Seaman: The Dog who Explored the West with Lews and Clark

Seaman: The Dog Who Explored the West With Lewis and Clark by Gail Langer Karwoski


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This book was a fun perspective on the Lewis and Clark expedition. There were references throughout their records to the Newfoundland Dog that traveled with them. This book records the dogs exploits.There is an interesting Google Lit Trip of the book found at http://www.googlelittrips.com/GoogleLit/...

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Tipping Point

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This summer at the final NECC Conference I got the opportunity to hear Malcom Gladwell speak. I had heard of him and heard of his books but mostly parenthetically. It was sort of assumed that if you were intelligent then you had read his books or understood what was meant by tipping point. It's interesting to actually be reading them and see how his ideas are becoming, to use his own words, sticky.

I have really gotten a kick out of his book. I have learned at least a few things.

First, I love reading books by journalists. I have also read Radical Evolution The Promise and Peril of Enhancing Our Minds, Our Bodies -- and What It Means to Be Human by Joel Garreau Who did a phenomenal job of distilling all the disparate information and creating a sense of it.

Malcolm Gladwell has done the same. He has analyzed and translated the jargonese of the psychology so I can understand it. He puts multiple ideas into a language I can easily and rapidly assimilate. I read the jargonese myself too, but His skill as a journalist is fully realized in this format, a book, explaining what the news of the past has lead us to understand.

Second, language is important. He had a sort of side note about a toddler and her advanced use of language. This description really resonated with me because of the ESL class I teach and because my wife is working on a degree in Spanish Education. Very interesting stuff about how much more complex our abilities can be than we sometimes let on.

Third, and certainly not last, was the idea of Transactive Memory. Gladwell, described something that I understood, but couldn't define. As a husband, I notice that there are things that I do and know that my wife simply doesn't have to. I often ask her where my keys are. Not because I can't look for them myself, but because she probably knows and remembers better than I do. My kids ask me where their shoes are. Why? Because it is much more likely that I moved them back into their room than they are wherever they left them. The idea is this. We share memory with our family members. We don't remember things that we don't have too. The book I referred to before Radical Evolution The Promise and Peril of Enhancing Our Minds, Our Bodies -- and What It Means to Be Human talked about this issue to but not in relationship to people but computers. Both books refer to this sharing of memory and the loss when that shared memory is gone. People who go through a divorce feel a loss partly at least, because some of their cognitive abilities resided in their spouse. People who have a computer fail and lose all of their data feel a loss and sometimes have to have grief counseling to manage it. Why? Not because they are weak or overly attached to material items, but because they in a very real sense have lost their mind, their soul.

I think this has some unique implications in the education world. First, how much of our memory do we share with others? How do we share memory and even personality with the community. Gladwell discussed this transactive memory as having an influence on the success of small groups. People not only know each other but the know each other. They value each other. This I think has a serious implicatioin for schools. Where interdependence is fostered there is a much higher investment in the success of each individual and the whole group.

Secondly, if we truly do share memory with our devices, we depend on them as we depend on other people, should we deny student their devices at school? We see their cell-phones and iPods, and MP3 players as nuisance items and distractions, but are we in a sense asking students to function with only part of their brain? What would it be like for us to function without the books we depend on? These students depend on their phones not just as a way to flirt but as a connection to their world.

This connection also creates another implication. What about our World Wide Web of memory? In some way as each of us shares, creates, comments and adds to what is available we are creating in a sense a Hive Mind (blatant Star Trek/BORG reference or Ender's Game take your pick) But we are creating a world in which what one knows all can know. Access then to this mind becomes essential to be a part of the same memory as our global culture.

Great book!

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The Son of Tarzan

The Son of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is another terrific guilty pleasure. One of the books I shouldn't like. It has more evidence of Burroughs, Edgar Rice infatuation with 'culture Tarzan the noble savage has a son. A son who must also develop the muscle and jungle strength of his father. He inherited it in some way but it must be developed. He must fall in love, but it couldn't possibly be with anything less than a French Princess.

But I've got to say the romance in this one for a naive 13 year old was awesome, and I loved it just as much this most recent time.

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Beasts of Tarzan

The Beasts of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I have rediscovered Edgar Rice Burroughs I picked copies of a few of his books for Microsoft Reader on my phone. (www.microsoft.com/reader) and then located them on the Kindle Store for my iPod Touch. I have re-read a few of them on the bus over the last few weeks and I am struck by one thing. INACCURACIES. I read them before I went to college and got a Bachelor's degree in Zoology, before I had spent hours watching Discovery Channel and Animal Planet, before I had visited a Zoo. His description of 7 foot tall 'apes' and they aren't gorillas (the gorillas are even bigger) is astounding.

Also his infatuation with the noble class of England and France. No one in the books has a good character unless they are Aristocracy and wealthy.

