First Quarter Outside Book Review
The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy. Naval Institute Press, 1984. Genre: Fiction
The Hunt for Red October is a fictional story about a CIA agent named Jack Ryan, that gathers information for the United States Navy. The Soviet Union informs the United States that the captain of their newest submarine, Marko Ramius, is trying to attack the United States. Jack Ryan, however, believes that Ramius is just defecting to the United States. Ramius designed the submarine, so he was able to make it undetectable, even by his own country. The other Soviet ships were sent out to find it and destroy it because they weren’t sure what it was up to. Jack Ryan knows the real truth and tries to help Ramius and The Red October. This story takes place on several different United States and Soviet Union submarines, as well as at the Pentagon, the White House, and the Kremlin(a fortified complex in the heart of Russia’s capital, Moscow).
“The Hunt for Red October is a thriller that stands in a category all alone, a “military procedural” with an ingenious, tightly woven plot. Clancy’s rich imagination and his remarkable grasp of capabilities of advanced technology have enabled him to create a complex world of dramatic adventure that many will recognize as just one step beyond reality,” the book jacket reads.
The Hunt for Red October is the story of a CIA agent, in the third person. In this story he makes it very clear where, when, and why things are happening. He does a good job using very descriptive words that almost make you feel like you’re in the submarine as an onlooker. It is a well written novel about what can really happen in governments when they get involved with foreign relations.
This story is the first of a series of books about the main character in this story Jack Ryan. The other books in the series are Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger, Sum of All Fears, and Without Remorse. These books are similar to The Hunt For Red October because they all involve Ryan getting involved with stopping a foreign criminal. His writing style is very similar in all of the books. He makes it a little hard to follow because in this series of books he goes from one character in one place, to being in another with different characters. They are different because in each story Jack Ryan deals with a different villain from a different place.
“ For three years now he had been working on Fighting Sailor, an authorized biography of Fleet Admiral William Halsey. Nearly all of it was contained on a half-dozen floppy disks lying next to his apple computer.”
I had never read a Tom Clancy novel before and my dad suggested reading one because he really likes them. I enjoyed the story a lot because it was very suspenseful and made me not want to put it down. However, there were some parts that I found very confusing. There would be times in the story where in the middle of something happening in a submarine, for example, he would switch to a scene with Ryan in the Naval offices in Annapolis Maryland.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Saturday, October 4, 2008
The Technology of Baseball
Today, people value everything differently. Some people value moments higher than objects they own. Some people believe something is valuable only if it has a high price tag on it. Other people value the simplest things like getting up in the morning above the most expensive thing they own. Is there anything that everyone can agree on as the most valuable to them? Why is it so hard to determine the true value of something? Does everyone in the world have something that they value?
I’ve been sitting on the bench the whole game. My coach comes over to me at the end of the fifth inning and tells me he wants me to close out the game. I go to warm up while my team bats in the top of the sixth and that’s when I start to feel the pressure that I love so much. The pressure I feel whenever I go into a game to close it out.
It’s the bottom of the sixth and we’re ahead six to four. We need three outs to win the game. The first hitter comes up to the plate and I get him to fly out to right field on one pitch. One out. Now the second hitter comes up to the plate and he grounds out to second base.
My adrenaline is really starting to rush now, one more out and we win the game. There best hitter strides to the plate. He has gotten a hit every at bat during the game. I let my nerves get to me and I fall behind, two balls ad no strikes. I battle back and get the count to two balls and two strikes. I throw ball three. He asks for timeout and steps out of the box for a moment, then he gets back in and he’s ready for me to pitch. I get my sign from the catcher, he calls for a fastball. I wind up and throw the pitch. I throw it by him for strike three, we win the game!
I turn it on and I let it warm up. My laptop is on and ready to use. I go online to talk to my friends, read articles about current events, and do research for school. I turn on itunes and put on my favorite music. I love my laptop. It’s a Macbook that is a bright white.
I’ve never had a laptop before this, so I make sure to take good care of it. I enjoy having the laptop. It’s nice to be able to write papers and not have to stay in the same place, but I could just do the same things on my mom’s computer.
I like my laptop and I’m glad I have it, but I really could live without it. I enjoy having the ability to go and talk to my friends online, read about current events, and listening to music. My laptop is very valuable to me, but it isn’t priceless.
