Mark Edmundson's TEACHER is a book which will probably make you think about your own high school years, but what's most important is, quite simply, that it will make you THINK. Because that is precisely what Edmundson's eccentrically brilliant teacher, Franklin Lears, was hoping to accomplish with the diverse group of Medford High kids that sat in his philosophy class back in 1969-1970. And he achieved this at least with author Edmundson, who was, he admits, a Schlitz-swilling, wannabe football hero who had sleepwalked his way through high school, incurious and questioning nothing, until he met Lears, who introduced him to the world of books and ideas - who made him THINK.

TEACHER is also an inside look at the blue-collar working-class Massachusetts town of Medford - or "Me'ford" as the natives called it - where the author grew up, as well as the complex relationship he had with his father. There are stories of high school friends, football, sexual fantasizing, racial tensions, and pop culture influences. But Edmundson's narrative focuses primarily on the small, effeminate, Harvard-educated Franklin Lears, a teacher who emphasized critical thinking and individuality vs. the herd mentality. He used the Socratic method and brought in guest speakers (from the SDS) and used contemporary books like THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MALCOLM X and ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST. Edmundson devoured these and other books and began a quest for knowledge that would lead him to college, grad school at Yale and a professorship at the University of Virginia.

He attributes all of this to a strange little man who taught for only one year, but made all the difference. Lears showed him books. Edmundson began reading. Here's what he says now about the importance of books -

"... through books one is incarnated many times ... Those aghast at having only one life on earth are drawn inexorably to books, and in them find the deep and true illusion of living not just their own too short life but of inhabiting many existences, many modes of being, and so of cheating fate a little."

Edmundson succeeds admirably in his intent of showing the importance of just one good teacher, but in tracing that teacher's influence on his own life he also shows how important books are. In one of the chapters here Edmundson relates how Lears combined his Socratic method with examining the lyrics of pop music. He called the chapter "Socrates Rocks." The same part of the book illustrates his own magical awakening to the world of books. He could just as easily have called the chapter "Books Rock."

A fascinating read, well-written, reavealing and honest. Highly recommended. ( )