I should hate these books, they should offend me. They are full of racial stereotypes, negative depictions, foolishness and speculation. I like to think of myself as a thoughtful, progressive rational human being. One who prides himself on knowing and understanding the worl accurately.

But, I've got to tell you. They are so fun to read. It's kind of like a Sommelier going to the local convenience store and buying a box of wine for a cheap drunk.

Anyway the whole series is a lot of fun

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Runes of the Earth

The Runes of the Earth by Stephen R. Donaldson


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Those who have read the first two series may be familiar with the anti-hero Thomas Covenant. He was my favorite protagonist to hate. All through the first 3 books his Unbelief was entirely unacceptable to me. I hated him and loved Stephen R. Donaldson for creating such an absolutely amazing character. One whom I ached to see accept his role and do what he needed to do.


With this book author:Stephen R. Donaldson has returned to The Land with another cast of characters that are just as rich. Stave in this book was for me like Covenant in the first series. I hated his denial and refusal and ached to see him accept what none of the Haruchai would.


Linden Avery returns as the Chosen, but this time it is her use of Power and her internal conflict that we must empathize with. Unlike Covenant and his conflict of Unbelief Linden has the conflict of two powers and whether she can accomplish good by evil means. An age old question. The conflict was not as resonant with me as was Covenant's but it is there. I look forward to the completion of this series and another journey with the Unbeliever.

Both of you who have read my blog know that internal consistency is one of my personal favorites when it comes to fiction. Authors who plan well develop their internal consistency by foreshadowing and writing in clues for what will be revealed more fully in later books. Other authors, including in this case Stephen R. Donaldson, take advantage of elements left unexplored in previous books or expand references to include more complete ideas. Stephen R. Donaldson did this when the Demondim begin using the power of the Illearth Stone against Linden Avery and her company. This seemed inconsistent, but Donaldson slowly revealed that what was going on was entirely consistent with the previous books and with the current books in a manner that was both unique and unexpected and entirely satisfying.

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Stephen R. Donaldson

I haven't had much time to read or write about reading. Since Summer started. I am currently teaching an Online class in Internet Safety (Yeah, ironic huh) And carrying a full teaching load. I am running 5 days of workshops next week and I have been at the National Educational Computing Conference for the last 4 days in Washington DC. We fly out today and I am going to read on the plane. On the trip out I was disappointed to find that there is now a TV in the back of every seat. I fumbled through it and watched Food network and played Trivia and kept checking where the plane was on the map.

Not like the good ol' days of my youth when the only entertainment on the plane was a good book and the SkyMall magazine (BTW, what is the demographic for that catalog? Are the same people really buying a $14,000 home gym and lawn aerating spikes for their shoes)

Well, on the way home I am firmly committed to reading Stephen R. Donaldson's Book: Runes of the Earth.

That is unless, I get distracted by the TV again! :-)

How Buildings Learn: What happens after they are built

How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They're Built by Stewart Brand

My review

I am very interested in reading this book. Dr. Andrew Gibbons spoke about this book during his session at the #TTIX conference. He referred to the layered approach to building a building and how each part of the building is in a sense isolated from other parts. The framework is a separate process from the sheath or skin. The same can be said of educational resources they have different layers. His discussion of this book reminded me of the how well the book spoke to educational design.Emotional Design Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things


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Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer

I posted this review on www.goodreads.com It really isn't a review it is more of an open letter to Stephenie Meyer and to authors in general. Readers understand the way a story grows and matures. Ayn Rand spoke of this when she talked about coming back to her books after gaining a better command of English and better skill as an author and 'tightening' them up. She didn't change to basic story but she did improve the telling of it. Stephenie is angered by the fact that the draft leaked, and has every right to be, but no story is every really done. Readers understand that it's a process. I have lost the source on this but J.K. Rowling stated that she wished that she had included some 'good' Slytherins to make the stories more believable. People grow as authors and I certainly hope that Mrs. Meyers initial flare-up of anger and hurt over what happened will eventually grow to a refining fire that will allow her to see the reality that most of the people who scrambled for the draft were merely enthusiastic and not thieves. I for one would buy the book (or at least legitimately check it out from the library) to read the finished draft. While technically violating copyright the dispensing of her draft was not done for the basic reason of subverting her ability to make money but I honestly believe it was done out of a deep desire to see the growth of the story.

You can read Stephenie Meyer's response to this situation here.

Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer

My review

Dear Stephenie,



First I want to express my sincerest condolences for the violation of your rights as a person, creator, and author. The leaking of your work before you were ready was clearly painful.



Having said that, I fervently hope that you complete this book. Some of the comments indicate that what most bothers you is that the story was not complete, not polished, not done. That is the nature of storytelling. When our stories were oral traditions each telling must have been embellished, altered for the audience, improved, and renewed with each telling. I know for myself as I tell stories that is how I do it.



