Caldwell Books

Educators may be dismayed and disturbed by Instead of Education. John Holt wastes few words in denouncing S-chools and T-eachers (with a capital "S" and "T," respectively) and in calling for swift abolition of compulsory education as we know it today. Central to Holt's denunciation is that forced learning is "cut off from active life and done under pressure of bribe, threat, greed and fear."

A liberal reformer of the 60s, the author has written and lectured extensively on education. His previous works, especially How Children Fail (1962) and Freedom and Beyond (1972), unequivocally document the connection between effective teaching and student success. However, his newest book abandons the hope of improving teacher strategies to spawn student success. He now believes schools are prisons bereft of any significant chance for real creativity and learning. Such a belief echoes persuasive educationists such as Ivan Illich (De-Schooling Society) and Paul Goodman (Growing Up Absurd) who also lament that school learning is too often separated from the rest of life.

In a well-paced and colloquial style, Holt argues eloquently that in place of compulsory education children will learn to become unhampered "do-ers"--free to learn where, when, what and how they see fit. He explains the success of alternative models like the Beacon Hill Free School in Boston (serving adults mostly); the Learning Exchange in Evanston, IL (rekindling the John Dewey spirit of the wholeness of learning); the Children's Community in Ann Arbor (emphasizing entirely unstructured and undefined learning); and the Ny Lilleskole (responding to Denmark's large, conventional schools in which teachers and students coexist in a formalized relationship).

Of course, deep in the dustbin of educational reform lie proposals similar to Holt's. How does he himself hope to change "the system" or, rather, to eliminate it? A realist, he acknowledges that his suggestions will indeed seem impractical and improbable--but not impossible--for at least another generation. That generation is now, in Year 2004.

Yet he solicits the immediate help of parents discouraged by the presumably deleterious effects of education on their children. Parents are in the best position to help youngsters, he says, "play the education game better." As a first step in abolishing compulsory education itself, he asks educators and parents (t-eachers) to reaffirm the ideal of freedom and to permit learners the sacred right to control their own minds and thoughts and feelings.

In fact, "freedom" is a key word in this compelling book, otherwise given to numerous facile and strained generalizations. Holt says: "Education, with its supporting system of compulsory and competitive schooling, all its carrots and sticks, its grades, diplomas. credentials, now seems to me perhaps the most authoritarian and dangerous of all social inventions of mankind." Elsewhere he states: "...schools for educators . . . get and hold their students by the threat of jail or uselessness or poverty. There is very little we can do to make these 5-chools better, and they are almost certain to get worse." Such statements are plentiful.

A serious flaw in in fervent call for freedom and for learning related to real life is that, despite this most profound plea, his arguments are often contradictory and diffuse. His "either-or" assertions miss the point that many classroom teachers are already successfully employing methods he espouses in terms of compulsory education's demise.

Some of his theories, however, deserve serious consideration, especially his discussion of the important role of parents in a child's learning. He recommends that educators reemphasize the value and necessity of energetic cooperation with parents as teachers. But even here he warns against a natural tendency to overprotect children. To intervene--however intelligently, gently, creatively--is to risk either squashing initiative or allowing learners less time for discovering and developing felt needs.

Another theory he supports is that children possess much more power than we think to grasp and master typical problems if youngsters are given time and space to solve them. Both parent and teacher need to observe how children themselves learn, but adults must relinquish not only their power of coercion but a propensity for verbal commentary as well.

The overriding issue for Holt is choice-the freedom to choose without fear of reaction, reprisal,restriction. He does not recommend that children be allowed to roam completely unfettered; he does understand that parents and teachers need to guard learners against obvious, as opposed to presumed, harm and danger.

Yet frequent and unnecessary intrusions in the daily routine of youngsters engender distrust and fear rather than self-confidence and openness. In the author's view, knowing when and how to intrude, without jeopardizing the child's right to choose for him/herself, is the mark of a positive and humane t-eacher.

John Holt does not apologize for repudiating compulsory education. Gripping is the urgency with which he calls for the abolition of forced learning, itself not a novel revolutionary proposal. Once overcoming the book's emotionalism and exaggerations, educators will find much to consider. One need not be a disciple of Holt to appreciate many of his forceful remarks about helping children become "do-ers."

