The end of one dream marks the beginning of another.
2009年利物浦大學國際學生大使台灣代表。
【資訊】留學利物浦常見問題集
Selected Category: 【書籍】書籍評論 Books (28)
- Oct 21 Wed 2009 15:39
[Books] Completed Readings in 2009
- Jan 16 Fri 2009 04:14
[Book] A Culture of Conspiracy
Barkun, Michael, A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America (Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 2003)
Despite being preoccupied with all the assessments that are expected to be handed in this Friday, I simply cannot revert to my accademic work until I point out a couple of points that seems to bother my mind since I had put down the book.
I was extremely excited to have found the book, thinking that a book which devotes a whole section on David Icke must be worth reading. I was disappointed and not at the same time. The truth is, I am unable to find a precise word to describe this book, or rather, how I felt about the book. Seeing how it is published by a university press, I was well aware, even before I began reading it, that it would be an interesting reading. If it was capable of infiltrating the core of conspiracy culture, and agree or make sense of any of the extant conspiracy theories, I would be extrememly satisfied by it. As it turns out, it is merely an analysis of certain esoteric theories that have fortunately been leaked into the mainstream.
The issue that seems to bother me the most, is the fact that the author was well aware of the different type of 'knowledge' in this particular realm, namely forgotten knowledge; superseded knowledge; ignored knowledge; rejected knowledge; and suppressed knowledge, but managed only to analyse knowledge in the last two categories that have become easily accessible to the public reader. He tries to maintain an objective standing point, neither disagreeing nor agreeing with the conspiracy theorist, but nonetheless subtle attacks and ridicules can be easily detected.
- Dec 20 Sat 2008 02:26
[Books] Completed Readings in 2008
**Title of the book is underlined because the italics function doesn't seem to work.
December
Jones, Earnest, A Psycho-Analytic Study of Hamet (London, Vienna: Reprinted from Essays in Applied Psycho-Analysis, no.5., 1992)
Thompson, Ann and Neil Taylor, William Shakespeare: Hamlet, 2nd Ed. (Plymouth: Northcote House, 2005)
Partner, Peter, The Murdered Magicians: The Templars and Their Myth (Oxford, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1982)
November
- Aug 11 Mon 2008 10:19
【讀物】你好毒、我好毒、大家都好毒
Toxicity Questionnaire*
中毒程度測驗*
Tally up the YES's to these questions.
將所有回答Yes的次數記起來。
1. Do you use plastic containers to store food or drinking water?
- Jun 12 Thu 2008 01:22
[Book] The Elixir and the Stone
Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln shocked the world by their collaboration of the book Holy Blood, Holy Grail, which inspired Dan Brown’s international bestseller, the Da Vinci Code. The book, Holy Blood, Holy Grail was extremely carefully researched and well organized. However, without the rudimentary knowledge on the background of Christianity, the Crusades, and/or the Kights Templar, one may easily find themselves lost in the labyrinth of excess information.
Two of the collaborators, Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, published another book many years later, which I personally found easier to absorb. The Elixir and the Stone is a book that captures the true essence of the Renaissance spirit. It touches upon a whole variety of subjects which means any reader is bound to be able to relate to a few of the subjects mentioned.
The book links the whole world to, not Jesus Christ, but another significant figure – Faust. The ‘magician’ that signed a contract with the devil in order to excel beyond his limit for twenty-years, and in exchange, he would give up his soul. Two significant literary depictions of the Faust story are plays by a Elizabethan English playwright, Christopher Marlowe and by a German Romantic writer, Johann Wolfgan von Goethe. In Marlowe's version, Faust forfeited his right to repent; and in Goethe's version, eventually Faust's repentance is accepted.
- Jun 06 Fri 2008 20:36
[Book] The Art of Learning
"I've come to realize that what I am best at is not Tai Chi, and it is not chess. What I am best at is the art of learning."
This opening is a quote from the author of the book 'The Art of Learning", Josh Waitzkin. He is an eight-time National Chess Champion in his youth and has now accumulated twenty-one National Championship titles, several World Championship titles in martial arts.
It may seem easy for someone like Josh to say almost anything he wants. He was a child chess prodigy, and a Tai Chi World Champion. With this kind of accomplishment, you could basically write a book about anything, and make big bucks off it. However, Josh Waitzkin does not over glorify his accomplishments, quite on the contrary, he shares with us the story of his failures in life and how he has used that to accomplish higher goals, greater achievements.
My friend told me about this book a few months ago. He plays chess and practices Tai Chi himself. He had been following Josh's career for quite a while, and came across an article in the newspaper one day and learned about his new book. He went out to several bookstores to search for the book. After he got hold of a copy, he read it in two sittings.
This opening is a quote from the author of the book 'The Art of Learning", Josh Waitzkin. He is an eight-time National Chess Champion in his youth and has now accumulated twenty-one National Championship titles, several World Championship titles in martial arts.
It may seem easy for someone like Josh to say almost anything he wants. He was a child chess prodigy, and a Tai Chi World Champion. With this kind of accomplishment, you could basically write a book about anything, and make big bucks off it. However, Josh Waitzkin does not over glorify his accomplishments, quite on the contrary, he shares with us the story of his failures in life and how he has used that to accomplish higher goals, greater achievements.
My friend told me about this book a few months ago. He plays chess and practices Tai Chi himself. He had been following Josh's career for quite a while, and came across an article in the newspaper one day and learned about his new book. He went out to several bookstores to search for the book. After he got hold of a copy, he read it in two sittings.
