Chapter seventeen
of the volume gives an interesting sketch of his early years and incidentally shows what problems the French pedagogue had to meet back in the last century. The book makes a big appeal to the young imagination in such expressions as the caddis-worm “pirates,” the “insect submarines,” and the “spider’s telegraph wires.” His life stories of familiar insects will prove fascinating because he touches into life the human quality; because instead of ripping up an animal and turning it into an object of horror and pity in the dissecting room he studies it alive “under the blue sky to the song of the cicadas.”
“After reading what he has to say about the mysteries of the spider, we feel as we did after reading Maeterlinck’s incomparable ‘Life of the bee.’ His books should be received with the appreciation they deserve. They are written by a great lover of nature who happened to be a great scientist as well.”
+ =Lit D= 55:54 D 8 ‘17 140w
“Will give young people a new interest in the natural life around them.”
+ =N Y Times= 22:571 D 23 ‘17 50w
“The great virtue of Fabre as an author for children is that he teaches the habit of patient and precise observation. There should, then, be a welcome for ‘Insect adventures.’”
+ =Springf’d Republican= p15 D 1 ‘17 80w
=FABRE, JEAN HENRI CASIMIR.= Life of the grasshopper; tr. by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos. *$1.50 (1½c) Dodd 595.7 17-9824
The translator says, “I have ventured in the present volume to gather together, under the somewhat loose and inaccurate title of ‘The life of the grasshopper,’ the essays scattered over the ‘Souvenirs entomologiques’ that treat of grasshoppers, crickets, locusts and such insects as the cicada, or cigale, the mantis and the cuckoo-spit, or, to adopt the author’s happier and more euphonious term, the foamy cicadella. They exhaust the number of the orthopterous and homopterous insects discussed by Henri Fabre.” Some of the chapters have appeared in a translation by Bernard Miall, published with the title “Social life in the insect world.”
+ =A L A Bkl= 13:336 My ‘17
+ =Dial= 63:214 S 13 ‘17 290w
“This volume attests his delicacy of observation, his humor of description, his unequaled and astonishing patience.”
+ =Lit D= 56:40 Ja 12 ‘18 90w
“It goes without saying that we have here, once more, all the sincerity, sagacity, keen sight and insight, and the ripe ‘human’ flavor that have already made a half-dozen volumes of Fabre popular in translation.”
* + =Nation= 105:155 Ag 9 ‘17 100w
“In this book, as always, Fabre’s interest centers in instinct; but here as elsewhere, in spite of the accumulation of accurately determined data, he makes no contribution to the solution of the problem of the essential nature of instinct. One loves Fabre for his inveterate aversion to the intricate panoply of modern scientific research, but one sees him as the last of his race.” E. S. S.
+ =New Repub= 12:165 S 8 ‘17 950w
+ =Springf’d Republican= p10 Ap 27 ‘17 220w
=FABRE, JEAN HENRI CASIMIR.= Story-book of science. il *$2 (2c) Century 504 17-25300
This volume, translated from the nineteenth French edition by Florence Constable Bicknell, is one of a series of elementary science works written by the eminent French naturalist in the belief that the truths of nature could be made more interesting than fiction to young people. The translator says, “The identity of the ‘Uncle Paul,’ who ... plays the story-teller’s part, is not hard to guess; and the young people who gather about him to listen to his true stories ... are, without doubt, the author’s own children, in whose companionship he delighted and whose education he conducted with wise solicitude.” The stories are not limited to the insect life which engrossed so much of the author’s attention. The wonders of the rocks, the planets, the flowers and fruits and of the sea are disclosed to the children’s eager minds.
“Delightful for reading aloud as they will interest grown folk as well as some of the older boys and girls.”
+ =A L A Bkl= 14:100 D ‘17
Reviewed by J: Walcott
+ =Bookm= 46:497 D ‘17 110w
“The author’s wide grasp of scientific facts has been no barrier in making a book for young readers that endows these facts with the witchery of fairy lore.”
+ =Boston Transcript= p8 N 10 ‘17 30w
“It should prove an invaluable book for growing children: a book of reference in answering intelligently numerous and constant queries of childhood.”
+ =Lit D= 56:39 Ja 26 ‘18 190w
“Curiosity and the love of story are here blended in just proportions. Miss Bicknell has furnished a competent English translation and the Century company has done its share by publishing it on good paper in admirably clear type.”
