Here is a load of reviews of new books from alt.books.reviews

[Steve Brock]

Here are a load of reviews of recent books from alt.books.reviews:

DORIS CHASE: ARTIST IN MOTION by Patricia Failing. University of
Washington Press, P.O. Box 50096, Seattle, Washington 98145-5096.
Illustrated, index, notes, bibliography, list of works. 136 pp.,
$35.00 cloth. 0-295-97112-6

REVIEW

Doris Chase, not content to be an award-winning Seattle
painter, moved to New York in 1971 at the age of 49 to become a
sculptor. Just before the move, she experimented with video and
produced "Circles II," from the outtakes of a video of dancers
weaving in and out of her large sculptures, that had been shot for
a Seattle television station.
When she got to New York, she found that she was better-known
for the video than her sculptures. More than twenty years later,
she now has studios on both coasts and has won video awards in
Cannes, Berlin, New York, and many other film festivals.
The University of Washington Press will soon release art
historian Patricia Failing's profile of Chase, as well as a
companion videotape which contains a guided video tour by the
artist, who explains the evolution of her work. This is the first
combination book/video release by the Press.
Failing's book traces the different periods of Chase's life,
from canvas, to small geometric sculptures of wood that were able
to be rearranged, to gigantic commissions of steel for parks and
public display, and finally to her rise as a video pioneer. Many
of her works are called videodances, which combine shots of dancers
and sculpture with electronic image processing.
In a piece called "Dance Eleven," Chase uses an effect called
"debeaming" to create "a liquid, painterly veil of color trailing
behind a moving form." Cynthia Anderson dances with images
superimposed from multiple camera shots, leaving behind floods of
color.
In the 1980s, Chase turned to video theater. In this medium,
Chase was free to explore social issues such as feminism and aging.
In a composition called "Lies," a performer tells lies whose
emotional prices are listed on the screen. Chase concentrates on
each person's movements (eyes, fingers, hands) while they speak of
emotional prices and debts. The images decay as the price rises.
Her latest videos explore, again, facial movement, but with
less special effects. Her best effort is a continuing series
called "By Herself." In "Table For One," Chase explores the
thoughts of the late Geraldine Page as she dines alone in a fine
restaurant. She uses a technique called the "inner dialogue" to
review her recent divorce, new independence, and the social stigma
of being single at her age.
Chase now runs her own production studio, but is getting
nostalgic for painting. After producing many collaborations in the
"By Herself" series (notably with Ann Jackson and Joan Plowright),
she longs for "a world that's completely under the painter's
control." She also has several ideas she would like to try out in
sculpture.
Chase's move back to Seattle is not a culmination, but another
start, and Failing has produced a colorful commemoration of a media
trailblazer.

GREAT IRISH HOUSES AND CASTLES by Jacqueline O'Brien and Desmond
Guiness. Abrams Books, 100 Fifth Ave., N.Y., NY 10011.
Illustrated, index, bibliography, map. 264 pp., $65.00 cloth.
0-8109-3365-9

REVIEW

Hovering with her camera above magnificent castles, country
houses, and their gardens to shooting their spacious and stylish
interiors, O'Brien (with 306 color photographs of more than 70
sites), and Guiness (with his informative commentary) have combined
to celebrate the rich architectural history of Ireland.
Most of great Irish Classical buildings are still standing due
to "a hundred years of peace from 1690 to 1798," during which a
golden age flourished. This time period allowed to be built some
of the finest examples of Irish architecture.
Even further in the past, however, are ruins of forts,
churches, monasteries, and castles. O'Brien soars over these
bastions, while Guiness details their history. The precarious
Dunluse Castle at Portrush and the Trim Castle at Trim give
testimony to the impenetrable fortifications that lasted for
centuries. Some old castles are still inhabited, such as the Howth
Castle at Howth or the Dunsany Castle at Dunsany. Interior
photographs portray the luxury within.
In the 1700s, the influence was Dutch. High-pitched roofs,
tall chimneys, gables, and sash windows all evoke the Dutch
presence. The Carrick-on-Sur castle, built in 1568, marks the
transition from fortified to domestic architecture. It is the
oldest non-fortified house in Ireland still to have its roof
intact.
Also adopted during this period is that of Andrea Palldino
(1508-1580), called the Palladin style. It was first introduced in
Ireland in 1722, and its greatest example is that of Russborough at
Blessington, with a 700 foot facade, preserved with every feature
intact. Other powerful examples are Castletown at Celbridge (the
first Irish Palladin house to be designed by a professional
architect), Strokestown Park at Strokestown, and Carton at
Maynooth.
In the late 1700s, Scottish architect Robert Adam, his
brothers, and their exponents, created a magnificent interior
style, as illustrated by the Lucan House at Lucan and Emo Court at
Portarlington, with its great domed rotunda.
The Irish adaptation of the Gothic style, popular in late
1700s to early 1800s, was an era that Guiness would like to call
Irish Baronial. This was a period in which country houses were
built to resemble castles. The Classical style had become dull,
lacking mystery and drama. House-castles had decorative
battlements, complete with cannons, knights-in-armor, and coats-of-
arms. The best examples of Gothic style are found in Castle Ward
at Strangford, Glyn Castle at Glin, and the amazing Luttrellstown
Castle at Clonsilla.
When George III went insane, Prince Regent took over the crown
as George IV, and the architecture of the early to mid eighteen-
hundreds reflects the scale of the man, and delicacy gave way to
masculinity, and smoking and billiards rooms came into style.
Exterior ornamentation was on the wane, as can be seen by Lyons at
Newcastle, Mount Stewart at Newtownards (with a garden full of
orange flowers), or Lissadell at Sligo.
When Queen Victoria came to the throne in 1837, England began
to flourish while Ireland suffered a famine. Irish architects
began to adopt any and every style, from Elizabethan to the French
Chateau. The famine over, it was Victorian with a vengeance, and
ornamentation was again fashionable in the late 1800s. Adare Manor
at Adare (with one of the longest galleries in Ireland), and
Humewood at Kiltegan are representative.
The book ends with a short treatise Irish decorative arts,
with glimpses at painting style, statuary, silver, plasterwork,
furniture, glass, pottery, books, and paper art. Also included are
short biographies of the principal architects and craftsmen.
O'Brien and Guiness have truly done their research, and this
is an impressive result.

Here are reviews of four new computer books:

THE WHOLE INTERNET USER'S GUIDE AND CATALOG by Ed Krol. O'Reilly
and Associates, Inc., 103 Morris Street, Suite A., Sebastopol, CA
95472. Illustrated, index, glossary, three appendices. 400 pp.,
$24.95 paper. 1-56592-025-2

REVIEW

If you're reading this, or if you read the periodic postings
in news.announce, the chances are good that you know the basics of
the Internet. But let's face it - there is always more to learn,
as Internet changes almost daily. With millions of files in
archives all over the world, finding the right piece of information
can be tedious. There is news of the development of automated
information retrieval programs called "knowboats" that would ramble
through the net finding answers to queries. William Gibson, I'm
sure, would know more about this.
Krol, assistant director for LAN deployment at the University
of Illinois, compares working the Internet to grabbing jello with
your hands. The harder you grab, the more escapes. You don't need
more intensity, you need a tool. With jello, it's a spoon. In the
case of the Internet, it's Krol's book.
Krol begins with a discussion about what Internet is (he calls
it an Interstate Highway System for information), what it does, and
how it works. He emphasizes that there is something, somewhere,
for everyone. He tries to calm the user down about using Unix, but
he isn't very convincing. I still have to start over when I make
an error in a line of a "post news" command because I don't
remember the Unix correction commands. I guess I'm just chained to
word processing editing commands.
Then, after cautions about security and ethics, it's on to
maneuvering via telnet, transferring files with ftp, sending e-
mail, reading and posting news (isn't that the real reason we use
the net?), and the use of information servers such as Gopher, WAIS,
the World-Wide-Web, and Archie. Kroll uses a multitude of example
sessions in each section. This is very helpful as many systems
have subtle nuances known only by the experienced.
Next is a catalogue of over 300 resources on the Internet:
both libraries and newsgroups, arranged by topics from aeronautics
and astronautics to environment to religion to zymurgy. This guide
is helpful, but becomes dated as soon as it's published because the
resources change rapidly. It is a good idea to subscribe to the
newsgroup comp.internet.library, or read the periodic indexes in
news.announce.
This is a book which will become more useful as Internet,
already the world's largest network, expands even more.

PROGRAMMER'S INTRODUCTION TO WINDOWS 3.1 by Brian Myers and Chris
Doner. Sybex Publishing, 2021 Challenger Dr., Alameda, CA 94501.
Illustrated, index, one 5, disk. 1005 pp., $34.95 paper.
0-7821-1034-7

REVIEW

Since the first version of this book in 1988, Myers, a
graduate student at the University of California at Berkeley, and
Doner, founder of a Microsoft Windows software development company,
have been busy keeping up with all the changes in Windows. Their
latest effort covers programming in C for Windows releases 3.0 and
3.1. They have their work cut out for them, as there are so many
differences between the versions.
The authors begin with a thorough introduction to the Windows
environment outlining the workings of the interface, multitasking,
integrating applications, the basic structures behind Windows
programming, and a step-by-step Windows programming session with
instructions for compiling and linking.
This first script (called "Hello World,") is then enhanced
with menus and dialog boxes. The next step is controlling the
graphics device interface, adding a mouse, and adapting the program
to be compatible with future versions of Windows (hopefully this
will involve putting together the now separate file manager
application and the program manager application).
Bitmaps are introduced in the next section, and the programmer
is taught how to store pictures, create special effects such as
stretching or reversing them, storing device-independent bitmaps
(DIBs) in files, and basic animation techniques.
Then it's on to a discussion of the use of TrueType fonts, the
best ones to use, placing them, using them in combination, and
creating a program that previews available fonts.
Myers and Doner provide a chapter on Multimedia applications,
which allows the recording and playing of sounds and the operation
of other devices from Resource Interchange File Format (RIFF)
files. This is an important inclusion, as Multimedia is seen to
eventually transform corporate and educational domains.
The last chapter gives a look at some of the advanced Windows
features, such as metafiles, the multiple document interface (MDI),
dynamic data exchange (DDE), and object linking and embedding.
Again, there is a section that talks of the future, i.e. the
Windows 32-bit environment.
An enclosed 1Mb 5+ disk contains all the source code of the
book's examples.
The biggest question the programmer faces regarding the
purchase of this book is whether it will be made obsolescent in the
near future by the release of Windows NT. Myers and Doner have
taken great pains in trying to prepare for future changes, and it
looks like it will be mid-1993 before NT is released. If the
beginning or intermediate C programmer wants to get started now,
this is the book to get them up to speed for launching programs.