- Jun 06 Fri 2008 11:03
[Book] The Witch of Portobello
The way in which I have arrived at the reading of Paulo Coelho's The Witch of Portebello is just as magical and mystical as the essence of the book itself. It is the perfect book to read following The Elixir and the Stone, a book discussing magic and magi of the world. Coelho has already been an inspiration through his other works, The Alchemist and The Pilgrim. This is yet another inspirational work about a mysterious woman who have come to be known as a witch. Just as things generally are in life, the truth remains unknown and obscure even till the very end. Only a few, in fact, only one or two people, will come to a clear understanding of the presence of supernatural forces and how they influence the world.
A reader may find themselves a bit lost during the beginning chapters due to the way the novel is constructed. The narration is told through the first person, but not in the sense a reader is mostly likely to be acquainted with. It is rather suitable in the sense that the different narratives, told from the points of view of people who knew, or were acquainted with our protagonist, Athena because it emphasizes her mysteriousness. Since the narratives were scripts from interviews made after the death of Athena, the different narratives are like pieces of a puzzle, whose wholesome image can only be seen at the very end, when the last piece is fitted unto the puzzle.
Perhaps the plot may seem too surreal, since it deals in large with supernatural intervention, however, if scrutinized below the superficial level, Athena and all the other characters are all what we call characters of the 'every-man' . Athena epitomizes the ones who have found the means to communicate with the supernatural world. Not understanding her own destiny and gift, she walks through the first haft of her life with a strong desire to fill up the 'empty space' in her life. Once the 'empty space' has been filled up, she becomes a psychic, a means through which the supernatural is able to communicate to us, ordinary people.
A reader may find themselves a bit lost during the beginning chapters due to the way the novel is constructed. The narration is told through the first person, but not in the sense a reader is mostly likely to be acquainted with. It is rather suitable in the sense that the different narratives, told from the points of view of people who knew, or were acquainted with our protagonist, Athena because it emphasizes her mysteriousness. Since the narratives were scripts from interviews made after the death of Athena, the different narratives are like pieces of a puzzle, whose wholesome image can only be seen at the very end, when the last piece is fitted unto the puzzle.
Perhaps the plot may seem too surreal, since it deals in large with supernatural intervention, however, if scrutinized below the superficial level, Athena and all the other characters are all what we call characters of the 'every-man' . Athena epitomizes the ones who have found the means to communicate with the supernatural world. Not understanding her own destiny and gift, she walks through the first haft of her life with a strong desire to fill up the 'empty space' in her life. Once the 'empty space' has been filled up, she becomes a psychic, a means through which the supernatural is able to communicate to us, ordinary people.
- May 12 Mon 2008 18:33
[Books] History of English Literature 英國文學史
Whether you are a dilettante, or a scholar-to-be, the basics of the history is an unavoidable route to a more elevated level of understanding English literature. However, different books on the history of English literature suite different purposes. This article sets out to share the three different books I have encountered as so it might provide a guideline for those of you in search of one suitable for your own reading.
無論是非本科系或是本科系生，想要進一步了解英國文學，文學史是必經之路。不過市面上所販賣的英國文學史，不一定每一本都是和自己。本文章分享的是我接觸到的三本英國文學史。有適合非本科系生的，有適合大學本科系生的，也有適合想要專攻文學碩士學位的版本。提供給大家作為參考。
Basic: An Outline of English Literature
- Apr 06 Sun 2008 18:21
[Book] The Other Boleyn Girl
[Spoiler Warning: This article contains plot and ending description!]
Those of you who deem this novel as merely the average romance fiction, I am setting out to prove you wrong. The fact that the title includes the word ‘girl’ should not diminish the importance of the historical aspect surrounding the romance. Although, I must admit that even I held a little prejudice against it before I began reading it, by the time I got through the first quarter of the book I could not help being completely mesmerized by the intriguing plot, moreover, the authenticity of the historical references that is replete throughout the novel.
The story is told through the perspective of a somewhat innocent Boleyn girl, Mary, finding herself caught up in the midst of her family’s obsession with rising up in society, and the rivalry between her and her ambitious sister, Anne. I say innocent, because of her lack of ambition in comparison to her family, especially to Anne. She becomes King Henry VIII’s mistress because she believes they are in love. Well, at least it is true on her part. However, after giving birth to a daughter and a son, her main interest lies in spending time with her children, rather than getting back into the ‘game’ of flirtation and gaining the king’s sexual interest. Anne eventually succeeds in doing that during her sister’s absences from court after giving birth to her second child.
- Feb 17 Sun 2008 20:19
[Book] The Professor and the Madman
A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary
Originally named 'The Surgeon of Crowthorne: A Tale of Murder, Madness and the Love of Words', this is one wonderfully, well-researched piece of work. It celebrates the birth of the magnificent Oxford English Dictionary (OED)and promulgates an acknowledgment of an extremely intelligent man who had collaborated with lexicographers throughout the process of its making from an asylum.
This is not a fictitious story, but a meticulously researched narration of poignant story behind the making of one of the largest literary projects in the history of the English language. It is not difficult, after having finished the book, to imagine what it had been that inspired the author, Simon Winchester to illustrate the story through words. However, telling a story only makes one a storyteller. Not only is Winchester an adroit storyteller, but he is also an exceptionally poetic novelist. The readers can readily feel his love of the English language through his careful choice of words and sentence structures. This is one of few contemporary books that I have found enjoyable, yet extremely educating.
The book, as Winchester states, has two protagonists - the OED and Dr. William Chester Minor, the 'madman' who volunteered to contributing his knowledge to the making of the OED. Minor was one of the most prolific contributors. The OED was one colossal project. Of course, we may all take it for granted now, but a dictionary is undeniably an essential tool for language learning. This huge project brought together two men - James Murray, a lexicographer and Minor himself. Awed by the intelligence and thankful to his contributions to the project, Murray set out to visit Minor in person. He was even more dumbfounded by the discovery of Minor's institutionalization after years and years of letter correspondence.
英國 England(8)
