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Journal 2001 |
Jill Ker Conway is
a noted historian, specializing in the experience of women in America, and was
the first woman president of Smith College. Jill Ker Conway was born in Hiliston,
New South Wales, Australia, graduated from the University of Sydney in 1958,
and received her Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1969. From 1964 to 1975 she
taught at the University of Toronto and was the Vice President there before
serving in 1975 and for the next ten years as President of Smith College. Since
1985 she has been a Visiting Scholar and Professor in M.I.T.'s Program in Science,
Technology, and Society, and now lives with her husband in Milton,, Massachusetts.
She is the author of Merchants and Merinos (1960), The Female Experience in
18th and 19th Century America (1982), and Women Reformers and American Culture
(1987), and editor (with Susan C. Bourque and Joan W. Scott) of the forthcoming
Learning About Women.
This autobiography is a beautifully written narrative of Jill Ker Conway's journey
from a girlhood on an isolated sheep-farm in the grasslands of Australia to
her departure for America, and eventually the presidency of Smith College is
both new and universal. If few of us have known an eight-year drought in New
South Wales, many of us have felt the despair of an ambitious young woman facing
a controlled female destiny. This book, an extremely gripping and inspiring
work, will take its place as one of the few heroic stories of girlhood.
I chose this book in hope of learning true values and significance of a young
girl in desperate help and need of others. That is just what I got. I actually
had high expectations of this book. I heard that it was excellent and that once
it was started, I probably would not be able to put it down.
My expectations were realized after I finished reading this book. It only took
me a few hours to read, because when I started it, it was almost as though I
wanted to know what was going to happen next, so I couldn't put it down. This
book actually reminds me of two other books that I read this summer. They were
called Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt and A Child Called It by Dave Peizer.
Maybe it was because they all told the story of how abused and unfortunate children
grew up. These two books that I've mentioned are actually really good, and I
highly recommend them for reading.
After reading this particular book, I know feel differently about a couple of
things. For example, I now realize how lucky I am to have a mother and brother
who love me and treat me right. Also, I realize that other people are very unfortunate
in how they are treated and abused. People have to realize that not everyone
has the same family and personal issues to deal with, and that everyone has
to be treated the same way, no matter what the circumstances are.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading, or just interested
in how other people are brought up within their families. It is definitely worth
reading, and will not take long at all considering that once you start it, you
will not be able to put it down.
Into Thin Air In
March of 1996, Jon Krakauer, an author for Outside Magazine, was sent to Nepal
to participate in and write about his experiences on a guided ascent of Mount
Everest. Into Thin Air is the true story, written by Jon Krakauer himself. Although
he, was an experienced climber, none of his prior climbs would prepare him for
the disaster that lay ahead.
On March 29th, 1996 Krakauer arrived in the Himalayan Range to proceed on an
expedition that would change his life forever. Among the five teammates who
had summited Everest, only one returned; Krakauer. The storm that occurred on
the night of May 11th, 1996 claimed the lives of Rob Hall (35, head guide on
Krakauer's team), Scott Fischer (40, guide for an American team), Yasuko Namba
(47, a client on Hall's team), Andy Harris (31, the assistant guide on Krakauer's
team), and Doug Hansen (46, a client on Halt's team).
After climbing from camp one to camp four through the Khumbu icefall, Lho La
Face, South Col. and Nuptse Face, the climbers descended to base camp to prepare
for the summit push. Krakauer was one of the first to make it to the top of
Everest. However, he did not stay there for more than five minutes because it
was very windy on top of the mountain and he was running out of oxygen. As fast
as he could return, Krakauer safely made it to camp two and fell asleep half
unconscious. On the afternoon of May 10th, 1996, some of the climbers were still
struggling at 2 p.m. the designated turnaround time. Some of the climbers were
Doug Hansen, Rob Hall, and Andy Harris. The sun was setting, the wind was rising
and a storm was brewing. A group of five or six climbers got caught in the storm.
They could not find shelter so they chose to huddle together trying to keep
warm and stay alive. All survived except one, Yasuko Namba who froze to death.
Lastly, Scott Fischer went searching for, the missing members of the team and
disappeared off the Lhotse Face.
The trait of courage was my favorite part of the book. Each of the men and women
that were involved in this expedition, struggled not only to keep themselves
alive but also to aid those climbers who were not able to help themselves.
Isaac Cline was
an extremely ambitious man who loved the peculiarities of weather. As he got
older, he began to study weather for a living, and became one of the most prestigious
weathermen in the nation. However, as this book proves, man will eventually
lose against nature. Isaac made one mistake, and it cost many lives. When a
hurricane hit Galveston, Texas only the lucky would survive.
Isaac's Storm was one of the most fascinating books that I have ever read. Not
only did the author, Erik Larson, do a great job setting up the book, but he
also recreated the story as though the reader was there. When the book begins,
it's great the way he gives a detailed background of Isaac's life. The reader
gets to know him, and realizes he is one of the premier weathermen at that time.
Giving this information makes the story even more shocking when Isaac badly
calculates the strength of the hurricane.
My favorite part of the book would definitely be Larson's vivid descriptions
during the storm. He does a terrific job presenting each person and household
in Galveston during the hurricane. As he goes from one scene to the next, the
reader is shocked with the details about injuries, destruction and death. Reading
this book allowed me to feel as though I were in Galveston right next to Isaac
Cline when the storm was at its worst. The other reason I really enjoyed this
book was because it truly allowed me to appreciate the force of nature at its
worst. I have heard stories about death during natural disasters, but never
in such detail. Just thinking about all sorts of debris as well as people falling
from the sky creates such an image in ones head that it is impossible to forget.
I would recommend this book to everyone. Whether you have an interest in nature
or not, this book will catch your attention and you won't want to put it down.
Although the beginning is a bit slow, once Larson begins to tell about the storm
it becomes one of the best secondary sources ever written about a natural disaster.
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Mr. Darwin's Shooter
is a novel about an assistant of Darwin's named Syms Covington. The novel goes
back and forth from his youth to his old age and connects the two by the end.
The story itself travels from England to South America to Islands of the Pacific
and to Australia to give a different view of the world.
I selected this book because it seemed like an interesting book and took place
in a time period that I like to read about, the 1800's. I liked the fact that
the book bounced around time the way it did and was curious to find out the
reasons why.
My expectations for the novel, unfortunately, were not realized. As I read through
it, I discovered that there were places that either dragged on or stopped abruptly
before the part could come to fruition. There was a jumble of love stories thrown
into the novel, but were obviously written by someone who did not know very
much about love stories. The love story portions were not what you would expect
in a story written about the 1800's since stories written in the 1800's had
quite a romantic flare to them.
This book does not fully relate to other books that I have read. I have never
read a story about a naturalist's travels and had never known too much about
it. I am curious as to how accurate the book was. The tales of some of the places
were interesting, but some of the stories were much too far-fetched to fit in
with the realism of the travels. The romantic part of the novel fits in with
much that I have read, but is not as good as most of the romantic pieces I have
read. It is not satisfying enough even though everyone lives happily ever after.
Everything just happened too fast by the end.
This book has not really changed any of my opinions or thoughts, but it wasn't
a complete waste. All in all it was a decent story, just some of the details
could have been altered to make it a better tale. I would recommend this book
to anyone who would like .to find out more about faraway travels and different
lifestyles.
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