Lewis Books

I love this book, and it's been the source to inspire me on other bios regarding Lewis Carroll. The presentation is beautifully done, fully illustrated in color, thorough, and reads in small sections for breaks. It's a great book for reading at bed-time or on outings. Yes, it's for young people, however it does not disregard some of the more questionable issues between Carroll and Alice. Author simply recommends other reading! And there a pages of maps and reference materials, all of which are excellent. Makes for a considerate gift to any fan of Alice.

This is about the real life child who inspired the stories:Alice Liddell,and her connections to Charles Dodgson as she and her family then knew him.It also focuses on the Liddells in order to introduce plenty of Victorian history which is presented in a very easy to digest form.
Full of pictures both photos and original art from Inga Karin-Erikkson.
Its where to start if you're new to Alice and it would make anyone want to collect Alice/Lewis Carroll.
The earlier Beyond The Looking Glass by Colin Gordon explores the same subject in minute detail for anyone who wants more
Highly recommended

This is a book for children (with wonderful illustrations) that attempts to tell the story of the friendship between Alice Liddell and "Lewis Carroll". It is written is a somewhat episodic style. The episodes are chosen, for the most part, due to the bearing that each one has on illuminating characters and situations found in the "Alice" books. The author does not completely avoid the controversial, and this is somewhat of a pleasant surprise. Though originally written in Swedish, it reads very well in translation. I found the book to be both poignant and scholarly (i.e., well-researched), and with great adult appeal for a childrens' book. (Even if the text were less rewarding than it is, the book would be worth keeping for the illustrations alone)

Although The Other Alice is technically a children's book, any fan of Lewis Carroll will find it rewarding. The meticulous art work, showing Alice Liddell and her sisters and Charles Dodgeson [Carroll] and many Oxford settings is superb. The book is also includes many actual photgraphs of Alice, her family and Dodgeson's other child friends. Although this is a book for children, it does not shy away from the rather sad life and obsession which drove Dodgeson, nor does it give an artifically happy ending to the story. If you wonder where many of Dodgeson's plot developments came from [e.g. the Dodo, the wet 'caucus race' you'll find it all here. The author [who also wrote the delightful Linnea in Monet's Garden] and illustrator deserve kudos for this book [translated from the Sweedish, there is apparently a different translation avaiable in England under the title Alice's Oxford Adventure]. Well worth reading in a more adult approach is Staphanie Stoffel's Lewis Carroll in Wonderland [which includes some of the paintings done by Erickson for this book] both are better reads [and far more fun] than Gardner's Carroll biography.

Tha author has read Lewis extensively, and reads the Space Trilogy in the light of Lewis the man. He sheds new light on the sources of inspiration, and comments on the criticism that has been raised against the trilogy. I have read the trilogy several times, and this study deepened my understanding of it. It is well written and highly readable. I could have wished for a deeper assessment of the "pagan" influences of the trilogy. However, the study is well worth reading for anyone who likes reading Lewis, esp. his fiction.

I have gone in for Lewis studies since encountering his Ransom trilogy in an undergraduate seminar in the late 1970s. Over the years, I have collected most of the author's published writings in every genre he attempted, and have read numerous books and articles on his life and work, as well as on various of his colleagues and inspirations. PLANETS IN PERIL may be the best critique I have come across, and if one could own only two secondary sources in the field I would recommend this and the biography by Green and Hooper. What makes Downing's volume so remarkable is chiefly its sheer comprehensiveness. Despite the focus of its sub-title, the book manages to draw in extraordinarily illuminating references to nearly every other work in the Lewis canon, showing through them far more of the man's Christian, mediaeval, and poetic world view than one would expect to be relevant. I had thought myself to have a good grasp of the celebrated Oxford don and Cambridge professor, yet this book increased my understanding manyfold. I also appreciated Downing's objective balance. Without shying away from what he feels are Lewis's limits or flaws, he does better than I have yet found in vindicating the man against many of the stock objections that have long been levelled at him. A recurring argument throughout is that the trilogy is best understood less in the framework of science fiction than in light of its author's expertise in and love for the literature and motifs of the mediaeval and Renaissance eras. Lewis was not so much a mythmaker as a '"re-mythologizer", one who takes old myths ... and revitalizes them'; and Downing perceives him as having done something similar with old VALUES -- ones fallen out of fashion yet which seemed to him worth recapturing.

