The Daily Quote: 3/1/2012 Quote 2

"Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it"
   
                 -P. J. O'Rourke

Funny.  The book that would make you look good if you died in the middle of it would probably have to be Atlas Shrugged.  Just saying

The Daily Quote: 2/28/2012 Quote 1

"Give me a man or woman who has read a thousand books and you give me an interesting companion. Give me a man or woman who has read perhaps three and you give me a dangerous enemy indeed.”

                        -Anne Rice

I agree with the quote above.  Think about it.  Have you ever tried to reason with someone without reason?  Its pointless.  Those who read very little generally have very litttle reason, and a person who can't reason is very dangerous; they are apt to do anything.  As for the first part, I find people who have read thousands of books to be very interesting.  Those people are much more enjoyable to talk to than those who don't read much.  They are much more interesting because they usually have done a hell of a lot more than a non-reader.  Those who read also seem to be alot happier than those who don't. 

Discuss, comment, question

Starting The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri

Hi hi hi (A Clockwork Orange reference for those who didn't know) faithful 3 subscribers (1 of which is my alter ego) today, Febuary... February?  However that month is spelled the 21, 2012, I have starting reading the classic The Divine Comedy by Dante.  For some reason modern culture as twisted the name into Dante's Infrno, but if I'm not mistaken' that is a video game.  I'm talking about the book.  From what I hear, it is a hard read but I think not that I shall encounter a problem.  It was written originally in Latin around the 1300's by none other than Dante.  He did not choose the title though.  You see, back then titles weren't all that important and it went without name for hundreds of years until a publisher in the 1500's gave it the name "Divina Commedia" which was its latin translation to what we now recognize it as.
     From my understanding, it is poem about Dante going to hell (literally) and then coming into paradise.  I don't know.  It's not like I look up the plot before I read a book.  These are just inferences I make from here say, and from the title (I rarely read a blurb).  Now do not be fooled by the word "Comedy" in the name.  Back then comedy simply meant a type of writing that had a happy ending, so I will assume it has a happy ending.  And if I'm correct, then the author is a character in the book, therefore he most likely would want a happy ending for himself.  Divine simply means holy or spiritual and because Date literally goes to hell (I think) then that is how that word made it into the title.
     Enough of my ramblings.  I leave you to do whatever you will.  If you wish, do discuss what you think will happen if you haven't read the book, or tell us what questions or remarks you have before reading the book.  If you have already read it, feel free to post what you thought was going to happen or how you thought you would like the book.  Just don't reveal any spoilers.  If you do, I may not delete your post, but society will have a general disliking for you, which isn't fun.  : )

     -Jake E. Stief

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card Summary and Post Discussion

(SPOILER ALERT.  THIS IS ONLY FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVE READ THE BOOK) I've finished Ender's Game in about 5 days.  322 pages worth of science fiction loaded paper.  Didn't read it as fast as I had planned, but oh well right?  At first I didn't think It would be all that good, it seemed a bit childish.  But as I read, I soon discovered that it was nothing like that.  As I had predicted it was indeed like a Robert A. Heinlein novel.  Overall the book was very descriptive in discussing the fictitious weaponry and setting.  Not too much though, so you could sort of develop your own thoughts.

     The whole book focuses on a young boy named Ender Wiggen.  The world was under attack by an alien evasion 70 years before he was born, and the next attack is bound to happen any time soon.  They of course won the invasion all because of a legendary commander named Mazer Rackham. The army is only selecting the best of the best soldier-breeding the best of the best soldiers- to fight the invasion.  Ender is one of these people.  He is monitored in his younger years to see if his personality is good enough to become a soldier.  Not know to him however, the battle generals are hoping that he will one day command the entire human army.  They finally agree that he is better than his sister (who was too sweet) and his brother (who was too bitter) and send him off the battle school.  

     Battle school is a training facility in space as too simulate zero gravity conditions.  There are two parts the the school - the inner and outer chunks well call them.  the inner has no gravity and is were battle simulations are held, the outer spins around the inner using the power of centrifugal force to create a simulated gravity.  this is were living quarters and studies are held.  Ender being only six is placed in the "Trainees" group, the lowest rank of students at the school.  The general is relying on this boy to become commander, so he trys everything to punish the boy... so he shows no mercy later and so he is always cautious of his surroundings.  Ender makes a few friends, but is quickly advanced to a training army once his skill is revealed. 

     He is the youngest member of any army, being about six years below the standard age of an army member.  His army commander doesn't get along with Ender.  His name is Bonzo.  His skills are not that ready for simulated battles with other armies which are generally held weekly, so Bonzo always sits Ender out during them.  One of his comrades however starts to teach Ender what he knows, then he teaches his old Trainee friends what he in return learns.  This begins to show his commander qualities.  Bonzo trades Ender as fast as he can.  This continues until one day Ender finds that he has been promoted to lead an army.  And only at the young age of 9 years old.  Never before has anyone commanded an army at age 9.  

