Book Description

Who was Nehama Leibowitz?

This question is thoroughly and lovingly explored in Tales of Nehama, by Lea Abramowitz. The result is a fascinating, in-depth exploration of a leading bible scholar, and renowned and revered teacher. Through hundreds of anecdotes and memories, told by Leibowitz’s students, colleagues and friends, Tales of Nehama outlines Leibowitz’s profound personal impact on thousands of people, and on Jewish learning and biblical criticism.

Nehama Leibowitz had requested only one word to be inscribed on her tombstone: ‘teacher’. This comprehensive volume details her personal qualities that contributed to her outstanding success as an educator – her devotion to people and acts of kindness, her modesty, her tolerance and openness to all, and her sense of humor. But Tales of Nehama goes further, to explore Leibowitz’s teaching methods, in which actualization and entertaining played a major role.

From an intimate analysis of her character and beliefs – her stand on feminism and Zionism, her views on Hareidim, the secular world, and on education – to the central chapter, which recounts dozens of ‘Tales of Nehama’, concise, true stories that serve to outline the tremendous impact and inner workings of this great scholar, Tales of Nehama also comprises comprehensive sections exploring many aspects of her intellectual endeavors. These include her studies of the weekly Torah portions; an appraisal of her teaching methods; a review of her pedagogical approach; her commentaries on certain Psalms; her essay entitled "Active Learning in the Teaching of History"; an exchange of letters between Nehama Leibowitz and Professor Hugo Bergman, portraying a fascinating dialogue between two very brilliant and committed Jewish scholars; and a section exploring published articles that recognize Leibowitz’s unique contribution to Jewish thought and study.

Tales of Nehama not only answers the question "Who was Nehama Leibowitz?." but also creates a vivid portrayal of a genius whose impact on Judaism was unparalleled, and will reverberate for generations to come. ... Read more

Book Description

The fascinating biography that illuminates the manwhose work changed modern culture.
* Gives a complete biographical view of Campbell's life and a personal perspective of who he was through the voices of his friends and colleagues.
* Written by two of Campbell's preeminent students with exclusive access to his notes and journals.

Joseph Campbell forged an approach to the study of myth and legend that made ancient traditions and beliefs immediate, relevant, and universal. His teachings and literary works, including The Masks of God, have shown that beneath the apparent themes of world mythology lie patterns that reveal the ways in which we all may encounter the great mysteries of existence: birth, growth, soul development, and death. Biographers Stephen and Robin Larsen, students and friends of Campbell for more than 20 years, weave a rich tapestry of stories and insights that catalogue both his personal and public triumphs. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Transparent to Transcendence
The fire in Joseph Campbell's mind burned through the dross of a mundane existence and forged a character who was ultimately "transparent to transcendence" (his own remarkable phrase).

The book is dense at times because of the Larsens' careful documentation and because Campbell's very life was so dense with accomplishment and discovery. I found the Larsens' scholarship to be impeccable and the coverage of a remarkable life thorough. Because they were friends of the Campbells, an air of authenticiy is added to their work. My only disappointment was their lack of reporting of his deeper response to his illness and impending death. I feel more information in this delicate area would have been appropriate because of the biographical nature of the work and because of Campbell's own personal spiritual belief system.

I highly recommend this volume to anyone who wishes to learn more about one of the most formidable intellectuals of the 20th century. Because the book is so well-written, entertaining, and well-documented, it will enliven the days of your reading...and well beyond!

Joseph Campbell: A Fire in the Mind
Since Joseph Campell was such a prolific writer of journals, letters, essays and books, this book was able to capture, in such detail, not only his life events but also the evolution of his studies and thoughts about myth, art, religion and the world. I originally checked this book out at the library but I am buying it as a reference guide because it touches on so many fascinating points about religion and the most prominent spiritual leaders in the last century. ... Read more

Book Description

Howard Wesley Johnson has been associated with MIT for more than forty years and been a major influence on the modernization and expansion of many of its programs. He will be most remembered as a management educator and as MIT's president during the turbulent late 1960s and early 1970s. The title of his memoirs reflects his central, usually lonely position in those days, trying to hold together an institution often torn apart by the turmoil of the times.

Johnson was more successful at navigating the minefields on campus than were many other college and university presidents, perhaps because he was always willing to listen to both sides and because his values were in the right place--against the war in Vietnam, in favor of increased participation in the university by women and minorities, and concerned about environmental issues.

