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This article tells of how when a relationship acts why some people can feel so beaten up over it and heartbroken. There is a scientific reason behind it. They put people who had recently gotten out of a relationship through a brain scanner with a picture of their previous lover, and some cried while in the scanner. Those people showed similar brain scans to those who were addicted to drugs looking for their next fix. The same parts of the brain lit up when going through a heartbreak as those who use cocaine. Brown told Science of Us that "We crave the other person just as we crave nicotine or pain pills; you want to be near the other person, you're constantly thinking about them, we even do dangerous things sometimes to win them back- we don't eat or sleep." People from the study reported thinking about their loved one over 85% of their waking hours! That's an insane amount. This addiction is a result of an adaptation we formed in order to encourage reproduction to keep the species alive. This article was very interesting, and I found very easy to relate to because the majority of people have felt some sort of heartbreak in their lives, just like I have. Their suggestion to get over this? To take some time away, just like anything else, it takes time to heal. The suggested going somewhere far away and finding a new perspective of yourself and the situation.
The Alchemist takes place in Spain with a young boy named Santiago who is a shepherd. He meets multiple people along his way including a Gypsy and a King, who help him to get on his way to find his "personal legend". He ends up thinking that his legend is to go to Egypt and find treasure that is supposedly was buried near the Pyramid. On his journey through the desert he meets an achemist, and all of these people lead him on a personal soulful journey. Even though this book was a relatively short one, I enjoyed it so very much. It makes you think about the big picture and about you and how you live your life as you watch Santiago journey through his. It talks about the soul of the world and how everything is connected. My favorite quote from the book is a little over halfway through and it says "he learned the most important part of the language that all the world spoke- the language that everyone on earth was capable of understanding in their heart. It was love." I found this book to be extremely inspiring and one of the best books that I've has the pleasure of reading.
The author's tone throughout this book is very serious. This entire book is about a journey of this boy Santiago, and within it he finds himself, which is a very serious thing. So this book in turn, is very serious. There is many pieces in the book in which he speaks very philosophically. He finds himself speaking about himself (Santiago) and the world. One of my favorite lines from the book is: "We are afraid of losing what we have, whether it's our life or our possessions and property. But this fear evaporates when we understand that our life stories and the history of the world were written by the same hand." It speaks to the fear within all men to lose something. This few lines shows you how deep this book really is, it isn't just a mere story of a boy on an adventure. This book is so much more than that, it is about becoming who you truly meant to be. It's about facing fear head on and becoming the person you know you should be. Most importantly it's about finding your "personal legend".
The author of "The Alchemist" is Paulo Coelho who is a Brazilian lyricist and novelist who was born in August of 1947. Coelho first knew he wanted to be a writer when he was a teenager attending a Jesuit school. His parents did not approve of this, and this resistance of traditional ways in Brazil ended up getting him admitted to a mental institution, in which he escaped multiple times before being released at the ripe age of 20. After this, he obeyed his parent's wishes and pitched the idea of being a writer and went into law school, until a year later he decided that, that too wasn't right for him and dropped out, only to become what we know to be as a hippie. He traveled around the world until eventually returning to Brazil to compose lyrics and become a songwriter.
