21 : Bringing Down The House

I have recently started this book so I'm not that far into it, but I can already tell I am really going to enjoy this one. It starts of with a nervous college student flying on a plane with thousand of dollars cash strapped all over him. He is quite anxious to get this ordeal over with. We then find out that this whole process is about a selective group of the brightest MIT students who have decided to beat the game of blackjack.

These students have slowly been taking millions from vegas working as a group, and so far have been successful. With different body language and certain gestures these students can have full conversations and relay the 'count' to other members of the team near by. The count is the number of high cards likely to show up in the deck the more high cards, the bigger bets you place. So in the end, all they are hoping for some big wins. These college kids seem to have beaten the game of blackjack, but will it come at a price?

Scientific and Medical advancements from 1870-1920

Many new and important discoveries were made in this time period that benefit society today. In 1893 on July 10th, the first successful heart surgery was preformed on a man named James Cornish. Cornish was brought to the hospital with a knife wound in his heart and Dr. Daniel Hale Williams repaired the lining of his heart which saved Cornish's' life. This was not only a big step in the medical field, Dr. Daniel Hale Williams was African American.

Another important scientific advancement was regarding James H. Wright. Wright discovered that blood platelets are derived from megakaryocytes. In 1902 he created an new stain that was successful for the differential staining of blood cells. These contributions to medicine have have made James H. Wright world renown in the scientific world.

In 1920-1921 two Canadian researchers made the discovery of insulin. Insulin is a life saving hormone for persons suffering of diabetes. People with diabetes cannot control the levels of this hormone and are at risk for coma or death. It was found that regular injections of this hormone and a well controlled diet could help a person with this disorder lead a normal lifestyle.

Little Bee

I am currently reading the book Little Bee by Chris Cleave. Originally this was not the book I was reading, but one choice reading class I picked it up quickly to read the first page. I was just curious on what it was about because I know Ms. Barnacle had read it last year. The next thing I knew Chloe was tapping me on the shoulder telling me choice read was over and to put my book away. I was amazed at how quickly this book drew me in.

This book starts off with the main character Little Bee (which is not her real name) wishing she were a british coin. She says that everyone is happy to see a coin and sad to see it go. These coins travel all over, and where ever they go they are welcome. Also Little Bee focuses a lot on the way she speaks. She says she has to speak "The Queen's English" and that it saves her life.

Little Bee has been kept in a detention center for two years, because she is a refugee from Nigeria and has no immigration papers. She is released with a few other girls, and Little bee calls them a taxi. They have a hard time with the taxi driver, and Little Bee call a man named Andrew who believes that it is not really her.

The next part of the book is by Andrew's wife Sarah and their son Charlie, who only answers to Batman. Andrew hangs himself and Little Bee shows up at their house. Sarah cannot bring herself to explain the her son his fathers death. Sarah mentions a trip her and Andrew took to Nigeria and that her finger is missing. Then Sarah continues to talk about the funeral and how Little Bee is with her.

Out of nowhere, Charlie figures out that they are burying his father when everyone is at the graveyard. Charlie jumps into the hole screaming to get his father out of the coffin. Little Bee jumps in after him and hands him up to his mother. This was very tramatic for Sarah.

This book has really intrigued me a lot, and even though I haven't gotten far, I am enjoying it.

Puppy Love

From when I was very little I have loved to read. I used to sit in class and daydream about the current book (or books) that I was reading. The very first book I committed as my favorite was called Puppy Love I don't recall the author but it was about a stray puppy who found a loving home. I must have read that book over 50 times and I adored every minute. I believe the reason I liked that book so much was that I had an obsession with dogs at that age and it was a wonderfully written book. It contained lots of details and no pictures (I was proud of that).

In class I would tell my friends about the book but they weren't into reading unlike me. The fact that my friends weren't into reading and I was didn't affect me much, it was a passion that I had and they happened not to share. It hardly affected me. My reading experience in life has been pretty steady. I continue to love reading and have a new book in my hand almost every week. I am currently loving reading and have hopes to continue this way for the rest of my life. I believe reading is good for everyone and that there is a book for everyone.

The Double Bind

The Double Bind starts out by completely grabbing your attention. The story begins with the detailed attack of the main character Laurel. While she was riding her bike along a path near the forest, a strange van pulled over in front of her. She realizes the danger, but continues on her path expecting to ride past the van. When two masked men jump at her and catch her on her bike, Laurel screams. Her biking shoes were clipped into the pedals so she was attached to her bike. The assailants try to rip her apart from her bike but Laurel keeps her shoes tightly clipped in. She narrowly escapes the attack because a group of bikers came to her rescue. But the aftermath of this ordeal left Laurel reclusive and damaged. I love the beginning of this book because it leaves you hanging on every page and has my complete interest. The author writes this part beautifully and I deeply enjoy it.

The next section of this book explains how Laurel recovered by staying inside and sleeping for a month. Then as Laurel recovers she switches biking in for swimming and never nears the bike trail where she was attacked. She starts volunteering a few hours at a homeless shelter, which in turn leads to her working there. She meets a slightly disturbed man named Bobbie who always carries around a box, but will not let anyone see what is inside. One day Bobbie passes away and the box is opened. There are countless photographs inside and Laurel takes the personal responsibility to catalog and review each one. She finds some pictures of her summer house on the lake and the houses neighboring it. Laurel has a hunch that Bobbie may be the brother of one of the richest families that lives on the lake, and she intends to find out if it is true. This part of the books considerably slows down. It drags on at times and although the plot is interesting, she over explains things. I like this book somewhat, but I miss the action it contained at the beginning.

Twisted

Twisted, by Laurie Halse Anderson, is a very interesting book that i have just started reading. This book caught my attention because it was written by the author of Speak and Wintergirls two book that I very much love.

The main characters name is Tyler Miller who was, the year before, your average loser. He had once friend who was obsessed with stars wars and played his video games all day everyday. Also he has always been in love with the most popular girl at school named Bethany, who's the daughter of his dads boss. Bethany's twin brother Chip is always beating Tyler up. At the end of the school year he decides that he wants to do a huge prank that will make him popular. Tyler decides to spray paint a bunch of crude saying along the lockers of the school. He ends up getting caught by the police and gets in trouble with the school. Tyler's punishment is that he has to do a lot of community service at the school and he get landed with a probation officer. Tyler does constant physical work over at the school all summer so he ends up having an amazing body. When Tyler is forced into going to one of Bethany's dad's business dinners by his dad who way over stressed, he sees Bethany. When Tyler is standing near Bethany, Chip pushes Ty right into a waiter standing between him and Bethany.Glass, Bethany, waiter's, and Tyler fall to the ground and Bethany ends up with a ton of glass in her left foot. The ambulance comes and Bethany has to be stiched up and Tyler apologizes over and over again.


This book, Twisted, is funny and shows the real aspect of average high school students perspective on life. It always is keeping my interested and a new event happens in every chapter. Theres never a dull moment in this book and I feel like I truly know the characters. Although, Im not far along this book is becoming one of my favorites. :)