We readers for the most part understand that the draft is still a draft, it is juvenile in it's lifespan (not necessarily in it's content) but clearly your readership craves for this story. I genuinely hope that you won't let the changing nature of our world, discourage you from finishing the story. There was a time when an artist could control their work until the time they were ready to unveil it in full glory, but so often now, the draft, the unfinished, the unpolished becomes available to the masses before the creator is prepared for it. Rather than spurn this, I hope you can see it in you to embrace it. We readers love both the process of watching you work and the final project.



I am sorry I won't be able honoring your wish that no one read this draft, unless you can confirm that you will one day return to it and finish nurturing it to adulthood. I want to hear the story, I want to see it grow and to see you grow as an author. I value the story too much to want you to abandon it. Please, for your readers pick this back up!


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p.s. After writing the review, and then this post I went to look for a way to send Stephenie Meyer the actual letter. Blearrgh NO CONTACT AVAILABLE. Nothing, Nada, zip. So if anyone actually reads this post and agrees with me, I would love a comment, (if you don't agree with me feel free to comment too) But if you agree with me please tweet this post, re-blog it, or link to it Hopefully with enough upswell from fans she will hear about it and finish the book!

New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
After finishing Twilight I of course had to immediately start the next book. My strategy for waiting until a series is done before reading it has again stood me in good stead. I have been able to finish the series in a two weeks without having to wait anxiously for the next episode (Which I had to do with both The Harry Potter series and the Percy Jackson Series) I am glad I did it that way.



I am also glad I read the series. And not just the get in touch with the 13 year old girl side of myself. After teaching Junior High for 10 years I can honestly say I get why these appealed to that demographic. I watched the young ladies in may class devour these books like vampires on O Positive.



Well, my take on these comes from the perspective of having finished the series which gives me a chance to both criticize and compliment. While I was reading these books I was disgusted with two things. First, to some extent this book was just Twilight all over again, I mean after Edward made himself scarce this was all about the wounded Bella finding herself again with her new love Jacob. He was her new monster. It really felt like that, and the part of this that bugged me was her disloyalty to the memory of Edward. One part of Edward's departure that I found clever was the chapters that were blank (at least in the Kindle version) Bella's constant sorrow over Edward prevented her from devoting herself to Jacob. Her need for Jacob drove her to be with him constantly. It made for painful reading. Partly, I guess for me, was that I really value devotion and loyalty. On the other hand Bella's internal conflict was a central part of the story and the next book as well. The second criticism was the extreme fragility of Bella, I can see from the perspective of having finished the series how important that fragility is, but from my perspective as a male, I didn't find it appealing and it was very hard to relate to Edwards devotion to such a weak submissive girl. Again, maybe that's my bias and my perspective.



The compliments, which anyone who reads my blog might really relate to are about the foreshadowing and literary devices. First foreshadowing. without giving too much away, the relationship and devotion between Bella and Jacob was painful to read, but placed their relationship in a context that made the progression of this relationship in later books much more believable (and first more then less painful) The second was the literary device she used. Juxtaposition of the way that Bella was forced to compare fire and ice. Edward she loved for all the he embodied: Control, safety, protection, security represented by cold. Jacob with his fiery body represented: thrill, excitement, passion and uninhibited behavior.



Great book, although I had challenges with it, which is why I give it 3 our of 5 stars rather than more.




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Review: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book has been touted as the best supernatural romance for teens....possibly ever. It has inspired dozens (potentially hundreds) of imitators. It certainly isn't the first story of its kind. In reality there is in my mind a striking similarity between this book and Dracula. Dracula was the story of the evil vampire bent on the destruction of both the lives and virtue of two Victoria Women. One theme that ran through the novel though was the the very real obsession that Mina Harker felt toward Dracula. She knew he was bad for her and would destroy her but she couldn't turn away from him. With that as a background it could be argued that Twilight is really Dracula from Mina's perspective. Although Edward is arguably less vicious than the evil Count of Transylvania.



Additional to the homage to Dracula there was a unique tension throughout the book. Edward first avoided Bella because he recognized his great desire for her. A desire that while couched in terms of his desire for her blood, could certainly be read as a subtle substitution for his sexual desire for her. He tries to avoid her to avoid corrupting himself. All through the books this them comes back. Bella would be more than happy to give in to her desire for Edward, both intimately and by allowing him to turn her into the vampire. Edward is the one who refuses to fall, refuses to give in to the desire to harm her. This substitution of sexual desire for his desire for her blood was in evidence in the evening conversations between Bella and Edward where you could easily replace any normal boy who doesn't want to allow himself to go to far with a girl. Edward's internal but verbalized dialogue about barely being able to control himself is a dialogue easily imagined between two teens who both want to become intimate and know that they aren't ready for it.



