TOW #10 A Look At The Book Business From The Inside by Daniel Menaker

Sorry this won't live up to my last tow. While I liked reading this, I love Survivor much more and won't be able to recreate the passion in my writing. However, since I felt like I would be letting you down if my blog didn't have a little spark to it, I picked this article strategically. As my grandmother would say, I gave it some "oomph." I've always been intrigued by words and books, and naturally I wanted to be a book editor for a long time (you'd be surprised how many romantic comedies are about those in the industry, FYI). This article, which I found on longreads, was all about the business and offered an inside view. Even though I already had high hopes, the article did not disappoint.

I guess it could be said that the author uses an anecdotal style to draw the audience in. I was already drawn in, but that’s beside the point. The use of anecdotes on a personal level lets readers explore many aspects of publishing, from getting into the industry to getting a book published. The author clearly desires a certain effect, he wants to cause a revelation in readers about the difficulty that goes into publishing and how cut-throat the industry can really be. However, I don’t think that this style of writing was the best way to go about it. It was choppy and confusing, and some of the pieces didn’t really connect. The author did his best to connect the different anecdotes (I think) but it just didn’t work. It seemed like several false starts that he couldn’t elaborate on and just threw them together. I know that this is an excerpt from his book, and I find myself wondering what the entire book looks like if this is just an excerpt. I hope for HIS publishers sake that it turns out a lot better.

http://www.vulture.com/2013/11/daniel-menaker-on-publishing-industry-insanity.html?mid=longreads

Outwit. Outplay. Out-analyze. (TOW #9) SURVIVOR

       If there is one thing that you should know about me, it's that I love Survivor. I've seen every season, every play, and it still makes me incredibly angry that Russel Hantz didn't win. As I find myself bombarded with schoolwork this year, I haven't had time to watch Survivor, and it's been upsetting. Today, I will serve to right this problem. Today, I will take TOWs to where they have never been before. Welcome to: 

Survivor: TOW

(Is it Wednesday yet?)

      

On the survivor logo, there are three words: Outwit, Outplay, Outlast. These three words represent the key ideals of the game, the things that should be kept in mind by contestants throughout. Players must gain trust and use strategy, win challenges and immunity, and most of all, they must stay in the game. Failure to succeed in any of these categories will result in elimination. 

Much like in society, the castaways are pitted against each other, forced to beat every opponents for their ultimate goal. This represents the fierce competition that is everywhere, college applications, the job market, even in school systems. Everyone must be the best to succeed. Survivor shows that one is unable to reach success without the help of others along the way. Each contestant is split into a tribe. While on that tribe, they must communicate and work alongside other members in mutually beneficial relationships. They also must work together against the other tribe in challenges to better their own chances. Within their tribe they make alliances, much like the friendship between two coworkers. However, these bonds are much stronger as these contestants are fighting for their (survivor) lives. Without allies, they lose any chance at winning. Though the ultimate goal is to become the “Sole Survivor” in order to get there, the player must become their tribe. 

As any Survivor fan will tell you, the game really gets interesting after the merge. If Survivor was some sort of twisted school system, the days before the merge act as primary education, and the merge in all its free for all glory acts as college. The remaining contestants are finally free from the shackles of being a tribe and have much more freedom to make their own moves. In this aspect, Survivor shows both the importance of loyalty and independence and that they both can get you where you need to be...mostly. At the merge, many people decide to break ties with old tribe members, breaking the bond that they had for hope of better advantage. The person who does this must now rely on themselves in challenges to win their way to the top, or to rely on new bonds to get them to the end. Though this works occasionally, (YOU GO RUSSELL!) oftentimes it is best to stay loyal. During my favorite part of Survivor,  Jeff Probst introduces the court system of 8 jury members. These jury members listen to what the remaining contestants (there are 2 or three left) have to say, as they defend their game play and attempt to persuade the jury to vote for them to win the 1 million dollar prize. If they have played their cards right, the contestant will have kept relationships with the people on the jury, or set it up so they now sit at judgement next to someone more disliked than his/her self (shout out to Boston Rob and Phillip). 

Survivor is a game of strategy and there are several lessons to be taken from it. It is important to be loyal to your friends but also to your enemies, to anticipate your opponents every move, to step on toes along the way (but only lightly as to not affect overall status) and most importantly, to Outwit, Outplay, and Outlast.

IRB Intro #2 I'm a Stranger Here Myself by Bill Bryson

For my new IRB I have chosen to read I'm A Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning To America After 20 Years Away by Bill Bryson. To be honest, I picked this book one day because my mom couldn't pick me up right away at school and I went to the library to wait for her. I decided to just look at the non-fiction section because I knew that I needed a new IRB and this one looked interesting. Everything about it from the description on the back to the reviews seemed funny, and I think that's what I was looking for. When I choose an IRB, I want to enjoy it, and personally I enjoy humor quite a bit. This seemed like a good fit. It's about a guy who returns to America after 20 years and his notes on what appears to be different and how he is learning to adjust to this new life. It should be interesting, to say the least. Also, Bryson is known for his humor apparently, and his books usually rate very well.

Tow #8 All The President's Men... A book in review

Drama. Suspense. Action. All are great things that occur in All The Presidents Men. The best part? It all really happened. As I read this book and witnessed the uncovering of the Nixon scandal by two incredible reporters, I felt as if I was uncovering something myself. My discovery? Nonfiction CAN be interesting! Imagine that! Reading this book was like reading a great spy novel, it had humor and suspense, even sarcasm. The way the authors presented the novel made it interesting, yet also informative. 

One thing that kept interest was the use of an all knowing third person in the story's retelling. Despite the personal story coming from the two reporters who actually discovered it, the story is told from an overarching point of view. However, this does not limit the detail with which the story is told. The authors add emotion and response very well, especially through thorough imagery.

The imagery in the story was able to let audiences connect to the story and immerse themselves in it. They can really see the “uniformed policemen, shirt-sleeved detectives with snub-nosed thirty-eights... and prosecutors” (58) who surrounded the case. The readers can really feel the confusion that struck authors as the story unfolds, as if they were there themselves. 

Another thing I felt was interesting, at least from a stylistic standpoint, was the beginning. Before the book starts, a “cast” is given, as if it were a play, a list of people who were integral to the story line or the actual events. This served to organize the reader and serve as a reference point for them. Each time someone new was called upon (often quite literally) to be interviewed or questioned, the list could be referenced, explaining why exactly that person was being interviewed. It also allowed the authors to avoid having to explain who each person was, and get to the point without skipping around it. This reflects the often blunt style of journalistic writing that the authors are very familiar with. On that note, I quite liked that aspect, as it didn’t take away from the story, and instead only added to it.

Overall, the story of the watergate scandal was depicted quite well in this novel. It was a different approach, perhaps different from the one that I would have used, but it worked. It was a riveting story told in a riveting way that will continue to capture the attention of readers for a very long time.