The Bartimaeus Trilogy, THE AMULET OF SAMARKAND

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THE AMULET OF SAMARKAND by JONATHAN STROUD starts off with a newly selected magician's apprentice named Nathaniel who is abused by his master's friend Simon Lovelace, and decides to take revenge. Summoning a potent demon he steals an amulet from his enemy Simon Lovelace to smite him. However when Simon comes to Nathaniel's master's home and burns it to the ground, Nathaniel is forced to hide in an abandoned library while he makes a plan to ruin Simon's scheme of killing all the members of parliament. While hiding in the library Nathaniel reads in the newspaper that Simon is holding an event in Heddleham Hall and Nathaniel goes there for the event. However when Simon gets all of parliament into a room to make a speech, Nathaniel realizes that Simon is summoning an entity from the amulet of Samarkand capable of destroying cities. While the ministers of parliament cower in a corner, Nathaniel takes on the duty of sending the demon back to the darkest reaches of the "Other Place."

pull of a summons he attempts to withstand for a few seconds but knowing it is futile he allows himself to be sucked to Earth and appears in a "grotty town house in the congested city of London." Being charged with retrieving the Amulet of Samarkand from Simon Lovelace he quickly goes on his way and breaks into Simon's villa, conducts snappy conversation with an old rival named Faquarl, and nearly gets burnt to a crisp by a red-skinned jackal all in the time of trying to steal the amulet. As Bartimaeous returns to his master, Nathaniel, Simon Lovelace arrives at Nathaniel’s home and burns it down in search of the amulet. With no-where else to go Bartimaeus flees with Nathaniel and takes shelter in an old library only to have to trek all the way to Heddleham Hall where Simon Lovelace performs a scheme to kill all the members of the government with a forgotten demon entity.

The secret of magicians is that all of their power lies in demons. They bend them to their will, making them do their conniving business while the magicians themselves grow fat and corrupt in their secluded villas. Even though London is the strongest power in the world and has colonized Prague and America, civil unrest among the "commoners (non-magicians) is rooting itself deep into the foundations of London's society along with corruption rising into the seats of parliament

This book portrays demons differently. Demons are usually thought upon as hell spawn that serve the devil while here they are peaceful society that live in a different dimension, and it is only when they are summoned is it that they are violent. Demons are the tools of magicians, being used in everyday tasks or in large-scale wars so the magicians themselves do not actually have to participate in such tasks. Without demons, magicians would not have any source of magic or power and would be the same as commoners. This book is an interesting portrayal of demons and reason enough to read it, but with an outstanding plot and amazing characters, this story is truly fantastic.

Is there such a thing as Godly Science?

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more godly pictures here

other scientific pictures here

As we learn about the origin of humans more people start to question the possibility of there being a god. If people have originated from Africa then how can we have come from The Garden of Eden? The majority of people are now able to poke holes in all of the stories about religion that even rabbis and priests cannot justify. However, there are still countless countries that follow religion, refusing to believe that human skeletons millions years old have been found. However, even with science showing that religion may be completely fiction, perhaps there can be a balance between the two.

Perhaps the Garden of Eden never truly existed except in the heart of man, and maybe the Ten Commandments were actually just laws that Moses thought that man should follow. Even if religion is completely falsified the reason it exists is because of the message it sends out. It gives humans a set of laws that they should live by that still complies with today’s society. It tells us that every person is equal, and that all of our sins and mistakes are forgotten. It gives us a reason to be kind and good along with an ultimate goal in our life.

Wars are fought over religion with millions of people dieing, but in the center, through out time the reason is always the same. Live a good life by following these rules, believe in god, and all of your sins/mistakes will be forgotten. By killing each other over religion, we are breaking the sixth commandment, "thou shall not murder," and going against our religion, revoking that we are Christian, Muslim, Jewish, etc. Therefore, if we were truly religious then we would all live at peace in the world.

Science and religion can co-exist because religion, even if all the stories are false, religion is a moral barometer for our lives, telling us what to do and what not to do. Although science does not give us the guidelines to live our life, it does give us new inventions making our life better in a different way. Together, religion and science increases the quality of life by making every moment of our life better.

Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan

Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan revolves around the fact that the Egyptian gods exist. The humans are only pawns that are constantly being used by the gods so they can live on Earth. However, human magicians do not agree with the motives of the gods so they banish them into the "duat." The "duat" is a kind of spirit realm where the gods and various demons take residence when they are not on Earth. Over the years, humans forgot about their punishment to the gods and slowly, some of the evil ones begin to appear, starting with Set.