The detail with which Stephenie Meyer describes this dynamic in a teen relationship is truly astounding.



You may notice that I recommend this to LDS Readers, that is because the author is LDS and from a trivia/interest standpoint it is fun to read authors with our same background. If you are not LDS don't let that cause you to be shy. This book has no overt (or even subtle) LDS doctrine or perspectives in it other than an aversion to depictions of intimacy before marriage and an aversion to wanton murder.


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Kindle on my iPod

I have been very reluctant to take a $359.00 chunk out of my pocket to get a Kindle. despite the fact that I absolutely love the idea of having a whole library in my hands. I have used multiple other eBook formats on both a computer and handheld devices. My first PalmPilot had decent resources for eBooks. My first Windows Mobile with Microsoft's Reader was my favorite for years. Mainly because I was able to have the same books on my mobile device and on my desktop/laptop.

The Kindle was touted as the iPod for readers, and it is undeniably doing well. I simply haven't been able to justify buying another dedicated device. So I was pleasantly surprised a few weeks back when the Kindle App for the iPod Touch and iPhone was launched. I downloaded it immediately but waited until I had finished a couple of paper and ink books before downloading my first book. I am a bit behind the times, but I bought Twilight by Stephanie Meyer.

The app worked very well. As soon as I had purchased it and opened the App on my iPod it downloaded in seconds. I was able to send the book to another device too with no trouble at all. Activating and Deactivating devices is all done on Amazon.com. Books must be purchased there too. That is one place the Kindle Hardware beats out the iPod app. My two biggest challenges with it were:

• Battery Life- When I started reading, I was on a bus with Wi-Fi access, and listening to music. The Kindle App allows these process to continue in the background and Whispersync keeps your book 'synced' while online. But this ate up my battery life. It took me a few days of reading to figure it out, but while sitting at home yesterday, I turned off the music, and shut off the Wi-Fi and read for 4 hours without putting to much of a dent in the battery. Half that time with music and Wi-Fi was enough to completely eat through the battery
• Navigating- Turning pages is about as intuitive as it gets. Easier by some counts than the awkwardly placed buttons on the Kindle Hardware, but I found myself hitting the home button to try and get the navigation tools to open. There was something almost too clean about the reading frame. A simple info button like so many other apps have would have been useful, but I think it would detract from the clean look Amazon was obviously going for.
  

Considering the two faults I had with the App, I realize they are both user issues that just require me to relearn a little. I would definitely give this app two thumbs up.

Tracking Trash

Tracking Trash: Flotsam, Jetsam, and the Science of Ocean Motion by Loree Griffin Burns

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
I read this for a book club at the Junior High I taught at. It was a fabulous example of the narrative of science. Science isn't just a collection of facts and answers it is a rich story of people and events and changes. This book illustrates that beautifully, by telling the story of the Giant Garbage Patch. A place in the ocean where much of the pollution collects due to the prevailing ocean currents



The book details the stories of the people involved in discovering this and potential solutions to the problems that result. It teaches the facts of the case through a well developed story and history of the discovery of this unique phenomenon.

If you want to know more about this phenomenon before you read it check out the TED talk by Capt. Moore the man who first discovered it:





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FableHaven: Secret of the Dragon Sanctuary (From Goodreads)

Fablehaven: Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary by Brandon Mull

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Ok, so I had to re-read Fablehaven Grip of the Shadow Plague before I started it and just as finished I found out my son had left it in his desk which had me waiting a whole weekend to get started.

The wait didn't slow me down much though, I finished it in 3 days, and that was reading only on the bus to and from work.



The book was well done, it moved Seth more fully into a participating part of the group and showed him taking on a much more mature role. He is genuinely analyzing why he does things and considering right and wrong. Seth also moves to the forefront by gaining some new skills. Skills that put him on par with Kendra, and together they gain even more skills.



There were disappointments to the book. One of the biggest was the betrayal in this book. Kendra, Seth and the rest of the Knights seem to have to regularly deal with betrayal and this book isn't an exception. The betrayal was big and a bit of a shock, but more disappointing was the almost flippant resolution. You'll recognize it when you see it. The resolution was so simple in fact that I wonder if it was misleading and that more will be forthcoming.


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One of the cool things about Social Media

One of my favorite things about Web 2.0 or Social Media is how we can become connected to people. I have loved Rick Riordan's books and was just today checking out his latest book so I can pre-order it.

Here's a link to his video: http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/m5UOH61EB6XF7

It should show up here as well:

Oh I love the blogosphere!

I was trucking along through my Google Reader items and found an article about how digital libraries are boosting student learning. I loved the original Edutopia article but just as valuable to me was the link the the New York Public Library. Check out the digital collection!

Pendergast

Literary devices.

