Educators Books

I really enjoyed this book. Without even noticing, I learned about the country of Belize and the Mayan culture as the author creatively wove historical details into a humorous, touching account of his own journey. I found myself both sympathizing and laughing with him as he tries to learn, and keep up, with the ins and outs of an unfamiliar culture. I became quickly invested in the main character and eager for him to come out on top!

Tom Molanphy has a good story to tell about a search for self in a country of different cultures, languages, races,etc. While reading "Following Mateo" I was transported back from the hazzles of everyday life and never-ending city activity to Southern Belize where, through Tom's creative descriptions, I found myself engulfed by nature. Peppered with humor Tom lets us experience father nature in a unique fashion. He tells of how it demands respect,of how we have to adjust to accommodate it and of how rough it can be and yet how soothing her gentle embrace. The book took me through trails under the towering canopies and over mountains that lead to discoveries of people living from the land. People who have learned to coexist and respect the land.
The book was and excellent read. It thought me about the journey of life and the little journeys within. It also thought me to, every now and then, "stop and smell the flowers, but to be careful not to get stung by a bee that may have beat me to those flowers".

Following Mateo is a personal memoir of Tom Molanphy's two year stint as a volunteer educator in Belize. Mateo is a Mayan Indian whom the author becomes very close to in the course of his internship. Following Mateo, the title, refers to the author's attempts to get Mateo to take him to the bush country of Belize. The author has successfully integrated history, anthropology, cross cultural studies and religion into this highly readable memoir.
I am a college professor teaching English l02 - a writing course using argument from social science topics and also literature, particulary memoir. My students - all l05 of them - absolutely loved the book. They liked the author's descriptive writing style which made them feel they were right there in Belize.They liked the many lively characters that the author presents. They liked the way the author integrated his personal journey with the daily events. They liked reading about a young man on an adventure who had questions about life, about religion, about risktaking. They liked the crosscultural atmosphere of the book and the way the author showed these differences. They liked the light hearted and humorous aspects of the book. They liked the various insights the author gained during his journey, especially about friendship. In writing their essays they were able to center on diverse messages and were often able to interract with the memoir from their own experiences. One student said she liked the book because the author opened himself up and was not "preachy". I thoroughly enjoyed the book and the essays my students were able to write due to the many insights the author offered. It was indeed a journey of joy. I recommend this book to college professors of freshman writing and senior high school teachers as well as volunteer coordinators in various non-profit groups.

An odyssey: into the jungles and wetlands of Belize, into the hearts and lives of a few native Belizians, and into the process of self knowledge and maturity, best describes, for me, Tom Molanphy's well crafted adventure/pilgrimage book: Following Mateo! Tom writes with grace and great self deprecating humor and enthusiasm about his journey to Belize as a volunteer teacher, his evolving friendship with an older tribal wise man and leader, Mateo, and their adventures.

Through an invitation to personally tutor Mateo's young daughter, Tom experiences the hospitality of Mateo's family and a growing knowledge of their way of life. Tom's desire to get Mateo to take him "into the bush," i.e., the deep jungle territory where (in his perception) ancient ritual hunting and gathering rites of the Ke'kechi take place. His subsequent hiking adventures to "prove" his capabilities to Mateo provide hilarious incidents of gradual self awareness for this young American "gringo," Tom.

As a veteran Jr. High/High School humanities teacher, I feel that this is a book that would appeal to this age range of student. It is a very "good read" for the adult reader as well.

Following Mateo is definitely a down to earth book. My friend Tom definitely put it right about life in the southern villages of Toledo and also as a missionary. I've known Tom for the two years that he spent here in Belize. I loved the book and will definitely read it again.

This is a fascinating book. Worthen was still an undergraduate at Yale when she began it, and she brings both the idealism of youth and a mature writing style to the page. Besides being a fly on the wall at some of the most important foreign policy events of the 20th century, the reader also gets an inside view of one of Yale University's most elite communities -- the Grand Strategy program, which trains future leaders in the art of statecraft. Followers of contemporary political events will be particularly interested, since two of the Grand Strategy professors -- John Lewis Gaddis and Charles Hill -- have close contacts with, and regularly advise the Bush Administration. This is no tawdry expose of secret societies (a la Secrets of the Tomb), but an insightful look into how an experienced diplomat mentors some of the most accomplished students in our country. It also is a moving coming of age story, as Worthen learns that her mentor is as flawed and human as the famous leaders he counseled.

I'm sorry but I've read this book twice now and I don't know when I've had a more amateur read. I'm with Publishers Weekly on this one, this author is smart and clever and in love with her own voice but she's not a natural writer, and her apparent infatuation with Professor Hill gets tiresome after only twenty-five pages. I can imagine that students who went to Yale and took courses with Hill might enjoy reading about him. Will anyone else? His family, perhaps. To the rest of us, even after Worthen's comprehensive look at his career, he seems like a nobody who somehow wound up at the top echelons of a corrupt government and now runs pretentious power courses from a cushy academic post. Worthen gives us a charming picture of campus life at New Haven, and how a lottery system insures everyone an equal shot at studying with Professor Hill.

