Log #7

Do not go gentle into that good night,

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

- Dylan Thomas (1914 ~ 1953)

From time to time, I picture how my life would look like ten years from now. I wonder where I would be, what career I would possess, and what kind of father I would become. The poem above was written by Dylan Thomas, and it was a dedication to his dying father. Thomas wrote this poetry in order to show his rage towards his inevitable faith, and to show his respect towards his beloved father. He could not accept the fact that his father would ultimately pass away; therefore, he wrote these words to encourage readers to fight against the Death and humans' inevitable faiths. From this poetry, we are able to understand how tiny we human beings are, and how few opportunities we have when we face our endings.

I always see myself as a man who cannot live without mental treatment. Frankly speaking, it is extremely difficult for me to deal with my various emotions aroused by multiple incidents - incidents that may be seemed as unworthy to some people, yet, easily cause strong effects on me. I have been living this way for years, and from my personal experiences and doctor's suggestions, I may have to endure these pessimistic characteristics the rest of my life. Though desperate it may sounds, I gradually accept this fact and understand I will have to view this as a part of my life as a human.

The picture was taken while I was reading The Old Man and the Sea in a book store. The book reminded me of Dylan Thomas's poetry about an old man fighting against his faith. Sadly, I didn't have enough time to finish reading the book and didn't have enough knowledge and experiences to understand what the book was trying to teach me. However, the one thing that I learned was that I cannot live without my faith. Indeed, what would I be if I do not have the abilities to overcome the impossibilities? What chances do I have if I have no courage to take risks living the consequences?

A great singer* once wrote his last words before he shot himself: It is better to burn out, than fade away. This quote has now become my motto that encourages me to move on whenever I'm depress and seek for a easy way out. After I read about his background history and listened to his legacies to this world, I learned that though we all face demons in our minds, we get to choose to follow its will or deny its existence. Night is the darkest before the dawn, so do not go gentle into that good night. We all shall come to an end someday, yet, we all have the chances to stay and not fade away. Let us all burn our rage while we still can, and light up the darkness and leave out all the rest.

Do not go gentle into that good night.

*Kurt Cobain (1967 ~ 1994), the vocal of the legendary band Nirvana

Log #6

What I Learned About Death
"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life." - Steve Jobs (1955~2011)

The past two weeks had been one of the toughest periods of times in my life. I was suffering from the pressure of my position in TEDx and the money that I waste on a pack of cigarettes. I was not aware of  how much impact both these decisive factors would cause until I actually thought about ending my 19 years and 5 months of life. It may literally sounds ridiculous and unbelievable, considering the fact that I will have a bright future - so the one who cares about me said - which ultimately leads me to a better life; therefore, I should never give up on myself. However, after the chaotic mass and millions of times of mental treatments, I thought the decision to suicide was probably the most valuable thing that I learn in my college life.

I'm not afraid of telling other people about the anxiety disorder and the depression that I have. Nevertheless, I was told that I had never actually regard the importance and the consequence as a significant element which might cause me to death. My doctor always asks me to take pills on time and put even more effort in my works in order to distract my attention. I find it useless, because I still think about dozens of ways to kill myself and when I should execute the decision. Horrifying it may sounds, I have never jumped of a building, and I will probably never do it.

When a famous person dies, everyone begins to mourn and states how sad the incident is; when a normal citizen, like you and me, dies, the society may criticize how untrustworthy he or she is. The death of the female writer was indeed a tragedy, but it reminds us of how much impact one's death may cause to the people who loved her, and even the whole society. If I ever end my life, I will fail my parent's expectation, my friends' beliefs and even my girlfriend - who brought me back on the right track. I do not care about how this society may see me, but I shall never fail the ones who love me. Yes, my life will end, and I have no clue when things may go down. However, knowing that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.

Concept Map

     
      This is my concept map v1.0. I divided it into two part: Before and after senior high school. As you can see on the photo,  I drew several pointers which indicate the personality. This is for the purpose of depicting the relationship between my behavior and characteristics.

Log #5

      

Am I a Ghost? Or just a Shell?

