THE LATEST BOOKS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 46, Issue 14276, 7 December 1920, Page 3

THE LATEST BOOKS.

Secrets of Earth and Sea. .From flic publishers, Messrs Methuen and Co., Ltd., London, we have received ! a copy of Sir Ray Lancaster’s “Secrets of Earth and Sea.” Sir Kay Eankester is second to none as an enthrallwriter on science, and his new book is with his fascinating and popular “Diversions of a Naturalist,” and “Science from an Easy Chair.” Amongst the subjects treated are: The Mammoth as drawn by those who lived with it: Vesuvius in Eruption; A Mere Worm (the Earth-worm); Geological Strata; about Pishes (Flying-fish, Climbi ia-fish, Blind-fish, Cave-fish, Deep-sea Pish): The Races of Man; Darwinism and War; German Culture; Spidcrsense and Nonsense; Belief and Evidence; the Swost’ka. The book is written in simple language, and is full of information of the deepest interest to the general re; der as well gs to the reader with a scientific turn of mind. It is certainly one of the most fascinating books of its kind that we have read for some time, and the publishers are to be congratulated on their enterprise in bringing ibis very line work before the public. # * * Tarzan the UntamedThis book is another of that very fine series of ■works by Edgar Rice Burroughs, and published by Messrs Methuen" and Co. It is a wonderful story, which will delight readers. There ys in this volume exciting adventures and romantic scenes of jungle and plain, and of the struggle against the Germans in Africa during the war period. There is not a dull page in the book, some of the scenes being of a most weird pud .thrilling character. There is a peculiar charm about the«doings of Tarzan the Untamed which carries the reader on fhe tip-tdc of expectation from one sensational scene to another, and the book is finally closed with feelings of regret, but with the hope that acquaintance will soon be renewed with this wonderful man whose doings are So graphically described by an equally wonderful author. * * * A Voyage to Arcturas. From Messrs Methuen and Co,, London, we have received a copy of one of the most thrilling novels written in modern times, called “A Voyage to Arcturus, ” by David Lindsay, At the present time, when Sir Conan Doyle is visiting the Dominion, and when spiritualism is engaging more attention than formerly, and when knowledge of the other worlds as represented by the planets and stars is increasingly sought after, this startling story of adventures arrives at an oportune time. The book is full of exuberant imagination, of extraordinary energy of action, and commands the attention of the reader from cover to cover. It is a gripping story of a journey to a distant star, and it throws a new and startling light on many of the deepest problems of human existence. The weird scenes baffle description. This story of strange adventures in an almost, uimaginable world, and its solemn note in the life after death, should be read by every man and woman. Happy Rascals. ‘ ‘ Happy Rascals, ’ ’ by F. Morton Howard, is one of the best humorous books which Messrs Methuen and Co. have issued. Mr Francis Morton Howard is one of the brightest of the new humorists of the day. And of all the ships which sail the nearer seas none is looked at more askance than the “Jane 'Gladys” of Shorehaven, for every little harbour round the coast knows her as the natural home of smooth-tongued knavery and genial cunning. Happy Rascals—that just describes little Cap ’n Peter Dutt, and ’Orace, the cook, and plump old Sam Clark, and the rest of her crew. “Happy Rascals” is a farcical story by one who is already wellknown to magazine readers. It is a book which one lays aside with regret- \vhen the last page has been reached, but it is a work which can be taken up again and re-read with renewed appreciation.