As a professor and administrator at MIT, a corporate director, and an advisor to American government agencies and to museums and foundations, Johnson consistently sought both to understand and to apply the principles of good management. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Some People Make It Look Easy
I attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from September 1964 through June 1972; I worked at the MIT Lincoln Laboratories in the summers of 1968 and 1970.I was given this book by the MIT Alumni Association, andfound it to be remarkable in its truthful rendition of events that I livedthrough, and things that came afterwards (going to the Museum of Fine Artsin Boston in the 1990s), and seeing that Howard Johnson guided MIT throughthe late 1960s and beyond and the Museum of Fine Arts into a rebirth, andmade it all look so easy.I look forward to the video that shouldaccompany this! ... Read more

Reviews (3)

The best book I've read this year.
I came across Arctic Schoolteacher by accident. I had taken my kids to a summer program at a county library. While we waited for the show to begin, I browsed the shelves and came across this book. I have probably read 20-30 books this year, and Arctic Schoolteacher makes the top of my list. In it, the author tells the story of how she and her husband travelled to a remote Alaskan village in the 1930s as government employees. Abbie taught school, and Ed, her husband, oversaw the reindeer herd. I don't want to give away too much of the story, but the book is filled with the numerous joys and sorrows that Abbie experienced in her two year stay in the Last Frontier. I only wish that Abbie had mentioned more about her life before Alaska, and about how she and Ed met. I am glad that the book included an epilogue by Abbie's daughter that mentions what happened in Abbie's life after Alaska.

Worth Reading
A particularly moving story. This book takes place about the same time as "Tisha" but in the famed Bristol Bay Region in a village called Kulukak. It was published in 1992 and available in paperback, this book should be easy to locate.

It was not about teaching, but about her life in Kulukak.
I ordered this book because I like reading books about teachers in various parts of the world. This book was not about teaching,but about her life in Kulukak. That part was well written, but depressing. I guess it is what life was like there. Abbie Morgan handled the depressing landscape with humor and love. I was disappointed because it was not what I was looking for, but it does not mean that it is not a good book. If you are looking for a description of 1930 Alaska, then this is your book. Morgan describes life in this town with clarity and handles lifes disappointments with grace. She was an amazing woman to have worked there. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) was not yet 25 when he burst onto the literary scene in London, where his stories of Anglo-Indian life made him an instant celebrity. He won the Nobel Prize in 1907, but by then his critical standing was already in decline, marred in part by popular poems like "The White Man's Burden," which stereotyped him as a tub-thumping jingoist, a reputation he cemented with the distasteful racism of his patriotic appeals during World War I. Poet Harry Ricketts rescues Kipling from cliché in perceptive critical exegeses that remind the reader just how fine a fiction writer he was, pointing out the nuanced appreciation of racial and cultural boundary crossing that informed such masterpieces as Kim. In this brisk narrative, Kipling emerges as a charming, genuinely warm man and a devoted, delightful father; it's no surprise that the children's books Just So Stories and The Jungle Book remain his most beloved works. Without scanting the nastiness of Kipling's reactionary politics, Ricketts suggests their source in personal sorrows that included his 18-year-old son's battlefield death in 1915 and the agonizing demise of his 6-year-old daughter, after which, said Kipling's sister, "he was a sadder and a harder man." --Wendy Smith ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Exceptional
Clearly the best Kipling biography in many years. Mr. Ricketts has a fine touch, especially for Kipling's early years.If his later life wasn't as exotic and interesting, that's Kipling's affair. I think the mainstream reviewers had it right ('Splendid,' said The Atlantic Monthly, 'irresistibly readable,' said The New Yorker).Insightful and engaging.

good start... fades in middle
Mr. Ricketts begins well. Kipling's ancestors are well drawn. His first years in India are well done. The years back in England when he was 7-17(roughly) are very well written. The first years as a journalist backin India, when Kipling had great success with poems and stories, is welldoen too. So, the first 140 pages are useful. Then the book gets reallyboring. Kipling leaves India,circles the world and lives in Englamnd thenthe US. It's really boring. Mr Ricketts seemed to run out of energy. Soread the first part and skip the last. ... Read more

Book Description

This memoir describes an apprenticeship in the art of restoring fine books.Wilcox was the first woman accepted by Bill Anthony as a student in the demanding trade of restoration and bookbinding.Wilcox develops a special friendship with her mentor, Bill Anthony, an internationally known book preservationist, and as she does, she also acquires a great devotion to the craft of book preserving.Eventually, Anthony develops cancer, and Wilcox goes on to become a master in her own right. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

accessible, delicate, honest
Wilcox artfully narrates her experience as an apprentice for Bill Anthony, a famous book binder and conservator. She artfully interspeses observations about books she is restoring with phases of her life as an apprentice and other texts. She evokes the spirit of craftmanship, of taking many years, much time, and much patience to develop mastery of her craft. Great for book art students, art students, or those considering an apprenticeship of any kind. Of particular interest to those who've made books before, because they will understand vividly the technical descriptions of her project (thought these are accessible to the lay person as well).

