This book was the primary text in a university workshop I just took on "Philosophy in Children's Literature." Being a big fan of Benjamin Hoff's "The Tao of Pooh," I approached the book with great hopes. Williams' tongue-in-cheek conceit is that the Bear of Little Brain is, in fact, the greatest philosopher that ever lived. All of western philosophy before Pooh was mere preamble and the twentieth-century existentialists were familiar with an heavily influenced by the "Great Bear."
I felt that Williams was more interested in being clever than in whatever other goal he had in mind. He presents the philosophical concepts too briefly and dismissively to be of much value. Worse, it seems he spends more space extolling the brilliant Pooh that really discussing how the (sometimes stretched past the breaking point) passages from A. A. Milne's stories relate to philosophies. Like any one-joke movie or TV series, it just got repetitive and annoying after awhile.

This book is funny. The author has a great sense of humour in making his arguement. I found it enjoyable even though there are philosophers that he obviously enjoyed writing about more. As a bonus, it serves as a great indroductory "philosophy for dummies" sort of book for a beginner to the subject like me.

"In which it is shown that all of western Philosophy is merely a preamble to Winnie-the-Pooh." This book proves, once and for all, that Pooh bear is in fact a Bear of Enormous Brain. It also shows how Eeyore is obsessed with the Platonic Forms, and how Christopher Robin is indeed stupid compared with the Great Bear. This book will delight all readers, not just Ursinian scholars (students of Pooh) and philosophers.

I ran across a reference to Postmodern Pooh about a week ago, and I decided to read Crews' first Pooh satire before reading the latest. What a gas! Crews takes the prevalent methods of literary criticism leading up to the 1960s and apes them with a deft touch. One of my favorite moments was when "C. J. L. Culpepper, D.Litt., Oxon.," after determining the Christic nature of Eeyore, declares that Christopher Robin is a stand-in for God the Father. He proves this simply: "Christopher Robin" is an anagram for "I HOPE CHRIST BORN. R." ("I take this to be a decree in the hortatory imperative, dispatched to the Heavenly Host, urging the speedy fulfillment of the Incarnation and signed 'R' for REX.")

Admittedly, the book does drag at times, but only rarely, and probably due to Crews' too perfect mimicry of the rather dry literary personae being roasted over the flames. Not many books make me laugh out loud on every page -- this is one of them.

This is a brilliant send-up of the pretentious critiques that has masqueraded as literary criticism since pseudo-intellectualism was first invented by which mental-nonentities could parade as our moral superiors. Just read it. Absolutely convincing, and a breath of fresh air. You will love it - unless you are one of the poseurs, of course. But it will still be devastatingly funny.

A remarkably funny, yet substantial introduction to literary criticism through the works of A A Milne

Like most collections of essays, the quality of this one is mixed, but if you can stomach the sometimes trite personal narratives ("I came from a trailer park and now I teach at a community college full of students from trailer parks!"), you'll ultimately enjoy the insights that some of the book's 21 contributors have to offer. However, the collection is aimed at a specialized audience, particularly college English teachers, so if you haven't spent a significant portion of your life wondering why, with all your education, you have ended up where you are, this book won't make much sense.

The most interesting essays address the problem of social class within academia itself. For example, Olivia Frey writes, "The regard (disregard) for composition and composition teachers has interesting parallels with the daily struggles of workers and laborers, and their status within society at large." Although the sentiment here is nothing incredibly new, the fact that it is stated in print is in itself significant and might disturb many composition instructors (and their administrators) who are in deep denial about where they are and what they do.

At times the collection turns on itself, however, with some contributors appearing to advocate relaxed standards and "dumbing down" theories based solely on the social class of students. As a whole, the book would be more effective if it focused entirely on the problem of social class within the teaching profession, but it's still a great read.

In this anthology college teachers from all walks of life tell us how who they are, where they're from, affects their pedagogy. It's a terrific, ecclectic collection that should be required reading for teaching assistants beginning their careers. May it liberate and enlighten them, and any others who can come to personal history, to class, with an open mind.

In the classic tradition of A.A. Milne, this compilationcaptures all the enchanment of the Hundred Acre Wood. The selectedquotes are endearing and will send any reader back to their days of childhood. An excellent gift for the Pooh lover in your family.