Isn't it funny how memory works. I have been wanting to write about The Pendergast novels by Lincoln Child and Douglas Preston for some time especially to point out an interesting literary device, only I couldn't remember it. Not the literary device. that was simple. What I couldn't remember was the term....literary device. Rolling through my head was the term affectation which means a pose or act one 'affects' in order to present oneself as something (usually, something you are not as in an affected accent) But I knew I wasn't remembering the correct term. This morning as I walked down to the bus stop. POP into my head jumps the term literary device. Finally remembered the term I have been searching for for over a month. I would like to blame it on the fact that with 3.4 languages rolling through my head I just have to much vocabulary to keep it all straight, but I chalk it up to to much sugar and not enough sleep.

Anyway, on with the show. The literary device in these novels is one of perspective. When authors write novels they have to write in person. First person means the novel is written as though from that person's mind. You know only what that person knows. You can't read anyone's mind. Although sometimes authors will cheat a bit and slip conveniently into 3rd person omniscient in order to give us information they want. Now, we have introduced another person: 3rd person omniscient. From this perspective we the reader are clued in to everything. We know that the villain is secretly planning murder the protagonist and we know that the protagonist is completely clueless. Some authors will utilize a 3rd person format without the all-knowing aspect. This allows the reader to discover the thoughts and motivations of the characters based on their actions without hearing their thoughts. 2nd person novels and writing are less common because it is difficult to convey things from the your perspective.

What Child and Preston have done is to my mind quite distinct and like Pendergast himself borrowed from Sherlock Holmes. Now, I don't claim to be a Sherlock Holmes scholar (or any kind of scholar, just an average person with an avocation) but in the few Sherlock Holmes stories I have read, we don't get insight into the mind of Holmes except as he acts and explains himself to Watson. Pendergast is much the same way. Although Child and Preston have no problem revealing the thoughts and motivations of others Pendergast himself is rarely revealed. I noted this distinctly in Still Life with Crows. Through the entire book we 'hear' the thoughts of others but never Pendergast. We can only judge him by his actions, by what he does, and by what he says to other characters, and by their reactions to him. Whether this began as a conscious literary device or grew into one, we find it carrying on through the books. Only on the few rare occasions when Pendergast turns inward himself and meditates is his inner working revealed. I found this to be an powerful method of character development. It works much like real life. We learn about people largely through what we can observe and only rarely is their inner self revealed.

Citation Nods:
http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Terms/index.html
http://www.uncp.edu/home/canada/work/allam/general/glossary.htm
http://mrbraiman.home.att.net/lit.htm

Literary Elements: Internal Consistency in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Warning minor spoilers)

A few months back I did a seven week series on literary elements in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. Undoubtedly the two people who read those posts know I am a fan of hers. Revisiting the series in that way gave me a new appreciation for her ability as a writer. One key feature of successful fantasy is internal consistency. In point of fact it is essential for not only fantasy, but all fiction and most non-fiction. Internal consistency is the concept that keeps character in character, keeps the historical references the same. For example, Dumbledore's nose. From our first introduction to Dumbledore, he is described as having a distinct, crooked, and previously broken nose. His nose carried all the way through to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows where we finally learn how his nose was broken. There are two ways an author can maintain this internal consistency. One, the author can do their writing and then as the write new story lines they can simply check their previous writing to make sure they are consistent with what they have written before. Lots of writers do this, but this sometimes does create conflict as new story ideas and direction for a series requires the author to introduce new elements or "magics" (in the sense of 'and a unicorn magically appeared') to justify some novel (in the sense of new) idea. Authors do this when some thing jumps in out of nowhere and introduces some entirely new element to the novel or series in order to resolve a plot conflict.

J.K. Rowling seems to have taken a different approach. She seems to have very meticulously planned the end game of her book and the like a sculptor carefully chipped away the secrets until the consistent story is revealed as a masterpiece. Back to Dumbledore's nose. Not only was Rowling careful to give us good detail about Dumbledore's appearance, but she chose to reveal a clue about the end game right from the beginning. She knew that Albus and his brother Aberforth had fought, and why and what the causes and consequences of that fight had been. We like Harry were surprised to learn these details, but they were essential to Rowling and so she revealed them slowly and carefully.

Another enjoyable consistency was Harry almost swallowing his first snitch. Now, from the perspective of the Albus Dumbledore, he simply took advantage of the fact that Harry had caught his first snitch in his mouth, but from the perspective of the author, it seems likely that she had planned that out. She knew that Harry would need to receive the Resurrection Stone from Dumbledore in a secret way that would allow it to be revealed to Harry in the nick of time. She wrote in him catching the snitch in his mouth so that when Scrimegour passed it on to Harry it wouldn't reveal itself. Now, I suppose it would be possible to argue that Rowling like Dumbledore simply took advantage of her previous cleverness.

