Book review - 'Ningen Shikkaku' (No longer human) by Osamu Dazai

Ningen Shikkaku is a semi-autobiographical novel, set in Japan in 1948, following the life of Yozo, who has some feelings about discomfort and isolation against society and distortions between others through his whole life.

Hi knack of pretending to be a fool somewhat attracts people. However, he is always afraid of strangers. Travelling through his life, his weaknesses are revealed. The reader cannot stop comparing themself with Yozo and exposure to ugly parts of humanity. You may sometimes feel disappointed with or hidden emotions but realise our warmthof humanity.

It is an interesting journey and worth a read.

Posted for Yuto

Cell & Microbes - a book review

The book I read is called Cells and Microbes, by Louise & Richard Spilsbury. I enjoyed this book a lot, because I learned a lot of new & cool stuff.

I learned some new words in this book:

• infection - when microbes like bacteria or viruses make part of an animal's body sick
• antibiotics - drugs that doctors give you to make you well, when you are sick
• methane - a type of gas
• identical - the same as someone or something else
• lactic acid - a substance that can stop food going bad
• nerve - a type of cell that sends messages around an animal's body
• nutrient - something that we get from food to live & grow
• photosynthesis - the way that plants use sunlight to make sugar for food

Two types of microbe:

• bacteria - can be killed by antibiotics
• virus - can't be killed by antibiotics

Two types of animal cell:

• red blood cells
• nerve cells

I think the most interesting type of cell in this book is the white blood cell, because the cells can move around our body & kill the bad microbes.

My favourite chapter was "Plant Cells" because in this chapter they explain about photosynthesis and it was interesting.

My favourite picture was of a man getting an injection. I want to be a doctor! Yuto

The Quizlet set for this book is here >> https://quizlet.com/_6uy8ih?x=1jqt&i=jxkw