I got the impression also that Hill was flirting with Worthen continuously, but that his passion for Norma was making him "walk the line" as Johnny Cash used to say. Hill certainly seems unabashed by Worthen's curiosity about his romantic and sex life, even urging her on to ask him some unseemly questions even Bill Clinton might have balked at, though I didn't catch if he wears boxers or briefs.

The revelations about Iran/Contra are minor ones, and debatable. I hate to break it to you, Molly Worthen, but your emperor has no clothes.

The Grand Strategy course he teaches, she notes breathlessly, culminates in a "Crisis Simulation" day in which students are thrown into an imaginary crisis like an outbreak of Ebola or Muslim terrorists occupying the Senate chambers. It's like a Universal Studios tour ride putting you, the tourist, into Jack Bauer's shoes on "24." And out of such theme parks our foreign policy is born.

For a wonderful read about a man I know, but thank you even more for articulating the hugh problem at the heart of academia today -- political correctness that has left a whole generation of students with a disfunctional inner compass. Thank God Charlie Hill decided to teach at Yale after he left the Foreign Service!
Francie Bremer

This biography is the first I've read of a man I've had the privilege to know. It's also the first review on Amazon I've felt compelled to write. I applaud Worthen's ability to peg Charlie Hill. Her characterizations are 100% in my experience of man who has lived a compelling life. I recommend this book to all students of foreign policy.

Yes, you can marvel at the fact that a professor buys coffee at Starbucks. I feel sorry for those who've forgotten that.

Charles Hill is the consumate man behind the curtain - Worthen writes a bio worthy of close examination - her writing is just lovely and shows her wisdom. - Great job.

Feynman's thinking style is not "linear." This is the reason he was able to break out of the box, and make the profound breakthroughs that were his mark. One anecdote after another illustrates this in a most enjoyable and enlightening way.

For example, as a lad he wanted to learn real mathematics. The librarian wouldn't allow him to borrow advanced math books, so he said they were for someone else, someone older. Reading book after book, he taught himself mathematics. He ended up learning some advanced math uniquely his way. Years later, while still in graduate school, he was recruited to work on the Manhattan project (which developed the atom bomb). When other mathematicians who used conventional math treatments were stumped, Feynman was able to make breakthrough using a math style unique to him-non-linear.

And, by the way, quantum mechanics is not linear, either. This was one of the most enjoyable reads ever.

Surely, Your Joking Mr. Feynman is a comical and interesting book about Mr. Feynman's life and his passion Physics. In this book he talks very in-depthly about his life everything from his very early childhood years to his adult life as a professor. The book is very well written with just enough detail to make you interested in all of his adventures, but not too much that you would loose interest. This book does not use complex equations or terms to explain physics terms, but creatively words each concept so that any level of reader and physics explorer could understand what he was doing. Giving this book great word choice and a nice flow that keeps you wanting to read along. Through all of this, the book is comically written and tells about Mr. Feynman's crazy experiments and pranks he played on people. Everything from hiding a door from a member of his fraternity to casually moving around the information for the atomic bomb from safe to safe. Mr. Feynman thrives on crazy adventures through the physics world and does many crazy things along the way to satisfy his hunger for comedy. This book is recommended for anyone who enjoys a good educational book, but also has a good sense of humor and enjoys practical jokes themselves.

I read Surely Your Joking for the 1st time in late 1987. My daughter got if for me at my request for my birthday. Actually I asked her for something by Phillip Morrison but while she was shopping in the San Jose State bookstore she forgot what physicist I was interested and got Feynman's book instead.

I'm glad she made that innocent mistake. Feynman knocked me out. Raymond Todd's reading on the 10 CD audio set is outstanding. I'm buying my daughter a set for herself.

this is one of the best books ever. being in Geometry and using the pythagorean theorem, deals A LOT with numbers being squared. with the neat little trick i learned in this book, i hardly ever use my calculator if the number is around 50 or any multiple of 50. it has saved a lot of my time and i am not kidding, Mr. Feynman is a genius. WOW!!! =)

If you have ever wondered how a dishonest, drunken, whoremongering, bar-room-brawling junkie can also be a Nobel-prize-winning physicist then this book will provide the answer.

At least Feynman was not boring. Considering how many physicists nowadays are, this is no small thing.

Finally a book for the photo educator!!! This is long overdue and am thrilled to own it. As a relatively new high school photo teacher, it is a wonderful resource that discusses the technical and artistic considerations a teacher must deal with as well as writings on how to create assignments, test, assess, and work with your employing institution for betterment of the program. There is even more in it than I've listed here. For anyone interested in teaching photography I highly recommend this book. Although I have been trained in educational practices, so many of my colleagues have not, they are photographers who happen to teach... this book helps summarize so many points that I have discussed with them as they learn to teach.