Highly readable for an academic work. A deep and uniquely insightful perspective on one of the last century's most complex writers. Even casual readers of C. S. Lewis will find this book captivating.

Unlike most literary criticism this book is very rich, perceptive and readable. Anyone who likes C. S. Lewis should get their hands on this book. I look forward to more books by this author.

Spicer and Ginsberg influenced one another, as is clearly shown in this book. Ginsberg stole a lot of his ideas from Spicer, but he was still the greater poet because he touched upon the conversation of his times, while Spicer went whacko and had no real impact on his culture. Academics have taken up Spicer, but this has again had no echo at all in the popular culture.

It's particularly interesting to study the automatic side of Spicer's poetics from surrealism forward -- the relinquishing of choice for a ouija board automaticism that resulted in odd nonsense that probably did not come from the dead, but resulted in an arcane verse that did indeed catalyze some of the lazier aspects of SF poetry but which was a dead end.

Magisterial biography that brings to life a tormented alcoholic who was not even trying to be nice, or even well-dressed, enough, to enter into the public forum.

His best work is the discussions he offered in The House that Jack Built -- astounding to see what he could do when he DID enter into the public conversation. Too often in his poetry he seems to be mumbling to himself. Poets need to reconnect to the real world -- because the world is real -- it has an ecology and texture, and the poets who got this will survive. Others form dead ends into their lost selves.

Gnosticism is a dead end.

I find that the Kirkus review available here does ill-service to this important biography of Jack Spicer. One would have no inkling, from reading this review, that Spicer's poetry is one of the most influential sources for postmodern poetry and poetics in the 1990s. It is not some recent academic fad to study Spicer; rather, Spicer has been a crucial poet for many younger writers for over three decades. This biography, published at the same time with his collected lectures, should provide the opportunity for even more serious study of his work.

Poets in the 1950s and 1960s have been well served by some of their biographers, and in this thrilling critical treatment of Jack Spicer and the poets of the San Francisco Renaissance, Ellingham and Killian join the ranks of Peter Davison (The Fading Smile: Boston Poets from Lowell to Plath) and Bill Berkson and Joe LeSeur (Homage to Frank O'Hara) in magically capturing the soul of an important school in the poetic ferment of those years. The San Francisco circle around Spicer was intense, prolific and inspired, but they didn't get the publicity that the New York poets received or that the Beats had showered on them. Lack of media attention didn't stop them. They were dedicated to a pure vision of poetry as an almost religious vocation. On his hospital death bed in 1965 (he died at 40 from acute alcohlism), Spicer told friend Warren Tallman, "I was trapped inside my own vocabulary." His genius/mania to use that vocabulary in service of the Muse produced great work and reminded others of the seriousness of their purpose. Spicer, in all his contradictions and drives, leaps from these pages. The book as a whole bristles with the very energy it celebrates, both poetic and sexual (intrigue was in their blood), and is essential reading for all of us interested in the circles that nurture poetry in every creative center. As if that is not enough, the quotations from a vast number of interviews of the surviving participants make this a delicious oral history as well as a compendium of hair-raising gossip of the wild times in North Beach before tourists took it over fom artists.

I have read Poet Be Like God, and I wish neither to rate it (but there's no option available that allows one to opt out of the rating game) nor review it, but to make a correction to the idiotic Kirkus review: Jack Spicer was NOT a "Beat" poet. There were a group of Beat poets in San Francisco in the late 1950s, early 1960s (e.g.,Bob Kaufman), but Spicer wasn't one of them. His intentions in poetry were different from theirs; naturally, so was his aesthetic. Spicer was part of a triumverate of poets that included Robert Duncan and Robin Blaser who met at the end of World War II in Berkeley, Ca., and were sometimes known as the Berkeley Renaissance group, or more simply, and more accurately, as part of the San Francisco poetry scene (which was part of the New American Poetry movement). That the Kirkus reviewer could make such an elementary and stupid mistake should be taken as a clear indicator of the idiocy of the rest of the Kirkus piece of schlock.

