Influences in Darwins Thinking

Thomas Malthus and Charles Lyell were two figures who influenced Darwin’s theories. Malthus was an influence through his book on the population principle. Darwin had a parallel thinking in the concept of individual struggle in natural selection. Lyell’s influence on Darwin was from his book “Principles”. Darwin agreed with Lyell’s uniformitarian theories, and the uniformitarian … Read more

The One Minute Manager by Kenneth Blanchard

The One Minute Manager by Kenneth Blanchard, Ph. D. and Spencer Johnson, M. D. , seems like a practical simple plan on managing people and there for other areas of one’s life, however I must admit I am a little skeptical. The three philosophies do make sense especially once analogies are used to put them … Read more

Young Thomas Edison , by Sterling North

I read the book Young Thomas Edison , by Sterling North. The book tells about Edison’s Young life and how he greatly succeeded through out the years. It tells about his greatest inventions and Edisons Historic sites and how her became the greatest inventor of all times. Thomas Alva Edison was born of February of … Read more

A Christmas Memory: Truman Capote

A distant relative of Truman Capote’s, Sook Faulk, took care of him through his childhood. Sook dubbed Truman with the nickname “Buddy,” after a former best friend. During one November morning, when Buddy was seven, Sook decided it was fruitcake weather. She called him to get their buggy and her hat to go pick pecans. … Read more

The legendary King Arthur

There has been a lot of material written about the legendary King Arthur and although he has been a popular figure inliterature for over 800 years, not a lot is known about the real Arthur. It is believed that Arthur was a 5the-century British King named Riothamus (meaning “high king”) who ruled from 454 – … Read more

Jigsaw Dinosaurs, a non-fiction book

Jigsaw Dinosaurs is a non-fiction book as well as a child’s toy under one hard cover. The non-fiction aspect of it offers some introductory detail on the physical appearance and social behavior of six different dinosaurs: Allosaurus, Stegosaurus, Diplodocus, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Triceratops and Oviraptor. These are presented on each left-hand page along with information inserts … Read more

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid test by Tom Woolfe

Kesey in la casa grande with the wind up and the sky cloudy, and the Gulp flapping, and the Rat plaster paneled with pages from out of Marvel comics, with whole scenes of Dr. Strange, Sub Mariner, the Incredible Hulk, the Fantastic Four, the Human Torch–Superheroes, in short. All heads believe them to be drawn … Read more

A Wagner Matinee by Willa Cather

The late 1800s were a time of repression for women. A woman was expected to conform to her husbands ideals and accept a life of his control. Even today, the relationship between men and women sometimes seems unequal. In her essay “Disappointment is the Lot of Women,” Lucy Stone discusses the different treatment of men … Read more

Michael Ignatieff’s Blood and Belonging

This paper will explain the subject of the book and its relevance, discuss Michael Ignatieff’s methods and conclusions on the subject and finally include a personal critique of the book by the author of this paper. The author of the book travels on what he terms “the six journeys. ” On these “journeys” he encounters … Read more

Examination of Puritan Philosophy in Bradford’s “On Plymouth Plantation”

The Puritan people first came to the New World to escape the religious persecution that hounded Non-Anglicans in England. They established the Plymouth Colony in 1620, in what is now Massachusetts. The colony was a reflection of the Puritans’ beliefs. These beliefs, along with the experience of establishing a colony in “the middle of nowhere”, … Read more

Anthem by Ayn Rand

A standard rule of writing states that one should refrain from using the word “I” in one’s writing. Somehow this rule seems singularly inappropriate when writing about the book Anthem. I wish to talk about my thoughts on this work. I will not abstract my ideas so that I can refer to them without referring … Read more

Black Like Me

John Howard Griffin was a journalist and a specialist on race issues. After publication, he became a leading advocate in the Civil Rights Movement and did much to promote awareness of the racial situations and pass legislature. He was middle aged and living in Mansfield, Texas at the time of publication in 1960. His desire … Read more

The story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife

The story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife is told in the first book of the Bible, Genesis, chapter 39. Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers and bought by Potiphar, a high ranking official in the Pharaoh’s service. “The Lord was with Joseph,” and gave him success in everything he did. This pleased Potiphar … Read more

Book report on Homecoming Harmony

Card, Orson Scott. Homecoming: Harmony. New York: Tor Books The storys about a new world that they named Harmony expressing their greatest hope. As refugees from a devastated Earth, they new humanity would never survive another global war. Convinced that the only way to prevent such terror was to see that their descendants knew and … Read more

The Ongoing Struggle for a Family

The most important thing in a family is that all the people in it love each other. This excerpt is from a childrens book, written by Leslea Newman, Called Heather Has Two Mommies. This story is intended to show kids that not everyones family is the same. Many reasons are given to dispute gay and … Read more