ENABLE: THE COMPLETE REFERENCE by Yvonne Johnson. Osborne McGraw
Hill Publishing, 2600 10th Street, Berkeley, CA 94710.
Illustrated, index, three appendices. 944 pp., $29.95 paper.
0-07-881810-9

REVIEW

While I endorsed a Windows book above, Enable (especially its
new release 4.5) is a tap on the shoulder that says "there are
still many thousands of users that could care less for Windows."
Enable is made for just those people, who want the best features of
windows without having to upgrade their hardware, even though
Enable's price is steep. Note: Although Enable can be used on a
Unix or LAN system, this book is specifically for DOS users.
Johnson's reference is written for both beginning and
experienced users.
For beginners, she details installation and customization
procedures, and introduces basic manipulations with tutorials, such
as file maintenance, word processing, databases, spreadsheets,
graphs, communications, and printing. Also included are sections
on using forms and performing queries.
For the advanced user Johnson provides a section called Power
Features. Here are techniques for using Enable's desktop tools
(clock, calculator, card file, phone book, calendar) and Enable
windows (which help the user copy information to different
applications), with chapters on the development of helpful macros
and menus.
Also of great use is an alphabetized command reference section
for each Enable feature. Half of the book contains these commands.
Three appendices cover all of Enable's "@" functions, expert
commands (f9's), and ASCII character sets.
This book contains most of the information needed by the
Enable user, in an easy-to-get format.

MASTERING AUTOCAD RELEASE 12 by George Omura. Sybex Publishing,
2021 Challenger Dr., Alameda, CA 94501. Illustrated, index, one
5, disk, six appendices. 1142 pp., $34.95. 0-7821-1134-3

REVIEW

AutoCAD 12 is the result of Autodeck listening to its users,
who wanted greater 3-D in their architectural renderings. Even the
user interface is changed, with the program booting right to the
drawing screen. Files are opened with a pull-down menu, and dialog
boxes and cascading menus give options. Plotting is improved with
a Plot Configuration dialog box and a preview function, and there
is a stronger link to external databases.
3-D objects are given more definition from AutoCAD Render,
which shades and allows 24-bit color imaging. PC Magazine,
however, justifiably criticized AutoCAD for not providing a percent
completed feature, which leaves the user with no idea how long the
job will take to print. AutoCAD's cost is $3,750 for both single
and multiusers.
Omura's book is written for all AutoCAD users. He doesn't try
to address every command, but he focuses on goal attainment, hoping
the goals are ones shared by his audience. For those needing more,
he refers them to the help system of the software or the reference
manual. PC Magazine, though, gave bad marks to AutoCAD's
documentation, calling it unimaginative.
Mastering AutoCAD is broken into five parts. Part One
introduces the user to the AutoCAD environment, making preliminary
drawings, and manipulating symbols, blocks, and layers. Part Two
discusses the editing process, the use of large files, printing and
plotting, and the commands used in dimensioning a drawing.
By the time the reader gets to Part Three, Omura says they are
on the verge of being an expert. It's not that easy. Part Three
gives details on incorporating information into drawings,
transferring paper drawings to AutoCAD, incorporating learned
skills into drawing an apartment building, drawing curves and
filling in, and interacting with other applications.
Part Four expands the user into the world three dimensional
drawing. Omura covers AutoCAD's basic and advanced 3-D features,
rendering and animation, and the use of the Advanced Modeling
Extension Module, new to release 12. Part Five is dedicated to
customization - using sample AutoLISP (an AutoCAD programming
language) programs and adapting AutoCAD into your own work
environment by changing menus and screens to your style.
The book has six appendices which detail hardware selection
appropriate for AutoCAD, installation and setup procedures, a DOS
primer, a description of the disk utilities, a look at system and
dimension variables, and an AutoCAD command reference. The disk
contains a treasure trove of shareware utilities, including a file
compressor. Packed with tutorials, the book can be used by both
users wanting to learn AutoCAD or just look up a command.

THE WORLD TODAY SERIES 1992:

LATIN AMERICA 1992, 26th edition, by Pierre Etienne Dostert.
202 pp., $8.50 paper. 0-943448-71-9

EAST ASIA AND THE WESTERN PACIFIC 1992, 25th edition, by
Harold Hinton. 148 pp., $8.50 paper. 0-943448-70-0

WESTERN EUROPE 1992, 11th edition, by Wayne C. Thompson. 503
pp., $16.50 paper. 0-943448-74-3

RUSSIA, EURASIAN STATES, AND EASTERN EUROPE 1992 (formerly The
Soviet Union and Eastern Europe), 23rd edition, by M. Wesley
Shoemaker. 290 pp., $8.50 paper. 0-943448-73-5

CANADA 1992, 8th edition, by Wayne C. Thompson. 137 pp.,
$8.50 paper. 0-943448-69-7

AFRICA 1992, 27th edition, by Pierre Etienne Dostert. 210
pp., $8.50 paper. 0-943448-68-9

THE MIDDLE EAST AND SOUTH ASIA 1992, 26th edition, by Malcolm
B. Russell. 217 pp., $8.50 paper. 0-943448-72-7

All titles are illustrated, have maps, and a bibliography of
english-language sources. They are available from Stryker-Post
Publications, 888 17th St., NW, Washington DC 20006.

REVIEW

In the next few weeks, students across the U.S. will begin
doing research for those final papers for their history, geography,
economics and political science classes. While newspapers give
information on current events, they seldom give background or
historical information (gotta make room for those advertisements).
Encyclopedias may give an event a historical context, but they may
be up to five years behind. Trying to mesh newspaper stories and
encyclopedia entries is seldom successful. Especially helpful for
members of the above-mentioned classes is a series called "The
World Today."
Issued annually each August, this series is an essential
addition to library reference collections. Each begins with a
short essay summarizing current issues, followed by an in-depth
historical background. The rest of the book consists of detailed
essays on each country or state of the region.
Packed with statistics (area, population, capital city,
climate, official language and other tongues, ethnic background,
principal religions, commercial products, major trading partners,
currency, former colonial status, date of independence, chief of
state, head of government, and national flag), the outline
continues with a history of the specific region, followed by its
politics, culture, economy, and a short future prognosis.
The goal of the series is to present factual information,
demonstrating "an appreciation of the peoples and governments
largely from their own perspectives." The author of each volume is
a well-known specialist in the affairs of the area addressed.
The books are set up so that needed information is rapidly
secured, and they are well-utilized by students of middle schools,
high schools, and universities.

THE BLACK CANOE: BILL REID AND THE SPIRIT OF HAIDA GWAII,
photographs by Ulli Steltzer and text by Robert Bringhurst.
University of Washington Press, P.O. Box 50096, Seattle, Washington
98145-5096. Illustrated, index, technical summary, bibliography.
173 pp., $45.00. 0-295-97144-4

REVIEW

Haida, a frail man suffering from Parkinson's disease that
makes movement painful, made it to the speaker's podium at the
Canadian Museum of Civilization earlier this month. The occasion
was the unveiling of the latest museum acquisition: the mold for
his masterwork, "The Spirit of Haida Gwaii." Haida Gwaii refers to
the Queen Charlotte Islands, and the term means "islands of the
people."
The patinated black bronze canoe that was hatched from the
cast sits in a pool in front of the Canadian embassy in Washington,
D.C., across the street from the National Gallery of Art.
Commissioned by the Chancery's architect, Arthur Erickson, and
completed and dedicated last year, the piece was five years in the
making.
Over twenty feet long, the canoe overflows with mythical Haida
figures. The thirteen occupants travel in the same direction, but
Raven, Eagle, Grizzly, Mouse Woman (Grizzly's wife), Dogfish Woman,
and others, are not enjoying the journey. They are all battling
for control, biting and clawing each other, while in the middle of
the fray stands a stolid human chieftain in a Chilkat blanket and
holding a staff on which is written the story of creation.
In "The Black Canoe," Bringhurst interprets the sculpture's
symbolism: the Haida creation myth and the origins and context of
the part-human figures, the myths of Bear and Raven and Bear told
by tribal elders, and compares them to other sagas involving boats
and floods. He details Reid's life and artistic development,
compares his work with the Haida tradition, and then brings up
politics.
Canadian governmental members did not give the piece the
warmest of greetings, as the symbolism evokes a Canada troubled by
continuing disputes over Indian tribal rights. In 1987, Reid
ceased work on the piece in a protest over logging in Haida Gwaii.
The Canadian government and the provincial government of British
Columbia were involved in a dispute that ignored Haida tribal
claims.
At the museum reception, Haida said that "The Spirit of the
Haida Gwaii" made no political or artistic statement. He only
wanted to thank the mythical creatures that have given his life
meaning. "I load them into a canoe," he says, "and give them a day
off."
Bringhurst also describes the production of the sculpture,
complimented by Steltzer's black-and-white photographs which
portray the work as it comes together, and commemorates the
finished piece with several detailed shots.
"The Black Canoe" has won many awards, such as the Bill Duthie
Bookseller's award and the Vancouver Sun's Reader's Choice award.CLABBERED DIRT, SWEET GRASS by Gary Paulsen. Harcourt Brace
Jovanovich, Publishers. Illustrated. 120 pp., $19.95 cloth.
0-15-118101-2

