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	<title>Bookstove &#187; Autobiography</title>
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		<title>10 Mystery and Uniqueness of The Human Body</title>
		<link>http://bookstove.com/autobiography/10-mystery-and-uniqueness-of-the-human-body/</link>
		<comments>http://bookstove.com/autobiography/10-mystery-and-uniqueness-of-the-human-body/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 30 Dec 2012 18:32:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><a target="_blank" href="http://www.triond.com/users/Rahmat+Syam">Rahmat Syam</a></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autobiography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[me]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[you]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[All around us there are many mysteries regarding our bodies. For example, why Yes we took evaporated when friends evaporate? Or, why do we get goose bumps?]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>All around us there are many mysteries regarding our bodies. For example, why Yes we took evaporated when friends evaporate? Or, why do we get goose bumps?<br />During this time we received it alone, because it considers it is many things created by God to us. As it turns out, all this there is a scientific explanation.<img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/readers/2012/12/30/humanbody_1.jpg" alt="" /><br />1. Why do we hiccup?The advantages of eating, alcohol, flavor of love, or stressed, phrenic nerve to stimulate, which controls the diaphragm (the muscle layer that controls the respiratory tract). This diaphragm and contracting.<br />At the same time, glotis (part of the larynx where the vocal cords) close air cover so that the course, according to Patricia Raymond, M.D., gastroenterologist in Chesapeake, Virginia.<br />That&#8217;s when happened the hiccups every few seconds. Normal hiccups that happened just a few minutes, but in other cases as well. How to cope with, among others, hold your breath while swallowed, or breathe in a paper bag.</p>
<p>2. Why do some people have a very white teeth?As well as the color of eyes and hair, the natural color of the teeth is inherited from the parent. &#8220;Some people have an enamel-a thin layer on the surface of the teeth &ndash; the very white enamel, while others have a more yellow color,&#8221; said Richard Price, a spokesman for the American Dental Association.<br />Taking any medication of antibiotics such as tetracycline or amoxicillin while also influencing the process of erosion which causes destruction of the color.<br />Several types of certain foods also darken teeth. Coffee, tea, cola and red wine are some of them. If this happens, you have to use teeth whitening products or undergoing certain treatments.</p>
<p>3. Why yawning is contagious?A study published in the last issue of the journal Cognitive Brain Research suggests that if you evaporate due to the passing of a person that is close to you is actually a form of empathy You him.<br />This is the same as if you laugh, and your friend get a good laugh. &#8220;Yawn is triggered not only because of seeing someone yawn, but also due to hear, read, or even simply because thinking about yawning,&#8221; said Steven Platek, Ph.d., Professor of Psychology at Drexel University in Philadelphia, who led the study.<br />Platek and his team believe that the passing of a yawn is a primitive way in expressing the feelings of others on ourselves.</p>
<p>4. why our heads dizzy when drank ice?Dizziness occurs when the nerves on the palate are stimulated in a major way by the food or drink cool. Saraf-sarafnya did exist in the mouth, but the nerve centre in the brain, so that&#8217;s where you feel a dull pain.<br />Then why do people feel the pain in one place, even though the stimulusnya elsewhere? Seymour Diamond, M.D., executive chairperson of the National Headache Foundation, says, &#8220;a meal or SIP a drink with slow seems to reduce the effects of the cold. So began the dizziness, the fastest way to eliminate it is to drink something warm. &#8220;</p>
<p>5. If the carrots are good for your eyes?According to Michael f. Marmor, Professor of ophthalmology at Stanford University School of Medicine, carrots and all foods containing vitamin A is good for the eyes.<br />For example vegetables red, yellow, Orange, and green, including cassava, mango, and papaya, as well as eggs and liver.<br />The body uses vitamin A to support nerve cells in the retina that helps maintain normal vision. People that vitamin A deficiency is generally experienced a vision problem, such as nyctalopia.</p>
<p>6. Why there is dirt in the ears?Clean the ears done to prevent foreign objects into the ear canal. Earwax is produced by glands-glands in the outer ear to protect the inner ear from infection.<br />This sticky substance is precisely to prevent dust, dirt, or bugs got into the ear. The ears can clean themselves. Shit it will move slowly upwards and out of the ear, dries, and loss, or leached when you are shampooing.<br />If you take a shower, just clean the outside of the ear. &#8220;The ear canal is like a dead end,&#8221; said Andrew Cheng, M.D., an ENT specialist at Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital.<br />&#8220;Cleaning the dirt with a cotton bud just make more droppings get into.&#8221; You can also scratch the ear canal, eardrum or divulge.</p>
<p>7. Why do we get goose bumps?Goose bumps occur when we are cold, or fear. When we are cold, the muscles around the pores to contract, causing the hand stand to create a layer of exile, according to Richard Potts, Ph.d., anthropolog and Director of the Human Origins Program at the Smithsonian&#8217;s Institution&#8217;s National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C.<br />All mammals have also experienced this. However, &#8220;People do not have enough body fur to respond; It is something that is left behind when we wore furry coat, &#8220;he explained.<br />Potts and his team theorize that centuries ago, when our ancestors on the hair pretty much, they look far more daunting. &#8220;Wild beasts will also be backwards to find prey that isn&#8217;t so scary,&#8221; she continued.</p>
<p>8. Why teens love to late risers?This is not because they are lazy. As a child, melatonin-hormone that regulates the sleep-wake cycle-removed the glands in the afternoon.<br />Entering puberty (from the age of 10-14 years), the hormone melatonin is released more slowly, at around 21.00-22.00.<br />&#8220;This Shift often makes teenagers not able to fall asleep before 11 pm,&#8221; said the teen, sleep expert Mary a. Carskadon, Ph.d., who is also Director of the Bradley Hospital Sleep and Chronobiology Research Laboratory, in Providence.<br />&#8220;Because teens still need nine hours of sleep or so, they try to &#8216; pay &#8216; bed time is wasted the night before with sleeping until noon.&#8221;</p>
