Related Subjects: Author Index Reviews Page 1 2
Book reviews for "Johnson,_Robert_J." sorted by average review score:

The Poetry of Robert Frost
Published in Audio Cassette by New Millennium Audio (2001)
Authors: Robert Frost, Susan Anspach, Roscoe Lee Browne, Elliott Gould, Joel Grey, Arte Johnson, Melissa Manchester, Kevin McCarthy, Jean Smart, and Michael Tucker
Amazon base price: $10.50
List price: $15.00 (that's 30% off!)
Used price: $8.00
Buy one from zShops for: $9.93
Average review score:

Still wonderful after all these years
I first owned this volume of poetry in 1978. That book simply fell apart after more than 20 years of reading and handling (sometimes roughly by my children). I replace this book with a new one just last year.
The old favorites are all here; Fireflies in the Garden, The Road Not Taken, Fire and Ice, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, and a hundred more. In my opinion this is the definitive volume on Frost.
I have always been awed by the number of poems Frost wrote about the stars. A Star on a Stoneboat, The Star Spitter, Stars, Canis Major and many others. Truly Robert Frost is the astronomers poet.
Also in this volume is perhaps my favorite Frost poem, Brown's Descent.
If you love reading Frost on a crispy fall evening, then you'll love reading him when the crickets chirp. You'll need to own this book.

The Poetry-Lover's Definitive Frost
Robert Frost was and is America's greatest poet. Excepting, perhaps, W. B. Yeats, he may be the greatest poet to write English in the twentieth century. (To me, it's a toss-up.) To read this volume systematically or desultorily is to become convinced of that. But Frost is, above all, accessible, so the casual reader may not appreciate the difficulty of what he does. Like much of the greatest art his looks easy, even inevitable.

All of Frost's poems are here, plus his two dramatic Masques. When this book first appeared (in 1969) it caused a furor: the editor, it was angrily asserted, presumed too much. He dared to clarify - inserting a hyphen here, excising a comma there. That furor has since died down, as people realize that he did not do away with the sacred texts (any emendation was noted), but simply performed his job as editor. He regularized spelling and the use of single and double quotes (though not Capitalization, which can legitimately be thought of as integral to the poet's expression (think of e.e. cummings!)), and corrected other obvious errors. The notes give the published variants for each poem, so if you wish you may make your own call on some of these finicky issues.

I cannot emphasize enough: BUY THE HARDCOVER! After all, you will be reading this book for the rest of your life. It is a beautifully-built volume, of an easy size and heft for use, with understated appealing typefaces and an exemplary design. Put out by Frost's long-time publisher, this is one of the few essential books of American literature.

The Road Less Traveled
"It is absurd to think that the only way to tell if a poem is lasting is to wait and see if it lasts, The reader of good poem can tell the moment it strikes him that he has taken an immortal wound-that he will never get over it...The proof of a poem is not that we have never forgotten it, but we knew at sight we would never forget it."

Robert Frost

I have to admit it! When I first met Robert Frost's poetry in Freshman English class I took an immortal wound-that I will never get over it. Perhaps the then recent memory of the white haired poet who inaugurated Camelot that cold, January day conditioned me to receive the wound. Maybe Fr. Sheridan's teaching opened these poems for me. Most of all, I think that it is the words themselves which have made the poetry of Robert Frost such an important part of my life for almost 35 years.

This complete collection complemented the high school text book to which I had so often referred over the years. Here is the source of lines which I have often quoted. Many family vacations have begun with: "I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep" (Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening).

When my son tries to silence his sister's singing he is reminded that "Of course there must be something wrong In wanting to silence any song" (A Minor Bird).

Here we find philosophical reflections. "Good walls make good neighbors" counters "Something there is that doesn't like a wall" (Mending Wall).

Here "The Death of a Hired Man" challenges us to reflect upon how we value and treat others while "Christmas Trees" reminds us that not all things have prices. Here we are invited to follow the road of the poet who wrote "I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference" (The Road Not Taken).

I have writen just a sampling of the treasures to be found in this collection, but I have written enough. It is now time to indulge again with words I have never forgotten. "I shan't be gone long-You come too." (The Pasture).