REVIEW

In the tradition of John McPhee (whose two part essay in the
New Yorker four years ago has left Los Angeles inhabitants to this
day looking uneasily toward the hills for rockslides, click-click),
Paulsen's flair for of the description of his Midwestern
surroundings is poetic. This is his first book for an adult
audience.
Guided by the changing seasons, Paulsen's life on a farm is
portrayed dreamily, even though surrounded by a sometimes harsh
reality. To Paulsen, farming is the giving of part of one's soul
to the land in exchange for its benefits. Farming is a way of
life, with no time for leisure, there's always something more to
get done. One is never too exhausted to do it.
In the forward, Paulsen tells of the delivery of a dead horse
to his farm as feed for his 40 dogs. It's a fantastically large
horse, delivered by a logging truck. The horse deposited, the
truck makes a logging run while the aged owner of the horse stays
behind to tell Paulsen its story.
His face etched with pain, Gunnar tells how the horse was
named after his son, who died in the army. There is consolation in
the dogs eating the horse, they "...must eat of him and make him
not to end so that he can go on." The son dead and no one left to
farm after he dies, Gunnar mourns the loss of his horse, his son,
and when he dies, his farm ("the brush will take it back").
Paulsen wonders, "Who will eat the man?"
As the seasons go by, every person living on the farm is
vital, and so is luck. Luck in the Spring - healthy and
uncomplicated livestock births; in the Summer, rapidly germinating
seeds and rain enough to make the plants grow tall; in the Fall,
harvest of crops at the peak of maturity; in the Winter, that the
livestock will stay healthy and have enough feed.
It's as if Paulsen is describing a slow melodic dance seen
through a mist, and this idea is further accentuated in the
impressionistic oil paintings by his wife, Ruth.
Paulsen loves the world he portrays. He feels that he is
taking part in the harmony of life. He beckons us to join him, and
for awhile, we do.

SABINE'S NOTEBOOK: IN WHICH THE EXTRAORDINARY CORRESPONDENCE OF
GRIFFIN & SABINE CONTINUES by Nick Bantock. Chronicle Books, 275
Fifth Street, San Francisco, CA 94103. Illustrated. 48 pp.,
$17.95 cloth. 0-8118-0180-2

REVIEW

This is an adult version of "The Jolly Postman and Other
People's Letters." The second in a three-book series, this
illustrated novel takes advantage of two things: a developing
practice and a vice. The practice is that increasingly, adults
have begun to purchase novels that offer more than character and
plot - they want another approach, an unusual one. The vice is
that we love to snoop and read other people's mail, especially when
there is a mystery involved.
In the first book, "Griffin and Sabine: An Extraordinary
Correspondence" (a best-seller that kept Chronicle's presses
running to keep up with the demand), Griffin Moss is a designer of
postcards and stationary in London who is haunted by Sabine
Strohem, a postage-stamp designer living on a South Seas island.
Their relationship is revealed in a collection of postcards, a
sketchbook, a diary, and a collection of letters that the reader
pulls out of their envelopes.
We never know if Sabine is a real person or a muse, but we do
know that Griffin is in love with her, and she can read his
thoughts. At the end of the first book, he was fleeing London in
fear that she was coming for a visit.
In this second installment, Sabine appears in Griffin's
studio, just missing his terror-stricken departure. Undaunted and
in no hurry, she settles in while Griffin writes to her from
Ireland, Italy, Greece, Egypt, and other places, slowly zeroing in
on Sabine's studio.
The mystery deepens as Griffin's head clears and he writes
that he knows who she is, what they are to each other, and what
they will be to each other. He says he is returning home. He
arrives on the announced date, expectant and confident, and finds
no evidence of her being there at all.
The publication of the third book, "Sicmon," will take place
in mid-1993. There is talk of a movie, and Bantock spends time
opening his own mail which is full of praise.
Bantock is the author of the pop-up books "Jabberwocky" and
"There Was An Old Lady."

AGAINST THE FIRES OF HELL: THE ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER OF THE GULF
WAR by T. M. Hawley. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers, 111
Fifth Ave., N.Y., NY 10003. Index, bibliography, map. 208 pp.,
$23.95 cloth. 0-15-103969-0

REVIEW

More than a year after the U.S. claimed victory in the Gulf
war, the resulting environmental damage is still far from being
understood, much less cleaned up. Last year, Friends of the Earth
accused the Bush administration of issuing a gag order - refusing
to discuss any negative aspects of the conflict. T. M. Hawley
tries to clear up some of the confusion in "Against the Fires of
Hell."
The beginning of the book is as if the movie "Backdraft" had
been filmed on the desert, with Red Adair as the hero. The section
is dramatic stuff, but too long. This is supposed to be a book on
the environmental effects of the war in the Gulf, not a portrayal
of the courageous efforts of firefighters. Hawley worked for the
Oil Pollution Bulletin during the war, so that may explain some of
his fascination with the capping of the wells.
When Hawley finally gets to the environmental part, he does
much better. Much of the fires are out, but lakes of oil stand on
the desert and it floats on the surface of the waters of the Gulf.
The recovery of this oil is the next step, but the loss of fish and
wildlife is shocking. The marine life off the coast of Kuwait was
obliterated, and over 30,000 birds have perished. The endangered
green tortoise population is further threatened.
Of the far-reaching environmental effects, none was more
damaging than the smoke, which Hawley claims has caused a lowering
of the temperature of the waters of the Gulf by 9 to 18 degrees, a
monsoon in Bangladesh that killed 130,000 people, as well as floods
in Israel and blizzards in the Mediterranean.
Hawley lays the blame on both sides of the war and his story
is different from that told by U.S. authorities - that the fires
were set by retreating Iraqi forces.
Hawley would like to detail public health threats to the
Kuwaiti people, but he claims to have been stonewalled at getting
information. What he observed firsthand, however, is incredible.
In the first days of the liberation, water was hard to get,
but gasoline was free. It was discovered that gasoline was an
excellent solvent for taking off the oil droplets that fell like
rain, and gasoline car washes popped up. Those running these
businesses breathed in and absorbed through their skin cancer-
causing lead, benzene, and other toxic materials.
Hawley spent a little over a month investigating the
environmental effects of the war, so this book is but a snapshot of
what will end up filling a photo album of the results of the war.
There is virtually no information on long-term effects, so this
should be looked upon as a preliminary effort.
Interesting, informative, and at times depressing, this
snapshot is a coherent first look at what will be with us for
decades.THE STATE OF NATIVE AMERICA: GENOCIDE, COLONIZATION, AND RESISTANCE
by M. Annette Jaimes. South End Press, 116 St. Botolph Street,
Boston, MA 02115. Notes, index, index of Indian nations. 460
pp., $16.00 paper. 0-89608-424-8

REVIEW

One in a continuing South End Press series called "Race and
Resistance," this book is generally the work of several American
Indian professors and scholars of the Center for the Study of
Ethnicity and Race in America at the University of Colorado at
Boulder. Contributors include Vine Deloria, Jr., Ward Churchill,
Glenn T. Morris, M. Annette Jaimes, Jim Vander Wall, and Winona
LaDuke.
The publication of this book is appropriate for the 500th
anniversary of Columbus' navigational error that brought him to the
shores of North America, as it details Native American challenges
to the reasons for celebrating the event. It is time to
acknowledge, these writers say, their rights to "sovereignty, self-
determination, and self-sufficiency" that were lost as a direct
result of the accomplishment of what is officially called "Western
Civilization's highest expression of Freedom and Democracy."
The eighteen essays and table of laws and cases outline the
anguish experienced by every tribe in reaction to such injustices
as the expropriation of 95% of their original land base while being
made to suffer the highest poverty of any segment of the U.S.
population. While this goes on, most Americans remain oblivious or
believe that it is the tribes' fault for refusing to assimilate.
The book's goal is to create an understanding that this is part of
the governmental indoctrination process and that needed changes can
only be brought about by a fundamental "change of consciousness" by
the American public.
The book opens with an event that shows our need to understand
Native American's view of history. Whites show a lack of
compassion when they commemorate events that are tragedies to
Indian tribes. Three years ago, a building on the University of
Colorado's Boulder campus was renamed from that of an active
participant of the Sand Creek Massacre (Captain David Nichols) to
that of the victims, the Cheyenne and Arapaho.
The essays address the major issues that have shaped present
realities: treaty rights, the reservation system, self-
determination, land disputes, water and fishing rights, uranium
extraction and dumping, religious freedom, the Leonard Peltier
case, the role of women in the indigenous resistance, American
Indians in the military, education (otherwise called
subordination), modern Native American art and literature
development, and an especially painful conclusion which says that
Indian tribes are suffering from theological, scientific, and
ecological racism that can only be alleviated by human compassion
and alternative answers.
"The State of Native America" is disturbing, and it means to
be. It is also one of the most scholarly and coherent statements
yet to be produced on the injustices that we are perpetuating.
Many professors of classes on Native Americans will have a hard
decision whether to include this book as a text. The wise ones
will do so.