Illuminations
Someone who knew that I was in the Interdisciplinary Book and Paper MFA program at Columbia College Chicago gave this memoir to me. It's a really nice read---especially since the bookbinding world is a small one, and everyone in it knows everyone else, as people travel around the country giving workshops. Always interesting to read about people who you've had as teachers. I found it very well written, an evocative and accurate depiction of an obscure art/craft/lifestyle choice, an illuminated window into a small, specialized world.

Literal or spiritual - take your pick
A practical person can read this book as an extended essay on how to approach an apprenticeship, and how to bind conservation texts. A spiritual person can add layers to the stories and extrapolate life lessons. Either way, the main character/author is extremely sympathetic character. Her teacher had amazing gifts, both as a conservator and as a teacher.

The book is deceptively short. Looks like a quick read, but was so meaty and detailed, I found myself reading it for several weeks in order to digest all the material carefully.

If your taste runs to the obscure, the "sleeper," I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did.

A wonderful autobiography!
A Degree of Mastery tells the story of one woman's journey through the education and apprenticeship necessary to become a book preservationist. Annie Wilcox, a bright woman with an impressive past in the field of English and writing, begins to take an evening class in bookbinding at the University of Iowa taught by a world-reknowned preservationist, William Anthony. Little does she know that not more than two years later she will become the first female apprentice ever to study under the direct supervision and teaching of Bill Anthony, an honored position granted only to six others before her. Through her apprenticeship, Wilcox learns the art of preservation and the dire need for conservation in every library, but especially those libraries that house an archives, manuscript or rare books collection. Through Wilcox's autobiography, the reader learns the basic process and means by which book preservation becomes possible as well as the importance and value of conservation in today's libraries. It is a wonderful piece of literature well-worth your time.

Washing and drying books
Have you ever washed a book in de-ionized water? Any kind of water? No? Annie Tremmel Wilcox has.

In fact, she does it for a living. And, in A Degree of Mastery, A Journey Through Book Arts Apprenticeship, she tells you how to do it, and much more else besides.

You'll love her story. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Educational Writing at Its Best
Teaching is one of the most difficult jobs. When you read Marvin Hoffman's beautifully written book, however, you realize that it is a noble profession and one where a dedicated, insightful teacher truly has a profound impact of the lives of young people. This book is inpirational. The depth of Mr. Hoffman's humanity comes through the vignettes. I work in a school and whenever I need a reminder of why I entered education, I pick up "Chasing Hellhounds..." It is outstanding!

Eudcational Writing at Its Best
Teaching is one of the most difficult jobs. When you read Marvin Hoffman's beautifully written book, however, you realize that it is a noble profession and one where a dedicated, insightful teacher truly has a profound impact of the lives of young people. This book is inpirational. The depth of Mr. Hoffman's humanity comes through the vignettes. I work in a school and whenever I need a reminder of why I entered education, I pick up "Chasing Hellhounds..." It is outstanding! ... Read more

Reviews (2)

An insight into the secluded world of the Forbidden City
I rather enjoyed this biography on Reginald Johnston. Despite what the other reviewer has said (quite funny), I doubt very much that Johnston would have been able to "mandhandle Pu Yi" as he must have been closely supervised by his minders, some of whom were eunuchs and may have had similar tendencies.
An uninteresting man, with ambiguous tendencies, thrust into the limelight just by rubbing shoulders with the last Emperor, Johnston did write a couple of travel books on China which are probably his more enduring legacy

Sir Reginald Fleming Johnston...the Fleming Fag
If you want to find out what kind of a brainwashing, low down, good for nothing person Reginald Johnston is like, then you need to read this book.This old cockraoch constantly used the kid emperor for his own needs.Johnstontaught the young emperor about homosexuality as Johnston was ahomosexual. Johnston should go down in history for a child molester andthief of children. ... Read more