Man-Trackers & Dog Handlers in Search & Rescue : Basic Guidelines and Information
Published in Hardcover by DBS Productions (1900)
Authors: Greg Fuller, Ed Johnson, and Robert J. Koester
Amazon base price: $14.95
Average review score:

Tracker + Scent Dog = SUCCESS
As a military tracker I found a lot of the information in this book applicable. Currently the military tracking program only entails visual trackers without argumentation from scent dogs, this is complete 180 from the mid-seventies when the Army maintained dedicated tracker team with visual and scent tracker capabilities. The military still utilize search (scent) dogs but the handlers are no longer given any instruction in the visual art of tracking. I believe that the use of dogs used with visual trackers is an excellent tool (not in all tactical scenarios) and it provides, both the dog and tracker to work to their fullest potential by complementing each other skills and attributes. Basically the dog can only follow a specific scent on the ground or in the air, but cannot read signs left behind by the "quarry". This is were the visual tracker comes in; he is trained to judge sign through reduction and deduction, obtaining valuable information from the sign. With this book it will introduce the pair and explain some of the misconceptions and expectations of both. It also covers skills, tactics and management for employment of both in a SAR environment. For its small size there is lot of information, what I really liked in particular was the end book matter; glossary, appendix, and index. All were very useful an in-depth. For a finale note this is geared toward SAR (search and rescue) but most of the information carries over to the tactical tracker, which by the way can be used in a CSAR (combat search and rescue) operation. Well worth the buy!

Practical Implementations
Having worked in this arena the tactics detailed and depicted in this book work. Having a place in which to go to get the perspectives of what the other is capable of has been needed for a long time. Working with a dog team is a practical use of each others skills and also lets the reader (if a student of tracking) know what it is they need to work on in order to become the best they can be. The book is full of usefull, practical information for both sides of the fence. Those resources in the field as well as the search manager. Excellent, to the point, time proven, non bogus information.

The SAR Team - Dog handler and tracker working together
Just finished Greg Fuller's(et al) book on the (above) subject and I must say that this was an outstanding job accomplished. Long time needed.

We have often worked track trained searchers with dog handlers and have had good luck when they click together as a "team". This book helps work your man-trackers and dog handlers toward a search team concept that tends to be missing in todays SAR Unit.

Check it out ... I believe that Greg has lit on something that the ground SAR world needs to take a look at...

Keep your SAR Team, beating the brush and being active "team" members. Help them stay focused on the "team" concept without dividing into "my resource is better than your resource" camps. Allowing us to expose our SAR members to skills and tools that tickle their desire ... to be all that they can be, while avoiding building "empires" of these specialized SAR interests.

This book is written to maintaining your SAR "TEAM" to the benefit of the lost subject.

Reads easy and doesn't rub any raw spots (if you know what I mean ;)

This book will assist you, as a SAR member (or SAR Coordinator), from becoming too singularly focused on one SAR resource and this should be to the end advantage of more successful reunions of the lost person and their families.

Good job Greg!


Hate Crime: The Global Politics of Polarization (Elmer H. Johnson and Carol Holmes Johnson Series in Criminology)
Published in Hardcover by Southern Illinois Univ Pr (Trd) (1998)
Authors: Robert J. Kelly and Jess Maghan
Amazon base price: $45.00
Average review score:

globalizing hate
First of all, since the political campaigns have been raging in the media, we have heard a lot about hate crimes. The category of hate crime however, is restricted to personal violence, as it is commonly understood to mean. This book broadens the concept by globalizing the notion of hate. In lieu of today's developments and some other notable global crimes, such as genocides (i.e., Rwanda, Bosnia) this type of macro approach to the etiology of crime seems highly relevant and necessary. What I found particularly noteworthy is the multiple-point stances and perspectives of the various authors. Such a diverse representation of opinions, I thought, added to the overall purpose and strength of the book.

The chapter on Colin Ferguson approached explanation by using Franz Fanon's theory of violence. The author does successfully incorporate the major tenets of his theory in his explanation, there were some questions I thought would be relevant to the discussion. For example, Sartre, in writing the preface to Fanon's book, concurred with Fanon in stating that the native, repressed in his hatred toward his colonizers, is apt to act more violently against his native man. I was not sure if such was the case with Ferguson. Perhaps, if there had been instances in which he did act out against "his people" it would strengthen the argument more.

