Elephantoms: Tracking the Elephant

Book Description

A scientific safari and personal memoir celebrating the enigmatic dignity of the world's largest land animal.

As a child in South Africa, spending summers exploring the wild with his boyhood friends, Lyall Watson came face to face with his first elephant. This "entertaining and enchanting" work (Washington Post Book World) chronicles how Watson's fascination grew into a lifelong quest to understand the nature and behavior of this impressive creature.

From that moment on, Watson's fascination grew into a lifelong obsession with understanding the nature and behavior of this impressive creature. Around the world, the elephant—at once a symbol of spiritual power and physical endurance—has been worshipped as a god and hunted for sport.

"Watson's insights and speculations are dazzling, but what lends them power is his extraordinary knowledge of evolutionary biology and animal behavior, ethnography and South African history" (Wade Davis, National Geographic Society). "Like a shaman, Watson conjures up the spirit of the massive beast" (Publishers Weekly), documents the animal's wide-ranging capabilities to remember and to mourn, and reminds us of its rich mythic origins, its evolution, and its devastation in recent history. Part meditation on an elusive animal, part evocation of the power of place, Elephantoms presents an alluring mix of the mysteries of nature and the wonders of childhood. Line drawings.

Customer Reviews:

Mix of mystical and factual thoughts on elephants.......2003-03-14

Marvelously written with elements of mystery and science. This is well worth reading, along with To the Elephant Graveyard, which is somewhat similar.

A mixture of Biography, History, Science, and Speculation.......2002-12-29

What is it that connects us to each other, and perhaps connects us across time. Lyall Watson is a gifted scientist who suggests some provocative possibilities in simple prose. If you don't want to think about his speculations you will still be entertained by his biographical adventures about South African Bushmen and Elephants. The only reason I didn't give it five stars is that the author spends a lot of time telling the history of various Elephant herds and the men who slaughtered so many of them, and that's really a separate tale (or is it tail?)

The mysterious elephant.......2002-08-05

I enjoyed this book. The author discusses his encounters with elephants over the course of his life in South Africa. Lurking beneath the surface is the possibility that the elephant's existence may go beyond the physical level. Elephants appear where they have not been seen for years. Lyall Watson encounters men whose life seems strangely connected on the spiritual level with the elephant.

At times I was not sure whether Watson was sticking to non-fiction or whether maybe he was twisting the facts a little to make a better story. Perhaps, as is often the case, truth is stranger than fiction. Nevertheless, the case is made that elephants are sensitive, social, and mysterious beings who deserve a place to thrive on Earth.

A SCIENTIFIC AND LITERARY ACHIEVEMENT.......2002-07-02

ELEPHANTOMS is biologist Lyall Watson's homage to one of the most significant influences in his life: the African elephant. The book is an inspiring compilation of elephant lore and scientific insights, served up in vintage Watson style.
One of the most attractive qualities of Watson's work is his willingness to honor the world's great mysteries, such as the nature of consciousness and its role in the world. What is real and what is illusion? Does the mind participate in generating what we call facts? In his elephant encounters, this question recurs again and again. Watson faces these mysteries as few scientists are willing to do. The result is an enchanting display of erudition and intition, which recall's Aristotle's observation that wonder is the beginning of wisdom.
Watson vividly describes the appalling stupidity and cruelty we humans have displayed toward one of the planet's most majestic creatures. Thus ELEPHANTOMS evokes in the reader a range of emotions, from ecstasy to rage.
ELEPHANTOMS meets my requirements as a reader. It educates, inspires, and challenges. It is anchored in science and spirit, head and heart.
Thank you, Lyall Watson.

-- Larry Dossey, MD
Author: HEALING WORDS, REINVENTING MEDICINE, and HEALING BEYOND THE BODY

-----.......2002-06-27

Lyall Watson's newest book, "Elephantoms, Tracking the Elephant," begins with a scenario slightly reminiscent of the novel, "Lord of the Flies." A troupe of bright, but rebellious, ten through thirteen-year-old boys has a month's unsupervised living at the southern edge of the African continent. (In an emergency, a distant farmhouse phone could be used to summon help.) These are brief, entirely amiable excursions unlike, and predating by several years, Golding's mini-society with its conjectures on the inherency of human evil. In the case of Watson's group - the self-dubbed "Strandlopers" - it was a situation affording them room to cultivate independence, camaraderie and a host of other survival skills.

