2017年跨年夜，即将进入13岁的Michael，回顾了他去年看过的一些有意思的书。

1.《时间机器》H.G.威尔斯 

        这本科幻小说讲了一次时间旅行。我认为，未来科学技术发展了，飞船速度接近光速，时间旅行是有可能实现的。这本书讲了科学家通过时间机器登陆了公元802701年的地球。那时的地球，地面上住着埃洛伊人，生活安逸，体能退化。地下住着莫洛克人，生产必需品，却会吃埃洛伊人。这本书和《洋葱头历险记》都反映了人和人之间的极度不平等。

        《时间机器》写未来富人退化，我是能够理解的，因为不需要劳动，很多基因丧失了功能。但穷人退化得像白猴一样，而且吃人为生，这是我难以接受的。未来技术发展，人的基因不是应该越来越好，生活越来越幸福吗？如果未来变得那么糟糕，发明时间机器做什么，停留在现在不更好吗？不过在那个年代威尔斯能提出四维理论，是很了不起的事情，打破了牛顿的时空观。这本书问世二十年后，爱因斯坦提出了广义相对论，科学理论的每一次突破都是激动人心的。我喜欢看科幻小说。

2.《量子物理》李淼

        这是一本非小说类型的书，用不同的方式讲述量子物理和量子力学的道理。

        例如，牛顿第一定律说的是，如果没有外力，物体就会一直保持它的运动状态。这个定律也叫惯性定律，就像平常打游戏正高兴，妈妈突然说该作业了，这时会特别烦。牛顿第二定律可以看作是一个懒人定律：越懒的人，他的惰性就越大，改变起来也就越难。同样，越是质量大的物体，惯性就越大，改变起来也就越难。牛顿第三定律是作用力与反作用力相等，拍皮球拍得越用力，手就越疼，因为皮球给手的反作用力变大了。

       量子论和相对论是20世纪物理学的两大支柱。量子这个概念是普朗克引进的。量子本身不是一个物体，只是一个说法。物体热辐射所发出的光，能量并不连续，而是一份份的，大小等于光的频率乘以一个很小的常数，叫做普朗克常数。量子就是光里面的一份一份能量。后来量子变成一个概念，所有遵从量子力学的东西都被叫做量子。

        整个宇宙充满了能量。除了能量，没有别的东西，只不过能量的形式不一样，有的呈现为电子，有的呈现为光子，有的呈现为暗物质或暗能量。电子、原子的位置是不确定的，它们都像老鼠一样到处乱跑，如果我们不去看，任何时刻它们会同时出现在很多地方，只有当我们去看的时候，才知道它们具体出现在哪里。正因为这种不确定性，所以我们的椅子、桌子、沙发才不至于突然坍塌。生活中，其实处处离不开量子力学。

        有一件事很重要，仅仅用碳原子就可以构造不同的物体，金刚石、铅笔芯都是由碳构成的，但构成的方式不一样。从原子核的发现来讲，原子核里面发生的物理变化，产生的能量比原子发生变化时产生的能量要大。

        摩尔定律是说，当价格不变时，每过两年，半导体芯片上所容纳的晶体管数目便会增加一倍。所以今天的一个iphone的计算能力，超过美国人登陆月球所用的全部计算资源。

        这本书，让难懂的物理概念变得简单有趣，把枯燥的知识加以简化，让我更加看得进去。

3.《悟空传》今何在

        《悟空传》是一本玄幻网络小说，但作者文笔很好。这本书中，悟空向往自由，不被理解。他单纯，充满反抗精神，很像当代少年的化身。它告诉我的道理是，就算前面的路很难走， 别人都不理解你，也要坚持自己的想法。去试一试、闯一闯总比老是退缩好。如果连梦想都没有了，自己就会变成自己也讨厌的人了。然而作者并不是按照西游记的顺序去描写的，而创造了一个崭新的故事，玄幻而又复述着不少的深度意义。

4.《球状闪电》刘慈欣

        科幻小说有点近似nonfiction，和一般的童话、小说还是有区别的。童话、小说信息量小，有很多修辞手法，看起来非常快。但科幻小说干货多，需要一定的推理，会降低阅读速度。我对经典名著的小说有点头疼，《骆驼祥子》、《老人与海》等，我非常抵制。刘慈欣的语言虽然不丰富，但是他的思想是自由的、闪耀的。我不喜欢看一大堆修辞手法抒情的东西，一点科学含量都没有。《球状闪电》中，所有的人都在执着地追求着让他们一生为之着迷的东西。追求本身就是生活的动力和目标，至于目标是否实现并不重要。我认为，他们的人生都是值得的。

5.《达芬奇密码》丹布朗

        哈佛大学的符号学专家罗伯特·兰登，在一个午夜接到一个紧急电话。他得知卢浮宫博物馆年迈的馆长被人杀害在卢浮宫里。人们在他的尸体旁边发现了一个密码。兰登与法国一位颇有天分的密码破译专家索菲，对一大堆怪异的密码进行了整理。他们震惊地发现一连串的线索就隐藏在达芬奇的艺术作品中。

        我在米兰的达芬奇馆里，看过他设计的活动机器人、飞行仪器、时光机器，还有很多手稿。他有着外星人的思维。这一本奇幻而有着缜密逻辑的书让我深入地读了进去。书中隐藏的线索，扣人心弦。而当读者比主角知道的多时，又是另一种激动的心情。这本书的逻辑没有太大的漏洞，而且每个章节环环相扣，是一本很好的书。

6.《Giver》（传授者）Loris Lowry

Jonas is a boy that lives in a rigidly controlled society. There is a rule that boy of twelve should get assigned a profession. The decisions of jobs are announced at a big ceremony. After being skipped over, Jonas is finally "selected" to be the Receiver of Memory.