Lewis Lapham's notes reveal the perspective of a deeply informed man on the current republican mess, written with elegance and brillance.
"How does one reconcile the demand for small government with the desire for an imperial army,[...] match the warmhearted currencies of "conservatism compassion" with the cold cruelty of "the unfettered free market", know that human life must be saved from abortionists in Boston but not from cruise missiles in Baghdad?"
The essays cover the whole affair, from the rise of conservative propaganda to the last proofs of incompetence(or crimes) of the Bush administration.
An instructive, captivating, refreshing critic worth to be read.

Lapham's monthly essays for Harper's were always some of the best writing of the magazine. This collection from the last four years touches on "Empire" only as a basic theme for the unending expansion of American militarism and loss of demestic freedoms. Lapham is an acute observer, bringing his usual brilliant insights into the American political, social and international scenes. The book will make you think, will remind you of missed opportunities caused by the Bush Administration's actions and give you a perspective on what the American nation may be like in just a few years. Highly recommend.

At the time of the US "mid-term" elections in the Autumn of 2006, the credibility of the Bush regime in that nation had reached nadir. The favouritism of its domestic policies and the false premise of its foreign wars prompted a belief in the need for "regime change". The exposure of the deceptions and illegal activities of the regime was largely due to such journalists as Lewis Lapham. Lapham lays bare the inconsistencies, evasions and falsehoods that Bush and his team have put forth during their time of governance. This collection of those columns makes dismal reading, but the information they present is invaluable. They are a requiem chorus of a once-admirable nation.

Lapham, who wrote the "Notebook" column for Harper's Magazine for many years, was an early detector of the direction the Bush coalition was taking. That direction not only disturbed him for its potential results, Lapham was also alarmed at the lack of attention US media gave the trend. The fundamental issue, Lapham argues, is the attempt to transform a democratic republic into a global empire. Underlying this change is a document published in 1993 by Pentagon "officials" - officials who later played major roles in the Bush administration. The paper defined the US as the sole superpower - a power with the means and will to strike anywhere on the planet. Inhibiting or challenging that will was tantamount to treason if domestic, or tending to "terrorism" if external.

The US would undergo a fundamental change resulting from the provisions of the document. "Terrorism" was already long in the US lexicon by the time the World Trade Center towers were struck. Yet, Lapham recognises that declaring a "war on terrorism" necessitates defining non-existent ideology, then countering its adherents. Because the WTC attacks were carried out from within the US, one tactic must be the close surveillance of the domestic population. Lapham asserts that the implementation of that policy is turning the US into a "quiescent police state". This new condition is exacerbated by the economic policies of the government which enlarges the chasm between corporate wealth and real income for the less well-off. He is clear that, irrespective of which individual is in the White House or which party that individual represents, it is the shift from the traditional ideals of his country that alarms him. He wants others to share his concern, since once those ideals are demolished, their reconstruction will be a long, monumental task shared by all citizens.

Lapham's keening is a lament for lost principles. His conclusion, that Bush must be brought to account for ignoring or violating his Oath of Office, may be an act of political redemption, but it will not shift attitudes in the US very much. Lapham seems convinced that by placing Bush on a sacrificial political alter will restore the past. He ignores the fact that the legislation enacted by the regime will remain on the books unless repealed or sharply revised. The thousands now employed by "Homeland Security" and other "anti-terrorist" agencies will need jobs somewhere. Nor is it likely that the elimination of one individual will reset the collective viewpoints of a nation committed to maintaining world hegemony. This reality may seem to give Lapham's essays a tinge of "Bushwhacking", but the blatant disregard of the regime for law and truth show how badly this collection was needed. The results of those mid-term elections may have been an encouraging glimmer, but they don't promise the level of restoration Lapham is looking for. [stephen a. haines = Ottawa, Canada]

