I read this book over 20 years ago. It was my introduction to Samuel Johnson. The book inspired my deep devotion to Johnsonia. The subject, I now know, is fascinating; for over two centuries biographies of Johnson have never been out of print. But this book caught my attention and fixed it. It is a moving portrait of a person like all of us except with greater disabilities and greater strength and, after years of struggle, greater triumphs.

I urge anyone with an interest in English literature or 18th century England or in the heights to which a honest and brave man can reach to make the effort to read this book. It is, at the very least, a good read. It may also make ytou a better person.

The very idea of writing a definitive biography of a figure as towering as Samuel Johnson seems unthinkable, yet the late Walter Jackson Bate succeeds in capturing the essence of Johnson's life in spectacular fashion. Some may quibble at Bate's occasional forays into speculation, particularly when he writes about Johnson's troubled childhood and how its events shaped his later life. Because Bate imposes such detail and rigor in his scholarship, however, it would be foolhardy not to think his depictions, even the speculative ones, as pretty accurate.

The physiological analysis of Johnson's character may strike some readers as heavy-handed, yet it ultimately illuminates the full character of Johnson, helping the modern reader to understand more clearly the time and culture that produced a character as complex and powerful as Dr. Johnson.

As I neared the end of this wonderful volume, I felt the same pangs one feels toward the conclusion of an excellent novel. Bate writes with such power, clarity, and insight that I cannot foresee any other biography of Johnson dislodging this one as the definitive rendering of his epic life.

Most earlier biographies of Johnson have concentrated on the author's public life and his work as a writer. Bate's is the first to zero in on the inner man -- and it succeeds magnificently.

In some ways, Johnson's personality was as complex and as tragic as that of his best-known biographer, James Boswell. Johnson's towering genius was often at odds with his uncouth ways, his disfigured face, and his seemingly lunatic tics and stutters. He controlled his desires and needs with an iron fist of self-control, often denying himself even the most innocent pleasures in his never-ending quest for spiritual purity. Bate shows us how Johnson's neglectful childhood and his crushing poverty as a young man forged his emotional character, and how his many disappointments as an adult moulded his spiritual character.

The only qualm I have about recommending this book is that Bate sometimes goes too far in his psychological analysis. Since this book was published, a consensus has arisen that Johnson suffered from Tourette's Syndrome, a neurological condition characterized by ticcing, a quick wit, an unusual gait, and specific personality quirks. If this is the case, and if many of Johnson's character traits can be attributed to Tourette's and not emotional damage, much of Bate's analysis is incorrect.

Having said that, I still highly recommend this book. Bate can't be faulted for omitting a diagnosis that couldn't have been made at the time he wrote the book. Moreover, the bulk of his analysis is spot-on, and his love of and respect for the subject of the book are obvious in every chapter.

I highly recommend this book.

Now in a revised and expanded second edition, Grandloving: Making Memories With Your Grandchildren is more effective than ever as a compendium of tips, ideas and suggestions for grandparents to bond with their grandchildren. More than two hundred fun and easy activities drawn from 350 families are presented along with sound advice, helpful suggestions, and inexpensive do-together projects. Whether it something special for family holidays and celebrations, or just a rainy-day or weekend visit pastime, Grandloving will have everything you need to plan and implement a truly memory making event. Enthusiastically recommended for grandparents of any age or circumstance, Grandloving's engaging, "reader friendly" text is enhanced with reminders about child development, an extensive list of resources, helpful logos, and an easy-to-use index.

This book has great information for anyone who works with children ! Of course grandmothers are always looking for ideas and new things to do with grandchildren. Offering specific activities, as well as helpful information, this book is a MUST HAVE for any grandmother. It's also a PERFECT gift for any adult who has grandchildren.

This book covers the gamut when it comes to finding fun things to do with children. Because my new grandson is 800 miles away, I especially liked all of the long-distance grandparenting ideas. I would recommend it to anyone, mothers and fathers as well as grandparents.

Modern America is obsessed with the pursuit of happiness. It is in the Declaration of Independence, after all. Supposedly, the pursuit of happiness is one of our "inalienable rights."

The brilliance of Samuel Johnson is that he understood that those who seek happiness are the very ones who will never find it. This book is all about Rasselas and his friends as they try to figure out which "choice of life" will lead to happiness.

The conclusion of the book is that no choice of life will truly make you happy in this world. Happiness only comes after death when we meet up with our Maker.

The key is to simply accept life as it comes. Do not try to find happiness. If you stop searching for happiness, you will be shocked suddenly when you realize that something like happiness has snuck into your life by the back door. How did that get there?

This profound and wise insight is written with the usual Johnsonian artistic and literary brilliance. A must read for modern people who think happiness is something you can buy.