Jonas then starts his training which consists of receiving a series of memories from the Giver. But they aren't just ones’ own memories; rather, the old man is passing on to Jonas all the memories of humanity and civilization. The memories are from before their community was established, back when there was love, music, emotions, snow and sunshine, all of which are notably absent from Jonas's world.

This completely changes the way Jonas looks at his world. He begins to realize that no one around him has ever felt any real emotions at all. One year later, Jonas discovers that the process of “release," and Gabriel is to be released soon.

Due to unbearable pain and loneliness along with the memories, the Giver and Jonas decided that he will fake a death and run away for Elsewhere which is the opposite to Jonas’s society. He finally climbs to the top and goes off the hill, fully convinced that at the bottom is Elsewhere where a whole group of people waiting to greet them.

7. 《Lord Of Flies》（蝇王）William Golding

In the midst of a nuclear war, a plane carrying a group of British boys ages 6 to 12 has crashed on a deserted island in the Pacific Ocean. The boys  elected Ralph as their chief. The boys used a conch shell as the calling signal. Besides Ralph, there are other three main characters: Jack, a strong and savage boy; Simon, a mature and kind boy; and Piggy, a smart but weak boy who wearing heavy glasses, always being bullied.

In order to being rescue out of the island, Ralph assigned boy taking turns to set up fires. However, Jack was jealous of the power that Ralph had and decided that boys should devote their energies to hunting food instead of maintaining the fire. A few days later, Jack, leading some boys, hunted a hog with the sharp sticks.  Boys now were excited and became bloodthirsty, forgetting keep the fire. As a result, they missed the ship because the fire went out.

Later, the boys found a “beast” on the island. Downhill, Jack's crew attacked Ralph and Piggy, and they stole Piggy's eyeglasses to make fire on their own. In one fighting, Jack punched Piggy in the face and broke one len of his glasses. Simon was mistakenly stabbed to death by other boys. The longer the boys stayed at the island, more savage they had become. When Ralph and Piggy, the civilized boys, decided to have a talk with the “savages", Roger pushed a huge boulder off the cliff, killing Piggy.

In the end, the boys were found by an officer of the British Navy and got rescued. Lord of flies, which means “the king of devil” is still inside the boys. 

8.《Maggot Moon》（登月狂想曲）Sally Gardner

My first impression of Standish was about his dyslexia. Standish had dyslexia when he was born. In the second chapter, he said, “You see, I can’t spell my own name. Cant’ read, can’t write.” He had problems reading the blackboard in the class. He needed very long time to figure out what were teaching during the class, as he said “at least it never stayed still long enough for me to work out they were saying”. These short sentences made me feel deep sorrow for him. Standish was not bright, definitely, anddyslexia caused him a lot of problems at school including difficulty in  making friends. He had bad experiences of losing parents and friends. It seemed a mystery for him. Hector, his best friend, has vanished. The school was very bad, filled with bullies, and teachers punished student with cruelty. His clothing was a mess, with tie undone, shirt buttoned wrong, and shoelaces a dead loss. But the good thing about dyslexia was that it made him sensitive to hearing spoken languages.

Another thing I noticed was his eyes, “one blue eye,one brown”.  It made him have different opinions and perspectives towards his country. “Here the sky fell in long ago” indicates that he will find the country as a totalitarian one.

9.《时间的褶皱》（Wrinkle In Time）Madeleine L’engle

Thirteen-year-old Meg Murry's classmates and teachers saw her as a troublesome and stubborn student. In a dark night, Meg was not able to sleep. She wanted to find her missing father. Next day Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which took the children on a strange journey, promising to help them find and rescue their father who has been missing for two years. One afternoon, after meeting Calvin near the ladies' house, the three are swept off to another planet, Uriel, through the process of the tesser - the process of wrinkling space and time. On Uriel, the children were given a view of the Dark Thing, a massive blackness that threatened to overtake the universe, threatening Earth. The ladies told the children that this is what their father is fighting. On another planet, Meg met a giant called Aunt Beast. Aunt Beast showed her the meaning of true love and soon gave her the strength to save Charles Wallace. She used the power of love to defeat IT. Due to the strong love inside her, she won and they went back to earth where they were reunited with their family.

My favorite character in this book is Meg. She has faced all these challenges to control hatred and love, but she really succeeded in controlling her negative emotions. This made her a strong person. Also her bravery of saving his brother Charles Wallace and the determination of finding her father is actually a good personality to follow. Sometimes, she was dumb and looked very stupid both at school and in family. But her power not follow other people’s opinions is fascinating and makes her the main personality and power.

10. Auggie & Me （奥格和我）R.J.Palacio

This book is the continued version of Wonder, from the view of Julian, Charlotte and Plato. What Julian thought about Auggie, what he had been through after he saw auggie and the story that his grandma told him about her school life when she was young. It made Julian notice how mean he had been to Auggie. Also the story showed what Plato thought about Auggie and the school stories in his understanding. The longest perspective was what charlotte had got on with Auggie and her own story when she met Auggie and all the school stuff that had happened in her perspective.

My favorite character in the book is Julian. Because even he was a pretty mean and not nice character, he still had a lot of interesting background story. His meanness to August made a lot of good stories. He had some things that people don’t know, like his nightmare which made him not nice. And he still can be a virtuous person after he heard about his grandma’s school story.

I like this book pretty much because it’s not just a story about school stuff and bad things that could happen in school, but also about kindness and care inside school and students. It adopts a different approach to tell the story, showing how people feel differently toward same things in school. I can feel what the characters actually felt. The different perspectives to develop the story made the fiction interesting and good.