+ =New Repub= 13:104 N 24 ‘17 170w
“We owe a debt of thanks to translator and publisher who have put into our hands in English words Fabre’s stories of sciences for children. For to his well-known charm of style and his knowledge, Fabre adds an understanding of the child’s mind.” Maud Thompson
+ =N Y Call= p15 N 11 ‘17 550w
=FABRE D’OLIVET, ANTOINE=, tr. Golden verses of Pythagoras; done into English by Nayán Louise Redfield. il *$3 (3½c) Putnam 182 17-9234
Fabre d’Olivet, an eighteenth century philosopher, translated the “Golden verses of Pythagoras” into French, with “a discourse upon the essence and form of poetry among the principal peoples of the earth” as a preface. He also wrote a more extended “Examination of the golden verses,” which was first published in 1813. For the present volume Miss Redfield has translated both these discourses, and she presents also, in addition to the Greek and French versions, an English translation of the “Golden verses.”
“In the ‘Golden verses of Pythagoras’ Fabre d’Olivet illustrates at the same time a philosophical insight which amounts to genius, and a self-centred frenzy of purpose which touches genius on the one hand and insanity on the other. The general effect of self-hypnosis is furthered by a fluency and warmth of style in the original which Miss Redfield admirably succeeds in retaining in her translation.” R. W.
=Boston Transcript= p9 Mr 31 ‘17 450w
“Fabre d’Olivet died in 1825. At no time have orthodox scholars taken him and his attempts to recover what is called the ancient wisdom seriously. His theories, however, have been popularized by M. Édouard Schurer in his cinematic survey of religions, ‘Les grands initiés,’ and have had considerable success.”
=Dial= 62:406 My 3 ‘17 340w
+ =Lit D= 55:38 N 3 ‘17 300w
— =Nation= 104:765 Je 28 ‘17 600w
=N Y Br Lib News= 4:78 My ‘17
“The translator has preserved a capable, selective vision and sympathetic understanding of the high content and beauty of the Pythagorean teachings.”
+ =N Y Times= 22:323 S 2 ‘17 450w
+ — =Springf’d Republican= p17 O 28 ‘17 350w
=The Times [London] Lit Sup= p570 N 22 ‘17 70w
=FAIRBANKS, DOUGLAS.= Laugh and live. il *$1 (3c) Britton pub. 174 17-13235
These nineteen essays in the vein of Pollyanna are by a popular star of the “movies,” who chats cheerfully on such topics as: Building up a personality; Cleanliness of body and mind; Physical and mental preparedness, etc.
+ =Lit D= 55:33 S 1 ‘17 50w
“Mr Fairbanks talks his honest heart out in this book. He takes you into his confidence, talks to you as man to man, quite like Billy Sunday chatting with God. ... Success is his god, a sleek, smiling fetish. He voices and radiates the desire of America. ... His is the quintessential creed of a society that perhaps nothing short of war and calamity can galvanize into a realization of the swollen hollowness of its egotism.”
— =New Repub= 12:113 Ag 25 ‘17 650w
“As for success, he sums it up: ‘We find that a sound body, a good mind, an honest purpose, and a lack of fear are the essential elements of success.’ That is a large order, certainly! But just as certainly it is sane and wholesome. That is where the merit of Mr Fairbanks’s
## book lies for his readers; he puts a tremendous amount of breeziness
into excellent platitudes.”
+ =N Y Times= 22:382 O 7 ‘17 700w
=FAIRCHILD, HENRY PRATT.=[2] Outline of applied sociology. *$1.75 (2c) Macmillan 302 17-50
For descriptive note see Annual for 1916.
“The larger contribution of Professor Fairchild’s book to the textbook literature of sociology is in its clear presentation of the relationships between wages, working conditions, efficiency, housing, and the more specific aspects of the problem of living standards and social welfare. No other general textbook goes so fully into these matters, and yet they are not here discussed from a merely descriptive or analytical standpoint. Conclusions and implications are most carefully drawn from the data presented.” L. L. Bernard
+ =Am Econ R= 7:601 S ‘17 460w
“As to weaknesses, the reviewer finds only those which naturally might be expected to follow from the tremendous size of the task which the author has undertaken. It is a contribution to a comprehensive consideration of social life and progress on the part of the person who is beginning a scientific study of society.” E. S. Bogardus
+ =Am J Soc= 23:269 S ‘17 500w
“A fresh and independent treatment, developed in a scholarly yet popular way, and suggestive to students in connection with other books on the subject, though the theoretical background, to some critics, seems quite inadequate.”