The message of this book, stated concisely, is that the world needs more and better scout troops, community music groups, Little League teams, karate academies, and other informal educational organizations. He would like to see such organizations grow to the point that they replace full-time schools with mandatory attendance. I'm not saying whether I agree or disagree, but I am saying that his opinion is worth thinking about.

If Holt never visited South Korea, I wish he could have. His dream is closer to realization here than it is in the United States. You can't walk a block without seeing a karate school, a music school, an art school, or a music school. Some of these schools hold class all day, some serve as after-school clubs, and some do both.

This book is a great resource for specific strategies matched to your IRI results. It suggests practical strategies and intervention models to meet the needs of your struggling readers. Each chapter contains specific strategies for each component of an IRI. This is a great asset to include in your professional library for reading specialists and other professionals who administer IRIs and plan instruction based on those results.

The book is a helpful resource, especially if you've used the QRI4, which was written by the authors of this text. Includes some useful charts, diagrams, and a booklist.

I have both the JG26 War Diaries written also by Donald Caldwell. This Photographic reference is an excellent supplement to these volumes with very little duplication of photographs. It is well laid out with each chapter describing a set time during JG26's existence. A useful extra is the extensive colour plates of each major version of aircraft flown by the Geschwader and the closing chapter that covers paint schemes and markings that tie back to the colour plates. Very recommended.

This is a must-have book for anyone interested in modelling the aircraft of the Luftwaffe's Jadgeschwader 26. Packed with black and white photos of the aircraft and crews in combat and at rest, it provides the details one is looking for when attempting to accurately model a specific aircraft. It contains interesting, if breif, text passages about JG26, along with (24) color profile plates. Chapter 10 is dedicated entirely to textual descriptions of camoflage and markings used by the Gruppe throughout the war. Also of interest are humerous photographs found throughout the book proving that while war is indeed hell, it has it's lighter moments too!

After reading this biography of John Calhoun, I had completed reading about the lives of the "Great Triumvirate" of Webster, Clay and Calhoun who, as Representatives, Senators and Secretaries of State were the most dominant non-Presidents in early-19th Century America.

Each of the Triumvirate had their assets and their flaws. As this biography illustrates, Calhoun's great assets were his integrity and his intellect; his great flaws included his inflexibility and his adherence to promoting and continuing slavery.

As a biography goes, this one is good but not great. It is a generally well-written work, but Bartlett has a tendency to speculate as to what Calhoun and others were thinking at particular moments and let a pro-Calhoun bias sometimes remove the objectivity from his work. Despite this, I still did not feel I could really relate to Calhoun, who comes off kind of remote.

Overall, there is more good than bad in this book, however, and as an introduction to an important historical figure, this is a worthwhile read.

John Calhoun is probably one of the most interesting Americans to ever serve his country. A member of the American troika that included Clay and Webster, Calhoun was a staunch states right and slavery advocate. This book begins by examining Calhoun's youth and how his father Patrick instilled his virtues in his son. Calhoun went to Yale and later law school in Connecticut. Calhoun was then elected to the U.S. House of Representatives at the time of the 1812 disagreements with Britain. Calhoun was to remain in politics until his death almost 40 years later. Calhoun served as a Representative, Vice-president, Senator, and Secretary of War and State. The book is at its best when it details Calhoun attacking the status quo, something he did often. In fact, with todays sell-outs that we call politicians, it's nice to see that someone once stood up for what he believed in. Bartlett spends some time pointing out Calhoun's ironies--one of which was that as great a man as he was, his kids were spoiled brats. Only one of his children was up to his immense intellect, and that was his daughter Anna. Since women didn't have careers in the 19th century, she couldn't follow him into politics. Try and find this book at the library if Amazon doesn't get it in stock.

This account (of a battle that everyone's heard of but nobody knows much about) drags a bit in its beginning and ending sections, but its middle(the actual description of the battle) is a well-paced, crystal-clear description of the battle action of both sides. Good depiction of how individual leaders and their strengths and weaknesses influence military actions. The attempts to place the battle in a much larger historical context sometimes were a stretch, but the book overall is a great read for Civil War history buffs.