'Moon Shot' is an excellent tome that gives a clear and consise insider look at the Space program from Explorer I to Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and Apollo-Soyuz! At times, Al Shepard (one of four authors and original Mercury astronaut) seems to take the word processor away from the others and begins to change the story into, "Moon Shot: The Al Shepard Story." If you saw the adaption of this book into a documentary on TBS, you will understand. Page after page is devoted to Shepard's Apollo 14 flight but hardly anything for many of the Gemini missions. Hmmm, Shepard wasn't flying during that program...connection? All together, through, Slayton's views on the events he helped run are the real jewel. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

This is the only true insiders acount of Americas race to the moon. Co-written by Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton two of the original Mercury astronauts it tells the story from the beginning. The book shares not only what they said and what they did,but also what they thought. It's candid and straightforward. From the tragedy of Apollo 1 to the triumph of Apollo 11 you'll read about how it was to be inside the pressure cooker of the space program from the astronauts themselves. Shepard was the first American in space and ultimately walked on the moon. Slayton flew on the historic Apollo-Soyuz mission that closed out the Apollo program. Their story is the one that you need to read if you want to know how we got to the moon. Don't miss this book!!

Great book! You get the point of view of two who were on the inside (Shepherd and Slayton) and two reporters who help make the story flow. The wording replicates the true drama of the moments as if you were actually there during the key moments in America's drive to land men on the moon. You'll swear you are beside Alan Shepherd as the Apollo 14 LEM descends toward the moons surface as the computer and radar problems amount. Good, thorough history of the major trials and triumphs of the Apollo program set against the backdrop of getting to the moon before the Soviets. If you enjoy reading about Space Exploration, you owe it to yourself to get this book

I grew up listening to and loving the two poetry Winnie the Pooh books. If like me, you love this poetry, DO NOT purchase these tapes! After listening to the first 15 minutes of one tape and skimming other poems in the hopes that Kuralt suddenly gained inspiration, the tapes have remained in the box unlistened to. I have tried to give them to other teachers, only to have them returned to me. Charles Kuralt is absolutely the WRONG person to read this wonderful poetry. His dry, boring, monotonous voice made me want to cry, terrified that his reading would turn kids off to Milne's incredibly beautiful and funny poetry.

I spent my childhood and adolescence in sight of Ashdown Forest, England, where the Pooh books are set. I still retain a deep affection for them. But Milne's verse is something else and would long-ago have been forgotten but for the stories with which it is associated. Nobody who has seen the parody:

Hush, Hush. Nobody cares. Christopher Robin has fallen down stairs.

will ever again be able to read Milne's sentimental whimsies with a straight face. The book is only worth three stars for the beautiful illustrations by E H Shepard

Everyone who has read Milne's original Pooh books knows that he can write a good hum, after all Pooh gives us several.

In this volume (and the earlier "When We Were Very Young") Milne's voice comes through more clearly, unmoderated by writing for his bear of little brain. He gives us a small volume full of poems that should surely last as well as his prose. While some of them are strongly flavoured by the time and place where he wrote them others are more universal in their subject and tone.

As you read this volume you will almost certainly come across something you recognise, if it isn't the line "James James Morrison Morrison Weatherby George Dupree" that catches your memory then it might be "Just a bit of butter for the royal slice of bread." If not, then you will find many of them sticking when you have read them to a child.

I have seen editions of this volume without the illustrations by E.H. Shepard, it would seem to me a travesty to separate the two. Shepard has always been the traditional illustrator of Milne and the pen and ink drawings he made for the first edition of this book, retained in this (and most) paperback edition are marvellous - well executed and suiting the style and subject of the poems.

It is hard to overstate the joy my daughter and I have had from this volume. My mother read many of these poems to me thirty five (and more) years ago, over the past few years my daughter and I have discovered our own favourites. Now she is old enough that she reads them herself.

The poems are indeed a little sentimental, a little whimsical and seem to come from a softer, more pastoral childhood than has perhaps existed for many years. I don't see this as a problem for the poetry, after all, if we cannot recreate a gentler time for our children perhaps we can soften the one we can provide with the tiny charming tales in these poems.

I would recommend this book to anyone with a small child. I give it only four stars as the poems are mixed in quality.