<p>9. Why are our hands and feet are often cold?&#8221;The nerves that control blood flow to the hands and feet are more sensitive in women than men,&#8221; explains Mark Eskandari, M.D., vascular surgeon at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago.<br />&#8220;So as soon as the temperature goes down, the blood vessels contract, making the blood stream more slowly.&#8221;<br />Women also have lower blood pressure than men. When you are cold or stress, and decreased blood pressure, blood is directed to the heart, away from the hands and feet.</p>
<p>10. why the joints can be rattling?When you stretch the joints with, for example, section menekan-nekan fingers or rotate your spine so your voice is heard rattling, you can cause the air bubbles that are formed between the pockets inside the joint erupted.<br />These pockets help cushion of air between the bone and keep it slick. Gemeretaknya joints are actually not too dangerous.<br />&#8220;Menggeretakkan fingers, engkel, knee, or other joints does not cause arthritis, but it is also not a good habit. Flavour it brings about when menggeretakkan body very psychological nature, &#8220;said James Applegate, a family physician in Grand Rapids, Michigan.</p>
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		<title>Jesmyn Ward&#8217;s Savage The Bones</title>
		<link>http://bookstove.com/autobiography/jesmyn-wards-savage-the-bones/</link>
		<comments>http://bookstove.com/autobiography/jesmyn-wards-savage-the-bones/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 16 Nov 2011 01:44:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><a target="_blank" href="http://www.triond.com/users/Ruby+Hawk">Ruby Hawk</a></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autobiography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mississippi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mother-less-children]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[New-Release. Jesmyne-Ward]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Poverty. Alcoholic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[redemption]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Savage-Bones]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Jesmyne Ward's latest novel, &#34;Savage the Bones&#34; is one of her best yet. It exposes the lives of a family caught in poverty and alcoholism. Motherless children and a drunken father struggle to exist in a hostile environment. It's when the daughter Esch, reads Edith Hamiliton's &#34;Mythology&#34; that things begins to change.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Jesmyn Ward&#8217;s book &#8220;Savage the Bones&#8221; captures a Mississippi family caught in poverty. The father, an alcoholic and his four children, The pregnant daughter who has dreams of a boy who never looks at her. The drunken father picking fights with his sons. Skeetah&#8217;s Pit Bull giving birth in a nasty shed.  The family calls the place &#8220;The Pit&#8221; the yard is littered with seats of old cars, tires and mattresses.  As Ward describes it, the home resembles a place where locals stage dogfights. Like her first novel, &#8220;Where the Line Bleeds&#8221; the setting is in the fictional Bois Savage, based on the authors home town of DeLisle, Miss.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mythology-Edith-Hamilton/dp/0316341517%3FSubscriptionId%3D0G81C5DAZ03ZR9WH9X82%26tag%3Dzemanta-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D0316341517" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" ><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/readers/2011/11/15/418dfd2r12l_1.jpg" alt="" width="328" height="500" border="0" /></a></p>
<p>Cover of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mythology-Edith-Hamilton/dp/0316341517%3FSubscriptionId%3D0G81C5DAZ03ZR9WH9X82%26tag%3Dzemanta-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D0316341517" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" >Mythology</a></p>
<p>The father, Claude lost his beloved wife to childbirth seven years ago his downward spiral into alcoholism has terrified and alienated his children, depriving them of a father and leaving them with nothing to rely on but each other. But with <a href="http://quazen.com/arts/butterfly-mcqueen/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" >Hurricane Katrina</a> coming in, Claude has put aside his drinking to board up the house and prepare for the storm. He considers his old truck and how much money he might make after the storm.</p>
<p>Much of the plot centers on Skeetah and his prize Pitt Bull, China and her puppies. The children are Sheetah, Randall, Junior and their sister Esch and it&#8217;s the year 2005. It&#8217;s through his sister, Esch&#8217;s eyes that we see the brutal dog fight and Skeetah&#8217;s desperate attempts to keep his dogs alive. Esch&#8217;s summer reading is <a href="http://bookstove.com/book-talk/james-freys-bright-shiny-morning/" target="_blank">Edith Hamilton&#8217;s </a>&#8220;Mythology&#8221; in her imagination &#8220;the Pit&#8221; becomes a place of magic and fairy dust, where people become one with the trees and animals. Esch finds a new self other than the lowly girl who has been used for sex since she was 12 years old.</p>
<p>Ward&#8217;s words are over blown at times, it&#8217;s the plain unadorned sentences that conveys the most vivid effects. As in &#8220;Through the crack in the living room window, the morning is dark gray and opaque as dirty dishwater. The rain clatters on the tin roof, and the wind which yesterday only made itself known by sight, sighs and says, Hello. I lay in the dark, pull my thin sheet up to my neck, stare at the ceiling and do not answer.&#8221; Both manners of writing contribute to the novel. To the family&#8217;s redemption and it&#8217;s humanity.</p>
<p>Ruby Hawk&#8217;s articles:</p>
<p><a href="http://writinghood.com/on-line-writing/D.W.Hawkins-and-the-sentinel-fire/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" >http://writinghood.com/on-line-writing/D.W.Hawkins-and-the-sentinel-fire/</a></p>
<p><a href="http://bookstove.com/fantasy/drug-trip-a-memoir-by-Clay-Hurtubise/" target="_blank">http://bookstove.com/fantasy/drug-trip-a-memoir-by-Clay-Hurtubise/</a></p>
<p><a href="http://bookstove/classics/literary-works-of-the-ancient-hebrews-and ancient-greeks/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" >http://bookstove/classics/literary-works-of-the-ancient-hebrews-and ancient-greeks/</a></p>
<p><a href="http://bookstove/book-talk/a-new-version-of-huck-fin-and-tom-sawyer/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" >http://bookstove/book-talk/a-new-version-of-huck-fin-and-tom-sawyer/</a></p>
<p><a href="http://bookstove/children/chinaberry-sidewalks/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" >http://bookstove/children/chinaberry-sidewalks/</a></p>
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		<title>World&#8217;s Best Short Stories: Metamorphosis</title>
		<link>http://bookstove.com/autobiography/worlds-best-short-stories-metamorphosis/</link>