Award-winning essay writer and editor emeritus of "Harper's Magazine" Lewis Lapham presents Pretensions to Empire: Notes on the Criminal Folly of the Bush Administration, a stinging indictment of the Bush-Cheney administration from its first days in Washington up to the present. Chronicling the presidency's abuses of power, and drawing upon the lessons of history to provide an ominous background to current events, Pretensions to Empire dissects the government's shameful incompetence in the wake of Hurricane Katrina; the copious, unwarranted domestic spying authorized by the president; and above all, the jingoism and pretensions to empire that prompted the administration's war in Iraq on shoddy intelligence. The resounding, passionate message is that the nation can no longer afford to tolerate George W. Bush or his cronies. Whether one agrees or disagrees with the author, his reasoning is compelling, measured, and completely accessible to readers of all backgrounds.

This is he best novel about the Civil War I've ever read. While the various descriptions made this book sound somewhat clownish, it really is the story of two families of non-combatants and how they struggled to stay alive as the War raged around them. Funny, sad, touching, and excellent in all respects.

This is actually the first book in the H.H. Lomax Series. I think this is the funniest western that I have ever read except maybe "Mixup at the OK Corral: (By the same Author). I cannot understand why this book is out of print. If you find a copy, buy it and don't lend it to anyone because you will want to read it many times and this is not a book that anyone will give back.

This is the second in the book seris and is well worth the time it will take to read this. It has acton and adventure and there is even a joke in it about Bill Clinto

This is a humorous, clever tale of a well known western folk hero and a virtually unknown bumbling western nobody. The book engrosses you from the beginning and keeps you guessing until the very end. Don't let the length discourage you. This is a great read!

I had the privilege of taking a river trip with Tom Mullen a few years ago, and I'm pleased to recommend his book, Rivers of Change.

In Rivers of Change, Tom Mullen examines the ways in which the Missouri and Columbia Rivers have been changed by man and how that's affected life along the rivers. Tom took this trip after being out of the United States for years as a water management specialist in the Third World. When he decided to move back to the U.S., he took the summer to explore the rivers and get reacquainted with his own country. Buying an old camper, he set out with no particular agenda other than to follow the Missouri and Columbia and meet and talk with people along the way.

While a book that focuses on river management might not sound interesting, Tom is so open-minded and willing to listen and observe that you really get a balanced picture of the merits and consequences of managing wild rivers. If you are interested in dams and river ecology, you will find this book to be a refreshing and non-preachy look at the subject, with nice bits of personal philosophy thrown in.

Reviewer: Liz Clare, co-author of the historical novel "To the Ends of the Earth: The Last Journey of Lewis and Clark"

Thoughtful and well-researched, and a total pleasure to read. This book is a combination of "Blue Highways" and "Travels with Charley" - a wonderful travelogue of life along backroads (and back rivers!) America. But more importantly - I learned an amazing amount about rivers and water management. The author's obvious knowledge of water systems is presented easily and effectively.
Now, living next to the Rio Grande, or visiting New Orleans, I have a much better understanding of how wildlife (and people) are affected by these rivers. If you enjoy reading about real people, their lives (and their rivers), and like to learn a bit at the same time, I highly recommend this book. A great alternative read in these days of "Lewis and Clark remembered".

