Alex Ferguson: My Autobiography

“I’ve never played for a draw in my life.” - Sir Alex Ferguson

As most of you may know, I love soccer. Playing it, watching it, and even teaching it. Every male, and even some of the females, in my family played soccer for a club, team, or even their high school at some point in their lives. It's basically tradition and part of our lifestyle.

Today, I really had nothing planned in my mind of what I wanted to do. And, for me that's not normal. What's even crazier is the fact that I went to my dad's bookshelf, grabbed a book, and dove in to read. Lately, I haven't read that many non-fiction books because they aren't my favorite and most of the time, don't interest me. But, this one was different. 

In life, we face many problems and obstacles. It can be something as big as failing a final assessment of a class, or something as small as forgetting to hand in a homework assignment. But that doesn't matter as much as what you do about it. Do you just forget about that homework assignment, or do you work hard to hand it in the next day and at least get some credit on it. This book covers part of that. And just like my main quote states, "I've never played for a draw in my life." (Sir Alex Ferguson). Even though this quote is implemented in soccer games, it can be taken differently. You have to do everything to the best of your ability. If your swimming in a competition, do you swim at 50% of your total ability, or 100%? If your in a football game, do you throw the ball with 50% power and accuracy, or 100% power and accuracy? Or, if your working on a project, should you do it to your best ability, or average ability? 

Sir Alex Ferguson is one of the greatest soccer managers to ever roam this Earth. This book was the story of how all that came to be. He went from a bartender in Scotland who had a passion for soccer, to the manager of a British soccer club which is also one of the most successful clubs in soccer. This autobiography isn't just a story about his life though. Along the way, he offers lessons and quotes he heard along the way, some even being his own, shown above.

To the right I have a video of his final speech at the Home Stadium of Manchester United before his retirement.

One of his most memorable moments was the soccer season of 1999. When he first took over Manchester United, they were an average club that were doing just fine. But after a couple of years, 1999, something sparked with him and that team. They won all 3 tournaments that they participated in, The Champions League, The Premier League, and The FA Cup. Even today, this is very impressive and is extremely rare in a team. Another thing that is very rare is winning as many tournaments and trophies that he did in his managerial career.

I wanted to read this book to see how he did this and the steps he took to be successful in life. Now, I'm not saying that I want to be just like him, well maybe I do. But, the important part, like I said before, is the will to be successful in life. Whether you're a doctor, lawyer, or teacher. Don't play for a draw in life. Play for the win.

The NSA and Digital Fortress by Dan Brown

“Everything is possible. The impossible just takes longer.” - Dan Brown

It's all over the news. The NSA is doing this. It's unconstitutional. They're invading my privacy. They aren't allowed to do this. But what is the NSA? According to Vocabulary.com , it is the United States cryptologic organization that coordinates and directs highly specialized activities to protect United States information systems and to produce foreign intelligence infor

mation.

Recently in my Speech and Debate class, we had to pick a debate topic and research it thoroughly and have a 30 minute debate within 2 weeks. Therefore, I deemed it appropriate to pick a book that is of the same mind. After doing some research, I found the book, 'Digital Fortress' by Dan Brown. He is the author of numerous bestselling books that includes one of the bestselling books of all time, The Da Vinci Code. Some of his other novels include, The Lost Symbol, Angels and Demons, and Inferno. The Digital Fortress, apparently being another one of his popular books, is becoming adapted into an ABC TV series coming soon!

Now to get to the good part. What's this book about! In the United States, one of everyone's biggest fears about the NSA is that the information they gather will one day be hacked and released into the world. Things like your credit card number, social security number, or any other personal information can fall into the wrong hands. Another fear is that the NSA will one day find something that they can't decipher, or can't catch someone who is trying to break in. These things are exactly what happens in this book.

[SPOILER ALERT]

I would first like to start off saying that the way Dan Brown started this book made any other hooks or attention grabbers seem like nothing. The first lines stated, "It is said that in death, all things become clear; Ensei Tankado now knew it was true. As he clutched his chest and fell to the ground in pain, he realized the horror of his mistake." (Brown 1).

In, Digital Fortress, there is a code-breaking supercomputer named TRANSLTR encounters a new and complex code, named Digital Fortress, that it can't break. Therefore Commander Trevor Strathmore calls Susan Fletcher, the head cryptographer to break it. After spending some time on the code, she finds out that it was made by A man named Ensei Tankado, who we later discover was a former NSA employee who was displeased with what many people are displeased with today... the NSA intruding on people's privacy. The villain's intentions are to auction the code on his website and have his partner release kit for free if he dies. So, the whole book is essentially the agency trying to stop Digital Fortress from becoming a threat to the world's national security.

Personally, I would rate this book a 5 out of 5 stars. This book has a bunch of cliffhangers that want to make you keep reading until its finish. then you finish he book and your like, Where's part 2?? This book is like a mix between a Techno-thriller, Mystery, and Science-fiction book. It's one of those book where you have to keep guessing and reading until you find out that you were right or wrong. This is also one of those books where some chapters are told by a different perspective than others. Therefore you can get a more full look at what is really happening in this book.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone willing to dive into a mystery.