		<comments>http://bookstove.com/autobiography/worlds-best-short-stories-metamorphosis/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 31 Aug 2011 10:15:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><a target="_blank" href="http://www.triond.com/users/John+Walsh">John Walsh</a></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autobiography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Franz Kafka]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gregor Samsa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Metamorphosis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[modernism]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[An introduction to Kafka's extraordinary story of the man who turns overnight into a giant dung beetle.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Few people who have read the opening line of Franz Kafka&rsquo;s Metamorphosis will ever forget it. Translations from the original German vary but the one I remember best is: &ldquo;Gregor Samsa woke one morning after troubled dreams to find he had been transformed into a giant beetle.&rdquo; Thus begins one of modern literature&rsquo;s most horrifying, amusing and striking short stories.</p>
<p>The combination of horror and laughter is contained within the predicament facing poor pompous, clueless Gregor: how to continue with his life and his work as an insurance agent while hiding from his family, not to mention the world at large, the monstrosity into which he has turned. He begins in a state of denial &ndash; perhaps a little more sleep will make it all go away &ndash; and then with dawning horror that his new life as a beetle is something with which he must find a way of dealing. The implications of his traumatic change also begin to occur to him: these range from the trivial to the very serious. On the one hand, he can no longer wear his trousers; on the other hand, he is no longer able to take his position in society as a respectable wage-earning person. He who was the hope of his family as it sought to continue to make its way in bourgeois society of the day had overnight become the means of its destruction. Not only would he be unable to earn the money that the family needed but he would become a burden to them, a burden that must be hidden from the sight of the remainder of the world &ndash; surely at a great cost to the innocent family members (if they are, in fact, innocent).</p>
<p>Metamorphosis is often recommended as an introduction to the work of Kafka since it is more accessible than much of the other work and, in its form and structure, more comprehensible to readers unfamiliar with his usual methods and content. The story might also be used as an introduction to modernism and the alienation and anxiety that are associated with that state. Gregor is, quite literally, made an alien to himself and, as an alien creature, is unable to connect with society in the way he was previously able to do and was expected, as a man, to be able to manage. Gregor&rsquo;s essence is unchanged but, in the modern world, essence is extraneous to the ability to work and to earn and consume in the appropriate, accepted manner.</p>
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		<title>Book Review: American on Purpose, by Craig Ferguson</title>
		<link>http://bookstove.com/autobiography/book-review-american-on-purpose-by-craig-ferguson/</link>
		<comments>http://bookstove.com/autobiography/book-review-american-on-purpose-by-craig-ferguson/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 18 Jan 2010 08:39:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><a target="_blank" href="http://www.triond.com/users/jharmon">jharmon</a></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autobiography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[American on Purpose: The Improbable Adventures of an Unlikely Patriot]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Craig Ferguson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Late Late Show]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Scotland]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[television]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[United States]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Sex, drugs, rock and roll. And comedy, of course. Thus has been the life of TV's Craig Ferguson. But there's much more than that. Inside his new autobiography you discover perhaps the last of true American patriots.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Craig Ferguson is best known to modern television audiences as the hilarious host of the <a href="http://www.cbs.com/late_night/late_late_show/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" >Late Late Show</a> on <a href="http://www.cbs.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" >CBS</a>, appearing nightly after the <a href="http://www.cbs.com/late_night/late_show/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" >Late Show with David Letterman</a>. Next, Ferguson is likely remembered when he&nbsp;portrayed Mr. Wick, the insufferable English boss of Drew,&nbsp;on <a href="http://www.tv.com/the-drew-carey-show/show/133/summary.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" >The Drew Carey Show</a>. He is also the author of his new autobiography, <a href="http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9780061959158/American_on_Purpose/index.aspx" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" >American on Purpose: The Improbable Adventures of An Unlikely Patriot</a>.</p>
<p>Ferguson&#8217;s career goes back further to a handful of earlier TV shows, American and British, stand-up comedy, vaudevillian escapades and even punk rock, where he was a drummer for several bands in the 1980s.</p>
<p>But all that is simply Ferguson&#8217;s career. It&#8217;s his public face, how he has related to general audiences over the years on both sides of the Atlantic and elsewhere.</p>
<p>Craig Ferguson is more than that. He is also a recovering alcoholic, free from the drink and drugs since 1992. He is a father to one son, and has been married three times. He is a son of Scotland and a lover of the United States of America, having become a citizen of that nation in 2008.</p>
<p>Still, some of that could be considered superficial, merely the icing on&nbsp;the layered cake of Ferguson&#8217;s inner self. To be blunt about it, at times Ferguson was a right bastard. He admits to it. However, he is not proud of the fact. He spent much of the late 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s in a haze of drugs and alcohol and promiscuity that damaged not only himself, but others he loved, and might very well have lost him the love of his life, English actress Helen Atkinson-Wood.</p>
<p>In his autobiography, Ferguson is quite upfront about his torrid past, though he does not brag about his misadventures. If anything, there is a trend of sadness to his life&#8217;s story, but a strong hope for redemption. Part of his recovery from alcoholism was an atonement of sorts, contacting people he had emotionally harmed over the years and trying to make amends the best he could. But that was only a beginning. It&#8217;s seems Ferguson not only had to redeem himself in the eyes of others, but he had to redeem himself for himself.</p>
