Joe Reads(?)

As of writing this, I have managed to read through [about] 87.87878787878787878787...% of the book. Almost as if the novel knew that the readers would (almost) get bored out of their minds, it started picking up the pace (so-to-say). For example, when Bejan started writing about the science behind city structure patterns (which meant nothing to me before I started reading), he compared the pipes and sewer/sewage systems to the cardiovascular system of a human. This gave me some good ideas as to what a city's structure is before he even talked about very single thing that makes up a [basic] city. Also, this comparison made me think about the city in an anatomical way (by the way there's apparently a book which, literally, talks about the anatomy  of a city). Actually, I think I saw this book in a Barnes and Noble somewhere Also, some of the topics that Bejan delves into topics introduced in the second half of the book (technology, politics, sports, economics, etc.), were m...

I feel as if I may have set the bar a tad bit  too  high after reading Ulysses. I'm not personally attacking Adrian Bejan, but I feel as if there is a bit to touch upon. When I read through the first chapter, I grew rather puzzled. At first, the writing seemed a bit dry, considering the abundance of some technical terminology (which sometimes didn't quite fit). However, as I looked closer, it was almost as if Bejan was trying to squeeze in a tone of pseudo-spirituality/pseudo-profundity. Perhaps I am not looking at Bejan's writing through the right lens(es), but I find myself rather lost in most of what I have read by him. Take this extremely wordy sentence, for example: "The word 'organization' speaks of the fact that the design --the organ-- is alive, with flows inside and around it, all belonging to a greater whole, and all morphing, evolving, growing, shrinking and moving in the world." (Bejan, 11). I understand that the central idea...

Before I even opened the book, I decided look Bejan up, due to another book my friend had read by him,  Design in Nature: How the Constructal Law Governs Evolution in Biology, Physics, Technology, and Social Organization  (which has one of, if not, the most painfully wordy titles I have ever seen). Of course, I also looked up the co-author, Zane J Peder, as well, but he's really not important in this context. Design in Nature After finding out that Bejan helped to write this book, my curiosity took me to look at how many books he actually wrote. After some brief Googling... (Note that it says View 10+ more on the top right corner) Wow. Most of the books Bejan write are actually about heat transfer/thermodynamics (he wrote nine books, with one more arriving in 2020), leading me to devise that this is probably a topic that he's really obsessed with. He also wrote a lot of things that are loosely related to his Constructal Law , which I'll explain a few...

As I was reading through Ulysses, I happened to come across yet another dramatic description of Stephen Deadalus' mother. However, I feel as if this is a more horrific image to take in, despite it having less words than the previous quote I used in blog 1. A representation of Telemachius' mother's passing in Odyssey __________________________________________________ "Stephen's mother, emaciated, rises stark through the floor, in leper grey with a wreath of faded orangeblossoms and a torn bridal veil, her face worn and noseless, green with gravemould. Her hair is scant and lank. She fixes her bluecircled hollow eyesockets on Stephen and opens her toothless mouth uttering a silent word. A choir of virgins and confessors sing voicelessly. THE CHOIR: Liliata rutilantium te confessorum  [May the troop of confessors, glowing like lilies, surround you] Iubilantium te virginum [May the choir of virgins, jubilant, take you in] From the top of a tower Buck Mulliga...

My wife cheated on me... this is something I'm not very proud of. I already acknowledged, the moment I stepped foot out of my house, that my own precious Molly Bloom would begin her affair with Boylan in due time. I'm a little mad at myself for letting this happen, not that I didn't know that it would happen, although. People have acknowledged me as a cuckhold, despite how I felt as if this was out of my control. During the time in which my wife held her affair, I did have a bit of my own adventure, and I decided to do a few charitable deeds. People have called me kind for that. I  visited Dignam's funeral, helped Paddy understand the life insurance policy (although I was accused of being a defrauder of windows and children), fed some cakes to hungry sea gulls, the list goes on. People have said that I posses the tendency to accept more than I need. Perhaps that's why I let Molly have her affair, which secretly pains me. People have said that I am one of the most co...

As of me sitting, at 11:15 (right as I type this, the clock strikes 11:16 but really nobody'd strike me upside the head if I hadn't mentioned this) cross-legged on my bed and patiently waiting for the snow to potentially cut off the power, I have read up to about 4.5/5 (or as Kindle Cloud reader would tell me, I've read up to Location 11288 of 13882) of this gruesomely long book. Although it is rather long, I do commend James Joyce's writing, for instead of having to put down the book in frustration or boredom, I've only stopped reading because I had other homework that I nearly forgot about, or I was called to eat so I'd at least stay alive through the rest of this book project. Some forced humour aside, I would say that sometimes this reading adventure has turned into a bit of a research project (I'm still looking up Greek phrases), although I wouldn't say I'm entirely complaining. In fact, I'd even get so lost into research that I'd for...