Abstract
THIS book will be useful in giving practical hints to young observers who have the root of the matter in them. It gives hints about collecting, preserving, and mounting; about microscopic work and photography; about keeping pets and making little museums; about aquaria and vivaria. It also suggests how the young naturalist may set about exploring shore-pools, ponds, and other haunts of life; or how he may make much of the wild life of a garden. On the last topic we have the best part of the book. The idea of providing an all-round introduction to practical Nature-study is good; the mood of the book is wholesome; and the text has been kept simple. We are sorry to have to say that the style is easygoing and inelegant. But there is in Mr. Westell's work an enthusiasm for Nature-study that inclines one to forgive a good deal. Young observers will find in the book many suggestions which will make them more efficient, but we think and hope that they will, even when grateful, resent the author's tendency to “talk down” and his not infrequent wordiness.
The Young Observer's Handbook.
By W. P. Westell. Pp. 317. (London: McBride, Nast, and Co., Ltd., 1918.) Price 7s. 6d. net.
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The Young Observer's Handbook . Nature 101, 263 (1918). https://doi.org/10.1038/101263a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/101263a0