The Journal of South Texas, published by the South Texas Historical Association published a review written by Dr. Walter Pittman, of the University of West Alabama, in its Spring 2003 edition. In part Dr. Pittman writes: "Hunt's careful scholarship has disposed of two enduring legends. One is that the battle occurred because local forces had not yet learned of Appomattox. Hunt shows that the Confederates knew all about Lee's surrender and nevertheless fought with aggressiveness and spirit and were clearly superior to their foes. The other legend attributes the defeat to a failure of the Black 62nd USCT. Hunt proves that the inexperienced 62nd performed admirably under adverse conditions while the veteran 34th Indiana performed poorly.

"The Last Battle of the Civil War: Palmetto Ranch is a highly polished little gem of historical study... Jeffrey Hunt... through diligent research, [has] managed to resolve most of [the battle's] historical mysteries. Skillfully written, meticulously researched, balanced and unbiased, it is complimented with remarkably clear maps. It is a small book about a small battle but Hunt tells an exciting story and tells it with historical accuracy. It is well worth reading."

College and university histories are notoriously weak, most serving as feel-good souvenirs for anxious, sports-crazed alumni. This one is an exception to that rule. The book is a well-written narrative history, not a glossy coffee table book full of NCAA highlights. The story begins in 1789, and progresses through chapters, ordered by chronology, right up to the 1980s. The original text was published in 1992, so there's no history of recent athletic exploits.

The book's core is the story of the economic and political development of an essential academic institution, with athletic and social subplots. There are few photographs, the author preferring to allow the words to do the work. And the emphasis is on the words, for Snider is not a "facts and figures" historian.

Generally, I recommend this book for readers curious about the founding and growth of our early state universities. Whereas private, sectarian colleges proliferated in New England, the secular state university has a particularly distinguished history in the South. The universities of North Carolina (1789), South Carolina (1801), Virginia (1819), Tennessee (1794), Georgia (1801) and Alabama (1831) were all early foundations modeled on the example set in Chapel Hill.

As the first public university in the United States, UNC truly served as a "light on the hill" in advocating for public higher education. Tar Heels will love learning about the history of their illustrious university and all its traditions and legacies. This book is historically accurate and intellectually provocative, while still compelling and interesting for leisure reading.

This is a great gift for any Tar Heel!

This is a tremendous book for helping families learn how to teach faith within the home. The chapters guide the reader through ways each family can "make a home for faith" through nurturing the spiritual life of their children. The writing is clear and concise, and there are helpful resources listed in the book as well. A must-read for every family who takes their faith seriously!

This book is a good intro book for parents who want to learn about raising their children spiritually. It combines theory, theology, and the practical. It is one of the more recent books on the subject. It is very broad in its audience, so would work for almost any faith. (Evangelical Christians have some better works to choose from.) There are discussion questions at the end of each chapter, so it is potentially good for a small group study. I would recommend this book to preschool parents more than elementary parents. But I would also stipulate that this book is only a starting point.

Mentalism has long been the most misunderstood magical realm in Rolemaster Standard System. Arguments about the relationship between mentalism and psionics has been raging on the net and in private venues for years now. Essence, being the traditional magical discipline and channeling, the traditional power of clerics and other followers of divine beings, are both firmly entrenched in the minds of players and GMs alike. They are well burned into our imaginations and into our literature, and therefore, easy to grasp, by player and gamemaster alike.

My first reaction upon picking up this book was, "Wow, how many pages is this thing?" The answer, 158 pages, makes this the largest companion yet. Its size is no surprise. Upon leafing through it I began to realize just how ambitious this book really was.

It starts with your typical "What is Mentalism?" section, followed by a treatment of the standard mentalist archetypes. All of this is pretty old hat, though necessary to help unmuddy the mentalism waters. It then launches into a variety of subjects, many of which only loosely connected with mentalism itself.

It seems the authors used this book as a vehicle by which to cram in every rule system they could, dealing with the mind or mental subjects. Acceptable? To me it is, though some tastes may differ. A list of the primary subjects is as follows:

New professions: Very relevant. Every companion seems to need a new slew of professions, and this one adds (or reintroduces) the Seer, Astrologer, Enchanter and Armsmaster. Of all of these, the Armsmaster is by far my favorite, though the other professions will probably appeal to players with a less chivalrous bent. Regardless of your tastes, these professions fill important niches in the spell casting professions, niches that were previously unfilled.

This is followed by training packages, another must for a Rolemaster companion. Of all the work, I found this section the most disappointing (though it reintroduced the houri, an amusing character type). I don't know what I wanted from trainin packages, but this book failed to deliver it. I think it's just that none of the training packages struck my fancy.