      What is the definition of life? What is the meaning of life? With built-in conscious, a life form has the ability to create creative thoughts and communicate with other lives. However, if "conscious" can be man-made, can it be considered to be a "life form"? If these man-made conscious do have emotions, feelings and even pains, do they represent a new form "life"? If so, what does life mean? How much does it take to become a life? 

     These were the question I ask myself after watching the animation movie Ghost In the Shell (1995). The movie not only beautifully depicted a massive robotic world ruled by various kinds of life forms, but also combined philosophies from multiple cultures and religions. What surprised me the most was that Ghost In the Shell was, in fact, the film that inspired the director of The Matrix, which was also considered to be one of the greatest movies of all time. Both of them established an enormous virtual worlds that demonstrated how creative human minds could be.

     That leads to another question: Can "conscious" be programed and put together? At present, many scientists and engineers are managing to create artificial intelligent machines which have the abilities to think and learn. They design these machines for the purpose of inputing emotions and senses in them, so that these machines would look more like "humans". Some would say these programmers are crossing the line - the differences between human and robot -, saying these robots will ultimately possess the power to destroy man kinds. Others believe these creations may set a new milestone in human history, saying they will establish a new era for humans.

      After I watched the film, I thought about putting my conscious into a healthier, stronger and powerful body and starting a completely new life. If my conscious can be programmed, I would like to have all my depressed emotions and memories to be erased. As for my "old" body, I would keep it in the storage to remind me not to make same mistakes that I had made before. If these movie plots is real, I would be a "ghost" who can live in any "shell". Because, after all, we are nothing but created forms of lives.

Log #4

Causes of Poverty
      Throughout the past few weeks, we have been gathering all the resources which we found on the internet. These information were either published by experts in this field or provided by advocates around the world. Although it seemed that there were plenty passionate people trying to solve this worldwide phenomenon, poverty issue has always been an severe issue in many countries (especially in the 3rd world such as Africa and middle-east countries.) We have mapped out some the major causes to this issue, and here is the list of problems that we organized.

      First major problem to poverty is war, which brings death and political instability. Most of the countries suffering from poverty are either waging war or at reestablishment stage. To make a country work smoothly requires young workers, but countries at war consume massive amount of human resources. They do not possess enough people to devote themselves in the society; therefore, the government cannot establish basic, fundamental constructions. Without these functions, a nation would not have enough power to work.

      Second major problem is national debt. Countries who are in financial crisis may have to pay billions of dollars each year. Their governments cannot deposit enough funds to national banks, thus, do not have the ability to negotiate with more powerful countries. Debts usually derive another critical issue: Inflation. Not every country has the ability to print US dollars. Since these countries may lose credit from their creditors, their currency get low, making them no choice but to print more money.

      Third major problem are discrimination and social inequality. They may be related to region in parts of the nations who does not allow women and low-social-status people receiving education. These countries' belief causes lack of intellectuals and labors, making them losing the ability to compete with other stronger nations. Furthermore, although some advocates wanting this restriction to be banned, other opponents take fatal actions to obey this point of view (usually by terrorism). Without common agreement, a nation wouldn't solve this problem.

References:

>Top 5 Causes of Poverty

https://borgenproject.org/what-causes-global-poverty/

>You Won’t Believe How Many Countries Still Won’t Allow Women The Right To Education

http://elitedaily.com/women/separate-unequal-countries-worst-gender-inequality-education/

>Caste System in Modern India

http://adaniel.tripod.com/modernindia.htm

Log #3

Into the Wild
"Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose." - Kris Kristofferson

      The 2007 movie "Into the Wild" is definitely one of the most unforgettable masterpieces that I have ever seen as far as I could remember. The director and the scriptwriter perfectly depicted a true, incredible journey of one man, Christopher McCandless, who had shown the greatness of mankind and the desire to be set free. Even though I have already seen this movie for many times, I still get inspired and be encouraged by the story every time.