As an instructor, I have relied on the shared experiences of the many contributors contained within this gem of a book. Its audience is a bit narrow, but I highly recommend it for anyone engaged in teaching imaging or working in imaging forensics.

This one is on my must have list.

Jim Hoerricks
http://forensicphotoshop.blogspot.com
Author of Forensic Photoshop - a comrehensive imaging workflow for forensic professionals

Most of this stuff we learn in school...however, it's an excellent book if you're into the philosophy of teaching. A good book to read on sunday morning, with a cup of coffee. Do not expect a reference book.

This book is a great book for those who are teaching either advance photography or at the college level. I am teaching a beginning class and this book was not much help. I was hoping for more lesson plan ideas and there were not as many as I had hoped. This book is probably a good book to read during abreak or over the summer, but not a good book for quick resources.

For anyone who teaches imaging (and that includes me), this book is a must read. The book is informative and entertaining. . . filled with quotes that will make you smile while inspiring you - to become a better teacher. For example: "Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life." - Confucius. All I can say is that we are fortunate that Dr. Zakia (whom I have met) chose teaching.

This book is adequate--it is by no means "a masterpiece" as claimed by some of the reviewers (I question the impartiality of a few of the reviewers and wonder if they know Richard Kramer personally). The important subject matter of "When the Butterfly Stings" is diminished by over-exaggeration and tedious repetition. The first part is the fault of the author and the second part is due to poor editing. In addition to the many typos and spelling errors, this book is overly long at almost 500 pages, the bulk of which consists of the author raging against the institutions, cultural norms, and personality attributes he encounters while working as an Assistant English Teacher in Japan. I'm not saying Kramer was not justified in his outrage over what happened during his tenure in the JET program (he was), but the vital messages of the book were drowned out by his many tirades and tantrums, which were described ad nauseam.

However, this book does have many merits. I enjoyed learning about the JET program from an insider's perspective. Kramer does a good job of describing his experiences with certain situations (ie., his awful apartment, restaurants, work drinking parties, the tea ceremony) and I also liked most of his character descriptions. Still, the negatives were enough that I can only give this book three stars.

This book is in my view a must read for anyone interested in Japan, living and teaching in Japan, modern Japanese society and the remnants of its past which still permeate through to modern society. As a Japanese married to a foreigner living and working in Osaka, I am amazed at how well this book captures some of the more intricate facets of Japanese society. I do agree with the prior reviewer that Kramer can be a bit indulgent in his writing, but one must look at the events described as more than a mere struggle of East vs. West. What Kramer describes is no less than the brutal murder of one of his students by another student while those around him did little to aid. He presents the opposing viewpoints to his own thoughts and theories in the form of discussions with friends and colleagues. He disagrees, strongly at times with the conclusions that they reach, but he does present their viewpoints, fairly and one hopes accurately. One must also remember that in the end he did bow (no pun intended) to the will of majority and the result was that his student was murdered! To call this book "culturally embarassing" is to do it a grave injustice. To call Kramer culturally ignorant and unappreciative of the opportunties afforded him is completely baseless. In the two years of time the book spans the author passionately devoted himself to learning Japanese and traditional arts such as shamisen and tea ceremony. In end the end the discussions and arguments he had with admnistration officials were in Japanese.

The controvery created by this book is in my view one that is currently central to a struggle raging in Western philosophy and thought. Where is the acceptable line between being able to criticize and make better and being culturally insensitive and imperialistic? It is and always will be a fact and circumstance specific analysis, but Kramer in this book is in my view very safely on the correct side of the line in his analysis and conclusions. Personally, I wished he had been more aggressive in his approach as the end result may have been very different - as unfair as it may be to speculate on that score.

Finally, I have noticed over the years that foreigners interested in Japan are largely of two types. There is the "Japanophile" - who loves all things Japanese, is extremely defensive of anyone who levels the slightest criticism against Japan, is extremely proud of being able to speak more than a few words of Japanese and fashions himself/herself a "hen na gaijin" or Japan expert. On the other hand there are those who despite outward appearances to the contrary, deep down despise Japan as backwards, and no attempts to understand it or embrace it. They use it for what they can e.g. money, physical pleasures, etc. Neither is a healthy view. To throw away what you have, the cultural perspective you are coming from in the mad and arrogant hope that you will find the meaning of another is pure folly. Kramer, in my view has the rare talent to take his knowledge and experience and apply it with understanding and decency in the attempt to understand and improve. Unfortunatley, both categories 1 and 2 gaijin in Japan may not like this book as each will compare it to his/her own experiences with distaste, but it remains an honest testament and a must read for anyone interested in modern and ancient Japan.

