The Maturing Mind. By T. H. Pear.

DISCUSSION BOOKS

National Self-Sufficiency. By P. H. Asher.

Drama and Life. By Roger Dataller.

What About India ? By L. F. Rushbrook Williams.

Physical Education. By M. L. Jacks.

The Responsible Citizen. By S. H. Cair.

Factory Law. By C. D. Rackham.

Rude Mechanicals. By Nora Ratcliff.

Our Spoken Language. By A. Lloyd James.

The Material of English History. By F. J. Weaver.

The French Political Scene. By D. M. Pickles.

The International Share-Out. By Barbara Ward.

Psychology and the Religious Quest. By R. B. Cauca.

The New Farming. By D. H. Robinson.

The Adult Class. By A. J. J. Ratcliff.

(Nelson. 2s. each.)

THESE fifteen books, together with Mr. R. S. Lambert's excellent little volume on Propaganda, are the first instalments of a series published by Messrs. Nelson at the uniform price of 2s. and edited by Dr. Wilson and Mr. A. J. J. Ratcliff. The object of the series is revealed by its name : Discussion Books. The sort of public for which it is designed is composed of students who attend adult classes and University Extension Lectures, and the reader who does not belong to this group of people must remember, if he does not find in these books just what he wants, the limitations which their scope necessarily imposes on them. They are primarily intended for people who have neither special knowledge nor the means of acquiring it, who approach their subjects with minds tired by the day's work and, from the circumstances of their early lives, probably lack the general culture which would enable them quickly and effortlessly to grasp the wider implications of the subject under study. They are intended to give a basis for that most valuable feature of the adult class, the period of discussion which usually follows the lecture, and to suggest further lines of study. It would be unfair to apply to the series the same canons as to the Home University series or even to Bean's Sixpenny Series ; but several books in it would bear comparison even with the standards set by the former, and most of the books will very well serve their purpose.

A critic who has to review a number of books such as this must, unless he has no other occupation, be content to savour the bouquet without draining the glass. To read them all before writing would be a task too exacting for the most conscientious of reviewers, while the least conscientious would pause before pretending that he had read them all from cover to cover. Thus I have only given the most super- ficial of glances to Professor Rushbrook Williams's book, What About India ? But this was enough to convince me that I must keep it and read it at .the earliest possible opportunity. It is written in the belief that it is not only immensely desirable but also practicable for a free India to remain inside the British Commonwealth. Professor T. H. Pear's Tim Maturing Mind, which is chosen to head the series, seems to be an effective and interesting statement of the case for adult education. Among the books on economic subjects I think pride of place should be given to Mr. P. H. Asher's National Self-Sufficiency, of which I have read a good deal. It is original and realistic in its treatment of the subject, and should be highly successful in provoking good discussion. The Inter- national Share-Out is competent though rather stereotyped, while The New Farming is also competent but is perhaps rather technical. Mrs. Rackham's Factory Lay. should be invaluable for those who desire a guide to the subject.

Several of the books, naturally, deal with education and psychology. Among these, Mr. M. L. Jacks's Physical Educa- tion should prove a useful corrective to the many crude ideas which are widely held on this subject. The Maturing Mind has already been mentioned. Mr. A. J. J. Ratcliff's The Adult Class will probably be useful to the aspiring teacher, but there is a certain pemicketiness about it which aroused my distrust. For instance, the author says that to create the right impression on the class, "If we are neatly made, quiet spruce clothes will be right : if burly, easy homely clothes will be much better than an attempt to look smart." Surely the man or woman who has the sense to wish to improve himself or herself also has the sense not to be ruled by his or her first impressions ? Is the aim to be a large class or a good class ? Again, I should have thought that a reference, which Mr. Ratcliff's model teaches makes, to a disorder as a " how-d'ye-do "—would have been calculated to increase disorder, not disarm it. Professor Cattell's book on Pyschology and the Religious Quest is the one book which strikes me as being definitely unsuitable for its purpose. I doubt whether students of the type under consideration are greatly interested in the Theopsyche, nor do I regard it as a useful approach to a subject to make a begged question a major premise. It may be true that religion is a dying force, but it has to be proved, and - statistics of church attendance really do not advance the argument very much. Taking the Church of England, much derided by the intellectuals, it is now in a state of feverish activity if compared with the mid-eighteenth century ; but the Church survived even that.

So much for the books which I have not read, at least with care. I decided to read three of the series : Mr. S. H. Cair's The Responsible Citizen, Miss D. M. Pickles' The French Political Scene, and Mr. Roger Dataller's Drama and Life. I chose the first because it covers ground with which I imagine myself to be familiar, the second partly because of topical interest but mainly because this was a subject on which I needed such knowledge as I have to be refreshed and brought up to date, and the third because I imagined I should approach the subject with about the same amount of knowledge as the average adult student.

The Responsible Citizen is an admirable book. Not only does it set out the major problems of politics with great objectivity, but the clarity of its explanations of the more technical issues, such as Proportional Representation, gives it value for every student of politics. The French Political Scene is a book about which it is difficult to restrain one's enthusiasm. It has the unerring lucidity which can only come from complete mastery of the subject. It is equally good in describing the background of French politics, French economic life, and the historical importance of the clerical question, and in its analysis of so contemporary a question as the economic policy of the Front Populaire. This last is probably the best section of what I regard as the best book in the series, though many will no doubt find the discussion of French foreign policy more interesting—and on the major question I must reserve judgement till I have read Professor Rushbrook Williams's book.

Drama and Life is a brilliantly written book, though I detest some of Mr. Dataller's colloquialisms and his frequent use of "etcetera." It makes a most stimulating survey of the development of the drama, it is full of most acute criticism, and, like Miss Pickles's book and Mr. Asher's, it should have an appeal to a far wider public than that to which it is