Life After Dewey

I finished this book a little while back and I can't honestly say that it was really worth reading. Unless you're obsessed with cats or something... I mean it was pretty cute (especially around page twenty-four-ish when the author talks about Dewey's life around the library), but it isn't at all relevant to anything we will ever learn and it isn't that interesting. I did think that the author made some good writing craft choices, though. For example, the parts of the story are chunked by perspective where you'd have a long section of Dewey's point of view and then several chapters of his owner's point of view. By having larger chunks, the reader is able to make smoother transitions and get deeper into each point of view. Overall, if you REALLY like cats, you might like it, but for most people, it's not worth looking at. Except for the cover. Dewey's a pretty fluffy cat. (The cover is on the left...)

Dewey's Checking In!

Right now, I'm about half-way through the book and I've noticed that the book shows the outside facts about Dewey, but also shows the impact he has on the people around him. For instance, on page 10, the discovery of Dewey is told by the head librarian's point of view. This allows the reader to grasp how great of an emotional impact Dewey left, even if he himself did not know it. I wonder though, why the author didn't write this book like the novel, Flipped, was written, where each chapter alternates perspective. I suppose that it would be chunkier, but it's very easy to get lost in this book's format with the "chunks" being a good four or five chapters each.

Dewey Readmore Books

I recently picked up a book called, " Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World" It's essentially the biography of a cat that was adopted by a library after being found in the library's overnight return chute during one of the tiny town's coldest winters on record. I discovered that he was Melvil Dewey, the inventor of the Dewey Decimal System. At this, I stopped and thought, "OH RIGHT! That's the dude that we learned about every year we went to the school library's nonfiction section!" which prompted me to do some extra research... Instead of boring you with the monotonous droning of facts that I acquired, I will just tell you my favorite facts about Dewey the Human and Dewey the Cat. Starting with the latter, Dewey the Human was originally named "Melville Dewey", but he changed it to "Melvil" in order to get rid of unnecessary letters. In fact, he almost changed his last name to "Dui". Good thing he didn't because all of his modern day ancestors (if he has any), would probably get a good laughing at if they ever got pulled over for drinking and driving... (Get it? Because "Dui" is spelled "DUI" which is what you get arrested for when you drink and drive... Haha.) On the other hand (paw?), Dewey apparently only ate Friskies Fancy Feast. Clearly these are two very different characters here... Except maybe that the were born in the winter... but I think that's about it...

Note: Doesn't Mr. Dewey look like Harrison Ford?

Salt Sugar Fat

As I near the conclusion of this book, I feel that I must say that this has completely changed my perspective on the processed food industry. And food in general. Literally so much of our food is process that it's nearly impossible to go a single day without eating something that has been processed. My challenge is this: This weekend, don't eat any processed food whatsoever. No Oreos. No McDonald's. No soda. Just see how long you can last... I tried this and failed. Epically. As in I gave up after three hours. Uhm. Yeah. Anyway, I just wanted to share that this novel is definitely for the curious and the statistic-lovers. The author, Michael Moss, expertly mixes together a personal adventure with an argument against the processed food industry in the manner an apothecary brews a potion. It's a fluid transition and drifts seamlessly between the two views. For example, on page 12, Moss describes a guinea pig experiment with scientist Julie Mennella's daughter (I'm just going to say that it involves pudding...) and continues to move into a discussion about the role your hippocampus (some part of the mush inside your cranium) has in all this sugar business. Cool, huh? That's what makes this book so intriguing and worth reading. If this book seems even remotely interesting to you, I say, "Go for it!"

(Book Review

The Divergent Trilogy: I *finally* finished it!

I have done it. I have finished reading the Divergent series! I thought it was pretty great. I'm gonna spare you my long, monotonous summary and just give you what the inside covers said about Divergent, Insurgent, and Allegiant. Personally, I would only advise someone to read this book if they're on board the whole "dystopian-city-love-story" train. It was essentially the Hunger Games revamped and morphed into some new premise.
Divergent Series vs Hunger Games series: What's Different

• Characters
• Premise
• Time setting

What's the Same

• Dystopian society
• Love story
• Struggle to survive forms relationship
• Female Protagonist
• Female Protagonist has a sidekick
• Male Antagonist +Female Antagonist team up against protagonist
• Society divided into groups
• Groups have designated jobs
• I'm too lazy to think of anymore, but you get my point, so that's okay.

Veronica Roth's imagination was great; the entire series was well-thought and well-planned. If only it wasn't like trying to stuff a too big plot into too small dystopian novel jeans. I'd give the book book a 2 for originality, but 9 for concept. Another glitch I found with this book is that it was written at about a fourth or fifth grade reading level. I literally had to do no thinking while reading this novel. Every minute detail, every millisecond of thought was spoon-fed to me. For example, on page 170, Tris describes how she feels and says, "Once I'm dressed and the urge to cry is gone, I feel something hot and violent writhing in my stomach. I want to hurt them." Could Roth really not come up with something better than "I want to hurt them," to say? Really? I flipped to a completely arbitrary page to find an example and that was the very  first page I flipped to... Maybe some people would like this brain baby food. I dunno. I'm not omniscient or anything... Anywho, this novel was great for lazy day reading, but horrendous for thought provoking.