The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia was a disheartening story about a prince who leaves the "happy valley" to pursue the choice of life. The princess and the prince, as well as the princess's favorite and their guide, enquire with all types of people in different positions to assist them in making their choice of life. I focused more on the philosophy than the story, and this, in the end, did nothing more than reassure me on the downfalls of human nature and society. It was enjoyable to read such a melancholy message expressed in an artistic and imaginative way, as I do not think that anything else would have lifted my spirits more than to know that although the downfalls illustrated in the book permeate our existence, people still retain creativity enough to express them in a pleasant way. This book is well written and the message is entertaining. It is a story that compliments the reader, as it can entertain with both its story and its opinions.

'The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia' was a disheartening story about a prince who leaves the "happy valley" to pursue the choice of life. The princess and the prince, as well as the princess's favorite and their guide, enquire with all types of people in different positions to assist them in making their choice of life. I focused more on the philosophy than the story, and this, in the end, did nothing more than reassure me on the downfalls of human nature and society. It was enjoyable to read such a melancholy message expressed in an artistic and imaginative way, as I do not think that anything else would have lifted my spirits more than to know that although the downfalls illustrated in the book permeate our existence, people still retain creativity enough to express them in a pleasant way. This book is well written and the message is entertaining. It is a story that compliments the reader, as it can entertain with both its story and its opinions.

I'm a college student who knows her way around the Bible, and I still found this study to be enlightening (not to mention more fun than all that dreary adult stuff). The focus is on developing a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Kevin Johnson has a rather unique style which is usually humorous (like a lesson titled "I Wanna Be a Sheep")but can get cloying (i.e. misspelling words to seem cooler). Behind the joking around, there's sound teaching which gets the reader into a Bible passage, complete with all the study notes, definitions, cultural explanations, etc. to understand and go deeper. There's also journaling and suggestions for life application, and stodgy youth pastors will like the discussion questions and pre-printed Bible verse memorization cards in the back, keyed to the lessons. I'd also recommend this to new believers who are still getting bogged down with all that symbolism and terminology, but don't want a hyper-serious doctrine course. I'm definitely going to order more books in this series.

This is the ideal book if you want to show kids how great a relationship with Christ can be. I work at K-Life of Waco, TX and kids are excited every meeting because this book creates a fun way to learn about God. Get it!

The main source of information for dermatopathology in the United States. Excellent for the dermatology resident and dermatopathology fellow.

Really fantastic book which provides very valuable information, and it fulfil every expectations for skin pathology.

Bishop Lymus Johnson's life is truly that of a pioneer in the Pentecostal Church. Sometimes when you are too close to something or someone you can't truly appreciate it or them.

I hope God gives him a long life, but we will never really be able to appreciate the impact that this Man of God has had on the 21st Century Church until after he is gone, especially, now when so many so-called Christians seem to be spiritually asleep or ignorant of the fact that they even need the Holy Ghost in order to be saved.

You can't serve God without His spirit! As the song says: "give me that old time religion" Bishop Johnson gives us that "old time" tarry service until you're endowed with power from on high. Acts-1:8.

Truly amazing! This book about Apostle Johnson was fantastic. I laughed, cried and was extremely joyful while reading about the life history of Apostle Johnson. Very powerful and enjoyable reading from cover to cover.

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Walter Jackson Bate is famous for his biography of Johnson, but 20 years earlier he wrote this gem, which collects the major themes in Johnson's essays, and ties together the points Johnson made on them. It is not a quotation collection, it is Bate's analysis of the themes. There is a biographical chapter, but then about 150 pages of analysis. Those chapters are called:

1. The hunger of imagination
2. The treachery of the human heart and the strategems of defense
3. The stability of truth
4. Johnson as a critic: the form and function of literature

This is a great companion volume for readers of Johnson's essays and criticism.

Gesine Cresspahl, a 34-year-old German national, single mother of a 10-year-old, lives in New York City and works for a large bank. Starting in August 1967, she records her thoughts, her life and her research into her family history every day for her daughter's benefit.

She comes from Mecklenburg, a province on Germany's Baltic coast. She was born on the weekend when the Nazis came to power in 1933 (echoes of The Tin Drum, except Gesine grew up). She grew up during the Nazi dictatorship, then the communist dictatorship. Somehow, she escaped from East Germany through Czechoslovakia and Frankfurt to reach her permanent residence in New York.

Her thoughts (sometimes they are clearly diary entries, other times they seem more glimpses into her consciousness) take us through several points in 20th-century German history. We see the land-baron Junker society of eastern Germany, tottering amid worker and farmer uprisings in the desperate years after World War I; her father gets caught in the struggles between socialists, communists and nationalists as the Nazis take power; religious figures suffer in the lawless Hitler regime.

