Johnston Books

We were looking for a concise book to cover the basics our family should learn as they supported us through the adoption process. Our family was excited about the adoption, and this book would have been SO INSULTING to give to them. Thank goodness I borrowed it from the library before I bought copies for the family.
This book assumes that families of adoptive parents are actively unenthusiastic about children joining their family through adoption and talks down to them, telling them to "get with the program".
We wanted a resource to educate about adoption and bonding without subjecting our families to more information than they needed to read. We never did find what we were looking for, and ended up trying to summarize all we've learned.

This was the best book to help explain to our family and friends what we are going through. I cried as I read the book because it was so on target with the way we felt. We would HIGHLY recomend this book for families of people who are adopting, I wanted to buy 5000 copies and pass them out on the street!!

I enjoyed this book and it was invaluable in helping me educate extended family about adoption. The language is clear and concise, it speaks directly to the family members/friends of adoptive parents, and it addresses many of the concerns that family members or friends may have, regardless of whether they blurt it out or not.

As adoptive parents, we often spend hours poring over books, talking with others who have adopted, and researching our choice. Our extended family members often do not make the same educational journey we do, so it's helpful to have something to gently illustrate topics like adoption myths, respectful language, privacy for the child, etc.

I highly recommend it.

I think it is a wonderful resource for those starting the adoption process. It brings up many issues that you wouldn't have thought of. Highly recommended for anyone adopting and any family members.

I read "Adopting after Infertility" and loved it so I thought this was going to be just as wonderful. I was disappointed and didn't even make it through. I was not open to the way the book started by stating you should ask family to financially support the adoption. I made the mistake of leaving it out and my mom picked it up and had the exact reaction I did - not good. Maybe the points were better later in the book but I would never give this to a family member because it seemed like I would be asking them for money.

Received promptly in perfect condition.

Excerpts from this book appear in The Magnificat publication.

Excellent reading and challenging thoughts. Must be ready to go beyond the "norm" to enjoy and make application of this book. I highly recommend this...only be prepared to face yourself...and God.

It seems like every book I have read on centering prayer or contemplative prayer quote this book extensively. This is a must read book that is easy to read yet requires a life time to apply.

This is a most compelling and etheral writing! Not for all folks, however is immensely gripping.

There is no reason to read The Cloud in translation. It is written in simple prose and in one of the easiest Middle English dialects for Modern English speakers to read. This edition of the book is an unnecessary translation into Modern English in which a great deal of the original works subtleties and nuances are lost. Because the text was written with such close attention to language it is truly inexcusable for any one to read it in translation when then original is completely accessible to the Modern English speaker. I therefore recommend the edition the TEAMS Middle English Texts Series, edited by Patrick J. Gallacher and available for roughly the same price, instead of this version.

Tracey Johnston signed up with an adventure travel company for an exploratory rafting trip in Borneo and it turned out to be far longer and more dangerous than predicted. What a thrilling, true story! This is just the kind of book you want to read on a long, tedious airline flight to make the time fly. Believe me, you won't want to get off till you find out how it ends.

It's been a few years since I read this book but I loved it. Middle-aged adventure with a great sense of humor.

This book tells the story of a journalist who nearly got killed adventuring in the backwoods of Borneo. At a party in San Francisco, Tracy Johnston met the president of Sobek, an outdoor adventure company. Sobek planned to offer a new white water route down the Boh River in Borneo. They were looking for crew members for the test-run, and were delighted to find Johnston, a proven writer who had previous white water experience. They offered her a free ride in exchange for publicity materials about the trip. So one fateful summer day in the early 1990s, Johnston landed in Jakarta to join the trip. Unfortunately, her luggage didn't land with her, but that was only the first of many challenges to come. During the course of the next few weeks, Johnston would find herself hurtling down an uncharted river, scrambling down muddy boulders, and swimming to save her skin, all while living intimately with folks that had been perfect strangers just days before. If the river trip in itself hadn't been enough, Johnston was also faced with coming to terms with changes in her own body, which had begun to develop the aches and pains of middle age. She found herself constantly comparing her performance, condition, and appearance to those of the others in the group, all younger than her.

