the future.
Throughout this whole time, Richard bounces from job to job, trying to statisfying his growing hunger. But all his earnings seem to slip into "the never ending debt of my family" and he never seems to jget anything good out of his hard work. Richard also writes a story that is published in the negro newspaper. Although it was very impressive, none of his family members or friends give him support in his new hobby.