Revew of George Washington Carver by John Perry

George Washington Carver is someone I really like and admire. His work has been really beneficial to people in my area. I actually know people who testify that they have personally benefited from his work with peanuts and sending out Jesup Wagons.

I was looking forward to reading this book, because I expected to learn more about his admirable qualities. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this book by John Perry. His view of Dr. Carver as a petty, self-promoting person who happened to be kind, but rather uninformed was really disturbing to me.

There were some things that were good about the book, but in order to find them, I had to look past the author's bias against Dr. Carver. For instance, I really liked finding out that Dr. Carver believed in direct observation of nature and hands-on experiences as essential to learning. I liked learning that he felt the student must encounter nature, that nature is both entertaining and instructive, and that nature both encourages investigation and stimulates originality. Dr. Carver's teaching style was to lead walks through the woods, and bring specimens to class. He felt that hands-on is better than lecture or text book learning.  These are points I can actually use in my homeschooling.

He also felt that nature was a window through which to view God's glory, and that nature is a way through which God speaks to us every day, every moment and every hour of our lives. I can see that.

I received this book from Book Sneeze in exchange for an honest review. I am thankful to Book Sneeze for sending me a copy for review.