I almost put this book down after the first few chapters, where Johnston comes across as a bit whiny or petty, and a not-so-skilled traveler, despite her experience. For instance, she explains how vital her air mattress was to her, yet she packed this item in her checked bag. Meanwhile, in her carry-on, she somehow had room for 2 sun dresses. She had already been to Indonesia the year before, but somehow during that trip, she had missed the fact that sun dresses are entirely inappropriate for the culture. We get rather shocked when French women take off their bathing suit tops on American beaches, but that pales to how Indonesians feel when tourists walk around showing bare shoulders and knee caps. For heaven sakes, when traveling, either follow local rules about covering parts of your body, or just stay home! Besides, Indonesia is one place to go where you don't need to pack any clothes at all. For women of average size, all you need to take in your carry-on (and checked bags, too, for that matter) is possibly a single change of shirt and some underwear. As soon as you arrive in the country, head to the nearest market, and you can purchase an entire wardrobe of attractive, comfortable clothing for less than what you might pay for a single outfit here. Meanwhile, in your carry-on, since you don't need to take other clothes, you'll have room for essentials like a camera, medications (especially aspirin and antiseptics), and maybe even an air mattress if you think you're going to need one. (Basically, the same advice goes for men, although larger men may have to look longer and go to tourist markets in order to find clothing in their size.) As Johnston meets up with the other female members of the crew, she is blown away by their beauty, and treats us to some catty remarks on their behavior. Finally, as the trip progresses, Johnston finds that in order to survive, she must become more introspective, and at this point, the story finally takes off. This is not a story about Borneo or Indonesia-instead it is a survival tale of hurtling down a river out of control.

Unlike Redmond O'Hanlon's book on the same subject, which is hysterically funny, Shooting the Boh is midly funny and one that I think will appeal more to female readers (my husband found this to be quite dull) due to the self-confessed menopausal musings of the author on traveling down river with a boat full of men and a younger, svelte, pretty (French) woman whom Johnston claims seemed to be immune to sweating or even appearing the slightest bit wrinkled by their circumstances!

Unlike O'Hanlon's interactions with the locals or his constantt making fun of himself (and his effete poet traveling companion), at times Johnston seemed to turn her narrative too much to her own neuroses (and internal observations of herself & the other travelers) and thereby lose the experience of going down a river in Borneo for the reader... which is why I read the book in the first place.

Eric Hansen's STRANGER IN THE FOREST or O'Hanlon's book on Borneo are far superior.

I have to give Johnston credit for being able to record and recount this arduous trip with such clarity. When one is exhausted, hounded by sweat-sucking bees, fearing that she may not survive, it takes a lot of persistence to keep a thorough journal. She's done this and written competently about the adventure, but this book ultimately is a let-down. Here's why:

Johnston is too self-absorbed and often expects others to take care of her needs. Her luggage is lost and even after another member of the trip lends her a sleeping bag, she's miffed that no one would loan her an air mattress. She feels that because she has a back problem every one should accommodate her needs. It's classic lack of self-responsibility - you often see this on river trips and other risky expeditions. Just as Jon Krakauer discovers on his "assault" on Everest in "Into Thin Air," people on guided trips expect all their needs to be met. Rather than thinking what she could do, despite her physical limits, to help the group, she castigates the others for not helping her enough.

As a raft guide, journalist, and author ("A Sense of Place"), I'm aware of the challenges Johnston faced, but I wish she'd painted a better picture of the other people on the trip. We hear about the guides' daring rescues and Sylvie's preening, but we don't get more than a two-dimensional view of the other guests on the trip.

And I notice that though Johnston often talks about the jungle spirits, she doesn't revere the life of the jungle. She goes out of her way to toss a centipede in the river, smear a leach to death even though it wasn't on her, and chortles over drowned bees. Of course I can understand this reaction to pests but it shows a lack of reverence for the place.

A couple of quibbles: she often uses "oar" as a verb, as in the guide was "oaring" the boat. You don't oar a boat - you row it. And the cover isn't a real image - it's two pictures, one of a longboat superimposed on the rapids. I don't blame Johnston for the cover - doubtless she had little or nothing to do with it - but it seems somehow symbolic of the book's lack of authenticity.

