Reading+Reflections

Week 1 (page 7- 72) Week 2 (page 73 -140) Week 3 (page 141- 240) Week 4 (page 241-340) Week 5 (page 341- 423)
 * __My Sister's Keeper__** by Jodi Picoult
 * I can't decide on whether or not I agree with Anna's decision to sue her parents. I understand that it is her body and she must make her own decisions. I agree that her parents have to stop assuming that Anna is perfectly fine with donating everything to Kate, that although she is helping Kate, she is putting herself in harms way by also having surgery as well. Not only does giving everything to Kate affect Anna physically but also emotionally. I also can't understand how Anna is not willing to help her own sister. Even if sueing her parents is in spite of them, the true person that she is hurting is her own sister. I have two sisters and I would do anything to help them, I can't see myself not helping them when they need it the most.
 * I find it hard to determine whether or not I agree with Sara with the way she is handling the situation with Anna. She just keeps telling Anna what will happen to the family, what will happen to Kate if she decdies to sue. Not once did she ask Anna how she truly felt, she told Anna what she should feel. Sara is constantly pressuring Anna to do the right thing for Kate, but never for herself. I think that Anna might change her mind if someone actually took the time to listen to her, that she does not want to kill her sister, she wants to have a decision in her life. She even says at the end of the chapter "I came because without her, it's hard to remember who I am." (pg 138)
 * I am starting to get annoyed that Anna won't make up her mind. She tells Julie that she doesn't want to do this anymore, but when Campbell questions her, she is still willing to continue with it. I like that Brian has taken Anna to stay with him at the station so Anna can try and sort some things out. I am still unsure on how I really feel about how Sara is dealing with the situation, but I started to fell a little more sympathetic towards her. I think that her need to always be in control is what is causing some problems and is wearing her down even more than just the stress of the situation itself. I like Jesse because he still manages to go on with his day knowing that his sister is sick. Even though he casues more trouble than needed, I still feel bad because it seems that he was left out of the family.
 * After reading about how Kate almost truly died for the first time, I finally started to realize why Sara acts the way she does. They thought Kate was going to die, Brian even wanted to bring her home so she could die there. After almost losing a child I can see how Sara doesn't want to go through that again. I also think that she doesn't want to face that Kate will die, she is stuck on the fact that she was able to make it through one time, why can't she do it again. It explains why Sara wants Anna to donate the kidney because she actually thinks it might save her life, but it might only prolong Kate's life, and for how long nobody knows. I can understand where Sara is coming from and why she believes that this kidney might bring Kate "back to life."
 * I hate the ending if this book. I was so annoyed that Anna had died. I prepared myself for Kate's death but not Anna's but I guess that is how the Fitzgerald family felt also. It definitely was a shock to me. I am happy that Kate was able to get a kidney but it was not worth the death of her sister. Either way Sara was going to lose a child sooner or later, but I didn't think it was going to be Anna. I am happy for Brian in the end because he seemed to get his life back on track and join the police force.

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 & 5 __**The Sea and Poison**__ by Shusaku Endo __**The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat**__ by Oliver Sacks
 * __Hiroshima__** by John Hersey
 * The beginning of the book introduces all of the characters that Hersey is going to discuss in the book. He describes how the characters were going on about their normal business when the bomb hit. I thought it was vvery unfortuante about how the one time that Mrs. Hatsuyo Nakamura doesn't take her children to a safe area is when the bomb finally hits. I never realized how much this was a shock to people, that they never saw this coming. They were always prepared for air raids, but not for this, they never even heard the air plane over head.
 * I knew the attack killed many, but not as many as expressed in the book. We were able to see how the characters reacted to this tragic event. If something had happened and I survived I hope I woud react in the same way that Dr. Sasaki did. Although hurt and tired, he sacrifices himself to help others. I would hope I would be as selfless if I was put into the same situation. I would hope that I would not act like Dr. Fuji and run from the disaster and be selfish and only think about myself.
 * I thought it took a lot for Father Kleinsorage to get up and help people when he needed help the most. It was nice to see that people are not always thinking about themselves. He did not have to get up when he was sick and bring water to the people in the park. What I thought was interesting was that he promises the soldiers that help is coming even though he knows it will never come. Some people might see a problem in that, but I think it was a great idea, it gave them some hope that they might survive.
 * I never knew that people suffered from different stages of radiation poisoning. I thought that those who didn't die right away from the blast, died a few years later from radiation poisoning. I thought that the all the people who were affected by the bomb had all died a few years later. It didn't make sense that people would not hire those who survived the attack years after. I did not think it was fair, it is the same thing as denying someone a job because they are disabled.
 * Overall, I liked this book a lot. It showed us how ethics play a role in health care. For some doctors, this is a once in a lifetime experience and would never give it up. They do not think about the consequences or how they are affecting other people. For Dr. Suguro, he knew what was ethically right and wrong. Although he agreed to participate, his conscience kicked in and he stepped back. I would hope that most doctors today always thinks about what is ethically right and wrong.
 * So far I look this book a lot. I like to read about all of the mental diseases that people experience. It's hard to picture how these people percieve things, but this book helps to break it down by looking at a patients first hand experience. So far, my favorite story is //The Man Who Fell Out of Bed//. I thought it was interesting how a person could think that a part of their body was not actually part of them. It's hard to think about how this person must live their life day to day, always thinking that an amputated limb is next to them.