This was published as a column on March 18 in the Atchison Daily Globe, Atchison, Kansas, by Marilyn Fontenot.
Marilyn Fontenot is an award winning journalist and investigative reporter for the Globe.
-------
I'll never forget the day I met Tom Mullen. It was on Memorial Day a couple of years ago when I was assigned to the Missouri River in Atchison, Kansas, to take pictures. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, the trees were green and the view from the river from Veteran's Memorial Park was breathtaking. When I stood by the monument, under that great American flag, watching the Mighty Mo move on down the banks under one of the last remaining truss bridges in the world, I knew I was swirled around historical surroundings and I liked it.
Very proud veterans, who still consider themselves soldiers, came to the river for their annual Memorial Day service not far from the Amelia Earhart Bridge.
After I was done, I took a few more minutes to absorb the atmosphere, while thinking of Kubla Khan, the Alph and that "the sacred river," when I noticed someone else in my Xanadue.
And he just sat there watching the river.
He didn't seem to notice me and it looked like he was studying something - paying close attention to something.
So, I walked up to this stranger and stuck out my hand.
"Hi, I'm Marilyn Fontenot, isn't it a beautiful day?" I said.
"It sure is," he said. "I'm Tom Mullen. Glad to meet you."
He told me he and his truck, Six Pack, were "just passing through," and they had come by way of St. Louis, Mo. He was on his way to Oregon and was working on a book. He was in Atchison to find Dan Bowen, the wildlife biologist at Benedictine College. I was intrigued and asked him plenty of questions and he so graciously answered.
He had places to go, people to meet and things to see, he said.
We spent a lot of time together while he was in Atchison. I introduced him to people in town and he found the ones he was looking for.
We met at Mueller's Locker for mozzarella sticks and shrimp for lunch and Purcell's Landing for beer and burgers for supper - all along the Missouri River.
"Tom, you know the hardest thing for a writer to do is write," I told him when he got discouraged.
"I know, I know," he used to say.
The time flew by and soon he said adios and I said happy trails.
I hadn't heard from him in months then a couple of weeks ago in April I got a package in the mail.
"Rivers of Change: Trailing the Waterways of Lewis and Clark," by Tom Mullen, was slipped inside complete with my name in the acknowledgements.
It didn't take me long to read the entire book. It's one of those books you start and can't stop until it's finished.
What a trip that was.
He took me with him to exotic places where I met a slew of colorful strangers. He canoed untamed and scenic river stretches, bicycled beside river barges, scuba dived and explored the makings of dam power plants, all the while he kept meeting strangers.

Tom found Jim Nower, a farmer in Weston, Mo., who said "I'm 81 now. My family's been on this farm since Great Grandfather Nower got here in 1856."
In Doniphan he was looking for a monument, which was placed there by Benedictine Monks along the river when they settled in Doniphan in the middle 1800s.
Then he went looking for Wolf River Bob in White Cloud and found him.
"A man with a tousled Kris Kringle beard and a pony tail stood. He almost saluted when he heard his name," Tom wrote

"Yessir, `at's me," he said. "Wolf River Bob."
Tom and Six Pack kept going
They followed that ole' river all the way to Astoria and the Pacific Ocean through tamed Crow country where he talks to Joe Medicine Crow then to Fort Peck Lake in Montana, "When the Land Belonged to God."
He and Six Pack finally made their destination.
It wasn't long before he convinced a publishing company to publish his book where his "Rivers of Change" takes us to a Xanadu, with its own twists and turns of prose and lyric with a visual that puts us on the page.
I'm glad I met Tom Mullen that day in May. I'm glad I took the time to make a stranger feel welcome in a strange place. I'm glad he had the courage to keep going.
I'm glad I was intrigued.

Enhanced with 30 black-and white photographs and 8 maps, Rivers Of Change: Trailing The Waterways Of Lewis & Clark by water resources consultant Tom Mullen introduces the reader to an American yesteryear of devastating floods, exploding steamboats, forced migrations, wandering rivers transforming thriving cities into deserted ghost towns, and wild rivers tamed into domesticated canals by dams and dredges. The focus is on a part of the Lewis and Clark route along the Missouri, Yellowstone, and Columbia rivers. This is a history that is enhanced with colorful characters, quirky historical anecdotes, and candid conversations "from off the beaten trail". Highly recommended as an addition to college and community library American History collections, Rivers Of Change will prove to be especially interesting to non-specialist general readers with an interest in environmental water issues -- past and present.

