War and Peace: A Review of Sorts

I finally finished War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy this past week while I was on vacation. I had been reading it since the end of June, and as a result felt very depressed when I read the last line of the book, and finished what I had been reading for about two months. In short, this book was amazing and you should definitely read it, if you are reading this.

There is so much to be learned from this book, about life, about love, about the purpose of being, and most simple, about the human mind and its ways. It is, obviously, the deepest and most thought-provoking novel I have ever read, and I recommend it to anyone. It is well worth your time, despite the 1200+ pages of the vast novel.

The main characters are phenomenally crafted and created, you get a special feeling for them, you become attached to them as if they are indeed real and living right before your eyes. Even though I did not understand the strategies of battle (the book is set during the Napoleon war), I was able to clearly understand what was going on and why is was important from Tolstoy's descriptive writing.

I am not writing a plot summary here. I believe that would spoil the book, which is massively long. However, you will fall in love with the characters stories and themselves, and I will say this; my favorite character is Prince Andrei for his brilliant and final understanding of life and love. This quote pretty much sums up what I love about him:

“Love is life. All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love. Everything is, everything exists, only because I love. Everything is united by it alone. Love is God, and to die means that I, a particle of love, shall return to the general and eternal source.”

This struck me as being quite profound, as well as this quote spoken by Pierre, the main character:

"Life is everything. Life is God. Everything shifts and moves, and this movement is God. And while there is life, there is delight in the self-awareness of the divinity. To love life is to love God. The hardest and most blissful thing is to love this life in one's suffering, in the guiltlessness of suffering."

There are not enough words to describe how much I loved this book. Just read it, it is quite the accomplishment, and it will teach you many things.

I'm also quite excited for the new BBC miniseries coming out late this year, starring James Norton as Prince Andrei:

War and Peace: I attempt to conquer a masterpiece

Sometime shortly before last week I began reading Leo Tolstoy's book, War and Peace. I was looking for books to read at the desk this summer while working, and found this title on a summer reading list. I did not know what I was getting myself into. This book is some 1250 pages long, and follows the lives a few young people during the Napoleon era. I am about a fourth of the way through the book, and since I have started it, I wondered if I would give up on attempting to make this book #9 of the summer, but I have decided to stay with it. I got caught up in the story lines of the characters, and am much looking forward to seeing how the rest of the plot turns out.



It's not an "easy read", however, I am finding it easier than people have told me about it, everyone who sees me reading this book thinks I am crazy for picking this book as a summer reading. I am finding that I am a bit confused with the book at some points since Leo Tolstoy calls the same character by like 5 different names, leaving me something like this:

Me when a Count in the book has like 6 names

But I am enjoying reading it and am hoping to finish it my the end of this month. We will see how this goes. I am a person who likes to finish what they start, so I know I will finish War and Peace, if I finish it in the time frame I have given myself is a totally different thing.

A Review of Sorts: Cybersecurity and Cyber War

Book 7 of the summer! I really liked this book. I picked it up as more of an informal read, mainly because I wanted to read something related to my (hopefully) future job field. While it probably took me longer to read than most books due to its more wordy content, I found it to be very insightful about the world of the internet we live in. It was a good reminder of how easily our information can be at risk in the cyber world, and also clarified some generalizations often made about the nature of hacking and whistleblowers when it comes to releasing content online.

I thought that the authors spent a little too much time talking about the political side of cybersecurity, but I recognize that this part is important when talking about cyber war as a whole. It is interesting to note the reason the authors give for the government not being able to attract talented enough employees for the Department of Homeland Security; often times the people who have the abilities are basement hackers who do not want to work for the government or even go to college at all.

A point the authors make that stood out to me the most was his way of explaining how the internet is at risk; if we as individuals do not make a practice of securing our personal computers and accounts, we are making the internet as a whole an unsafe place for everyone. It isn't just about making sure your own content is secure in order to browse online safely, security on the internet relies on everyone doing their own parts. This is not something I had ever considered before, but it makes complete sense. If your computer is hacked, then it is giving the hacker more information and content from you, and also, if they are seeking to build a botnet (a montage of connected computers used to retrieve information for a malicious purpose), then it is helping the hacker succeed in attacking more victims.

