Johnson Books

Never have I read a collection of more powerfully written and organized words. I first heard Dread Beat and Blood as a high school student fifteen years ago and was struck by the rhythm and the tone of Johnson's voice. The words on the page come alive with the images of racial strife and injustice that LKJ creates with his pen. I am currently using these and other poems by dub poets as a teaching tool in my Clairemont High School language arts classes. Spread the word!

the whole idea of dub poetry, and especially the contents introduced by LKJ are here found in written form, powerful, strong, touching. If you read it, you#ll understand more about the focus of LKJ's works.

I am from Brixton, and have to say LKJ put into lyrics what in the 1970's/1980's what most of us could not (our access to all mediums was cut off). The reality he writes about in say, Sonny's Letter is true - believe! It was ignored by politicians (obviously) etc. It's series and when you read or even better LISTEN to the lyrics (he recorded most of this) you will see why so many of us self destructed so early.

This book was a gift to me and not having cancer, I wasn't going to read it, but I felt drawn to it and began an eye opening journey. This book taught me a lot about forgiveness and how to pray and the impact we can have on others lives. About halfway through this book, my sister-in-law was shockingly diagnosed with stage 4 matastic melanoma. I am so blessed by having read this book and it has given me the gift of feeling grounded in knowing how to pray and support others during this time.

This is a remarkable book. The author clearly spends a lot of time praying that God will use this work in the lives of those who read it. It was like a wonderful sermon -- the Holy Spirit uses it to touch each person in a way that's meaningful to them. There were several parts where I felt compelled to stop and pray, thanking the Lord for revealing a clear truth/action in my life. I loved Lois' warm, friendly writing style, too. It was as though we were sitting at her kitchen table, chatting. My daughters loved her novels for kids, so I'm glad that as a grown-up I got to enjoy some writing that was directed to me! While the theme is how God heals physically, this title will impact anyone who needs emotional or spiritual healing, as well. I'm sending copies to friends and relatives, and I know it will bless them, too.

EITHER WAY, I WIN is full of high interest and meaningful sharing by the author when she was taking chemotherapy. She updated the book with this new version and it includes other people's experiences and what they learned to keep themselves going. Johnson's chapters are full of spiritual transparency and wisdom. She is a master of scriptural insights and gives fresh helps in learning to pray. She selects scriptures that are right to the heart and the right time. She uses memorable analogies.

This book makes a good gift for those who appreciate Christian viewpoint in a relevant way. Especially helpful to those who are fighting breast cancer. Weakest part is the book's cover.

Book is a must for those who are hurting or chronically ill or lonely or even seriously ill. I recommend it for churches to use in study groups or for lay people who minister to others. Good leaders guide and questions in the back.

If you are looking for a comprehensive and well-structured guide to mentoring - this is perfect choice. Presented concepts are intuitive and have practical application. What is also important, the book is fun to read. I recommend it both to new adepts of mentoring as well to those more experienced.

As the Chief Operating Officer for a large medical technology company, I have mentored many junior professionals for years. But until now, I've never found a guide on the art of mentoring that lays out the specific details and skills mentors should master. Imagine my delight at discovering a short but comprehensive resource for everything a new mentor should learn and a seasoned mentor should reconsider. The authors promise a "nuts and bolts" guide to doing mentoring based on the writing style of the classic "Elements of Style" guide to grammar. The authors do not disappoint on this score. Amazingly, they manage to cover all of the key ingredients to outstanding mentoring without resorting to stories or wordy narrative. In reading the "Elements of Mentoring," one gets the sense that he or she is gleaning the distilled wisdom of two master mentors. The book is brief but jam-packed with the crucial details of starting a good mentorship, managing it successfully, and even bringing it through difficult transitions. I was impressed that the authors (both college profs) used lots of research in putting the book together (see the references) without cluttering the pages with it. I am not a frequent Amazon reviewer, but after reading this thorough but brief resource, recommending it to several colleagues, and pulling it down from my shelf already to re-read a section relevant to one of my current subordinates, I felt compelled to recommend it to other managers and leaders. One of the few books on developing junior talent I've been glad I paid for.

i skimmed through this book and was very impressed. it pointed out to me how i should mentor as well as pointing out how i should be mentored. i learned what has been missing in the mentoring that i receive. i am hoping that it will help me ask for the type of mentoring that i want and need.