<p>Which is partly where America comes to play a major role in his life.</p>
<p>Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Craig had wanted to move to the United States ever since he visited New York City at the age of 13. America held a special place in his heart. America not only offered an opportunity for new beginnings, but it was also a land of historic value to the young Scotsman. Ferguson&#8217;s parents had been living in Glasgow during World War II when the Nazis had bombed the city. His parents survived the attack, but the impact of American GIs helping to free Britain and Europe from the Germans was still fresh in the minds of the survivors and their children, such as Craig and his two sisters and brother.</p>
<p>Also, growing up in Glasgow, Craig commonly witnessed the anger and violence brought about by religious differences between protestants and Catholics. In one instance, Craig actually witnessed a young man draw a sword and threaten to kill another fellow unless he begged for his life, all in the name of religion. For Ferguson, America represented a separation of church and state, a separation from the violence that played a part of the history of religion.</p>
<p>Most importantly, America was a land that promised Craig redemption from his own faults. Where else could a Scotsman from a working-class family go and become a star television host?</p>
<p>All in all, Ferguson&#8217;s autobiography is a quick read and a straight-forward look into the life of a trouble young man who eventually went on to a certain level of success. But Craig never gets maudlin about his wild days. He doesn&#8217;t spend page after page bemoaning everything. No, but he does pull few if no punches on himself and lays it out there for the world to see. Don&#8217;t worry, though, because you&#8217;ll still love him. Bits of humor are tossed in here and there, including Ferguson&#8217;s meeting with former U.S. President George W. Bush.</p>
<p><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/readers/2010/01/17/craig_1.jpg" alt="" /></p>
<p><strong><u>Other book reviews</u></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.bookstove.com/Non-fiction/Book-Review-The-Battle-of-Mogadishu.716755" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" >The Battle of Mogadishu, edited by Matt Eversmann and Dan Schilling</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.bookstove.com/Book-Talk/The-Ruins.715311" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" >The Ruins, by Scott Smith</a></p>
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		<title>Devaluing The Word Star</title>
		<link>http://bookstove.com/autobiography/devaluing-the-word-star/</link>
		<comments>http://bookstove.com/autobiography/devaluing-the-word-star/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 16 Jan 2010 07:19:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><a target="_blank" href="http://www.triond.com/users/Lucas+Di%C3%A9">Lucas Dié</a></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autobiography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Beatty]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[biography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Evita]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Evita Peron]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hollywood]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[multiple Oscar nominations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Orson Welles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Oscar]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sex addiction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Shirley McLaine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tiger woods]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Warren Beatty]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Peter Biskind’s Star, a biography of Warren Beatty, was published by Simon &#38; Schuster. The author tries and abysmally fails to get Beatty out of bed, but the book makes good reading for the scandal mongers.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>If you remember the musical Evita, you&rsquo;ll know that <a href="http://socyberty.com/politics/peronism-for-dummies/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" ><u>Evita Peron</u></a>stands accused for sleeping herself up to the top. Presuming that the story of the musical is near the truth, she was not only more successful than Beatty but incomparably more efficient.</p>
<p>The book charts the life of Beatty from bed to bed and from fling to fling, leaving out a lot of them, but mentioning more than enough. He had to go through all this for a few measly roles in films. How devastating must it e for him? It made me really pity him. The book claims that this was his choice, if so, since <a href="http://sportales.com/sports/the-tiger-woods-infidelity-scandal-is-tiger-woods-wife-only-in-it-for-money/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" ><u>Tiger Woods</u></a> everybody knows that the addiction should be treated. I still could feel nothing but pity for him.</p>
<p>In between all that, the author tries to get the spotlight away from the bedroom and onto a few almost forgotten film sets. As lost as the films with Beatty are in the sea of mediocre films, the few work related sentences get lost in the book. The author can&rsquo;t manage to get the attention away from the private life. This is not the authors fault, but the consequence of his subject&rsquo;s life.</p>
<p>I started to wonder while I read the book when on earth Beatty had time to do any work. But then, maybe he wasn&rsquo;t expected to while providing other services. I remember a time when providing these services was called something else than acting. Even if some commentators of the biography might compare the succession of women as lemmings, in an age where toy boys become more acceptable this comes to mind rather more forcefully.</p>
<p>The author completely misses the point though when he tries to make Beatty one of the greatest film icons besides Orson Welles with his multiple Oscar nominations, mistaking the total crisis of the Hollywood film industry at that time as a distinction for Beatty. In fact, the films coming out of Hollywood at that time were so bad anything only substandard had to be considered a great success.</p>
<p>The only pertinent comment in the book comes from Beatty&rsquo;s sister, Shirley McLaine, who commented on him as being &lsquo;Fifty from the neck up and 14 from the neck down.&rsquo; Outstanding is the self delusion of the subject itself in contrast when he is cited with: &lsquo;I know that the press has to cut people like me down to size &#8230;&rsquo;</p>
