Perdictably Irrational

I read Perdictably Irrational by Dan Ariely and I learned how the people in the United States have an almost inconceivably out of control spend now save later attitude. One of the theories on why we do this is that we are taught throughout childhood and though our school careers to always do as the people with authoritative voice. So once we are out on our own we have this ingrained reaction to authoritative voices such as those in commercials telling us to buy, right now, all this junk we don’t need .

I also read about procrastination on how in an experiment kids in three different classes were all given the same three assignments the difference is they had different due dates. One class was given the choice to set their own due dates as long as it was in by the last day of the semester but they could only set it once and if they were late then they would be docked points. Another class was given the same option but that there would be no penalties as long as they were in by the last day. The last class were given three set dates to turn in their papers. Now you may think that the kids in the second class would get the best scores on their papers but you’d be wrong the kids in the third class got the best average scores. The reason for this is thought to be that since we have always had the due dates given to us and since they had all that time the kids in the other two classes procrastinated till they were rushing to finish and so did not do as good of a job on their papers.

I have a problem with procrastinating too much. If I have a big project to do I will start out doing it right away but then I will realize that I have other homework to do that is do the next day and I will gradually start working less and less on the project till the due date is upon me and I only have ¾ of it done. There is plenty of procrastination in the books I’ve read even the “heroes” have problems with it. In the book The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks the main character Azoth is an orphan boy from the Warrens (slums, a part of the city for the extremely poor) who is given a chance to become the apprentice to the best wetboy in the city Durzo Blint, but Durzo has one condition Azoth must kill Rat a boy who is in charge of Azoth's guild (they are called guild rats bands of poor kids that stay together for safety). Azoth accepts Durzo's offer he starts to gather support from other boys in the guild so he would have enough power to over throw Rat. But Azoth procrastinated and because of that procrastination his closest friend Doll Girl had her face cut up. While Azoth wept over Doll Girl's body Durzo came and said if he went right then and killed Rat he would save her. If Azoth had just killed Rat right away then Doll Girl would never have gotten hurt.

Blink

I read Blink by Malcom Gladwell Seven Seconds in the Bronx: The Delicate Art of Mind Reading
Just like the men of the National Archeological Museum of Athens, the New York police officers from the Street Crime Unit made an incorrect assumption that Diallo was criminal just because he was standing in a crime hot spot. Then there was the assumption that Diallo made. Diallo made a major misstep in thinking that the cops were muggers not that the cops gave any indication otherwise not so much as to say they were police or a flashing of a badge. I have learned that people see what they expect to see the cops expected to see criminals on the streets so they see a criminal pulling out a gun and Diallo expected to see muggers so he saw muggers. I myself have experienced this then people look at me they see someone that is younger than I am they think me to be in 8th grade when I am in 12th. They also think I am weak and so easily to push around, but I have found that there are different kinds of strengths other than the typical. This lesson I learned from a many of books concerning the people of stealth such as the Rangers Apprentice and the Night Angle Trilogy.

Mindset

I read Mindset by Carol DweckThis chapter is about how you can do better in life just by changing your mindset. I read how changing your mind set is more effective in increasing your grades than a group that teaches new study skills. The rest of the chapter is about how this program has affected their lives.

I probably would benefit from this. I have a bit of a fixed mindset on Spanish. As I see it I’m not good at Spanish and, while I will get better at it until the time when I am not studying it and not using it as much then I will lose practically all of it. So why do I need to learn it if I’m not going to use it and yes I’ll make sure I don’t have to. If I changed my mindset though it may make it easier to get through the time for when I do need it.

Will Treaty is a forward thinker as shown in how he solves the many challenges and conflicts that come up in his many adventures. In the book series “Ranger’s Apprentice” Will, a ward at castle Redmount becomes a Ranger for the king. The reason this applies to Will being a forward thinker is that Rangers are trained to be forward thinkers. Rangers are trained to move silently and blend into the background so well that they virtually disappear. They also are experts with the long bow and with a saxes knife and throwing knife as well as being great tacticians known to come up with unique tactics and adopting the specialties of other nations for their own purposes.

This I belive commparison

The Joy And Enthusiasm Of Reading by Rick Moody
I connect to "The Joy and Enthusiasm of Reading" essay because I am an advid reader as well. I also find it enjoyabull to go walking through the stacks of books finding an interesting dust jacket or title look at it and more often than not I end up reading it. I also enjoy reading books others find to be hard to read and/or understand and make my own dission on how hard it realy is.I've had my apiffinies in getting into reading if not quit as profound as his. I also thind that a book is not complete untill it meets a reader that loves it.

Poettry

I realy like Billy Collins' The Symbol from one of his poettry books horoscopes for the dead. It makes you look at life with a different perespective. I like the way he discribes the mirriors as being able to perceave the out side world and taking in opinions and giving answers. What realy strikes me though is that what they long for is the end of the day when they can look down the long corridors of each other. One looking at the past and the other to the future.

Secret Powers of Time

What I've taken from this video is that every one starts out in the subcatagory of the present oreanted hedoistic. Which is when you live in the moment and you avoid pain and live for plesure. Which is what babys do. Then they go to school so that they can be turned into more future oriented people.