Rage, anger, madness as manifestation of creativity and freeing force in the subject's double bind is a topic worthy of further exploration. I am looking forward to the author developing this idea in his further works.

I enjoyed the differing perspective on the nature of hate. By charting the macro origins of conflict, I think the book sheds insight as to the micro dimensions of hate crime as it presently finds form today.

Hate Crime
The recent brutal beating and murder of a gay Wyoming student points out but one aspect of the type of hate crimes whuch in most countries of the world. In Hate Crimes: The Global Politics of Polarization professor Jess Maghan and Robert J. Kelly have brought together an excellent collection of essays which hit the problem head-on. The editors contributions add to the book, especially the article on the Ku Klux Klan by Kelly and Maghan's well researched annotated bibliography on the subject. The book includes essays on black rage and victimization; neo-nazis and skinheads; homeless Palestinians and the Arab world; hate crime in India; and the victimization of street children in Colombia. Of particular interest are several pieces on the historical aspects of hate crime, and the development of legislative efforts to cope with what is percived as a growing area of concern in criminal justice. Maghan, who is an associate professor of criminal justice at the university of illinois at chicago, and Kelly, who is a Broeklundian professor of social science at Brooklyn College and a professor of criminal justice at the Graduate School of the City University of New York are well respected authors in the area of hate crime, and in this book they have made a significant contribution to understanding the international dimensions and manifistations of hatred and brutality.


Al corriente
Published in Paperback by McGraw-Hill/Contemporary Books (11 January, 1995)
Author: Robert J. Johnson
Amazon base price: $11.87
List price: $16.95 (that's 30% off!)
Used price: $1.94
Buy one from zShops for: $10.85
Average review score:

Why I USE this book often!
As a teacher of Spanish I have found this book to be a great classroom resource especially to prepare my students for the real life situations in authentic settings. The phrases and expressions are culled from daily exchanges in the target language. It is the use of these expressionns that set my students apart.... they seem MORE fluent because they can use the language like a native speaker! 4th grade worksheets don't impress me much to respond to the other reviewer of this book. I teach communication... this book is an excellent classroom tool! ARRIBA!


Flowers: Gary Bukovnik: Watercolors and Monotypes
Published in Hardcover by Harry N. Abrams, Incorporated (1900)
Authors: Lawrence Banka, Judith Gordon, Gary Bukovnik, James J. White, Gary Bukovnik, and Robert Flynn Johnson
Amazon base price: $39.95
Collectible price: $155.00
Buy one from zShops for: $255.00
Average review score:

Abrams Publishing House is the only great art publisher.
This book is a treasure; it is a rare sight to see an art book that faithfully reproduces works, some of which I have personally seen. Gary is a consummate watercolor artist, respectful of his medium and subjects; this is beautifully captured by the incredible color photography and the intelligent, inspired comments by Judith Gordon, This book is a treat for anyone who loves flowers and admires artistic talent...I wish I could find the words...


Walked to Alaska, Clawed by a Bear: The Stupendous 4000 Mile Trek
Published in Hardcover by Prince of Wales Pub Co (1993)
Authors: Thomas Hall, T.R. Johnson, Phil Michaelson, and Robert J. Kennedy
Amazon base price: $13.97
List price: $19.95 (that's 30% off!)
Used price: $9.50
Collectible price: $6.35
Average review score:

an adventure for the ages
Robert J. Kennedy's walk to Alaska is one of the most exciting adventures of all time. His humor, honesty, humility and courage will touch the reader deeply. The book's style is uniquely cryptic, but enjoyable once you get used to it.

No matter what goes wrong, Kennedy maintains an upbeat attitude at all times. His conversations with his buddy Ty, who came to visit Kennedy three times during the walk, are truly delightful and insightful. Several times in the book I was moved to tears. And many more times I found myself laughing out loud.

Kennedy strikingly lacks the crudeness often found in other adventurers. His ineptness is also unique among adventurers, but that only endears him further.

I strongly recommend this book for readers of all ages. Kennedy's story proclaims loudly that chivalry still lives; and it also has a sense of humor.

That so many things could go wrong during a 5-month walk is almost incredible. But the book documents the events with great detail. The reader often feels he or she is right there walking alongside. Or crawling alongside, in some cases.