Despite all these faults, once I started reading I wanted to keep going to the end.

I think this was a well written book, that covered many topics on adopting after going through the craziness of infertility. I actually felt empowered and like I had options when reading this book. My husband and I are now on the road to adoption. Not everything in this book applies to every situation, but it was great to read.

There was not much useful information in this book (unless you like being talked down to), and I also noticed a lot of incorrect information in what there was. The author comes off as pompous and sort of a "know it all" in many areas, which is a bit odd for a person who obviously doesn't know as much as she is claiming to know. Our family has adopted four children over the recent years, all in separate adoptions, and I can tell you for a fact that the author is way off base in some of her claims. I would not recommend this book to anyone because adoption is a very tricky process, and a lot can go wrong, especially if you are following incorrect information from a supposed "expert" such as in a book like this.

I read this book shortly after dh and I decided to look into adoption. The author goes on and on about getting through your grief over infertility and it made me even more depressed about my situation!! She goes through different stages that a couple has to grieve before they are ready to move on and adopt such as the grief of never sharing a pregnancy with your spouse, the grief of never having a biological child etc. etc. etc. To me, adoption is not about grieving over what I am going to miss out on, it is about embracing life's path and looking at what I do get to experience such as the joy of finding out there is a child for us, and the excitment of sharing the adoption experience with my dh. IF sucks, I will be the first one to admit that!!! But life is what you make of it and I don't think that I need to grieve all these different steps before I am ready to embrace adoption.

This is by far the best book I read after my journey through infertility and as I began considering adoption. My husband and I now have a 3 1/2 year old son from Russia and we are in the process of adopting child number two. The truth is that adopting is extremely different from having a biological child and it is very important to work through your emotional issues before becoming an adoptive parent. I am grateful that I took the time to work through the issues addressed in this book before adopting my son. I am a better mother as a result. I highly recommend this book!

Of all the books and many, many websites my husband and I have read since we began looking into adoption, "Adopting After Infertility" ranks near, if not at, the top of my list. The best part about this book is how sympathetic Johnston is to [prospective] adoptive parents. I've gone back to this book a few times, after reading more elsewhere and learning more, for her balanced, direct, and kind style. As well as easier on the psyche than others, "Adopting After Infertility" is informative. Not as in depth regarding laws (state by state, country by country) as other sources, there is plenty to get you started in knowing the types of adoption and choices available. Invaluable for making me feel human. An excellent starting point and grounding reference along the way as we encounter the daunting realities. Emotionally, Johnston keeps the reader in line by reminding us that, though we don't have choices or resources we might wish to, we DO have many, which she describes quite well and accurately, providing information unavailble in the "how to" stlye accounts or in the "pro" or "con" material. Johnston is soft and kind, and empowering at once. If you are considering adoption, whether or not you are infertile, I highly recommend this book.

I'm really disapointed with this version of the Iliad. This version uses the Roman names for all the gods in the book. This makes it so confusing to figure out who is who I just stopped reading the book. I would return it but it would cost just as much to ship it as the book costs, so there's no point in doing that.

This translation captures the noble grandeur of Homer's Iliad better than any of the others (Lattimore, Fagles, etc.--Lattimore's Odyssey is nearly perfect, but in the Iliad he uses words like "sir", which make his Iliad translation seem anachronistic and "cheeky" at times.)

Though it is referred to as a "prose" translation, it nevertheless achieves at least the same degree of poetry as the other "verse" translations (none of which actually reproduce the metrical rhythms of Homer, but merely try to match the same thoughts per line, with occasional distracting flights of fancy.)

The characters' speeches are rendered beautifully by Hammond, with striking directness, force, passion and noble pathos. In the Hammond translation, we have all the ritual, formulaic, noble and heroic grandeur of Homer's Iliad, with characters that come alive through their speeches, with clearly recognizable self-consciousness and sophistication of thought that easily elicits even the modern reader's empathy.

No translator listed. Or is this version in the original Greek?

I felt very satisfied after having listened to this book once, and enriched after listening the second time. I had two challenges (described below) to overcome to get through this disc set, but I really felt engaged and enriched by the challenges as well as the story itself.