Oh, that's right, I thought it would be jolly clever to have Harry catch the snitch in his mouth, now how can I use that?

I tend to give her a bit more credit than that, of course she is always welcome to correct me.

Well, just two more examples of the effective literary elements in Harry Potter.

The Best of the Bull

I have usually avoided being very personal on this blog because I actually want it to keep a quite professional atmosphere. However, I was with colleagues when this occurred and it went out to the twitterverse so....

The folks in my office normally go out to break bread together. It is one of those great bonding experiences. Eating is a very social event. Well, this one was an extremely social event. It allowed for some incredible bonding. We went to a local restaurant Cowboy Grub on of the items on the menu is "The Best of the Bull"

My friend Jared decided that we needed to try it. Check out the results.

Really, this was a learning experience for me. Sometimes we have to open ourselves up to new experiences. Plus the prairie oysters (or Rocky Mountain Oysters as they are also called) weren't bad. Will I rush back for another batch. I doubt it, maybe for the spuds though! Did I learn something. Yeah, and I enjoyed good times with my friends. The power of which can never be underestimated. Oh BTW did I just give in to peer pressure???

He's decomposing

If you are one of the unfortunate people who have experienced the tragedy of reading A Series of Unfortunate Events, then you have the unique affliction of being acquainted with Lemony Snicket. Much to our dismay and consternation he has written another book.

This book is a new investigation into the darker side of what some people want us to believe is high civility, but is in reality probably a dark conspiracy involving organized crime. This book starts out with the vexatious Lemony Snicket encountering a Composer who has failed miserably at his job so miserably in fact that he is not composing at all but rather decomposing. Mr. Snickets thankless (thankless becuase we would rather he didn't do it not because no on thanks him) job is to investigate the "Orchestra" a group who much like another organization dresses up in finery and mysteriously carry strange locked black cases and often slip in through back doors. You can hear more of this book and read further dreadful details at the NPR website.

Citation Nod:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101669557

The books already written by Lemony Snicket

Emotional Design by Donald A. Norman

Some more data has just been released regarding emotional design!

That sounded umm... well... melodramatic at best.

Reality is though, I really loved the book Emotional Design by Donald A. Norman. When I first read the book, I did a post on my learning blog trying to articulate what his book was doing for me, but I failed. Yet again, I found that he articulated much better what I was trying too than I could. There are two sides to how we think.

• We need freedom, safety and low stress in order to develop breadth to our thinking
• We need restriction, fear, and high stress in order to bring depth(Focus) to our thinking

The former is exceptional for generating massive amounts of creative ideas and novel solutions to problems. The former allows us to actually get work done.

But I guess, I will let him say it.

My White Dragon review

The White Dragon by Anne McCaffrey

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
This is one of my favorite of Anne McCaffrey 's books. Just a little spoiler it does have some description of human intimacy


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More new Information on the Kindle!

Kindle was being touted as the iPod for bibliophiles, but I was arguing that dang it I dont' want to lug another technogeekgadget. I love the idea of carrying a library around with me, but I also like to listen to music and occasionally watch a movie. I thought I would just have to wait until those feature became more efficient on the Kindle. But wait....I can get my Kindle on my iPhone, or in my case my iPod touch. I haven't tried out the app yet, but as soon as I am done presenting at UELMA I am going to be downloading it and trying my first Kindle book. Hmmm... Now, what to buy?

Top facts about the name Mitchell Jorgensen

Did you know that Mitchell Jorgensen is...

1. Modestly envoweled
2. Llehctim Nesnegroj backwards
3. Itchellmay Orgensenjay in Pig Latin
4. 01001101 01101001 01110100 01100011 01101000 01100101 01101100 01101100 00100000 01001010 01101111 01110010 01100111 01100101 01101110 01110011 01100101 01101110 in binary code?

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Short Post: Why Kindle should be open source

Many people are looking to the Kindle to be the iPod of eReading. Tim O'Reilly had something to say about it that I thought was pretty interesting.

http://www.forbes.com/2009/02/22/kindle-oreilly-ebooks-technology-breakthroughs_oreilly.html

Interesting comments on the Kindle

I got a tweet from @timoreilly on twitter. The post From http://www.teleread.org was about how the Kindle may not be all it hopes to be.

This just reinforced my desire for a single handheld integrated device. One that allows me to do all the stuff I want to do. Read books, watch videos, check email, edit documents, ....hmmm I guess what I want is a laptop that is handheld. I think sometime in the near term we are going to see improved integrated devices. Especially devices with screens that have enough resolution and size to actually be able to do it all.

The whole thing also made me realize how much I want a part time job doing some real writing for a group like teleread. Getting a regular paycheck even if small would certainly up my regularity of posts.

