The Hot Zone First Lit. Circle Letter

Dear reading group members,

This is my first literature/reading circle letter on the supposedly highly acclaimed book titled The Hot Zone by Richard Preston. My reading group members chose this book because it seemed to appeal to our style of reading. I personally enjoy reading books that involve a large amount of tension, but normally those books that I choose to read are fictional. The Hot Zone feels a bit different to me due to the fact that the story is true. So far I have the understanding that the book is about extremely deadly and contagious viruses that lurk around all the parts of the world. But, as I read further in the book, I learned that these viruses not only "live" (I put live in quotations because biologically, viruses do not show any signs of actually being alive compared to other microscopic organisms) in foreign countries. It turns out that a select few of the millions of Americans have the opportunity to work in government labs to better the understanding of these dangerous "agents." The scientists have a wide range of backgrounds ranging from hunters, to fishers, to your average American house-wife. The plot takes a while to develop. About half-way through the book, I'll just say that a virus may possibly place the safety of the United States in jeopardy (I am still not done reading, so I will just half to find out). I have to give Richard Preston a lot of credit for having the ability to change a compilation of interviews and research into such an intense story.

The book is written in a sort of third-person form accompanied by a ton of information about the viruses. This made it a bit difficult for me to adjust after reading the novel, Parable of Talents. To me, I do not believe that there is a main character. The book seems to jump from character to character revealing their thoughts at certain instances and their surroundings from their own points of view. This made it a bit more odd to annotate the pages because I had to find something to center my annotations on (it helps me annotate to find some sort of topic or center point to focus my notes on). So, instead of just letting myself sit their confused reading the book, I decided in my own mind that I will make the various viruses the "main character(s)." I have to admit, at first, this seemed quite bizarre for me, but then it started to make sense for me. I decide to mark and comment on pages that gave background history and information on the viruses, and how the viruses affected the lives of the people that it infected or the people that had to work with it. I might end up regretting this soon when I will have to write an essay reviewing this book, but it appears to be working for now.

Literature/reading group members, I apologize for reading so far ahead of you guys. I just wanted to stay on schedule. But, I hope that we all can eventually catch up to a certain point where we have all read up to a relatively equivalent spot. This would make it a whole lot more easily for us to discuss things in class just in case if any of us get confused. I am confident that you guys will catch up and probably even surpass me because you guys are obviously faster readers than I am. Oh well, I guess all that we can do is keep reading and allow the story to unfold before us.

Sincerely,
Your reading group member

Technological Evolution

Looking back to last week, I still cannot get the idea of these technological advancements out of my head. The TED video was surprising and shocking at the same time. I have recently been aware of the exponential growth rate of technological improvements. These improvements are occurring more faster and often as time goes on. This is amazing, because robots and other artificial life are becoming more realistic, just like that one robot dog thing. It was able to regain its balance when it was kicked by that one man. What I found even more interesting, was when the robot dog thing was slowly going down the snowy hill. It made a life-like mistake of slipping, but then it regained its footing. I watch a few science fiction movies from time to time thinking that some are completely unrealistic. But, when I saw the robot dog thing, I slowly started to think of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Terminator. Could the "age of machine" really be real? And if so, how close are we to reaching it? This is one thing that scared me.

Another part of the video that we saw, focused on cell research, the duplication of organs and other various body parts. Whatever problems that could not be fixed by replacement, was fixed by technology (such as hearing aids for the deaf). And due to the ever increasing speed of technological advancements, the deaf will be able to hear better and better as time goes on. The man in the video said that possibly in a few technological generations, a deaf man will have a hearing aid that will allow him to hear better than the average human. And from then on, hearing aids will continue to become even better than the one before. He brought up the idea that humans are at such a high level, that they could possibly create their next evolution. Now, I am a Catholic, and I am sort of afraid of the fact that humans will be interfering with a natural cause of nature. Is it right for us to be playing God?. What scares me the most is the thought, what if we mess up? I mean, we're only human. Will there be extreme consequences? Only time will tell if we choose to do such.