A Quick Review of Some of the Books I Read in High School

I like to be inspired; and that is not a particularly difficult thing to do. When deciding on a book to read, I like success stories.. That is, stories where I can learn about people who have been brought up from humble, or arrogant beginnings that have an experience or idea that shoots them into a level of people that would be worth reading about. I have always been interested in the roads traveled by different people to see how they have gotten to where they are. The steps taken in a persons journey to success has lead me to read the following books and taught me how to appreciate the people behind them even more.
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close was a let down. A child finds a package that he believes holds the key to a treasure his dad left for him after his passing, only to discover that the key is not related to his father at all, and belonged to a complete stranger. The book left me exteremely disappointed, especially after I was such a fan of Foer's sarcastic diction throughout. However, through the anguish I went through of the book ending without the stunning ending I had expected, I discovered that this wasn't a story about the ending, but rather the steps taken to get to the end.
Every high school student is forced to read The Great Gatsby in either their sopomore or junior year. Of the books read in school, this book is the most entertaining by far. As the book progresses, one discovers the mystery of Gatsby; how he earned his money, and who he really is. People idolize Gatsby, but who wouldn't want to be him? The idea of being a infamously wealthy and being known by everyone is dreamt about by everyone. After reading , I was fascinated with the lavish lifestyle lived out by the characters of the story. I ...

... middle of paper ...

...lars is a dream, it's inspiring.
The book, Imagine: How Creativity Works, creates a montage of several ideas that lead to innovations that have become a groundbreaking discovery. The post it note, for example, is created in this story, where the author tells the story of what inspired him to create it. This book not only documents the simplistic, life changing discoveries to make life easier, but also challenges the reader to conjure up something that could be used every day, to make a difference.
Driven by success, and fed by success, I feel that the more I learn, and the more I become inspired to do, the more I will be able to achieve. Hopefully educating myself about the inventors and businessmen of today can be one of the many steps I take to reach their level. After all, it is not as much about the end result, rather than the journey taken to get there.