Summer Book Review

If you know me then you know I am a total book worm. I'd rather stay home and read a good book than go out to a party. I am a proud little nerd :)

I did finish up a few books at the end of August and I wanted to share them with you! 

"Imagine" by Jonah Lehrer

There has been a ton of controversy with this writer over the last few weeks. It has come out that he was possibly committing plagiarism and fact checking errors. I won't say much about that only because I don't know enough but keep this in mind when you read this book. 

I say this because this book is about the "science of creativity". I really enjoyed this book actually, and I thought a lot of the research he spoke about was interesting and made sense. Of course, due to the scandal we cannot be sure about the facts but either way this is such an intriguing look into what makes us creative.

"The Chaperone" by Laura Moriarty

This is a great book for anyone who likes the plot to take place in early history. This is placed in the 1920s (my favorite time period) and is about a woman who is hired to be the chaperone for Louise Brooks who is going to the big apple to dance with a company. 

Now, Louise Brooks was a real person and became an actress, but this is a fictional story with the real person being used as a character. The story is heartbreaking, and so relatable because the main character has a parts of her life that try to brake her down and she is trying to find and accept the truths that hide in NYC so she can move on with her life back home in Kansas. 

It has a lot of twists but you will love every second of it I promise!

"Killing Lincoln" by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard

Yep, it is that Bill O'Reilly that you are thinking of. He as wrote a book about President Lincoln's assasination. This is hands down in my top 5 list of books. I could not put this book down, I just wanted to read it all night! President Lincoln is my favorite president so I'm drawn to anything about him. 

The duo wrote the book in the style of a fictional story but in fact only used fact and documents. It was brilliantly written and the use of facts to mold that story was perfect. I certainly recommend this book for any history lovers and anyone who is just interested in what went on in the time leading up to the assasination. 

Final note: he has just come out with Killing Kennedy whihc will probably be my number one favorite book ever because as much as I love Lincoln I love the Kennedy family just that much more!

Book Review: The Great Bridge

I started The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge by David McCullough, probably two months ago. It is over 500 pages and with my schedule it took me a while to finish. I'm very glad I did though, it is a great book and the story is incredible.

I had always heard about David McCullough but never got the chance to read any of his work. What made me happiest about this book was finding out how much research Mr. McCullough really did. There is nothing better than knowing that the author of a book like that really did the work.

I recommend this to anyone who is a history or political buff. Or even if you are just interested in what went on behind the scenes, this is a great read for you. There were some things that totally blew my mind, for example, the two ends of the bridges near land are held by caissons (HUGE bottomless, hollow, blocks. One for each end) and the method for sinking them underground was astonishing.

It may be a little difficult to follow because a lot of the terminology may be foreign to someone who doesn't know engineering or bridges, but with a little concentration, you can understand 98% of it without looking anything up.

The best part of the book for me was how it told the story of the bridge and how it was built, it told the story of the family behind building it, and it gave the political aspect and how it influenced not only the bridge but New York City.

Amazing book!

(picture from bn.com)

Hopeful new job

I just feel like I need to write about it, because I'm just excited. I just sent in my application to what could be one of the most life changing apprenticeships ever. It is through a group called Public Allies, and they set you up with different non-profit organizations to get a job. Then you work full time for ten months and on Fridays you meet with other members of your class at Public Allies for workshops, classes, and what not for development. I feel like this could be a real step for my career, which is terrifying that I'm even talking about it right now. I mean I've gotten to that point where I'm no longer looking for some regular job, I'm looking for positions in my field of choice. I'm looking for my career. Maybe it is so scary because I've barely even taken any political science classes yet...I start two in a couple of weeks. I start week 4 in my two classes today, Chemistry and History, so in exactly ten weeks I will be done with this semester and I will only have 8 classes left to take. Charlie is barking at me and I'm not sure why but he looked so cute I had to take a picture!