The first time I listened to the book, I found myself frequently referring back to the list of principal characters that is included with the CD. This list was extremely helpful because the characters sometimes have more than one name.

(example: "Diomede - also called Tydides (as he is the son of Tydeus), strong fighter")

Without the list I would've been confused. After an hour or so, I finally grasped the characters and then I was able to immerse myself into the story.

Another small hurdle for me was the "old english" way of speaking. While I do appreciate the style, it took me about an hour to fully get used to the sentance structure. This challenge was also good for me.

This audiobook really opened my mind and engaged me to think. I am pleased with the challenges and with the knowledge I gained from the story. I will listen to it again and again in the future.

This is specifically a review of Martin Hammond's translation of the Iliad (I've noticed that reviews for different editions often appear lumped together). This is by far the best translation of the Iliad I have ever encountered and it led me to finally read the Iliad from beginning to end without skipping bits or skimming. It is a modern prose translation but is also faithful to the meaning of the original Greek (since the translator is not forced to try to turn his translation into verse). I simply cannot recommend it enough. A nice touch is that Hammond has given the different characters names that are far closer to the original Greek then the ones often used in other translations (e.g. Achilleus, Aias, Patroklos, Hektor).

I bought this textbook so I wouldn't have to pay the University's terrible prices (more than twice the price actually). I received the book in the exact same condition advertised, very promptly, and for a much better price... I'm very pleased!

This was amazing that i got this book on time. The book is new like untouched even though it was said used book. Good job!! I thank you.

If this were not a required textbook for my engineering course, I would not have purchased it. I did, however, and have since found it to be of the same high quality as other textbooks by Beer and Johnston. The explanations are clear, the worked examples are helpful in illustrating concepts, and the problems reinforce what has (or should have) been learned.

Don't waste your money purchasing the PDF files here, as they are likely from someone who downloaded them for free as a torrent.

I use this book as a class textbook for a Strength of Materials course I teach. It is a good book, although I would like more in-depth examples worked for students to use.

This book does not represent the views of any of the Catholics I know, so I am left to wonder whether Mr. Johnson is appealing to some obscure hard-lined fundamentalist faction in the church. This book's contents particularly saddened me because the Catholic Church--being a church comprised of highly educated clergy--has historically accepted evolution.

I first learned about church views of evolution from my grandfather who was a Professor of paleontology (The study of the fossil record of past geological periods) at a well-respected Catholic University. My grandfather was a believer in evolution and a Third Order Dominican, simultaneously. Catholics who believe in evolution accept that our belief in God, the Bible's teachings and evolution are compatible. God is great and mysterious and God's universe (history included) is great and mysterious.

In addition to being neither enlightened nor insightful, Mr. Johnson's "scientific" arguments show that he has a very shallow, piecewise understanding of evolutionary biology and its theories. I'm qualified to say this because I am both a Catholic and an evolutionary biologist.

It is difficult to see so many other readers applauding such linear and fundamental thinking. Darwin was brilliant and Mr. Johnson is not.

First, I must unexpectedly respond to the "Creationism for Catholics?" review (if you can call it that) of July 27, 2005. Having read and appreciated the excellent quality of Mr. George Sim Johnston's little book, I can attest that either J. Keith "Agastache" has never read DID DARWIN GET IT RIGHT?, or else he is a militant atheist with an uncontrollable name-calling reflex which brands anyone not sharing his pseudoscientific beliefs as a "hard-lined [sic] fundamentalist" promoting "creationism." That mudslinging is an unfortunate slander of Mr. George Sim Johnston (not "Johnson," as repeatedly stated by that reviewer) and a gross misrepresentation of DID DARWIN GET IT RIGHT? (An antidote for such poisonous tirades from "I'm a scientist, so my athiesm must be true" types might be Alister McGrath's DAWKINS' GOD. McGrath earned his Ph.D. in biophysics at Oxford.) And what was with that "Darwin was brilliant and Mr. Johnson [sic] is not." barb? Anyone who reads Johnston's book will surmise that Mr. Johnston is a very modest gentleman with no pretensions of brilliance (though I did some research and discovered that he graduated from Harvard), who would heartily agree that Darwin was a very bright fellow indeed.

