BEST BOOK'S FOR NATURE-STUDY 169 



is surprising that no author named above is listed more than thirteen 

 times by twenty-one writers and that only three were agreed upon by 

 more than ten people. Moreover, there are named some extremely 

 specialized books; some books which few people would have thought 

 of examining for help in nature-study; and some books which are 

 certainly good reading, but of doubtful place in nature-study. 



The investigation was undertaken with the hope of answering the 

 common request of teachers for a list of about ten best books for 

 reference. Surely few teachers of schools will have time or money 

 for more than ten. But what are we to recommend when twenty 

 special students of nature-study agree on only three authors by even a 

 slight majority and give the eight most popular authors an average of 

 seven votes each ? At first this looks hopelessly confusing; but it is 

 not entirely so. While certain books on birds and insects and plants 

 seem to be most popular, there are several others named which may well 

 be substituted. Also some books are obviously named because the 

 authors of the letters have some very special interest, for example, in 

 mushrooms. Such facts account in part for the wide range of choice. 



Most surprising of all results from compiling these selected lists is 

 the discovery that the special books on teaching nature -study haw 

 received so few votes. Books of natural history do not give the edu- 

 cational viewpoint of nature-study. Surely the teacher needs some 

 special guidance in the educational principles. 



The obvious tendency to turn the teacher loose with books in natural 

 history and with few guiding principles is probably the reason why, 

 on the whole, nature-study is still so disorganized and so far from be- 

 ing firmly established in our school system. 



The selected lists are extremely instructive and will repay careful 

 examination. Probably few readers would reject any of the books 

 named if selecting a larger list of good books. 



It should be mentioned that several writers of the lists given below 

 are authors of books in the same class. 



The Managing Editor originally intended to make a tabulation, 

 but the small number of letters received and the great range of books 

 made this impossible. Those readers who disagree with the lists 

 published below are invited to send their own selections of books. 



M. A. B. 



