JFK, a magical name in history. This book provides a way to investigate this man's life from other people's letters. You may want to read it.

This is a compilation that in and of itself is quite mundane. The letters are not the most eloquent nor powerful prose that you are likely to have read. However, this is the correspondence of two of the biggest figures of their age.

The letters regarding the Vietnam war are the most interesting and provide some recognition of the clarity & forsight of Galbraith's mind.

Buy this book if you are interested in these men and the age of Camelot.

The only reason that there is a "reading war" is that:1) the American public finally realized that whole language was making our children illiterate; and 2) a handful of researchers who were not afraid to buck the whole language crusade did the research that shows how destructive whole language is--despite all of the smarmy talk. This book is best seen as the last gasp of a dying fad.

It is amazing what some people will do to get their way or sell their material. Ken Goodman has told the story every teacher should know. Not only have laws been mandated in California, these phonics pushers are now headed toward Texas. The lies these people are telling is unbelievable and thank goodness Ken Goodman is watching out for us. It is through the information he has put together in this book that allows us to know what is going on behind the politicians' closed doors. Isn't it amazing what politicians are willing to do to get votes. Maybe they should try reading all the research for themselves before they go off screaming for laws that will mandate how teachers must teach reading. Do we really want politicians telling us how we must teach?

This collection of essays reveals the extent to which certain political groups have attacked public education and good teaching under the guise of "accountability" and "literacy." This is a must read for those interested in knowing more about the anti-teacher and anti-public school hysteria that has taken place over the past 10 years in the U.S.

One can only surmise that this assortment of unfounded prescriptions was published without anyone's knowledge. The whole language fad that Mr. Goodman has been selling to naive teachers for 25 years helps to account for the illiteracy of millions of school children. California used whole language for a decade. Now they are tied with Louisiana in reading (dis)achievement.

After reading this book, it is easy to see why WL was rapidly becoming a grassroots movement amongst US teachers ntil the textbook publishing companies realized that they were about to loose out on a major market share. (Don't believe it, then why are the states of California and Texas mandating curriculum to teachers? California and Texas represent a lion's share of the market. So, if you can't get teachers to buy the garbage you produce, you just manipulate the machinery to have the government shove it down their throats. So what if kids are dissed in the process?) So much of what this book has to offer is nothing more than good sense. Most any teacher that has spent more than 20 minutes in a classroom with students would agree.

This book provides teachers with the resources and information to help children learn to read effectively. A must for any good teacher's library.

This book is yet another vain effort to valorize the failed fad, whole language, by providing an alleged model of language and reading based on alleged research. The only problem is, serious research conducted by disinterested researchers shows that whole language basically does not teach many children to read. It is especially malignant when it is used on our most vulnerable children--disadvantaged children--for whom direct and explict phonics instruction is almost a necessity. The self-pitying style of whole language writers (complaining that researchers and politicians are against them) is too ironic to imagine. Who weaps for children made illiterate by whole language? Certainly not its advocates and purveyors.

