I'm a Bookworm

[image: reputation-book.com]

I usually blog about fiction, but I came across an interesting website and book yesterday, and I wanted to share it with you all. It’s called Personal Reputation Management: Making the Internet Work for You, and it’s written byLouis Halpern and Roy Murphy.

As a blogger, of course I’m quite interested. The Internet is a wonderful place to learn information. As we surf the web, we think of ourselves as inside and in the comfort and privacy of our own homes, but in reality the internet is like a busy street where anyone can look at your status, away message, pictures and innermost thoughts if you grant them access. You wouldn’t go outside and start shouting your deepest secrets would you!??! Well then, it’s important to think about the information that’s available about you online.

I’ll give you some great examples:

1. LinkedIn is a great website for business networking, but do you want it made public to the world where you work, your alma mater and your career aspirations?
2. Facebook is a lot of fun! How many people do you want to have access to the ‘fun’ side of your personality?
3. Having a blog or online outlet for your interests and hobbies is great; it’s even better when you inject some of your personality into what you do, because that makes people come back and maintain interest in what you write. However, just how much of your personal information do you want to reveal, including specific places you go, your relationships with lovers and friends, and your thoughts about your job? Remeber, this is information that the world can read!

A book like Personal Reputation Management is just the thing I need to make sure I’m using the internet wisely and respecting the power of this tool for communication and learning.

The Reader

I haven’t finished this book, but it’s so good so far, I had to go ahead and write about it because it’s phenomenal. It’s by Chuck Palahniuk, the same guy who wrote Fight Club.

Haunted is about a bunch of writers who believe they are going away to a writer’s retreat to write their masterpiece. They go by Native-Americanesque aliases, named after their shoddiest qualities, like St. Gut Free (because he ripped his intestines out in a freak accident), Miss America (in a demeaning way), and Lady Baglady (a rich woman who goes out as a bum for fun). The book is made of three different kinds of writing all put together. First, there’s the storyline. And in between the chapters of the story, there’s a poem about each character, and following that, there’s a short prose piece that the character writes themselves about their life and experiences.

When you first start the book, the group is getting together and they are all really optimistic.   It’s interesting, because when the story starts out, you believe they are going to have a horrible time of it, because of Mr. Whitter, the guy who brought them all there. He’s locked the theatre doors and he says, ‘You are all here to write for three months, we’ve got enough food, yout must keep your promises and stay here until you’re done.’ None of them has any idea what they want to write about however, and they don’t want to take the trouble figure that out themselves, so…. they decide to make their stay at the theatre their own horror story, and they turn their group leader into the villain of that collective piece.

I think they’re just a bunch of manipulative, talenteless artists with writers’ block! Or at least, thats how it seems to me at the moment, but I’m not even halfway through. I’m going to have to finish it, then I’ll update you further in another post.

–the Reader
[image: farm4.static.flickr.com]

[image: ccplic4teens.files.wordpress.com]

In honour of Where the Wild Things Are and children’s books everywhere, I’ve decided to post about my favourite childhood book, which is called Ender’s Game.

Ender’s Game is set in the future, in a world that has become united under a single government (the Hegemony) and which is quite advanced.  The reason the world is united, however, is because they all have a common enemy– an alien race called the Buggers.  The buggers came to attack the Earth twice in the past and, the world is gearing up for another all-out war.

Of course, to fight this war they need military officers. So, across the world, there’s a giant initiative to screen the smartest children and they’re all taken away to a military boarding school in space. Ender happens to be the best candidate they’ve found… so in order to preen him they literally make his life a living Hell– sacrificing his childhood and happiness for the good of humanity.

The reason this book is so incredible and influential (it’s won Hugo and Nebula Awards and is a favourite of children and adults worldwide) isn’t because of the backstory, however. I love it because it’s a real study in human psychology. What happens when you take the best and brightest of the world, stick them in a tin can in space, and endlessly f%&k with them?! READ THE BOOK and you’ll find out.

Interestingly enough, Ender’s Game is in development to become a film. It’s been a few years coming, and obviously it’s a mission to find child actors who can play the roles. As influential as the book has been, hopefully the film will be just as influential– I’m thinking The Matrix?!

–The Reader