Recent paperbacks

James Hughes Onslow

Alternative Medicine Andrew Stanway (Pelican £2.95) A doctor writes about all forms of quackery. He can't quite explain acupuncture but does concede that it works and (a worse heresy) that it transcends the scope of con- ventional medicine, It could take a burden off the Health Service.

Black and White Shiva Naipaul (Abacus £2.50) The mass suicides at the People's Temple in Guyana in 1978. To understand this tragedy you need to know about Caribbean politics, Califor- nian cults and Jim Jones's peculiar blend of Stalinism, racialism, religious mania and power manipulation.

Rites of Passage William Golding (Faber £1.95) The 1980 Booker Prize-winner and probably Golding's best book since Lord of the Flies. Young Talbot sets off for Australia on a convert- ed ship of the line with some pretty definite ideas but by the time he gets there he has encountered a richer variety of life than he ever imagined.

The Faber Book of Nonsense Verse Ed. Geoffrey Grigson (Faber £3.25) Carroll, Lear, Eliot, Belloc, Beerbohm, Blake, Chesterton, De La Mare, Dickens, Goldsmith, Housman, Johnson, Janson, Ronald Knox (but not E. V.), A. A. Milne, Rabelais, Stevie Smith, Spooner, Thackeray, Mark Twain, T. H. White and, most . prolific, Anon. For serious nonsense read the in- troduction.

A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush Eric Newby (Picador £1.95) `Mr Newby has delighted the heart of a man whose travelling days are done' says Evelyn Waugh in his preface to this classic 1956 expedition to Nuristan, now in Soviet hands 'and who sees, all too often, his countrymen represented abroad by other, and new (dammit) lower types.'

Living Together Clare Dyer and Marcel Berlins (they don't) (Hamlyn £1.50) The Archers on Radio 4 have made it respectable but lawyers and accountants are determined to make it compli- cated. The technical advantages and pitfalls of cohabitation rather than marriage and the part- ners' rights if they split up.

The Extraordinary Worlds of Edward James Philip Purser (Quartet £3.95) Millionaire, poet, novelist, architect, socialite, eccentric, collector of surrealism, husband of Tilly Losch,'possibly grandson of Edward Vil, friend of Whistler, Dali, Magritte, Randolph Churchill, Bertolt Brecht, Max Reinhardt, Edith Sitwell and so on.

The Diary of a Farmer's Wife 1796-1797 Anne Hughes (Penguin £2.75) This book is a fraud, the publishers now confess, but a clever one, un- detected when serialised in Farmer's Weekly in 1937. A piece of nostalgia not found in an attic but based on rather conscientious research. A Book of Railway Journeys Ludovic Kennedy (Fontana £2.95) First he appealed to Spectator readers, then he compiled this anthology ranging from Charles Dickens to Thomas Hardy, Peter Fleming to Paul Theroux. Romantic tales and disasters — with no- fiddle allegations.

The History of the World Cup Brian Glanville (Faber £2.95) Updated to include the controver- sial Argentina contest .of 1978, just in time for Madrid. This lucid account of dramas on and off the field puts the politics of football in perspec- tive. Even television commentators should understand it.

Hitler Norman Stone (Coronet £1.60) After nearly 50 years, a cool reassessment. The Fuhrer didn't plan the Reichstag fire or the war. He was an indecisive opportunist not a clear-sighted leader but luck, the Nuremberg Rallies and a few real achievements served him well.

A Pattern of Islands Arthur Grimble (Penguin £1.75) Reminiscences of a colonial administrator in the South Pacific 1914-1933, vividly and humorously recalled. Some useful tips — how to catch a shark with your bare hands and how to climb a coconut palm — if only we still had an Empire.

Out Cheque is in the Post, Christopher Ward (Pan £1.00) A glossary of imaginative excuses for all occasions: were you rolled on by a horse, for example, or delayed by a meeting in Downing Street? Pan Books say the author, recently made Editor of the Daily Express, is available for inter- views. Try him.

The Ruba'iyat of Omar Khayyam (Penguin £3.95) A new translation by Peter Avery and John Heath-Stubbs illustrated with Persian miniatures. Avery's 25-page introduction describes 1 1 th-century Islam and the world of Omar Khayyam, philosopher, astronomer, mathematician and poet.

Cassandra at the Wedding Dorothy Baker (Virago £2.95) The identity crisis of identical twins. Will Cassandra be able to cope with the trauma of her sister Judith's wedding? Although they have led very different lives they find they have each bought identical dresses for the occa- sion. 'Yes, that's exactly how it is,' says the in- troduction — by an identical twin.

This Year in Jerusalem Kenneth Cragg (Darton, Longman & Todd £5.95) The more successful Zionism becomes, the worse the problem for the Palestinians, says Dr Cragg, a former assistant Bishop in Jerusalem and expert on Islam. Achievement and tragedy are hopelessly inter- woven. Perhaps there is a spiritual answer to this paradox, where politics have failed.

Testament R C Hutchinson (King Penguin £3.95) Count Anton Scheffler, poet, lawyer and officer, sides with his wounded men against the military establishment during the First World War. The Bolsheviks make him a hero but then denounce him and execute him. 'A genius' says Sir Rupert Hart-Davis.

The Abuse of Power Patricia Hewitt (Martin Robertson £4.95) The British Government uses arbitrary internal exile under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. Migrants can be arrested without warrant and deported without a hearing. There is no effective supervision of police behaviour. Three obvious abuses of World Civil Rights stan- dards says Miss Hewitt.