<p>Once you have read this book, you get a perspective on all those moaners who deplore promiscuity in (their perceived) gay lifestyle. Compared to Beatty, hardened gay promiscuous icons have to graduate from kindergarten first.</p>
<p>The book is one biography too many about a non-entity, but it is amusing enough to while away an afternoon while you are snowed in or bedridden and unable to do anything more sensible. Get it from the library though; it&rsquo;s not worth spending money on.</p>
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		<title>Gweilo: A Memoir of a Hong Kong Childhood</title>
		<link>http://bookstove.com/autobiography/gweilo-a-memoir-of-a-hong-kong-childhood/</link>
		<comments>http://bookstove.com/autobiography/gweilo-a-memoir-of-a-hong-kong-childhood/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 09 Aug 2009 07:52:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><a target="_blank" href="http://www.triond.com/users/darkkest24">darkkest24</a></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autobiography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[behaviour]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[book]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Book Review]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Childhood]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gweilo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[HongKong]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[review]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Although the average Chinese person and some foreigners think that it’s no big deal and not at all insulting or racist to refer to or address a westerner as “gweilo”, it is actually rather insulting to do so.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>For a start, let me introduce the nature of this book first. This book is telling us&nbsp;the writer&#8217;s&nbsp;own personal stories. It&rsquo;s about life in Hong Kong and the writer, Mr. Martin Booth, is actually an Englishman who came and lived in HK for 3 years when he was 7 years old. He came to Hong Kong from Britain with his parents during the 1950s and 60s. His father was a traditional man who did not talk much to his children while his mother encouraged Martin to learn and accept new things in a new environment. The short time he spent in Hong Kong gave him such an interesting and unforgettable childhood that he remembered it well all his life and in his heart he regarded Hong Kong as his home.</p>
<p>One reason why I share this book with all of you&nbsp;is that&nbsp;this book has an&nbsp;unusual title, which may attract all of you to&nbsp;read my review.&nbsp;&ldquo;Gweilo&rdquo; is&nbsp;a Cantonese word meaning a ghost-like man. Although the average Chinese person and some foreigners think that it&rsquo;s no big deal and not at all insulting or racist to refer to or address a westerner as &ldquo;gweilo&rdquo;, it is actually rather insulting to do so. If a westerner calls himself or herself &ldquo;gweilo&rdquo;, that is another matter. By putting him or herself down, the westerner is being humorous and wants to be considered one of the locals.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Besides having an unusual title, this book is a sincere book as well. It is written from the perspective of a young boy who sees the distinct differences in the two interestingly inter-mingled cultures. Martin Booth describes a Hong Kong familiar to all those who have lived here a long time. For example, the Dai Pai Dong where he used to visit and talk to local people and where he met and made friends with a street-sleeper who called herself the &ldquo;Queen of Kowloon&rdquo;; the amahs in black and white uniforms and their hair in a long, shiny plait; the temples with monks, fortune tellers and burnt incense; Hakka women with fringed hats at walled villages in the New Territories; the mysterious Kowloon Walled City where there were triad gangs and opium dens. Among other Hong Kong icons he mentioned are rickshaws. Until recently, there were still one of two at Star Ferry for tourists to take a try ride in or pose for photos. Now you&rsquo;ll only find one in the Hong Kong Museum of History at Tsim Sha Tsui.</p>
<p>Lastly, I must mention why Martin Booth wrote the book. In 2002, Martin discovered he had a tumour in his brain. His grown-up children, who were in their twenties, asked him about his early life in Hong Kong. He was suddenly struck by the idea that he had never had the chance to learn about his father&rsquo;s early life, which made it impossible for him to understand his father and to develop a good relationship with him. He wanted to share his life and love with his children by writing this book. He also wanted to pay tribute to Hong Kong.</p>
<p>I hope you may wish to read this book after reading my review on this book. Thank you.</p>
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		<title>Monica Seles on Top of the Scales</title>
		<link>http://bookstove.com/autobiography/monica-seles-on-top-of-the-scales/</link>
		<comments>http://bookstove.com/autobiography/monica-seles-on-top-of-the-scales/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 25 Jul 2009 12:23:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><a target="_blank" href="http://www.triond.com/users/Lucas+Di%C3%A9">Lucas Dié</a></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autobiography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[diet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dieting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[diets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Martina Navratilova]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Monica Seles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tennis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Weight Watchers]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[JR Books published Getting A Grip by Monica Seles. The autobiography gives an insight into women’s tennis, dieting, and binge eating. Monica tells the story of fame, her very own nightmare and the demons hounding her.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>In 1993, Monica Seles was on top of the tennis world. At 19 she was the number one in women&rsquo;s tennis with eight Grand Slams to her name and looked like going on a record breaking career to equal Martina Navratilova or even to surpass her. Then the unimaginable happened when a demented German attacked her and stabbed her in her shoulder. While the attacker got away with a probationary sentence, Monica was sentenced to a life of fear, nightmares and depression.</p>
<p>Instead of a famous career entitling her to multimillion dollar sponsor deals playing tennis, she entered a period of coming to terms with what had happened and miserably failed, joining a multitude of other crime victims mostly unnamed and unknown in misery and depression. At the same time, her father and coach was diagnosed with cancer which proved to be terminal.</p>
