Summer Books

The books I read during the summer (In order)
1. The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
2. Bob Dylan: Revolution In the Air by Clinton Heylin
3. Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris
4. IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas by Chuck Klosterman
5. Darker Than the Deepest Sea: The Search for Nick Drake by Trevor Dann ( this book was a let down).
6. Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror by Richard Clarke.
7. A Freewheelin' Time: A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties by Suze Rotolo
8. I'm currently reading The End of Faith by Sam Harris.

Next on my list: Bound for Glory by Woody Guthrie

I really enjoyed reading over the summer. I read a lot. All the books I read were extremely enjoyable expect for the book about Nick Drake. I was excited about it, because Nick Drake was a very mysterious guy living in solitude. I thought it would be interesting to find out more about him. The book didn't really grab my attention at all though. Major disappointment. He wrote some cool tunes, but he was a pretty strange guy.
The God Delusion: I'm obviously not a very religious person considering that I enjoyed reading Dawkin's book. It was great. A huge eye opener. A friend of mine was confused why I was reading a book written by a "cult leader." He's talking about an Atheist. This friend of mine is a Catholic, so he can't really talk. I could say the same thing about the Pope. This book is extremely interesting. This book should be next to every bible in every hotel.
Revolution in the Air: This book is about all of Bob Dylan's songs written from 1957 to 1973. The author tells the story of how and why each song was written. Each song is like a chapter. The author wrote about the songs in the order that they were written. That was cool. Bob Dylan has always been a hero of mine. I've had that feeling since middle school. This book made that feeling stronger. Did you know that Lay Lady Lay was written in the early '60s before Dylan recorded his first album? I do like Nashville Skyline, but how can you beat the early Dylan? I can't even imagine what the original version would sound like. What do you think?
Letter to a Christian Nation: It's only like 97 pages, and it's awesome. Read it.
IV: This book is full of essays. They are mostly of Chuck Klosterman and his interviews with famous rock musicians. He interviews some actors too though. And the NBA star, Steve Nash. I really enjoyed reading about Thom Yorke of Radiohead, the guitarist from Wilco, and Robert Plant. He's really funny in his writing too. This is probably my favorite Chuck Klosterman book.
Against All Enemies: This book is amazing. The author, Richard Clarke, was the head of the Counter Terrorist Unit for the white house during George Bush's, Bill Clinton's, and George Bush Jr.'s years in office. Clarke was super honest in the book. It's believable too, because he knows all the facts. The first chapter is about the evacuation of the White House during the 9/11 disaster. Crazy stuff. Clarke just points out what each president did on the war on terror. Clinton did the most out of the three. Clarke clearly points this out. He also clearly shows his frustration with the Bush administration. He quit his job about a year after 9/11. No one would listen to him. This book brought up some questions. Should the U.S really be in Iraq? If your answer is yes, please get educated. Read this book. I researched a little about the book. I guess Dick Chenny said that Richard Clarke was "out of the loop" with the war on terror. However, Condoleezza Rice said that he was completely "in the loop" with the whole fight on terror. It's weird. Clarke was the loop. Don't you love the government sometimes?
A Freewheelin' time: Suze Rotolo was Bob Dylan's girlfriend during the '60s. She experienced a lot. How couldn't she? She was dating the fastest growing folk singer in the world. She wrote about how times were great, but also about how times were tough. The times were definitely a changin' when Dylan got massive attention. He changed. Suze didn't see Dylan as a very reliable person. He really wasn't. Suze didn't want to deal with the change. She also didn't want to be used. Used by all of Dylan's fans. They would all go up to her hoping to get closer to Bob. She hated it. Lots of interesting stuff in Suze's memoir.

I really enjoyed reading over the summer. It's so much better to read for pleasure. What was wrong with me when I was a little kid? Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings are cool and all, but non-fiction is so much more interesting to read in my opinion.

War of the Sexes

Mary Wollstonecraft probably had a solid point in the 1700s. Her essay is a little outdated, but it was well written. She had an awesome vocabulary . Lots of cool words. I kinda want to throw a Richard Dawkins book at her though. A couple Sam Harris books too. I got a little tired reading about God in her essay. When God and morals are talked about together, I get a little angry. I won't get into that though. ANYWAYS, Wollstonecraft wrote the word "slave" in her essay a lot. Women were treated like slaves in a way back then. It's a bummer. I always hate it when women act like they are still treated that way. I here things like that every once in a while. It's not my problem that some guys are complete tools. My favorite is when male athletes rip on female athletes for being "weak" and "not as good as males". (Go McFarland Football!!!! Whoohooo!) I applaud those female athletes. My girlfriend could beat me up if she wanted to. I have no doubt about that. I am a small person. There are girls who are stronger than some guys. There are also some guys who are stronger than some girls. There are girls on the cross country team that could outrun me. Am I outraged because of this? No. They are good. Guys who think they are better than girls are tools. I know this is a strong judgment, but it needed to be said. Take music for example. I love so many female artists. Artists that i try so hard to emulate. Their sound. Not their looks. haha. Examples: Esperanza Spalding, Meg Baird, Karen Dalton, the Carter Family, Anais Mitchell, Klara Soderberg, Joan Baez, etc. I think labeling women as slaves today would be pretty outrageous. In the U.S at least, they have just as many rights as men. (i don't really know if this is true, but it seems that way at least.) This was an interesting reading. She has a very strong point. The essay was strong the whole way through. There will always be a war with the sexes, but who really cares who's better. People are people.

Is Google Making Us Stupid?

This blog is super late. Yikes! I apologize. Is Google Making Us Stupid? No, but Yahoo is. Just kidding. It's all too far fetched. I like Kubrick's 2001 film though. That's good. It's a good book too. Realistic though? who knows. Should I even be writing this blog? People will probably read it. People should probably be reading books instead of reading what Leif Larson has to say about Nicholas Carr's essay. I like blogs though. They are fun to read. I also like books though. So I can't really agree with part of the essay. It was said that some people can't read books like they used to because of the internet. I've finally reached that age where I like to read for pleasure. I was never a huge reader. Growing up when the N 64 (best system ever) and the internet increased in popularity, one might think that it would be hard for me to dig books(can't forget all other electronic gadgets. There are too many to list). I also love going on the internet and reading articles on current events and what not. I have no struggle reading books. Does the internet really change the way a person reads? I can't believe someone is trying to make the google search engine into an artificial intelligence. A Hal-like machine. If someone is smart enough to create that, they have to be a little dumb. Who would want to create something that would out smart everyone. Who would want to create something similar to the Hal robot. That robot is scary. Chuck Klosterman says it best. " Perhaps we humans are still in command, and perhaps there really will be a conventional robot war in the not-so-distant future. If so, let's roll. I'm ready. My toaster will never be the boss of me. Get ready to make me some Pop-Tarts, btich" I think we have better things to think about. We don't need to be working on upgrading the internet or anything like that. I just threw out my windows '98 last year. The computer store said it was the best windows '98 they have ever seen. No big deal. I don't have a microwave. I don't have cable for my television. I don't have fast internet. I got my first cell phone two years ago. I have an Ipod, but I won it in a raffle. I don't really have many electronic things. I'm doing fine. I play music, read books, play badminton, and hang out with people. People should just get off the internet. That's the problem. Google isn't. Take internet language for example. g2g, lol, ic, ttyl, 2day? i don't really know it that well. ANYWAYS, It's people who talk like that. People know how to write. They just choose not to write the full word. And when you think about it, people started these ideas. People are stupid. The internet just shows how stupid people are.