Assignment 2 - Evan Winkler

I’ve had a problem, as many other students in this class have, over the past few years of reading too few print books in my spare time. During my elementary school, and to a lesser extent my middle school, careers, I read relatively frequently, in part because of the incentive created by the system of electronic testing available on the school network (AR Testing) for students to evaluate their understanding of what they read, with the students’ participation in it being rewarded by the school.

Since I was in Elementary School, I have enjoyed nonfiction media, both visual and literary, as I discussed in my first post. These include articles, reports, online encyclopedia entries, and required reading for schoolwork, and, since I was in middle school, news and current events. However, in my spare time, i have so infrequently read physical print media that I was very hesitant to call myself a reader.

I have read a number of books for school assignments in high school, and this year that included The Great Gatsby, which I read for Seminar, Redcoats and Rebels: The American Revolution Through British Eyes, which I read for World History, and, for this class, The Teenage Brain and Writing With Style. I have learned from all the books I have read - insight into the historical climate of the 1920’s from The Great Gatsby, more information about the American Revolution from Redcoats and Rebels, more advanced language skills from Writing With Style, and  a general inspiration from various nonfiction I have read.

However, when I read The Teenage Brain last summer, I realized that I did enjoy reading books in my spare time, and I was determined to make it a habit this school year. I am currently reading Stories Of War: Korea by Rod Paschal, a collection and explanation of various firsthand accounts of the Korean War. The author explains multiple implications that the military tactics used during the Korean War had for later American conflicts, and I found this information to be very insightful for my understanding of history and warfare.