Books can have a major impact on people's lives and over the course of taking this class and being able to read books that I can choose, I have a newfound appreciation for them. Never in my time reading has a book kept me interested and on the edge of my seat like the DaVinci Code and Lord of the Flies and I had never read a book that genuinely made me laugh quite like The Martian. Some of the ways that I believe that books can benefit people are that they can relate to their readers, they can help the reader escape from the real world, and even expand their views of the world.

Relating to readers: From the time that I started reading I have always come across books that had some very relatable topics such as being alone, having to think on your feet and trying to fit in. Books like Divergent, The Martian, and Ender's Game contained these veery problems and showed how the main characters were able to overcome their hardships. While reading Divergent I was constantly inspired by how Tris would push herself to the limit in order to be able to join the Dauntless faction and how after she made it in, she was celebrated and treated like family by all of the other members. This reminded me of my school experience where I really try to make friends with everyone and how this year all of my closest friends really seemed like one big family that was always supportive of each other. Also, I felt like I could relate to Mark Watney's character in The Martian because of his goofy nature and how he was able to solve many of his problems by thinking outside the box. The book was written mostly from the perspective of Mark through the reading of his mission log over the time he was on Mars with the occasional change of perspective to show what was going on at NASA. However, for the most part, his mission log was made up of his uncensored thought process and I actually felt like I was reading something that would have come straight from my own mind. One of my favorite quotes had to be from the part where everyone on earth was trying to fathom what Mark could possibly be thinking while being stranded on Mars and it said, "How come Aquaman can control whales? They're mammals! makes no sense," (Weir ch 6). That quote made me laugh so hard because thats something that I would end up thinking if I was stranded in the middle of nowhere. Also, I could really relate to Ender's ability to think outside the box and come up with solutions to problems that nobody else would think of. During Ender's Game, there was a quote that really stood out to me while Ender was talking to a member of his army named Bean. He told him, "I need you to think of solutions to problems we haven't seen yet. I want you to try things that no one has ever tried because they're absolutely stupid,” (Card ch 11). This is something that I really related to because whenever I get stuck on a problem, I always try to find new ways to try to solve them even if it may seem like something that would never work no matter what.

Escaping From Reality: Many times when I am having a bad day or even if I was bored, I would pick up the book I had to read and immediately be enveloped in the unique and incredible worlds that the authors created for their readers. I often remember when I was younger and was reading the Harry Potter series with my mom, reading Divergent or even reading Ender's Game, I would always dream of being a part of their worlds and trying to live my own life as one of them. After all, I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who has dreamed of going off to Hogwarts to live a life of magic and wizardry. Also, I thought it would be the coolest thing to be sent up to space and fight the battles that Ender was fighting at the battle school especially because I have always wanted to know what zero gravity felt like. Finally, I also found the Dauntless faction to be another cool world to be in because I want to learn to fight and I believe that even though it would be hard work, they all seemed to have a lot of fun times together and they treated their members as one big family. I feel like by being able to read books, you allow your mind to be filled with new dreams and ideas that can help you to deal with stress and truly appreciate the thought and creativity that went into writing these books.

Expanding Views of the World: I believe that books such as Divergent, The Lord of the Flies, and The DaVinci code really opened my mind to different views of the world. At first, the world of Divergent may seem pretty fun on the surface, however when you take a closer look, you see that the world is full of corruption and what the world could have possibly been. It's books like this and The Hunger Games which really make me appreciate the world how it is now. I couldn't even imagine a world where you are split into individual factions or districts and not be able to interact with any of them, however, I would have to say the same thing if their world was ours. When I read dystopian novels, I often find myself wondering wether I would enjoy living in their world and say the same thing about our own. Then again, I wonder how we would survive if there was no order in the world such as in Lord of the Flies. In this book, kids are left stranded on an island and in their struggle to survive, the vast majority lose their sense of humanity and order to the point where they kill each other and worship a false Idol that they refer to as the monster. In a world like this, everything would be chaos and I'm not sure how anyone would survive. These are all very extreme cases of the world changing, but then I look to The DaVinci Code which is set in our world and try to imagine if there are really secret organizations operating in the shadows that are protecting us from secrets that could destroy the very fabric of our beliefs. These all are real possibilities and I find it pretty crazy that some of these worlds could have existed instead of ours. Overall, I enjoyed indulging myself in these worlds and really look forward to reading more books like these.