      The title literally explains everything about this film: a young university graduate gave up his family, bright future, ID card, bank account, etc. He burned basically everything that can prove his "existence" with fire and then, stepped onto a one-way trip to Alaska. The reason behind these actions was all due to his disbelief in modern society, which values money and power than humanity.

      It's this fast pace world that consumes our spirit and willingness to take risks of doing things we think we never would. The only way to pursue freedom is that we have nothing to lose. It would be the time when we begin to fing something worth living for and achieve greatness with renewed minds. 

"If we admit that human life can be ruled by reason, then all possibility of life is destroyed." - Christopher McCandless

Log #2

When the Wind Blows
      I would never forget a comic book that I read when I was a little kid. Written by Raymond Briggs, "When the Wind Blows" was a political allegory which warns citizens of all countries that their governments may start a war any time. Even though nuclear war never occurs in the real world, we may understand the fact that there are many things out of people's reach, and the government may ignore people's demanding and execute false protocols which bring destructions to the society.

      Poverty is a severe problem worldwide, and yet, still need to be solved. No matter which system you are living in (either capitalism or communism), you always see economy depression each year. That being said, the government tells the people to have faith in them, giving them more time to search for the solution and vote for them for another 4 years. The real problem is, they never find the solution to poverty, and there are more and more people waiting in the unemployment line.

      A famous French poet once said, "When the wind blows, we must find ways to survive." In fact, this was the same quote written in Miyazaki Hayao's 2014 movie "Wind Blows". Indeed, life always finds its way to survive. What we can to do solve "poverty issue" is to donate money to the charity which devotes themselves into assisting poor people. A little money it may be, but a massive encouragement to the whole society.

Log #1

The Sound of Silence

      Ever since the internet has developed even more rapidly than ever, modern people tend to ignore the actual content of a social event. This is we are living in a fast pace society, and we look forward to receiving instant messages from the publisher. Thus, we often neglect the content (or even the truth) and we gradually focus on what information of the "title" can transfer to us only.

      Ever heard of "標題殺人法" before? It has become a worldwide, social phenomenon since many modern media intervened in the social network. Do not underestimate what these media/publishers can do. By means of "標題殺人法", they have the ability to fool viewers - misleading the viewers by telling a lie to the society - due to the fact that modern people believe in what they read with their first look, and they are too lazy to click the link and read through the whole content. What's even worse comes later.

       There are more and more irresponsible people leave cynical comments which criticize the incident without paying any price. These comments are usually either harmful to the real victim or disgraceful, and other online users even support these comments by clicking "like" or tweeting these ideas. However, the most crucial factor that allows these phenomena is that no one stands up to against them. Users do not have the ability to stop these cynical comments from appearing because they all think it's either out of their range or not their business. This is when modern society becomes "silent".

      Are there any possible ways to prevent these incidents from happening? I believe there is. According to Denzel Washington, the famous actor, he believes that "If you don't watch the news, you are uninformed; if you watch the news, you are misinformed". As global citizens, we are ought to filter the source of our information, so that we may have fewer opportunities to receive false messages from the media. Despite the fact that we cannot disconnect from the social network, we can still decide whether we believe in what we read or not.

Log #7

Book: Go Set A Watchman
Author: Harper Lee

         Racial discrimination will always be a harmful problem in our society. No matter what age of people, sex, culture, or education, discrimination is deeply planted down in someone's opinion and is hard to unplug it. Moreover, stereotype is another huge problem as well. There won't be a day when we stop segregate other species.

         I cannot believe Henry was a discriminator. I liked this character, but his reaction towards viewing people who have different skin color made me sad and disappointed. I thought him to be a more decent gentleman, and his relationship with Jean started to attract me. Now that I know he is nothing but another guy who live in the city of Maycomb.

         Well, I guess environment does change how people view things. I won't judge him, since Maycomb city itself is full of discrimination and racism. However, as far as I am concerned, you still can vary your opinions towards things. Despite the fact that we cannot change where we born, we can still learn to become better people as we grow up.