In 1982, he finally was able to publish his first book titled: "Hell Archives". He wrote many books after this including: The Practical Manual of Vampirism, The Pilgrimage, and then finally The Alchemist. All three of these books didn't really hit it off. There were only 900 copies of The Alchemist printed the first time, and they decided not to reprint. HarperCollins, which is the biggest publishing house in the U.S, finally took notice of the Alchemist, and picked it up in 1994. Later it became a Brazilian bestseller, and ended up selling more than 83 million copies, making it one of the best-selling books in history. I believe Coelho's travels helped him hone in on his own "personal legend" that he has the character seek out. I believe in a way, this book is a reflection of his life, looking for what it right. "The Alchemist" By: Paulo Coelho
Although this book was less challenging of a read than my previous book it was full of not only adventure but self discovery. This book is all about finding your "personal legend" whatever that may be. This book teaches you to listen to your heart instead of your head, but also listen to what the world is telling you. I could say this book is in my top 3 favorite new books. It was an eye-opening book that made me look at the way not only the character leads his life, but my own. "The Time Traveler's Wife" By: Audrey Niffenegger This book was more challenging than my first initial prediction. The jumping around through the years and between characters could be a little much to keep up with at times, but it made for a very in-depth and personal view of the character's relationship. It was surely the best book I've read in a long time, maybe even in my top 5, but I would only recommend this book for an advanced reader looking for a great love story, with a twist. The title "The Alchemist" gives the reader an interest in the text. The definition of alchemist is "a person who transforms or creates something through a seemingly magical process" according to Google. I have not yet read much into the book, but the main character is a little boy, named Santiago. Santiago is an Andalusian shepherd boy who is on a long journey from his hometown in Spain all the way to the Egyptian dessert, in a wild, heated search to find the treasure buried near the Egyptian pyramids. My belief is that either Santiago or someone in this book is going to be able to do magic to help this poor shepherd boy find the treasure he is looking for (which is really exciting for me, I love books like that)! I believe the overall reason the title "The Alchemist" was to give the reader a bit of haunting mystery and keep the reader wondering what in this book may or may not contain magic. Overall, I am very excited to continue my journey through this book, and my highest hope for this book, is to live up to the last book I read. (See previous book blogs about "The Time Travler's Wife by: Audrey Niffenegger)
In the article "Mitch Albom: No Power a Reminder of Those Who Do Without" it gives a more laid back approach apposed to recent article's we have read in class. The style of the text is spaced out to look more conversational, and the writing is written to look more like someone is speaking directly to you; therefore, it is not written in such a formal tone. For example, "every night." is not a sentence but is written in the piece. This is a fragment of a sentence which should not be accompanied by a period but is because Mitch Albom of the Detroit Free Press wanted it to seem like a conversational piece instead of a formal piece. This approach may draw more readers because there doesn't look like a lot to read, and anymore people don't have the attention span to read a big long informational text. He uses these strategies to appeal to his growing and changing audience.
This form of writing is likely to attract more readers due to our learned ability to skim through text because of our copious amount of time spent on social media. Therefore, this more informal way of writing is likely to get more attention and more people will be able to relate and may be more likely to take a stand for his topics, because after all, his piece is meant to show how privileged we are in America and how in some parts of the country and even out of the country is doing way worse and that we keep ignoring this blatant fact. "The Time To Act Is Now" is written by Al Gore, who is a politician who served as the 45th
Vice President between the years of 1993 and 2001 under President Bill Clinton, but besides being a politician Al Gore is also a self proclaimed environmentalist who during his term as vice president worked to better our planet. He currently is the founder and chair of the Alliance for Climate Protection. Knowing all this can give the reader a lot of ethos because he is well versed in the area in which he writes this article. The author in his use of statistics throughout the article such as "this summer more than 200 cities in the United States broke all-time heat records. Reno, Nev., set a new record with 10 consecutive days above 100 degrees..." With this use of statistics, as well as quotes, it helps strengthen his argument and make him look more intelligent. All in all, Al Gore properly researched his topic to build a stunningly built argument. All of this evidence he has built in his argument and outside of it has given him the ethos that readers and critiques are looking for. This strongly built argument makes it hard for people to argue. All of the research and quotes woven into this article has given it added strength and anyone trying to refute this argument is going to have a very rough time trying to adequately support their side of the argument and their claims. "The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger is about a married couple's journey throughout their life. Henry DeTamble has time traveled ever since he was a little boy. He meets his future wife Clare Abshire when she is only six. Needless to say, through the entirety of the book you watch them grow to be in love. I say grow because they truly take years and years to know each other, talk and eventually once Claire is old enough they finally become a couple. This book is a wild ride I thoroughly enjoyed. I found that through the descriptive writing Niffenegger uses it was easy to get entranced. I actually found it hard and annoying when I had to put the book down. I certainly recommend this book to any slightly advanced reader (due to its heavy content). This book was a roller coaster of emotions that took me for the most wild ride. Niffenegger did a splendid job of making even a young adult understand the ideas and concepts of love within a marriage, pregnancy, and becoming a parent. I loved this book, and might even go as far to say as it's on my top 5 books.
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