Current Literature
THE RECOLLECTIONS OF A GEOGRAPHER By E. A. Reeves The last fifty years have seen some amazing feats of explora- tibn, from the opening up of Africa to the conquest of the Poles. Behind these spectacular scenes, planning, advising and recording, the experts of the Royal Geographical Society have been quietly at work, and of their number none has done inbre valuable work than Mr. E. A. Reeves, for fifty-five years a member of the staff. In The Recollections of a Geo- grapher (Seeley Service, 8s. 6d.) he tells the story of his life-. long association with the Society. Starting as an assistant in the map-room, he rose to be Map Curator and Instructor in Surveying, and practically-every expedition from this country has first received instruction from him in the use of instruments and the making of records. His work brought him into close contact with such great explorers as Nansen, Peary (whose part he takes in the Peary-Cook controversy), Colonel Fawcett, Captain Scott and Sir Ernest Shackleton. In fact, the list of his friends and pupils would be nothing less than a catalogue of great modern explorers. His vivid and intimate memories of them, as well as the modest account of his own pioneering work in surveying, make his book a valuable an•I unusual addition to the history of exploration in the last half-century. During the war he assisted the Belgian Government as map-, ping expert. He also relates some of his odd experiences as a Special Constable locating the signal lights of " spies " on the South Downs. This unaffected history of a life of service in the background of great events deserves to be widely read.
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