IRB intro #3

      For my book this MP I've decided to read Unbroken. I was recommended this book by a friend and fortunately I've only seen the end of the movie, so I can read it then finally watch the whole thing. Looking forward to this book.

Tow #16- A Deadly Wandering pt. 2

I have finished my second book this year, A Deadly Wandering by Matt Richtel. I have to say that I really did enjoy it. For anyone that is a science lover, this book is perfect for you. It combines a true story with loads of scientific studies to make a great book that is fun to read. Based off the story of Reggie Shaw, this book discusses the consequences of distracted driving. Reggie was a 22-year-old living in Utah who was texting and driving. He swerved into the other lane and hit 2 scientists commuting to work. At first Reggie denied texting and driving but after some evidence against him, Reggie came clean. Problem was this happened in 2006, before states passed laws on texting and driving. The judge ultimately found Reggie guilty of homicide but only served in jail for several weeks because of the law. Now Reggie is a public speaker who talks about the impact texting and driving had on his life. The purpose of this book wasn’t to discuss texting and driving though, the idea was to show how technology is getting ahead of us. The speed of technology doubles every 2 years and along with this humans have an addiction to having everything under their own control, so trying to get a control on technology has become a major time consumer and distraction. This book was written for all audiences as it pertains to all drivers.

One of the greatest things Ritchel does in his novel is appeal to logos. One of my favorite quotes from the book was, “He repeated that the texting driver faces a six fold crash risk, whereas a driver talking on the phone faced a four-times increase in likelihood of a crash, which he said was roughly equivalent to someone who is legally drunk. A drunk driver and a person on a phone were equally likely to crash, whereas “we’re seeing the risk factor for accidents when someone is texting exceeds the level when people are legally drunk.” (Ritchel). I just found this statistic crazy and it expressed all the research that can be found in this awesome book.

TOW #14- Thanks to El Niño, Thirsty California Is Suddenly All Wet by Mike McPhate

         

       This particular article caught by attention because California’s drought has been a problem for my father. He works for IKEA as a project manager, so he is in charge of building stores across the country. As of now his project is in Burbank, California which is affected by this drought as much as the rest of the state is. So when reading this article, good news was brought to my attention. According to Mike McPhate, an editor for the New York Times, California has been hit by a major drought for the past 4 years causing a world of problems. Luckily, thanks to El Nino, a warming in the Pacific Ocean that affects the rest of the world, California is getting some water back. Starting last Sunday, California has been met with many major storms bringing above average rainfall to the whole state. Over the next week, the whole state is suppose to get over an inch of rain and there is suppose to be over a foot of snow in the mountains which is essential for the state. Brought with all this are flooding and very rough ocean currents, but according to quotes from the article, the people of California are just happy to have the weather somewhat reverse the effects of the drought.

            McPhate’s purpose in writing this article is to not only inform the nation of this good news, but to also give the people some hope. One of the best strategies that McPhate uses to express this is the way he delivers facts. Its not really something I notice a lot, but McPhate tends to express his facts in his own words; so no direct quotes are used that often. As seen in the quote, “Parts of the Sierra Nevada mountains could get more than a foot of snow, enlarging snowpack that plays a major role in meeting the state’s water needs as it melts in the spring” McPhates delivery allows him to express facts in a way that isn’t boring and lets him make his article flow well. This expression of facts really allows his purpose to be expressed well.