The Easy Decision of Choosing a President
In Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman goes to great lengths to explain the complex ways that humans think in the most simple and understandable fashion. Just as Kahneman’s title alludes, each person thinks in two distinct styles, one style is an automatic manner of thinking and the other is effortful, which he refers to as System 1 and System 2 throughout the book. Kahneman (2011) points out that when we perceive our own way of thinking “we identify with System 2, the conscious, reasoning self that has beliefs, makes choices, and decides what to think about and what to do” (p. 21), but he then immediately points out that that is not at all the case because System 1 is our dominate thinking process. We all rely heavily on System 1 because of it’s the easy and fast method, overlooking the fact that it is prone to errors and biases. System 1 and it’s short cuts are even used in important situations that we believe we have given adequate attention to, such as choosing who we will vote for in presidential elections, but even a decision such ...
* Duncan, Vinny, and Wayne are all friends working - or wasting time - the summer before senior year in high school. Duncan is the soul, Vinny the brains, and Wayne the muscle. At the end of the previous summer, Duncan tried to save a drowning girl and failed. Not being a hero has really affected his life, particularly his relationship with his girlfriend Kim. Also, he is now terrified of swimming, especially when the nightmares come back. Duncan's summer job is with the public transit lost and found. While trying to make the hours go faster, Duncan looks through the items, especially the books and golf clubs. One day he discovers an unmarked journal with no name, which depicts sadistic animal torture experiments, boasts of arson fires, and the planning for the serial killings of three women. Duncan decides to make amends for his failure last summer by tracking down the owner of the journal by using clues left hidden in the diary. After talking with his friend Vinny, Duncan decides to turn the journal over to the police, but they do not take him seriously, so he decides to get help from Vinny, do some research at the local library, and find out where the killer works and lives so they can prove to the police the diary is for real. But in the process when Duncan finds the house of the serial killer, he decides to take a look in it but unfortunately at that very time the serial killer appears and chases Duncan to the subway station. They get into fight there and they both fell on the subway tracks in the station where they get hit by the train. Duncan luckily survives but the serial killer dies.
“ I Am the Messenger,” by Markus Zusak is a story of a young man named Ed Kennedy, a hapless 19 years old cab driver. He thinks that he has no purpose in life whatsoever; his life is so boring and miserable. He is the lazy type of guy who procrastinates a lot and never does anything to change where he is at in life. His mother, even, told him that he was lazy and all he did was driving his cab around the city and playing cards everyday with his friends at the nightclub. “He said we’d just pack up and go, and look where we are,Ed. We’re still here. I’m her. You’re here, and just like your old man, you’re all promise, Ed, and no result”(Zusak, p.244)
Many people have life changing revelations in their lives, but very few people are as young as Jared when he realizes what he does about his life. Ron Rash wrote the short story, "The Ascent," about a young boy's journey that brought him to have a significant revelation about his life. In the story, Rash uses a naive narrator, foreshadowing, and imagery to show the setting of the story that led to Jared's revelation about his life.
Every one is scavenging for the next big gadget- the future is a standard that society strives to have in their grasp. However, Joel Achenbach a former humor columnist solves the mystery of the future in his article, “The Future is Now: it’s heading right at us, but we never see it coming” .he presents a sense of urgency describing that the future is not something that society needs to wait for it happens behind closed doors. He argues that the future is a fast pace entity that occurs all around us. Achenbach proves this point by sticking to his humorous style, with the use of witty allusions to Sci-Fi films.
Everything is criticized at every level in this story, the people by the main character, the main character by the author and even the story by the author as well. The cruel egoistic personality of Anders is definitely identifiable through these different levels of criticism. I will prove that the inner motivation of this behaviour derives from Anders' egoistic personality which sometimes makes him cruel against others, sometimes against himself. Furthermore, I will prove that whenever Anders criticizes somebody or something he actually tries to punish because of the imperfectness of the object. In order to make the referring to the different part of the story easier I divide it into three parts. The first part ends when the robbers appear at the door of the bank, the second ends when one of the robbers shoots at Anders and the left is the third part.
