I happen to be working on the part of the book covering the last two years of Sam’s life. Not only did a lot happen during this time (1783–1784), but there is a fair bit written by various witnesses. During the last year of his life, for example, Sam lost one of his closest friends, […]
I just received this great, nicely specific book in the mail a couple of days ago, and am hopeful it will provide fairly up-to-date information (it was originally published in 1991) all in one place about Sam’s various ailments. I haven’t started reading yet, but the first chapter is “Johnson’s Medical History: Facts and Mysteries.” […]
I had a great chat this past Monday with my 11-year-old nephew Sam. He has a keen interest and lots of knowledge about various aspects of computer technology — especially hardware, gaming, and social media — and so we talked about the differences between tech in Sam Johnson’s century and tech in Sam Jones’s century. […]
In the mid-1730s Sam’s basic situation was that he had applied for teaching jobs that he didn’t get, he and his wife had established their own school which didn’t attract enough students, and Sam had applied to be a writer for the Gentleman’s Magazine but wasn’t hired. He needs another plan and so in 1737 […]
Memory is the primary and fundamental power, without which there could be no other intellectual operation. Sam Johnson, Idler 44 (Saturday, February 17, 1759) I had a great chat this past Sunday with my condo neighbour Shelley, who is also a Sam Johnson enthusiast. In fact he had been kind enough to agree to be […]