Books Reviewed

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 317, 30 March 1928, Page 14

Books Reviewed

PHILOSOPHY It is not easy in this flippant age to persuade the average man to read a dissertation on modern philosophy. Philosophy is a fine thing, he will say, taken in small doses as an intellectual stimulant, and he will turn to the perusal of a wild west thriller. Possibly the writers on philosophy have themselves to blame for being too esoteric and too devoted to ponderous technical phraseology. A professor of political science in a Canadian University holds, however, that philosophical theories can be expounded in a simple fashion. Professor E. J. Urwick has written “The Social Good,” an admirable exposition of the fundamentals of modern society, set out in concise English for the man in the street. The author has a crisp and forceful style and his shrewd knowledge of human nature is not the least welcome feature of the book. ’’The Social Good,” Methuen and Co., Ltd., London. Our copy direct from the publishers. A Cowboy Detective Hashknife Hartley is a cowboy to whom W. C. Tuttle has previously introduced us. Hashknife is on the trail again, hunting down rogues, as usual, with the same unerring eye and the same unfailing powers of deduction. This time the cowboy-de-tective “breezes in” just at the- right time to solve the mystery of a lonehanded train-robbery, and some subsequent murders, aided by his pal “Sleepy” Steven, who, by the way, is by no means as somnolent as the sobriquet would imply. “Hashknife Lends a Hand.” W. Collins, Sons and Co., Ltd. Our copy from the Auckland agents, Wyndham St. Mystery. Natalie Sumner Lincoln goes on mixing ’em quite smartly—oddly assorted people, mostly suspect of at least a finger In the murder-pie, well hidden among them the real criminal, who had his whole red hand in it but bluffed you out of suspecting that, the police—and the detective. This time it is pretty well a case of "the mixture: as usual.” Thorne the detective is a Red Indian, but nobody would have guessed it but for his saying so. Strong, athletic, silent fellow. Gets there. We almost forgot —there is no murder in this one; but the dancing shadow, the mysterious woman with the wig, the mysterious heroine in the wheel-chair, the sinister gardener and the noble but foolish hero who nearly choked the life out of his good, kind uncle make quite enough of a mess without a murder. . . . And Thorne gets there. -The Dancing Silhouette.” Natalie Sumner Lincoln. Appleton. Our copy through Whitcambe and Tombs, Ltd.