Here are reviews of three new board games from TSR, available at
game and toy stores:

The Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) craze is finding a niche in
many genres. First introduced in 1972 as a role-playing game,
little was needed except two players (a role-player who could be
one of many characters, searching for gold and jewels while gaining
strength and magical powers from conquests; and a dungeon master
who guides the game's progress), some graph paper, dice (for
rolling to see the outcome of a battle), and a lot of imagination.
Now, having risen above charges of satanism, sexism, and even
influencing murder in the movie "Cruel Doubt," teens and adults are
guided by books, board games, and video games (for both Nintendo
and PC). On-line services (such as Neverwinter Nights on Online
America) are now offering advanced D&D adventures. There are also
magazines devoted to D&D adventures, trading cards featuring D&D
characters, and the use of die-cast metal figures is popular.
Most popular of all, though, are the books, which outline the
rules of play and contain maps depicting several levels of chambers
under a castle, or a topographical layout. The more advanced
versions usually number several in a series, such as the Dark Sun
game world, new this month.
Younger players (8 and up) will do well with these new board
games, which can easily be played with the rest of the family:

THE NEW DUNGEON GAME (1 to 6 players, $19.95)

Players may become a Warrior, Dwarf, Paladin, Magic-User,
Thief, or Elf, each having different powers and traits. The
players move plastic figures as they roam from chamber to chamber
trying to amass as much treasure as possible while battling
serpents, gargoyles, vampires, and other monsters, using the 250
game cards to guide the action. Players may use co-operative
efforts to defeat those who block their path, and the first to get
$20,000 in treasure wins. The game is fast-paced, and may be
played according to Basic or Advanced rules.

DRAGON QUEST (1 to 6 players, $24.95)

Another introductory board game for ages 10 and up. Players
may be warriors, wizards, elves and dwarves, and battle monsters
while exploring a multitude of rooms in a Medieval castle. A 32-
page rulebook, a 24-page adventure book, 180 game cards, and six
multi-sided dice guide the play. The game is time-consuming to set
up the first time, as there are over 50 counters that must be
folded into standup figures, but the ability to make up new
adventures as you go along is definitely a plus. In addition, the
game cards have a tendency to curl. This game comes with six die-
cast figures, and there is a free T-shirt offer.

BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25TH CENTURY
(1 to 6 players, $24.95)

This game is the most frustrating and complicated of all to
set up and play, but once one gets up to speed, it gets exciting as
well as informative. Using the D&D role-playing techniques, the
marauders of Mars battle Buck and his New Earth Organization as
they chase each other across the galaxy. In the box are the game
board (the universe with blow-ups of the planets and moons), a 96-
page rulebook, a 64-page solar system information book, a 32-page
description of Buck's 25th century technology and weaponry, four
maps (the Tycho spaceport, diagrams of spaceship interiors, the
inner solar system, and an outer-space map where battles are
fought), twenty-four cards (spaceships, planets, and characters),
a sheet of small and easily-lost ship counters and markers, and a
set of dice. Players buy a spaceship, begin their own business,
gain and lose money, visit planets to exchange information and
gamble, and join countless battles to liberate the devastated and
polluted Earth of the 25th century.

All of these games are ones that players will frequently
return to, possibly neglecting other responsibilities. Parents
need to monitor the time spent playing, such as after homework or
chores are done, etc. Children need to monitor parental use also,
monitoring the time spent playing, such as after work, making
dinner, etc.

FRIDA KAHLO: THE CAMERA SEDUCED, memoir by Elena Poniatowska and
essay by Carla Stellweg. Chronicle Books, 275 Fifth Street, San
Francisco, CA 94103. Illustrated, bibliography, chronology,
notes. 125 pp., $18.95 paper. 0-8118-0215-9

REVIEW

Frida Kahlo looks the same, no matter what photographer
captures her. Penetrating eyes, large black eyebrows, mouth
closed, uplifted hair, and almost always sedately seated and
holding a cigarette; she dares the photographer to pierce her
armor. Few ever accomplished the feat, and in "The Camera
Seduced," we observe her battles with the lens.
Opening the cover, the reader is confronted with a larger-
than-life closeup of Frida's eye. Turn the page, a closeup of her
mouth. Turn the page again, a double-page of both her eyes. This
is too close, the reader wants to withdraw. Frida, however, would
have wanted it this way. Always confrontational, she has the look
of a fighter in her eyes.
All her short life, cameras followed her with a wide variety
of shutter-snappers. Imogen Cunningham, Ansel Adams, Manuel
Alvarez Bravo, Nickolas Muray, Gisele Freund, and Lucienne Bloch
attempt to pierce Kahlo's armor, yet only Cunningham and Bloch seem
victorious, catching softness and a comic vitality. Several of the
photographs are painful to look at, especially one by Fritz Henle
which shows Frida holding a baby monkey as if it were her child.
During her life, she had three miscarriages and no children.
Accompanying the 60 black-and-white photos is Elena
Poniatowska's intense look into Frida's soul that some may find
annoying. Speaking as if she were Kahlo, she details Kahlo's life
in a very personal manner, as if reading a diary. Poniatowska is
an award-winning Mexican novelist, essayist, and journalist.
Much more satisfying is Carla Stellweg's biographical
portrayal of Kahlo's seduction of the camera, while it seduced her.
Knowing that she was in extreme pain and seldom comfortable makes
the seduction even more powerful.

OBJECTS OF MYTH AND MEMORY: AMERICAN INDIAN ART AT THE BROOKLYN
MUSEUM by Diana Fane, Ira Jacknis, and Lise M. Breen. The Brooklyn
Museum 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY, in association with the
University of Washington Press, P.O. Box 50096, Seattle, Washington
98145-5096. Illustrated, index, notes. 320 pp., $60.00 cloth.
0-295-97023-5

REVIEW

In 1903, the Brooklyn Museum hired Stewart Culin as a curator
of ethnology. In the next nine years, he would assemble over 9,000
Native American artifacts, from those used in ritual ceremonies to
those used in household chores.
The objects were held in storage until just recently, when the
present curator, Diana Fane, received a grant to inventory the
holdings, and place them in the context of the voluminous
documentation that Culin had performed when purchasing each piece.
A self-made ethnographer, Culin wrote down everything he could
about the object: the name of the maker, the use of the object, how
much he paid for it, and other facts he deemed important.
"Objects of Myth and Memory" traces Culin's career as he
assembles the objects, and 250 of them are pictured. The book is
divided into four geographic locations: Southwest, California,
Northwest Coast, and Oklahoma, which correspond to principal
gathering places.
Two essays, by Fane and Jacknis, detail Culin's ethnographic
contribution and his early displays of the artifacts. The book is
beautifully illustrated - each object is highlighted dramatically,
and additional information is gained from excerpts from Culin's
diaries.
Much work has gone into the production of this book and the
corresponding traveling exhibit that is now at the Heard Museum in
Phoenix until the end of the year, but the question remains: are
these items legitimately held? The answer is probably.
Earlier this year, in a discussion on NPR's "Morning Edition"
radio show, reporter Brad Klein said that the Brooklyn Museum
"consulted with native religious councils and assembled a panel of
Native American experts to decide what could be included..."
Edmond Ladd, a Zuni and curator of the Museum of New Mexico,
concurred, saying that is was agreed that no objects of a religious
nature were to be exhibited.
In addition, the Zuni Religious Council petitioned the museum
for return of 13 carved war gods, which had been purchased by Culin
from an unscrupulous dealer who had stolen them from a Zuni shrine.
Regarded as sacred objects, the gods were to be left at the shrine
to decompose as part of the ceremony. The museum returned the gods
to the Zuni council.
There is also concern about the personification of the items.
They, when exhibited in museums, are art objects and are divorced
from their cultural utility. For example, the Zuni war gods are
ceremonial objects, used in a ritual. They are beautiful, but they
are not art objects to the Zuni. "The Zuni language," Ladd says,
"doesn't even contain a word for art."
So it is with mixed feelings that I recommend the purchase of
"Objects of Myth and Memory." I strongly recommend, however, that
those purchasing the book take a trip to the places where the
objects are used: any of the pueblos and reservations of Arizona
and New Mexico; Osage, Oklahoma; Kwakiutl, Washington; Hoopa Valley
or Yokaya, California. It's nice to look at what we call works of
art, but it's just as important to understand the culture that
created it.

THE MEDICINE MEN: OGLALA SIOUX CEREMONY AND HEALING by Thomas H.
Lewis. University of Nebraska Press, 901 N. 17th St., Lincoln, NE
68588-0520. The Nebraska University Press online catalog is
available on the Internet by telneting to CRCVMS.UNL.EDU, username
INFO, choosing UNIVERSITY PRESS, and ONLINE CATALOG. Illustrated,
index, notes, bibliography. 219 pp., $9.95 paper. 0-8032-7939-6

REVIEW

The responsibilities of the Sioux (Lakota) medicine men have
remained the same for centuries: to preserve the links with the
tribe's past and contemplate its future. Their specific acts,
however, have changed in modern times.
Last year during the Gulf war, a Sioux medicine man led a
tribal prayer at an anti-war protest in Washington, D.C. Two years
before, a Sioux medicine man was called to perform a burial
ceremony for a skull, believed to be that of an Indian, that had
been used as a trophy for the winner of the annual Ohio Wesleyan
and Wittenberg university's football game.
Other recent duties have involved a successful four-day rain
dance in Clyde, Ohio - the Sioux medicine man was called there in
response to a severe drought, and the U.S. Air Force consulted with
a Sioux medicine man to protect burial sites that may be in the
path of a 79-mile long MX missile communications cable.
Lewis, however, confines himself to the direct effects of the
traditional practices of the medicine men on the Pine Ridge
reservation in South Dakota, tracing the healing techniques they
utilize and how those techniques have changed over time. This is
a paperback reissue of the 1990 hardcover edition.
Trained in psychiatry and psychoanalysis, Lewis was hired in
1968 as a physician at the Pine Ridge Mental Health Clinic. From
that time until 1974, he followed Peter Catches, Robert Holy Dance,
and Frank Fools Crow as they performed healing ceremonies and gave
medical advise to their patients.
The book is a wonderful look at patients who depend on a
medicine man to not only heal their sickness or support or oppose
what the patient is told by a clinic or hospital, but also to serve
as a social mediator. He diffuses conflicts, dispenses
conventional wisdom, counsels caution, and suggests action.
Thusly, he reaffirms tribal identity.
Lewis discusses the contribution of sings, dances, the use of
various herbs (including peyote and the Native American Church),
the influence of different Christian movements on the reservation,
and the use of magic, in curing physical and mental anomalies.
For the Sioux, Lewis concludes, the medicine man not only
counteracts individual anxiety, but is a primary influence on
tribal cohesion. His story is intelligent and reverent.THE LEGACY by R. A. Salvatore. TSR Books, P.O. Box 756, Lake
Geneva, WI 53147. Map. 316 pp., $15.95 cloth. 1-56076-529-1

REVIEW

Salvatore has been the backbone of TSR's publishing arm. The
company honored the best selling author recently by publishing his
latest book, "The Legacy," in hardcover. This is TSR's first
hardcover publication. I wonder, though, why the company put a
picture of John Ritter on the back cover.
Public response to "The Legacy," a stand-alone entry in the
Forgotten Realms series, has been remarkable. Last week, the book
was number ten on the New York Times Best Seller List, and number
three on United Press International's Booklist.
In "The Legacy," the elf Drizzt Do'Urden (who appears in the
Dark Elf Trilogy) must rally his friends to fight Lloth, the Spider
Queen, who has vowed vengeance on anyone aiding him. Magic and
madness, spells and sorcery, treachery and romance; all culminate
in an exciting conclusion that leaves Drizzt wondering if peace
will ever come.
"The Legacy" has a legitimate ending, but there is a small
opening for the adventure to continue. A sequel? Probably not.
Salvatore is working on the fourth entry in "The Cleric Quintet,"
due out in mid-1993.
TSR fantasy books are used for ideas for those playing
Dungeons and Dragons games, and "The Legacy" has its own spinoff
game, titled "Menzoberranzan."

