My first encounter with Owen Johnson's immortal "The Lawrenceville Stories" was way back in the early 1970s, when my father's older sister gave him a copy. Even today, I remember his helpless laughter as he sat and read the book in just one or two gulps--he could scarcely put it down and got red-faced with the giggles dozens of times throughout the book. As an adult, I bought myself a copy, and it remains a treasured book. Even those who have no prep school experience will enjoy these tales of boys being boys and working so hard to avoid working that they end up working even harder than they would have had they done things by the book.

My all-time favorite piece in the book remains "The Great Pancake Record," in which shrimpy little Johnnie Smeed is found to have the most enormous appetite known to anyone at Lawrenceville--and is therefore put on display as the man who can take all comers in an ongoing pancake-eating contest at a local restaurant called Conover's. Of course he is misjudged by his slight physical appearance:

"Mr. Conover," said Hickey, in the quality of manager, "we're going after that pancake record."

"Mr. Wilkins' record?" said Conover, seeking vainly the champion in the crowd.

"No--after that record of YOURS," answered Hickey. "Thirty-two pancakes--we're here to get free pancakes today--that's what we're here for."

"So, boys, so," said Conover, smiling pleasantly; "and you want to begin now?"

"Right off the bat."

"Well, where is he?"

Little Smeed, famished to the point of tears, was thrust forward. Conover, who was expecting something along the lines of a buffalo, smiled confidently. "So, boys, so," he said, leading the way with alacrity. "I guess we're ready, too."

"Thirty-two pancakes, Conover--and we get 'em free!"

"That's right," answered Conover, secure in his knowledge of boyish capacity. "If that little boy there can eat thirty-two, I'll make them all day free to the school. That's what I said, and what I say goes--and that's what I say now."

This is my favorite of the stories, but they're ALL this good. You just can't beat Owen Johnson for understanding boys and their motives and ways, and you certainly can't beat him for giving you something to wonderful to laugh at while never making the boys seem ridiculous.

I attended the Lawrenceville School and before I matriculated, my mother bought me this book. It is a great novel based on a true school and quite a few great traditions.
If you're interested in attending the Lawrenceville School or interested in sending your child, read this book. Although the stories are a bit dated, the friendships, the loyalties, and the learning experience are still the same.
Cheers!

For anyone who hasn't read this book or seen the special episode on American Playhouse, you're missing out. This boook is full of laughs, colorful characters, and stories to delight anyone. It's refreshing to be able to read a novel that is thoroughly entertaining and well written.

This is the travel guide for those whose preferences include food, beverage and the social order of eating with others. No hotel listings or must sees for the ordinary tourist. Though centered in New Orleans, the book also includes valuable food resources throughout the cajun country of Southern Louisiana. Great photos make this a nice souvenir or even a gift for the armchair tourist. It also has great maps and sense of the local vernacular. It's small size makes it easy to stash in a pocket or purse for the traveller afoot.

Pableaux is my cousin. As I read through my copy, I jumped to the 'Biscuit Torture', 'Keeper of the Nog', and my grandmother's quiet relishing of a homegrown tomato and a 'pinch' of salt. It was like going back in time and savoring it all over again. I'm not writing because he's my cousin, I'm writing because this book is a great read. I have purchased it for nine friends in the Chicago area. It is informative and concise as well. Great job paul...

This is a travel guide for people whose priorities are food, beverage and the social order of eating out. Though centered in New Orleans, it also lists valuable food resources throughout the cajun country of Southern Louisiana. The book is well laid out, features excellent maps and gives the reader a wonderful feel for the local vernacular. Most pages feature great color photographs. Best of all for the traveler afoot, its small size allows you to slip it into a jacket pocket or purse.

