No comments about Letters to His Son, 1759-65 (Dodo Press).

5 comments about Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman!.

1. If you have ever wondered how a dishonest, drunken, whoremongering, bar-room-brawling junkie can also be a Nobel-prize-winning physicist then this book will provide the answer.
   
   At least Feynman was not boring. Considering how many physicists nowadays are, this is no small thing.



2. Surely, Your Joking Mr. Feynman is a comical and interesting book about Mr. Feynman's life and his passion Physics. In this book he talks very in-depthly about his life everything from his very early childhood years to his adult life as a professor. The book is very well written with just enough detail to make you interested in all of his adventures, but not too much that you would loose interest. This book does not use complex equations or terms to explain physics terms, but creatively words each concept so that any level of reader and physics explorer could understand what he was doing. Giving this book great word choice and a nice flow that keeps you wanting to read along. Through all of this, the book is comically written and tells about Mr. Feynman's crazy experiments and pranks he played on people. Everything from hiding a door from a member of his fraternity to casually moving around the information for the atomic bomb from safe to safe. Mr. Feynman thrives on crazy adventures through the physics world and does many crazy things along the way to satisfy his hunger for comedy. This book is recommended for anyone who enjoys a good educational book, but also has a good sense of humor and enjoys practical jokes themselves.



3. this is one of the best books ever. being in Geometry and using the pythagorean theorem, deals A LOT with numbers being squared. with the neat little trick i learned in this book, i hardly ever use my calculator if the number is around 50 or any multiple of 50. it has saved a lot of my time and i am not kidding, Mr. Feynman is a genius. WOW!!! =)



4. I read Surely Your Joking for the 1st time in late 1987. My daughter got if for me at my request for my birthday. Actually I asked her for something by Phillip Morrison but while she was shopping in the San Jose State bookstore she forgot what physicist I was interested and got Feynman's book instead.

   I'm glad she made that innocent mistake. Feynman knocked me out. Raymond Todd's reading on the 10 CD audio set is outstanding. I'm buying my daughter a set for herself.




5. Feynman's thinking style is not "linear." This is the reason he was able to break out of the box, and make the profound breakthroughs that were his mark. One anecdote after another illustrates this in a most enjoyable and enlightening way.

   For example, as a lad he wanted to learn real mathematics. The librarian wouldn't allow him to borrow advanced math books, so he said they were for someone else, someone older. Reading book after book, he taught himself mathematics. He ended up learning some advanced math uniquely his way. Years later, while still in graduate school, he was recruited to work on the Manhattan project (which developed the atom bomb). When other mathematicians who used conventional math treatments were stumped, Feynman was able to make breakthrough using a math style unique to him-non-linear.

   And, by the way, quantum mechanics is not linear, either. This was one of the most enjoyable reads ever.

2 comments about Before Sister.

1. This novel was written by a high achieving educator who has sritten a nmuber of technical and educational books. It is about growing up in the south during the 1930s and 1940s and has fascinating stories about coon hunting, playing ball, brushes with the law and getting paddlings in school but most of all it is about a boy and his mother. There are not many books that gives real insight into that relationship on a very holistic level but Wade Gilley who became America's youngest college president in 1967 at age 28 was inspired by his mother to always do his best...and more. The book could have used some additiional editing but surely it will receive that in a future edition.
   Russell James



2. This is a story of a boy growing up in the Appalachian Mountains and being guided, directed and inspired by his mother to exceed expectations and in reality live her dreams. It is a story familiar to hundreds of people born in the hills and mountains of Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina and a dozen other states who broke out and through drive and support of their families became successful.
   It is also a story, told in a series of short stories, of a time long past. These stories reveal the enormous benefits of growing up in a community where a child has grandparents, aunts and uncles and first, second and third cousins as well as parents to guide the process of growing up. A time of innocence and a time of comforting security not present in America today.
   It also reminds one of Tom and Huck and other tales of a young boy growing up in another time in another America.
   But, perhaps, most of all it is a tribute to a loving, energetic and inspiring mother. A woman who went to work in a cotton mill after dropping out of the sixth grade but who made sure that her children lived her dream of a better life through education.

No comments about My Mother's Garden.

1 comments about Received in Grace: The Search for a Birth Family.

1. Norman Carson's saga is beautifully written; I would expect no less from a college English professor. His being, in addition, a Presbyterian minister did not prevent him from manipulating the beauracracy of officialdom in order to pursue the quest for his biologic family. The book has universal appeal but will touch the hearts especially of families with adopted children and the heads of budding genealogists.

No comments about Morning, Noon and Night: A Teacher's Diary.