This is a valuable book. These authors have managed to distill a very broad topic into easily applied principles. As both a mentor and protege I am grateful for this book. I am now ordering this book as a gift for all my favorite mentors in my Harvard post-doctoral program. I recommend you do the same for those menotors in your life.

If you are looking for a comprehensive and well-structured guide to mentoring - this is perfect choice. Presented concepts are intuitive and have practical application. What is also important, the book is fun to read. I recommend it both to new adepts of mentoring as well to those more experienced.

As the Chief Operating Officer for a large medical technology company, I have mentored many junior professionals for years. But until now, I've never found a guide on the art of mentoring that lays out the specific details and skills mentors should master. Imagine my delight at discovering a short but comprehensive resource for everything a new mentor should learn and a seasoned mentor should reconsider. The authors promise a "nuts and bolts" guide to doing mentoring based on the writing style of the classic "Elements of Style" guide to grammar. The authors do not disappoint on this score. Amazingly, they manage to cover all of the key ingredients to outstanding mentoring without resorting to stories or wordy narrative. In reading the "Elements of Mentoring," one gets the sense that he or she is gleaning the distilled wisdom of two master mentors. The book is brief but jam-packed with the crucial details of starting a good mentorship, managing it successfully, and even bringing it through difficult transitions. I was impressed that the authors (both college profs) used lots of research in putting the book together (see the references) without cluttering the pages with it. I am not a frequent Amazon reviewer, but after reading this thorough but brief resource, recommending it to several colleagues, and pulling it down from my shelf already to re-read a section relevant to one of my current subordinates, I felt compelled to recommend it to other managers and leaders. One of the few books on developing junior talent I've been glad I paid for.

i skimmed through this book and was very impressed. it pointed out to me how i should mentor as well as pointing out how i should be mentored. i learned what has been missing in the mentoring that i receive. i am hoping that it will help me ask for the type of mentoring that i want and need.

This is a valuable book. These authors have managed to distill a very broad topic into easily applied principles. As both a mentor and protege I am grateful for this book. I am now ordering this book as a gift for all my favorite mentors in my Harvard post-doctoral program. I recommend you do the same for those menotors in your life.

25 years before a little boy and his tiger charmed the world, Crockett Johnson wrote these terrific little stories which are also about a child and a stuffed wild cat who comes to life in the child's imagination. The rapport between the girl and her somehow wiser imaginary friend is similar, and cleverly written to make it a marvelous read-aloud experience.

This is one of our daughters favorite books and not a bad story for the parents to read as well.

This book has been a favorite of our family's since we discovered it after our first child was born in 1986. Eighteen years later, we still read and quote from this book. Every child should have a lion like Ellen's. We are so glad it is out in a new edition. Our copy is getting a little ragged.

Reviewed by Audrey Hauser for Reader Views (9/06)

When I read the preface of "Emerald's Garden" telling that it was from the author's journal I thought I might be getting into the day by day details of her life path and it would get tedious. This book is anything but boring. Marsha Johnson uses words masterfully as she tells the story of her niece Emerald Alexis Watson. I actually felt like I was with Marsha and Emerald the week-end of their last visit. There was the absolute joy only a child can bring to us. When word came of Emerald's sudden illness and her brief fight for life I felt the same disbelief as Marsha did. I asked the question why?

Marsha's Lessons in Death were something I could apply to myself for I too have lost someone that I loved dearly. Her feeling that it is something we all must face was enhanced by the deep feeling for Emerald and the short time that Emerald was in her life. Some of those simplest things in life are brought out by association with a child and are remembered even when there is heartbreak. As if Emerald's death wasn't enough to cause heartfelt grief, Marsha also had to come to terms with the death of her co-worker and friend, Crystal and Crystal's baby soon after. It was these second deaths that caused her to take stock of her life. Was she really a success or was she a failure? The insight came through God that she must find her purpose no matter how long it took. After all, Marsha was not just planning her life but her eternity. She learned that even though her hopes were for the best things that she must prepare for the worst of things.

