Average customer rating:
- This book made me a reader
- Surprised at what books he really read, while wandering
- Should be required reading
- Fascinating
- A guide book to becoming self-educated through books and experience.
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Education of a Wandering Man
Louis L'Amour
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Critical Strategies for Academic Thinking and Writing
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Smoke From This Altar
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May There Be a Road
ASIN: 0553286528
Release Date: 1990-11-01 |
Book Description
From his decision to leave school at fifteen to roam the world, to his recollections of life as a hobo on the Southern Pacific Railroad, as a cattle skinner in Texas, as a merchant seaman in Singapore and the West Indies, and as an itinerant bare-knuckled prizefighter across small-town America, here is Louis L'Amour's memoir of his lifelong love affair with learning--from books, from yondering, and from some remarkable men and women--that shaped him as a storyteller and as a man. Like classic L'Amour fiction, Education of a Wandering Man mixes authentic frontier drama--such as the author's desperate efforts to survive a sudden two-day trek across the blazing Mojave desert--with true-life characters like Shanghai waterfront toughs, desert prospectors, and cowboys whom Louis L'Amour met while traveling the globe. At last, in his own words, this is a story of a one-of-a-kind life lived to the fullest . . . a life that inspired the books that will forever enable us to relive our glorious frontier heritage.
Customer Reviews:
This book made me a reader.......2007-09-12
This book made the greatest singular impact on my desire to branch out and read - not to read what I was told or what a boy (18 at the time - but I was a boy) or a man might be expected to read but to accept that my desires might go in many directions. I can still recall the start of the book - It was May 14th my class in Jamestown North Dakota was graduating and I was in Singapore - That is a line that makes a boys eyes flash with the excitement of adventure.
This is a true treasure of a book and its vast in its breath of knowledge and thought. It was instrumental in forming the man from the boy in my case.
Surprised at what books he really read, while wandering.......2007-08-19
I liked reading about "his reading". Even so his adventures were another insight into his later writing style. It shows how he became both a storyteller and a teacher. These books, Harold Bloom's "How to Read and Why" and Carolyn See's book "Making a Literary Life", were also books about reading but L'Amour's autobiography brings a new dimension to this approach. I suspect that many will have come to this book as solid Louis L'Amour fans but for me the desire to read about books brought me to this author. I was curious about why he had been so successful and I was more curious to learn something about him.
The events in his autobiography precedes his amazing success as an author and focuses on his early years. He had left school in the 30s and wandered. He experienced the western US as well as the Far East. He worked as a seaman, ranch hand, and took odd jobs often traveling as a hobo.
The travels are interesting enough to make the book a stand-alone success but what really was interesting was the "books" he read as he traveled. He marked the course he took pausing to tell about the books he read on the way. He was obviously searching for an education and it was a surprise to learn of what held his interest. Shakespeare and Nietzsche were a surprise to find on his list of readings but then all the traditional authors were ones he read.
Some of the travels captured in this story are indeed about the West. His time in the desert, others working as a cattle skinner, and even being involved in small town boxing exhibitions, found in his own early experiences are reflected in his many novels. When you see his effort to understand and learn all that he could then you see that his travels and reading was a personal quest for knowledge. It then is easy to see that the many characters he wove into his later books seem to much deeper and richer having known Louis L'Amour's personal story from this book.
Probably the obvious lesson to learn from his book about wandering is that wandering in our own reading habits and subject matter can matter.
Should be required reading.......2007-02-03
Education of a Wandering Man by Louis L'Amour should be required reading for all homeschooling parents, homeschooled teens, book-lovers, teachers - anyone who values education.
I am very familiar with Louis L'Amour's work. My dad had the complete, leather-bound collection of his western novels, and I read many of them when I was in junior high and high school. My favorite book of his is, by far, The Walking Drum, which wasn't a western, but a 12th century adventure novel. In spite of having read so many of his books, I had no idea that Mr. L'Amour was such an autodidact.