         To sum up, I guess the famous quote, "Don't judge a book by its cover", is sometimes unsuitable when it comes to humanity. I just really wish to see the changes of Henry's characteristics since he is the main character. As I continue to read on, the last thing I want to see is a racist marry Jean Louise, the other main character.

Log #6

Book: Go Set A Watchman
Author: Harper Lee

        It always fascinates me how the author is able to create different characters' appealing characteristics. By using writing individual dialog and description, the author make these characters alive, as if they are actual people, and we readers get to have a glimpse in their lives, be a "watchman" and see how their stories go. It's just incredible, and I'm actually starting to like these characters, who didn't attract my attention at first.

        The relationship between the characters started to get intense. From my perspective, conflict always arise based on the lack of understanding in people. Moreover, it is very hard to establish a bridge between generations, especially when people have stereotypes on each other. Therefore, "generation gap" arouses, and becomes a huge problem for people to communicate. We get to see the emotions and variations of the characters in the story as it goes on.

        The long history between black people and white has always been a social problem in America. Even if people do not talk about it anymore, it's still happening everyday. not just in the old times in the 50s. I believe this novel talks about more than just the racial issue in the American society, but more like discussing the inner layer of how the issue affect people's opinions towards the world that they are living in.

        If I were Jean Louise, I would have leave my hometown as far away as I could and never come back. It's so hard for me to discover the truth and face towards it. One lie is too many for me to live the consequence. How would I dare to look at my family if I have been stayed in the shadow for so long? What's more, what keeping so many secrets with a man who you may love, or you don't. Why not just admit the relationship between both of you? 

Log #5

Book: Go Set A Watchman

Author: Harper Lee

Log #5 (Group Reading)

The way back home is a long journey for Jean Louise. Twenty years after the “incident" occurred in Maycomb city, Jean finally decided to travel all the way from New York City to her hometown, where her respectful father, Atticus Finch, the hero of the town lives. The world was not how it was before, and yet, it's still beautiful as it used to be. Jean never noticed these tiny details of all the lovely things around her. Maybe she was just too careless. Or, maybe, she was just too tired. The way home on a train was indeed frustrating, but the landscape had never been this magnificent. The arrival at her hometown came along with a big kiss on her lips by a tall man. It was Henry, the man who crazily fell in love with her, the man who had always been her friend. However, for Henry, it’s more than a “simple relationship”. The story will continue as Jean finally meets her father, and Henry proposes to her.

“Go Set A Watchman” is actually the sequel to the famous best-selling novel “To Kill A Mockingbird”. I was told that the first book was about cultural segregation, sexism and was related to multiple social events. That was the reason that made the book so unique. However, as I was reading its sequel, it was a little hard for me relate it to the first one. I didn’t see the plots which were connected to the first one. It’s more like a “side story”, which contains same characters, same background, but have no connection with each other. As far as I have read, it feels like rather a love story between this two character, and the book will focus on the relationship of them two, and Jean’s father is going to die. I know it sounds pretty harsh, but I predict this is how most of the novel’s plot goes. That being said, I’m still pretty excited about how the story goes, and am looking forward to reading it. 

Log #5

Reading Log 5

A bathroom, 20 bottles, a bathtub filled with acid, and a dead woman body in it. The woman has been soaked in the acid for at least three days. You barely recognize whether its a human body or not. There are no finger prints, no face and no skins. Perhaps the killer was too smart to had done this. The crime scene is thrilling, not because of the wild sex party before she died, but because of her death was part of a meticulous plan. NYPD is going to have a lot of work tonight, since they will need to figure out who the woman is, and figure out who the killer is. Was she raped? Was she kidnapped? Or, was she a piece of a greater conspiracy? It turned out, the killer did raped the victim, and sexual maltreated before she died. However, the murderer was not a man, it was a woman. Why? We have no clue yet. And she will not be the last one who dies…

“I am pilgrim” was indeed a well-written fiction crime novel, and you can tell that by reading only the first few pages. The author carefully constructed every detail and establish great characteristics of the people in the book. As you carry on reading it, you get to see the reality of our world: the world is full of justice, as well as injustice. It’s like coin tossing, and it’s impossible to predict which side we may get. When reading this novel, you actually feel the desperation and sin within human nature. People do kill others for no reasons. Or perhaps, for so called “greater master plan”? I’ve read few crime novels before, but this one is unique, which get me more interested in reading more novels like it. I really hope to see more well-compiled novel, and cannot wait to see read more pages.

