The Kite Runner - To call it a creative piece of art would be an understatement!

The Kite Runner is a novel by Khaled Hosseini. Due to the small chance that Kite Runner is in fact not a novel I will state that my source was Wikipedia. A couple of weeks ago our English teacher gave us the assignment to read the entire book (324 pages, again Wikipedia since I’m not finished) which to me is considered a less than fun duty. My impression of books are: They are usually long, boring and not nearly exciting enough to get me hooked or even to make me finish the whole book. The thought of reading 324 pages in my vacation sent shivers down my spine. I am usually not a person who lets prejudices decide my impression and opinions so I decided to give it a fair chance.


The first 5 pages did not convince me it was worth reading, a lot of boring descriptions far more precise than needed, actions and situations which seemed everything but interesting and I’ve read those exact pages before. Usually I would have stopped reading the book by then but since it was a school assignment I continued my reading. To this date (12.10.2010) I am grateful for this. The Kite Runner is one of the greatest, most moving and addictive things I have ever seen, read and heard in my life. The characters, situations, dialogues and even the descriptions are touching, addictive and excellent written. You make up clear feelings and opinions on each character which immediately makes the story more captive. Khaled Hosseini takes us back to Afghanistan in the 1970s where Amir and Hassan are two friends, practically brothers and yet servant and master. In the beginning of the book you follow the two through their childhood and meet a gallery of unique characters which you grow fond of or want to kick in the groin. Amir and Hassan experiences a different childhood then we are used to here in Norway and shares some wonderful moments and some less wonderful. The person I am most impressed by and the one I care most about is definitely Hassan which through his “catch phrase” “For you, a thousand times over” and actions has stunned me. In a positive way I may add.

I am as previously stated not finished with the book, and I do realize I am a few years after the millions who have read it but if you have not. I ********** ******* (My name hidden in stars xD), a person who dislikes reading, recommend this book to the fullest and whole heartedly. Even though I have not read the whole thing I believe I can recommend it due to its magnificence. All arguments and reasons for liking this book is my opinion, you are of course entitled to feel differently. I only wanted to emphasize the fact that this is not a correct way to respond to this book or anything similar but simply my opinions and thoughts about

Facebook - A powerful social tool and a distraction?

February 2004. Mark Zuckerberg; a sophomore student currently attending Harvard creates a web page which will change socializing over internet forever. Facebook, a webpage created for communication between students at Harvard turned into a massive world phenomenon. In July 2006 Facebook went public which made it available to everyone. Since then Facebook has achieved to obtain 500 million active users from all over the world. A page loved by millions as an extraordinary communication and socializing tool making it possible to stay in touch with friends, family, colleagues and acquaintances. However, allegedly there is trouble in paradise claimed by Professor Paul Kirschner, who after a thorough study has come to the conclusion that using Facebook while working has consequences for exam results.

“The exam results of students who used Facebook while working – even if only intermittently – were on average 20 per cent lower than people who did not, psychologists said.” From the article published by Daily Telegraph. This is a significantly lower score which should be taken seriously. How did they come to this numbers you may ask yourself at this point. Here is how they performed their study: Researchers in America examined 219 students aged from 19 to 54, and found that Facebook users scored a grade point average of 3.06 out of four, while those who did not use the website while studying scored on average 3.82. Even though this seems like a reliable study you cannot read every aspect of the case from it. The starting intellectual level of each student, the ability of obtaining information more quickly, the dedication and will to work to each student can affect the test score. All of these factors plays a role in the study but are not shown. This is not meant as an offensive remark, but in a scenario where students smarter than the average population stays away from Facebook while the less intelligent log on Facebook. If they would have switched spots the test scores would (probably) still show a (clear) advantage to the naturally brighter students. The difference could have been decreased if they would have stayed of Facebook, it could have increased if Facebook in fact gave them the pause they needed to restore their learning capability or extend their study session.

However the numbers are clear and the fact that the students on Facebook scored lowered cannot be twisted, but my point is that you will not automatically achieve greater scores by not being on Facebook while working. This study cannot definitive prove that Facebook was the main and final reason the results turned out in the way they did.

I do believe students would perform better if not distracted from school work, not only Facebook. I only felt obligated to point out the fact that Facebook is not the nail in the coffin for good scores at exams. Facebook is an amazing tool, but as all tools invented and used by humans has to be used with common sense. Also, it turns out common sense tells us to stay off Facebook during school. Unfortunately it is not so easy to follow your own advice. Oh and here is the article, even though I honestly believe I have summarized the article to such a sufficient degree which leads to the lack of need to read it. Anyways

Kristoffer 2STD