Fun Experience During the Semester - Essay Example

?What Have I Learned This Semester This semester for me has been a very fruitful and fun experience. I have encountered many things that have opened my eyes and changed my perspective about the world we live in. I have learned many concepts and ideas that surely will come handy in the future. This semester was focused on studying three books. These books literally transported to places I have never been and provided me with concepts that I have encountered for the first time in my life. These books are: Good Reasons with Contemporary Arguments by Lester FaigleyAnd Jack Selzer, A Long Way Gone Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah and Sizwe's Test: A Young Man’s Journey through Africa’s AIDS Epidemic by Jonny Steinberg. In this essay I will try to condense all the things that I learned from studying these three books with emphasis on the last two in the essay. The book, “Good Reasons with Contemporary Arguments” by Lester FaigleyAnd Jack Selzer, is one of the most informative books I have read in a long time. The book in essence teaches you how to argue with authority. Here I found out that argumentation is a very powerful and effective tool not only to getting your point across but also a getting what you want in general. It talks about why people argue and when they do why do some win and some do not. Before I read this book I had a very haphazard method to argumentation. Basically I just said what I want to get across and hoped that people would agree with me. But with this book I found out that arguing actually is a science and that there is a method to all this argumentation. I learned that there are two goals of an argument, these are position and proposal. In a position, one has to take a stand and make an argument about it. In a proposal, one proposes to solve a certain problem and proposes a solution to the problem. I learned about the tool called rhetoric; pathos, ethos and logos. I also learned about how understand an argument. This helps in weeding out a weak argument. This is very useful for me because with I would be able to spot a weak argument and avoid it. It also taught me to recognize arguments, and that they are present even in every day conversations. This book has taught me to appreciate a good argument and to formulate an even better one on my own. The book A Long Way Gone Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah is the true story of a boy who is forced to become a soldier in the war. In the process he becomes cold and bloodthirsty; the struggle here is his desire to escape his situation and his long and harrowing journey to becoming a child again. The book at first was not easy to read, for some like me who never experienced war and has lived a comfortable life the beginning of the book is a bit hard to digest. I could feel the horror and the fear that Ishmael felt, it was almost like watching a very gruesome war movie. The thing stuck to me was that in the war movies and stories that I know of the soldiers are usually young men or grizzled veterans. In this story the soldier is more of a schoolboy than a soldier. Eventually the book begins to pick up when Ishmael realizes that he must leave Sierra Leone if he ever wants to become a normal human being again. The mood of story begins to change when he sets of to find the peace he has been longing for. The book has interesting characters that and themes. There are important lessons I picked up from this book. The one that stuck with me is that in life no matter what happens there is always hope. No matter how hard the road that Ishmael had to travel he still persevered and in the end he found what he was looking for. This proves that no matter what happens in life if we strive for something better we will most likely receive it. The journey that Ishmael undertook is proof of this. The book Sizwe's Test: A Young Man’s Journey through Africa’s AIDS Epidemic by Jonny Steinberg, is another book that I picked up valuable lessons from. This book tackles a very sensitive yet widespread topic; it is about the AIDS epidemic in South Africa. I have never in my life known of anyone who was stricken with this disease. My knowledge of AIDS is but rudimentary, I know that it is incurable, I know how one can contract AIDS, but have never really cared much aside from that. Furthermore I don’t really believe I should care much because I am not exposed to it on a daily basis. This book changed that outlook in life. I found out that there are places that have AIDS epidemics, just like we have flu epidemics, only in this case these people drop dead. The book is the story of two people: Sizwe Magadla; a young and successful man, who lives within the epicenter of an AIDS epidemic and does not want to be tested for AIDS; the other is Hermann Reuter who is a doctor who does his best to provide treatment and testing to people who have AIDS. This book about the ordeal of Sizwe who has relatives stricken with AIDS but himself does not want to take the test lest the results ruin his successful life. It is also about Kate Marrandi who is devoted to helping people in the village deal with AIDS. I learned about Anti-retroviral drugs that patients can take to make living with AIDS bearable. I also learned about the biggest problem facing AIDS in South Africa, it is the ignorance AIDS and stigma that people with AIDS encounter. The most important lesson I believe that I picked up here is that though there may be no cure for AIDS life does not end for people diagnosed with it. This book definitely changed my view of AIDS and people afflicted with AIDS. I have all the admiration for people who tirelessly work for people with AIDS just like Maria and Hermann. Read More