Book Description

Penny Kittle is an extraordinary teacher who writes. And because she has taught in classrooms ranging from first grade through high school, these short essay-stories show the full range of what it means to teach today. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Penny is a Super Teacher
Mrs. Kittle is a teacher at my high school. I've never had her as a teacher but she always has a "Hi!" when you pass in the hall. I knew she was a great writer. (My essay writing teacher, Mr. Fayle, talks about her writing all the time) I just didn't know how good she really was. Until now...
Her stories are filled with passion and advice for new teachers. I want to absorb every word she writes and use it to its fullest extent. I plan on becoming an elementary school teacher and wish I could carry Penny Kittle around in my pocket so I could pull her out whenever I have a question. Although, with this book, I can almost do that.
Mostly written for teachers by a teacher, this book deserves ten stars and will inspire everyone that reads it to be an outstanding teacher. ... Read more

Book Description

They met in a bar on Marthas Vineyard. Bill was instantly smittenher cool beauty, her insouciance, her sassy youthbut Juliet was unimpressed. Even so, a courtship began, and for the next eight summers, in sublime settings across North America, Bill Roorbach and Juliet Karelsen made circuitous progress toward a lasting love, andfinally, marriage. In charming fashion, Summers with Juliet tells this tale, but it also chronicles a second awakening, as Juliet rekindles in Bill his childhood enchantment with nature. Now marvelous creatures abound: giant ocean sunfish and wild turkeys, bellicose hummingbirds and canny trout, all of them images and explications of the many facets of Juliet. Landscapes hold new mysteries, too, and the author vividly describes his exuberant road trips with Juliet around the country, from the River of Promise in Montana, to the Gulf Coast of Florida. And at last, they come to a wooded lake in New Hampshire and the singular June day when!loves all there, sweeter than the cake. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Summers With Juliet
I would easily put this book among the best that I have ever read.The images that Roorbach uses keep coming back to me even though it has been well over a year since I read it.The honesty of his writing is amazing, and there were many, many times that I had to pause because the emotional descriptions were so true.Read this book-- by the end you will feel like an old friend at Roorbach's wedding, and you will be glad not to have missed it.

Summers with Juliet
This memoir records the struggles of a young writer trying to find his literary voice by portraying his distraction, frustrations, and devotions to his art through his adventures with his future wife as they encounter avariety of people and animals--turkeys, turtles, hummingbirds, andbluefishes--in many beautiful natural environments.Their adventures arealways fascinating andamusing, and, at times, exciting.

Summers with Juliet
This memoir records the struggles of a young writer trying to find his literary voice by portraying his distraction, frustrations, and devotions to his art through his adventures with his future wife as they encounter avariety of people and animals--turkeys, turtles, hummingbirds, andbluefishes--in many beautiful natural environments.Their adventures arealways fascinating andamusing, and, at times, exciting.

A book about love found, nature loved, life lived.
This book is a paper plane, it will take you away.From the first page, Bill Roorbach takes us on a wonderful journey during a time of his life, when he first meets his wife Juliet in Martha's Vineyard.It becomes a wonderful, weird, chaotic time for both.This book will make you honestly laugh out loud, and shake your head in disbelief, at the experiences and adventures that these two people take on.It is filled with nature in all it's glory, and sometimes not so glorious.This is a man that writes the way we think.The conversations that he has with himself are so lively, and funny that you will want to shake his hand heartily and say "Yes, Yes, I know just what you mean"Read it, it's worth every word.

Touching take of love and life discovered
This is a wonderful story of one man's memories of the beginning of his true love life. Roorbach is a compelling writer in the essay style of Russell Baker, who offers his readers much in terms of language and story-telling ability. We, too, learn to love Juliet and touch the unique feelings that make this couple worthy of our attention. Perfect reading outside on a summer afternoon ... Read more

Book Description

This book shows, by example, why sensitive and compassionate teaching is just as crucial as ever in making the schoolroom a safe, inviting place for learners of all ages. ... Read more