At the same time, she observes her surroundings sharply: the upper West Side neighborhood in which she lives, the daily dispatches of America's Vietnam involvement, courtesy of that "friendly aunt, the New York Times," her ambivalent quasi-romantic involvement with alcoholic weapons engineer "D.E." The English title is slightly misleading: Gesine Cresspahl relates stories relevant to her life each particular day, rather than stories of what happened on each day in history. "Days of the Year" would be a better translation than "Anniversaries."

I read the first of the four "deliveries" of this novel on the recommendation of a German in-law; he said he thought it the most engrossing work he's read. I agree: the descriptions of the long-gone pre-1945 German society are fascinating, and Gesine is a striking narrator, as much for what she tells you about herself and her observations as what she does not. I read it very slowly (in German, 6 pages a night with my dictionary beside me), and never felt like giving up. Having finished volume one, I intend to continue my slow march through the 1,200 other pages to find out how Gesine left the Democratic Republic and to see if we find out anything more about Jacob, the mysterious father of her child.

The style is very down-to-earth. While Johnson (like Grass) may be trying to tell us something deeper about how Germans should handle their intimidating history, the message is subtle and not given at the expense of the interest in sheer narration.

THIS IS A MOST EXHAUSTING SERIES OF BOOKS. The author and his crew spent hours upon hours editing all of Stevenson's letter and correspondence. The entire set of 6 books is a MUST for all Stevenson scholars.

Michael Johnson is undoubtedly the greatest long-sprinter EVER. In fact, his 19.32sec world record in the 200M is in my humble opinion the single most mind-boggling race ever, and qualifies Mr. Johnson as one of the greatest track and field stars of all time.

What is often overlooked, however, is Mr. Johnson's consistency over his career. He once had a consecutive win-streak of 400M races that spanned a number of *years*. Quite simply, he very rarely lost any of the races he entered.

This book offers great insight into Michael Johnson's mental toughness, and explores the mindset of what made him great. True, this man's single-mindedness and no-nonsense determination may come across as slightly monomaniacal and somewhat opinionated to the average reader, but for any athlete that has dreamed of excelling, his words are truly inspirational.

I really enjoyed this book because of how accessibly it was written. You don't have to be a track and field fan to appreciate the universal message Mr. Johnson is trying to get across. This book can be used as a motivational tool, and I think that any book that you can read and then come away with something is a book well worth reading. And this is such a book.

Track and field athletes are not usually known for their intellects or even candor (with the possible exception of Carl Lewis), but Michael Johnson also succeeds here in impressing how much of an intelligent, well-rounded man he is... there is no doubt that he will succeed in his life after his track career has ended. Although supremely confident in his racing abilities-- and who wouldn't be?-- Mr. Johnson never comes across as arrogant or condescending. What I like best about this book is how it almost seems as if it were written purely for the benefit of the reader, as if Johnson had something that he felt he could share, to be read by others for their own benefit. In fact, 'Slaying the Dragon' feels like a message that Mr. Johnson felt compelled to share, and it is written in the humble spirit that he has simply worked very hard to get where he is.

I have to like such a humble message coming from such greatness. We will not see another sprinter like Michael Johnson for a long time. But we can still enjoy his words and his message, which were written in such a helpful and giving way. I came to this book in awe of this man's accomplishments, and came away with a respect for his character.

I just wish this book gave information on where he can receive fan mail!

I've got to admit, Michael Johnson is my all time hero. I'm a big track and field enthusiast, and I just had to get my hands on this book. I want to take my track and field career to Michael Johnson's level of greatness. I was surprised when I started reading "Slaying the Dragon." I was ready for some great training techniques to improve my physical strength and endurance; but this book goes so much deeper then that. It's really a counselor in disguise as a book. It helps you improve your everyday life from all aspects. It gives you good ideas on how to set goals, and achieve your objectives. I found that you can apply this book to just about anything and it will produce results; whether it is on the track, in the classroom, or at the office. I will use this book to help me balance my sports career with the classroom. After reading this book I now have a direction and destination to strive for. No matter what your "dragon" is, this book can help you overcome it. If you give this book a chance, I gaurantee success in all aspects of your life. It's a must read book.

This is not your average "read-about-a-successful-athlete" book just for the sole purpose of some inspiration for track and field or just for dreaming about being like Mike, or any other athelete. It is much more. Michael Johnson takes his struggles and triumphs in his life and relays to the reader how he learned proven success principles that helped him accomplish the tasks that he had set out to do and has done a fantastic job in giving the exact same principles in everyday, easy to read and understand language. He even states in his book that these principles can be applied to whatever goals or tasks or dreams you want to achieve and puts them in an excellent sequential form from the start of the pursuit of one's dream or goal, to making a plan of action to reach them, along with what to do when disappointments;failiure;set-backs;distractions in life come along (and they will) and how to overcome them, and then finally, to making those dreams and goals a reality. To the reader of these comments, I think the point has been made clear. GET THIS BOOK, PERIOD!!