There is also a bizarre comment in a more recent review, stating that "like so much of the Neo-Catholic stuff that gets published these days, there's nothing really profound nor hard hitting." There is absolutely nothing "Neo-Catholic" in this fine little tome, so whether this slur is supposed to be insulting, dismissive, directed at the author, or directed at the publisher (I have no idea...), it simply doesn't apply to the book in question. As to there being nothing profound or hard-hitting, that might refer to the absence of the proper polemical tone expected by that reviewer. In fact, DID DARWIN GET IT RIGHT? is not at all a polemical work. It does not hurl insults at anyone, nor does it hold to the biblical or pseudoscientific absolutism of so many tracts. Rather, it seeks to combine both the reason one might expect from the Roman Catholic scholastic tradition with a proper skepticism of scientism (as opposed to science).

I came here, however, primarily to post a positive recommendation of "DID DARWIN GET IT RIGHT? -- Catholics and the Theory of Evolution" for its carefully constructed analysis and levelheaded discussion of the various issues and angles involved in the debate. I found the book's major weakness to be its now-dated (1998) summary of the status of theoretical and empirical inadequacies in the neo-Darwinian synthesis. While some of the weaknesses and outright dishonesty attached to the teaching and promotion of that synthesis still stand, there have since been published some exciting efforts attempting to resolve the weaknesses of neo-Darwinism. Examples include James W. Valentine's (UCLA Berkeley) mammoth and breathtaking ON THE ORIGIN OF THE PHYLA (2004) and Sean Carroll's (Wisconsin/Madison) ENDLESS FORMS MOST BEAUTIFUL: THE NEW SCIENCE OF EVO DEVO (2005).

For succinctly illuminating a variety of historical, philosophical, political threads of the debate, Johnston's little book remains among the most intelligent and least dogmatic efforts. This is an admirable accomplishment. The single chapter which deals specifically with Roman Catholic teaching (and popular misinformation about that teaching) is also well written, so that even non-Roman Catholics (this reviewer included) can appreciate it.

I read the available pages on Amazon and thought the writing style of this author agreeable enough to purchase. So why the relatively low ranking?

On the few pages I have read, the author's criticism of Darwin seems to me to be very biased. On the very first page of the text (p19) he claims that Darwin is dishonest and puts him with the likes of Frued and Marx. While I agree that none of these men are correct on everything, I think their ideas need to be heard and evaluated independently. I respect all three while not agreeing with all their ideas. If you are evaluating these men based on this book you have nothing to go on but the author's assertions without any supporting evidence. He assumes you already know they are liars.

The author tries to denigrate Darwin with the most outrageous accusations. Darwin is hostile to religion? I sure don't see that in my readings. He may be somewhat frustrated with biblical literalists, but even in 'On the Origin of Species' Darwin writes, "There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being evolved." Notice the capitalization of the word 'Creator'. None the less, the author sees Darwin as an atheist. Wishful thinking? My guess is that Darwin was a deist, that god created the world and life and then let it alone.

When he tries to present proof of Darwin's ignorance he only gives evidence of his own. Take a look on page 47-48 (the pages available on Surprise Me!) and the discussion of giraffs. Mr. Johnston claims that giraffs spend more time eating grass than leaves from trees. This of course is nonsense. Giraffs main diet is composed of tree leaves. He also claims that there are no other mammals with long necks. This is equally false. Several species have had relatively long necks in the past and some do now. The extant Okapi is one example. Some others mammals have body part adaptations that enable them to reach the leaves of taller plants. The elephant's trunk comes to mind. Others have developed other strategies for accessing the leaves of trees. Leaf eating monkeys and sloths are two groups of mammals that climb trees to reach the leaves.

Why don't all animals have similar adaptations? There are a variety of niches in a variety of habitats that animals have fit into. Not all energy (food) resources are found in the leaves of trees. Before grasslands became wide spread, for example, we do not find grazers in the fossil record. After grasslands become more and more widespread we see a corresponding larger number of fossil animals with adaptations for grassland life. The fossil record of the horse documents this fairly well.

