BOOKS OF THE DAY: REVIEWS IN BRIEF

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 25036, 28 October 1944, Page 10

BOOKS OF THE DAY: REVIEWS IN BRIEF

The Isabel Reed Bible Story Book J-epresents another noteworthy and •well-conceived effort to introduce young people to their rich inheritance in the Bible. It is a substantial, illustrated -volume, and contains much besides 'fiosts of well-told Bible stories, from Genesis to Revelation. There is an informative introduction which answers most of the questions' an intelligent child would like to ask about how the Bible has actually reached us in its present forms._ One section is devoted ■to prayer, with many ( examples of prayers for boys an J girls, and another to well-Khown hymns and their stories, including a group of original New Zealand hymns. Many pages of Bible games and puzzles should prove a boon to parents and children in many homes. There are numbers of pictures to be coloured and play figures for Bible stories to be cut out, mounted and coloured. Not the least attractive feature of the hook is its distinctively New Zealand flavour, both in illustrations and in letterpress. (A. H. and A. W. Reed.). Education -- Two interesting pamphlets on nducation come from the Melbourne University Press. "Education and War" is Sir John Latham's 1943 Smyth Memorial Lecture. It deals at length with .Japanese education and its significant lesson for the rest of the world. Sir ... John's ambassadorship made him very competent to deal with such a theme. Pis facts are compelling and his condelusions sound, J. D. G. Medley's pamr.phlet, on "Education and Reconstruction,'. though ' containing an unnecessary measure of prejudice against tradition and the classical elements in edu- • cation of the past, has much good sense in suggestions on organisation.-

Showman's Happy Life A veteran of the concert stage and cinema, Mr Henry J. Hayward, has published a moat readable episodic autobiography under the title "Here's to Lifel" Throwing away all the literary conventions that hamper this class of writing, Mr Hayward talks to the reader with zest about his early Jifein Wolverhampton, concert touring in Britain' and New Zealand, early days in the motion picture business, tho loss of a fortune in the depression and a hundred and one other things, including his views on religion, free thought and the conduct of life. It is a vivid picture of a personality. (Oswald-Sealy, Auckland.) Leningrad It is well that we should realise the magnificent course and measureless suffering of our Russian Allies in this War, and how endurance reached an heroic pitch in the 29-months' siege of Leningrad. Only a Russian born could tell that saga as it deserves to

,be told; and Alexander Werth, who is native to Leningrad and an English , writer of wide repute, is rarely qudlii fied for the task which he has now dis- , charged. He visited Leningrad during the siege, when German shells Avere fall- ■ ing on the city day and night. He has collated in a vivid narrative his own | experiences and those he heard at first hand, from the men and women who held the fort undaunted against shelling and bombing, and, worst of all, starvation. "Leningrad'' is published by Hamish Hamilton^ "Morality and. Happiness" The frank pursuit of happiness, although it is central in Confucianism and Taoism, remains rather less than respectable in the West. Its cause is pleaded with confidence by Mrs Lan ( Freed in "Morality and Happiness." The author's main conclusion is thus expressed: "Morality says 'Be good and you'll be happy' (i.e., 'Do what you don't want to do and the result, will surprise you'). The will base his sermons on tho text 'Find out how to be happy and you will not have to bother about being good, because you will find that ultimately your happiness and that of the rest of the_ human family are one and indivisible.' " (Williams and Norgate.) Fighting Pilot "Wings Over Burma," by Kenneth Hemingway, is another very attractive book dealing with operational life abroad, in which a fighting pilot seeks to express himself hy describing his squadron occasions with all the rough and ready jargon of the air. In this case he does it easily and well. His story is about tho events which preceded the Japanese occupation of Rangoon. (Quality Press.),