As a student in one of Dr. Johnson's poetry classes, I waited until the end of the quarter to buy his book. Frankly I had given him a pretty hard time about inaccessible, elitist poetry, though he took it pretty well. When I finally cracked open "Mastodon," it was with a lot of trepidation. I had come to respect and admire Jonathan a great deal and was afraid I would discover exactly the kind of poetry I had been dissing in class.
Thank God, it was not. His poems, while not "easy" in any way, are nevertheless quite accessible, because Jonathan puts his whole soul into them. He swallows what fears must accompany every poet who opens his life to his readers and writes of personal joy upon hearing his baby's heartbeat for the first time. Then, to bring the collection to a heartbreaking end, he reveals the loss of that baby in "Be Young. Have fun."
The moments of his life before, during and after those moments cover events that range from a child waving a "Hi!" sign at him from the back of a bus, to a skinhead who is slowly dying while doggedly hoping to live. Every poem, whether shocking or mundane on the surface, shares one thing in common--Jonathan's fascinating ability to wrench out its deepest, human meaning. And every time, that meaning is one that any soul could relate to. This is a truly beautiful book.

ok, so this isn't becky house. let's get that straight. this is her daughter, hallie. i attended interlochen arts camp two summers ago where i majored in creative writing and jonathan johnson was my instructor. simply put, HE'S AMAZING. he's one of the nicest guys ever, and i know it seems as if i'm just bragging on him to make you feel guilty for not buying the book, but i'm not. i'm bragging on him because it's true. he's nice and he loves writing, which is what it's all about. and worry not, your money will not be wasted. he lives in a log cabin that he and his wife built. no electricity. so please, love this man, you should.

In what would seem to be just a book of nature poems, ends up being a monstrous work about being alive. In his poem, "Eclipse," Jonathan takes the reader for a ride in his wife's friend's car. By the end of the piece, the reader is a vital part of the jaunt in the "forest green and stealthy" vehicle. Like the car, the poem is clean and has more power that one would initially believe. "Eclipse" begins with an engageable narrative style, which allows Jonathan to put the reader at ease. As the poem accelerates, the reader is second-guessing the narrative style, wondering what Jonathan is truly getting at. As the poem comes to a halt, Jonathan has interwoven themes of trust and control, using his wife's friend's new car as a vehicle for an extended metaphor.
"Eclipse" is just one example of Jonathan's commanding use of language and metaphor that is present throughout his inaugural book of poetry. Jolting the reader from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, to a hand-built cabin in Northern Idaho, Jonathan's book is a complete journey, not 80% complete as his title might suggest.

We are a small firm, and I am a licensed professional who types his own correspondence, contracts for clients, transmittals, etc.. Because the styles and forms of business letters have changed since I was in college, I decided I needed a good reference to help me with the tricky stuff that comes along occassionally.

This book did the job. Whether I need to know how to address a letter to an elected official, or pressure someone to pay an invoice, the Secretarial Handbook covers it. From punctuation to collation, this is the best single office reference I have ever used.

If you do your own administrative tasks, buy one for yourself for National Secretaries (Administrative Professionals) Day.

Due to reorganizing of our agency I found myself doing more secretarial tasks than I was accustomed to. Ordered this book and I find the answer to how to do, and the best way to do anything I need to know. Great book.

This is an excellent reference book for administrative professionals in all aspects of their career. From the simple topics of filing and typing, to refresher English and composition, how to research business software, sample correspondence for various purposes, and many, many more topics. Very helpful publication.

I must give this book 5 stars. I am not a big fan of the " dummies" series nor am I new to web graphics. I had sooooo much trouble with MIC , even the bottun editor. I bought every book I could find and there wasn't many. This book was the winner, it did help clarify what Microsoft found it so hard to make easy. I do prefer Illustrator or even Freehand but if you are forced to use MIC this book you must have!

A Super Must Have book for anyone who's creative.

My FrontPage CD included the Microsoft Image Composer, but Inever really made much use of it. Then I bought the "Dummies'book and realized how much I had been missing. The first fourchapters, alone, were worth more than the price of the book. I recommend it to anyone who is at all creative, and not just for web sites.

I bought a number of guides to Australia and studied each before leaving. They were all helpful in planning my trip, but Australia Handbook stood out for its coverage of the country in general as well as all the usual hotel and restaurant recommendations. As well as balancing this coverage, I found the book to be up to date and, with everywhere I traveled, anyway, coverage was thorough. Many guidebooks I have used in the past concentrate on the big cities, but this one led me further afield to the kind of places only locals would usually know about. By the end of my trip I was relying almost entirely on it for places to stay and eat, and couldn't find a fault in the choices provided.