<p>Trying to get back into the game during the nineties, she was constantly hampered by panic attacks, nightmares and a weight gain of 20 kilograms. She never got back into top form and numerous stress injuries bore prove of her weight struggle. As the link between her injuries and her weight was obvious, she became progressively obsessed with getting her weight down to her former sporting weight of 57 kilograms. Buying just about every book on dieting she could get her hands on, she became convinced that regaining her former weight was the key to success.</p>
<p>This set-up would make a perfect misery memoir so far. But Monica shows a sense of humour throughout and self-deprecatingly sees the funny side of many of the situations.</p>
<p>Obviously, the more she tried to diet, the more time she spent before the fridge stuffing her face. She hired a food coach whose duties included emptying the mini-bars in the hotels she was staying in and instructing the staff to not deliver any orders she might place with room service. When not in a hotel, he slept next to the kitchen to stop her midnight excursions to the fridge and the larder. This didn&rsquo;t stop her from hopping round the corner to the next convenience store and getting just anything sweet she could get her hands on.</p>
<p>She also tells the story behind the scene of women tennis, the frostiness in the locker room and the strange atmosphere at the tennis events around the world. Quite opposed to men&rsquo;s tennis where the top seeds are able to be not only respectful to each other, but might even be friends of the court, women tennis players seem to feel a need to keep other top seeds at a distance.</p>
<p>These days, Monica Seles is her confident self again, after realising that dieting was not solving her problems, but getting to grips with her past, her demons, and her grief for her father.</p>
<p>The book is very readable for everybody interested in tennis and personal achievement. Obviously, believers in Weight Watchers and other money generating scams will be highly disapproving, but for me it just showed again that eating and drinking don&rsquo;t make you fat.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monica_Seles" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" >Monica Seles on Wikipedia</a></p>
<p><a href="http://sportales.com/tennis/most-shocking-tennis-court-moments/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" >Most Shocking Tennis Court Moments</a></p>
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		<title>Top Five Underrated Autobiographies That Defined a Genre</title>
		<link>http://bookstove.com/autobiography/top-five-underrated-autobiographies-that-defined-a-genre/</link>
		<comments>http://bookstove.com/autobiography/top-five-underrated-autobiographies-that-defined-a-genre/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 03 Oct 2008 22:22:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><a target="_blank" href="http://www.triond.com/users/Wayne">Wayne</a></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autobiography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[books]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jack Kerouac]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Non-fiction]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Many literary lovers love the likes of fiction, but there is another faction of the literary world that often gets overlooked, that of non-fiction or creative non-fiction.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The reluctance to read non-fiction stems from the inability of many writers to write something exciting.  After all, who wants to read about someone&#8217;s life?  I was in that same boat until I discovered Jack Kerouac&#8217;s On the Road.  While that book helped bring in the Beat Generation, it did much more.  It defined history up to the 50&#8217;s, politics, society, and religion.  Not only was it a book about one man&#8217;s trek across America, it was a book about breaking out of a bubble that was formed for you by society and politics. It was about critically thinking for yourself.  Though I don&#8217;t condone Kerouac&#8217;s actions in the book, nor his lifestyle, he brought about a unique style of prose and application.  For those who are fond of non-fiction (even if you&#8217;re not), here are the five most underrated authors of non-fiction that you should consider:</p>
<ol>
<li> David Sedaris, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim:  His previous book, Me Talk Pretty One Day formed the basis of Sedaris&#8217; work.  Though he had previous works published prior to Me Talk Pretty&hellip; this book signified his introduction into literary fame.  His follow-up Dress Your Family&hellip; is a continuation of his sarcastic tone about the society and life in which he grew up.  It is a heartfelt book that focuses not only on the societal pressures of one being homosexual and trying to hide it, but rather being trapped in a world where walls closed in around him.  Sedaris brings about the injustices and cruelty of human nature no matter our race, gender, religion, or background. </li>
<li> Sarah Vowell,  Take the Cannoli:  This humorous book of essays truly identifies one woman&#8217;s struggle growing up in small town USA to big life USA.  Her comparison of life on the farm to life in New York are humorous and goes to show that no matter where we grow up or how we&#8217;re raised, we end up, ultimately, where we want to be.  This is a coming of age story that&#8217;s not as subtle as some might think.</li>
<li> Joan Didion, Political Fictions:  This vicious commentary on our political process and politicians is chilling and offers solutions to our problems.  But also, the book is a looking glass into our future as a people.  Didion&#8217;s prose in this book is that of a fiction novel, and offers a glimpse into our future, politically.  It is controversial and conversational.   Political Fictions helps us ask the question, &ldquo;How far does the rabbit hole go?&rdquo;</li>
<li> Norman Mailer, Countless number of essays:  While Mailer was an author of fiction, he made his statements through personal essays.  His most famous essay, &ldquo;The White Negro&rdquo; Mailer discusses violence and sex in 1960&#8217;s America.  Like so many of his essays, which have been attempted to be anthologized, but to no avail, are, much like Jack Kerouac, counter cultural.  Mailer&#8217;s controversial lifestyle extended itself into his writings about the hatred of government and policy. </li>
<li> Tom Wolfe, The Pump House Gang:  This book was a critique on society post-WWII.  It emphasized the basis of American life in regards to our economy, politics, and society as a whole in regards to economic prosperity.  This book caused much controversy due to his offensive language toward policy; however, his approach was heralded as unique and impactful playing off the Beat style of writing. </li>
</ol>
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		<title>Marjane Satrapi&#8217;s Persepolis</title>
		<link>http://bookstove.com/autobiography/marjane-satrapis-persepolis/</link>
