Born A Crime: An Exhilarating Account Of Survival

*Spoiler Alert*

Rating: 5/5

In the book born a Crime, Trevor Noah describes how he grew up in Johannesburg, South Africa, the hardships and trials he and his mother faced and how they overcame them with humor, love, and faith. The book Chronicles the author’s life from the time he was born during Apartheid and his life post Apartheid as a half-black half-white boy. The book is funny and witty, yet it accurately drives home the cruel reality of the system of Apartheid and how it divided the South African Society.
Mr. Noah does a commendable job in narrating the book. The way he manages to describe even the lowest moments in his life without depicting himself as a victim but rather as a survivor is noteworthy. The book is a package of moments filled with joy, fun, sadness, bravery, foolishness that makes it so real to readers and draws them into its world.
Through his book, Mr. Noah gives the reader a deep insight on how Apartheid divided the different races in South Africa into the blacks, the mixed and the Whites. The way in which he as a mixed-race child processed his identity while living in such a divided society. What is remarkable is the manner of self-recognition that the author describes, of his journey of how he came to identify himself as a black man after constant struggles and what lead to that recognition.
This Memoir by Trevor Noah although is about his life but one cannot miss the large part his mother a plays in the book, which makes it seem more like her story. The story of her bravery during and after apartheid and how courageously she faced domestic violence in the world of patriarchy. Of how she rebelled against a system she found was absurd and instead of bowing to it like many others, gave birth to Trevor Noah, the son of a white man. He describes his mother as a very religious, funny, brave and hardworking woman, and yet a strict but loving mother in the book. Mr. Noah captures the essence of both his and his mothers journey beautifully throughout the book. The notes at the beginning of every chapter help the readers better understand the events the subsequent chapter is about to narrate.
Mr. Noah’s shows excellent insight in the way he describes the racism and bigotry that he and his mother faced. He keeps the tone of the book light-hearted even when he is depicting the hard reality of racism. His sharp perspective of racism, domestic abuse and identity conflict as a person who has been through them helps the reader to further relate to him.
Born a Crime is a highly entertaining book which is relatable to its readers in many ways. From the accounts of Trevor’s mischievous childhood to the challenges he faced growing up are relatable to a reader in many ways and thus also highly enjoyable.

Nappily Ever After Movie Review

A journey about self-love

*Spoiler Alert*

Nappily Ever After (2018) is a Netflix movie that is more than about hair. Sanaa Lathan dives deep into a journey of finding herself by playing the role of Violet Jones. This movie holds to cliché rom-com themes such as, “by any means get the guy,” and “finding yourself.” On the other hand, it brings a stunning inside perspective on beauty.

Since her younger years, Violet Jones has had a high standard when it comes to self-maintenance. This was no doubt due to her mother’s strict rules on how a lady’s hair should be kept. Pauletta Jones, played by Lynn Whitfield, raised her daughter to believe that presentation was necessary for maintaining the ideal appearance when amongst family, friends, and even when trying to reel in a man. Nevertheless, it all went south when Violet’s longtime boyfriend told her she was “too perfect” to marry right now.

Violet took her range and turned it to an experiment. She died and cut her hair, and even tried the “bad girl” persona to show that she could let loose and not be uptight. None of these attempts made her feel like she knew herself, so one drunken night, Violet, fed up with her perfect hair, shaved it all of, kick-starting her journey to self-discovery and loving herself.

This plot alone gives this movie a 7/10, because what rom-com lover doesn’t love a story about a woman doing something bold and taking the chance to find herself. This movie also shows her taking control of not only her self-love but of her career. By befriending a love interest’s daughter, Zoe, she finds that she has a more significant role in being a role model and encouraging Zoe to love herself and her God-given beauty.

The ending shows Violet working for a new company and pitching products that she actually cares about. In an unsurprising turn of events, this movie bumps up to a 9/10 because it is not a happily ever after ending. Violet turns down an “almost kiss” from her former love interest in the ending scene, showing that she is invested in building her self up as a person. This movie doesn’t get a 10/10 because it won’t appeal to people who believe hair doesn’t have anything to do with a person’s perception of beauty. Still, this movie gets added to the list of Sanna Lathan’s best rom-com movies.

 

Understanding Biotechnology

Introduction

Biotechnology is a unification of biology and technology. It may be defined as the regulated use of biology for the development of new products that are of great use to people. In simple words, it is the use of any biological process or organism to develop a new method or product.

