In 1993, Louis Schmier, Professor of History at Valdosta State College, began sharing his personal observations about teaching and students with several discussion groups on the Internet. Random Thoughts: The Humanity of Teaching brings together sixty of those pieces, ranging from Schmier's musings on "What a Student Needs," to "Grading Effort and Attitude" to "Cheating/Learning," and what it takes "To be a teacher." This last piece can also be found on the web and reveals, as well as any of the others, Schmier's "humanity," his maturation from the sterility of being a professor to the fertility of being a teacher. Among the many gems of wisdom in his list of what it takes to be a teacher is this example--"If you want to be a teacher, you have to skip as you walk, laugh at your self, smile at others, hang loose, always have an eraser handy, concoct an original recipe." Schmier's book is not for everyone, but if you have given any thought to how you can improve your professional life, your teaching, and student learning, then you will want to keep a copy of this book close at hand.

Schmier began his transition from professor to teacher, and consequently his Random Thoughts as a result of "personal trauma and family crisis that exploded into a spiritual and emotional novel of liberating self-reflection, self-examination, and spiritual revelation that ultimately was to shake me out of personal and professional stagnation." In the five pieces that make up Part I of the book, he shares with us the events surrounding that trauma and crisis. In the process, he provides, incidentally, commentary on achieving the graduate degree and the promotion and tenure process and reveals how many of us have approached our interactions with students.

Random Thoughts will cause many to examine those interactions. Some will find that Schmier's method smacks of heresy; some will find that his method has value. Regardless of the evaluation, no one will be able to simply put the book aside. His Random Thoughts provide the necessary grist for self-evaluation that all of us need. As he indicates early on, Random Thoughts were never meant to be a prescription for how to fix the problem. They are, however, think pieces that should lead us to the introspection necessary to effect change. It's a welcome addition to the dry, "scholarly" drivel of recent years on the classroom, teaching, and higher education.

Mary Floyd, UNC Greensboro