    To make conditions worse for Ender he is given only Trainees to fight in his army, and no trades.  His is forced to fight in a mock battle just weeks after they begin training.  After that they must do a mock battle for every single day and sometimes they have double headers too.  Unlike any army was forced to do before.  Sometimes they must fight two armies at once, sometimes they have to enter the arena a few minutes late while the enemy has already established their bearings.  Finally Ender is promoted to commander school with a perfect score and no games lost.  

      He enters a state of severe depression and needs the help of his sister who he become to hate (he could not visit anyone during the time he was in school) because she had become frined's their brother whom they once hated.  It is then that he finds out that he must save the entire universe and control the entire army.  the catch is however is that the humans were playing an offensive game opposed to what propaganda has told humans. Most everyone thought the aliens were coming to attack them again when indeed it was the other way around.  The aliens would probably have never attacked again, but Ender no longer had a choice. 

     He began playing simulations controlling fleets of ships and such.  One day though a strange man is in his sleeping quarters when he awakens.  This is an old man, about fifty and seems to be mentally retarded to Ender.  However when Ender turns his back the man quickly takes him down.  That was the first real time that Ender had been defeated his whole time in school and he was furious.  When he began interrogating the man though he learned that it was a valuable lesson to learn to always be aware of your surroundings.  He was Enders new teacher.  When ender asked his name the man replied Mazer Rackham.  It turns out he flew a light speed for fifty years in order to train the next commander of the aliens.  From then on Ender was to hold simulations with real people (who turned out to be his friends in battle school).  They win every game. 

     When informed they are battling their last simulation before the real thing they discover they have an audience.  It was a tight battle but they one by committing a suicide, wiping both fleets out with a super weapon.  Everyone cheers.  They are quit confused at first but Mazer then tells them that the simulations they were fighting were actually the real thing.  I seen this coming about 20 pages before it happened, but it think it was good that way.  I enjoyed being correct with my predictions.  The war ended and was won by an 11 year old and many 7-10 year olds.  Finally ender and his sister Valentine move to the planet that he wiped out himself.  the book ends with him finding an egg of an alien and trying to find a place to let it grow because he felt bad for what he did.    

      If you have any questions about the book here is the place to post them.  

      Here are a few question to get you started:

1. Why did Ender only want his brother Peter to love him?
2. If the aliens only communicate telepathically it still must mean that they have a language even though the book claims that it doesn't.  
3. If they can't think alone, then how to separate queens think with each other?
4. Why did the humans wipe out the buggers even if they probably weren't going to fight again
5. Do you think the buggers would have attacked the humans again. 

Well those are just a few to get you started.  Hope you enjoyed the book.

     -Jake E. Stief

Starting Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

Well faithful 0 subscribers.  I am starting to read the science fiction Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card.  It was a recommendation by a teacher from the school I go to.  According to the description it sounds like a Robert A. Heinlein novel.  We shall see.  It is 324 pages and is about the people of Earth planning to fend off an alien attack which they predict will happen any time soon.  The soldiers apperently train in some sort of arena in space.  I'll tell you more about it once I read it though.  I have never read Orson Scott Card before so it should be interesting to see what his style of writing is like.  If you want to read along and discuss the book when I'm done, feel free.  I plan to be done by February 17th or 18th.  I'm excited to read this book (I love sci-fi), though I wish I would have read it earlier.  The one whom recommended it to me is moving to california shotly and I wish I couldh ave more time to discuss the book with her.  Oh well.

Jake E. Stief

(Catcher in the Rye, Clockwork Orange, Gloden Ration, On Man in the Universe and Count of Monte Cristo review coming soon!)

Thinner by Stephen King/Richard Bachman: A Book Review (No Spoilers)

  https://www.youtube.com/user/MrCrazyJake451?feature=mhee  
     Hi I'm Jake Stief and I am going to review the novel Thinner by Stephen King or Richard Bachman, they are the same people.  And that is precisely what it is.  Thinner.  If you have read King before you would know that this book falls short of Kings standard book size by about 300 pages.   But longer isn't always better.  I would have never finished this book had it been 600 pages.  If it was too short the story would have ended having you feel a little empty.  Some people say they don't want to read this book because the synopsis of this book sounds like a prolonged short story.  I disagree though, because there is a lot of subplot which is something you can generally find in a king book.   I rate it 5/5
      As for all of my book reviews I must give away part of the plot in order to convince you to read this book.  I will only give the bare minimum though so continue at your own cost.  So this books main character is Billie Halleck and he accidentally runs over a Gypsies daughter while his own wife is... Well I'll let you find that one out.  After going to court the old Gypsy puts a curse on him by rubbing his old shriveled finger across Billie's chubby face while whispering the word Thinner to him.  Since then Billie who is obese as it is begins to lose weight each day.  Once Billie realizes that the gypsy cursed him, he tries to find the gypsy and traces him all the way up the eastern sea border.  The rest is for you to find out.  There are of course other variables and subplots which I mentioned earlier such as Billie's daughter, researchers trying to study his case and such.  The horror part of King doesn't really come out from King really until the last 1/3 of the book, so I'd classify this one as thriller or a very subtle mystery. 
      One thing I didn't really like is that the old Gypsy was portrayed to be an Antagonist, while really he is just a father looking for revenge.  I honestly don't see anything wrong with what the gypsy did in the book.  On the flip side Billie is made to look like the protagonist but he wasn't cursed for any reason.  He killed the man's daughter, so he should pay. 
       The ending was actually one of King's better endings.  If you ask me I'd say his books as Richard Bachman better than MOST of the books under King's names.  They just seem to be layed out better and have better endings that leave you hanging.  In thinner the ending is a twist and almost makes the whole story irrelevant but if it wasn't it just wouldn't be Stephen King.
      Need I tell you about detail?  Come on.  It's the King we are talking about.  Perfect amount of description for everything with just a hint more for the gruesome parts, just the way I like it.