FANTASTIC TALES by I. U. Tarchetti, edited and translated by
Lawrence Venuti and illustrated by Jim Pearson. Mercury House
Publishing, 201 Filbert St., San Francisco, CA 94133-0841.
Illustrated, biography. 191 pp., $25.00 cloth. 1-56279-020-X

REVIEW

Iginio Ugo Tarchetti (1839-1869) lived a short, but productive
life. Employee of the Commissariat of War, novelist, journalist,
newspaper editor, translator, poet, political commentator, and
music reviewer, most of his work was published in a short four-year
period.
Venuti, when translating one of the tales in this book,
accidently uncovered a crime. In a story in the New York Times
(8/23/92), Venuti says Tarchetti had taken credit for a story by
Mary Shelley (best known for "Frankenstein"), that Tarchetti had
translated in 1865. The story is called "The Mortal Immortal."
The title Tarchetti gave it was "The Elixir of Mortality." It is
regarded as the first Italian Gothic novel.
While the Italian laws of the mid-1800s did not explicitly
forbid Tarchetti's act, as Shelly's story was legally in the public
domain, Venuti saw the need to explain the morality of it.
The plagiarized work ran in two Italian newspapers. Venuti
says that the motive for the crime was mostly economic. He had
started several unsuccessful newspapers and was in debt, but he
also had a "cultural agenda."
Tarchetti was a member of a group of artists and writers
called the "scapigliati (the disheveled ones)," who wanted social
reform. The publishing of Shelley's work under Tarchetti's name
poked fun at the Italian literary establishment.
"The Elixir of Mortality" is included in "Fantastic Tales,"
along with ten, we hope, Tarchetti originals. Also included is a
Tarchetti biography by Salvatore Farina. Reminiscent of Edgar
Allen Poe and Franz Kafka, the stories are brimming with bizarre
and passionate characters.
"The Letter U," is the best of the batch. The inmate of an
insane asylum tells of earlier days and his obsession with the
letter. It tortures him, but he falls in love with a girl named
Susanna Postumina Uria Giuditta Lucia. He marries her, but he has
terrible dreams of the letter attacking him and smothering him. He
ends up beating his wife and declared crazy by the court. Now he
sits in the asylum, still consumed, waiting for mankind's
emancipation from "this terrible vowel." This story could also be
compared to those of H. P. Lovecraft.
Some of the stories have too much victorian gusto, such as
"Bouvard," in which obsessive love turns into "the soul's final
lament." But overall, while Gothic tales live well in England, an
Italian voice has appeared in the background. Title: THE ZUNI MAN-WOMAN

REVIEW

(David: I reviewed this book for you when it came out in
hardcover, in Issue 393, p. 11.) Would it be possible to use the
same review, changing the bibliographic info to "paper," and
stating that this is the softcover release of the 1991 original
release? The review that ran before is as follows:

Zunis believe that a man with exceptional capabilities at
woman's tasks (and vice-versa) possesses both sexes. He/she is
called berdache. Roscoe tells the story of We'wha, probably the
most famous Zuni man-woman. Dressed as a woman, he went to
Washington, DC, in the late 1800s to show his traditional skills,
and all thought him female. An important addition to the study of
Native American alternative gender roles. -- SGB

Title: ROGUE WAVE

REVIEW

La Jolla's disgraced medical examiner turned hard-as-nails
detective Kiernan O'Shaugnessy is called upon to uncover who ran
down an artist in a red Porsche and left him brain-damaged. This
leads her to the unofficial examination of the charred bodies of
the owner and the deckhand of a charter fishing boat. A hair found
on the boat matches one from the auto accident, and they guide her
to San Francisco's coroner, who is her ex-lover. Very suspenseful.
V. I. Warshawski meets Quincy. -- SGB

Title: DANCING WITH THE DOE

REVIEW

Albuquerque's Randall spent 25 years in Latin America. Born
in New York, she had a hard time getting back in the U.S. due to
her political writings and her membership in the Communist Party.
These 49 poems explore self-awareness, abuse by her grandfather and
other childhood memories, her immigration problems, and her
impressions of friends. "This woman Margaret," she says, "no
longer looks for a place to hide. She stands now in those parts of
her body where doors have opened wide."

Title: THE CODE OF THE WEST

REVIEW

Journalist L'Aloge loves to give his individual stamp to
historical events of the West. This collection of writings from
his "Around The Campfire" column in the Hatch, NM, newspaper, The
Courier, includes the details of a riot in Mesilla's plaza, the
heist of "twenty-five mule loads of gold and silver bars" by the
Hughes and Estrada gangs, early New Mexico lynchings, and the
reproduction of 2/3 of the installments of "The Adventures of Billy
the Kid, as Narrated by Himself." L'Aloge is the Mark Twain of New
Mexico. -- SGB

 AFTER THE SUN SETS

Here are reviews of two books on Native American folklore from the
University of Nebraska Press, 901 N. 17th St., Lincoln, NE 68588-
0520. The University of Nebraska Press online catalog is available
on the Internet by telneting to CRCVMS.UNL.EDU, username INFO,
choosing UNIVERSITY PRESS, and ONLINE CATALOG.

WIGWAM EVENINGS: SIOUX FOLK TALES RETOLD by Charles A. Eastman
(Ohiyesa) and Elaine Goodale Eastman. Illustrated. 253 pp., $7.95
paper. 0-8032-6717-7

CALIFORNIAN INDIAN NIGHTS, compiled by Edward W. Gifford and
Gwendoline Harris Block. Illustrated, index, map. 323 pp., $9.95
paper. 0-8032-7031-3

REVIEW

Both of these books are welcome reprints of long out-of-print
editions. "Wigwam Evenings" was originally published in 1909, and
"Californian Indian Nights" in 1930. Both have new introductions
(by Micheal Dorris and Louise Erdrich, and Albert L. Hurtado,
respectively) and the University Of Nebraska Press has retained the
original typestyles and illustrations, emphasizing the idea that
these folktales are extremely old and have been passed down for
ages.

In "Wigwam," Dorris and Erdrich speak of the need for
folktales to be "sufficiently entertaining to allow frequent
retellings without boredom, and ...memorable enough to be passed on
almost verbatim." The Eastmans gathered twenty-seven tales, told
by Smoky Day in nightly installments.
The narratives were selected to be a cross-section of Sioux
values and beliefs: origin myths, cosmology, politics, and social
custom, told in a manner easy for children to understand. Each
story begins with a short introduction and ends with a moral, such
as, "Do not harm your weaker brothers, for even a little Squirrel
may be the bearer of good fortune!"
The last story (The Ghost Wife) surpasses the others. In the
introduction, Smoky Day speaks to the children of death. "When the
spirit departs," he says, "that too is a mystery, and therefore we
do not speak aloud the name of the dead. There are wonders all
about us, and within, but if we are quiet and obedient to the voice
of the spirit, sometime we may understand these mysteries!"
He tells the story of the ghost woman, the daughter of a
chief, who comes to a boy when he roves the forest. He falls in
love with the vision, and asks her if she may come to live with him
in his village. She says "yes, if you never speak roughly to me or
any child in my presence." He promises, and they live happily
together, until one day he returns tired and frustrated from a hunt
and speaks harshly to his wife and child. They disappear forever.

"Californian Indian Nights," has a much more academic
presentation, edited, however, for a mass audience. Gifford was an
anthropologist at the University of California at Berkeley and
Harris was an administrative aide and editor at the University's
Museum of Anthropology.
They assembled, again, a representative collection of eighty-
two folktales, grouped according to subject matter, such as the
Origin of Man or the Destiny of the Soul. Since there are so many
different tribes in California (in an intricate map, they are
broken up into tribes, groups, dialects, and families as they were
in 1770), several of the stories are repeated. For example, there
are six that relate the "Beginning of the World."
A lengthy introduction details the groupings of the tribes,
outlines their early history, and discusses the arrangement of the
stories, followed by the stories themselves.
Several stories explain why the universe is the way it is. In
"The Stealing of the Sun," told by the Kato Indians of Mendocino
County, the sun originally lived in a house, tied down and covered
by a blanket. Coyote carries the sun away when all in the house
are asleep, and cuts it up into a sun, moon, and stars, and tells
them where to appear. Then, he brought them to the people.
As in the previous book, these tales were told "at night in
the assembly houses and about the campfires" of the various tribes.
They make great stories to be read aloud by campfires, fireplaces,
or bedsides in the 1990s.