The description of this book does not do it justice. I read this on the advice of a friend not knowing what to expect (I am joining the JET program this year and I am a career 10+ teacher). What Kramer describes is a clear, objective picture of what to expect in terms of both living and teaching English in a junior high school in Japan. It is also hillariously amusing, with a great mix of anecdotes coupled with historic fact.

And that is only half of the book. The second half deals with the problem of bullying. As the reader is informed and spellbound by on the very first page, one of Kramer's students murdered another in the classroom. He describes the reactions of the BD. Bd. of ED., other teachers, parents, and most of all himself through the events leading up to the tragedy and its aftermath. What I found most interesting was both how it reminded me of events of my own career in the US and also how with all things there often is no right answer. It is the process, the struggle that gives merit to the experience. This book guides, its teaches, it shows a picture of what to expect as a teacher not only in Japan but anywhere because at the end of the day, people are people.

Richard Kramer has written one of the most moving and beautiful narrations about the cultural dichotomy between post-WW II Japan and a post-Cold War American trying to bring comfort and love to a hard and unforgiving culture.

I have read few books in my life that have moved me as much as "When the Butterfly Sings". Kramer has truly written a masterpiece - and I look forward to the broad distribution of this piece on a national/international level.

Kramer is most definitely a superstar in the making. It is exciting to see a work of art like "When the Butterfly Sings" in anticipation of what is to come from this future literary genius.

Arrogant, self-righteous, hot-headed and argumentative, are but a few of the traits exhibited by the author in his compare-and-contrast account of his experiences as a 2 year JET program participant. Kramer's accomplishment, though admirable, is colored by his culturally-uneducated interpretations of the differences between the American and Japanese society, educational systems, culture, and behavior.

When facing challenges, Kramer's solutions often point out shortcomings, or apparent inferiority of not only the education system, and its bureaucracy, but social behavior of the Japanese themselves. While discounting interpretations, and advice of his fellow JETs with rural, and international education backgrounds, Kramer offers his perspectives through the biased lens of the apparent cosmopolitan, and inter-cultural upbringing afforded him by his New York City education.

I strongly disagree with the conclusions of other reviewers that this book should be considered excellent literature, and that it is in any way objective. Kramer, though promising, will need to remove himself from his books, in order to gain them the credibility they need, and, yes, deserve, for a wider, let alone an international audience.

As a JET cultural ambassador about to set off on his own adventure, I am embarrassed to be representing America in the footsteps of the attitudes expressed in this book. This book clearly illiterates the litany of reasons why Americans are seen as culturally-shallow, arrogant and imperialistic within the international community.

Kramer's lack of objectivity in his experiences leave his writings vacant of the richness of cultural dynamics built over millennia of tradition in Japan, yielding a uniquely Japanese way of approaching conflict, and problems inherent in all aspects of a society. Kramer's book brutally robs Japan of its unique culture, in an Americanized attempt to analyze, and attribute the causes of the many preventable bullying incidents present in all schools, which resulted in the tragic murder of one of his students.

If you are expecting great literature, or a deeper anthropological understanding of Japan's educational system, and its people, this book is not for you. If you are a JET seeking a glimpse of the kind of adventures awaiting you, this book indeed details a vivid account of the day-to-day life of a JET in Minamimatsuyama, Saitama prefecture. Kramer's unfortunately negative experiences, and biased opinions seem to overwhelm the numerous positive stories in his book. Do not let Kramer's overall negativity discourage you.

If you read past Kramer's arrogance, his book is full of fascinating, and beautifully visualized anecdotes, which bring you vividly in contact with several individuals, which afforded the author a priceless glance at the magical world of language, tea ceremony, and musical tradition. It is in these authentic experiences and conversations with Japan's per-war generation that Kramer's masterfully remembered conversations, and vivid literary style really shine through.

It is in moments where Kramer loses his basis for comparison does this book become a fascinating account of west meets east.

Enjoy.

Though it deals with his own personal and unique journey, Naison's book helps us all make sense of what our lives have been like since the 60s. The media would like us to believe that those of us who believe in equality, social justice, a real end to racism, and an alternative to corporate capitalism run amock have all disappeared. My personal experience is just the opposite -- our views haven't changed, and indeed, have become more solidified by events of the last decade.

Whether the passion of the 60s will ever reappear in a new guise is impossible to predict. If if does, I feel privileged in knowing that Mark (and so many of my other friends) will be there, if not on the barricades, at least in providing lunch!

