Reaction Post to Present Shock as well as Issac and Ishmael

I thought Present Shock  was an interesting, but had the feeling of a textbook. There was so much information within the book, that it was hard to realize which points were really important ( The same goes for all of the examples he used ). I also did not like how the book was simply split into five chapters, which were then divided again into sections. Despite my dislike for the format of the book, Rushkoff was able to discuss important topics and shed some light on valuable information. I personally believed Rushkoff's view on chapter 5 was insightful. I had never realized the true effects of present shock until Rushkoff explained how end of the world scenarios occur, "The hardest part of living in present shock is that there's no end and, for that matter, no beginning. ti's a chronic plateau of interminable stresses that seem to have always been there. There's no original source to blame and no end in sight. this is why the return to simplicity offered by the most extreme scenarios is proving so alluring to so many of us" (Rushkoff 247). I always thought these type of scenarios only occurred by someone posting a blog or article on the internet saying the world and civilization as we know it would end by said means in order to obtain more viewers/followers.
This is similar to what was said in the West Wing special Issac and Ishamel. In the show, the actors explain how many believed society would collapse when we as a civilization reached the year 2000. An idea was spread that terrorists would have a massive attack ready right when the clock struck twelve. Though this did not actually occur, it is quite obvious now that the cause of such a belief was present shock. Situations like this is where I realize how important it was to read present shock and its affects on society, and although I did not personally like the book as a whole, it brought up many key points.

Rushkoff, Douglas. Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now. New York: Current, 2013. E-book.

Reaction Post to A Moveable Feast

      A Movable Feast was an interesting book to say the least. I personally found the book to be nothing more than the recollection of Hemingway’s life in Paris while meeting many famous authors of his time. Almost every chapter he met someone new, or simply discussed a topic with a friend. Plus, at the end of each chapter, Hemingway seemed to give a different meaning to the text that was just read. I thought the book was not very interesting compared to the other books we have read, but I can say A Moveable Feast did teach me more about style than Neil Postman did.

      It is quite obvious one of Hemingway’s most used literary devices is Polysyndeton:

Scott told me about the Riviera and how my wife and I must come there the next summer and how we would go there and how he would find a place for us that was not expensive and we would both work hard every day and swim and lie on the beach and be brown and only have a single aperitif before lunch and one before dinner (Hemingway 182).

The constant usage of Polysyndeton made it very hard to keep my interest in certain topics. With such a direct style of writing, I was able to understand what was occurring, but I had little interest in what, I felt, was a cause-effect relationship. Whenever there was dialogue, Hemingway was able to portray them in a simple way, while at the same time with purpose. Whenever characters talked, it was as if the person/people was/were real. In short, Hemingway’s style was very direct and personal, his imagery rich, and his words simple, making the overall book easy to read despite the fact there were many ideas conveyed.

Works Cited

Hemingway, Ernest. A Moveable Feast. New York: Scribner, 1964. Print.