The "school" System has a vested interest in the micro-management of learning (to read) and thus grossly mis-applies whatever reasonable thing that comes its way, including the work of Ken Goodman. All bureaucracies have this tendency of micro-management, a stark example of which is the monstrous abuse of Jesus' teachings by the early Catholic Church, for which many people have rejected Jesus' message and humane example, in favor of yet another bureaucratic system of "accounability", namely, metaphysical humanism/secularism.(I don't mean to be controversial; I wish only the very best for people of whatever metaphysical pursuasion). Ken Goodman shows the stable center-position of the nature of reading. But then, because of its pursuasive power, the "school" system uses it to gain tighter control of childrens' learning to read and adults' efforts to help them read. Micro-managing the learning of reading is only as potentially handicapping for the learner as the complexity and the number of the aspects of reading which are being micro-managed. Thus, micro-management of learning phonics (which is only minor one aspect of reading) naturally has less potential for being a handicap for children in learning to read than is the case when a number of aspects of reading are being micro-managed---especially if those aspects are of a high intellectual order. Ken Goodman's argument for whole (holistic) language should be read primary with an interest in what is true of reading, and only secondarily with an interest in the question of reading instruction. To do otherwise only produces absurdities on both sides of the insitutionalized-reading- instruction 'wars': those claiming to favor Goodman's work and who claim to be proponents of whole language, but who miss the real point that Goodman makes and who then grossly mis-apply his work; and those who, largely because of this mis-application and its clearly more horrible consequences, blaim Goodman for that mess and call his argument balony. Many people call themselves Christians too, but, as one bumper-sticker says, "Jesus loves you, but everybody else thinks you're an ______" I hope I don't come across to some people as ranting at them. I only want to make the matter as plain as possible and in a quiet, friendly manner. Unfortunately, to make some crucial points clear sometimes requires giving examples that happen to be emotionally charged for many people. I hope this review encourages everyone to read this book (and every book) by Kenneth Goodman, and that it helps them truly understand the real issue that he addresses. I also recommend the comparable works of Frank Smith, especially his Understanding Reading and The Book of Learning and Forgetting. I appreciate your consideration.

In this short book Dr. Goodman makes the complexities of the reading process accessible to most any reader. It is understandable why Dr. Goodman's theory of reading has become so central to the world of reading today. So much of what he offers in this book just makes good sense.

This is a useful little book for teachers. It helped me understand the relationship between phonics and phonology. With this understanding I now have a clearer picture of what and how to teach phonics and its place in reading instruction. I am appalled that the Toronto reviewer took this forum to attack Goodman rather than discuss the book and information in it. There would be many who might disagree with some of Goodman's ideas, however until one reads this book how can one know. I found it gave me useful background information and ideas. I dont have to agree with everything in it.

Would you ever believe that reading a book about phonics could be fun? Well, here it is. This book is packed with all sorts of interesting facts (phacts) and activities which help the reader understand the role of phonics. Yes, after reading this one, order ON READING and read that one as well!

In this book, Ken Goodman explains phonics and phonology in a straight forward and conversational manner. The book grows out of 35 years of observing and researching readers and writers. Goodman describes the role of the phonics in meaning construction. Goodman explains how young children develop these understandings through reading and writing, and how the miscues (mistakes) children make reveal these understandings. For language lovers, there are many interesting "phacts" about how written language works. An enlightened book, well researched and documented. Every reading teacher should read it. A great alternative for states requiring courses in Phonics. Read it. Then buy On Reading. Goodman is an inspiration to us all.

More nonsense from the purveyors of the whole language fad that has made so many children illiterate. Unlike physicians who pay dearly when they prescribe treatments that do not work (it's called "malpractice") education professors can get away with "selling" snake oil for decades.

This book provides a whole array of resources in organizing your classroom in a way that supports learners. I found it most helpful!

Talk about irony! At the same time that contributors to this pistache of self congratulations "honor" Kenneth Goodman, reading researchers, parents' groups, and even state departments of public instruction are ridding schools of the whole language fad that made a large percentage of this generation of students illiterate in reading and therefore in every subject that depends on reading. This book will be useful to persons who want to understand how faddists legitimize and valorize destructive nonsense.

Changes in both our society and our knowledge of how humans learn require that we develop new ways of teaching. The jobs of the past are extinct, as should be the old factory methods of teaching (sit in rows, memorize the anwer, shut your mouth, keep your eyes on your own paper, respond to the bells, wait for the teacher/foreman to tell you what to do). We must teach children so they will be able to enter the work force of this century, i.e.,to be collabortive inquirers who can solve problems and invent new things. Thank God thinkers like Ken Goodman have brought humanity into our schools and an environment that fosters a love of learning. We still have lots to learn about teaching reading and writing, but we cannot go backwards to the methods of the 19th century, lest we risk having a society that marginalizes large groups of people and that is unprepared for the challenges of the technological age. Ken Goodman is to be honored for helping to move education forward into the new century.