I highly recommend this book to anyone traveling to Australia.

We purchased this book before leaving for a six-week trip Downunder. It contained all the information we needed for pretrip planning as well as wealth of information on the country itself. Once in Australia I found it an indispensible aid for choosing what we wanted to see in the limited time we had. The accommodations and restaurants recommended were also spot on, and it was obvious to us as soon as we started traveling that the book is extremely well-researched.

Australia is truly a wonderful place, so it may sound cliched, but this book really helped make our trip everything we had dreamt of. I highly reccomend this book to anyone heading Downunder. It is well worth the investment.

I bought several traveler information type books before my transcontinental trip to Australia last year. This was BY FAR the best! After only a few days, I "packed" the others away.

I loved this book for its insightful use of humor and understanding of what we as women go thru as we age.

Laughing at oneself frees you to move on and Mrs. Johnson demostrates in her book this with aplomb.

I would recommend this book to even young women so that they will not dread the aging process as much but be able to accept the conditions as they come as a part of life.

This book was my introduction to Barbara Johnson. Wow, am I ever gonna have to make up for lost time! She's great! I literally laughed until I cried. What a mind! What a sense of humor. I could relate to everything she said. The Bible says that a merry heart doeth good like a medicine. Boy, did I ever get a large dose! I'm buying some extra copies for my "over 50" friends! What better gift than the gift of laughter?

This is one of Barbara's BEST books. Very encouraging and full of insights, not to mention the laughs. I have read all her books and this is especially encouraging to women in this transition time in their lives. This book is a must for woman in their prime years! I have purchased copies for my friends and they thought it was a hilarious book, Try it.

It was a bitterly cold December 26, 1931 when four members of the RCMP approached the small cabin of a mysterious trapper named Albert Johnson. There sole intent was to question Johnson about a complaint made by a neighbouring trapper concerning traps that had been tampered with. But without a word, the trapper fired upon the constables, injuring one. Shortly thereafter, Johnson had disappeared into the bush, thus instigating an epic manhunt that would last close to fifty days, and span some 150 miles.

Forty years later, author Dick North set out to document the story, and, more importantly, try and cast light on the identity of the mysterious Albert Johnson. Relying heavily on eye-witness accounts, North pieces together an interesting, sometimes rivetting story. But admittedly, there are limitations, and in the end, much is left to conjecture.

North concludes that Albert Johnson was more than likely a man who also went by the name of Arthur Nelson, and who for seven years prior to his death supposedly trapped and prospected in northern Saskatchewan and British Columbia. Alway quiet and "non-commital" this Arthur Nelson came and went mysteriously, and exhibited traits quite similar to that of the Mad Trapper.

Although disdained by some--especially women, around whom he evidently was extremely shy--many were understanding of his peculiar loner idiocincricies. But, provided that this Arthur Nelson is in fact Albert Johnson--which appears to be fairly likely--he apparently grew increasingly paranoid and suspicious of people. All of which led people to believe that he was hiding something. And as is always the case, there is much speculation as to what it was.

The author addresses this at the end of the book, but given that there is little evidence to work with, it's left to the reader to decide: was he a murderer, illegal immigrant, or simply a misanthrope caught up in events beyond his control?

All and all, a very interesting book and thrilling read, but in order to get the fully story--supposedly--of who the Mad Trapper was, one has to read Trackdown, which was published in 1989.

Trackdown is the result of twenty-odd years of North's obsessive research into the identity of the Mad Trapper. In the first part of the book, North addresses several theories of who the Mad Trapper could have been, but in each case he manages to uncover evidence that dismiss these individuals.

The turning point in his hunt comes when he was contacted by the North Dakota State Historical Society. As it turns out, there is a small article in a county history stating that the Mad Trapper may have in fact been a man by the name of Johnny Johnson.