Whether this is where Watson's own lifelong interest in the natural world began or expanded, is moot. It included his first sighting of a wild elephant and left an indelible mark.

For those who have never read any of this author's twenty-odd books, Lyall Watson holds degrees in a number of scientific disciplines alongside a pair of doctorates in anthropology and ethology. He has traveled extensively, both as an individual and an expedition leader. Earlier books include "Secret Life of Inanimate Objects," "Dreams of Dragons," "Heaven's Breath," the best-selling "Supernature" and, most recently, "Jacobson's Organ".

The young Watson's search for remaining elephants parallels his search for a university study focus, one that would include more than the single species represented by medicine. Human influences are colorful and impressive, as science notables Raymond Dart, Alistar Hardy, and Desmond Morris wander the halls of the author's curriculum. After an internship at the renowned London Zoo, Watson returns to his birthplace to direct the Johannesburg Zoo. Here he meets another elephant and the next phase of his search.

The history of African decision-making in terms of its unique animal populations appears to have been little better than that of the rest of the world. While South Africa's Addo Elephant Park is home to a 300-member herd and has achieved international fame, it is a feeble - possibly futile - gesture alongside Watson's listing of the nineteenth century indiscriminate slaughter of hundreds of thousands of elephants in what is now Zambia. "... a further 585,000 were wiped out in the Congo in the next half century."

Lest we think the twentieth century brought more enlightened times, there is Watson's account of his beloved South Africa's government-sanctioned elephant executions. (Our own Teddy Roosevelt, indulging himself in a 1909 post-presidential bloodbath/safari, helped dispatch eleven elephants - along with 500 other animals.)

For all the sorrow attendant to this and other stories of human interaction with "lesser" species, the author manages to end on a hopeful note. Given what we have learned in the preceding pages, one feels it is a hard-won optimism.

The combination here is of naturalist survey and subtle biography. What better way for a biologist to tell his own tale than by tethering it to one of the multitude of creatures he has studied?

As always with a Watson book, there is the deft entwining of history and science, folklore and personal observation. The final product is a tightly constructed gem of educational entertainment. At its heart is a subtle reminder that we are always diminished by what we destroy.

Book Description

Take a tour of New Orleans guided by National Geographic -- for generations synonymous with the thrill of discovery and exploration. Featured sites include both famous and lesser known places, selected to help you experience the city in a fresh and exciting way.

* In-depth site descriptions and background information
* Insightful features on history, culture, and contemporary life
* More than 180 vivid color photographs
* 18 detailed, full-color maps
* Mapped walking and driving tours
* Specially commissioned artwork
* Clear, easy-to-use design
* Complete visitor information plus hotels, restaurants, shopping, activities, and entertainment

Customer Reviews:

NOLA Travel Plus Extras.......2004-09-30

Being from the New Orleans area -- I like to see read this area's guide books and play the game of finding something wrong in whatever local guide book I am reading. Well this book seemed to get it all right. I couldn't find any boo boos. Another nice feature of the book was that it covered areas surrounding "The Cresent City." New Orleans is one of the world's greatest destinations. If you are a local or a visitor - this book will help you discover and rediscover "The Big Easy."

National Geographic Traveler, May/June 1998

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National Geographic Traveler, May/June 1998

Manufacturer: National Geographic Traveler
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

National Geographic Traveler | Guidebook Series | Travel | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000MHKC1S

Product Description

The Colorado River, Grand Canyon, Devon, New Orleans, Big Sur, Alaska and more.

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Make it Work!: Flight

Flight (Make it work)

Flight (Make It Work! Series : the Hands-on Approach to Science)
Andrew Haslam
Manufacturer: Scholastic
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Education | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Aeronautics & Astronautics | Astronomy | Science | Subjects | Books
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Building (Make it Work! Science)

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Earth (Make it Work! Science)

The Wright Brothers for Kids: How They Invented the Airplane, 21 Activities Exploring the Science and History of Flight (For Kids series)

Electricity (Make it Work! Science)

ASIN: 0590246879

Book Description

Flight is a unique blend of imaginative activities, experiments and science facts that helps develop scientific thought. The vast "Make it Work" series teaches scientific principles through the hands-on process of making science work. It's an invaluable science series for school and home, mixing hobby and science in an effort to show kids how to observe, collate information, and reach conclusions. The easy-to-follow instructions and helpful color photos make it a great resource for children ages 8-11.