On the same pages he wonders why females and young giraffs survive at all when competing with their male counterparts. Does the author really think a group of feeding giraffs are competing for leaves as we compete on a basketball team or are they just trying to eat? Those who can access sufficient sustenance during hard times, say during a drought, may have a better chance of surviving. The young often do die during times of extreme stress such as during droughts. As for male-female dimorphism in giraffs I would suggest that maybe the males are a little bigger because they fight for mating privelages. Larger males win over smaller ones. Of course, there are other 'mechanisms' involved in keeping sizes from getting too large. In the case of giraffs, it could be that too large an animal doesn't have enough time in the day to eat enough to maintain it's bulk.

So why do I want to purchase this book? 1) I like the easy writing style. 2) There is a battle going on between creationists and evolutionists and I like to be aware of the arguements on both sides. This book tries to support a creationists view by 'knocking' the opposition, but from what I've read it only furthers the cause of ignorance. 3) I'm a science teacher and I hear a lot of misconceptions about evolution from students and parents. I take note of these misconceptions and try to correct them. 4) It's nice to know what the educated opposition is saying. Sources like this one is where the less educated get their information to support their preconcieved view of the world. The author and some of his supporters here are fairly well educated, but apparently not on Darwin or the scientific endeavor of evolution.

This book should be read along with a few others so as to validate the authors scientific beliefs. I would read James Perloff's "The Case Against Darwin" and a short pro-Darwin book just to see what the author in this book is focusing on. This book is a good source for the individual who is exploring the anti-Christian (especially Catholic) sentiment which seems to exist in laboratory's and classrooms throughout our country. The author also explains why he believes Darwinism has become a religion of its own.

This book should be read along with a few others so as to validate the authors beliefs. I would read James Perloff's "The Case Against Darwin" and a short pro-Darwin book just to see what the author in this book is focusing on. This book is definately a good source for the individual who is exploring the anti-Christian (especially Catholic) sentiment which exists in laboratory's and classrooms throughout our country.

I found Johnston's story both fascinating and disturbing. As a Mississippian, I have witnessed first-hand the negative impact that societal breakdown has on many of our state's schools. I also know that the same problems exist in Brooklyn, Compton, Miami, etc. Mississippi, in particular, has been devastated over the past forty years by the dependence of many of it's citizens on the largese of government. Greenville is a case in point. It's past time for some tough love. The government has in effect become an enabler of the worst sorts of behaviors. The resultant pathologies flow into the schools. Johnston experienced a little piece of hell but made the best of it. He is an impressive fellow and has a real story to tell.

Michael Johnston is a talented writer, a balanced author and a teacher who truly cares. His account of his two years teaching is a must read for any teacher. Parents can also benefit from reading this incredible work to learn more about what their children or their children's classmates may face at school. Although this book is set in the Delta, students all over the U.S. face these same challenges. I have seen it in my work with high schools in Colorado. This is an outstanding work that I will read again and again, because each time I know I will gain even more from doing so.

Teach For America continues to generate interest in the educational field. I'm still waiting for a book that offers some rigorous, readable analysis of Teach For America and its alums. As it stands, books like "In the Deep Heart's Core" stand as helpful testimony to the pros of cons and TFA. I believe that TFA is filled with people like Johnston who are idealists with amazing talents and concern for their students. I continue to be saddened at the level of shock these teachers feel when they actually encounter real students and real school administrators. Johnston was not adequately prepared to teach, and his lack of structure in his first days of school shows this. He does, however, show the compassion for his students and flexibility to adapt necessary to experience some successes during his two year stay. Learning about students like Chico and Corelle helps to put some real stories behind many of the test score statistics that we see in the papers. Like all good teachers, Johnston grows as he begins to further engage with his students in areas like chess and track. By the end of the book, his classroom is a refuge for students who do not get adequate instruction in other classes. Whether this is self-congratulatory or not, I do not know. I do feel that Johnston grows from his experience, and I take him at his word that the school he worked in is beginning to make progress.