		<comments>http://bookstove.com/autobiography/marjane-satrapis-persepolis/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:24:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><a target="_blank" href="http://www.triond.com/users/Akhil+Tandon">Akhil Tandon</a></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autobiography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Islam]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Persepolis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[religous republic]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[A book review on the autobiography of renowned Iranian author and cartoonist Marjane Satrapi.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I read Marjane Satrapi&#8217;s graphic memoir <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Persepolis-Story-Childhood-Marjane-Satrapi/dp/037571457X" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" >Persepolis</a>. It takes place in Iran around 1979, the time of the Islamic Revolution. The book is an autobiography of Marjane Satrapi about her childhood in Iran, and shows her life in a comic book perspective. It talks about her life as a young girl with her father Ebi and her mother Taji, and the challenges she faces during the Shah&#8217;s regime and later, the Islamic revolution.</p>
<p>At the beginning of the book, Marji was only 10 years old. She attended a French Secular School, so she wasn&#8217;t used to being religious. When all the bilingual schools were closed down, she started to think a little more about her religion. She even thought she was the last prophet! Every night she had meetings with God, and read comics about the worldly affairs. She even read about Marxism and Leninism. She was surprised how much Marx looked like God. Her parents would go out demonstrating once in a while. Marji often had the urge to go and demonstrate. After all, she was a rebellious young Iranian girl.</p>
<p>Her Dad often used to tell her stories about early days in the Revolution. The revolution started when a young illiterate soldier named Reza wanted to follow Gandhi and Ataturk and create a republic. But British Officials tricked him into giving them the oil and creating another monarchy. Naturally, his son, the Shah, succeeded him. The emperor that was overthrown by Reza was Marji&#8217;s grandpa&#8217;s father. However, because Marji&#8217;s grandfather was educated, he was appointed Prime Minister. He and his colleagues argued that it was not Reza Shah Pahlavi, but the Queen of England that was the leader of Iran. Therefore, Grandpa became a communist. Of course, he was sent to jail.  Marji was fascinated by these stories, and she would often go tell her friends about them. It helped her get a feel for what was really going on. She could tell her friends how her family was more involved in the revolution than others!</p>
<p>After school the next day, Marji met her grandmother again after a long time. Her grandmother told her how life had been during the Shah&#8217;s regime for &ldquo;heir presumptive&rdquo; to the Qajar throne. The Shah took everything from them and they lived in poverty. Her mother even had to spray scents to make it seem like she was cooking something good.</p>
<p>The Satrapis had a maid named Mehri. Mehri had been living with them since Marji was born. They had been good &ldquo;siblings&rdquo;, and got along. One day when Marji&#8217;s parents went to demonstrate, Mehri and Marji went also. They both got into a lot of trouble. After all of this demonstrating, the Shah tried to be more democratic, but being unable to do so, he was taken out of power.</p>
<p>Most of the political prisoners taken in the Shah&#8217;s reign were released again. Marji&#8217;s family knew two of them: Siamak Jari and Mohsen Shakiba. They talked about how life was like in the prisons. Another man named Ahmadi never made it out of jail because he was a member of the Guerillas.</p>
<p>Marji&#8217;s Uncle Anoosh was also a political prisoner. He told Marji about his adventurous times. He left from his father&#8217;s, who was also Ebi&#8217;s father, house to join his uncle because his father was loyal to the Shah. When he found out that the Shah&#8217;s men were after his uncle, he went back to his parents&#8217; house, but he knew that he wouldn&#8217;t be safe there, so he went to Russia. He had become a student in the U.S.S.R. where is studied Marxism-Leninism, or Dialect Materialism. When he decided to return home because of a divorce, he came in disguise, where the Police found him soon and put him into jail.</p>
<p>One day, after school, Anoosh was supposed to pick up Marji, but he didn&#8217;t because he had been sent to jail by the Fundamentalists, the new political party in power. It was these Fundamentalists who started the Islamic Revolution. Marji went to meet him, where Anoosh said how much he loved her. Mohsen Shakiba was drowned in his own tub, so it wasn&#8217;t an accident; it was murder &#8211; probably by the fundamentalists. The Fundamentalists went to Siamak Jari&#8217;s house, and since he wasn&#8217;t there, his sister was killed instead. Siamak&#8217;s family escaped Iran hiding within a flock of sheep. The next day, Marji found out that Anoosh had been executed. She was in tears. God came to meet her &#8211; for the last time. Marji pushed her friend, God, out of her life that day.</p>
<p>A few years later, when Marji was twelve, a war was going on between Iran and Iraq. The Iraqis were bombing Tehran, and it had been ages since any good news had been heard. Then one day the radio buzzed with excitement that Iranian pilots had bombed Baghdad. The bad news was that at least half of them hadn&#8217;t returned. The Fundamentalists were still in power, and women were forced to wear the veil. At school, Marji and her friends would often make fun of the teacher because she supported the Islamic Regime. Parties, alcohol and cigarettes were still banned, but the Satrapis still had them every Thursday. One night, after a party, Ebi was still very drunk, and he was stopped by a soldier. He called home and told them to dump the alcohol. Unfortunately, when he got home, they had already tossed it out, and bribery was all that was needed to get rid of the soldier. Going to the U.S. was banned because the Fundamentalists had taken control of the Iranian Embassy. Universities were closed for two years. Marji&#8217;s dreams were torn apart with these changes. She knew that she had to grow up, so she tried her first cigarette. It was horrible, but she knew it wasn&#8217;t the time to give up, so she smoked on, until she declared herself an adult by &ldquo;kissing her childhood goodbye&rdquo;.</p>