School Library Journal says the Make it Work! Science books are "A Great Series."

Customer Reviews:

Make it Work!: Flight.......2000-10-25

We just received Flight (Make it Work!) in the mail and promptly started on a project! We are homeschoolers and always looking for fun ways to learn. This book really impressed me. The projects are colorful and interesting, and captured my children's interest immediately. As I write my 9 year old son is making the cannon - page 12. Now that is high praise!

Flight (Make it work).......2000-01-13

This book is full of great do-it-your-self projects for kids (and adults) to build. Great stuff for cub scouts. I especially enjoyed the space shuttle/rocket booster powered by air preasure.

Book Description

"Eve's Seed is a bestseller waiting to be discovered: a package of sex, science, and species' vanity nicely wrapped in sparkling prose."--Joyce Appleby, Los Angeles Times

Download Description

In this provocative reinterpretation of the human experience, noted historian Robert S. McElvaine bridges the gap between evolutionary biology and history to create a new approach he terms "biohistory". Here for the first time he presents a startlingly fresh thesis: misperceptions about sexual difference and procreative power have, along with misleading sexual metaphors, been the major forces in history. In a bold departure from the methods of conventional history, McElvaine draws on a wide range of sources, from biology, anthropology, archaeology, mythology, religion, and popular culture, to show how the interplay between our evolutionary heritage and changing environments has shaped the course of history, from hunter-gatherers to the contemporary world. Doubly controversial for its method and its contention that "prehistoric" developments devalued men, subordinated women and continue to misshape our lives, Eve's Seed is sure to engender debate.

Customer Reviews:

A Good Start.......2006-08-08

Being aware myself that men talk about their seed when it would be more accurate to talk about their pollen I was intrigued to come across such an extensive theory based on this very mistaken metaphor.
This book is a great read and certainly we need to understand human nature and include it in our understanding of our history and ourselves today. McElvaine makes a good first stab at this and I will not repeat his argument again but point out a few important errors.

The faults with the book concern the biology, both the factual errors and the lack of real exploration. The descriptions of the mating behavior of primates are not fully correct, especially regarding gorillas - the silverback has a very small penis and testicles and little interest in sex except when a female is ovulating which means at intervals of three to four years, hardly comparable to humans. McElvaine also says that animals rarely kill members of their own species but Dian Fossey stated that 25% of gorilla mortality was due to the male gorilla - he kills both other males and infants if he ousts a resident male.

The biggest error is that apes are, in fact, not matrilineal. In chimpanzees and bonobos the males remain for life in their natal group and the females leave at puberty. This is most likely the case for hominids and humans ie human females have hardly ever been matilineal and had the benefit of this base for kin or female-female bonding.

McElvaine makes a big case for human 'mounting' behavior which may be valid but amongst other primate species there is no universal evidence for it correlating directly with dominance and submission. Sometimes the dominant individual is mounted, sometimes females mount their female 'friends', sometimes a presentation is a way to give an olfactory signal by a dominant. Also, presentations that are submissive are very different from the upright, assertive, four-square stance of a female soliciting a copulation.

These errors do not greatly undermine any of the arguments but do show that when we are going to use biology in an argument we need to know more than just a little biology. The fact that human males have nearly always spent their whole life with kin when females have had to join a new group to breed is an enormously important factor in the repression of human females and the dominance of men and masculine values - including men fighting over possession of such females. Looking at primate behavior tends to show that the roots of some of our behavior were very deep and strong well before agriculture came along.

Also, even if we do think more about the male/female spectrum of human nature there may well be a number of males at the masculine end of the spectrum who are not striving to be anything other than they naturally are - ie are extreme males who simply have little or no capacity for feminine values. If these are the dangerous males then the best we can do is to stop allowing them and their virtual 100% masculinity to be the role models for the more average male - or even the average human.

McElvaine's points about the false metaphors we use, male-biased language and attitudes, misogyny, a male creator, the belittling of feminine values and behaviors and the impossible way men try to be 'notawoman' are certainly strong and in many ways obvious when pointed out. And it is surely foolish to think that such a lop-sided species can hope for anything other than toppling over in the mightiest of Falls.

McElvaine offers a few ideas about how we might be able to overcome our maladaptive proclivities but it is an enormous task both to recognize our human errors and for men to ever overcome their maladaptive inheritance and genuinely not feel so much contempt for the feminine in human nature. It is hard to imagine the necessary changes coming any time soon.

