Waking Up Devon~

What a cute story! I really liked it, but I guess I have always been a sucker for this Sex in the City style tales. This city happens to be London, and the story is presented in book rather than HBO, so basically I can enjoy that much more (being as how reading is much more academic than being glued to the TV) I think I and many other women are drawn to this image of the single, sexy, sophisticated girl. NOT perfect, by any means, this makes her relatable. She has a job, she has a flat and of course she has wonderful friends and a social life! She is smart, creative, independent (but not un-needing), and sexual. Practically everything I ever really wanted by a certain age (there is a certain amount of shallow snobbishness that I both hate and envy here as well). Yet this never proves to be enough, there is always the depression, whining, snobbery...the hope for life changes that these "sex in the city" type characters seem to go through so easily. Where do I go to sign up for these well paying mind-numbing 9 to 5ers?? Why can I never find those awesome apartments for way cheap?? I can barely carry on a conversation with my one or two friends without feeling awkward at some point...surely I must have missed the "miss independent" day at school or something.

Posted by Devon at 10:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today our world almost completely revolves around technology and how it is affecting us. From the food we eat,
to our cars, our toys, our jobs, we are totally enmeshed with it. Nye does a great job at looking at our hand in hand evolution with technology and how it is helping and harming us. Actually I think he would say it is not the technology that helps or harms, it is the way we choose to use it. He really gets into the cultural aspect of technology, and the many fears and hopes that societies have about it. I got a lot of info out of this book. It was verry historian like!

Posted by Devon at 06:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Revolution in the Valley is packed full of history from the viewpoint of one of the individuals experiencing it. It is also beautifully eye pleasing, with lots of examples of the work being done, as well quotes places throughout to create a more dynamic text. Actually this book struck me as the closest an actual in-hand book can get to becoming a hypertext. The way Hertzfield put in so many little side notes, and quotes, and even pages written by other's involved felt very much like reading online, and following multiple links. I really enjoyed it!

Posted by Devon at 05:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

This has probably been the best learning -about the book and the library- book that I have read so far! Battles takes us way back to the beginnings of libraries, and although you only get a page or two per historical event, he covers just about everything! Well, I don't know that for sure because I have never read this much about beginnings of the library. This book has definitely peaked my interest in the history of the library, and especially how books and the building of libraries has gone hand in hand with the powers that be. I had always known about the control of texts by the church in more recent times, but I was fascinated with the history of texts and libraries in Rome, Greece and Egypt. I also enjoyed the histories of China and Islam. It is amazing how knowledge has survived the millennia, and the continuous cycles that emerge.

Posted by Devon at 10:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)