This book is a rambling memoir of his travelling years and the books that accompanied him along the way. He dropped out of school at age 15 at the beginning of the depression. He spent the next years of his life wandering the world as a merchant marine, boxer, logger, miner - you name it, he probably did it. But just because his formal education in school had ended, he did not stop learning. No matter where he was living, he found a library or bookseller - sometimes skipping meals and sleeping outdoors in order to fund his book habit. The list of books he read is astounding - books on every topic imaginable. He was especially interested in history and sought out source materials wherever he could find them.
Fascinating.......2007-01-03
This is the type of book that you will either love or hate. I loved it because it provided insight into the mind of one of my favorite authors and I found that mind to be far more fascinating than I ever expected. I have read dozens of his westerns and have found them thoroughly entertaining, but have noticed that most of his protaganists are very similar in many ways. This fact, I discovered, is not due to a lack of imagination or an "in-a-rut" formulaic method of writing. On the contrary, it is because L'Amour wrote himself into his characters and attempted to impart those things which have interested him in his studies to the reader. He intuitively understood what readers would enjoy because before and above being a writer, he was a voracious reader. His love of and enthusiasm for books that he revealed in "Education of a Wandering Man" was contagious and exciting for me as a fellow reader.
As I mentioned, however, some people will invetiably not like this book if they expect it to be a coherent story, a "birth to death" autobiography, or a nail biter. It is closer to a annotated bibliography to his early life along with interesting anecdotes and philosophical musings.
When I finished the last page of the book, I felt quite sad as I did not want it to end. I highly recommend it to those who love Louis L'Amour and who love to read books. It will make you want to turn the TV and radio off and sit down with a good book. It will also serve as a very comprehensive "recommended reading" list for those trying to find that next great book.
A guide book to becoming self-educated through books and experience........2006-12-16
This is about as close as a L'Amour fan will come to an autobiography or personal memoir. This is not a western novel, though it gives great insight into how he wrote and reseached his books. I found it interesting that he book starts with a reference to his high school class graduating while he was on a steamer in Indonesia. He had already started in real world education at this point.
L'Amour gives the reader a lengthy discussion of becoming self-educated through books, and experience. I enjoyed the lengthy lists of books L'Amour read during his wandering years in the 30s. I have been logging what I read since reading the book. It is a worthy discipline.
L'Amour gives a breathtaking discussion of walking out of the Mojave desert. It reminded me of my time at Fort Irwin, California (about 50 miles north of Barstow in the middle of similar land). L'Amour was a great researcher, and wrote from both personal experience and knowledge. This is an enjoyable book. It should be required reading for any aspiring writer. L'Amour emphasizes the value of education through experience and self-guided reading. He never degrades formal education.
Read and reviewed by Jimmie A. Kepler
Customer Reviews:
Read and Learn.......2007-06-22
I read this book twice, and I'm amazed at what I've learned each time. Lamour not only explains what he learned, but how his wanderings almost "forced" him to learn. It reads like a travelog, a biography, an adventure, and a history--always a history.
You'll probably learn a little about yourself also, as you react to some of the things about which Lamour opines. Perhaps the most valuable things Lamour does is point you toward other volumes that will further increase your education.
Product Description
New edition of L'Amour's 1989 book about his personal learning, written shortly before his death.
Average customer rating:
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Education Of A Wandering Man
Manufacturer: Bantam Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000HYZ0QS |
Book Description
More Damning than Slaughter is the first broad study of desertion in the Confederate army. Incorporating extensive archival research with a synthesis of other secondary material, Mark A. Weitz confronts a question never fully addressed until now: did desertion hurt the Confederacy?
Coupled with problems such as speculation, food and clothing shortages, conscription, taxation, and a pervasive focus on the protection of local interests, desertion started as a military problem and spilled over into the civilian world. Fostered by a military culture that treated absenteeism leniently early in the war, desertion steadily increased and by 1863 reached epidemic proportions. A Union policy that permitted Confederate deserters to swear allegiance to the Union and then return home encouraged desertion. Equally important in persuading men to desert was the direct appeal from loved ones on the home front—letters from wives begging soldiers to come home for harvests, births, and other events.