No comments about An Arduous Climb: From the Creeks of the Niger Delta to Leading Obstetrician and University Chancellor.

No comments about I HAVE: An Educational Experience in Poland.

5 comments about Noble Poverty: A Teacher's Life in Silicon Valley.

1. Just a couple minutes ago I put down Jim Kohl's book, NOBLE POVERTY: A Teacher's Life In The Silicon Valley, its last page read. I have to say with all deliberation that it is one of the finest I've ever read.
   
   Jim's writing style so effortlessly puts you into the action. You are with him in his parents' home as he decides on a career for himself. You are with him as he endures the first red tape and abuse from the state education system trying to become a teacher. You have the shakes as he deals with his two weeks as a sub in inner city Alum Rock, you rejoice, and just plain feel good as he slowly figures the way to help problem children as a full-time teacher at LeyVa Middle School. You enjoy the things he enjoys because you are right there with him, enthralled every step of the way. You watch with grim concern as life slowly teaches him that his family will go under if he doesn't find something that pays more, and you wipe away a tear and fight depression when "his kids" find out he is leaving.
   
   My mom taught in the public schools for 18 years. My wife taught in a parochial high school in American Samoa for the last three of our ten years there. Much of what he raises is anything but new to me, yet the way he tells the story you FEEL it all so vividly.
   
   Jim's book is more than a riveting story though. I hope it eventually has a huge circulation. Reason: because it explains so well with first hand examples in page after page the authentic tragedy we are visiting on ourselves by so sadly neglecting the people this country relies on most to give our children the knowledge they need both to take their places as an informed member of our culture, as well as obtain the tools they need to support and raise their own families. Sorry about the run-on sentence, Mr. Kohl!
   
   I was so moved by this story I wrote its author an email asking if the situation miraculously changed, would he PLEASE go back to teaching.
   
   We need the Jim Kohls of this world in our classrooms. We need them desperately.
   
   Whether it's a story of heart and character starring just a regular guy, a member of the American Common Folk that made our country so great you're after, or an eloquent clarion-call to awareness of this vital issue that you need, this story is well worth your time and attention. And it will eagerly grab both I assure you.
   
   Thank you, Mr. Kohl. Thank you for educating at least one more American...me. Thank you for all you did in the classroom and all you have explained with this thoroughly entertaining book, and the gamut of emotion you touch in doing so. I wish every American voter would read it, and hope they do. Thank YOU, the public school teachers of America, who educated my children as they educated me before them and now educate my grandchildren today. FIVE STARS, Jim, for a really moving page-turner.
   John W. Cassell
   
   John W. Cassell is the author of five novels on the American Counterculture of the late 1960's, early 1970's, as well as in the action,adventure, and mystery-law enforcement genre. He has recently had published three guest editorial pieces in Israel National News. Cassell retired in 2006 after completing an over twenty-five year career in law enfocement and criminal proecution.



2. Mr. Kohl lets us into the most difficult decision of his life with warmth and quiet humor, caring and compassion. His wonderful descriptions pull you into the story and as a result I had a hard time putting this book down. I hope to see more from this new author.



3. As a former educator in Boston, I found this book to be wonderfully written and very touching. Mr. Kohl showed amazing patience and tact in the face of adversity. He touched the lives of many of his students, obviously, who were lucky enough to have such a motivated person at the head of the class. It's a sad fact that teachers are so under-valued and under-paid. I highly recommend this book.



4. This guy is one of the most boring writers I have ever encountered. His dialog makes you cry out " If you use the phrase "That's Cool" one more time in this chapter I can't take it!"

   The first half of the book, he spends whining about how "hard" it is to break into the teaching profession and his contempt for the "sell-outs" in the business world. Apparently he thinks a credential earns him the right to an instant job because he's such a wonderful, gifted human being. As if he doesn't have to prove himself and build a reputation through hard knocks like the rest of us.

   While the interesting anecdotes start to pick up in the middle part of the book, this work sufers from a lack of reflection on the bigger picture of educational bureacracy in CA.

   His own inappropriate outbursts at different people throughout the story, and his pattern of introducing and describing all the characters (unless they're white) by their race --are a reflection of his imature/ narrow world-view and unfortunately this book remains an ego driven work instead of an expose of a very corrupt system (for which I am an employee).




5. This book is perfect for anyone who has children in public school or plans to have children in public school. Anyone who's trying to get by in the Bay Area, especially someone living on a teacher's salary. It's a quick read. It's fun and heartwarming. Jim has done a great job of bringing you into this part of his life.

No comments about The Education of Henry Adams.