THE INFORMATION PLEASE KIDS' ALMANAC by Alice Siegel and Marge
McLoone Basta. Houghton Mifflin Company, 215 Park Avenue South,
N.Y., NY 10003. Illustrated, index. 363 pp., $7.95.
0-395-58801-4

REVIEW

Q. Why did some people want Shel Silverstein's book "A Light
In The Attic" banned?

A. Because there are suggestive illustrations that might
encourage kids to break dishes so they won't have to dry
them.

Definitely not everything a child wants to know, but there is
an abundance of information in this book that a child will find
helpful, as well as entertaining.
Modeled on the adult version, the Kids' Almanac is
alphabetically categorized into the following sections: Animals,
Body and Food, Books, Business and Technology, Creatures,
Disasters, Environment, Language, Laws and Rights, Measuring,
People, Sports, War, and The World.
The almanac isn't meant to be used as an encyclopedia, and
those looking for very specific information may be frustrated.
While one can find out the distance from the Earth to the Sun, they
won't find a list of the Presidents of the United States. The book
is best used when a child is generally curious about a subject and
wants to find out more about it.
For example, in the Languages section are interesting tidbits
on the components of things we use (a window has a lintel, sill,
panes, and a sash), the sources of everyday expressions, the
differences between words that many of us use interchangeably (such
as jelly and jam), the use of secret languages (such as Double-
Dutch and Pig Latin), and the use of slang, dude.
All the entries are on subjects of interest to kids from ages
eight to fifteen, and gaining the interest of a kid in this age
group is an accomplishment. A great birthday or Christmas gift.

GONNA SING MY HEAD OFF: AMERICAN FOLK SONGS FOR CHILDREN, collected
and arranged by Kathleen Krull. Alfred A. Knopf Publishing, 225
Park Avenue South, N.Y., NY 10003. Illustrated, index. 145 pp.,
$20.00 cloth. 0-394-81991-8

REVIEW

With an introduction by Arlo Guthrie, you know that there has
to be one of his songs in this collection. While I believe that
"Comin' Into Los Angeleez" deserves inclusion (and don't tell me
it's not a folk song), I'll have to be content with "The Motorcycle
Song."
Arlo's father, Woodie, is well represented, with "So Long,
It's Been Good Ta Know Ya" and "This Land Is Your Land." But
again, one of my favorite songs by Woodie is missing. You won't
find it included in any music book, and the song is part of a story
that describes Woody's personality quite nicely.
It seems that Woody was singing at a union meeting one night,
and the men were lustily singing along. As Woody was tiredly
leaving the meeting so they could get some business done, he
encountered members of the ladies' auxiliary, who had been having
their own meeting. They corralled him in the hall and demanded
that he sing for them. He obliged, and began to sing:

Oh the ladies' auxiliary,
Is the best auxiliary,
Of any auxiliary,
I ever did see,
It's the ladies'
Aux - il - ya - ree!

He sang this verse over and over, until they threw him out.
The songs in this book, complete with line drawings and music
with guitar chords, run from western ballads (Buffalo Gals) to work
songs (I've Been Workin' on the Railroad) to spirituals (Will the
Circle Be Unbroken, Go Tell It on the Mountain) to patriotic
(Yankee Doodle) to protest (Joe Hill) to nonsense (Oh Susannah!),
with all parts of the country represented. This is a book for
around the campfire, with a guitar, a harmonica, and howling
coyotes or lowing cattle in the background.
Ok, let's really hear you! Everybody join in! "I don't want
a pickle..."

LOVE AND HISSES: THE NATIONAL SOCIETY OF FILM CRITICS SOUND OFF ON
THE HOTTEST MOVIE CONTROVERSIES, edited by Peter Rainer. Mercury
House Publishing, 201 Filbert St., San Francisco, CA 94133-0841.
Illustrated, index. 546 pp., $16.95 paper. 1-56279-031-5

REVIEW

Ever wonder how those less-than-one-star movies still get
those rave reviews printed on the box when they come out on
videotape?
After reviewing a book, I always look for other reviews of it
to see what other writers have observed and brought to print.
There are times when the reviews are so different that I wonder if
we read the same book.
Rainer, movie critic for the Los Angeles Times and president
of the National Society of Film Critics, wonders the same thing
with regard to movies. He has collected the reviews of most of
the well-known critics in the U.S. that appear in print media -
Pauline Kael, Judith Crist, and Terrence Rafferty (New Yorker),
Charles Champlin (L.A. Times), Roger Ebert (Chicago Sun-Times),
Richard Schickel (Time Magazine), Bruce Williamson (Playboy) and of
course, among many others, Rainer himself.
Totally left out, however, are those from the broadcast media,
such as Gene Shalit (Today Show), Leonard Maultin (Entertainment
Tonight), Joel Siegel (Good Morning America), or Denver's own Scott
(Critic At Large) Moody (KCNC-TV).
Nonetheless, the controversies surrounding movies and their
reviewers are, according to Rainer, fun. So is this book.
In the introduction, Rainer answers the question in the first
paragraph: there are literally so many movie reviewers these days,
that for every movie stinker, there is a critic, somewhere, who
adores it. At the same time, for every well-made and well-acted
movie, there are reviewers that will thumb their noses at it.
Rainer has assembled conflicting reviews of roughly eighty-
five (some are just mentioned as an aside) recent and not-so-recent
releases, categorized by type. There are groupings such as Psycho
Drama (Silence of the Lambs, Cape Fear, etc.), Sex Wars (Last Tango
in Paris, Basic Instinct, etc.), and Race Wars (Do The Right Thing,
Mississippi Burning, Boyz N The Hood, etc.).
Also included are essays on subjects (violence, families,
colorization) and people (directors, new black directors, and
actresses).
Rainer feels that the reviews selected bring out the critic's
"leopard spots," and they define the way the writers approach both
movies and criticism. While there are several movies I felt should
be included (every reader will say this), the book is well-balanced
and intelligently assembled. I give it three-and-one-half stars
out of a possible four.
I will be searching for reviews that conflict with mine.

Here are reviews of several recent releases for children:

For ages 12 to 16:

CHILD OF AN ANCIENT CITY by Tad Williams and Nina Kirili Hoffman,
illustrated by Greg Hildebrandt. Atheneum Publishing, 866 Third
Ave., N.Y., NY 10022. Illustrated. 137 pp., $14.95 cloth.
0-689-31577-5

REVIEW

A caravan, bound for the land of the Armenites with gifts for
the Caliph, is accosted by bandits who make off with the offerings.
The survivors begin the trek home, but every night at least one
person disappears.
The leaders of the trek believe that a vampyr is to blame. It
is believed that a vampyr will listen to a story and not attack,
but only if it is compelling enough. Fawn volunteers to be the
night-time storyteller.
The strategy works until the last night, when the vampyr
appears and ups the stakes.
The prose is lively and the plot moves well, but all of the
illustrations are placed in the last chapters.
This is the fifth book of the acclaimed "Dragonflight" series.

THE DREAMKEEPERS by Chris Brodein-Jones. Bradbury Press, 866 Third
Ave., N.Y., NY 10022. 138 pp., $13.95 cloth. 0-02-747862-9

REVIEW

This book has action to spare for those who like to go
exploring.
Derek and Eve Morgan explore the Wales countryside after a
freak snowstorm that Eve had dreamed about for three days. They
find a house that both of them had dreamed about and get separated.
Derek finds men called Dreamkeepers, and Eve finds the evil Iona,
their oppressor, and the cause of the snow. Eve slowly comes under
Iona's influence.
The Dreamkeepers tell Derek that he must go through many
trials to save his sister.
There are many influences on Brodien-Jones in this book, among
them are the classic "Flowers For Algernon," "The Chronicles of
Narnia," Dungeons and Dragons, and those jumping-kicking-and-flying
brothers Mario and Luigi. Far-fetched in places, there is still
enough here for the fantasy to endure.

For ages 10 to 14:

ROCKS AND MINERALS: THE VISUAL GUIDE TO MORE THAN 500 ROCKS AND
MINERALS FROM AROUND THE WORLD by Chris Pellant. Dorling
Kindersley Books, Inc., 232 Madison Ave., N.Y., NY 10016.
Illustrated, index, glossary, map. 256 pp., $17.95 paper.
1-56458-061-X

REVIEW

This is the book I wanted when I was a child, hiking along,
finding rocks, and wondering what they were. As I grew older and
moved to Tucson, Arizona, many of my hikes took me past the tailing
piles (places where the extracted material not containing the ore
is dumped) of mines that were streaked with blue or green. Upon
closer examination, these piles had rare and valuable specimens of
Malachite, Azurite, and Chrysocholla.
In February of each year, Tucson is the host of the largest
gem and mineral show in the world. A few weeks before the show, I
would scour the mines for Arizona specimens and when the show came
to town, I would trade them for rubies, emeralds, tourmalines, and
other minerals that are hard to find in Arizona.
In Colorado, specimens are much harder to find, but they are
still available. I'm planning a trip next summer to the top of Mt.
Antero to collect aquamarine specimens.
"Rocks and Minerals" begins with instructions for getting
started: assembling equipment (you don't really need all the stuff
listed) and organizing the collection (I just put mine on several
close-to-breaking shelves), then turns instructional.
Several sections outline the difference between a rock and a
mineral, their formation and composition, and most importantly,
mineral characteristics (such as hardness, cleavage, and specific
gravity).
The rest of the book is an encyclopedic pictorial description
of more than 500 specimens, divided into minerals, then rocks, and
arranged from the simple to the more complex. Using more than 600
photographs, Pellant encloses each entry in a box with a photo and
a description. At the top and bottom of each box is information on
the group the specimen belongs to, its chemical formula, hardness,
specific gravity, cleavage, and fracture. Also included is an
illustration of its crystal shape.
An important entry is left out, however. Pellant neglects to
tell the reader where representative specimens occur.
Perfect for getting started and identifying rocks and
minerals, the reader will soon have this book dusty and dogeared
from being carried along on specimen-gathering treks.
The book is one in a series by Dorling Kindersley, called
"Eyewitness Handbooks."