By 1864 deserter bands infested some portion of every Confederate state. Preying on the civilian population, many of these bands became irregular military units that frustrated virtually every effort to subdue them. Ultimately, desertion not only depleted the Confederate army but also threatened “home” and undermined civilian morale. By examining desertion, Weitz assesses how deteriorating southern civilian morale and growing unwillingness to contribute goods and services to the war led to defeat.
Customer Reviews:
Good Ideas & well supported.......2007-10-04
Few images are more enduring than the Confederate infantryman, clad in rags, blanket roll, slouch hat, dirty beyond belief with an immaculate rifle in hand. Standing without fear against long odds, he endures cold and hunger for "the cause" fighting to the bitter end. This book is NOT an attack on that image, rather it documents that there are multiple images in every great event and all of them can be true. Mr. Weitz has written a very readable, intelligent and thought provoking account of desertion and draft dodging in the Confederacy. He validates the image of the Confederate infantryman while showing us that other images are equally valid and need to be understood.
The heart of the book is a year-by-year account of desertion in each theater coupled with the military and political response. Every student of Civil War history knows about how understanding most armies were of "French Leave". In addition, we know that the South was not as solid as legend suggests but contained significant pockets of "Tories" throughout the war. That is a simple and somewhat straightforward story that hardly seems worthy of a book. If this was all that the author had to give, I would have been unable to finish the book.
First, we have a discussion of why non-slave owing White subsistence farmers are willing to fight and their understanding of the "contract" with the CSA. This is a very interesting subject that the author deftly handles, giving us a look into rural Southern life lacking in many books. This contract' while unwritten but understood forms the foundation upon which these men build their service. They leave expecting the government to care for and protect their homes. This includes seeing that their family is not in want. Documentation shows that the men, the states and Richmond fully understood this unwritten contract with each party aware of their obligations. This discussion might be one of the best explanations of why the CSA succeeded thru 1862 that I have found.
A second very strong point is the discussion of how men felt about areas that were not "home". This becomes critical as the war progresses but the standard civilian view and fear of armies translates into feelings that civilians in [insert state name here] are not supporting the cause and the fighting men. This perception of no support leads to alienation as men decide that this area is not home. For a nation based on the idea of home, this decision excludes the area from the nation.
In 1861 desertion is not a major problem Homesickness, "what have I done?" and problems within the unit are the driving forces. The military is very tolerant of desertion and most deserters face reduced charges when and if they return. "French leave" and straggling are accepted and returning to your unit takes care of the problem. This toleration and the requirement of returning to the original unit become fixed ideas in the military and the governments. Later, these policies cause real problems but no one seems to be able to fully reject them and make a fresh start.
1862 is a critical year for the Confederacy, seeing conscription, inflation, shortages, war profiteering, bloody battles and loss of territory. Desertion becomes a major problem, links with draft dogging and receives active support from the new Union government in Tennessee. As homes disappear behind Union lines, men can go home free of military service by "swearing the oath". Tennessee is very active enticing men to leave CSA service, come home and sit out the war. In time, Grant becomes involved by exempting Confederate deserters and draft dodgers from the Union conscription laws. As the problems grow, response is mired in the policies of 1861 and the issue of state's rights. One state court rules that catching deserters and draft dodgers is a national issue and the state cannot participate.
Beset by internal problems, with Union armies advancing and bloodier battles, in 1863 the dam breaks. Desertion reaches epic proportions in every army in spite of amnesty proclamations, general orders and a few executions. Worse, not all men can get home and many join together to survive. These organized bands are larger, well trained, experience better armed and able to overwhelm local militia. They prey off the civilian population, providing a haven for resistance to taxes and the draft. In some areas, these men control the law making it impossible to collect taxes or to arrest them. The author does an excellent job of linking this to the earlier question of what these men considered a nation and how they felt about areas outside of "home". Once again, local Union commanders take advantage of the situation providing arms and supplies in some areas. In other areas, a 3-way fight develops between these bands, the local militia and the Union army. Trapped are Southern civilians and the men that have stayed in the army. The contract is broken forcing them to make hard decision based on their true loyalties and responsibilities. The author fully captures the pain this choice caused and how these men are forced into this decision.
