Climax of Do Anderoids Dream

After reading the book, I was a little bit disappointed with the climax.  I expected there to be more fighting and more action in the climax.  During the entire book, Rick and others talk about how impossible killing six Nexus 6 androids in one day will be but yet it doesn't seem like it was that hard.  If Roy was suppose to be a criminal mastermind then why did he die in the matter of a page or two? And what happened to the alarm  that Roy set up that was suppose to make rick panic? I feel like what could have been a very epic fight scene, was instead an epic fail.
However, one thing I did like about the climax was how it involved Mercer and the spider.  Although I still have some unanswered questions about Mercer, many of them were answered.  The way the author wrote the scene with the spider and Mercer at the same time added to the overall feel of the story and I like how it kind of brought everything crashing down at once.  This entire scene made me feel strong emotions yet I am not sure what emotions  they were exactly.  I did however know one thing, the author did a very good job at making the reader feel as if they are part of the book while this scene is taking place.

Do Androids Dream blog2

So far I have read up to chapter 17 in the book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and I'd have to say that the most interesting scene so far would be the scene where Rick is taken by the false police officer to Garland's office.  During this entire scene, the book left me wondering whether Rick was who he said he was, an android with an artificial memory, or just mentally crazy.  For a few pages I was actually convinced that the whole beginning of the book was all part of Rick Deckard's imagination.  Even after the scene was over and I knew that Rick was human, I still questioned whether or not he was indeed human.  This by far is my favorite part of the book so far because it kept my interest the whole way through. I was compelled to read more and more which for me is very rare.  I usually hate books and for the first time in a very long time I actually really enjoyed reading the material that was required for a class. 
After I was done reading, only one thing still confused me.  What or who is Mercer? I understand that he is like their god but what exactly is he? Is he human, is he and android, or does he even exist? Does he have an actual role in the story or is it just some random little detail to make the story sound more futuristic? There are so many aspects to Mercer that I find very confusing.

Chapter 11 in Allyn and Bacon: Writing as a Problem-Solving Process

There are two thing that caught my attention in chapter 11 of Allyn and Bacon.  The first is when it was talking about expert writers and how they use multiple drafts.  This section is talking about how expert writers still need to make multiple drafts and make many revisions.  The book says that "decades of research on the writing process of experts reveals how extensively experts revise."(p273).  This made me realize how important it is for a non-expert writer, such as myself, to revise, revise, revise.  If people who are considered experts on writing still need to make multiple drafts and revisions then that means I need to work a lot harder at making more revisions of my own work.
The second thing that caught my attention was the section on globally and locally revising.  Revising locally means you make changes that only effect a small portion of your writing like a sentence or two whereas globally revising means making changes that will cause you to make changes to other parts in your writing. I had never heard these terms before.  After reading this I realized that when I make revisions to my papers, I need to know if the revisions made are local or global.  By doing this I will know if my changes effect the rest of my paper and if so, I will have to change what needs to be changed. Knowing the difference between these to types of revisions will help me make sure I don't have parts of my writing that contradicts other parts or say completely different things.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Ever since I started reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick, I find the fact that the characters are obsessed with animals to be kind of odd.  During the first chapter wen Rick Deckard was thinking about his electric sheep and going up on the roof where the animals are kept I thought that this would just be a small part of the story.  After I went on to read the next 3 chapters I found out that I was wrong.  Rick has this major obsession with animals and all he thinks about is getting a real animal. And it's not just Rick that seems to be fond of them, pretty much the entire human population left on Earth has an obsession with animals.  I find it weird that they have a monthly catalog just dealing with animal sales.  This may not seem strange to some of you but the prices for these animals are ridiculous.  People spend thousands and thousands of dollars just to get the best, or rarest pet on the market.  Rick's entire happiness practically depends on him getting a new animal.  The fact that he is practically depressed just because he has an electrical sheep instead of a real one is ridiculous if you ask me. And when Rick goes to the Rosen building and see's the animals, especially the owl, he acts like a two year old at a zoo.  I understand that it a person would be awe-struck if they saw an animal that they thought was extinct but I just find this whole obsession with animals both weird and interesting. Although i have a basic knowledge of why they are obsessed with animals, I hope to further understand it as i read on.

Allyn & Bacon Summary 1-3

I was assigned to read the first 3 chapters in a book titled The Allyn & Bacon Guide To Writing.  As you can imagine by the exciting title, this book is not exactly something I would read in my spare time.  Despite the fact that I had difficulty keeping my eyes open while reading, I did manage to learn a thing or two that will hopefully help me with my future papers I will have to write.  Apart from the basics of writing, and all that boring stuff, there were a few things that stood out to me.  The first of which was a quote that can be found on page 5 of the book. The quote read said that good writers are "question askers and problem posers."  This concept really stood out because I always thought of writing as a way of answering questions or solving problems.  After thinking about this statement I realized that every good writing I have read left me wondering.  I think that the idea of leaving the reader intrigued and wondering is something that I would much like to accomplish in my own works of writings. This is something that I probably need a lot of work on but I feel like it is definitely necessary in every piece of good writing so I need to focus on doing so.  The book then goes on to talk about developing a good thesis statement which I know sounds like loads of fun but despite how I felt about reading the text, I again read something that stood out to me.  "An essay's thesis statement is actually the writer's answer to the writer's question."(p12)  This is something I had never thought of before and something that I, and everyone writing a paper, should keep in mind when writing.  Other than the whole question posing idea the main thing I feel I need to keep in mind when writing is purpose. I need to think hard about what I am trying to say and how I can best express that without being confusing.  Thinking about the audience, genre, and angle of vision (the books words for point of view) are also important but  I feel confident that if I can pose a good question or two and really focus on my purpose then my writing will greatly improve. Hopefully you as a reader will see the changes in my writing as well.

This blog is a result of my signing up for English 151.  This is my first time blogging but seeing as how I am now enrolled in the class and this blog is mandatory, i can no longer go without writing a blog.  The class is focused on reading and writing about science fiction situations dealing with apocalypses and technology.  I am exposed to technology every day with my computer, xbox, tv, phone, ect.. The fact is that technology is almost literally everywhere in my life and in the modern world there is absolutely nothing that can be done to get rid of technology due to the fact that we all rely on it daily.  That is why i think an apocalypse caused by technology is both a very interesting and realistic topic of science fiction to both read and write about. Although in the past i have not been a fan of reading or done much reading other than the books i was assigned to read in class. However, science fiction is one of my favorite genres in book to read so i am actually starting to look forward to the class. In the past i have not done much creative writing or free writing at all. 99% of all the writing done in my high school career were all book reports and research projects.  Although I'm not a fan of writing, the idea of writing about science fiction is something that i am looking forward to in the class.