I loved the book -- I read it when it was first published because Dr. Naison was my professor of African-American studies in 1971 at Fordham. He was a terrific professor and the texts in the course were seminal -- I still have many of them to this day on my bookshelf. Anyway, back to this book -- one of the reasons I read it when I found out it was a memoir was to see if I was in it and, in a way, I was. You see, I transferred to another university after my freshman year at Fordham, and in my sophomore year, I got a phone call from Dr. Naison in the hall phone in my dormitory -- I'll never forget it -- he called me to ask me for a date, and this is referenced in White Boy -- not me, specifically, but that he dated a variety of women after his break-up from his long-term lover. I don't remember how long we saw each other -- I don't think it was a very long time -- but I was so flattered and intimidated because I was only 19 and he was 28 at the time, and he was my professor, and he had this marvelous book-filled apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, every aspiring intellectual's dream, and I was that aspiring intellectual. So it didn't work at that time because I was just too young, but for all his fierce leftist radicalism, I discovered that emotionally, he was a sweet, loving, kind and generous man, and his wife is very lucky.

Just a bunch of racist tripe.

This is wonderful memoir. Much like in his classes at Fordham, Dr. Naison really brings history alive, reminding us that it is more than what you read about in the typical history book, it is about the people that lived it. He gives his life a powerful, emotional, and thoughful voice. For any current and future Fordham University students, I would highly recommend his classes and this book. For everyone else, buy it and see what you missed out when you decided to attend a different school!

Naison's gritty narrative takes readers on an odyssey from the multiracial streets of Crown Heights in Brooklyn, New York, where the author spent his wonder years in the 1950s to the vibrant intellectual and activist culture of Fordham University's Black Studies department in the 1990s. In the process, readers learn of the trials and joys this "white boy" faced living a life -- as an activist, lover and teacher -- that transgressed the racial mores of his day. "White Boy," presents an alternative to the standard understanding of "whiteness," which mandates that it be the political and cultural antithesis of "blackness." Naison's book presents a more hopeful picture. Being white and spending 30 years teaching African American studies was not a problem for Naison, or his colleagues at Fordham. He writes, "because we were willing to listen to many voices, and to see race from multiple vantage points, our department provided an intellectual outlet for students of many backgrounds grappling with their racial and cultural identities (...) (W)e created an environment where fighting racism, and exploring the meaning of racial differences, became a moral and political imperative and the center of a vibrant intellectual community" (224-225). Naison's memoir presents an often neglected story in the history of whiteness in America, one where racial difference can help bring different people together instead of constantly keeping them apart.

And just as Naison's life transgressed racial norms, his book defies standards as well. People are reading "White Boy" in places you would never think to see a book published by an academic press: beaches, subways, transit workers' locker rooms, parish offices. Simply put, this in no ordinary memoir.

This book gives a good overview to eLearning and standard tools used in the industry. It assumes the reader is a beginner and want to explore opportunities in the eLearning field.

I found this book helpful in explaining the tools and processes used by course developers and training professional. The authors' other book (can't recall name right now) was not as coherent or systemmatic as this book.

I would recommend this book for any beginner or intermediate level trainers or developers to further expand their knowledge of eLearning.

Easy to learn, easy to use, this book guides you in a very practical way through each step in e.learning instructional design. Besides you may use many of its information for computer based training (CBT)too. Step by step, he develops each chapter with information and examples, it even shows the computer page. Very interesting the way he organized the Activate Learning Chapter and the ideas at Motivate Learners Chapter. Even when it is a thick book you may read it quite fast and find a lot of support and ideas to work with. Very Useful.

William and Katherine Horton have written another excellent book. Their latest, E-Learning Tools and Technologies, provides a phenomenal amount of information about the tools and technologies that can be used to develop, manage, and deliver e-learning content. The authors cut through the clutter to clearly and succinctly explain the different types of tools, and their functionality and capabilities. Unlike many other technology books, Horton and Horton do readers a great service: they actually examine the different tools available in the commercial marketplace and share value-added information designed to help you select the best e-learning tools for your purposes.

The book is divided into the following categories:

Hardware and networks
Tools for accessing e-learning
Tools for offering e-learning
Tools for creating e-learning content
Picking tools and technologies
Evolution, trends, and big ideas

For each tool type, the book addresses the following:

What is the tool?
How does it work?
What else can the tool do?
What are the differences between tools?
How to choose the correct tool
The capabilities to look for

The book is clear and understandable, and helps you comprehend what these tools are, why you might want them, and how to evaluate them. The conceptual information is well presented and informative.

If you've ever found yourself confused about available e-learning technologies, or wondered if you need a particular technology or not, this is the book for you. It not only tells you what the tools do, it puts the technology in perspective for e-learning. William and Katherine Horton have distilled their years of experience into this 592-page book to help you make the right decisions and avoid the pitfalls. Highly recommended.

As one of the previous reviewers said Horton books are always a weath of information. This book is that and more. As an experienced practitioner in this space you'd think I'd know this stuff. And I do but it didn't stop me from reading this book cover to cover and enjoying every minute of it.

