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 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.

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.

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.

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.

This small volume is a treasure. In hardcover, the pages are silver, the dark blue typography is a beautiful old-style Roman, perhaps Garamond or Times, good-sized and leaded out for easy readability. And the illustrations are unsurpassed.

First, the illustrator: Gustave Dore was born in 1832, sixty years after the birth of Coleridge. He died in 1883. Coleridge preceded him in death by 49 years. Coleridge was born in 1772 and died in 1834. Dore was born in Strasbourg, and was a renowned illustrator who was doing lithographs at the age of thirteen.

The fact that Dore was a near contemporary of Coleridge is important because we can be assured that the characters' costumes in his illustrations reflect the actual dress of the time Coleridge was describing. The ships also are correctly drawn and beautifully detailed.

To say that his illustrations complement this classic epic poem is an understatement.

As to the poet, some wag said once of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, that "a half-great poet had a wholly great day." I have also heard that Coleridge is supposed to have written his epic in one sitting, in a great burst of inspiration. I can't vouch for that, but it is truly a masterpiece--of that there can be no doubt.

I recall trying to memorize it when I was in high school, about sixty years ago. I loved it then, and I still do now.

For the price, this book is an absolute steal. No library is complete without this poem, and of all the renditions I've seen of it, this is by far the most beautiful.

On the surface, this may just seem to be a simple poem by an English Romantic. But there is so much more. There is a lesson to be learned, one of respect for God's creatures and for all of creation. This is certainly a Romantic point of view, and Coleridge puts it forth very nicely in this poem.

This is a great beginning poem for novices of poetry, for beginners and for people who dislike poetry if it doesn't rhyme and have a definite rhythm. This is definitely Coleridge's best poem, one that everyone should be familiar with. This version with the woodcuts makes for a very attractive package--the illustrations add nicely to the poems overall effect.