On the Shelf

This week I have been exclusively reading "Warrior Elite", a fascinating novel that enters into the lives of the men training to become NAVY SEALs. A haunting event that transpired within this novel was the passing of "Hell Week" which, as the name implies, puts the trainees through living hell. The class began Hell Week with 39 trainees and after 170 hours of intense physical training, drown-proofing, frequent immersion in 56 degree ocean water, many miles of running, simulation of machine-gun fire and artillery explosions, countless races on land and at sea, an extreme obstacle course, and many cases of pneumonia, the class of 228 finally concluded Hell Week. The class of 228 officially secured 19 of its initial 98 trainees to move onto phase 2. The novel does an excellent job expressing the different effects of this horrible training on each individual, following the candidates most likely to succeed. One of the strongest trainees is described in one scene as lethargic and upon the verge of quitting. Lying on the ground nearing a breakdown, he convinces himself that he has to complete the training as a leading officer. He immediately sprints to the next drill and leads the group. His determination and ability to motivate others really is something admirable. Perhaps if we all had the willpower to pull ourselves through adversities and still perform as the best of the best the world would be a much better place.

On the Stereo

Shinedown has been my band of the week. Primarily, I have been listening to their latest album, “Amaryllis”. I really enjoy listening to the song “Unity”; it is definitely one of those songs you can put on repeat and play over and over again. I have also been listening to a band with a pretty unique sound. Volbeat’s lead singer uses an autotune effect to give his vocal parts a very different sound. Autotuning is rarely done in the rock genre, but it’s nice to hear something different every now and then.

"Why does the return journey feel quicker?" posted on IrishTimes.com was a very interesting article which hooked me right from the start. While the information presented in the article is theoretical, it still fascinated me by expressing the complicated process of forming memory timing. The article goes on loquaciously describing the way our minds perceive the passage of time through our memories; expressing the relationship between attention the recollection of time. Apparently, the less complex an attention-grabbing the distraction is, the longer we remember dealing with it. Giving rise to the old adage, "a watched pot never boils". The conclusion of the article takes on a "Carpe Diem" tone and expresses that life can feel longer and fuller by filling it with learning experiences. Having a boring, routine life will make it seem to go by quickly.

What I’m Reading:

 I am currently reading two novels, one of them being “Yakuza: Japan’s Crime Underworld” and the other is “The Warrior Elite”. Yakuza is an interesting book written with a grandfatherly-narrative which expresses a historical and social mixing-pot where ideas shift frequently between the role of the “chivalrous gangster” in feudal Japan society and their effect on the era’s history, causing the book to be mostly composed of intermittently connected background information. Naturally, the combination of new Japanese social terms and the dramatic contrast in the role of organized crime in Japan against the Western counterpart leads to a fairly hard to follow book. “The Warrior Elite”, on the other hand had scarcely left my hands today. This novel is written by a retired NAVY SEAL officer who follows SEAL Class 228 as they are being “Forged into the Warrior Elite” in their three phase ordeal. The almost comical commentary of the on looking narrator gives excellent insight into the daily routines and hardships of the SEAL hopefuls as they form the bonds of a true Elite Warrior unit. His unique wording helps to connect the reader directly into the intensity of the events contained within the book by using phrases such as “intense verbal encouragement” and “physical arm harassment” to express situations we would typically label “yelling” and “push-up punishment”. “The Warrior Elite has been an incredibly good book so far and has revealed to me what the SEALs and any of the other elite taskforce groups must persevere through to become the best of the best in the name of our freedom.

What I’m listening to:

This week I have been going back to my favorite band of all time, Breaking Benjamin, and I have been listening to their latest album, Dear Agony. I was just listening to the song “Anthem of the Angels” and it brought back the sad realization that the band had split up and I probably will not hear another song from them with such a complex arrangement of string instruments and the base-heavy power rifts which blend so well.  

                Hello, my name is Logan and I have not been the biggest reader in the past, but I am planning on changing that. I will primarily be reading novels that focus more on the historical context in which the story was written around, rather than imagery. I like novels that include many allusions and symbols to deepen the meaning of the events within the novel. I also like novels that make the reader think deeply over what had really happened, the kind of novels that tell the reader one thing, but imply something else entirely.

                I would like to finish a good number of books this semester, but I will try not to linger on any novels that do not seem to be too interesting or end up being too predictable. I would also like to expand my genre horizon by branching out into any of the other categories for some of the more popular fiction.

Cool posts soon to come...