In preparing for the worst, Marsha used her skills of organization to put her life in order. Planning for the future meant planning for the crises that would come. All during her grieving she questioned her spiritual life was what it should be. A voracious reader, Marsha went through books on everything that she thought would help her. She was emotionally drained but at the same time realized that by keeping her mind healthy she would also help her emotions to heal. With not only the deaths, but also a divorce to contend with, Marsha stresses the importance of not taking on too much. Easier said than done, Marsha learned that by helping others she was on the road to better health. She just needed to learn to limit herself. Her finances were in disrepair and she looked to a goal of cleaning them up without setting a definite time period. Her reasoning was what it took to get there and equally would take time to get back on her feet. Preparation to grieve could not be complete without looking at preparing physically. That meant healthier eating and exercise.

The section on Compassion was the most thought provoking for me. I've long known that a burden shared is a lighter burden, but like Marsha, it took me awhile to learn that it really doesn't matter to others how much we know, but it does matter how much we care. Is laughter appropriate in the grief period? Definitely. The adage that laughter is good medicine is even truer in times of grief. Marsha gave us lessons in how to put people first, before things. Her story helped me better understand that showing compassion is showing our Christian testimony to those around us. It is important to show love and not hide it. By doing this we risk rejection and pain but it is still important not to withhold our love. Loving unconditionally is true love, and it is a language understood by people everywhere. Sometimes all we can do is to hold someone who is suffering The Biblical passage referring to Titus took on new meaning as I thought back to the Titus` in my life. I realized that even in my worst times God had sent me a Titus too. I finally realized that to have gained compassion for others I had to walk the path of suffering myself and I have done that.

The dos and don'ts of mourning were included in a helpful way and frankly are something worth printing out and keeping handy. The ways of showing our grief, also outlined, are guides to help those going through that period. Everyone has a different way of grieving and a different schedule. I especially thought the chapter on children's grieving was well put. We sometimes don't realize that children are affected by death too. Every one of us has to go through grieving and mourning before we can start our recovery. There will be suffering and tears and this is a real part of the process. If we find God in our lives we need to be thankful and give praise. We need to learn the act of forgiveness. All of these things will guide us to the recovery stage and help us to the time when we can say good-bye to our grief and go forth with living.

This book taught me a lot about myself and called for me to do some soul searching. I have walked many of the same paths as the author and while I did not follow the same guidelines I believe I have become the person I am today because God was there with me. Because of "Emerald's Garden", I revisited my past and saw that had some of these things been pointed out to me then my road would have been easier to walk.

In the days following the tragic death of her four year old niece Emerald, Marsha Johnson realized she was not ready to face grief or crisis in her life. She began to journal her journey to recovery.

Johnson developed sound principals in her journals and organized them into steps for preparation for crisis: death, divorce, and disease. These journals were then expanded to become lessons for her children in preparing for life, physical, emotional, and financial.

Marsha was encouraged to pass these lessons for life on to the reader through this book. The early chapters deal with the reality of death, preparing for the worst, and lessons Marsha learned on compassion. She then goes to share insights into the do's and don't of mourning manners. The final chapters deal with the grieving process, including sensitive help in dealing with grieving children, pain, recover, suffering, and saying goodbye. In saying goodbye Marsha moved on to finding fulfillment in finding God's purpose for her life and the transformation that followed.

I personally, was challenged in the areas of compassion. Marsha illustrated the themes of this chapter by sharing her own discovery of the burden for compassion, caring, laughter, and putting people first. By sharing from her own pain and suffering, Marsha has added a dimension that makes the message of the book authentic and real.

Johnson stated her desire in writing was to bring a clear message of hope to the grieving through the pages of this book. She has successfully empathized with and offered comfort to the reader. Her work is well organized, clearly articulated.

This is a book that fits into the genre of "self help" (in preparation for crisis) or in "grief" as related to the loss, of a loved one, through death, divorce, or other losses.

This is a valuable resource for grief counselors, pastors, or individuals reaching out to comfort those needing the promise of "hope."