Next is the treatment of magical ritual, a subject that is beginning to bore me. It's necessary, however, and it was vehicle for the author's attempt to introduce rules for mental combat. A private conversation with one of the authors revealed that, the published rules are scaled down from those the author submitted, and they are skeletal at best.

The next section was included to satisfy the Internet community. For years now, debates have raged about the nature of illusion in Rolemaster, and many people aren't satisfied with the official stance. This section therefore treats both sides of the argument, allowing gamemasters to use whichever one appeals to them most. It is good that this treatment was placed into print, and I suppose that this book is as good as any.

The next section deals with insanity. Though this might seem out of place at first, mentalist lists are the only real place where insanity is inflicted. This is a necessary addition to Rolemaster. It supports the gritty realism of the game, and I'm glad it was there.

This is followed by the section on Languages and Lore. Now, out of all the sections in this book, this has the least to do with mentalism. It's a good subject, though. I've never been satisfied with the way that any game handled languages, not even Rolemaster. This new treatment of languages, though not the most accurate, is a far cry from anything I've seen. The authors strived for a balance between realism and playability, and I think they found a happy medium.

Since mentalism deals with divination (at least with the professions in this work), the next three sections are dedicated to divination of various sorts. Therefore the book treats diving the past, present and future, helping the GM deal with difficult subject like astrology and the future. These subjects can be difficult for a GM to handle, and though this doesn't set any rules in stone, it tries to give the GM enough information to make an informed decision.

Next, you'll find specific treatments of astrology and tarot. I really felt these sections did nothing to help me with my campaigns, though the information might be a good starting point for creating your own divination systems. It was just too Earth specific to help me much.

For you Robert Jordan fans, I'll bet you'll feel a certain kinship with the authors of this book. Before the final section, consisting of spell lists, you'll find a treatment of dreams and dream travel. I liked the ideas here, but I wanted a lot more. It made me wonder whether the space constraints were cracking the whip on the authors during this section. A good broad treatment of the dream world would have been very nice, even one that we throw out to create our own. The single page on dream worlds simply wasn't enough for me.

My conclusion? This was a great book. It's become a permanent facet of my campaigns. Out of all the things that Rolemaster has to call its own, mentalism is the one that makes Rolemaster the most unique. It's a good thing for the game that this book was written. It takes that aspect of Rolemaster which is most unique and explains it, expands it and helps us make ours. It patches several holes that were left open in the Rolemaster system and does it with style and quality.

If I had to recommend a game, it would always be Rolemaster, and although there have been products in the past that I've felt have fallen short of the quality we've come to expect from ICE, this is not one of them. I couldn't necessarily recommend this book to most people playing other game systems (this isn't true for all Rolemaster books), but if your play Rolemaster, this book is a must.

The Mentalism Companion gives a very good listing of extra spells, professions, and training packages for the Rolemaster system. The professions and training packages are pretty cool, such as an Enchanter profession and the Dreamweaver Training Package. There are also some interesting new abilities, adrenal quick draw is a favorite of mine, it allows you to ready your weapon instantly. Overall this is a nice companion to have if you are into mentalism.

Dr. Ryrie presents a condensed review of the 35 Miracles of Jesus as reported by the Gospels. He includes background information as well as relevance to our everyday life. Think of this work as a "cliffs notes" view to just who Jesus Christ was and is - as exemplified by the feature that visibly and undeniably set Him apart from all others - His miracles. If your time is limited, I can't imagine a more informative and inspiring reading on this subject. If it was a movie, it would be two thumbs up!

In this book, Dr. Charles Ryrie examines 35 of the Lord's miracles and provides a brief analysis of each. After scripture is quoted, Dr. Ryrie provides the setting and the circumstances under which each miracle was performed. The reader is educated as to the significance of the miracle, the impact the miracle had on the people involved at the time and how the miracle has significance to present day Christians. The only disappointment I encountered was that each miracle was only given three to five pages of exposition. Other excellent works by Dr. Ryrie include "Basic Theology" and "Dispensationalism".

I thought the book was an excellent source to start out with! Shipping time was F A S T!!!

A must read for anyone considering a major in nutrition or dietetics. It describes many careers and gives additional resources to help one find a job.