The bear encounter is truly gripping, due mainly to its remote and dark setting.

Buy this book, but don't expect it to be anything like any other adventure book you have ever read. This is a spiritual journey as well as a physical and romantic one.

I cannot recommend any book more highly.


Life of Johnson (The World's Classics)
Published in Paperback by Oxford University Press (1982)
Authors: James Boswell, Robert William Chapman, J. D. Fleeman, and Pat Rogers
Amazon base price: $17.95
Used price: $1.90
Collectible price: $5.29
Buy one from zShops for: $2.99
Average review score:

Great Book (Bad Edition)
Needless to say, Boswell's LIFE OF JOHNSON is one of the preeminent works of biography and should be read by anyone interested in Johnson or the genre. It is a great book (also great is W. Jackson Bate's SAMUEL JOHNSON [1st published 1975]which is a MUST for anyone interested in Johnson). But although I love the Everyman's Library, I do not recommend this edition of Boswell. Unlike the usual quality of the Everyman's Library, its Boswell is rife with typographical errors (there's even missing text!). Though it's the only edition of Boswell I've read, I regret that a correct edition is not on my bookshelf. That being said, if this is the only affordable hardcover version you can find -- and you buy only hardcovers -- go ahead and purchase the Everyman's despite the numerous and distracting errors.

Must buy. And read.
This book will redefine your concepts of biography, of philology and of intellect. However critically James Boswell is rated as a writer, the fact remains that his biography of Johnson remains the standard by which all others are judged, and by which they ultimately fall--flat on their condescending faces.

Who was Samuel Johnson? He was, in one sense, the first literary celebrity. His fabled dictionary of the English language was, a few years down the road, superceded and greatly improved upon by the dictionary written by Noah Webster. His tour of Scotland and the book that ensued from it hardly rank with the other literary giants of English. And his essays, indisputably brilliant, remain sadly that: forms of literature seldom read, and lacking the artistic force of the play, the novel, the poem.

What Boswell shows us about Johnson is that he was the sharpest conversationalist of his time in a society that cultivated the very finest of witty speakers. Living off the beneficence of friends, off a royally-provided pension, and leading what he readily acknowledged to be a life of idleness, Johnson was a sought-after personality invigorated by one of the brightest literary minds ever.

Boswell introduces the genius, his pathos, his melancholy, his piety, his warmth, and most of all his stinging wit. That he loved and respected Johnson, and sought to honor his memory, can only be doubted by an utter cynic or someone serving a lifetime of durance in academia.

"All intellectual improvement arises from leisure..." "You shall retain your superiority by my not knowing it." "Sir, they [Americans] are a parcel of convicts and ought to be thankful for anything we allow them short of hanging." "He was dull in a new way, and that made people think him great." "...it is our duty to maintain the subordination of civilized society..." "It is wonderful, when a calculation is made, how little the mind is actually employed in the discharge of any profession." Boswell: "...you are an idle set of people." Johnson: "Sir, we are a city of philosophers." "We should knock him down first, and pity him afterwards."

And best of all, and immortal to boot, is this: "No man but a blockhead writes, except for money."

Buy this book. Read it. It's humanity at its wittiest and most complex.

This deserves to be called a "World's Classic"
Boswell was not the obvious choice to write the best biography about Samuel Johnson, much less one of the greatest biographies in world literature. He had much less contact with Johnson than Mrs. Thrale, for many years a close friend of Johnson who spent much more time with him than did Boswell. In fact, Boswell spent perhaps 400 days with Johnson over a period of many years. He also was not Johnson's literary executor. Finally, Boswell was regarded by many of his day, and afterwards, as something of an 18th Century celebrity hound. He made a point of meeting every famous person he could (Voltaire, Rousseau), and went to great efforts to make himself famous. Nevertheless, in his Life of Johnson, Boswell succeeded in portraying Johnson and his circle so vividly that more than 200 years later they come across as real human beings. He did this by breaking the convention of concentrating only on the most favorable aspects of his subject's life, and instead describing Johnson's eccentricities of dress, behavior, etc. Moreover, Boswell did not neglect to include incidents that make himself appear ridiculous. The book is both extremely funny and moving. If you read this, you will want to immediatley get a copy of Boswell's book on the trip that Johnson and he took to the Hebrides.