Marsha shares with us a very personal journey through loss and growth. Every parent's nightmare, the loss of child, was the catalyst that caused her to write Emerald's Garden after the loss of her little niece. Life, for all of us, is a journey of living, loving and saying goodbye, and with Marsha's inspiration, we come away with the assurance that the world is still a beautiful place. This book is well written, and inspirational. Emerald's Garden is a book that will help you over the loss of loved ones.

An appraisal of this great figure's work is incomplete without a good look at these selected letters. As fascinating to the Dickinson scholar as they are to the casual enthusiast, Dickinson's letters -- along with those of Keats or Hopkins -- prove that this is every bit as legitimate a genre as fiction or poetry. Some of Dickinson's most gorgeous and enduring statements are here, and to read these in chronological order is to map the gradual development of America's premier woman poet. Even in a letter she wrote at 12-years-old, the idiosyncratic dashes with which she distinguished her poetic voice are abundant, and already have that effect of forcing the reader to savor clusters of words as they unravel down the page. Similarly, Dickinson's mind-blowing instinct for the staggering metaphor is in full gear throughout ("Vinnie came soft as a moccasin") and, for all her great death poetry, it is in a letter regarding the death of her father where we find perhaps her most vulnerable and moving confrontation with mortality:

"Father does not live with us now -- he lives in a new house. Though it was built in an hour it is better than this. He hasn't any garden because he moved after gardens were made, so we take him the best flowers, and if we only knew he knew, perhaps we could stop crying."

Perhaps most fascinating of all, though, is the mixture of extremes Dickinson's personality manifests throughout these letters, a crude bluntness that mingles with the most tender innocence. She at once condemns a cousin's valentine as "A little condescending, & sarcastic, your Valentine to me, I thought" and begins another missive with the exuberant mysticism of a child speaking as if out of some fairytale: "I wanted to write, and just tell you that me, and my spirit were fighting this morning. It isn't known generally, and you musn't tell anybody." Of course, this book also includes that characteristically bizarre and unforgettable final letter, which she wrote while suffering from the illness that would take her life just days later: "Little Cousins, Called Back. Emily." Especially enjoyable about this particular volume are the endnotes with which the editor follows up most letters. These brief but informed observations offer a fascinating and thorough glimpse into Dickinson's reading life, while also helping to illuminate her more obscure autobiographical allusions. This book is as fascinating an odyssey as Dickinson's complete poems, and I think readers do themselves a great service by delving into these letters alongside that more celebrated aspect of her genius.

EMILY DICKINSON SELECTED LETTERS. Edited by Thomas H. Johnson. 364 pp. Cambridge, Massachusetts : The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1971. SBN674-25060-5 (hbk).

Emily Dickinson was a great letter writer, in all senses of the word. In fact one gets the impression that she actually preferred writing to people, than meeting and conversing with them, and for her the arrival of a letter was a great event. A letter was something she looked forward to with keen anticipation, and which she savored to the full whenever one arrived.

The present selection of letters represents only a small proportion of the letters Emily Dickinson actually wrote. She was an inveterate letter-writer, had many correspondents, and wrote thousands of letters. And people in those days collected letters just as today.

Unfortunately it was the custom, whenever anyone died, to make a bonfire of all of their correspondence, probably because of its personal and confidential nature. In this way thousands of pages of Emily Dickinson's writings have been lost to posterity, and we would know much more aboute the details of her day-to-day life, and be able to date her poems more accurately, if it hadn't been for this tragic loss.

Just how great the loss is may be gaged by taking a look at the way Ellen Louise Hart and Martha Nell Smith have treated her letters in 'Open Me Carefully : Emily Dickinson's Intimate Letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson' (1998). Whereas Thomas Johnson prints all of ED's letters as straight prose, which of course leads us to read them as straight prose, Hart-Smith give us their particular letters as they actually appear in the original draft - not as continous lines of prose but as very short lines with numerous line breaks - in other words, as poetry.

It would seem that at least some of ED's 'letters' are not so much letters as 'letter-poems,' and when read as poems produce a remarkable range of effects that are lost when all line breaks are removed and the 'letter' is regularized as straight prose. The loss of her letters now begins to look much more serious, for there seems to be a growing feeling among readers that her letters were every bit as great an artistic achievement as her poems.