In Cold Blood

Truman Capote is one of the greatest authors of all time. He was born in 1924 and died in 1984. Sincehis early childhood, he has written many books and he has won many prizes and awards. Many people say that In Cold Blood was Capote’s best work. In this book, Capote writes a carefully detailed … Read more

Star Wars As a Mythology

There exists in every culture a series of folk tales and stories, which make up a part of that culture’s history. These stories, called myths, often venture into the magical and fantastic, with great heroes battling terrible monsters to save exotic lands. As the human race has evolved, we have moved beyond the need to … Read more

Norman Mailer’s book The Executioner’s Song

Anger is a very powerful emotion. Anger generates hostility and a loss of control. It can tear into a person’s heart and ruin them. We see this in Norman Mailer’s book The Executioner’s Song. The main character, Gary Gilmore, demonstrates so much anger that his blind rage leads to murder. There are many sources of … Read more

Another One Bites the Dust

Sweet Diamond Dust, written by Rosario Ferre, focuses on modernization and how its impacted the country of Puerto Rico and its people. This book discusses the struggles and hardships of managing sugar mills and the influential changes the Americans brought to Puerto Rico in the early 1900s. The Americans triumph over the local landowners and … Read more

Shady Characters In Book

This Book has many shady characters, only Gretchen is the one character you can feel sorry for, that is what makes this tragedy so horrifying yet gratifying . Her and Faust running around makes you happy, but you anticipate them to fall desperately into love with one another and finish their lives indulging with Mephisto. … Read more

Travels In Alaska

Travels in Alaska takes readers on a trip to Alaska through the vivid descriptions of the author, John Muir. The book is based on journals Muir wrote during his visits to Alaska in 1879, 1880, and 1890. These chronicles of his journey relate his observations of nature, glaciers, and the many people he met. Traveling … Read more

The Republic – Book 1 – Theme Of Justice

The subject matter of the “Republic” is the nature of justice and its relation to human existence. Book I of the “republic” contains a critical examination of the nature and virtue of justice. Socrates engages in a dialectic with Thrasymachus, Polemarchus, and Cephalus, a method which leads to the asking and answering of questions which … Read more

The book Players

The book Players is a very, very good book. It is a compellation of 36 short stories and excerpts from books about gambling, con men, scam artists, hustlers and various other people. The first story is called The Lottery of Babylon by Jorge Luis Borges. This story was about an old lottery in Babylon. The … Read more

A Random Walk Down Wall Street

There is a sense of complexity today that has led many to believe the individual investor has little chance of competing with professional brokers and investment firms. However, Malkiel states this is a major misconception as he explains in his book “A Random Walk Down Wall Street”. What does a random walk mean? The random … Read more

“Eaters of the Dead” by Michael Crichton

“Eaters of the Dead” by Michael Crichton is a fiction but with historical background. Through this piece Crichton hopes to express the way of life for the Vikings in the year 922 AD while at the same time creating an entertaining story. Using a manuscript written by Ibn-Fadlan Crichton pieced together a book filled with … Read more

The Controversy Around Banning Books

The subject of censorship is a very controversial one, especially the banning of books. Many people believe they must protect themselves and others from the “evils” of many classic books and works of art because they can be deemed “indecent” in one way or another. Many believe that this is absurd and censorship in its … Read more

Book 23 of the Odyssey

In book 23 of the Odyssey, reoccurring Homeric themes appear, characters roles change, and a homecoming for an epic hero is finally accomplished. Book 23 may be the one book in this poem that can be related the closest to the poem as a whole. In this book, we see the relationship of a god/goddess … Read more

The Merchant of Venice Book Review

One of the many elements that make up a classic, is that the book, novel or play can be read in any generation, decade, century or in any part of the globe at any time and have relevance to the reader. The themes of this book should be universal, so that the reader can take … Read more

Dark Side Of Nowhere (Summary)

This book starts out with a boy named Ethan dieing and everybody said it was appendicitis however later Jason and some others realized it wasnt. Jason didnt like his life because he thought it was too boring and he thought his parents were too nice because they never punished him too badly. Also at Ethans … Read more

Jurassic Park book review

Jurassic Park is a book about the cloning of dinosaurs and they are used as the park entertainment on an island. In this park where dinosaurs are the attraction, not every thing will go as planed. Reading this book will teach someone how Michael Crichton feels about biological science and the cloning of extinct animals. … Read more

Red Badge Of Courage By Stephen Crane

When I first started reading this book I thought why does every one rave about how well it is written so I totally dove into reading it and found many forms of symbolism. The Symbolism in a Soldier The story The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane, was written to reflect the harsh Civil … Read more

Flowers For Algernon: Supplementary Book Review

The book, “Flowers for Algernon”, was an exciting science fiction novel written by . The main characters of the story are the central character, Charlie, who is a mentally retarded individual involved in a remarkable experiment which increased his I. Q. , Alice, a teacher at the special education faculty at Beekman College who taught … Read more