The two main characters are Carter and Sadie who are siblings but live in different parts of the world. Carter and Sadie's mom died in a mysterious accident so Sadie was sent to live a normal life with her grandparents, while Carter travels the world with his father who is an archeologist. However, on the one day Carter sees his sister Sadie, something goes horribly wrong. The sibling’s father takes them to the museum and tries to set free Osiris, the god of the dead, however in doing so, releases four other gods as well.

Osiris and Set along with, Horus, Isis, and Set's wife are all unleashed at once each one finding a different host while Set flies away to cause mayhem. Carter and Sadie's world drastically changes as they have to run away with their long-forgotten uncle Amos whom they haven't seen for 10 years and learn how to control the gods Horus and Isis which they are hosting within them. Carter and Sadie never find a moment of peace as they run from their mansion in New York, to Egypt, all the way to Paris, teleporting to Washington D.C., only to have to drive all the way to Arizona.

Carter and Sadie barely survive the attack of gods and monsters alike, as they travel from city to city, eventually going to Arizona to face off against Set. They search for a way to defeat Set and, they join up with multiple allies including a cat goddess and a magician named Zia that had been hunting them. This book is a never-ending adventure allowing the reader to be enveloped in impossible situations. Buy this book today!

leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld is a science-fiction book that takes place at the beginning World War I, and starting with the assassination of Prince Aleksander's parents. The story unfolds to tell of how two assassinations leads to a world war between the Clankers (the force that fights with mechanics) and the Darwinists (the force that fights with "fabricated beasts.") Prince Aleksander along with a couple trusty servants go into hiding in a castle high in the mountains of Sweden. However, Prince Aleksander can't help himself from coming to the aid of a stranded airship of Darwinists that has been shot down by German aeroplains

Scott Westerfeld takes many of the real events and characters of World War 1, and puts them into a science-fiction scenario. Taking the two factions and morphing them into completely different forms of military; The Darwinist with various fabricated beasts from the crashed airship (a combination of whale and multiple other strands of DNA) to a Huxley (which is a combination of jellyfish, medusae, and other venomous sea creatures), and The Clankers who use highly advanced steam powered machines, consisting of creations from the storm walker, a form of mech, to the S.M.S. Beowulf, similar to a battleship with legs, to a highly mobile scout unit.

The two main characters are Prince Aleksander, heir to the throne of Austria, and Deryn, a girl disguised as a boy so she could join the airforce. The book depicts the emotional growth that gos on in both characters and how they adapt to the situation they get put into. Such as prince Aleksander who has to learn to act as a commoner along as cope with the death of his parents, and Deryn who in the first week of air training survives a fight on an airship and crash-lands in the icy mountains of Sweden.

This is one of Scott Westerfeld's most engrossing books, pulling the reader into a world of flying whales and walking battleships. Read the book and enjoy the ride!

Year 4891 is a long time away.... or is it?

Is our world of teleporters, flying cars, and a colony on the moon that far away? Perhaps it is just around the corner, waiting as our next major invention that will revolutionize our lives.

Technology is quickly evolving and bringing us closer to the inventions we only dreamt about. 3D technology is now becoming more widespread allowing us to feel as if we are in the movie. Motion controls are now part of every gaming console; Kinect by Microsoft, Wii by Nintendo, and Play Station Move by Sony, allowing us to feel like we are actually doing something.

Are We Using The Internet Or Is The Internet Using Us?

Book cover illustration by Shepard Fairey

The title of this blog is a reference to 1984 by the futuristic writer George Orwell. 1984 is a projection into the future, what is now the past, where somebody or something “big brother” is always watching, a little like how the internet is always keeping track of what we do as we use it.

The internet has become such a big part of our life and a necessity to many we have forgotten the dangers of using it and how much information we put out there and how easy it is to track it. The internet keeps track of all of our posts, every website we go to, and the things we say making them accessible to anyone who is willing to look hard enough.

THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS, by Robert A. Heinlein

The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, by Robert A. Heinlein

In Heinlein's book, the Earth colonizes Luna(the moon) with generations of jailbirds that have been sentenced to live there forever. However, some wish to go back to their home planet. A small group of devoted loonies (people who live on the moon) decide to rebel and they slowly create an uprising to overthrow Earth's rule.

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is one of Robert A. Heinlein's masterpieces. Much of the book is written as an unintelligible dialect that represents the lack of knowledge on the moon and how the loonies are hardly literate. The city is slowly deteriorating due to the neglect shown them by the rulers of Earth.

This book increases the flow of time by making about 3-7 years pass in 200-300 pages. It makes you feel as if you know the characters because you can see them evolve. All the children of the moon transition from being childish to soldiers in a special task force, charged with defending Luna.

This book is worth reading because it shows you the power of one group of people and what they can accomplish.