From One Brother to Another: Voices of African American Men
Published in Paperback by Judson Pr (1996)
Authors: William J. Key, Robert Johnson Smith, and Robert Johnson-Smith II
Amazon base price: $8.80
List price: $11.00 (that's 20% off!)
Used price: $2.49
Buy one from zShops for: $7.59
Average review score:

very good reference book on and by black pastors and laymen
This was one of the few books by blackmen that had good storys that reflect on black culture and done from a spiritual tone. It also reflected the ability of American Baptist to step out and pull something like this together. This is the kind of work that should be done on a yearly bases.

One of the Best books I ever read...
Relevent stories for African-American men. Definitely not fiction.


Security+ Study Guide and DVD Training System
Published in Hardcover by Syngress (2002)
Authors: Robert J. Shimonski, Norris L. Johnson, Debra Littlejohn Shinder, Michael Cross, and Tony Piltzecker
Amazon base price: $41.97
List price: $59.95 (that's 30% off!)
Used price: $32.98
Buy one from zShops for: $35.50
Average review score:

Good Book. But remember the Security+ is for the experienced
I used this book as my primary study guide along with the Passport book. Easy to read and also covers subjects not on the exam that are very useful in real live situations. This is not an exam cram type of book and should not be used as the only study guide for the inexperienced. The 2 hour DVD is poor in quality and low in content but then again for the price what can you expect. Overall, I give the book a four star rating because it was well written and kept me interested.

Good organiation and well written
Like other vendor neutral exams, the Security+ test does not have a lot about installing or configuring specific hardware and software from different manufacturers. Rather, it tests whether you understand how all of these different things work and work together to protect your sytstmes using any vendors products. The test is, however, specific about the diffeent types of attacks and viruses that are out there. The authors of this book do a very good jot of explaining all the differnt aspects, fundamentals, and theory network security as well as the actual threats that do exist out there. This is not an easy thing to do, becasue the exam covers so many differnt things. It doesn't get really deep on any one thing but it does test a little bit of EVERYTHING. I have almost three years of experience in IT and almost a year working more with security. With that exepreice and reading this book, I felt very prepared for the test, and I did pass.

This book = passed test
I am writing this to inform the 'negative posters' here of comments that your posts here relate to the fact that you think this book is not good advanced security topics like for the CISSP - well I have news for you... this book was made for the SECURITY+ exam, not the CISSP exam - surprise! The Security+ exam is an entry-level cert for security beginners looking to advance to the CISSP, etc next, not the other way around. If you think that this book is lame because you're studying for your CISSP, then your actually just facing reality that the CISSP exam is like 10x harder than this one, and you SHOULD know all this stuff already, so why did you read it anyway, and why would you make ridiculous comments against a book that was written to help you pass an entry level exam? If you are actually using this 'certification study guide' to pass the 'certification exam' then that's why the book is repeats things... to reinforce difficult concepts for newbie's... repetition will also build the concepts up in your head so you can remember them come test time. Also if you follow the actual CompTIA exam objectives online at CompTIA.org, you will see that the actual objectives are repetitive. If you work through this book completely, your guaranteed to pass. For those of you looking for a quick pass and don't want to read a book like this, I suggest not bother taking the exam, and stop slamming the book because you failed. You're only embarrassing yourselves. For those of you serious about taking the exam, then this is what you need to read... from start to finish, and you'll pass - for sure. For the posters who are just 'upset' because they failed... its not the books fault, its yours.


Au Courant: Everyday Expressions for Communicating in Simple French
Published in Paperback by McGraw-Hill/Contemporary Books (1991)
Author: Robert J. Johnson
Amazon base price: $17.95
Used price: $4.01
Buy one from zShops for: $14.73
Average review score:

au courant in school
it can be fun but somtimes its annoying like on page 35 when you are asked to be a teacher and you have to give your students some advice so that they have a good year, but I know that I don't have the vocabulary to answer that correctly and it's not in an earlyer lesson.

This one's the best!
I had the more fun learning French with this book than any other book I've tried. Lots of the expressions in this book are more useful than the ones in my textbook. I used some of the expressions in class and really impressed my teacher. She was amazed!


Related Subjects: Author Index Reviews Page 1 2

Reviews are from readers at Amazon.com. To add a review, follow the Amazon buy link above.