Weekly Blog for English

“I’m not a shitty person, but I’m about to do a shitty thing. And you will hate me, and some other people will hate me, but I’m going to do it anyway to protect you and also myself” (Niven 1). This is the first sentence of the book, Holding Up the Universe by Jennifer Niven. I have only started the book so I don’t know too much about it but so far the book is really interesting. There are two main characters in the book, Jack and Libby. Jack is a senior in high school who has prosopagnosia. Prosopagnosia is when you can’t remember the faces of familiar people even if you know them really well. Libby was the fattest teen. She weighed 653 pounds after her mother had died and since then, she has been homeschooling until now. She decides to go back to school after going to a lot of camps, doctors, and counselors.  Libby’s first day back to school, she doesn’t know what to expect. She genuinely wants to go school and she wants to see the outside world but her weight is stopping her from...

(Warning: minor spoilers. The worst spoilers are from about 1/4-1/3 into the book) The Martian by Andy Weir is a book about an astronaut struggling to survive after being deserted alone on mars. Many may know of the movie The Martian starring Matt Damon, but it was originally a book. In a quick summary: After a big storm, Dr. Mann is presumed to be dead, and is left behind on Mars by his crew. Because of this, he must be very smart with his few supplies and technology in order to survive and get in contact with earth for him to be rescued. On earth, nasa must explain the disaster to the press and public, and rush a mission to mars in a quarter of the time. Combining the unique and interesting style of writing, the surprising scientific accuracy, and the intensity of the situation makes for a thrilling read. The book is written with two styles: one in journals that the main character writes, (the only way you get to hear from the main character), and normal 3rd person narration on the c...

Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different is a biography about Steve Jobs, one of the co-founders of Apple and a man who was known for the iPhone and iPad. In this book, the author describes Jobs’ interest in computers and the creation of Apple, one of today's largest tech companies. It started with Jobs and his good friend Steve Wozinak in Jobs’ parents’ garage and with some business ventures they created an alternative to the widely popular IBM machines running software designed by Microsoft. The book shows how Jobs pushed boundaries and created a hallmark for what people around today see as the Apple Logo.  I have only read up to half of the book, which consists of three parts, mirroring Jobs’ Stanford Commencement Speech in 2005. This format is helpful to understand how Jobs worked his life and how he became what many people today see as an influential leader. This sort of style gives the reader a better visualization on how Jobs managed the company and his vision beyond. Using...