Friday Hop Huit

Q: What is your biggest pet peeve when it comes to books? Maybe you don’t like love triangles or thin plots? Tell us about it!

I'm not overly keen on love triangles because though I think it isn't impossible to love two people and figure out which you like more, I don't imagine them coming in such a short time of one another.

No, but my biggest peeve is the romance found in many books. Not that I dislike romance, but reading about falling in love for me is more important than the problems after love. I dislike that modern romances focus on people having problems in love. It's really, but also depressing. I want to see them fall in love so I know why they love each other. Which brings me on to the peeve: Love at First Sight. Every time I read this, I am convinced, somewhere, a cute animals breathes its last breath. I like the idea of love at first sight, but I don't want to hear about it. Everyone worldwide in a good relationship will tell you they went out with each other because they liked each other and that that grew over time.

It's a personal thing, I think, but I doubt (I actually know, from hopping around) I'm alone. When I fall hopelessly in love, it will be with someone I find engaging to be with and someone I cannot understand for the life of me. Also, people are clever in love. Even if I did fall in love upon meeting someone for the first time, I would get to know them before devoting myself and doing something stupid.

There is no end to the amount of (successful) films out there that reiterate this. People may be good looking, and have a good public personality, but you'll only ever love someone you truly know. And you have to know them before loving them, because love will blind you to there faults. What comes to mind for me is Shark Tale but that's just me.

Writing Reviews 101: What's your process for writing book reviews? 

Any tips or suggestions you would recommend to other bloggers?

Gah.

I'm still new and learning, so there are better posts out there. Seriously, go read them. Everyone on this hop that I read has said something better than I could. Still, I'll tell you what I do. And I beseech you to criticise me and help me learn or believe in my method more.

I write my review after finishing the book: either immediately or a day or two after. For me, it's nice to get an overall view, but specifics are going to tip the scales more in terms of buying. So if I wait, the things I think of should be the main points of interest for the book. I try to cover Characters, Plot, Why I bought and romance, but I just do that because I think they're always main issues. If the writing is good I'll also mention that. And I try (if I can) to focus on exactly how I responded to the book- if I felt any particular emotion while reading. Books are an emotive medium, and it helps to know how they'll make you respond. For example, if I'm depressed, I want a engaging, mostly happy book.

Also, it should be your review. When I first started writing my reviews, I found myself comparing how I wrote to other bloggers. Don't do that, ever. You'll sound much more honest and be much happier if you write how you want. As that saying goes: "It's better to be a first class version of yourself, than a second class version of someone else." It didn't say that word-for-word, but I hope you get the gist of the idea.

Happy hopping (and thanks for coming to the end of the hop since I left this so late!)

Reality is Broken by Jane McGonigal

5

This is case study psychology book that I read because it sounded really interesting. It sums itself up well: How Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World. It’s obviously a biased book since (a) look at that title and (b) she was actually a game designer of some renown, in the right circles. Regardless though, I agree with her. It’s a great read for anyone who plays games or knows people who are avid gamers themselves.

I could easily go on for three pages on why this book is so good (she wrote a book on the topic after all) but I’ll keep my pages of annotations to myself. Instead I’ll look at the three sections.

Why Games Make Us Happy

The most interesting section for me, this mostly looked at the psychology of games. And brought up an interesting point. You don’t have to be able to win a game for it to be a good game: it makes sense but had never occurred to me. Think Tetris, it’s impossible to win, but strangely addictive! She says that the main reasons games are fun is that they are voluntary and give us problems that we know have solution. Knowing something can be done promotes optimism and the challenge of hard problem keeps us learning and on the edge of our skills. Also, seeing your avatar grow an improve means you can see the immediate benefit of our actions. She obviously goes on to say all this transfers onto our real lives. Also, games are (in description) the exact opposite of clinical depression. The social side of games includes helping others play and being in a gaming community, which helps introverts (your stereotypical gamer).

Reinventing Reality

Here, she begins to talk about how games have started integrating with real life: in schools, business and as way to fight stress. She says it helps to get an “awe fix” that keeps us aware of bigger things in life (whether you are of Faith or not). And if life is chaotic? Games give you a feeling of power and control which helps your outlook. She talks about www.chorewars.com and how the gaming element makes the boring exciting. And if you integrate games with life, they no longer became escapist, but a different way of dealing with a hard reality. An interesting example is a school that is completely like a game. Everyone get ‘quests’ and they level up (not grades). It increases the desire to learn! Think of Nike+. It’s a game which encourages running because you get mileage (points) and how you’ve improve over time (levelling up). There are also other games: one like the famous college Assassins, but instead it’s a gradual team thing and you win with kind actions, or games to play in cemeteries. This section’s about games improving quality of life and general happiness.

How Very Big Games Can Change the World

This is an example of how games have done good things. Look at www.freerice.com where you can learn and help starving children, folding.stanford.edu which helps look at proteins to fight diseases or the Extraordinaries, which lets you volunteer seconds to help others. I only use 'freerice’, personally, but they’re all good cause and have game-like qualities. An interesting fact is that if you 10 000 hours of something before 21, you’ll be an expert at that in later life. Students and my generation are going to achieve this easily, so we’ll have a society of expert gamers. As she argues, an untapped resource!

I’ve been a bit vague here because if I went into any detail, you’d have an essay in front of you. It’s hard to recommend this book. I picked it up because I read about it online and thought that it sounded interesting and decided to get it. I can only say if your curiosity is sparked like mine was, get it. If not, don’t worry. Psychologists aren’t going to cry at night because you decided to miss this.