The End by Lemony Snicket

The End by Lemony Snicket

My review

rating: 2 of 5 stars
I found this book to be a huge disappointment. Granted he told us all through the series that it would be a disappointment, but did he have to do such a great job of it. The End tanked for me. Most of the time when I really like a series I read them at least twice. I may never read this series again and if I do it will be sheer will power that gets me through The End again. The series felt so unfinished, unresolved and just not done. The End should have been called "I quit"



If I disliked the book this much you may ask why I gave it even 2 stars. Well, I have to give it a couple because it was ok. I needed to read it to finish the series and that gave it its only redeeming quality.


View all my reviews.

First meetings in the Enderverse

A few weeks ago I had a big trip north to a nephew's wedding reception. I was driving with my parents and kids. I knew that I wasn't in a very talkative mood so we swung by the local library to get an Audio book. The book I wanted to get wasn't available and frankly, I don't remember what I was looking for now. I did run across Dragonsinger by Anne McCaffrey and Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. The kids picked Dragonsinger and I got 6 hours of blissful listening which was really what I wanted that weekend. But I started listening to Ender's Game which had me running back to the library and I spotted a book of my "to-read" list. It was great!


First Meetings in Ender's Universe by Orson Scott Card

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
I am a big fan of Ender's Game which may be in my Top 10 all time favorite books if I could ever create such a list. This book is as close to a prequel as Orson Scott Card has come. The original Bugger wars are still in the past and remain background and history, but we get to meet Ender's father and Captain Graff before he took over the battle school. We also get to see John Paul Wiggin meet Theresa Brown and learn exactly how calculated Ender's birth really was. This book was a treat especially right after finishing Ender's game again. For fans of the Endervers this collection of stories is a real treat. It is just what it says it is a collection of first meetings that haven't been revealed in other places. All of the stories except Teacher's Pest were originally published elsewhere first overall this book is right up there for me because it was great to get submerged into the Enderverse again.


View all my reviews.

Summer of the Monkey's

Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
One of my teacher's in elementary school read this to our class with the predictable result that 80% of the kids hated it and the kids who loved reading already promptly read it on their own. I fell into the second category. I had already seen the movie version of Where the Red Fern Grows which made me bawl like a child. I was in around 4th grade so this was totally appropriate.



Summer of the Monkeys had not tears except tears of laughter. I don't want to spoil too much but there is one spoiler you must know before your read this book.

Drunk Monkeys

It take quite a bit to top that. For a fun read with a feel good ending give this a look.


View all my reviews.

Ender's Game

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/901.Ender_s_Gamehttp://www.goodreads.com/book/show/901.Ender_s_GameI have gotten hooked on GoodReads.com and I find I am spending time there and not updating here like I planned. Oh well, I am glad I can copy reviews from there to here with extreme ease, but I don't do as much just pointless rambling about books the way I really want to.

But here's some. I recently reread Ender's Game, or rather heard Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. What an amazing book. I realize that it is probably in my top 10 all time favorite books. The depth to it is amazing. The sequels were good but the parallel book Ender's Shadow was amazing too. If you only read two of Card's books these are they. Oooh, that sounded like a Movie Commercial.

Anyway, I read this book on my own and then reread it and wrote up a paper during my Master's work about the Instructional Design that was evident in the book. It was kind of a wierd way to look at the book. "How was Ender's education effective Instructional Design" but boy am I grateful to Andy Gibbons for giving that assignment. It was an optional assignment (extra credit, yes even in a Master's Degree) but I can never look at the book the same way. I found this time I was even more able to recognize the overtone of education in the book.

Another amazing feat was Card's ability to portray a child both accurately and empathically. I as an adult found myself able to relate to Ender completely even though he was 6 when the book begins.

Again I will say: top 10 all time for me.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Literary Elements (Warning Spoilers)

Welcome to the end of the series! J.K. Rowlings and mine. I noted a few weeks ago that most of the people who were arriving at my site were arriving via searches for Harry Potter and Literary Elements. I have really enjoyed going back through the books looking for Literary Elements especially foreshadowing.

This was the book it all ended in. I have been rereading first books also. For example Anne McCaffrey's Dragonflight which was definitely a first book. There were elements that appeared in the first book which dropped out or were redefined in later books. The amazing thing to me is that J.K. Rowling not only didn't do that, but revisited elements that had apparently been minor details. For example the fact that Aberforth was present in an almost impercebtible way in Book 5 but showed up again importantly at the end of Book 7. The reference in book 3 about Pettigrew being in debt to Harry came back with force when Pettigrew tried to betray Voldemort and help Harry and Pettigrew's magical hand revolted and murdered him.

Emotional Design by Donald A. Norman

Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things by Donald A. Norman

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book was an amazing discussion of the psychology behind the stuff we love. I particularly enjoyed how much it spoke to our social networking tools. Our desire to connect with tech is discussed. The chapter on the future of robots also spoke quite a bit to educational design. the author, was a Cognitive and Computer Scientist who studied how well things work. During this his time studying this he noted the frustration and devotion people developed with certain products.



