Category: Read
Brief review of This Can’t Be Happening at MacDonald Hall! by Gordon Korman
Rating:
** spoiler alert **
Knowing that this was his first book and written when he was still a very young teenager, I didn’t expect a whole lot from Korman. Given that I’ve enjoyed so many of his other books, I should have held him to much higher standards as he always seems to be able to deliver!
The balloon arriving at the school was a bit deus-ex-machina, but it played out so well both plot-wise and even comedic-ly–even tying in the flag incident at the start of the story–that who could fault him?
📖 Read pages 93-144 of 144 of This Can’t Be Happening at MacDonald Hall! by Gordon Korman
📖 Read pages 36-93 of 144 of This Can’t Be Happening at MacDonald Hall! by Gordon Korman
📖 Read pages 1-36 of 144 of This Can’t Be Happening at MacDonald Hall! by Gordon Korman
📗 Started reading This Can’t Be Happening at MacDonald Hall! by Gordon Korman
📖 Read pages 49-198 to finish Something Fishy at MacDonald Hall by Gordon Korman
The Fish has to be one of the best and funniest characters. Korman is brilliant at character, structure, and overall story. How can you not love his work?!
I’ve just noticed that this is the seventh in a long series, so I’ve obviously got some catching up to do. I’m curious if anyone has purchased the rights? This would make a great television series, particularly if they’re all full of as much heart and fun as this one.
Rating:
📖 Read pages 1-48 of Something Fishy at Macdonald Hall by Gordon Korman
📗 Started reading Something Fishy at Macdonald Hall by Gordon Korman
📖 Read pages 122-138 of 215 of Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry
📖 Read pages 77-121 of 215 of Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry
Things have been growing nicely and generally organically, but the plant of the baby crying followed by the “let’s go explore downstairs” seems a bit too incredulous to me.
📖 Read pages 56-76 of 215 of Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry
📖 Read pages 1-55 of 215 of Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry
Interesting to read this while thinking about policy and government and some recent works of Francis Fukuyama all amidst the backdrop of the me too movement.
Odd that in a society that still has and can value words, that no one practices religion. References to the object of a cross that apparently no one remembers anymore.
Interesting themes on the importance of art and remembering developing.
📗 Started reading Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry
📖 Read pages i-8 of Category Theory for the Sciences by David I. Spivak
Highlights, Quotes, Annotations, & Marginalia
But it is easy to think we are in agreement, when we really are not. Modeling our thoughts on heuristics and graphics may be convenient for quick travel down the road, but we are liable to miss our turnoff at the first mile. The danger is in mistaking convenient conceptualizations for what is actually there.
A functor is like a conductor of mathematical truth.
The answer is that when we formalize our ideas, our understanding is clarified.
Creativity demands clarity of thinking, and to think clearly about a subject requires an organized understanding of how its pieces fit together. Organization and clarity also lead to better communication with others. Academics often say they are paid to think and understand, but that is not the whole truth. They are paid to think, understand, and communicate their findings.