21 JULY 1917, Page 15

The Making of the Future : the Coming Polity. By

Patrick Geddes and V. Branford.—Ideas oh War. By Patrick Geddes find G. Slater. (Williams and Norgate. 5s. net each.)—Professor Geddes', the most active exponent in this country of the sociology of Is Play and Comte, is slumps entertaining awl suggestive, though he likes to•etartle the average man with his unconventional

views. The first of his new books is, in effect, a plea for regionalism, or local patriotism, as a corrective to the tyranny of the State and the vast modern capital. The second, in which the destruction of life and property in the war is minimized almost in the spirit of Mark Tapley, is a vigorous protest against materialism and an exposition of such fruitful ideas as are implied in tho town.planning movement. Professor Geddes, who promises a whole series of volumes of this kind, loaves the reader breathless and dizzy under the force of his enthusiasm ; but ho is never dull.