Samuel F.B. Morse: Artist With a Message (The Sowers)

Rating:
Summary: Communicating the Details!
Review: "Samuel F.B. Morse: Artist With A Message" passes as an 'okay'book IF you don't mind the author's over-emphasis on romance in the storyline. Samuel Morse, born in Boston, daydreamed a lot as a young boy--which is how the book starts. The firstborn among three boys, Samuel had a nurse who walks him to school daily for two years. She discerned his mind constantly focused on details--and so recommended an advanced borading school in Andover for him at age 7 (1799).
It's in Andover where he had more time for portrait-painting and other detailed drawing. By age 13, Yale University admitted him where he enjoyed popularity--probably because he also drew pictures of his classmates. An encounter with an exploding meteor propels him into a fascination with science before graduation at age 17. Undue emphasis is given to his romance at this point of the book. But his girlfriend agrees with his dad that he should NOT pursue a career as a painter. "All artists are vagabonds these days!" laments his girlfriend.
He ignores the advice of both and gets encouraged by the famous artist Gilbert Stuart (who is not a vagabond!), thus doing graduate work in England for three years (1809-1812). The War of 1812 ensured a slow return to the USA.
It turned out to be a very meaningful trip because scientists on board this ship talked for days concerning the need to communicate better & faster across the Atlantic Ocean.
The rest, as they say, is history! Morse proceeded to invent the telegraph and its accompanying "Morse Code"--just in time for transcontinental & trans-Atlantic expansion.

Rating:
Summary: Communicating the Details!
Review: "Samuel F.B. Morse: Artist With A Message" passes as an 'okay'book IF you don't mind the author's over-emphasis on romance in the storyline. Samuel Morse, born in Boston, daydreamed a lot as a young boy--which is how the book starts. The firstborn among three boys, Samuel had a nurse who walks him to school daily for two years. She discerned his mind constantly focused on details--and so recommended an advanced borading school in Andover for him at age 7 (1799).
It's in Andover where he had more time for portrait-painting and other detailed drawing. By age 13, Yale University admitted him where he enjoyed popularity--probably because he also drew pictures of his classmates. An encounter with an exploding meteor propels him into a fascination with science before graduation at age 17. Undue emphasis is given to his romance at this point of the book. But his girlfriend agrees with his dad that he should NOT pursue a career as a painter. "All artists are vagabonds these days!" laments his girlfriend.
He ignores the advice of both and gets encouraged by the famous artist Gilbert Stuart (who is not a vagabond!), thus doing graduate work in England for three years (1809-1812). The War of 1812 ensured a slow return to the USA.
It turned out to be a very meaningful trip because scientists on board this ship talked for days concerning the need to communicate better & faster across the Atlantic Ocean.
The rest, as they say, is history! Morse proceeded to invent the telegraph and its accompanying "Morse Code"--just in time for transcontinental & trans-Atlantic expansion.

Rating:
Summary: Twelve years of rejection did not stop this man
Review: ... Given the older audience, I found this book to be well written and enjoyable for adults as well. A final chapter ends with a summary of the accomplishments of this man and what that means to our society today. It has nice illustrations, and includes an index.

Mr. Tiner combines an encouraging and inspirational story with layman's explanations for the experiments Mr. Morse conducted, which is his writing style for other books he has written for this series as well. In this way one comes away not only with the kind of story that encourages one to persevere, but also with a greater understanding of how the telegraph works if one did not already know.

Beginning as an extremely talented artist, Morse struggles to earn enough money to afford a house and be able to stay home with his family. He gains admiration, but very little money until he finally works on a highly profitable project. Unfortunately, his wife becomes ill and dies while he is away, and this information takes days to reach him.

His sorrow over his wife's death, and having earlier seen a war begin because communication was delayed, cause him to remember what he has learned about electricity. Then only a novelty in science, he designs a way to turn it into instant communication. For 12 years he works on the design and also seeks funding for the project, only to meet with either ridicule or admiration but no funding. At one point he nearly starves to death. Finally the government agrees to fund the project, and the rest, as they say, is history. The guiding force which helped keep him through these trials was his faith in God and the encouragement he drew from the Bible.

Rating:
Summary: Twelve years of rejection did not stop this man
Review: ... Given the older audience, I found this book to be well written and enjoyable for adults as well. A final chapter ends with a summary of the accomplishments of this man and what that means to our society today. It has nice illustrations, and includes an index.