The tone and fictional story kept me very interested. To find that I learned so much about Reincarnation, that I previously had no interest in, was a bonus. The European descriptions were also fantastic. I hope that you enjoy the book too.

Riveting is the only word to describe this read. It would not surprise me if this book makes its way into the movie theatres. It's that good of a read and story!

This book is a definite must read. Fresh ideas, mystery and surprise ending. And all so believable. Love a fiction where in-depth research pays off for the reader. Insightful discussions will follow the Road Back to Heaven.The Road Back To Heaven

This is a very finely written book that will lead to thought provoking discussions. The Davinci Code beginning leads to a truly unique perspective that many will find refreshing....Highly recommended

In my search for Motorcycle Fiction, I found this book and decided to give it a shot. I liked it. It's not written by the Bikers that I run around with, but it is a good story. The concept of having a global breakdown intrigues me. Most Bikers would go for the Freedom of self controll; deciding their own destiny, so I can understand the plight JC had when he decided to make his run for the New Society. I found this story to hold some of the truths of the Biker Culture and I think most people would enjoy the read. I don't know if I would have written it in 2011; that's only three years away. Maybe JC does know something we don't.

I met the author, talked bikes, then I bought his book. I had been reading non-fiction books and this book was a breath of fresh air. It was fun to read and I looked forward to finding out how the plot ended.

Mark B in Loveland

I have just finished reading A Run Up The Coast by G.W.Lewis.
I could not put the book down. I have never been on a motorcycle, but found that this is a book for everyone, and my thoughts were, "this should be a movie". Mr. Lewis has indicated this book is the first of a trilogy, and I can't wait to read the next sequel.

I immediately recommended the book to my family and friends.

What an adventure. This is a book you pick up and don't put down till the last page, and when you close it, the only word is "WOW!" Thanks for the memories and putting them all together.

Mr. Lewis captured my attention from the start and held me captive until the end. I enjoyed the book thoroughly and hated when it ended. I would reccomend it to all mystery lovers. I look forward to his next book, and hope it is forthcoming soon.

Intrigue, espionage, romance - a great story without the bad language and immorality. Exciting, yet heartwarming and faith building. If Erik writes a second novel, I'll want to read it. NOT another woman's Christian romance. Geared to men's interests as well as women's. Some proof-reading oversights to work on for the second novel. You'll be glad you read this book!

In the vein of Grisham, Cussler and Clancy, A Sacrifice of Honour introduces the reader to a man whose duty to country costs him everything he treasures, and it reveals the reluctant hero that his son finds within himself. The story is action packed, detail oriented and full of sparkling humour that make this a very enjoyable read.

this wonderful new author has written a spell binding book. From the first page to the last, the reader is capivated. He has a wonderful mix of suspense, humor, and faith that make for a delightful read. He's like a Christian John Grisham. I would highly recommend this book to all.

I have worked with Mike. He is a superstar. No gimmicks here, just good sound techniques for the beginner and the experienced sales person. This book is a must for all sales people.

Mike's powerful six step approach to sales is based on the most fundamental truth in sales--there is no such thing as a 'pitch'; sales is about communication, and communication involves at least two people, two styles, two personalities. Read this book and throw out all those 'sales' books that are mere lists of canned closes. Learn to connect with your customer using Mike's techniques, and you might surprise yourself with the results.

The Sales Bridge: Connecting With Your Customer by 25-year marketing veteran Mike Lewis is a practical, "user friendly", six-step guide for dedicated salespeople seeking to communicate quickly and efficiently with their customers, distinguishing themselves from their competition, establish long-term business relationships with profitable accounts, and much, much more. A first-rate guide to professional manners, positive attitude, awareness, and go-getting business and social skills, The Sales Bridge is recommended reading -- especially for the novice salesperson in today's volatile. and challenge marketplace.

highly reccomend this book to any salesman and especially sales managers. very to the point, very easy to read. format of book is great for future references back to it. sales techniques and analysis will definately help me with future negotiations / sales.