Government response is inadequate and might be called wishful thinking. In the face of appeals from both the military and the states, the government continues the failed policies of 1861 with few exceptions. The book contains examples where a local commander is able to produce results by breaking up bands and capturing men. However, requirements for men at the front, politics and policies never managed to produce a solution that is more than temporary.
By 1864, the South has lost the war. More men see this and respond by going home, often behind Union lines. The numbers are surprising even for a student of the war. What is often passed off as "French Leave" or AWOL is really a loss of manpower the South cannot afford while being unable to implement policies that will stop it.
This unique and valuable study needs to be in the library of every serious student of the war. While a scholarly text, it is an interesting, informative and enjoyable read.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Journal of Southern History, published by Thomson Gale on May 1, 2007. The length of the article is 657 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: More Damning than Slaughter: Desertion in the Confederate Army.(Book review)
Author: Jason Phillips
Publication:
Journal of Southern History (Magazine/Journal)
Date: May 1, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 73
Issue: 2
Page: 470(3)
Article Type: Book review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
This digital document is an article from The Historian, published by Thomson Gale on March 22, 2007. The length of the article is 648 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: More Damning than Slaughter: Desertion in the Confederate Army.(Book review)
Author: Paul Ashdown
Publication:
The Historian (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 22, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 69
Issue: 1
Page: 127(2)
Article Type: Book review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
The world has changed, but the pro-choice position hasn't. Now an internationally renowned pro-choice advocate--and grandson of Margaret Sanger--offers a compelling new basis for keeping abortion legal.
Thirty years after Roe v. Wade, the argument between "pro-choicers" and "pro-lifers" has reached stalemate. Pro-choice arguments haven't persuaded a comfortable majority that legal abortion is vital to our society, nor addressed our moral qualms. Younger people are less and less supportive of reproductive rights. Since 1996, state legislatures have enacted nearly 300 pieces of anti-choice legislation. With Roe in jeopardy, International Planned Parenthood Council Chair Alexander Sanger asks a simple but heretical question: How many more pieces of anti-choice legislation will it take to get the pro-choice movement to rethink its approach to the issue?
In Beyond Choice Sanger explores the history of the reproductive rights movement to discover how it got stuck in its thinking, and then provides a convincing new argument for the moral rightness of its cause. He shows why it is vital to the health and survival of the human race that couples be able to have children, or not, when they choose; why reproductive rights are just as important to men as to women; and why, in an era of new reproductive technologies, completely unfettered choice is not morally defensible. Beyond Choice is inspiring and important reading for women's rights advocates, opinion leaders, medical ethicists, and anyone concerned to preserve our freedom to reproduce, or not, without government intervention.
Customer Reviews:
Save America; abort a liberal!.......2007-10-07
The ab0rti0n issue is always a hot topic, one side seeks to save infants from an instant death, while the opposition wishes to snuff out these young lives before they've even had a chance at life, not unlike Chronos of Greek mythology, devouring his children as they leave the womb.
The opposition has made themselves look less like cannibalistic murderers by claiming that they have ab0rti0ns in order to protect the life of the mother. Well, if that were the case no body would be against ab0rti0n! Alas there are many reasons why women have abortions, health appearing very low on the ladder. Here is just the top ten in no specific order.
Top ten reasons why women get ab0rti0ns
1. Stretch marks? Ewww!
2. I'd get fat!
3. I'd have to give up partying!
4. I wouldn't be able to go on vacations anymore?
5. I don't know who the father is!
6. My daddy would kill me if he knew!
7. It will be a sacrifice to the Goddess.
8. I'd have to move out of Greenwich Village.
9. What would my feminist friends think...
10. I wouldn't be able to complete the 8th grade!
Interesting...but takes it a little too far. .......2007-01-02
Abortion as a moral positive? I consider myself a pro-choice liberal to the core, but I think that's taking it a bit too far. I'm all for birth control, and for women taking control of their sexual and reproductive destinies, but I think Sanger misses the boat here.