I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in internet security or is concerned about their online presence and wants to understand the hacking world. Even if you don't read the book cover to cover like I did, just reading sections of it could prove very useful.

Book 2/50 Thriving At College

Ok, so I made this goal (that I thought) was realistic to read 50 books this year. So far I've read two. We shall see how this goes.

Today I finished perhaps one of the most helpful books I have ever read, Thriving At College. Written by Alex Chediak, this book is written to help the Christian college student navigate the academic life. It is divided into "Mistakes" as chapters and deals with the subjects of making your faith your own, keeping an organized lifestyle, and how to make the most of your academic career. I'd recommend this book to anyone - and I wish I had read it before I completed my freshman year.

Thriving At College focuses a lot on how to have a balanced life, which is something I tend to have a hard time doing. Besides that, this book also gives the reader tips on studying. It had never occurred to me until reading this book that I should be studying consistently year-round, not just when I have an exam. This is something I plan to change next year, and I am excited to see how it will change how I perform in my classes. Chediak also touches quite a few important topics of relationships, and how the way you choose friends is very detrimental to your character. You become who you hang out with, he says, and I think that is an excellent point.

This book changed how I viewed my academic career and helped me realize how important it is to set a decent schedule for myself and to budget my time wisely. I definitely suggest that every freshman read this book before starting college, or while attending, it can greatly benefit your life.

Book 1/50 By Darkness Hid

I did not make New Year's resolutions this year, however I decided to set a reading goal of 50 books for the year last week. I didn't read as much as I would have liked this past year, and I want to get back into reading again. I love to read, I was just so busy with work and school.

So far, I have read one book - a good start I suppose, but if I'm going to keep my goal I need to read 5 books a month. We'll see how this goes when J-term break ends. I had downloaded the first book in a series called The Blood of Kings, By Darkness Hid some time last year, but never got around to reading it, so that became my first project. I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed the first installment in this series, and I can't wait to read the next one.

Ender's Game

Since I work at the library, I am very up to date on all the new books that we get in, especially the ones going into the YA and Children's Area, because that's mainly where I shelve. Last week I picked up Ender's Game from the stack of new books I was shelving. I heard one of my friends talking about it and saw that they made it into a movie, so I decided to read it. Plus, I love being one of the first people to read a copy of a book. It smells so good.

I finished it in a couple of days, mostly due to the fact that I couldn't put it down. I don't write reviews well, so bear with me. Also, it is probably going to sound somewhat vague; I don't want to spoil it for other people.

In one word: brilliant. In many words:

I don't normally like child violence; I'm not a fan of the Hunger Games at all. But this book was really intriguing. I have to confess, when I found out the kid was six at the beginning, I was a little hesitant. However, this book isn't a kid's book at all. While it may be about a child, the book its definitely geared toward an older audience. Ender's mind was way more complex that of a little boy's. The book kept me guessing at what was going to happen until the very end.

I noticed a few grammatical errors while I read the book, but then I realized Orson Scott Card had intended it sound that way. It made it more informal and helped the reader to make a stronger connection with Ender and the way he thought.

Anyway, I really liked the book and look forward to watching the movie. Asa Butterfield is one of my favorite actors (probably the only kid actor I like) and I'm really excited to see him as Ender. I also requested the rest of the books from the library. Hopefully they are all as amazing as the first book.

Discarded

Today was my library day, and my boss didn't leave me anything to do. So I asked another lady that works there if she had any jobs and she told me to discard these old books. This involved tearing out the pocket that the date card goes in and getting rid of the silver security sticker underneath. In most of the books I had to complete cut the page out in order to get rid of the pocket; otherwise it would tear the book. Even though I was really only doing this:

I felt like I was doing this:

It was a heartbreaking process. Some of the books had really cool nameplates in them, dated from like the 80's and occasionally the books were even older. I had to resist the urge to sniff them all. Well, I sniffed one. Or two.

Today I was especially annoyed by the people who come to the library just to "chat". Seriously.Just.Get out.

Any way this is my favorite place in the world.