6o4 



NA TURE 



[October 20. 1923 



A Library List of Scientific Books. 



A BOUT two years ago the Washington Academy 

 ■^* of Sciences pubhshed a Jist of one hundred 

 |X)pnlar books in science suitable for inclusion in 

 puolic libraries. The list has since been revised, 

 and is reprinted below. The original list included 

 the titles of forty-three books by British authors, 

 but many of these have now been omitted as the 

 volumes are out of print. All the works in the 

 present list arc obtainable through booksellers in 

 the usual way. As the list was compiled for American 

 libraries, the majority of the books mentioned in it 

 are by American authors. We know of no similar 

 list for British libraries, but one would no doubt 

 be welcomed by librarians and others. Though 

 librarians may be able to discover which books are 

 interesting, they have no easy way of finding out 

 which of such books arc trustworthy and which 

 are not merely unorthodox but misleading or mis- 

 informing. 



In inviting correspondents to assist in preparing 

 the list subjoined, the Committee of the Washington 

 Academy of Sciences asked that the tests to be 

 applied in selection of books should be as follows : 

 " (i) The book must be readable ; if the average visitor 

 to the library takes the book home, it will interest 

 him so much that he will read it through, and will 

 come back to ask the librarian for another on the 

 same subject. (2) It must be accurate ; preferably 

 written by one who knows his subject at first hand. 

 Minor points are : (3) up-to-dateness ; (4) small 

 bulk ; (5) attractive binding, type, and illustrations. 



" The relative number of books indifferent branches 

 of science is not fixed. For example, a good book in 

 mathematics may be substituted for a poor book in 

 anthropology, provided anthropology is not thereby 

 left wholly unrepresented." 



The Committee has performed a useful service in 

 selecting one hundred books which it feels fairly 

 sure are scientifically trustworthy, and believes to 

 be readable. It is obvious that a list of this kind 

 must be subject to revision, and indeed should be 

 revised frequently to keep up with the progress of 

 science and the publication of books better adapted 

 to the purpose. The Committee adds : " In general, 

 it need hardly be said that even a tried and tested 

 list can never be completely satisfactory, for the 

 simple reason that there is no such person as the 

 ' average reader.' Every individual has his own 

 foundation of natural capacity and education, and 

 his own background of experience and interests. We 

 theiefore need one series of lists covering all types of 

 capacity, another series differentiated according to 

 kind and duration of education, another series dis- 

 tributed according to age and to variety of experience, 

 and still another adapted to the varied types of 

 man's interests. Provided with such a set of lists 

 we could name twenty-five scientific books which 

 would be almost certain to interest keenly any given 

 individual. Lacking such provision, we can only 

 hope, on behalf of the very general list herewith 

 submitted, that every reader who can be induced to 

 read anything at all serious will find on the list a few 

 books which appeal to him strongly, and that none 

 of the other books will give him the impression that 

 science makes reading-matter which is difficult or 

 forbidding." 



General Science. 



1. J. Arthur Thomson, Editor. The Outline of 



Science. 



2. Thomas Henry Huxley. Selections from 



Huxley. 



NO. 2816. VOL. I 12] 



.Ma.s. 



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EnwAKi) I.. THORNniKE. The Human Natur 



Club. 

 William James. Psychology. 

 Robert S. WooDWORTH. Psychology; a Stu 1 



of Mental Life. 

 Henry Eairfikld Osborn. Men of the (>. 



Stone Age ; their Environment, Life, and .\n . 

 O. T. Mason. The Origins of Invention. 

 O. T. Mason. Woman's Shan- in Primitive 



Culture. 

 Walter Hough. The Hopi Indians. 

 E. V. McCoLLUM. The Newer Knowledge < : 



Nutrition. 

 H. C. Sherman. Food Products. 

 Walter H. Eddy. T*- ^■■« mine Manual; a 



Presentation of 1-. I )ata about the 



New Food Factors. 

 E. O. Jordan. P'ood Poisoning. 

 William Williams Keen. Medical Research 



and Human Welfare. 

 Ellsworth Hintington. Civilization and 



Climate. 



IIlkluity. 



The Origin of Species. 



F. Jones. Inbreeding and 



Charles Darwin. 

 E. M. East and D. 



Outbreeding. 

 W. D. Castle, J. M. Coulter, C. B. Davenport, 



E. M. East, and W. L. Tower. Heredity 



and Eugenics. 

 T. H. Morgan. A Critique of the Theory of 



Evolution. 

 E. G. CoNKLiN. Heredity and Environment. 

 Francis Galton. Hereditary' Genius. 

 Paul Popenoe and R. !I. Johnson. Applied 



Eugenics. 



Biology. 



J. Arthur Thomson. The Wonder of Life. 

 J. Arthur Tho.mson. The Haunts of Life. 

 E. L. Bouvier. The Psychic Life of Insects. 

 Winterton C. Curtis. Science and Human 



Affairs. 

 William A. Locy. Biology and its Makers. 



Zoology. 



A. B. Buckley. The Winners in Life's Race. 

 E. W. Nelson. Wild Animals of North 



America. 

 Theodore Roosevelt. African Game Trails. 

 C. W. Beebe. Jungle Peace. 

 Witmer Stone and W. E. Cram. American 



Animals ; a Popular Guide to the Mammals 



of North America north of Mexico. 

 Frank M. Chapman. Camps and Cruises of 



an Ornithologist. 

 J. H. Fabre. Social Life in the Insect World. 

 Maurice Maeterlinck. The Life of the Bee. 

 Oliver P. Jenkins. Interesting Neighbors. 

 W. S. Blatchley. Gleanings from Nature. 

 Alfred G. Mayer. Sea-shore Life. 



Botany. 



39. W. F. Ganong. The Living Plant ; a Descrip- 



tion and Interpretation of its Functions 

 and Structure. 



40. W. J. V. Osterhout. Experiments with Plants 



41. Paul Sorauer. A Popular Treatise on the 



Physiology of Plants for the use of Gardeners 

 or for Students of Horticulture and Agri- 

 culture. 



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