Adventures with Living Things

Abstract

THE teaching of biology is still in the experimental stage in Great Britain; and, as shown by the large number of good American texts on the subject, there is much to be learned from the methods adopted in other countries, especially the United States. The book under review is a case in point. For in it, a wide, though general, survey of the plant and animal kingdoms is made, the ‘type system’ is disregarded, and there is no suspicion of dividing the subject into the two sections, botany and zoology. Most authoritative surveys and reports on the teaching of biology, including the recently issued report of the Spens Committee, are agreed that the best approach to the subject is through natural history: and this is the method adopted in this book. The authors have shown breadth of vision, and their text is supported by nearly five hundred excellent illustrations, mostly photographs—which are desirable in the early stages of teaching.

Adventures with Living Things:

a General Biology. By Elsbeth Kroeber and Walter H. Wolff. Pp. xiii + 798. (Boston, New York and Chicago: D. C. Heath and Co.; London: George G. Harrap and Co., Ltd., 1938.) 1.96 dollars.