Three Impressive Presentation

Three Impressive Presentation - Marcus

Three most impressive sharing of the class:

Jerry 楊 - Everything and nothing

When thinking of the number 42, what comes into your mind? Does it mean anything to you? Or, it means nothing to you? As we grow up, we gradually realize that many things in our lives are not as actual as what we thought them to be. Life is strange, and we have so questions yet to be answered. However, do we really need these answers in order to find peace in our mind? Or, perhaps these are nothing to us? Jerry’s sharing provided me opportunities to think about question that I have never thought about before. It’s actually quite interesting since I was judging the book by its cover, which was more like a child’s reading material than top ten book in BBC list. 

“The answer to life, the universe, and everything.” It’s none. Maybe it’s 42. Maybe there isn’t an ultimate goal in our life. Maybe there is, but we need to find one for ourselves. Before that, let’s find the answer to save our planet instead first.

Jenny 鄭 - Fear nothing and live for something

After hearing her presentation, I have to think about what would I do if I lose my mobility and the strength to speak. It basically means I receive a notification which declares I’m going to die soon. When having the disease, would I be able to have the courage to live? Or, would I just give upon myself and accept my destiny? Carrying ALS, there’s nothing much you can do about it. Few weeks ago, I accidentally came across a documentary on the internet of a man who had suffering from this disease, he chose to rest in peace with his dignity by pressing the euthanasia button all by himself with his last breath. To me, that was a man who had a wonderful life with his wife and children, decided to leave this world with his pride and love. It’s truly remarkable and respectful. I believe what a man should possess in his life, is the courage to take actions and accept the consequences. Having no doubt and no fear to live, we would be able to find something worth living for. 

Cindy 鄭 - I’m not kidding

Ellen Degeneres is indeed one of the most influential people in the world. As a homosexual and human rights advocator, she successfully set up an icon for people and readers to follow. However, before her incredible career, she had fought a extremely long way to her present high status. “Sometimes the greatest things are the most embarrassing” The book name “Seriously…I’m kidding” does attract people to have a glimpse into the life of an amazing story of a outstanding celebrity.  I believe, in one’s life, one must not take things too seriously. Sometimes, we need to lay low ourselves and laugh about all the miserable things in our lives, so that we may keep an open-mind and carry on our steps. To sum up, no one is born mature, but no one is ever childish. With what we learn throughout our journey, we will find a balance in our lives.

Log #4

Book: How To Deliver A TED Talk?
Author: Jeremey Donovan

How to deliver a good speech? What is the meaning of telling a story on the stage in front of the crowd? Where to find the best audience that will give a big applause at the end of the performance? The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind. After reading this book, apart from pages of notes and words, there are pages of words and letters in my notebook, and the motivation to give a speech on the stage.

I didn’t select novels in the first place. Instead, I chose this tool book which provided me with hundreds of details of how to create a great talk in front of the audience. I believe the most important element of a speech is “the desire to change the world”. When I used to participate in speech contest, I’d always wanted to change people’s point of views with my words and body movements. Writing a great script isn’t hard, the way you deliver it to the listeners is. So here comes the question: How to deliver a great script?

There are many outstanding TED Talksters out there in the field, such as Sir Ken Robinson, the professor who is famous for his “Do School Kill Creativity?” talk. He has his own sense of humor and creatively include it in his talks. Moreover, when Brené Brown talked about “The Power of Vulnerability”, she used various stories and multiple perspectives to express her concepts to the audience, and the results indeed changed many viewers’ lives. From these materials, I’ve learned that a good speaker must establish his or her own style to talk, and always be fearless when speaking on the stage.