The earliest forms of biotechnology were seen in agriculture thousands of years before when farmers unwittingly grew stronger and better crops in their lands by experimenting with the plants and soil. The fermentation of beer, wine, yogurt, cheese et cetera, are also processes known to humans for thousands of years, way before the term biotechnology was coined.

In recent centuries the inventions of vaccination, antibiotics such as penicillins, recombinant DNA, genetically engineered plants such as Bt corn, Human insulin, et cetera have paved the way for the official field of biotechnology. The supreme court ruling that genetically engineered microorganisms can be patented in the Diamond v. Chakrabarty case on June 16, 1980, made the field of biotechnology a suitable investment for many research companies. This went on to make biotechnology a popular research field and many microbes have been patented since. To more about the history of biotechnology click Here

Various Branches of Biotechnology

Biotechnology is a very vast field with numerous fields. Below are the few prominent branches of Biotechnology:

• Bioinformatics: Bioinformatics is the use of computational techniques for biological purposes such as for drug development or to study genomics. It helps to understand complex structures of proteins and DNA better.
• Marine Biotechnology: Marine Biotechnology, also known as blue biotechnology is related to the study of aquatic aminal and their habitat. It mostly involves the development of innovative techniques to protect the marine environment.
• Plant Biotechnology: Plant biotechnology, also known as green biotechnology is possibly the oldest form of biotechnology.In which innovative techniques such as plant tissue culture or recombinant DNA technology are used to produce a better yield of crops. Genetically engineered crops such as Bt Corn and Bt cotton are the best examples of plant biotechnology.
• Animal Biotechnology: Aminal biotechnology has been around for thousands of years for example when horses were crossbred with donkeys to get stronger mules. Today modern animal biotechnology is based on genetic engineering and relies on methods such as transgenics and gene splicing. Animal cloning (e.g., the ewe dolly) is also a successful endeavor of animal biotechnology.
• Medical Biotechnology: Medical biotechnology also called red biotechnology mainly concerns with the study on developing new medicines and antibiotics. It involves much research on genetics and how to manipulate them to treat a genetic illness.
• Food Biotechnology: This is another branch of biotechnology which has been around for thousands of years. People have known to make cheese and alcohols for millenniums now. Food biotechnology mainly involves study on food processes such as fermentation, alcohol production, quality control, food safety, and packaging et cetera.
• Industrial Biotechnology: The primary goal of Industrial biotechnology is to develop efficient industrial techniques and methods that would reduce resource consumption and provide a better alternative. Bioleaching used to extract metals that are not suitable for smelting from ores is an example of it.
• Environmental Biotechnology: This branch of biotechnology involves the study and innovation of methods to protect the environment. Bioremediation is a method in which the toxic waste is converted back to its non-toxic form and is an example of environmental biotechnology.

Conclusion:

Biotechnology is a field with a lot of future potentials. All the research involved in this field continues to help develop new and useful processes for healthcare, food industry, agriculture industry, and also the environment. It is a field that pushes the threshold of nature for the betterment of humanity.

 

Personal development books are a huge part of the literary world, with books on practically every subject. If you’re looking to learn new skills, you won’t struggle to find a book to help you. I have added daily personal development to my routine, and I have a few books that I would recommend. One of them is “What to Say When You Talk to Yourself” by Dr. Shad Helmstetter.

This book was written to help people get past the limiting, negative thoughts that seem to become a regular part of their thoughtful dialogue. The author of the book is a well-known and respected behavioral researcher and psychologist who helps people work to change their mindset to a more positive way of thinking

The book itself is well written and easy to follow due to its conversational tone that helps you take in the lessons of the book. The novel also very clearly points out some subconscious behavior patterns without making you feel guilty for them.

I got quite a bit of insight from this book. Such as, it helped me reevaluate how I speak to myself daily and how it affects the way I view and react to the world. With the simple lessons that the author presented and the explanations of how these exercises change your mindset.

Dr. Helmstetter has a very diverse and excellent background in the concept of self-talk and uses his skills to teach the everyday person the connection between self-talk and mindset. One thing that differentiates this book from other self-help books is the clear and concise instructions that go hand in hand with the descriptions. This book allows people to take the necessary steps to make these changes. It isn’t just another book telling people that they need to change their mindset. It isn’t a book of lecturing and flowery paragraphs with no practical application. The book is a great way to get started in the personal development part of their lives.

I would recommend this book to anyone who struggles with the mindset or feels that they could improve their outlook.