If you have any question comments please Email me at crazyjake451@yahoo.com
Be sure to subscribe and have a great day!! : )

Jake E. Stief
LZ Productions
Biblophile Productions

Tunnel in the Sky by Robert A. Heinlein: A Book Review (No Spoilers)

https://www.youtube.com/user/MrCrazyJake451?feature=mhee
      Hello everyone!  This is my review for the amazing book Tunnel in the Sky by Robert A. Heinlein, on of my favorite Sc-fi authors.  I highly recommend you to read this Sci-fi/Adventure.

     Hi, I'm Jake E. Stief and today I am going to review the book Tunnel in the Sky by Robert A Heinlein.  First off, let me tell you that It is nearly impossible or at least very hard to give a book review without giving away any of the plot or story.  I will warn you that there may be a few spoilers in here which could potentially ruin your reading experience.  While I will reveal only what is absolutely necessary in my mind to convince you that you should or should not read this book.  So basically this book takes place sometime in the future;  the Earth is overpopulated and 100s of thousands of other planets for that matter.  Technology has advanced sufficiently, people can teleport, travel through time, etc. 
     The main character is a teenager named Rod Walker and his goal to master his high school Survival course.  Rather than taking a simple exam he must literally 'survive' for up to ten days without any knowledge what so ever of where he would have to withstand the wild.  It could be any climate, planet, terrain, etc.    This exercise can literally be lethal.  He and the rest of the class is teleported to the same region and placed (unknowingly with three other survival classes).  Before leaving however, they are inflicted with the fear of a vicious beast called the stober.
       He steps into a seemingly tranquil terrain much like that of Earth.  Over a matter of days of living in this foreign land Rod accidentally stumbles across another survival student named 'Jack'  who quickly convinces him of something which I will not tell you.  The sun rises and sets far too many times for it to have been only 10 days.  They soon realize that the gate which teleports them back to civilization was not going to appear.  They were stuck there.  Living on the belief that they would need to group with more people in order to survive they start making signals to bring more folks in.  In many ways this book is very similar to Lord of the Flys and at the same time very different.  Lord of the Flys is about a group of kids which have been isolated from civilization who start to tear people up in order to survive and I say this literally.  They collapse any form of civilization.  Tunnel in the Sky takes a different look on things.  Rather than tearing things apart, the group of teens tries to build their own civilization from ground up starting only with supplies they brought on their journey.  I enjoyed reading how this bunch of people erected their own form of life, everything from their own government to starting to forge metal.  This book is stunning just as many of Robert A Heinlein's books are.  I was on the edge, reading this book at any chance I could get.  I would much enjoy coping with the same situation they were in.  I would love to test my survival skills.  So, overall I rate this book 5 out of 5. A great read it is indeed.  I wouldn't say that it would be for anyone under 13 though.   It may be a little hard to understand with the way Robert A. Heinlein worded things at the beginning of the novel.  Now I am going to read one chapter from the book, like I usually do, just to see if it intrigues you.  I highly recommended it and I can't argue enough that you read this book!     

     I can not post the excerpt I read, as it would make may description past the maximum amount.  I will however post may favorite quote from the book:
 
      The young man was dressed only in walking shorts and soft bush shoes.  "Friends," he said, "we are gathered here tonight to found a new nation."
     He paused to let the idea sink in.  "You know our situation.  We fervently hope to be rescued.  I will even go so far as to say that I think we will be rescued...eventually.
     "It might be tomorrow...it might be our descendants a thousand years from now.  But whem the main body of our great race reestablishes contact with us, it is up to us whether they find a civilized society, or flea-bitten animals without language, without art-with the light of reason grown dim.  Or no survivors at all, nothing but bones picked clean!"

If you have any questions please email me at crazyjake451@yahoo.com
Thanks for watching an LZ Production and Bibliophile Production.
Jake E. Stief