december 24 post

The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown is a very good book. It draws the reader in so they feel like they are actually in the story and part of the action that is unfolding around them. The book is so good that it is my favorite mystery besides Dan Brown's other best seller, Angels and Demons. I would recommend this book to everyone because it is so good but especially to fans of mystery novels. All of the characters are so well developed that one can understand and like all of them. This book is very good so it is going to be hard to beat but I will have to try to find a better one. For my next book I have chosen to read Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. This book is about a boy who finds out that his classmate and friend committed suicide and it is partly his fault. He has to go around the city to find out how he has contributed to his friends suicide.

december 17 post

I have reached the end of the book and it has only got better as I have gotten further. In this section of the book Langdon and Sophie have the cryptex that they need and they went to Isaac Newton's tomb. Outside the tomb the teacher has the cryptex with him and he is trying to think of ways to get Langdon to help him open the cryptex for himself. When they are in the tomb the teacher gives them a message that Teabing is in the garden as a hostage and they rush to get there and help him. As soon as they get there Teabing is pointing a gun at them and the door that they used to get in closed. There Teabing explains that he killed all of the brotherhood members who wouldn't show him the grail. After he says this information he asks if Sophie and Langdon will help him find the grail. Sophie says she won't because Teabing killed her grandfather so he asks Langdon what he will do. Back in Newton's tomb Langdon deciphers the cryptex code and takes the map out. After he takes the map out he throws it and Teabing goes after it. While he does this he is disarmed and captured. After all of this happens Langdon and Sophie go to Rosslyn church and she finds her grandmother. Langdon thinks about what has happened and he finally reveals that the grail is not a thing, it is a person. He realized that the grail is Sophie.

Is is appropriate to help someone end their life if they are a terminal patient and in pain?

Whitehorn, Katherine. "How to Die 'the Oregon Way'." The Guardian 13/10/2008 4. 7 Dec 2008 http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst-article-display?id=SMN0307H-0-8629&artno=0000286577&type=ART&shfilter=U&key=&title=How%20to%20Die%20%27the%20Oregon%20Way%27&res=Y&ren=Y&gov=Y&lnk=Y&ic=Y.

This article was written by Katherine Whitehorn a journalist who appears in The Guardian newspaper in London which can be viewed as informational. This article focuses on the legislation in Oregon that allows people that are in pain and have terminal illnesses to receive assissted suicide. This article also talks about how it is very uncommon to receive assissted suicide and more common for the terminal patients to just stop eating and drinking all together which Whitehorn says is more unpleasent but much less upsetting to the families of the patients.

Ostrom , Carol M.. "How We Die." The Seattle Times 21/9/2008 A1. 7 Dec 2008 .

This article was written by Carol M. Ostrom who is a respected journalist that writes for the Seattle Times. This article is mostly about the legal issues with assissted suicide and doesn't talk about an actual occurence or the pros and cons of assissted suicide. This article states that the legislation of Seattle was trying to pass an assissted suicide law but there was much opposition because of the terms of the law and it was narrowly defeated by the opposition.

Leigh Teabing is my opinion the most interesting character because he is very helpful to Langdon in escaping from the police but he is also a muderer. He has believed that for a long time his money entitles him to know where the grail is. His study is dotted with things that a serial killer would have in his basement. Even when he gives out money to ensure Langdon's safe passage it seems to be just because he wants to know where the grail is. Though he is sly and manipulative in this way he can also be seen as a good person for helping the two get out of his house safely and back on their way to retreaving the holy grail. Though he has been a huge asset to Langdon and his search for the grail near the end of the novel it is clear that he is only doing this to satisfy his own wants and not to help Langdon and Sophie find the truth. In conclusion Teabing when Langdon meets him can be seen as noble and helpful but as the novel progresses he changes into a manipulative man who only wants to help them because he wants to find the grail so bad.