Bill Platypus's
Paperbacks
i begin this week with two rather serious paperbacks. The first is Norman Bull's Moral Education (Routiedge Regan Paul 95p). It is a studt of the development of children, from infancy to adolescence, and their reaction to what Bull calls problems of ' internal ' and ' external' morality. The study seems to be stablished upon the basis of questionnaires and tests, and if you believe these tools there is no reason why you should not believe the book. The second book interested Platypus rather more: it is Anthony Quinton's Utilitarian Ethics (Macmillian 95p). This is not so much a philosophical critique of the idea, but rather an historical survey of its origins and development. The obvious names are included, of course: Bentham, Stuart Mill and there is a development into the twentieth century and the work of Moore and Lyons. It is a handy little monograph, agcl will no doubt be read.
Penguin have been dealing with Nature recently. They have just published two small volumes from Vitor Scheffer. They are called, respectively, The Year Of The Seal (30p) and The Year Of The Whale (30p). These are fictional accounts of the daily voyages and tribulations of these sea-creatures, but the closeness with which Scheffer aligns himself with these animals is by no means coy or silly. They are sympathetic but not romantic accounts. In what is a deceptively similar vein, and also from Penguin, are a couplet from Eugene Marais, The Soul Of The Ape (30p) and The Soul Of The White Ant (30p). Mr Marais was ail traordinary man, who began life as a parliamentary reporter before becoming a naturalist. These books began through the observations of incidental interest, but they developed into a passion. The books are close and attentive studies of the habitat and behaviour of these big and little creatures. And, despite the difference in animal, they are both absorbing.
Two books now from Pelican on the human animal and its observers. The first is the deservedly controversial Beyond Freedom And Dignity (45p) by B. F. Skinner. This book needs no jaundiced introduction from me, and those who will be convinced by it will not ever be unconvinced. A pity. But now a Pelican original, which may need some introduction. It is The Nervous System (70p) by Peter Nathan. It is a rather lengthy book, but its detail is not at all academic. It is a lucid account of a part of the body which is, thankfully perhaps, mysterious to me. Mr Nathan conducts us neuron by neuron through the apparati of seeing, hearing, needing and so on. There are also some photographs, but they meant nothing to me.
Another Pelican original, recently published, is J. C. Kincaid's Poverty And Equality In Britain (60p). It is entitled in an inappropriately neutral tone "A Study Of Social Security and Taxation" but, knowing the fashionable and knowing leftwing tone to Pelican books, I was not surprised to learn that the book is in fact an attack 'upon the Welfate. Although I would hestitate to call Dr Kincaid a socialist, for fear of libel, I might just say that the book seems to me an extension of the more-bread-for-all philosophy which was once popular. Like many academics, he is virulent. One of his final sentences is "There is an urgent need for the creation of a political party of revolutionary socialists . ." Well done, Mr Lecturer at Leeds.
And Good Luck, Miss ,Wyckoff (Penguin 20p). By a certain William Inge, who was known to me, and perhaps to you, only as a playwright. Now, at fifty-six, he has written his first novel. The novelist reviewer of this magazine will no doubt take it amiss if I encroach on his particular ground. This novel seems to me to be on that peculiary American theme, the middle-aged virgin and her quest for happiness. I have had occasion to mention this phenomenon before, it has generally been of the male variety. I don't think I'm giving too much away to remark that Miss Wyckoff takes up with a black student, but I will leave the ensuing complications to your imagination.
And finally, from Mayflower, Millionaires (50p) by Herbert Kastle. Playboy's blurb is quoted gleefully on the backcover. so you can expect a real humdinger of a tale. And, on the inside, a quote from the Bucks Stand • ard: you might say that sex and thrills appeal right across the spectrum. I intend, one day soon, to write a piece on the psychology of publishers' blurbs. At the moment I'm simply a bemused reader (never having been quoted myself), but I'll compile a statistical and sociological survey when the opportunity arises. Be warned.
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