I remain torn about Teach for America's impact in these rural schools. On the one hand, they bring talent, energy, and a goal of academic rigor. On the other hand, many of their recruits look at the job, like Johnston probably does, as a steppingstone to greater things [Johnston works in training principals]. I hope that teachers read this book to gain some inspiration, and I hope that the strengths and weaknesses of teachers like Johnston will help schools to better identify the talent and diversity they need to achieve lasting success.

3.5 stars

--SD

Michael Johnston dwells in great detail upon the most negative aspects of his assignment at Greenville High School. It's a wonder that he lasted one month with such filters for negativity. When you are trained as an educator you are expected to go forth with all of your positive energy and your motivational tools to work in your chosen environment. Nobody chained Johnston and sent him to Greenville. It was his choice. He emerges more as a self-validating mercenary than he does as an educator. He arrived in Greenville as a beneficiary instilled with tools to deal with his assignment. He had the mental capacity. He had the resourcefulness. What he lacked was the compassion to admit that even at Greenville High School the good students outnumbered the bad. I know this because I also previously worked at Greenville High School. Many Teach For America Teachers come to the Delta and perform with astonishing results. Johnston knew before he ever arrived in Greenville that he was sent there to accept a difficult assignment that his preparation had been based upon. His book illustrates that he was a neophyte who was beaten down by his own weaknesses when he was asked to step up and perform what he was trained to do. There remains some resentment against Johnston because he chose to emphasize more negative than positive. His writing ability is on either side of the spectrum as far as ability. There are moments of inspiration and there are moments of a lost child who is frustrated because he is unsure of how to step up as a teacher. It is truly disappointing that Johnston neglected to even mention so many of the good things about Greenville High and how he had so many opporunities to be more of a positive influence than he was. Johnston also departed soon after his obligation was complete. In any community there are negatives and positives. Drugs and violence can be found in any community if you look far enough. Even the most affluent schools have violence. Colorado, California, Florida, Kentucky and Washington are the proof of that. One can only hope that Johnston is now preparing educators and not another self-validating mercenary.

Few books I've read have made such a profound impression on me, and I encourage everyone interested in social issues to have a look. The reason I give this book 4 stars and not 5 is because it has the most egregious lack of editing I have ever seen in a book--and I read lots of books! There are basic mistakes ("her mother" when talking about a boy; one paragraph repeated twice) and grammatical errors all over the place, distracting what otherwise is an excellent book.

I attended a public school in a very small town. Classes were at most 20 students, and that not only allowed teachers to give more personal attention, but also created less disruption that comes whenever many teenagers get together. Like me, students had grown up in an environment that valued education, and although individual lives might have turmoil, the town as a whole didn't have so many other things to worry about. Reading this book was an eye-opener into the disparity in public education.

It would have been great to hear more stories, but I think Michael Johnston did the right thing by chosing depth over breadth, portraying a few students in detail rather than the classroom as a whole. Johnston threw himself into the lives of these students, and although he takes partial credit for the successes, he also acknowledges those who didn't end up doing so well. He conveys the individuality in the students and shows that not all stories are despondent, and not all stories are happy endings. The students' tales have really stayed with me, and I was left wondering what happened to many of them and would love to get an update.

Johnston makes you realize the enormous challenges faced by teachers (and students) in Greenville. Teachers like Johnston want to block out all the negative messages the students get from society, from their peers, and sometimes from their role models. They want to end the racial strife that has caused a lot of distrust in both directions. They want to believe that they'll make a difference to every student. But the problems run so deep that even a whole school of well-meaning teachers may not be able to turn things around because the causes of the problems extend far beyond the school, the community, and the present time. They might help one or two or a dozen students, but at the end of the year, Greenville is just as challenging a place to grow up. It's telling that Johnston didn't expound upon what can be done to reduce the enormous disparities in public education--he's far more aware of the problem now, but perhaps even more confused about the solution.

The idea of the story is unique and enjoyable. But the writing (dialog especially) felt rushed and not complete enough.

It was okay...I felt the ending was really rushed. There was such an anti-climactic, abrupt end to such an elaborate story.

Blackthorne forgives and forgets Katherine's lies because his daughters want him to? Katherine forgives and forgets Blackthorne's abandonment of her during her pregnancy and childbirth because she doesn't want to part with her son? Very far-fetched and contrived.

