Customer Reviews

Wants of Man

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I looked all over for this book, in local libraries and such to read the full poem. This book is a single poem that is wonderful in my opinion.. Although it is only 30 some pages long...

After telling my kids of parts of this poem I can now say I have the whole poem (hard to find) and they will treasure it forever. That is good enough for me :)

OK, I have to admit, this one has me a bit stumped. Who WOULD appreciate a gift edition of John Quincy Adams' most famous poem? (Adams once wrote, "Could I have chosen my own genius and condition, I would have made myself a great poet," and after his death, many of his poems were collected and published in "Poems of Religion and Society" (1848), and "The Wants of Man" was included by Ralph Waldo Emerson in "Parnassus", a collection of Emerson's favorite poems.)

Well, poetry lovers are a good possibility, as are teachers of poetry, and they might also appreciate the uniform edition of The Poems of Abraham Lincoln. John Quincy Adams had a lifelong interest in reading, writing, and translating poetry into English, and as these verses prove, he was no slouch at it. Another are would-be poets who could use a little encouragement to keep at it: if John Quincy Adams could keep at it,... Admirers, students, and teachers of Quincy Adams and his times are good possibilities, too.

Note: One could complain that this book is available online for free. Well, yes, what part of in the public domain do you not understand? However, trying to get away with giving someone a printout as a gift will earn you the nickname of cheapskate. If all you want to do is read it yourself, then by all means stick to the free sites. However, if you are looking for a way to get through to someone else, you are better off buying a copy, and a solitary sawbuck for this sturdy pocket-sized reprint is going to be tough to beat. The chief virtue of it being online is your ability to read it first and make sure that this is the book you want to give before ordering it.

Note: Applewood Books has produced a nice looking inexpensive series of sturdy pocket-sized reprints of important American books, documents, speeches, pamphlets, and poems, the Little Books of Wisdom, uniform with this volume, that are ideal for gifting to doctors, lawyers, teachers, business professionals, and students of same: The Way to Wealth, George Washington's Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation, The Constitution of the United States of America, On the Art of Teaching, The Strenuous Life, The Bill of Rights with Writings That Formed Its Foundation, The Path of the Law, The Constitution of the Confederate States of America, The Jefferson Bible: The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, A Message to Garcia, A Declaration of Sentiments, Robert's Rules of Order, Good Citizenship, On Being Human, A Discourse Upon the Duties of a Physician, The Declaration of Independence with Short Biographies of Its Signers, Teamwork, Stick-To-Itiveness, Opportunity, & You, George Washington's Farewell Address, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, The Speech of Chief Seattle, Common Sense, The Articles of Confederation, The Emancipation Proclamation, and The Gospel of Wealth.

Some selected volumes are also available in boxed sets: Books of American Wisdom Boxed Set, CEO's Gift Box of Wisdom, Doctor's Gift Box of Wisdom, Lawyer's Gift Box of Wisdom, New Citizen's Gift Box of Wisdom, and Teacher's Gift Box of Wisdom.

And some have been published in Spanish: Un Mensaje a Garcia and Constitucion de Los Estados Unidos.