My most valuable lesson from this book was the importance necessity of considering the affective and emotional side to design. This is especially vital in designing learning experiences. Learning is very much an emotional endeavor. We learn stuff that tugs at our emotion. We learn because we value the skill or information. All in all a terrific book that if you are a designer, educator or technologist you really ought to read.



The book is very accessible despite the academic credentials of Donald A. NormanDonald A. Norman


View all my reviews.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (warning spoilers)

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is my second favorite book in the series. I realized that just as I wrote it. I have always liked Snape and the mystery of him in this book was heightened. He had made an unbreakable vow with Narcissa Malfoy and it was also revealed that Severus was having doubts about commitments to Dumbledore. Again and again though Dumbledore expresses his faith in Snape.

By the way, Narcissa is another example of J.K. Rowlings' exceptional wordplay. Narcissa is clearly a reference to Narcissus and Narcissism the story from Roman/Greek mythology of the character who falls in love with his own reflection and drowns trying to get close to himself.
The other bit of wordplay that is significant in this book was the pensieve. It has shown up before, but it played a big role in this book. Depending on where you put the emphasis you could either pronounce the word (pensiv) or (penseev) but either way it is a variation on the word pensive meaning to ponder, muse or dream. The Pensieve also connotes a sieve or a sifter which makes the device a place to ponder and sift out meaning from your memories. Beautiful wordplay again.

My favorite bit of foreshadowing though was the Chapter entitled Horcruxes. I wish I could be certain though was Dumbledore's references to the Horcruxes and the time he spent telling Harry how certain he was that Voldemort intended to make his final Horcrux after Harry. It was no great leap for me to see that somehow Voldemort had unintentionally created a Horcrux in Harry. It's really easy to post this so far after the fact, but I really did know. The discussion of Horcruxes was the crucial point. Horcrux is also another play on words. Crux comes from the Latin for cross. My best guess for hor is that it either a reference to hoar or hoary or possibly horror. Whichever you choose or all three, the crux of the matter (yes, I think she is using this connotation too) is that the center or soul of Voldemort is a frosty, hairy ancient, horror. This makes particular sense when you consider her new book Tales of Beedle the Bard. And the tale of the Hairy Heart. The message there and in the Half Blood Prince seems to be don't destroy what is most precious. Be sure you keep you soul, your heart in tact....because it is your ability to love that makes you human. Which is what we all are Muggle and Magician alike.

An amazing story!

This is no real surprise to those of us who have already been using this resource, but you can get books, movies, internet access, study spaces, conference spaces and sometimes even classes and kids programs all free from this source. Glad to see it is finally getting some attention on National Media.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Interesting Easter Eggs

I was checking my feedjit traffic and decided to follow some of the searches on google.com on of them got me the following result.

http://www.gryffindorgazette.com/2007/03/14/easter-eggs-in-the-harry-potter-books/

It is a list of some interesting Easter Eggs in the Harry Potter books. One of them I disagree with because it says Hermione's Patronus is a weasel but it was actually an otter.

Banned!

I normally don't blog about the news or stuff I found on the internet (assuming that others can surf as well as me) but I liked this opinion and wanted to share:

Here's the link:

http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/Features/Columns/Default.aspx?article=BannedBook&gt1=27004

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Literary elements and foreshadowing (warning spoilers)

I have really enjoyed this chance to go back through the books. I have been reading them this time knowing the end and looking for the clues J.K. Rowling left for us. The fun and quite obvious one in this book was the whole chapter "In the Hog's Head" When Harry, Hermione and Ron enter the tiny pub Harry is tickled by the faint odor of .....goats. In one of the other books and (I can't remember which and don't want to be troubled with looking it up since no one reads this blog anyway) Albus Dumbledore refers to the fact we shouldn't worry what people write about us in the paper. His brother is a good example he was ridiculed in the paper for practicing unnatural charms on a goat. Harry also notices the long full hair, and eyebrows and a face that looks oddly familiar. Noteably absent is any reference to his eye color which would have possibly made the clues too obvious when Harry starts seeing snippets of blue in book 7. Well we find out in book 7 that it is Albus' brother Aberforth that is the bartender at the Hog's Head. This also casts a different light on why Albus would have visited the Hog's Head occasionally and a possible explanation as to how Albus was able to know so many of the details of the D.A. without having attended the meeting. I know that Mundungus was their too, but although Albus and Aberforth weren't close they were definitely allies. Again I am amazed at how well J.K. Rowiling set up future events and how well she planned things through the whole series. It could be serendipitous or an offhand comment she made about Dumbledore's goat loving brother growing into the goaty smelling bar, but for it all to fits so nicely certainly looks like really good planning on the part of the author.