THE GREAT ATLAS OF DISCOVERY: A PICTORIAL ATLAS OF WORLD
EXPLORATION by Neil Grant, illustrated by Peter Morter. Alfred A.
Knopf Publishing, 225 Park Avenue South, N.Y., NY 10003.
Illustrated, maps, index. 64 pp., $20.00 cloth. 0-679-81660-7

REVIEW

Some sciences, such as Astronomy, stay in their infancy for
centuries, while others, such as Chemistry, grow by leaps and
bounds (traditionally called breakthroughs). The science of
Geography, it seems, is enjoying its role as a senior citizen of
sciences.
There is little land of the Earth without human footprints on
it, and satellites have shown us what we will see once we get
there. Geographers, in addition to filling in those few missing
areas, are now content to trace how humans change the landscape.
Specialized programs in Geography concentrate on "Man In The
Environment," an interdisciplinary approach utilizing philosophy,
psychology, and biology.
This atlas takes us back to Geography's renaissance, roughly
from 600 B.C. to the 1890s (there is one page on modern
exploration). All the great ones are here, from the early voyages
of the Phoenicians and Pytheas, to the Chinese, Vikings, Muslims,
the Polynesians.
The voyages of Columbus are chronicled (there is mention of
his inability to govern, and his arrest and imprisonment in chains,
but Native Americans will say that the book neglects to mention
that he started an imperialist legacy of genocide that has endured
up to this day), as well as those of Magellan, Drake, Hudson, Lewis
and Clark (whose voyage was a long hike), Cortes, de Soto, Cartier,
Cook, and Darwin.
Each double-page spread details an aspect of the exploration
of a certain geographic area, with exploration routes and
illustrations of some of the animals and people the explorers
found.
While the book will hold the interest of the reader, I would
temper its reading with a discussion of the ideas of "conquest" and
"discovery."

For ages 8 to 12:

PATTERN and FLIGHT, both by Kim Taylor. John Wiley and Sons, Inc.,
605 Third Ave., N.Y., NY 10158-0012. Illustrated, glossary. Each
is 32 pp., and $12.95 paper on board. Pattern is 0-471-57982-3,
Flight is 0-471-57983-1

REVIEW

These are two books in the series, "Flying Start Science." In
"Patterns," the reader is introduced to the concepts of arrangement
of things at regular intervals, whether conscious - as in getting
dressed, or unconscious - how water forms when a glass of it is
upset.
Sections outline natural patterns (pine cones or sea shells),
human patterns (streets and quilts), radial patterns (starfish and
flower), repeating patterns (a row of pencils or the spines of a
cactus), and the use of patterns to camouflage or warn danger away.
Also mentioned are patterns that overlap, branch, spiral, or have
stripes.
The last section is a guessing game to identify what a pattern
is part of, similar to the ones each month in "Games" magazine.
Each section has an activity to perform, such as a potato stamp
that can be used to make repeating patterns.
"Flight" is a bit harder to find patterns, but Taylor looks at
certain aspects of birds, spiders, squirrels, and cats, and
compares them to human efforts to emulate them. She covers lift,
freefall, parachutes, gliding, different types of wings, taking
off, landing, hovering, and floating. Young craftspeople can make
hot air bubbles, parachutes, a windmill, or a bat kite.
Both of these books are colorfully illustrated and will hold
the child's interest. Please make sure, though, that the 8-12
year-old reader doesn't try a flight experiment with a younger
sister or brother off the roof. It won't make a pleasant pattern.

For ages 4 to 6:

THE WILD SWANS by Hans Christian Anderson, retold by Deborah
Hautzig with illustrations by Kaarina Kaila. Alfred A. Knopf
Publishing, 225 Park Avenue South, N.Y., NY 10003. Illustrated.
25 pp., $12.00 cloth. 0-679-83446-X

REVIEW

This is the first American printing of the cherished fairy
tale of a young girl's sacrifices to end a hex placed on her
brothers that has turned them into swans. The book was originally
published in Finland under the title: "Villijoutsenet."
Hautzig tells the story of Elisa and her eleven brothers,
children of the king, who read "elegant picture books that cost
half the kingdom." The king marries an evil queen, who turns the
brothers into swans. She tells the king lies about the princess,
and the king turns against her and sends her away.
When the king misses his daughter and sends for her, the queen
dresses her so the king no longer recognizes her. Elisa again
leaves in despair. She roams the countryside and arrives at a
beach, where, after the sun sets, eleven swans turn into her
brothers.
The brothers, who are human at night, make a net and carry
Elisa to a new homeland. In a dream, a fairy tells her how to
overcome the spell, which will test her patience. She must gather
prickly nettle, stomp in it until it is like flax, and sew eleven
shirts. As each brother puts it on, the spell is broken. She must
perform the task without speaking. If she says one word, the
brothers will die. Her endurance is tested many times, but we all
know the end of fairy tales.
The accompanying illustrations are soft and dreamy
watercolors, with muted green backgrounds.

GRANDMA'S JEWELRY BOX by Linda Milstein, illustrated by Jean
Hirashima. Random House Books, 201 E. 50th St., N.Y., NY 10022.
Illustrated. 10 pp., $8.00 cloth. 0-679-81973-8

REVIEW

When imagining treasure, boys dream of the caves of Ali Baba
or finding an outlaw cache under a pile of rocks after following a
map to the spot. When girls look for treasure, they go to
Grandma's jewelry box.
The box in this book has several levels, each with an
activity. The first page is the top of the box, with a ballerina.
The caption says she twirls, but the pop-up figure doesn't turn.
It would have been better to fasten the figure with a pivot.
Drawers, bins, and cases contain bangles, hairpins, Grandpa's
medals and cuff links (in special cases that can be opened), rows
of rings (that can be tried on), earrings (in a black lacquer box),
and the very best of all - a locket with a special picture inside.

MY FIRST BOOK OF NURSERY TALES retold by Marianna Mayer,
illustrated by William Joyce. Random House Books, 201 E. 50th St.,
N.Y., NY 10022. Illustrated. 45 pp., $10.00 cloth.
0-394-85396-2

REVIEW

The five stories in this volume are: "Goldilocks and the Three
Bears," "The Little Red Hen," "The Three Billy Goats Gruff," "The
Gingerbread Man," and "The Three Little Pigs." Each of these tales
is chosen for its particular "lesson for life." Few children know
that each tale has a moral to it. They can tell the story word for
word, but a blank stare meets the question, "What does the story
mean?"
In "Goldilocks," she is a bad girl for going into someone
else's house, eating their food, breaking their chairs, and
sleeping in the little bear's bed with her shoes on. Moral: don't
be too curious.
In "The Little Red Hen," no-one will help the industrious hen
who found some grains of wheat plant, cut, thresh, grind, or bake
it. When it is baked, though, they all want some, but get none.
Moral: only those helping in a process will get credit for its
success.
In my favorite of the five, "The Three Billy Goats Gruff," a
troll wants to eat a goat crossing a bridge he lives under. The
smallest goes first and points to the larger one who will be a
bigger and better meal. When the largest comes along, he butts the
troll into the river. Moral: don't let someone make you believe
that the next opportunity will be better.
In "The Gingerbread Boy," a childless man and wife bake a
gingerbread boy who runs away as soon as the oven door is opened.
They and several others give chase, but the boy always gets away,
until a crafty fox outwits and finally eats him. Moral: when one
has the upper hand, they cannot depend on it to last forever.
The last story, "The Three Little Pigs," is best known for its
moral, which has been taken from the Bible: the pig that prepares
for trouble the best will outwit the wolf, just as the wise man who
built his house upon the rock (unlike the foolish man, who built
his house upon the sand), "when the rains came tumbling down."
This first book has characters that won't frighten small
children. In my first "Three Billy Goats Gruff" book, the troll
was so scary that I cried when I looked at the picture. Here, all
the characters in the five stories live in the same neighborhood,
and are painted in soft earth tones.
I've tried to imagine what kind of case a lawyer would see in
some of these tales, but that's another story.

For children of all ages:

THE TWELVE CATS OF CHRISTMAS, written and illustrated by Kandy
Radzinski. Chronicle Books, 275 Fifth Street, San Francisco, CA
94103. Illustrated. 32 pp., $9.95 cloth. 0-8118-0102-0

REVIEW

Help! In this story, my true love gives me seventy-nine cats!
And no cat food, no flea collars, no scratch posts, no catnip.
What gives?
Twelve cats are leaping all over the house, eleven are racing
around, ten are hunting who knows what, nine are hiding (thank
goodness), three are climbing the curtains, the rest are just in
the way.
Seriously, this is the ideal Christmas book for the cat lover.
It even has a To: and From: box on the first page.
If you get cats from Radzinski for Christmas, don't worry
about the cat food. She does the drawing for the print advertising
for Tender Vittles.