My favorite part is the Bill, Kit and Curmudgeon cartoons. They really proivde different perspectives about various issues. These are common views in real life and how they are expressed and addressed give this book an edge no other book on this topic has.

All this in addition to Bill and Kit's easily readable writing style and depth of knowledge. You can't lose when you buy this book. It's worth every penny and a lot more.

The Horton books are always a rich source of information but this one is a huge time-saver. It condenses into one (not too short) source all of the many years of experience that the Hortons have had in dealing with all of the issues involved in designing, developing, implementing, and maintaining e-learning. It is arranged in such a way that if your issue is software, you can get right there. If it's hardware, the same.

This book will help you avoid the pitfalls that so many organizations have encountered in implementing e-learning. Bill and "Kit" demystify the hype. E-learning has been oversold to business, industry, and education, in many ways and there is so much available today to choose from you can end up in "analysis paralysis" and never move in any direction. Another use for the book is as a resource if you work in an organization where someone dictates "moving to the web." "A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing" the adage goes. You can use the information in this book to connect the intracies to show that it's easier to say than it is to do.

This is the most up-to-date and thorough book I have seen on this very complicated, complex, and confusing topic.

For those who once bemoaned there being no autobiography by (or biography of) Joseph Campbell this book fills a void. For those who have watched The Power of Myth videos, and read several Joseph Campbell books, this collection of high-power dialogues with Campbell is no disappointment. No intimate details are given of Campbell's life, however, When asked for autobiographical details during one session, Campbell responds (more or less): "That's biography, and I don't do biography". Campbell relays several anecdotes of his friends Robinson and Zimmer, and gives honorable mention to the Bollingen Press and Sarah Lawrence College for crucial assistance in his career development. Particularly of interest are the frequent remarks concerning, and discussions with, his wife (and former student) Jean Erdman. While many of Campbell's remarks are near-verbatim replies heard in The Power of Myth videos, some are unreleased gems: There are two kinds of people in this world - those who know their myth is a fact (the orthodox religious) and those who know their myth is a lie (the atheists)- both KNOW that their myth is most certainly NOT a metaphor.

Good book.

This was required reading for a graduate course in the Humanities. This is a great book written about a very engaging storyteller. Joseph Campbell describes the monomyth in his book The Hero With a Thousand Faces as embodying all the necessary elements of the hero's journey in the many myths in human history. Campbell discovered through extensive research that humankind shares a universal monomyth in its various religions and legends especially pertaining to the creation of the world and humankind. Campbell borrowed the term monomyth from James Joyce's book Finnegan's Wake. Campbell's intuitive insight in human myth proves that for thousands of years these myths display a certain standard structure, which he summarizes beautifully in his book.

A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a
region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there
encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back
from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons
on his fellow man (Campbell 30).

There are at least four major stages that a monomyth has however, in his book, Campbell goes on to describe seventeen stages that some monomyth's posses. The four stages making up the cycle of a monomyth are "passage: separation-initiation-return:" In the passage stage the hero is summoned to journey or embark on an adventure by some kind of event that takes place or from a message, he receives. The hero may embark on this passage willingly or reluctantly. During the separation stage, the hero meets with a mentor or wise man who gives the hero either an amulet or some words of wisdom to be of help to the hero on the adventure. It is during this stage that the hero will go through his first transformation, also known as "crossing the first threshold," as he crosses over to another world or dimension leaving behind the old world. In the initiation stage, the hero goes through several trials or tests. The hero often receives help in these ordeals along the way by allies or from a supernatural force. As the hero completes these ordeals successfully, he proves himself more worthy to continue the adventure. Most importantly, during this stage the hero must pass through a major ordeal that will expand his consciousness, and thereby change his character forever. Often, this ordeal entails the death of an ally or enemy. Once the hero successful accomplishes his ordeal he is rewarded with a gift, it could be intrinsic like the "holy grail, or it can be new found knowledge to better the world with. The last stage the hero travels is that of the return whence he came. Often the hero will undergo further trials on his return before he is permitted to cross the threshold back to the world he left. During his return journey, the hero will use his newfound wisdom or gift to make a safe return home. Once home the gift is used to cure some ill in the hero's home or to impart new wisdom to his neighbors.

Campbell points to the significance of the monomyth in the fact that it describes the cycle that Moses, Jesus, and Buddha had gone through according to their religious adherents. This is not to mention the hundreds of other monomyths told throughout human history. The monomyth proves that humankind shares a common creation DNA in a sense. The monomyth is the perfect vehicle for one to study the Humanities by.

Recommended reading for anyone interested in history, psychology, philosophy.

I read this as one who was unfamiliar with Joseph Campbell and his remarkable insights into myths and their role in our lives.

The claim is made in the book that at some time in the 1980s, seven or eight of the top ten grossing films of all time were in some way based on material originating in Campbell's books. That makes Campbell a man whose thoughts are worth learning about.