Book Description

'Your job is as much a cultural ambassador as an educator.'With these words ringing in his ears, Richard starts his job as a JET (a participant in the Japanese Exchange and Teaching Program) with high hopes of carrying out this dual role.Enthusiastically he embraces life in Japan, absorbs Japanese culture, learning the arts of the tea ceremony and the shamisen, makes Japanese friends - an ex-kamikaze pilot, a purple-haired tea master, mafia 'thugs', to name but a few - and immerses himself in Japanese philosophy.Young and idealistic, he sees a need for improvement in teaching of English, but when he tries to introduce changes he hits a brick wall. The teachers just aren't interested in new ideas. Reluctantly he realises that, to survive, he will have to stop rocking the boat and learn to accept the 'Japanese way' of doing things...This does not stop him asking questions though, and when it comes to the problem of bullying in schools, he refuses to let the matter rest. When his concerns are ignored - with tragic results - he blames himself. Should he have tackled it the 'American way' instead of the 'Japanese way'?Richard's experiences as a JET are fascinating, his evaluation of Japanese philosophy, culture and the education system sharp and incisive, and through the eyes of a 'young foreigner', an exciting picture of life in modern Japan emerges. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

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

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

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

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

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

An excellent read for all!
I ordered this book 1 month ago and have already read it 2 times. Both intriguing and informative, "When the Butterfly Stings" paints an intimate portrait of Japanese culture and politics. Richard Kramer is undoubtedly a rising star in a long list of great authors. I can't wait for his next work! I strongly urge anyone with the desire to expand thier mind and enlighten thier soul to read this book. Bravo!

A necessary telling of a subject often overlooked
Kramer's book spreads light on a problem that is often overlooked in Japan. It seems to be divided into 2 sections: the first describing his experience as someone unfamiliar with Japan as he becomes acquainted with the new culture and the second, building up to the murder and exposing some of the darkness behind the glittering reputation of the Japanese education. Far more detailed and thought-provoking than Memoires of a Geisha, it is both an excellent guide for anyone attempting to grapple with living ina foreign culture and an excellent picture of Japan. I really enjoyed it. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Pathetic
This book captured my curiosity as I am a highschool teacher myself. There are many stories of professional educators who have thrown their lives and reputations away for temporary trysts with students; the author of this book accomplished both and yet has no insight as to why.

To become a teacher takes at least 5 years and thousands of dollars. It is a gruelling, exhausting endeavor - how could anyone jeopardize so much for so little? Heather Ingram makes no explanation for how a woman of 30 could be attracted to a teenager. Had the boy in question been a straight-A student, champion chess player, brain-surgeon-in-the-making, perhaps one could perhaps understand (not excuse) a potential friendship developing. But this kid was the dunce of the class; a punk whose only hobbies seemed to be getting drunk and stoned and driving his pick-up truck through the mud with his loser friends.

How good a lover can a kid this young be? What on earth do you talk about? Where is your brain, allowing teenage boys to hang-out, drink alcohol, and smoke pot at your house? Heather Ingram didn't just have an affair with this one student; she also slept with his friend! It's about as pathetic and squalid as it gets: teenage boys get to bonk the desperate teacher.

She deserved to have her teaching certificate made void - she is an embarrassment to the profession and makes an already difficult job harder for all the teachers who follow the rules. Most frustrating about this book is its lack of insight, or introspection. Ingram details what happened, but not why it happened. Coming across as decidedly immature and psychologically impaired, Ingram fails to acknowlege how her actions, how her utter lack is discretion, contribute to the overall lack of respect students show for authority. Teaching is a tough job. People like Heather Ingram make it all the more difficult. It is truly appalling that this woman is being congratulated for her "honesty".

This is the world we live in: Make a mess of your life, behave like an amoral fool, turn an entire community upside down, and somehow you are deemed worthy of public forgiveness. You get to write a book about it and make money. You get to be on talk shows. Only in America....

Risking Everything for love
Heather Ingram was a respected teacher by not only her students but her co-workers as well. In this book she tells of her 3 year love affair with her student "Troy". The deeper you read the more you get to know and understand Heather's true feelings of love towards this person she saw as the man of her dreams.
This was the type of book once you opened it you couldn't put it down. It took me three days and I loved it.

Good Person, Bad Choices
I couldn't put it down, I finished it in two days. It is not a love story with a fairytale ending, but it is a story about love. A true and honest account about two people who fell in love at the wrong place and the wrong time. Heather Ingram describes her love affair with one of her students in a way that is so raw and heartfelt that one cannot help but begin to look past the "scandal" and start to see the truth about two people who found in each other something they were missing in themselves. It is heartbreaking to read about their affection towards one another and to know that if they could have waited only a matter of months (until he was 18 and out of school) that they could have avoided the tragedy, the courts, and the headlines.
A truly wonderful book that gives the reader a greater understanding of how every decision we make will shape our lives for better or worse. I cannot say what happened was right, the author herself knows her own mistake. I feel like the relationship was not wrong, the circumstances in which it happened were. ... Read more