Shorter Notices
Houses : Permanence and Prefabrication. By Hugh Anthony (Pleiades Books, Ltd. 6s.)
As an introduction for the general reader, this book could not easily be bettered. The author is well informed both on the history of housing and on the present state of building tech- niques ; his writing is efficient and pleasing, and he is aware both of the possibilities and of the snags. He puts standardisation and prefabrication in good perspective as developing processes which have the advantages we associate with all technical advance but which when they reach a certain point force us to consider what it is we really desire. Mr. Anthony himself leans towards the extensible and contractible house, individually designed from factory-made parts—an ideal that would attract the common man if he could afford it, but cuts across the .current fashion in civic design. Which will prevail is one of the most interesting questions now facing society, and, though Mr. Anthony gives no certain answer, he admirably pre- fabricates the data with which social man may build as he chooses.
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