Chapter 16 Response

Chapter sixteen is titled “The Omnivores Dilemma”, and for good reason. Chapter sixteen is all about the choices we have as omnivores when it comes to what we can and should eat. A quote that I really liked was in the first paragraph of the chapter. “The blessing of the omnivore is that he can eat a great many different things in nature. The curse of the omnivore is that when it comes to figuring out which of those things are safe to eat, he’s pretty much on his own.” I like this quote because I feel that it essentially sums up the point that Pollan is trying to get across in his book (possibly why the chapter has the same name as the book). Throughout this chapter Pollan talks about how and why we have become the “top of the food chain”. Not only is it natural selection and events of history, it has to do with everything about our bodies. We are able to eat almost anything, and often things we shouldn’t eat do not appeal to us, which is a strength we have as an omnivore. I believe this may be the most important chapter of the book because Pollan relates the title of the book to the entire chapter. He talks about how we are capable of surviving over any other species because of the way we eat. And although this is a very positive aspect of being human, the ability to eat such a plethora of things could be our downfall.

Chaper 7 They Say I Say

Chapter seven of They Say I Say gave me a couple exceptionally good tips when writing or speaking to a specific audience. The main point of this chapter was telling the writer to ask why it matters. Many people write a paper or give a speech without telling their audience why they should care about the subject. If one fails to tell why their subject matters or who cares about it, the audience may become uninterested because they start to not care themselves. Establishing why a subject is important can be as simple as saying, “blank is important because blank.” One could also dedicate a full paragraph to explaining why something is important, depending on what the subject is.
This chapter without doubt helped me with my writing. Although with some papers, establishing why something is important is completely insignificant and will not help an argument at all, it is often needed in some papers. When writing previous to this I have simply stated the facts and built an argument, but I rarely state who cares or why it’s important. I feel as though this aspect of writing is often overlooked by many writers, teachers, and even professional writers. I believe including this in my research papers from here on out will drastically improve my arguments.

Chapter 4, They Say I Say

Chapter four of “They Say I Say” is all about the three ways to respond to “what they say”. The three best ways to form an argument against something is to agree, disagree, or agree and disagree with what people have already said. It goes on to say that although agreeing and disagreeing with a position seems like the easiest way to form an argument, it isn’t as easy as it sounds. Simply agreeing or disagreeing with a position doesn’t make for a well rounded paper. One must go in depth as to why they agree or disagree, then “bring something new to the table”. This means that if you agree with someone, don’t just restate what they have already said, but one could, for example talk about a personal experience as to why they agree with the position.
I believe this chapter gives very important information about how to write an argumentative essay. Up to this point my argumentative essays have simply been agreeing or disagreeing with a position, and giving a few concrete details as to why I have this position. Now I know that I must go into more detail and like I said before, “bring something new to the table”.

Chapter 9 Response

Chapter nine, “Big Organic” focuses the attention of the reader to realize that “organic foods” aren’t really as organic as they initially appear. The foods sold at stores such as Whole Foods where they market their products as organic, may mislead the customer significantly. The process of producing “organic foods” may start as organic but many other aspects go into the production of the food before it makes it to the store. These aspects include pesticides, shipping the food, packaging the food and many others. While these aspects are required to get the food safely to stores across the country, it takes away the organic aspect of the food, making these “organic foods” essentially inorganic.

After reading this chapter it has made me realize that although there is some thought that should go into what we eat, it may not make much of a difference whether we choose foods that read organic on the shelf, compared to inorganic. I have never been one to watch what I eat when it comes to organic versus inorganic, and this chapter has made me realize it really doesn’t make a significant difference. I found this chapter to be very interesting with all the explanation of how “organic foods” have, over time become drastically less organic.