A highly recommended read and hopefully it will open up essential further explorations in this area.

What a great insight!.......2005-10-12

This book has been especially useful for a university paper I was working on. It passed some time since that but the concepts I read are still fresh in my memory, since it were concepts I've been suspicious for a long time. One might think that the author forced a note in affirming the male dominance is caused by the male "impotence", but if you take an impartial look you'll find he is right. Don't get me wrong: I have no problems in beeing a man, but I'm honest enough to recognize that the western world is based on a patriarchal figure, on a concept of a man that needs constantly to prove to himself and to others that he is no woman, that he is not a sissy or a gay - wich is even worse -, but, on the contrary, that he is a real macho, a sex machine that can "score" as many women as he wants since they are so inferior that they get completely overwhelmed by his mere presence. It's sad but it's the reality.
Fortunately, things are changing. In Spain we had notice of the first girl (she's 16) that joined a senior male soccer team as an advancee. In Germany, Angela Merkel is the first woman to be nominated chancelor. In the great majority of western countries, the armed forces do accept equally male and female recruits.
It reminds me the movie of 007 "Goldeneye", when the Admiral said to M (a woman) that she didn't had the "balls" to stand in face of the situation, to wich she replied that she had the advantage of not having to be thinking with them all the time...
It would be nice if in the future our leaders will think less with the "balls" and more with the brains...

Trite tripe.......2004-06-04

This is a sad effort and sadder still that these ideas were published. The fact that any publisher believes that readers of social history would be interested in such a twisted analysis of the nature of man/woman and the development of societies is indeed sad. McElvaine is a longtime self promoting boor stuck in a jerkwater academic environment with way too much time for idle pondering. His imagination worked overdrive to produce this piece of fantasy. I guess if any of us had enough time on our hands we too could construct elaborate theories on the 'nature of things' and put enough of a self-loathing feminist slant on it to attract a fringe readership. That's what happened here. Don't waste your time. A disturbing aspect to this is that he's teaching the next generation of leaders.

Men are from women, not Mars.......2003-03-31

This is the book I've been looking for. It explains the world we're living in right now. And where we've been. This book really gets to the root of the basic problem: men arn't able to be men because we're afraid of our femininity. So we're half-men, and we're so [angry] at being half-men that we take it out on women. We blame them for it. That's it in a nutshell. And it all started thousands of years ago, with the agricultural revolution, when we lost our place in society. We were out of a job. And we've been playing catch-up ever since. And still are today: it's still going on. NOTE: I'm writing this on the 10th day of the insane war we're waging on Iraq. After reading this book, you'll understand why these insecure, infantile itiots mask their impotence by waging war. We are at this moment witnessing the catastrophic consequences of the hyper-masculinity that he talks about. As long as we define man as "not-a-woman," we're [stuck.]

Avoid At All Costs!!.......2002-11-07

Let me hopefully save you from having to plow through several hundred pages of bunk. Even though McElvaine takes issue with a few feminists along the way, this is basically a feminist work: McElvaine finds male malfeasance and female disadvantage in all places and times down through history.

Demonstrating how a little knowledge can be a dangerous things, he starts out by wading ankle deep into the currently trendy and sales-worthy waters of evolutionary psychology in attempting to write a history rooted in our evolved nature, but he never even distinghuishes in Darwin's theory between *natural* selection and *sexual* selection; indeed, the latter term is not to be found anywhere in the book. McElvaine's knowledge of things evolutionary wouldn't get him a passing grade in an easy 101 class. He has an entire chapter on sex differences, where he bends over backwards to minimize these and downplay their significance -- then he bases his whole crazy story throughout the rest of the book on rather Victorian stereotypes about the sexes, particularly the shortcomings of males; i.e., men are uncivilized aggressive beasts, whereas women are gentle nurturing angels. In short, masculine/male = bad, feminine/female = good. You know the drill. It's called sexism...I could easily go on -- there's that much which can be made fun of here -- but will end by asking a salient question not posed by the book: if human nature is unchanged over historic times, why even bother with the Rorschach test of the dim uncertain past and pre-history when attempting to get at what that nature is? Why not just observe current behavior?