How could Katherine have even contemplated (for one second) bartering her son for her clan? If I were Blackthorne, I would have dumped her for that reason alone!

This was an adequate read, but nothing spectacular.

I've read every single one of her books in the Captive Hearts series (and several of her others) and honestly...this one was really good. I can't believe some people gave it such poor ratings. The Duke of Blackthorne sounds like a dream and Katherine sounds like a beautiful strong willed woman. The book made me laugh a lot too (which is really hard to do). I mean, honestly, b/c of the amnesia, the Duke didn't know that he was actually robbing himself when he broke into his own home! I really wish that Katherine wouldn't have tricked Alex (the Duke) into sleeping with her when he was drunk, so that she could become pregnant. But that was the only part of the story that I disliked. I loved the fact that Katherine didn't just settle for what she knew she could have (the Earl of Carlisle...who appears in book four), but she fights for what is rightfully hers...the land. The ending is fine...obviously they get back together and Joan is going to continue the series. Happy reading!

I have read the previous reviews and was delighted to have the authors comments. What a treat. I had not read either of the preceding books in this trilogy. I had read another JJ book and liked her writing style, so picked this up. It stands very independent of the others and is wonderful in and of itself. The characters are wonderful and humanly flawed. I enjoyed the plot. There was a reason for the paths the book went so it was NOT just another "amnesia" story. The duke certainly evolved during the story and I loved it when he noted things about himself "I wish I had a monogrammed handkerchief", little things that reflected his previous luxurious life. JJ did a great job of letting u glimpse his memories recover. It wasn't just "he has amnesia, he doesn't have amnesia anymore". The ending was a bit abrupt. The final scene happens too quickly and I would have liked more. It couldn't ruin what was a wonderful book and I have looking forward to the sequel. (May even have to find the pre-quel) I do know that this book and this author,with her incredible talent and insight, are on my keeper shelf.

When the tall, rugged stranger stepped out of the shadows and rescued her from a fate worse than death, Katherine MacKinnon knew she had found her bodyguard. With his steely arms and reckless courage, he would shield her from her clansmen, who refused to accept her as laird, and from the hated Duke of Blackthorne, who controlled her family's lands. As her desire grew for the mysterious man who was constantly by her side, she had no idea that she was falling in love with the enemy himself. Was not as good as the previous one in the series but a good read none the less. I can't wait to see what will happen to Blackthorne's daughters in the next one.

This book came in the condition it described and came before the expected date! Thanks!

This book does a great job of making you really consider the words you use with your students as a teacher. Not only does it give great advice, but it also gives some great tips and examples of how to approach common situations and what to say. Also, the appendices are prety informative as well. Johnston does a great job!

This book uses a lot of airy fairy language derived from post-structuralism and post-modernism to rehash the same old constructivist views that have been paraded in educational circles for decades. The information presented is nothing new and the interpretations are filtered through the eyes of constructivist bias. The fact that much of the Piaget's theory has been discredited by scientific enquiry seems to have escaped the knowledge of the author. Methods of teaching that are affiliated with the constructivist thought, including Reading Recovery are glorified, even though they fail to produce the goods when compared to methods of explicit reading instruction like synthetic phonics. Knowledge is not innate. Some things have to be taught. In many subjects such as science, structuring the environment to lead children to make their own discoveries is something that all teachers should be doing. They don't need this book to tell them that. However, many children will fail to learn to read and write properly without given explicit instruction in phonics and the building blocks of language. Constructivists take the point of view that explicit instruction detracts from creativity, but they fail to back up this assertion with scientific evidence.

We are using this book as a book study group in our elementary school It serves as a great springboard for conversation about teaching strategies and learning. The book provides insights to new teachers as well as seasoned teachers and can serve as a way to share and reflect as a learning and teaching community.

I purchased this book based on a review I read in a popular teacher magazine put out by Scholastic. I was looking for a book I could read quickly and find information that would help me understand how my language affects my students. This book did give me that information, but I had to search for it, something I did not have the time to do. I wonder who the the targeted audience was for this book? Certainly not an overwelmed 2nd year 4th grade teacher with 26 students.