College and Research Libraries cuss the general problem of selection for public libraries. Roden says : Book selection is not a process that will soon or easily come to rest upon a scientific foundation to which all its implications can be referred or upon which all its problems can be solved. He concludes, however, that the era upon which the public library is entering may be one in which its primary objectives will shift from recreational to educational. Carnovsky develops this theory in "Com- munity Analysis" in which he argues for a library that will give the people what they need rather than what they want. Of more practical application for the librar- ian, at the moment, are two papers based on actual practice: "Selecting Books for a Technical Department" and "Organiza- tion of Internal Processes in Book Selec- tion for Public Libraries." "Book Selec- tion in a Modern High School" and "Book Selection in a Liberal Arts College" complete the group. In "Contemporary Fiction and Non- Fiction," George Stevens, until recently editor of the Saturday Review of Litera- ture, applies the glass to the book reviewer to show how hazardous, and why, has become the task of book selection. M a x Lerner, in "Important Books of the Last One Hundred Years—Political Science, Economics, and Sociology," lists ninety- odd titles with plausible reasons for his selection. A quibbler might suggest other books of equal importance, but no one can deny the excellence of the list as it stands. Other papers in the second group include "Evaluation of Historical W r i t i n g " by Louis Gottschalk, "Literature as Propa- ganda" by Henry Hazlitt, and "Popu- larizing Science" by Kaempffert. Some interesting and laudable experi- ments have been made by publishers in recent years in the production of inex- pensive, readable, and beautiful books. Illustrative of the papers in this group is Melcher's " T h e Publisher as a Factor in Popular Reading," in which he describes several of these experiments. He men- tions, further, the publisher's influence in establishing new outlets for books, in mak- ing books more attractive in appearance, and in cooperative efforts to establish uni- form prices throughout the country. T h e Practice of Book Selection is the most interesting of the four volumes that have come from the Chicago institutes. It is addressed primarily to public li- brarians, but several of the papers have more general appeal, especially those on literary criticism. More attention to book selection in college and university libraries would have increased its useful- ness. Without disparaging the quality of any of them, the space given to one or more of the papers might have been de- voted to these institutional problems with- out appreciable loss to public librarians. T h e readers of this volume would have been interested in the discussions which followed each lecture. In subsequent publications in this series, perhaps the essential and relevant portion of these discussions can be cited and included as appendices.—Benjamin E. Powell, Uni- versity of Missouri, Columbia. How to Read a Book; the Art of Getting a Liberal Education. Mortimer Adler. Simon and Schuster, 1940. 398p. $2.50. " T H E F I R S T R U L E of the first reading of any book is to know what kind of book it is." So states the author on page 1 5 9 of the book under review. For those who have not yet read the book, it may be well to say what kind of book M r . Adler 368 COLLEGE AND RES E ARC LI L I B R A R I E S has written. He has written an intro- duction for a technique of reading for the person who wants "to learn to read better, and then, by reading better, to learn more of what can be learned through reading." In the same book, however, M r . Adler has two other matters to present. He offers a critique of current educational practices and a list of "great books." His attack on the first of these and his defense of the second are sometimes inserted in the development of his major objective, a technique for reading, and the whole book is enlivened thereby. Of his technique for reading this may be said. He offers a pattern for approach- ing a book and reading it that is complete and satisfactory, although the application of the pattern involves painstaking, hard work for the reader who seeks to employ it for the first time. While full of prac- tical common sense, the book offers no short-cut to self-improvement. It may as well be stated frankly that the book will be of little help to a poor, inefficient, or unintelligent reader, or to any person unwilling to read patiently through the book with every attention. T h e author's careful beginning, his examination of as- sumptions and his definitions are, in my opinion, too much for the average reader, but well worth the consideration of those of us who earn our bread by reading or by promoting reading. T h e gist of M r . Adler's remarks on a reading technique were once available in more succinct form and would probably be more generally useful than the present book. I am re- ferring to his mimeographed address de- livered to the Alumni School of the University of Chicago. M r . Adler's concern with present edu- cational policies and practices is well known and needs no restatement here. His criticisms turn constructive as he speaks for a return to the reading of the "great books" of our culture. In the latter part of How to Read a Book these classics (substantially the same as those embraced in the curriculum of St. John's College) are listed and the publishers of available editions indicated. Throughout the development of his technique for read- ing, M r . Adler always aims at the reading of these books. Consequently he says little about the reading of imaginative literature. While many of M r . Adler's arguments on education and his proposed remedy are open to debate, and have, indeed, been debated, his desire to be helpful is sincere and more than evident. T h e heart of the book is practical. Of his style of writing, the only adverse thing to be said concerns the occasional sharpness of his tongue. Readers advisers can recommend this book to intelligent readers who are ap- parently sincere in their efforts to learn through reading. T h e author's extensive, almost excursive, treatment may prevent the average reader from finishing the book. —Robert A. Miller, University of Ne- braska, Lincoln. A List of Books for College Libraries, 1931-38. Charles B. Shaw, comp. American Library Association, 1940. 2 8 4 P . $ 6 . " T H E SHAW L I S T , " published in 1 9 3 1 for the Carnegie Corporation of N e w Y o r k to aid college libraries in rounding out their collections, is familiar to most American librarians. It was called the "Second Preliminary Edition;" but the 1940 list is not a new edition but a sup- plement to it. In fact, the use of this supplement will be crippled if the earlier list is not at hand, because the explana- SEPT EMBER, 1940 369