Born Johan Konrad Jonsen in Norway in 1898, Johnson had emigrated to the USA with his parent at the age of six. Life in Dakota was a constant struggle and brought the family little gain, so at a young age Johnson reverted to crime. This resulted in several prison sentences before finally in 1923 he disappeared, presumably heading north into Canada.

Initially, I was very skeptical about this theory; to me, there was little resemblence between the three mug shots of Johnny Johnson, the 1930 Ross River photo showing Arthur Nelson and the pictures of the dead Mad Trapper. But as I read on, North did put together a compelling argument, and the more I read and the more I studied the pictures, the more plausable it all became. Interestingly, the Johnson family had in fact been in contact with the RCMP several years after the incident; Johnson's mother, having seen the picture of the Mad Trapper, was certain that he was her son. But the RCMP dismissed this claim, as it did all other such claims, leaving the mystery unsolved.

While North's argument seems plausable, I was still left with a nagging sense of doubt. While his evidence is compelling, it is far from conclusive and could quite easily be picked apart by someone with the time and resources to do so. One way to solve the matter would of course be to exhume the Mad Trapper and take DNA samples and conduct other forensic tests. North, believing that the body would still be in reasonably good shape, attempted to do this; but these efforts were stymied by the locals.

So although North presents a compelling argument for Johnny Johnson being the Mad Trapper, the case is not closed. The myth lives on.

Could NOT put the book down. Was on vacation up IN the Yukon riding on the Yukon Queen DOWN the Yukon River. And probably missed lots of great scenery because was reading this book. Read it in less than 24 hours. What a great writing style and format!!
One, after reading it, should then see the Charles Bronson/Lee Marvin move about it... The book of course gives alot more details and background but the movie is great too.
Reading the book makes you want to go out and buy a bowie knife and build a cabin!

This book has been a big seller for many years... and the inspiration for motion pictures such as CHALLENGE TO BE FREE. No one knew who the "Mad Trapper" was til author Dick North tracked him down -- all spelled out in this and a later book,"Trackdown." You'll thrill to this tale of a powerful but desperate human being who led the Canadian Mounties in an incredible chase through the lofty Richardson Mountains in the dead of winter.

The Mad Trapper was the inspiration for still another book about the frozen north -- MARK OF THE WHITE WOLF, an e-book out of Blue Knight Enterprises in Hyde Park, NY.

Its amazing how quickly we forget our leaders. After serving 31 years in Congress, running one of the most likeable Presidential campaigns in history, and nearly getting elected majority leader of the U.S. House of Represenatives, Democrat Morris Udall's political career was cruelly and tragically brought to a halt by Parkinson's disease. Once famed as perhaps the wittiest man in Congress (as well as one of the most effective), Udall died seven years after his retirement -- his sterling wit permanently silenced as the disease robbed him of his ability to speak. Most tragically, this man who -- with his brother Stewart -- co-founded both the current conservation movement and America's first Mormon political clan, died a forgotten figure, remembered only by a few political junkies like myself. Fortunately, however, Donald Carson and James Johnson have produced a wonderfully engaging biography of this man that gives us a warts-and-all portrait of a remarkable public servant. While giving ample reason why the man was so beloved, they also don't flinch from revealing why Morris Udall ultimately remained a mystery to even his own family. Unlike other political biographies, this book neither sets out to debunk or canonize Rep. Udall but instead stands as a sharp portrait of a complex man whose public service -- whether you agreed with his liberal politics or not (I certainly don't) -- made this country a better place.