The Defense of Women's Rights.......2006-01-23
The defense of women's rights might be called the key American battle. It goes without saying that these are reproductive rights. The right to control the size of one's family, or, indeed, not to have a family at all, was established with great courage and effort only recently, by the grandmother of the author of this book. In America today whatever position one holds on this essential matter of private life and social policy, what is absolutely critical is ongoing public debate and behind it, education. Every American should know and think carefully about this subject, hence every American should read this book. How fortunate we are that an intelligent, articulate author like Alexander Sanger is a committed champion of women's rights.
Choosing Abortion is Morally Positve.......2006-01-20
Alexander Sanger has clearly spent many years living with the complex issues related to human reproduction. His recent book, Beyond Choice: Reproductive Freedom In The 21st Century, is the intellectual product of his remarkable experience, and his gift to all of us who are interested in maintaining freedom as a moral imperative.
Indeed, the strongest argument in his book is that chosing abortion can be morally positive, because the availability of abortion maximizes successful human reproduction. Equally compelling are his thoughts on the role of men in support of reproductive freedom, and the new insights that emerge from evolutionary biology.
In short, every thinking woman and man will benefit from reading this deeply considered book.
Mediocre research forms this book.......2004-08-07
The grandson of Margaret Sanger is also involved in reproductive issues, but he openly is unable to completely appreciate today's sociopolitical realities with the policy area. Instead, he uses his famous name to sell a book that does not contribute to the pro-choice cannon. The lack of quality research might even inadvertently toughen present organizing conditions for people such as myself who currently work the policy trenches without benefit of celebrity.
While he muses about the Sadie Sachs story which propelled his grandmother to open the first birth control clinic in America, he asks us to find common ground with the people who want nothing more than to see that myself and other women are returned to similar conditions.
Ultimate unworkability of that aforementioned public policy oddly does not deter Sanger from his daydream. He continues to believe that the rest of the world is universally awed by the tale and the rightwing is only interested in recriminalizing abortion. Current evidence from Planned Parenthood Federation of America itself indicates the American rightwing opposes all sexuality outside of procreation but cannot publicly act on their real sentiments for fear of massive public outrage.
To be fair, Sanger proactively identifies the numerous flaws within his grandmother's political organizing-which was genuinely considered progressive during her life. In an obviously personally difficult chapter, he concedes that she worked with Eugenicists and let the south warp birth control into a system to shrink African Americans. Because it would have been easier to tout the homogenized family history and ignore `alternate' perspectives such as Dorothy Roberts, he performs a great reader service. Reproductive rights must include all options for all women regardless of ethnicity and/or disability.
Unfortunately, he looses the audience again with a chapter on men's role in the reproductive rights movement. Is Sanger trying to increase women's equality or keep their sexuality in check lest society become too independent? He also fails to identify that men have always marched for reproductive rights---while the `liberal' mass media presents these same events as "women only". Sanger falls into a similar trap by lamenting the passive reproductive issues position men take. Because they were the ones historically ruling if women could have access to contraception and/or abortion (and both physicians and judges until recently were overwhelmingly male) they played a very active reproductive policy role.
This book is certainly interesting from the `insider' perspective, but it does not provide any riveting insight for myself or other pro-choice advocates. If somebody else had written this same book it would quickly become one title of many. Since there is no current shortage of reproductive issue controversies, Sanger's book fell short of my expectations. Get the book for the `history' perspective, but don't expect path breaking content or something that can be applied to today's reproductive policy debate.
Customer Reviews:
Doesn't cite sources reliably.......2007-07-04
Alexander Sanger clearly relies on his grandmother's reputation in order to sell his book. Rife with grammatical errors and uncited sources, Sanger constantly calls his own credibility as a competent researcher into question. His ideas ARE interesting, but without telling us where he gets his statistics from, he leaves those good ideas unsupported.
I am heartily glad I only paid $1 for this book.
