A rather late beginning/Focused Journal Assingment #1

Stuff is the kind of book I would have been shocked by six years ago. I appreciate how it show the interconnectivity of everything, and how everything comes from somewhere. However, I already understood the core concepts Stuff is trying to put forward. There is a book far superior to Stuff in that regard, a masterpiece not only of the exposition of our world, but of the highest caliber of investigative journalism. The book? Fast Food Nation. Originally, I intended on discussing how I felt about Stuff, but I realized that I felt next to nothing about it besides intellectual interest. So, I've decided to talk about how Fast Food Nation affected me.
Before reading it, I NEVER though about the means of production. Industry was merely an abstract concept, or something that happened in Tacoma. Meat was just "there". It could have grown on trees, for all I cared. The book showed me that there are ranchers raising the cows, farmers growing the potatoes, illegal workers slaughtering the cows and cleaning the slaughterhouses, scientists making the "natural and artificial" flavors, etc. The realization was sobering, and indeed, overwhelming. It shattered my view of the world at the time, and forced me to come to grips with the sheer scale and magnitude of the human race. I am still grappling with that today, and Stuff helps not at all. It only adds to the chorus of voices who have come to the conclusion that, as interconnected as the world is, it is not after all, a small world.