The book is in general fairly easy reading, since much of it is transcribed from conversations involving Campbell. Quotable quotes abound: "myths have to do with how you live your life", "the young male is a compulsively violent piece of biology", "when people say they're looking for the meaning of life, what they're really looking for is a deep experience of it", "the best thing I can say is follow your bliss".

If you want to be inspired by a life lived thoughtfully and well, you should find this book rewarding.

This book was well designed. The introduction by Phil Counsineau alone is worth the price. Instead of hidden away in some appendix, the Chronology of Joseph Campbell is up front before reading the details. The book is written mostly in a question and answer format.

Next striking thing is the pictures that accompany the text makes you feel that some one knew that Joseph was going to be some one of interest and sent a professional photographer to follow his life. He has pictures with and/or (Buffalo Bill Cody, Black Elk, James Joyce, Jiddu Krishnamurti, Thomas Mann, Karlfried Graf Dürkheim, Carl Jung, Linda Ronstadt...) of all kinds of people that you would think came from different eras, most impressive is his portrait University of Paris.

One thing you will notice of Joseph Campbell is that he has a way of looking at life that most people do not until it pointed out. Some times he will seem to be just telling you the most mundane information and all of a sudden ties it to a point that was overlooked.
Reading this book on his life will give you a better insight as to his works.

Those are the only words I can think of to describe this fabulous book! Not only do you get a picture of Campbell the man in a way you can't elsewhere, except maybe in the diaries of his Asian trips, but you also get a wonderful insight into the mythology that was his life's work. It's like being able to look through both sides of a lens at once!

There are lovely pictures of Campbell, his friends and family that are literally breathtaking--they are part of that lens.

The book itself is made up of a series of conversations and panel discussions involving Campbell and a number of his friends and colleagues--including his wife, choreographer Jean Erdman and artists like George Lucas, Robert Bly and Richard Adams. It is structured so that it follows Campbell's life story in the shape of his Hero Journey, as laid out in Hero with a Thousand Faces.

The cover announces this as the Centennial Edition, which alerted me to the fact that Campbell would have been 100 this upcoming March. What a wonderful way to celebrate the life of a man whose joy (bliss) has inspired so many, and to take more inspiration from his ideas.

If you are more influenced by books that show rather than by books that tell, add this one to your list.

Keen gently unfolds his ideas of meeting the challenge of life changes and thriving through a gently told memoir of his experience of becoming a flying trapeze artist at the age of 62. The word artist is important here: an artist is one who strives for beauty, although he may not be the most accomplished of his co-strivers. The effort, and the successes that do occur, are enough.

Those who have found themselves dangling at the end of a parachute, kayaking a gorge, learning to run, or learning to surf at midlife or beyond will recognize the drive for efficiency and beauty in ones own bodies' actions.

This lovely metaphor for life has given new context to my own: I don't ask for more.

At age 62, Sam Keen learned to fly. In 1993, he started his training on the flying trapeze at the San Francisco School of Circus Arts. The fact that he was the oldest student at the school did not deter Keen from pursuing his "strange passion" (p. 15). "Over the years," he observes," I have discovered that it is hazardous to ignore passing fantasies and emerging passions. To begin with, in the degree that I cease to pursue my deepest passions, I will gradually be controlled by my deepest fears. When passion no longer waters and nurtures the psyche, fears spring up like weeds on the depleted soil of abandoned fields. I suspect the major cause of depression and despair and the appetite for violence in modern life is the result of the masses of people who are enslaved by an economic order that rewards them for laboring at jobs that do not engage their passion for creativity and meaning" (pp. 16-17).

Part memoir, part metaphor, Keen's book is filled with daring leaps, midair turns, somersaults, and catches. For Keen, the trapeze is a good teacher. From his six-year love affair with the trapeze, he derives insights into fear, trust, letting go, and what it means to live life passionately. If we learn to live life as a "ten-ring circus," he writes, in "a world ruled by enchantment--where magic existed before morality, wonder before worship, pleasure before piety, and amazement before practicality" (p. 24), then we will be "transformed, changed back into children whose horizons are open" (p. 25). "The Great Path is a spiral journey," Keen notes. "Every day we begin again, knowing that danger and death may be lurking, that we will be fearful and will need to cultivate courage. We will need to keep our balance and discern when it is time to wait and when to act. We will take leaps of faith, fall, and rise again. If we are diligent in our practice, there will be unexpected moments of grace and joy and a gradual growth of mastery in fashioning our lives into something of beauty" (p. 241).

Keen's LEARNING TO FLY is inspirational and insightful. Although reading it did not inspire me to attempt a triple somersault, it did encourage me to find a flying trapeze in my own life, and then to practice it, knowing that "practice is perfect" (p. 237).