Book Description

Abstract theory remains an indispensable foundation for the study of concrete cases. It shows what the general picture should look like and provides results that are useful again and again. Despite this, however, there are few, if any introductory texts that present a unified picture of the general abstract theory. A Course in Abstract Harmonic Analysis offers a concise, readable introduction to Fourier analysis on groups and unitary representation theory. After a brief review of the relevant parts of Banach algebra theory and spectral theory, the book proceeds to the basic facts about locally compact groups, Haar measure, and unitary representations, including the Gelfand-Raikov existence theorem. The author devotes two chapters to analysis on Abelian groups and compact groups, then explores induced representations, featuring the imprimitivity theorem and its applications. The book concludes with an informal discussion of some further aspects of the representation theory of non-compact, non-Abelian groups.

Customer Reviews:

Review.......2006-07-27

A very good exposition of this beautiful subject. As a student just entering the field, I had to get a copy of my own!

Book Description

Johnny Gunther was only seventeen years old when he died of a brain tumor. During the months of his illness, everyone near him was unforgettably impressed by his level-headed courage, his wit and quiet friendliness, and, above all, his unfaltering patience through times of despair. This deeply moving book is a father's memoir of a brave, intelligent, and spirited boy.

Customer Reviews:

I was in the Barnes and Noble on Broadway and couldn't find "Death Be Not Proud.".......2007-09-13

I was in the Barnes and Noble on Broadway and couldn't find "Death Be Not Proud." I was looking in the biography section and needless to say I was surprised on not finding it. I called an older clerk over and he looked too. He knew the book and he knew Johnny's story. He, too, was shocked.
We went to the computer and found out that it was classified as Biography, but as "Literature."
That started a conversation between the clerk and me. I told him that I just got back from Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, NY and seen Johnny's grave. I wanted to buy a copy of the book as a remembrance. He took a break and we had an interesting and thoughtful conversation about it.
More than a biography, more than a piece of literature, Death Be Not Proud is a celebration of life which is also a celebration of one particular life. The book is written by Johnny's Dad and tells the story of the last year of Johnny's after he developed a brain tumor. The humanity and decency of his parents, his doctors, but mostly, Johnny comes through on every page.
I was reading a critique by someone who thought that the book was pablum and a failure. They just don't get it. Johnny the whole time he is dying is keeping everyone else's spirits up. There can be no greater act of selflessness, than cheering up those who love you while you fight the good fight, even when you know that you aren't going to win. I think Johnny knew he was dying from the beginning and he dealt with it by "filling the unforgiving minute with 60 seconds worth of distance run."
A few weeks before he died, Johnny received notification that he had been accepted by Harvard. Over a year of suffering but he still attain his greatest goal.
Johnny Gunther was a man and, to me, "a man for all seasons."
I know that it is highly unlikely, but I wish everyone who faced death had a father, brother, sister, mother or friend like Johnny's Dad. Thanks to John Gunther Sr., Johnny will live forever.
And that is only right.

Shared pain...........2007-09-05

My Mom had me read this old classic when I was about 10, only the book was not all that "old" then. I've reread it several times, and introduced my two kids to it at a young age, though certainly not at 10. This is WAY too heavy for the average youngster; fortunately, I've got pretty good reading ability.

John Gunther was a well-known author and journalist of the 1930's thru the 60's, famous for his "Inside" books; in April, 1946, his only child, Johnny, was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor....he lived 15 months, most of it miserable, with small doses of hope thrown in. Gunther and his ex-wife, Frances, joined forces and did all that could have been done.

This is the story of Johnny's courage and determination. No child is as great as Gunther paints his son, but a father can be forgiven. The events surrounding Johnny's high school graduation somehow make the fight worth it. That Johnny fought without the comforts of religious faith is, of course, tragic...still, he fought.

An excellent picture is given of cancer treatment in the late 1940's, with introduction to Wilder Penfield, and other grand master neurosurgeons of the day. Chemotherapy was in its very infancy; diagnostic imaging was far different, and often brutal, with CAT scans and the MRI far in the future. We get to meet Max Gerson, and his controversial diet; I believe it's still in use. Cancer treatment is much different now, and the results for many types of tumors much better, but one irony is that the prognosis of glioblastoma multiforme is essentially what it was 60 years ago. And radiation therapy and neurosurgery are still rough.

My Mom was right about one thing; this book is still around long after John Gunther's other work is dated, and forgotten. A father shared his grief...I forgive him his excesses, and still recommend the book.