The reason why I joined TEDxNTUST was to spread the worthy ideas. Using my own on-stage experiences to guide Talksters to deliver their notions and share their stories with the audiences. We all have the desire to change this world, maybe just a smart of it, but it is worth it. I believe the main concept of this book is to inspire people to share their moments in lives or incredible ideas to each other. To sum up, I sincerely hope I will have the opportunity to deliver a TED Talk on the stage someday, and I will always walk forward towards that dream.

Think Different

Original Realsed Version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmwXdGm89Tk

Think Different - Apple, Inc. Commercial, 1997

Here's to the crazy ones.

The misfits.

The rebels.

The troublemakers.

The round pegs in the square holes.

The ones who see things differently.

They're not fond of rules

And they have no respect for the status quo.

You can praise them, quote them, disagree with them

disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them.

About the only thing that you can't do is ignore them.

Because they change things.

They invent.     They imagine.     They heal.

They explore.   They create.        They inspire.

They push the human race forward.

Maybe they have to be crazy.

How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art?

Or sit in silence and hear a song that's never been written?

Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?

We make tools for these kinds of people.

While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.

Because the people who are crazy enough to think that they can

change the world, are the ones who do.

Q: How many people in the video can you recognize?
Q: Why are they on this video?

Steve Job's Unrealsed Version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rzu6zeLSWq8

Reading Log #3

Book: How To Deliver  A TED Talk
Author: Jeremey Donovan

Today, October 23rd, is a big day for TEDxNTUST: It’s our team’s annual TEDxEvent. Through out the past few months, we had been gathering all the resources we could find, organizing every details and confronting various kinds of barriers. Thanks to our belief, we held a successful speech which ultimately delivered the core notion of this year’s theme: Wall Breaking.

I work as the host of the event. To be honest, I never thought that I would have the opportunity to stand on the same stage with TED Talksters, who have incredible stories to share and ideas to spread. Considering I didn’t have enough experience to hold a event, I thought I would never make it. Writing scripts is one thing, while performing is another. I had no choice but to practice hundreds of times and had nightmares for several days. I couldn’t sleep well under this pressure, so I found myself a way to release it, which is to listen to one of our performer’s debut album. Music is indeed a helpful way to exchange thoughts and emotions. According to the book, ideas can be conveyed through all kinds of methods, not just words or speeches.

We had a really wonderful and unforgettable experience. From this experience, we met new friends from different places and shared individual thoughts and comments. I believe this was why TED was invented in the first place: Creating a platform for people who have amazing thoughts or stories to communicate with each other. This is my first time working as a host, and it’s definitely not going to be the last time. There are still plenty of opportunities awaiting me in the future.

“Don’t ever underestimate your abilities, because you have your own stories to tell.” this was a quote from my script, and was also the best line to end today’s reading log. Although I had not much time to read the book, I did have wonderful memories which were beyond any words or pages. Maybe next time, if possible, I’m going to be the Talkster on the stage! There’s a long way to go, and it’s time for me to move on! 

Log #2

Book: How To Deliver a TED Talk
Author: Jeremey Donovan

There are two voices in your head, one is an angel, another is a devil. Angel tells you that you have the ability to influence and even encourage other people by the speech you deliver. Everyone can be a inspirational and powerful TEDxNTUST Talksters if he or she has the will to accomplish this achievement. However, the devil tells you that you will never be a successful speaker because the one thing you are good at is watching TV in the living like a couch potato. You don't need to waste your time on writing a speech because you cannot inspire other people. Nothing amazing have ever happened on your life.

The first thing to deliver a good TED talk is to kick the devil out of your head. You need to set yourself a target, choosing your persona based on whether your primary objective is to educate, entertain, or inspire, and make sure to combine your content with emotions. Educators are ought to have the ability to convey his or her knowledge fluently. They are the people who seek to discover the nature of things people create, because "creativity" is the foundation of all things. Entertainers are required to be capable of persuade their audience through humorous ways. They should to understand people's needs and satisfy them. You can describe them as the "comedian" on the stage. Change agents are ones who have the power to raise audiences' spirit by his or her speech. They are able to inspire people with their words and emotions. The most common way is to share the speakers own personal experiences or stories.