Given this, the present book becomes something that should interest all serious students of ED, although before reading it they might (if they haven't already) take at look at the Hart-Smith, and keep it in mind while reading the Johnson. One wonders how much poetry may be lurking unrecognized in the regularized lines of 'Emily Dickinson's Selected Letters.'

...

If you are, like me, an Emily Dickinson's great admirer you will be genuinely drawn into this book. Emily Dickinson has bewitched and perplexed everyone with her extremely profound poetry disguised in apparent simplicity. However, in her book of letters we uncover the woman (and not the author) behind her work, whose main assets were acute sensitivity and lovingness. This collection, unlike other books of the genre, such as Elizabeth Bishop's One Art or Keats's book of letters, do not reveal much of her poetry, as her mental struggle with the work, her intentions, or choice of words. Even so, the reader is allowed into her family relationships, into her care and love for her few friends, and above all into her deep-set feeling of solitude. Besides, throughout her letters she discloses her main existential concerns, which are inevitably reflected in her poems. This book makes it possible to discover the books she read and the ones that offered her the greatest pleasure. As the collection includes from her juvenile writings to her latest letters when already living in social "exile," they form a most engrossing reading, with the characteristics of an autobiography, without the intention by the author to write one. In her very words, "my letter as a bee, goes laden."

Probably the most lucid poem in the English language expressing Enlightenment ideals, but still not without some critiques their consequences too (Lo the poor Indian whose untutored mind... / No Christian's thirst for gold...)

Pope is the great master of polished English verse. He is the most skilled craftsman, perhaps, that the language has known. "Like the alexandrine that drags its slow length along" Pope everywhere illustrates a mastery of form as feeling. Yet precisely his precision and his intellect are what make the verse less than deeply appealing to a poor romantic soul such as myself. Pope can be a master moralist ( Vice is a monster of such frightful mien/ that to be hated needs but to be seen/ but seen too oft/ familiar with her face/ we first endure, then pity, then embrace./ And he can hold up the mirror to man and nature in a way that inspires rational hope. He can play and mock at us ( I am his master's dog at Kew, pray tell me, Sir whose dog are you?) but he does not reach the deepest down nature that the Romantics that come after will.
This fine collection contains his most famous poems " The Rape of the Lock" and "The Essay on Man' and the reader can know through this work the best of Pope. But whether the best of Pope belongs in the same league with Shakespeare, Chaucer, Milton, Keats, Wordsworth, is another question.

Pope's defining masterworks, "Essay on Man" and "The Rape of the Lock", are crystalizations of the 18th Century's defining impulses. The "Essay on Man" proselytizes on behalf of the deistic belief in an ordered, rational universe where humankind is no divine favorite but can understand its place on the Great Chain of Being and find happiness through knowledge and acceptance. Most will join with Voltaire in his hearty rejection of the doctrine "Whatever is, is right," yet it is impossible to deny the ennobling quality of Pope's optimism:
"Grasp the whole worlds of reason, life, and sense,
In one close system of benevolence:
Happier as kinder, in whate'er degree,
And height of bliss but height of charity."
Where "Essay on Man" expresses the rational principles of the Enlightenment, "The Rape of the Lock" exemplifies the love of the frivolous, the fashionable, and the feminine which gave such light and warmth to an era famed for its elevation of the intellect. The poem exemplifies the Rococo, that most playful of styles in literature; nowhere else in English lit does so much of the spirit of Boucher come through. Pope's verse swirls and sparkles in melodic luxuriance, his creamy couplets smooth and shapely as a woman's legs.
This compact edition also includes the "Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady", one of the most beautifully severe (and overlooked) poems in the language-- a rare triumph of Neo-Classical lyric. Here also are the famous "Essay on Criticism", the galloping satire of the "Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot", Epistle IV of the "Moral Essays", the "Ode on Solitude" and "The Dying Christian to His Soul", and the famed little epigram from a dog's collar-- all magnificent, all of them compact and gracious in expression, articulate and penetrating in thought. The serious devotee of Pope will want to go on to the treasures (and scholarly annotations) of the Twickenham edition, but this is a terrific anthology of some indispensable works from this controversial and indispensable genius.