Divergent- Movie vs. Book

Are you all enjoying spring break? I sure am! I went to Nashville and I got to see the movie "Divergent" with one of my besties (I promise I will limit my use of that word :3). I've spent the past couple of hours in the car re-reading the book. I must admit that the movie was pretty darn close to the book. Here are a couple of things that I noticed were different:

1. Four is supposed to be 18 in the book; Theo James is 28. Apparently the producers were shooting for 24. I guess they couldn't have actors who were too inexperienced...
2. Uriah! He's not in the movie! WHAT?!
3. Peter is ruthless in the books; Peter is rude and cruel, but not quite ruthless in the movie.

Overall, the movie was a really great supplement to the book. I think that it wouldn't be necessary to have read the book to understand much of the movie, so I'd definitely recommend the movie to dystopian-city-lovers.

(Connections: Text-to-Film)

Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us - Things to Think About

Well, I must admit that this book isn't what I expected. It is indeed a bunch of statistics and studies, but somehow, somehow, I'm actually enjoying this. For those of you who've checked out my blog in the past, you may be vaguely reminded of a previous post... Anywho, I've found that all those number crunching moments are actually really intriguing (but that might just be me). Do know why soda is always just right? Not over-sweetened? Not under-sweetened? It's because soda companies for thousands upon thousands of dollars into research about the theoretical "bliss point". The "bliss point" is essentially the highest amount of sugar that a person can handle in a drink with out feeling that it is too sweet. Hmm... now I wonder why 1/3 of the US population is overweight and Type 2 Diabetes rate are on the rise... I mean it couldn't possibly be the food companies putting the *maximum* amount of sugar into drinks and KFC's being completely drenched in fat.  That's just ludicrous! Well I'm off to dinner at Penn Station for an oh-so-healthy Philly Cheese steak....

(Connection: Text-to-Life)

Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us (New Book!)

I recently found a new book at the library called, you guessed it,  Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us. It was written by Michael Moss, who "was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting in 2010, and was a finalist for the prize in 2006 and 1999. He is also the recipient of a Loeb Award and an Overseas Press Club citation. Before coming to the [New York] Times,he was a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, New York Newsday, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He has been an adjunct professor at the Columbia School of Journalism and currently lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two sons." At least that's what his bio says on his website. I must admit though, his writing is pretty cool. I'm really curious about how Moss will present the information in this book. Most non-fiction writing that I've read has been based on anecdotes, and I actually like that. I'd rather not read a long, monotonous (Yeah, yeah, I know the book's not talking, but you know what I mean.) essay about why monkeys eat bananas. I mean, there are so many better ways to present factual evidence. Let's see Moss' non-fiction prowess....

(About the Author)

Pi - an irrationally awesome sensation

Well, this past Friday was.... *drumroll*.... Einstein's Birthday! (and National Pi Day.) Alright... Sorry about the nerdy pun, but I had to. Was I the only one who ate pi(e)? I hope not. Anywho, I was reading a CNN new article the other day about the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter and I thought about how wildly crazy it was! I mean, sure it's pretty awesome, but doesn't e feel left out? Oh well.

Here are some celebrations from all around the country:

San Francisco, CA- The San Francisco Exploratorium holds an annual pi extravaganza including parade of people holding the digits of pi that ends at a "pi shrine" (pictured below).

Princeton, NJ- Einstein's home for his final 22 years, kicks off the weekend on Thursday and rolls into jam-packed activities on Friday, including a pizza pie-making contest, pie eating contests, a tour of Einstein's neighborhood, an Einstein look-alike competition, and, of course, a pi reciting competition. (and the winner walks away with $100π)

Overall, I think Pi Day really helps bring out our inner math nerd. It's a day to fascinate ourselves with the workings of mathematics and science and, hey, maybe we'll even find the next Einstein...

(Outside reading)

New Tri, New Plans :3

A while back, I read Divergent and Insurgent, both in the Divergent Trilogy by Veronica Roth. Last weekend, I began the final installment of the series, Allegiant. Right now, I'm on page 120 and since it's been so long since I'd read the other books, I'm LOST. It's not that it's a difficult read at all... Roth just alludes to the first two books so frequently that it's mind-boggling! I think I'm just going to read the first two books again. Any-who, the concept of the series is that there is a dystopian society in which people are classified by their personalities and put into "factions". As children, people live in the same factions as their parents, but once a year, a "Choosing Ceremony" is held and those who are 16 and have completed their "aptitude tests" (essentially personality tests that determine which faction you should choose), are given the choice to either leave their factions or take up a new one.

Each of the factions represents a specific virtue that members value. They are, according to Veronica Roth's blog, "Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent)". Personally, I think it was a mistake for the "founders" to structure the society in this manner because it is in human nature to have a diverse range of judgement classes to base reactions and actions upon, so it would be unnatural to make a person behave in a specific manner based upon the faction they were born into, or even the one they choose. This made the series rather predictable to me because these tight restrictions are unreasonable, evolutionarily, so it would obviously give way to people who don't conform: the Divergents. And with non-conformers comes revolution.