Shorter Notices
Knotted String. By Harry Brearley. (Longmans. tog. 6d.)
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN must inevitably be the yardstick for auto- biographies by self-made men : this book by " the man who invented knives that won't cut " has points in common, and can hold its own, although the writer has less to be frank about in private and has no public ambitions. It is a pity that the story of stainless steel does not come earlier, as the technical chapters preceding it are rather heavy-going for the layman, and the author is too much in earnest about the discovery to make it dramatic, but Mr. Brearley has that creative spark in him which is as essential to the scientific researcher, if he is to invent or discover, as it is to the artist. When Mr. Brearley writes about the aspects of life that he knows, he is penetrating because he is unsentimental and unprejudiced : he has helpful suggestions to make on th2 relations between laboratory and shop in industry, and would safeguard against slums by having those who profit from factories live within a half-mile of them, like the dons of a university. The chapters on his boyhood have also profound things to say on the value of leisure and a margin for some extravagance in youth. It is significant that in Russia he was most impressed by a Museum of Mistakes : " a sign of intellectual honesty and determined humility that does not admit defeat." Mr. Brearley never admitted defeat either.
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