Mr. Tiner combines an encouraging and inspirational story with layman's explanations for the experiments Mr. Morse conducted, which is his writing style for other books he has written for this series as well. In this way one comes away not only with the kind of story that encourages one to persevere, but also with a greater understanding of how the telegraph works if one did not already know.

Beginning as an extremely talented artist, Morse struggles to earn enough money to afford a house and be able to stay home with his family. He gains admiration, but very little money until he finally works on a highly profitable project. Unfortunately, his wife becomes ill and dies while he is away, and this information takes days to reach him.

His sorrow over his wife's death, and having earlier seen a war begin because communication was delayed, cause him to remember what he has learned about electricity. Then only a novelty in science, he designs a way to turn it into instant communication. For 12 years he works on the design and also seeks funding for the project, only to meet with either ridicule or admiration but no funding. At one point he nearly starves to death. Finally the government agrees to fund the project, and the rest, as they say, is history. The guiding force which helped keep him through these trials was his faith in God and the encouragement he drew from the Bible.

Rating:
Summary: Using this book in the elementary classroom
Review: I teach third graders who read at a 5th-9th grade level. The first problem with this book is that, on the back, in huge, yellow letters, is, "Learn more about your Christain heros! Read what traditional educators try to keep from you!" Not a good thing to send home. This book was much too difficult for them, not just because of the unnecessarily thick language. It is very poorly written. The prose is wordy and full of characters who are only mentioned once and then forgotten. The children claimed to like and understand this book, but their retention and actual understanding was nil.

Rating:
Summary: Inspiring true story of perseverance
Review: This is a wonderful book! I would make it, and the other biographies by John Hudson Tiner, required reading for young people -- and highly recommended for adults, too.

We memorize cold facts in school like "Morse invented the telegraph" but rarely learn anything about the human drama behind the facts. Here is a famous American who nearly starved himself trying to get his idea off the ground, an idea he KNEW was revolutionary, that none of the "experts" one would support! It's a story of perseverance and courage that eventually paid off and changed the world.

This book is immensely better fare for young people than the mindless drivel on TV and video games. As far as it having a Christian flavor, so what? It's true. Morse is one of many Christians who changed the world--Newton, Kepler, Pasteur, and many others. Does that aspect make the story politically incorrect? Should historians neglect the driving force behind a man's work? Get real, teachers, and tell your students more about Morse and less about Madonna. There are some excellent role models in American history and this is one of them.

John Hudson Tiner makes the character come alive and captures the misery of rejection and the triumph of vindication. It is EASY reading for any student not held captive by teachers that don't teach them how to read. There's nothing like true stories of real people (good-bye, Harry Potter), to inspire, motivate and stimulate young people to become the achievers of tomorrow. Read this and all the others in the Sowers Series, as well Tiner's other excellent books. You'll not only be inspired, you will learn a great deal of amazing history the textbooks never told you.

Rating:
Summary: Inspiring true story of perseverance
Review: This is a wonderful book! I would make it, and the other biographies by John Hudson Tiner, required reading for young people -- and highly recommended for adults, too.

We memorize cold facts in school like "Morse invented the telegraph" but rarely learn anything about the human drama behind the facts. Here is a famous American who nearly starved himself trying to get his idea off the ground, an idea he KNEW was revolutionary, that none of the "experts" one would support! It's a story of perseverance and courage that eventually paid off and changed the world.

This book is immensely better fare for young people than the mindless drivel on TV and video games. As far as it having a Christian flavor, so what? It's true. Morse is one of many Christians who changed the world--Newton, Kepler, Pasteur, and many others. Does that aspect make the story politically incorrect? Should historians neglect the driving force behind a man's work? Get real, teachers, and tell your students more about Morse and less about Madonna. There are some excellent role models in American history and this is one of them.

John Hudson Tiner makes the character come alive and captures the misery of rejection and the triumph of vindication. It is EASY reading for any student not held captive by teachers that don't teach them how to read. There's nothing like true stories of real people (good-bye, Harry Potter), to inspire, motivate and stimulate young people to become the achievers of tomorrow. Read this and all the others in the Sowers Series, as well Tiner's other excellent books. You'll not only be inspired, you will learn a great deal of amazing history the textbooks never told you.