I'm still reading this book - the first book of the trilogy Cold Awakening - and I have mixed feelings about it. It's totally unique in my 'Book World', with the futuristic setting of genetic engineering, zones as the internet, drugs as Mods, etc.
Parts of the book are a bit cliched, or maybe it's Wasserman's foreshadowing that hint the events which I guessed. What I found interesting was the idea of "What makes us human?", since the book is centred on Lia, a girl who's brain was sliced into tiny pieces and scanned onto a computer and downloaded into human machine.
Technically, a human would be someone of flesh and blood, living and breathing, "not an animal or a machine" according to the dictionary. But if a person's conscience was sucked into a machine, if they felt and thought, would they be human? People with artificial limbs are human.
And what about 'people' who commit things like rape and murder? They are 'human' physically, but are they really human or more of a monster? Excuse the thoughts if they offend or discriminate.
But, what sets us apart? Is it our emotions and rational thoughts that make us human? Is it our physical appearance? Maybe it's a combination of these things that make a 'human' human.
Sunday, 22 January 2012
Thursday, 19 January 2012
Matched - Ally Condie
I have just finished reading my new book, I'm on a holiday! Well, reading is a holiday to me =P
If you haven't read Matched, by Ally Condie, I recommend it.
The blurb reads:
I really like the way the book ties so many things together - the little hints that are symbolic and descriptive. I like how Condie builds Cassia's character and presents her in this innocent light. Her ideas, themes and plot are thought provoking.
It's a fascinating concept - living in a world where society decides who you'll marry, where you'll live and when you'll die. It's different from our current society - centred around Me, Myself and I. Where we strive to take control of our 'destiny'.
Sometimes I wonder, what would it be like if the world was like that - it really highlights things that we value in our society, and the things we should appreciate more. Things like choice, love and life.
If you could be Matched with the best person for you, would you?
I think in general, most people would want to know who that person is - they would be like 'The One', or maybe a better version of a dating service? But at the end of the day, we choose who we want, and our actions determine the outcome. If we want to be with someone, we make an effort to know them and we build an understanding with them.
Would you want to know if the person you are with - dating/married, is your perfect match? Would you care what information a computer could generate? Or would you ignore what a computer, society or anyone else has to say?
Well, we make our own choices and those dictate our actions, which create the path of our life. I guess the most important thing to remember is to appreciate what we have and to not take things for granted.
If you haven't read Matched, by Ally Condie, I recommend it.
The blurb reads:
On her seventeenth birthday,
Cassia meets her match. Society dictates
he is her perfect partner for life.
EXCEPT HE'S NOT.
In Cassia's society, Officials decide who people love.
How many children they have.
Where they work.
When they die.
But as Cassia finds herself falling in love with another boy,
she is determined to make some choices of her own.
And that's when her whole world
begins to unravel...
It's a fascinating concept - living in a world where society decides who you'll marry, where you'll live and when you'll die. It's different from our current society - centred around Me, Myself and I. Where we strive to take control of our 'destiny'.
Sometimes I wonder, what would it be like if the world was like that - it really highlights things that we value in our society, and the things we should appreciate more. Things like choice, love and life.
If you could be Matched with the best person for you, would you?
I think in general, most people would want to know who that person is - they would be like 'The One', or maybe a better version of a dating service? But at the end of the day, we choose who we want, and our actions determine the outcome. If we want to be with someone, we make an effort to know them and we build an understanding with them.
Would you want to know if the person you are with - dating/married, is your perfect match? Would you care what information a computer could generate? Or would you ignore what a computer, society or anyone else has to say?
Well, we make our own choices and those dictate our actions, which create the path of our life. I guess the most important thing to remember is to appreciate what we have and to not take things for granted.
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