<p>Her parents went on holiday to Turkey for some time together. They smuggled posters, coins, and jackets into Iran for Marji. She was very happy. She went down to buy some illegal -in Iran- tapes of the latest western music. On her way back she was stopped by some women from the Guardians of the Revolution, the Women&#8217;s Branch. They saw Marji wearing sneakers and a jacket with Michael Jackson on it. They were planning on taking her down to the committee, but she lied and pleaded to be set free so she was. She often used to go to buy clothes. Now that she was a teenager, she was in the latest fashion. Her mother was surprised how much things were costing. The currency value had dropped so much, that Marji&#8217;s mother was uneasy giving Marji the money, because it was so much. One day when she was buying something, she heard on the radio that the neighborhood that Marji lived in had been bombed. She ran home and found out that it was the neighbors&#8217; house that had been bombed. Marji&#8217;s mother&#8217;s idea of keeping tape on the window worked. Even though a bomb had blasted, breaking all the windows, there was no glass pieces in the house!</p>
<p>At school, Marji and her friends would continually wear effervescent jewelry, an obvious no-no in Iranian society. One day her teacher decided that she&#8217;d had enough. She said that if she saw Marji wearing jewelry again, she would forcefully take it from her. The next day, Marji was wearing the same thing, and when the teacher asked to see it, they got into a catfight in which Marji hit the teacher. Of course, she was expelled. At her new Islamic school, she regularly created arguments around subjects of the Islamic Revolution. For example, when the teacher said that there were no political prisoners in Iran during the time of the Islamic Regime, she countered by saying that her uncle, Anoosh, had been jailed in the Shah&#8217;s regime, but executed under the Fundamentalists of the Islamic Regime. Marji&#8217;s political rebelliousness could not have gone on much longer, for she would have been killed by the Fundamentalists.</p>
<p>Her parents decided to send her to Vienna. It was the only way her rebellious spirit would be safe from the Fundamentalists. She could also continue her French education that she stopped four years earlier. With many tears, Marji went to the airport with the thought that her parents would come to Vienna sooner or later. It was kind of obvious that they would never come. So she was off, to escape the Fundamentalists, and to continue her education.</p>
<p>My favorite character from Persepolis is probably Marji. The first reason that I like Marji is because she is the only character that is really identified, as it is the author. I really like her rebellious spirit because I myself am not too fond of the Islamic Regime. She knew she wasn&#8217;t supposed to wear jewelry. She knew she wasn&#8217;t safe walking around with &ldquo;punk&rdquo; shoes. But she did these things anyways, and that is why I liked her. She is important to the story because the world of Persepolis is in her perspective.</p>
<p>Persepolis was a great book. It was filled with Iranian Culture and with rich details about the Islamic Regime and the Shah&#8217;s regime. What I liked the most was the part with Uncle Anoosh coming and talking about his times in the U.S.S.R. I would recommend it to all readers who could enjoy a comic. That&#8217;s how I enjoyed it at least. Readers who like history or tales of life in the past would love this book. There is a sequel to this book called Persepolis 2, and another book called The Complete Persepolis, which includes both episodes. That book was made into a movie, which contains all the features of both books. It has been released in French, with all the original cartooning by Marjane Satrapi in it. It has English subtitles, but I still can&#8217;t wait for the English version, so that I can enjoy it too. It&#8217;s not that I can&#8217;t enjoy it in French; it&#8217;s just that I could understand it better in English. After all, almost every sentence has a deep meaning to it. All in all, I really enjoyed the book. Many people say that comics are for children, but this one had deep meaning to it, so I liked it very much. I can&#8217;t wait to read Persepolis 2, and then watch the movie.</p>
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		<title>Elmer Ambrose Sperry</title>
		<link>http://bookstove.com/autobiography/elmer-ambrose-sperry/</link>
		<comments>http://bookstove.com/autobiography/elmer-ambrose-sperry/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 19 May 2008 08:07:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><a target="_blank" href="http://www.triond.com/users/javster">javster</a></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autobiography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Elmer Ambrose Sperry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gyrocompass]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[inventor]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Elmer Ambrose Sperry was a smart, educated inventor and businessman who invented one of the most important devices known to mankind. ]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>His invention is called the gyrocompass.  Elmer&#8217;s interest for engineering began at an early age and went on for the rest of his life. At the age of thirty he had founded two companies and was very prosperous. At that time, another inventor had finished inventing a device called the gyroscope, which was important to the making of the gyrocompass.</p>
<p>A gyrocompass is basically a compass on airplanes, ships</p>
<p>and submarines that gives very precise directional measurements. The</p>
<p>gyrocompass replaced the magnetic compass which was used before as a</p>
<p>navigational system, but was not very trustworthy. The reason for the replacement of the magnetic compass was because it needed to be leveled in order to work and if that&#8217;s not enough it gave very slow readings. The gyrocompass is a very complicated device. It works by holding a gyroscope which is spun by a motor all being held by a special casing which allows it to rotate freely.</p>
<p>It impacted the American society so much because it improved traveling and survival. Traveling was made safer. It made it safer because the gyrocompass is more reliable because you can trust that you are heading in the right direction and wont end up lost at sea or in the air. You also have a greater chance at survival because if a boat at sea or a plane in the air get lost in a patch of fog you can easily pass through it with out getting worried that you will get lost or crash just by heading in the same direction until you able to see.</p>
<p>Still today the gyroscope is used in ships and planes because no new compasses have taken the place of the gyrocompass. Even though there have been no new compasses there has been change to the original gyrocompass. The only change is that it is now smaller which means that it weighs less and takes up less room. With more room you can fit more important stuff that is key to flying or sailing.</p>
<p>Still today the gyrocompass is used. That&#8217;s why I consider it the best invention ever invented. The gyrocompass has passed the test of time and is the best compass today and it is all thanks to Elmer Ambrose Sperry.</p>
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