David W. Blight's book Beyond the Battlefield: Race, Memory and the American Civil War, is an intriguing look back into the Civil War era which is very heavily studied but misunderstood according to Blight. Blight focuses on how memory shapes history Blight feels, while the Civil War accomplished it goal of abolishing slavery, it fell short of its ultimate potential to pave the way for equality. Blight attempts to prove that the Civil War does little to bring equality to blacks. This book is a composite of twelve essays which are spilt into three parts. The Preludes describe blacks during the era before the Civil War and their struggle to over come slavery and describes the causes, course and consequences of the war. Problems in Civil War memory describes black history and deals with how during and after the war Americans seemed to forget the true meaning of the war which was race. And the postludes describes some for the leaders of black society and how they are attempting to keep the memory and the real meaning of the Civil War alive and explains the purpose of studying historical memory.
A Few Keys to All Success by Jim Muncy, published in 2002 explains that there are 7 universal keys to success that we can relate to everyday life. Discernment, Optimism, Responsibility, Initiative, Perseverance, Purpose, Sacrifice. Each one represents how we grow and teaches us how to have a high quality of life. From reading this book I am confident because I know being normal means being average and what we do can change how we act significantly. Also we can’t let the world hold us back from greatness. There will be negativity, there will be those who lack enthusiasm but you can’t let them interfere in what you have in store. And these keys will help you get to that point in your life. Discernment; Judge the seed by the harvest. The first
In the essay “Everything Now” Signs of Life in the USA: Readings on Popular Culture for Writers, author Steve McKevitt blames our unhappiness on having everything we need and want, given to us now. While his writing is compelling, he changes his main point as his conclusion doesn’t match his introduction. He uses “want versus need” (145) as a main point, but doesn’t agree what needs or wants are, and uses a psychological theory that is criticized for being simplistic and incomplete. McKevitt’s use of humor later in the essay doesn’t fit with the subject of the article and comes across almost satirical. Ultimately, this essay is ineffective because the author’s main point is inconsistent and poorly conveyed.
From the opening sentence of the essay, “We are free to be you, me, stupid, and dead”, Roger Rosenblatt hones in on a very potent and controversial topic. He notes the fundamental truth that although humans will regularly shield themselves with the omnipresent first amendment, seldom do we enjoy having the privilege we so readily abuse be used against us.
In the short story, "Two Kinds" by Amy Tan, a Chinese mother and daughter are at odds with each other. The mother pushes her daughter to become a prodigy, while the daughter (like most children with immigrant parents) seeks to find herself in a world that demands her Americanization. This is the theme of the story, conflicting values. In a society that values individuality, the daughter sought to be an individual, while her mother demanded she do what was suggested. This is a conflict within itself. The daughter must deal with an internal and external conflict. Internally, she struggles to find herself. Externally, she struggles with the burden of failing to meet her mother’s expectations. Being a first-generation Asian American, I have faced the same issues that the daughter has been through in the story.
Breaking rules is what makes humans learn. This is what David Levithan interpreted in his 322-page fictional novel, Every Day. David Levithan uses characterization, vivid imagery, and irony to convey to readers that systems don’t follow rules.
When reading the book The Goal written by Eliyahu Goldratt, there were many lessons that I learned in order to have a clear and concise understanding of a positive level of productivity in a company. To have a positive level of productivity there are may components that are taken into consideration. Understanding what it actually means to be productive and how to increase the level of productivity by knowing the actual goal of the company that is trying to be reached and the components that go into the process of being productive. There are many factors that contribute to the level of productivity and being able to identify these factors is the key ingredient to having a successful level of productivity.
Paul Johnson, Intellectuals, Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. First Perennial Library edition published 1990, 385pp.
What should our goals be in life? Bill Strickland makes the point that no matter who you are you can do anything you put your mind too. In his book “Making the impossible possible” he explains his own struggle and how he made it through life to be able to help others. He explains his young childhood. He talks about how he had to live through riots and the racism. He talks about how he wanted to help people make their lives better. He explains his struggles with trying to maintain these buildings and how he made great connections. He tells about his love for pottery and his want to help others. His book was truly an inspiration and turned out to be more than I took his book for in the first few pages. His book made me think about my life and how I can relate to him.
The book, The World is Flat, by Thomas Friedman draws attention to some very good points concerning globalization and the world economy today. Friedman emphasizes the status of America today in relation to the other countries of the world. As I looked at the things in which he warned about or highlighted, I realized the importance of this issue. He talks about a few aspects in which need to be kept competitive in order for America to retain their current standing in the world market.