My memory of closing out that game allows me to travel back to that game in my mind and it reminds me of what it’s like to have pressure on you, and being able to thrive under it. The moments I remember most clearly about that game were when I first came into the game and how happy I was after I struck out the last batter and knew that I had just helped my team win the game. It reminds me of the butterflies I got in my stomach throughout the entire outing. There’s no other feeling quite like that it.
Some similarities between my laptop and my memory of closing out that game are that they are both things I love to do. I like them both because they both allow me to get my mind off everyday things. When I'm on my laptop talking to my friends and whenever I'm pitching, I don't think about anything else. They are different because I can put a price on my laptop, I can't put a price on my memory of closing out that game. If I had to place a price on my laptop, I would say it's worth about fifteen hundred dollars.
Everyone in the world has something they value. Some people value items higher, others value moments higher. The true value of something can almost not be determined because everyone has a different idea about how much a given item or moment is worth. There is probably nothing in the entire world that everyone values the same. Some people may say it’s worth more and some people say it’s worth less. It’s impossible to say that there’s something that everyone values because of what our society is like today, some people care more about material things, and other people care more about moments or something you can’t physically touch.
Today, people value everything differently. Some people value moments higher than objects they own. Some people believe something is valuable only if it has a high price tag on it. Other people value the simplest things like getting up in the morning above the most expensive thing they own. Is there anything that everyone can agree on as the most valuable to them? Why is it so hard to determine the true value of something? Does everyone in the world have something that they value?
I’ve been sitting on the bench the whole game. My coach comes over to me at the end of the fifth inning and tells me he wants me to close out the game. I go to warm up while my team bats in the top of the sixth and that’s when I start to feel the pressure that I love so much. The pressure I feel whenever I go into a game to close it out.
It’s the bottom of the sixth and we’re ahead six to four. We need three outs to win the game. The first hitter comes up to the plate and I get him to fly out to right field on one pitch. One out. Now the second hitter comes up to the plate and he grounds out to second base.
My adrenaline is really starting to rush now, one more out and we win the game. There best hitter strides to the plate. He has gotten a hit every at bat during the game. I let my nerves get to me and I fall behind, two balls ad no strikes. I battle back and get the count to two balls and two strikes. I throw ball three. He asks for timeout and steps out of the box for a moment, then he gets back in and he’s ready for me to pitch. I get my sign from the catcher, he calls for a fastball. I wind up and throw the pitch. I throw it by him for strike three, we win the game!
I turn it on and I let it warm up. My laptop is on and ready to use. I go online to talk to my friends, read articles about current events, and do research for school. I turn on itunes and put on my favorite music. I love my laptop. It’s a Macbook that is a bright white.
I’ve never had a laptop before this, so I make sure to take good care of it. I enjoy having the laptop. It’s nice to be able to write papers and not have to stay in the same place, but I could just do the same things on my mom’s computer.
I like my laptop and I’m glad I have it, but I really could live without it. I enjoy having the ability to go and talk to my friends online, read about current events, and listening to music. My laptop is very valuable to me, but it isn’t priceless.
My memory of closing out that game allows me to travel back to that game in my mind and it reminds me of what it’s like to have pressure on you, and being able to thrive under it. The moments I remember most clearly about that game were when I first came into the game and how happy I was after I struck out the last batter and knew that I had just helped my team win the game. It reminds me of the butterflies I got in my stomach throughout the entire outing. There’s no other feeling quite like that it.
Some similarities between my laptop and my memory of closing out that game are that they are both things I love to do. I like them both because they both allow me to get my mind off everyday things. When I'm on my laptop talking to my friends and whenever I'm pitching, I don't think about anything else. They are different because I can put a price on my laptop, I can't put a price on my memory of closing out that game. If I had to place a price on my laptop, I would say it's worth about fifteen hundred dollars.
Everyone in the world has something they value. Some people value items higher, others value moments higher. The true value of something can almost not be determined because everyone has a different idea about how much a given item or moment is worth. There is probably nothing in the entire world that everyone values the same. Some people may say it’s worth more and some people say it’s worth less. It’s impossible to say that there’s something that everyone values because of what our society is like today, some people care more about material things, and other people care more about moments or something you can’t physically touch.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