Less Impressive Than I Had Expected.......2007-09-03

A journalist and occasional novelist, John J. Gunther (1901-1970)was best known for the series of geo-political books he wrote during the 1930s and 1940s; today, however, he is best recalled for DEATH BE NOT PROUD. Published in 1949 and subtitled "A Memoir," it is a short work describing the final months of son Johnny Gunther, who died of a cancerous brain tumor in the late 1940s. Over the years many people have recommended this book to me, describing it as poetic in style, deeply touching in story, philosophical in content. Having at last read the work, I find the descriptions of it largely inaccurate and myself sharply unimpressed.

To hear his father tell it, Johnny Gunther was an entity without flaw, a seventeen year old who was charming in his shyness, brilliant beyond his years, corresponding with Einstein even as he bemoaned his lack of skill at sports, the perfect child, a paragon beyond paragons who endured great suffering with a smile. While I can easily accept the brilliance and integrity and strength of character--such people do exist--the portrait quickly becomes cloying; Gunther elevates Johnny to the level of plaster saint and it is tiresome in the extreme.

Gunther's prose is not in the least poetic; it is in fact the workman-like writing of the journalist he was. As for philosophical tone, this seems to consist of asking the time-honored questions about life and death and little more. In the end, DEATH BE NOT PROUD is the emotional purging of a grief-stricken parent who considers his loss to be unique instead of universal and therefore lacks the scope that one would really wish of this sort of memoir. Recommended, but primarily for the details it offers of the way in which cancer patients were treated in this era.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

Emotion doesn't come cleaner.......2007-04-26

"Death Be Not Proud" could have been the worst book ever written. Consider: John Gunther, Jr. loses his only son to a brain tumor in 1947, when the boy is just 17. And Johnny was no ordinary boy --- he was brilliant, caring, funny. The kind of kid about whom, after his death, people say, "He was loved by everyone he ever met."

And that's just the summary. In fact, this kid was off the charts. He did original thinking in mathematics and wrote to Einstein --- and Einstein wrote back to encourage him. Unable to attend his boarding school because of his tumor, he got all his work done, aced his college admissions tests and would have gone to Harvard had he lived. And, through his 15-month ordeal of operations and treatments and diets and doctors and hope and despair, he never showed his parents how much he was afraid.

Here's how amazing: When his surgeon told Johnny he had a brain tumor, his immediate response was "Do my parents know this? How shall we break it to them?"

Imagine having a kid like that. Your only kid. And then sitting down and typing 150 pages about him.

Only the geezers among you will recognize the author, but John Gunther was, in his day, a megastar journalist. Just after World War II, he published a book called "Inside Europe," and it was so successful he went on to write a series of "Inside" books. His novels flopped, but no matter. He was a born journalist --- he knew how to tell a story with style and economy.

And "Death Be Not Proud" is the proof.

"Johnny came home for the Christmas holiday in 1945, and he looked fit and fine." That's the first sentence of Chapter One, and it's a model. You know the boy is going to die. You know you're in for an emotional wringer. But you also know this father is going to serve it up straight, adult to adult --- he's inviting you to rise to his level.

Big ideas? They're offered as sparingly as adverbs: "What I am trying to tell, however fumblingly and inadequately, is the story of a gallant fight for life, against the most hopeless odds, that should convey a relevance, a message, a lesson perhaps, to anyone who has ever faced ill health." What he doesn't need to say: That's you, dear reader, that's all of you, later if not today.

This is the story of an emergency --- can the Gunthers find a cure for the tumor before it takes their son? --- and so the writing is, correctly, terse. Over this non-fiction medical thriller Gunther lays a story just as exciting: Johnny's effort to preserve his intellect, to make his mind triumph over his body.

Of course there is no hope. Of course --- cruelly --- Johnny gets better. Several times. Only to relapse. Each time, Gunther just lays it out. You can feel him fraying as he writes, reliving how he frayed as he lived it. But he didn't crack then and so, if only for accuracy, he won't crack now.

There is a scene in this book that should be required reading for everyone who ever has to write. It occurs at the end, when Johnny leaves his bed in New York to attend graduation at Deerfield Academy in Western Massachusetts. He's desperately ill --- he'll die just eight days later --- but he's determined to walk into chapel with his class and grasp his diploma in his left hand, just like his friends.. Gunther takes you through that walk, step by step, the chapel rocking with cheers --- good luck forgetting those pages.