__**The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightime**__ by Mark Haddon --
 * __The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat__** by Oliver Sacks
 * Last class we had a discussion about the chapter called "Cupid's Disease." Many people thought that it was disturbing that a woman of that age would be interested in such a young man. How nice would it be to feel young and lively and an older age, why should she be ashamed of it. In my opinion, it is not that there is something wrong with her, this behavior is not accepted by the rest of society. If older women were to always go out with younger men or the other way around, nothing would be wrong with her actions, it would be "normal."
 * "The Twins": In this chapter we read about two twins who both had autism. They were socially challenged and were uncomfortable speaking outloud. Instead of talking through known language, they spoke using prime numbers. Without thinking they were able to come up with numbers that were 20 numbers long, something a mathematician can't even do. They would laugh as certain numbers, it was almost as if the nembers were a symbol for something. It was something that they enjoyed and something that a person without autism couldn't understand.
 * __The Yellow Wallpaper__** by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
 * In the beginning of the book, it is clearly stated that the woman knows that she always seems to be nervous but she thinks it is something more than that. Her husband and brother in law who are both doctors think it is nothing more than that and that she needs to be placed in a room where her mind can not be stimulated. The woman thinks the total opposite, she believes that she needs to get out her energy and she starts to write in a journal to she must hide from everyone. She starts to obsess about the little things, she especially seems to be bothered by the wallpaper that covers the walls. In my opinion, sticking someone in a dark room is not the solution to this woman's problem, it could possible only make it worse.
 * At first the narrorator seems to obsess on how much she hates the wallpaper that currently lines the room. Later in the book, it starts to grow on her, instead of hating it so much, she tries to figure out, she tries to figure out the patterns, and soon she starts to see a woman within the paper. Although John thinks she is getting better she is only getting worse, she doesn't sleep as much anymore and now she is starting to see things in the wall. By the end of the book, the woman is convinced that there are women coming out of the wallpaper and that in fact she has come out of the wallpaper. People just have to think that if this woman had lived in the 21st century would she had been diagnosed with post pardom depression and the only reason why it was bypassed was because people were not aware of the disease yet?
 * In one part of the book, he mentions how he loves prime numbers. He exlpains how there is a simple chart on how to figure out prime numbers but how no one could come up with a formula for them. This rerinded me of the chapter The Twins in The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat. Maybe the twins had a mental picture of this chart in their head. Maybe it was a game for them because they picture these numbers on a board, such as a board game.
 * For the most part, I really enjoyed thid book. I was able to read how the mind works with someone who has behavioral issues because they have irrational thoughts. I thought it was interesting how the number and color of cars that passes in a row determined how good of a day he was going to have. I am not really sure how I feel about how the father dealt with Christopher's father not telling him what happened to his mother. I could see how he would be afriad and not sure how to tell Christopher but then again he waited way to long to ley him know. It was worse that Christopher found out by himself and not by his own father.
 * __The Hot Zone__** by Richard Preston
 * This book describes how diseasese affect people and how quickly diseases spread. We saw that Charles Monet contracted the ebola virus and suffered and painful death. The only positive outcome of this disease is that it kills the victim faster than it can be spread, for the most part. There are oter diseases where people are not at fortunate. Take into considereation the AIDS epidemic. It is a slow and painful death and can be spread because it doesn't kill it's victim that quickly.