Average customer rating:
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A call to arms.(Book Review): An article from: Conscience
David J. Nolan
Manufacturer: Catholics for a Free Choice
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Binding: Digital
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ASIN: B0009GH972
Release Date: 2005-08-01 |
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This digital document is an article from Conscience, published by Catholics for a Free Choice on June 22, 2004. The length of the article is 1671 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: A call to arms.(Book Review)
Author: David J. Nolan
Publication:
Conscience (Magazine/Journal)
Date: June 22, 2004
Publisher: Catholics for a Free Choice
Volume: 25
Issue: 2
Page: 46(3)
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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- Excellent science compilation!
- Highly Recommend
- Science....In terms I could understand!
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The Earth Around Us: Maintaining a Livable Planet
Jill Schneiderman
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Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change
ASIN: 0813340918 |
Book Description
The Earth Around Us, a unique collection of thirty-one essays by a diverse array of today's foremost scientist-writers, examines vital questions about soil contamination, public lands, surface and groundwater pollution, coastal erosion and global warming. Sharing an ability to communicate science in a clear and engaging fashion, the contributor explore Earth's history and processes--especially in relation to today's environmental issues-- and show how we, as members of a global community, can help maintain a livable planet. This book empowers all of us to play more educated and active part in the search for a sustainable future for people and other living things on our planet.
Soil contamination . . . public lands . . . surface and groundwater pollution . . . coastal erosion . . . global warming. Have we reached the limits of this planet's ability to provide for us? If so, what can we do about it?
These vital questions are addressed in The Earth Around Us, a unique collection of thirty-one essays by a diverse array of today's foremost scientist-writers. Sharing an ability to communicate science in a clear and engaging fashion, the contributors explore Earth's history and processes--especially in relation to today's environmental issues--and show how we, as members of a global community, can help maintain a livable planet. The narratives in this collection are organized into seven parts that describe:
Earth's time and history and the place of people on it;
Views of nature and the ethics behind our conduct on Earth;
Resources for the twenty-first century, such as public lands, healthy forests and soils, clean ground and surface waters, and fluctuating coastlines;
Ill-informed local manipulations of landscapes across the United States; Innovative solutions to environmental problems that arise from knowledge of the interactions between living things and the Earth's air, water, and soil;
Natural and human-induced global scale perturbations to the earth system;
Our responsibility to people and all other organisms that live on Earth.
Never before has such a widely experienced group of prominent earth scientists been brought together to help readers understand how earth's environment works. Driven by the belief that earth science is, and should be, an integral part of everyday life, The Earth Around Us empowers all of us to play a more educated and active part in the search for a sustainable future for our planet and its inhabitants.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent science compilation!.......2000-06-07
This is an excellent example of science writing at its best. The essays are well-written and well-organized, and will appeal to a wide audience. As an earth scientist, I appreciate the detail that the authors provide, but the clarity of the book makes it accessible to readers of all levels and backgrounds. I highly recommend this book as a worthy addition to any book collection.
Highly Recommend.......2000-04-18
I absolutely loved this book. This book gives you the rare opportunity to hear a stunning array of scientists tell you about your surroundings in language that is accessible and informative to amateurs as well as experts in the geosciences. As a geologist I feel like this book was written just for me, but if you are at all curious about the environment around you and it's future, this is a great book to start with. The essays in this book cover a large breadth of pertinent global issues, and backs up fascinating narratives with sound scientific reasoning. It answered questions I had, and introduced me to new issues and environmental crises I hadn't considered until now. My family and friends can be certain that they will be receiving a copy for Christmas.
Science....In terms I could understand!.......2000-04-06
I really enjoyed reading The Earth Around Us. It answered so many questions I had regarding the earth processes that are relevant to environmental questions. As a person who lives on the shore of a large lake, I was especially interested to read about what types of erosion I might expect along my shoreline. All the essays in this book were short, fascinating, and very accessible. I loved `hearing' scientists speak in language I could understand about practical environmental issues. I'm recommending this book to all my friends and plan to give it as gifts to people I know who are interested in science and environmental issues.
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- Thermodynamics and Kinetics for the Biological Sciences
- When Nothing Else Matters: Michael Jordan's Last Comeback
- H. N. Werkman
- The Philosophy of Ecology: From Science to Synthesis
- Epitaph for the elm