And then the end. The doctors are --- let Gunther have this metaphor --- "helpless flies now, climbing across the granite face of death." The world contracts. Now it's mother, father, son, in the saddest of scenes:

"Johnny died at 11:02 P.M. Frances reached for him through the ugly, transparent, raincoat-like curtain of the oxygen machine. I felt his arms, cupping my hands around them, and the warmth gradually left them, receding very slowly upward from his hands. For a long time some warmth remained. Then little by little the life-color left his face, his lips became blue, and his hands were cold. What is life? It departs covertly. Like a thief, Death took him."

An epilogue follows, but that's it, really. What can I say? Emotion doesn't come cleaner. You could throw a coin against those sentences and it would bounce back --- there's not a weak thought, an excess word.

"Death Be Not Proud" was published in 1949. It isn't likely to go out of print any time soon. The saga of a boy dying? Sure, it grabs you and holds you. But that's because the broken, grieving man who wrote it was so professional he got out of the way and just... told the story.

K. Brown - English Review.......2006-12-13

Death Be Not Proud is a story written by John Gunther about his son, Johnny Gunther, who developed a brain tumor when he was just the young age of seventeen. Throughout the time of Johnny's months with his tumor, his professors at Deerfield Academy, friends, and family are impressed by his courage and patience through the worst times. From the time when Johnny first finds out about his illness, and the likelihood that it would never be cured, Johnny has the strength and courage to go on with his studies and act as if his illness is not affecting him, even if the tumor is worsening. This book shows the struggles and the hardships of a family and their son, who is "slowly being taken by Death," (Johnny's mother, Frances Gunther) while maintaining a positive outlook. Overall, the book was fantastically written and the father and the author, captures every moment of this time in Johnny's life. The book is almost like a series of pictures. John describes everything with such rich detail that I feel that everything could be expressed in a series of photographs.
John Gunther writes "Johnny died at 11:02 P.M. Frances reached for him through the ugly, transparent, raincoat-like curtain of the oxygen machine. I felt his arms, cupping my hands around them, and the warmth gradually left them, receding very slowly upward from his hands. For a long time some warmth remained. Then little by little the life-color left his face, his lips became blue, and his hands were cold. What is life? It departs covertly. Like a thief, Death took him." This quote shows how much Johnny meant to his family, and later letters sent to his parents showed that the accomplishments Johnny made while he was sick, would surely never be forgotten by the ones he knew and loved with all his heart.
After reading this story, I found myself contemplating the thought of Death stealing me or one I love away. Johnny Gunther not only gives me the strength to go on with life if you loose someone you love but also has become my hero. Hearing about the challenges he faced, and how much of an inspiration he was, I believe that there is no other way to die; to be at peace knowing the your loved ones are safe, and will go on remembering you.

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Death Be Not Proud a Memoir

Manufacturer: Harper & Row
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HDMXBO

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Death Be Not Proud A Classic

Death Be Not Proud, a Memoir
John Gunther
Manufacturer: Perennial Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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ASIN: B000IRUK3M

Customer Reviews:

Death Be Not Proud A Classic.......2007-06-01

A friend of mine had the book "Death Be Not Proud" by John Gunther to read as a school assignment and did not enjoy it. After finishing the book, he gave it to me to read. All I have to say is that I finished the book in one weekend. I do not know if the friend of mine and I read the same book, because I absolutely enjoyed Johnny's courage and ability to make you smile throughout the book. I cannot believe a child of seventeen could face death in such a matter that an adult could not even achieve. Here's to Johnny Gunther. I reccommend "Death Be Not Proud" by John Gunther to anyone who enjoys a good read that tugs on the heartstrings.

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Death Be Not Proud a Memoir
John Gunther
Manufacturer: Pyramid Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000JV75A8

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Death Be Not Proud a Memoir
John Gunther
Manufacturer: HARPER & ROW
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Death Be Not Proud a Memoir
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Manufacturer: HARPER & ROW
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000SEKNSW

Death Be Not Proud a Memoir of John Gunther Junior 1929-1947

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Death Be Not Proud a Memoir of John Gunther Junior 1929-1947
John Gunther
Manufacturer: Harper & Row
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000L1TG76

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Death Be Not Proud, A Memoir
John Gunther
Manufacturer: Harper & Brothers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000RBMDQQ

Death be not proud, a memoir; with an introd. by the author.

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Death be not proud, a memoir; with an introd. by the author.
John. Gunther
Manufacturer: Modern Library c
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000KIT9PY

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Death Be Not Proud. A Memoir
John Gunther
Manufacturer: Harper & Brothers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NZ3BOY

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