G. Merritt

Everyone who reads Keen knows he writes very well and from the heart. But in this book his very soul flies through the air with his words. When Sam reviewed my book, PRIMAL AWARENESS, he said it was an adventurous search for the lost ark. LEARNING TO FLY is about finding the lost ark.

I read a passage from the book at my daughter's wedding and then I wished them wings and flight. I found this book to be absolutely fascinating and, at age 57 myself, found inspiration to try new ideas. Learning to Fly is never boring. I found the chapter-beginning drawings helpful as I tried to follow Sam Keen in flight, literally as well as figuratively. A real winner!

I read Sam Keen's "Learning to Fly" out loud with my husband over the course of a few road trips. It was a truly amazing experience for us. Sam Keen shares his experiences of life and trapeze in a philosophical way, but avoids being pedantic or condescending with his message about simultaneously taking hold and letting go. I've been thinking about what Sam Keen has to say ever since I finished the book.

Unforgettable. horrifying. a reality check for those who think war is "like in the movies". the writer takes u there in the exact moments as people encounter the bluish white flash. eg. a woman strolling the shopping district is suddenly engulfed in the biggest lightening bolt she's ever seen and a family sitting down to dinner one minute then thrown into a cataclysm of blindness, fear and disorientation. it is truly a look into the end of the world.

The only thing that might change the minds of those who support America's use of atomic bombs against Japan is the testimony of those who survived the attacks. Gen. Eisenhower, Adm. Leahy and others in the military and government expressed depressed disgust over the use of nuclear weapons against civilians, and Capt. Robert Lewis (co-pilot of the Enola Gay) later met with a group of the Hiroshima Maidens in the U.S. to express his regret and donate money for their medical costs.

"Letters from the End of the World", along with "Hiroshima Diary," present the attack on Hiroshima in terms of the human cost and suffering of civilians. More lives were lost in the fire bombings of Japanese cities and the destruction of Dresden but both the immediate and long-term effects of the use of nuclear weapons constitute a horrific act.

We now know that the use of violence against civilian populations tends to strengthen a resolve to fight to the bitter end. Yet, it remains a tactic by some and an accepted consequence by most. The use of nuclear weapons against Japan were not the deciding factor in ending the war. It was already over.

As long as governments and citizens choose to accept the slaughter of civilians as a collateral consequence to conflict, atrocities will continue. Self-satisfied, unexamined clucking about the unfortunate inevitability of civilian deaths in war is a moral crime in itself. Especially since the 20th century heralded in an age of increasing civilian death tolls in all conflicts.

Capt. Paul Tibbets (pilot of the Enola Gay) went to his grave with no regrets about Hiroshima. To his credit, he met with at least one hibakusha (disfigured survivor of the attack). Tibbets rightly stated that all war is immoral and leads to immoral action. We'd better find a different way to settle differences.

Hiroshima today is a gleaming, modern city that somewhat mutes even a visit to the Atomic Bomb Dome. Even the memorial museum does not convey the horror of August 6th, 1945 the way the witness testimonies do. I can't imagine someone reading this book and not being moved.

Please read this book, and think Fallujah.

First published in Japanese a few years after we dropped a nuclear bomb upon Hiroshima, a previously secluded and untouched shelter for families and children, this book remains a prophetic and instructive text for us today of the necessity to do everything we can for peace and the end to all killing and warfare.

Thou shalt not kill.

This first hand account was written by a father whose family was destroyed by our bomb, including small children, home, etc.

His wife died from radiation sickness a few weeks after we bombed their small city. To confront and control his radical and permanent loss, her husband, an historian at Hiroshima University, wrote to her letters regarding all that he knew about the event and its aftermath, using all of his formal academic skill as historian and first person victim of our bombing. These are his letters to her.

For another historical source, you might also read Hiroshima by Takaki, an academic historian working in the United States. For another primary source, you might find the eyewitness chronicle entitled Barefoot Gen by an artist who as a small boy survived our nuclear atack on Hiroshima while losing his entire family as does Professor Ogura here. Barefoot Gen may be the most accessible to the American reader for its graphic nature; Professor Ogura may be the more poignant though no less powerful first person account to the mainly literate reader. It all depends upon your personal learning style; the truth is one and the same.

Please study carefully and prayerfully this work of a grieving father and husband, so dispassionately and professionally presented as letters to his dead and dying wife, and fight with all that you can for peace, that our present carnage against civilian populations may forever cease and we may live in permanent and abiding peace free of this murderous sin and the national psychosis which drives us into unjust though materially profitable warfare, which provides us permanently only the continual guilt of the suffering and death here so clearly and truthfully and painfully portrayed.

Thou shalt not kill.

there are evidences to show everything the author wants to tell. i can understand the whole project of the bombing of Hiroshima. a truely fantastic book!

This is one of the most powerful first hand accounts of the bombing of Hiroshima that I have ever read. My copy was quickly passed around from friend to friend and it impacted everyone who read it.