More than anything, what children need are happy, confident, peaceful parents. This book teaches us how to find that for ouselves; and, how to then allow our children to discover it within themselves ... the essence of parenting.

This is a great book. It totally reshaped my views towards parenting, and helped me focus my own life as well. It teaches that you can't be a good parent unless you love yourself first. If you work on that, everything else falls into place. I'm sending it to all my friends.

After reading this book, I gave a big sigh of relief. Parenting could be fun, joyful, and full of the love I feel for my children. That love is within me and all I needed was this book and a simple shift in attitude to realize this. Everything that Anne and Vic have written is simple, which is not to say that it is easy. It requires trust and discipline, but our children, and ourselves, are certainly worth this. This book doesn't preach or give you lists of things to do, but instead guides you gently on your path as a parent and a person. I can honestly say that this book will help parents with children of any age, and any question you may have about your parenting. You already know the answers, and they are within you. The Essence of Parenting will help you to see that what you seek lies within your own heart. I can't imagine my life without this book!

"Are You A Flailer?"

"BACK CAST: That part of the fly cast where the rod and line are lifted up and backward so the line travels straight behind the caster.

FORWARD CAST: The delivery portion of the fly cast. The forward cast starts when the line has straightened out behind.

FALSE CAST: Back and forward casts that allow the angler to lengthen the amount of line being cast before the line is allowed to drop to the water. False casts help the angler change the direction of casting. A few snappy false casts also help remove excess water from dry flies. False casting also is used to measure the distance of the cast relative to a rising fish. Many new fly-anglers false cast too much. That is, they cast back and forth in the same direction and do not let line out .. they just flail away with no real purpose." (from The Essential Guide to Fly Fishing.)

So, what is that all about? This is not a book review section, it's supposed to be about casting. Ok, those are from the glossary of a new soft cover book for anyone just getting into fly fishing. The author is Clive Schaupmeyer from Brooks, Alberta, Canada. It is published by Johnson Gorman Publishers, Red Deer Alberta, Canada. It is a very good book, 288 pages that cover the whole of fly fishing. For a new angler it will do a dandy job. What about casting? Yup, he covers that; not only how to, but where to, and why to, as well." (excerpt from Castwell Casting Corner, FlyAnglers OnLine")

Fly fishing is a puzzle to a beginner. One of the pleasant aspects of managing a fly shop is helping new flyfishers assemble that puzzle and watch as their knowledge and skills grow. But, what do you do if the beginner doesn't live in a place that offers the fine instruction available from a fly shop? What text book do you recommend to the beginner who wants to learn fly fishing essentials on his own?

In the 34 years I've been fly fishing, I've read many books that covered parts of the fly fishing puzzle, but no single book that completely assembled it in simple, easy-to-read terms. `The Essential Guide to Fly-Fishing' by Clive Schaupmeyer is the first book I've read that assembles the whole puzzle in simple, easy language.

Between the covers of this 288 page paperback book, you'll find complete, accurate information on gear selection and assembly, insect identification and the flies that match them, casting and line control, stream and lake strategies, hooking and releasing fish, and much more. And, the information you read is highlighted with over two hundred pictures and drawings. It is, in fact, the best and most complete guide to freshwater fly fishing I've read.

If you're a novice or intermediate flyfisher, you owe it to yourself to pick up a copy of this book. If you're just beginning, it's an essential tool you can't afford to be without. You can find it at your local fly shop, or contact Lonepine Publishers at 1-800-661-9017 and order a copy. At $17.95 US or $22.95 Canadian, it's a real bargain.

Al Campbell Writer, Photographer, Flyfisher; Fly Shop Manager, Former Guide - Montana's Missouri River

The Essiential Guide to Fly Fishing is a rarity.,The author takes you step by step thru the process which to some can be very intimidating. In a very,down to earth process and without the technical jargon found in similer publication. Cleve provides you with a wealth of information and processes which allows everyone from the expert to the least experienced to enter the realm of the of Fly Fishing or simply increase their understanding and knowledge of the sport

As the owner of a Fly Shop, I have used this book, and will continue to use it as a reliable source of information to provide my customers with answers to their many technical questions. I highly recommend it as "required" reading in our fly fishing classes. Our copies sold out within two weeks of receipt.