+ — =A L A Bkl= 13:288 Ap ‘17
“The esthetic life is scantily treated. To the intellectual life are allotted barely two pages on education, while science, the most powerful intellectual force, is entirely ignored. Religion, by which the author seems to mean Christianity, is treated from the conventional, up-to-date Christian point of view. Much emphasis [is put] upon the abnormal and pathological aspects of social life. The principal defect of this book is that it utterly ignores biology and psychology.” Maurice Parmelee
– + =Ann Am Acad= 72:243 Jl ‘17 400w
+ =Ind= 91:137 Jl 28 ‘17 70w
“An excellent text for the college classroom. The student will find in it unevasive information or controverted questions, and a commonsense guidance at every turn. It is a book, nevertheless, that will make intellectual trouble. Every teacher that uses it will ask, and in his own way will answer, the question, whether the subject-matter here presented is in any proper sense sociology, either pure or applied.”
+ — =Nation= 105:272 S 6 ‘17 620w
“The style is simple, clear, and thoroughly readable.”
+ =N Y Times= 22:58 F 18 ‘17 250w
“His treatment of specific topics may be regarded as more summary than that of other writers in this field, but there is a compensating advantage in the emphasis placed upon the analysis and classification of social facts, each in its relation to a comprehensive whole.”
+ — =R of Rs= 55:443 Ap ‘17 160w
+ =Springf’d Republican= p6 Mr 16 ‘17 320w
“In ignoring the separate treatment of cross sections of human experience and action, and in compassing the sphere of man’s whole human environment, this text-book is distinctive. The book is noteworthy for its inclusion and very direct dealing with so many pressing phases of present social development. Its references and supplementary readings, together with a good index, add to its value.” Graham Taylor
+ =Survey= 38:573 S 29 ‘17 310w
=FALES, JANE.= Dressmaking; a manual for schools and colleges. il *$1.50 Scribner 646 17-1600
“Part 1 presents the development of costume from the standpoint of history and design. Part 2 considers the materials which are used in dressmaking, and discusses the economic value of various fibers and fabrics. Part 3 treats design and technique in pattern-making and dressmaking.”—School R
+ =A L A Bkl= 13:336 My ‘17 (Reprinted from Open Shelf, Cleveland)
“Contains more material on costume and on textile manufacture than Baldt’s ‘Clothing for women,’ and less instruction on the more elementary details of garment construction. Both books have much material on pattern drafting and the use of commercial paper patterns. An unusually complete bibliography and index add to the usefulness of the book.”
+ =Cleveland= p41 Mr ‘17 70w
“Will be valuable to home dressmakers as well as to class students.”
+ =Ind= 91:267 Ag 18 ‘17 60w
=Pittsburgh= 22:666 O ‘17 10w
=Pratt= p25 O ‘17 20w
“The author is director of the department of textiles and clothing in Teachers college, Columbia university.”
=St Louis= 15:113 Ap ‘17 16w
+ =School Arts Magazine= 16:356 Ap ‘17 100w
“The text is a distinct acquisition to the literature of home economics.”
+ =School R= 25:302 Ap ‘17 50w
=FALL, DELOS.= Science for beginners. (New-world science ser.) il $1.20 (1c) World bk. co. 502
A first book in general science intended for intermediate schools and junior high schools. It is based on the principle that, to gain the best results, the pupil must collect his own material and learn to draw his own conclusions. “The teacher is asked to keep in mind that the chief purpose of this book is not to give the pupils a large amount of information, but rather to introduce them to a method through the use of which they will acquire the habit of gaining information for themselves.” (Preface) The first chapter discusses Science and the scientific method; the second, What the young scientist must learn to do. These are followed by chapters on: Matter and its forms; Some properties of matter; Changes in matter; Oxygen: the active element; Hydrogen and its compounds; A study of water, etc. The author, now professor of chemistry in Albion college, was formerly state superintendent of public instruction in Michigan.
“The first half of this volume treats of elementary chemistry, the latter part of elementary physics. There is a smattering of biological material treated from the standpoint of chemistry.