Written in a breezy, conversational tone that still manages to maintain a proper biographical distance, Mo follows Udall from his strict Mormon childhood in Arizona to his first election to the U.S. House. While a great deal of the book focuses on Udall's legislative achievements -- Udall was an environmentalist before it become trendy -- the best of the early chapters deal with Udall as a liberal upstart setting out to reform the stodgy House. As Udall himself would often wryly point out, his political life was often a bizarre tragic comedy of second-place finishes that ultimately became victories for others. Both of Udall's insurgent campaigns for both Speaker and Majority Leader ended in failure but sparked the revolution that overthrew (however briefly) the Congressional seniority system. The book's highlight is the detailing of Udall's 1976 campaign for the Democratic Presidential nomination where he managed to finish second in a record number of primaries without ever once finishing first. If Udall didn't set the electorate on fire, he did distinguish himself by revealing himself to be one of the most genuinely witty Presidential wanna-bes to ever pop up on a primary ballot (or, as one columnist put it, "Is Morris Udall to funny to be President?" That's the 70s talking. As of late, some genuine and intentional humor in American politics would be a bit of a relief, I'd think.) The campaign made Udall famous for his wit but as this biography reveals, that wit often concealed a rather distant temperment that so focused on work that even his own children grew up calling him "Mo." As a politician, Udall was that rare thing -- an honest and sincere compassionate liberal who actually saw big government as a way to help the downtrodden. Yet this same man who dedicated his life to helping strangers drove one wife to divorce and another to alcoholism and suicide. The dichotomy makes for a fascinating read and Carson and Johnson explore these issues without ever descending into lurid muckracking. The book concludes with a touching (and quite frankly heartbreaking) section dealing with Udall's final, brave, and tragic battle with Parkinson's Disease (which, as I read it, was also sadly reminicent of Ronald Reagan's -- another politician never given the respect that was his due -- current battle with Alzheimer's; another nefarious disease that, like Parkinson's, cruelly robs men and women of their dignity without reason or warning.)

Despite the fact that, politically, I'm probably about as far to the right as the late Congressman Morris Udall was to the left, I still find myself mourning the comically tragic failure of his 1976 campaign for the Democratic Presidential nomination. As the election was the first post-Watergate election and the Republican Party was going through one of its periodic near-deaths, the election of a Democrat was pretty much assured. All Udall had to do was win the nomination and, for four years at least, a one-eyed, 6'5, former probasketball player and nonpracticing Mormon named Mo Udall would have been President. Of course, the nomination didn't go to Udall but instead went to the far less witty Jimmy Carter. Considering the way the world was in the late 70s, its doubtful Udall would have had any a better time of it than Carter but instead of hearing that America's problems were due to "malaise," a President Udall would at least find time to tell at least one corny, Ayatollah joke. And, even if the voters didn't realize it at the time, America would have been better off for that joke. Just as its now better off to have this book to remember Morris Udall by.

Every student of U.S. politics or Arizona history should read this book. Carson and Johnson thoroughly and brilliantly chronicle the life of a man who profoundly influenced the course of America in ways that politicians of greater renown never did. The authors reveal how Mo Udall could champion the most liberal causes and yet gain the respect of someone as conservative as Barry Goldwater. Read this book and you'll wonder what turns America might have taken had Udall fulfilled his dream of becoming president.

This meticulously researched and scholastically outstanding biography of Morris Udall follows his life and political times, focussing on his career, his 30-year congressional history, and his radical challenges to seniority systems. Recommended for anyone studying contemporary American politics in general and House/Senate politics in particular, Mo is a "must" for the legions of Mo Udall supporters and admirers.

I know Mary Ellen Johnson personally, and I am v. good friends w/ Jacob Ind. While there are some inaccuracies in Mary Ellen's book, it is a tremendous accomplishment. This book needs to be read by anyone w/ ties to the judicial system so we can get Jacob out. More harm is being done to him in prison than if he were out. Please get everyone you know to read this book and join the fight to free Jacob. The atrocities his "parents" put him (and his brother) through should excuse him from prison. Today is the 10 year anniversary of when he killed them...let's band together and get the judicial system to stop punishing him for just protecting himself.

First of all, the book is well written. Mary Ellen Johnson has a natural flow to her words. More importantly, however...everyone must read this book. The story of this poor boy is horribly tragic. Even today, he suffers for the sins of his parents. More people need to know about the case so that more pressure can be brought to bear in freeing Jacob Ind. If you find true crime interesting, I recommend this book highly.

This book by Mary Ellen Johnson is remarkable, heart breaking, tearfull and a must read, finding it hard to put down. It details this boy's (Jacob Ind) life of physical, mental, emotional, verbal and sexual abuse handed out by his mom and stepfather and now by the American Criminal Justice System. I highly recomend and suggest everyone read this book. 'The Murder of Jacob'