One of the most efficient way to provide audiences with motivation to take action is by framing the core idea as an action-outcome response to a question worth asking. "If conditions", "To (action) so that (outcome)" are some very effective examples of this method. Listeners should be able to come up with their own answers or solution after hearing the key question of the speech. Words are very powerful tools to create pure seed which can be planted in receivers' minds. If the speaker successfully deliver his or her message, these seeds will even grow stronger constantly after the speech, and become receivers' own original thoughts.

To sum up, it is very important to connect with listeners' deep-rooted needs for belonging, self-interests and hope for the future. When delivering a successful 18 minutes TED Talk, it's necessary to let audiences immerse in the stories the speaker is sharing. The audiences are already aware they are participating in a speech, the speaker's goal is to create a platform for them to create their own review and comments about themselves. Speaker should recall listeners' desire to discover more about the speech, and I believe that this is the purpose of sharing "ideas worth spreading".

Log #1

       Book: How to Deliver A TED Talk

       Author: Jeremey Donovan

      How to deliver a good speech? Over the past few years, I have participated in  quite a lot speech contest, and have won several medals from some of them. I consider myself to be a good speech deliver from these experiences that I gained, believing that I have the ability to persuade people with my essay and facial expressions. I was proud of myself, and thought I could always walk on the stage and show audience what I prepared. However, I recently read this book named "How to Deliver a TED Talk?" First thing it taught me: Forget about being a good speaker.

       "Speaking does not inspire people; contents inspire people." After reading these words, I finally realize what made my speech so special (according to my high school teacher) was that not only my performances on the stage, but also how I wrote my essays. A great speech involves with practices and corrections. I always believe that if you input your spirit and writing skills into an essay, even a single line can create a legendary quote.

       "TED's mission is to share ideas worth spreading, and its missionaries do not disappoint." Being a member of TEDxNTUST, I sincerely believe my mission is to provide various methods to guide our TED Talksters to deliver a memorable speech. This is the reason why I chose this book in the first place. I know what it feels like to enjoy an incredible speech with audience's perspective, so I want to create other ones for more people to immerse themselves as well.

       After shortly reading the foreword and introduction, I understand why Ideas Worth Spreading is the core of TED organization, and I realize I'm destined to dedicate myself to help more Talksters  to give out unforgettable speeches to more audiences. I can't wait to view more pages in the next few weeks!

My Reading History

         I do consider myself as both English and Chinese reader since I read various kinds of news articles daily and read Chinese or English novels from time to time. If you must ask whether I’m an “enthusiastic” book-lover or not, then the answer is probably negative. Because, well, you know reading it’s more like a habit or leisure activity to me, which help me relax or gain new knowledge from the reading materials that I chose. I do love those books which can help me learn more about humanity and how people think, because they do provide me

        The book that I really like and impressed me the most is definitely the legendary novel “1984” by George Orwell. I first read it when I was about 15 years old and I still could remember how it affected me. This is the book that changed my viewpoints on politics, human rights, morality and justice. “Big Brother is watching you.” has truly become a real phenomenon in some countries in our world. I still cannot believe why George can foresee this. The ending was tragic, and it did crush my poor young soul since I read it at a young age. As you can see, it does have a great impact on me.

        In my opinion, reading is not only for taking exams, but for improving thinking abilities, which helps you think faster and take quicker actions. It’s not about black words on white sheets or scores on the final exam, it’s about becoming a person who has the ability to solve problems with what he or she learned from the books. And who wrote these books? They were the ones who faced the same problems and finished them, and therefore; recorded them as experiences for us readers to view.

        There’s no really “who” asked me to become a reader. However, my mother is a book-lover. At young age, she often read articles in Business Weekly or newspaper before I went to sleep and wished me become a successful person. I guess her love encouraged and inspired me to do something greater, and in order to accomplish that, I must acquire skills and knowledge by reading and motivation. All in all, I believe my mother is the one who inspired me to become a so called “reader”.