A TREASURY OF CHILDREN'S LITERATURE, edited by Armand Eisen.
Houghton Mifflin Company, 215 Park Avenue South, N.Y., NY 10003.
Illustrated. 303 pp., $24.95 cloth. 0-395-53349-X

REVIEW

They're all here, in this wonderfully illustrated book. An
entire library of stories, fairy tales, poems and verses.
The best genres are represented: traditional stories (such as
"Sleeping Beauty"), Aesop's Fables, Grimm's Fairy Tales, Mother
Goose, a section of classic excerpts from longer works (such as
"Peter Pan," and "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"), R.L.
Stevenson's "Garden of Verses," American legends (such as John
Henry and Paul Bunyan), and fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen.
It's hard to tell who is retelling the story or illustrating
it without a close look at the table of contents. Most of the
stories are retold by Shiela Black, with Eisen serving as a general
overseer of the work.
Various illustrators are used, with Scott Gustafson serving as
the "featured" illustrator. His illustrations for "The Night
Before Christmas" are stunning.
This book is one that will be read, re-read, and handed down.
My only regret is that each story is missing its background
information, such as where it fits in the context of children's
stories. While not important to those being read to, the
information may be helpful to older readers.Title: RUNNING WILD

REVIEW

Both a nature guide and a story of recovery and endurance against
the odds. John Annerino, injured in a climbing accident that left
doctors wanting to amputate his foot, forced himself to heal. His
goal was not only to run again, but to run the length of the Grand
Canyon. We are right beside Annerino as he runs ancient Native
American trade routes, every step an exhilirating victory. -- SGB

Title: OUTLAW TALES -- Out of Scope

Title: AMERICAN INDIAN POLICY IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

REVIEW

Vine Deloria, Jr. has assembled eleven essays on Native American
issues in this paperback reissue of the 1985 edition. The book
pulls together different facets of Indian policy, including human
rights, Supreme Court rulings, Indian voting, tribal government,
economic development, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, water rights,
and their relationships. The concluding chapter is a highly-
charged essay by the editor, titled "Evolution of Federal Indian
Policy Making," which underscores the need for contextual
approaches to problem solving in Indian Country. -- SGB

Title: GREGORY, MAW, AND THE MEAN ONE

REVIEW

A kid with a talking crow for a mother, a cross-dressing outlaw,
and travel through time to save the ficticious old-western town of
Sharpesville, combine with childhood romance and adventure.
Sprinkle with liberal doses of wry humor, and you've got a recipe
for good reading if you're age is 8-12, pardner.
-- SGBCOUSTEAU'S GREAT WHITE SHARK by Jean-Michel Cousteau and Mose
Richards. Abrams Books, 100 Fifth Ave., N.Y., NY 10011.
Illustrated, map. 176 pp., $29.95 cloth. 0-8109-3181-8

REVIEW

If you missed the TBS television special, "The Great White
Shark: Lonely Lord of the Sea," earlier this month, you can still
buy the commemorative book. At the Smithsonian Institution last
month, Jean-Michel Cousteau charged the United States government
with being the source of "major problems, environmentally
speaking." He also says that our fear of sharks comes from
ignorance.
The goal of Cousteau's latest work is to increase our
knowledge of sharks, as well as, he says, to see a great white
himself. In order to do so, he had to strew the ocean with bloody
horsemeat (it's cheap), sometimes for days at a time, in order to
attract a shark.
Aboard the Alcyone, Cousteau began a two-and-a-half year study
at Dangerous Reef, off the coast of Australia. He ran many
experiments in his undersea laboratory. Some are confusing, such
as the launching of a mechanical shark which was torn to bits by a
real shark during its initial encounter. Others, however, change
our perception of sharks.
Over thirty sharks were tagged and had transmitters attached,
as well as being observed and sketched from submerged cages. One
shark, Cousteau says, travelled 481 miles in 27 days. Whether
sharks, as a rule, roam over great distances, has not yet been
proved, but the evidence from this research suggests that at least
some do.
Over 120 full-color photographs represent sharks up close,
from both the boat and the cages. Cousteau says that when the
sharks approached the photographers, they were confused and wary.
Here was lots of blood, but little meat, and a bunch of funny-
looking fish with machines and steel mesh shells.
The reader may not become less fearful of sharks from reading
this book, but they will definitely come away with much more
knowledge and a healthy respect for the "largest predator of the
ocean."

Here are reviews of two new books on the Aztecs:

MOCTEZUMA'S MEXICO: VISIONS OF THE AZTEC WORLD by David Carrasco
and Eduardo Matos Moctezuma. University Press of Colorado, P.O.
Box 849, Niwot, CO 80544. Illustrated, index, glossary,
bibliography, maps, notes. 188 pp., $45 cloth. 0-87081-263-7

AZTEC: THE WORLD OF MOCTEZUMA by Jane S. Day. Denver Museum of
Natural History and Roberts Reinhart Publishers, P.O. Box 666,
Niwot, CO 80544-0666. Illustrated, index, glossary, bibliography,
notes. 88 pp., $16.95 paper. 1-879373-19-X

REVIEW

These two books commemorate the current exhibit at the Denver
Museum of Natural History, titled "Aztec: The World of Moctezuma,"
which opened last month (Sept.) and will run through Feb. 21, 1993.
In this quincentennial year of the voyage of Columbus and
approaching the quincentennial of Cortes' landing at Mexico and the
conquest of the Aztec, the Museum is making light of the positive
aspects of the meeting of the cultures, especially the Aztec
contributions of foods, sports, and scientific knowledge. Jane S.
Day, chief curator, has supervised the multimedia re-creation of
the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan, which was located on the present-
day site of Mexico City. Tenochtitlan, in the 16th century, was an
urban center with a population of over 250,000.
Colorful murals and dioramas give insights into the daily
lives of the Aztec people. One mural shows that the Aztecs had a
sophisticated canal system. Farm and marketplace mock-ups depict
fields of corn, tortilla-making, and the selling of an extensive
and varied collection of wares. Several exhibits show the
importance of human sacrifice.
Also on exhibit are examples of Aztec architecture, art, and
jewelry. Statues, carvings, ceramic figures, and knives are
dwarfed by a two story reproduction of a double pyramid called the
"Templo Mayor." There are two temples at the top, one for the God
of Rain, the other for the God of Sun and War. These serve as a
reminder that the Aztecs were both agrarian and militaristic.
Of the two books commemorating the exhibit, "Moctezuma's
Mexico" is the most ambitious. The book contains four essays and
over 140 color and black-and-white illustrations, from photographs
of ancient sites, to pictures from ancient manuscripts, to close-
ups of large and small stone and wood sculptures, to implements
such as vessels and drums.
In the essays, Eduardo Matos Moctezuma, director of the Museo
del Templo Mayor, outlines the history of the Aztec people. There
is debate, he says, over the Aztec place of origin. The records
from archeological digs are, so far, inconclusive. Moctezuma
points out that, even though the Aztec people were warlike, they
had a highly developed system of painting, poetry, and art. He
also examines Aztec myth, ritual, and symbolism.
The other essays look more closely at recent research results,
which challenge current interpretations. David Carrasco, director
of the Mesoamerican Archive and Research Project and professor of
Religious Studies at the Boulder campus of the University of
Colorado, explores the wonders that the Spanish explorers found
upon their arrival to the world of Moctezuma, and the continuing
richness of archaeological data still being unearthed.
Archaeoastronomer Anthony F. Aveni and investigator of pre-
Columbian society Elizabeth Hill Boone examine Aztec cosmovision,
and the meanings behind the Aztec manuscripts (codices and
lienzos), respectfully.
In "Aztec," curator Jane S. Day also gives us a close-up look
at the artifacts on display as part of the Museum exhibit.
Impressionistic paintings give a glimpse of what Tenochtitlan may
have looked like, and, again, there are abundant reproductions from
manuscripts. Essays detail the Chinampa System (farmers, who had
a mystical relationship with corn, were the backbone of Aztec
society), Aztec city life, the marketplace, social makeup,
religion, and the Templo Mayor. The book ends with an account of
the coming of Cortes and the fall of Tenochtitlan in 1519.
While "Moctezuma's Mexico" is the more scholarly of the two
books, "Aztec" not only commemorates the exhibit, but also serves
as a primary introduction to the Aztec culture for middle and high
school readers.

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PHYSICAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, 2ND EDITION,
edited by Robert A. Meyers. Academic Press, 1250 Sixth Ave., San
Diego, CA 92101-4311. 18 volumes, illustrated, index,
bibliography. 13,500 pp., $2100.00 cloth. 0-12-226391-4

REVIEW

Five years ago, the Chicago Tribune called the first edition
of this set "awesome." The second edition is even better, pushing
scientists even further in their quest to uncover the Laws of
Nature and Energy while giving college students a firm basis of
physical science reference. The goal of the encyclopedia is to
track physical processes as they are discovered and shifted to
technological applications and accompanying social changes. One
branch of political science investigates the policy implications of
technologic developments.
The second edition has had many changes. Robert A. Meyers
says in his preface that each author of an article in the first
edition was asked to modify their manuscripts in light of the new
knowledge available. The articles were then reviewed by a 57-
member Advisory Board (several of whom are Nobel prize winners),
who also recruited additional articles. To reflect the changes,
the set is 20% longer, 85% of it was either updated or completely
rewritten (155 new articles were added, for a total of 705), and a
70,000-entry subject index was added in a separate volume.
A typical entry begins with a contents list of the article
(the article on Air Pollution, for example is split into: Role of
the Atmosphere; Atmospheric Transport, Dilution, and Mixing;
Atmospheric Chemistry; Deposition; and Air Quality), a glossary,
the article, and a bibliography. Each entry is about 20 pages
long, and packed with charts, graphs, tables, and the ever-present
and significant formula derivations.
My only criticism is that some of the bibliographic entries
could be more current. The most current bibliographic entry in the
aforementioned article on air pollution is from 1990, with most of
the entries centering around the early 1980s. Of course, the
student, researcher, or technician may easily consult "Science
Citation Index" for the latest research results and applications.
The text shines as scientific writing. Clear, concise, and
enlightening, each entry showcases an author who cares deeply for
his discipline. Consider the entry by Ulrich J. Krull and Michael
Thompson of the University of Toronto, who collaborated on
"Analytical Chemistry." In addressing future perspectives in the
discipline, they do not fail to note the importance of the
knowledge of the analyst above the sophistication of his
instruments: "... until artificial intelligence makes its debut in
instrumentation," they say, "the chemical knowledge of the analyst
will always be of paramount importance." If my guess is correct,
artificial intelligence won't replace the analyst either.
While there will always be a lag between the discoveries of
scientists and researchers in the physical sciences and the
dissemination of information on them, you can depend on seeing the
first complete presentation in "The Encyclopedia of Physical
Science and Technology." College, research, and public libraries
will benefit from the addition of this set, as will private and
governmental laboratories.