Los Angeles herald., 1909-09-19
REVIEWS OF RECENT BOOKS

ia copy address. with one dollar at
tached, Reuben Centralia, Mo-"
This brief foreword so admirably
sums up and implies the sort Of humor
to be expected in the volume referred
to that the present reviewer hasn't
the heart to peruse the volume-and
possibly be disappointed. Reuben's
frontispiece might be mistaken for
photograph of Senator Beveridge short
ly after his graduation from the plow.
The book seems well printed and a
college paper thought well enough of
some of it to give 1t space. While
Reuben is probably not the successor
of Artemus Ward or Josh Billings,
yet we wish him well. 1t is impossible
to say as much for a banal introduce
tion to the volume by Walter Williams.
Reuben: His Book By Morton II.
Pemberton. New York; Broadway
Publishing company.
A manual on wireless telegraphy and
high frequency electricity. embodying
a number of new features of value to
beginners not heretofore presented in
book form has been published by H. La
J V. Twining. It is planned to present
in concise form and without an over
loading of unnecessary technical detail
fundamental principles on the subjects
treated so far as developed.
Mr. Twining Is head of physics and
engineering in the Los Angeles Poly
technic high school and is also presi-
dent of the Aero Club of California.
He has been following wireless teleg-
raphy since its early days and is him
self an experienced telegraph operator.
The book is written purely as a man
ual and to meet the wants of persons
Interested in wireless and high fire.
uuency electricity who do not care
Ia
among the first of this kind Hslich
deals comprehensively with transform
ers and how to make them. In adj
tion to chapters on constructing ana
operating high potential transform
there is much information on desigTing
and making Tesla coils and Uudiu
resonators. The theory of wire less
telegraphy is comprehensively treatsd.
A new and valuable feature of tba
book is a table giving full data To
fourteen transformer designs from 1aa
watts to five klowatts, an extremely
desirable collection of data not pre-
sented elsewhere. Although selective
tuning is not covered, the author terms
it 1.-The problem in wireless telegraphy
and telephony today" He prefers to
: leave discussion of selective tuning
: until it is less complicated and better
understood.
Mr.. Twining's book is literally illus
trated in manner to make the text
5 more easily followed William Dubilier,
, chief electrician of the Collins Wire
, less Telephone company, contributes
4, the chapter on wireless telegraphy.
} The book sells for $150 and is pub
lished by Professor Twining at 1903
: Calumet avenue, Los Angeles.
, Civil Service Data
A manual for applicants for positions
and for those now in the employ of the
United States government is 1.-The Fed
; eral Civil Service as a Career" byEI
Bic K. Foltz. 1t feels and fills need
, logically consequent upon the gradual
ly enlarging sphere of the merit system
!. ir our national life. The information
1 conveyed includes chapters on Gov
ernment Organization" Preparation
Examinations" Salaries" Appoint
= ments," 1.-THE Nations Problems"
S Government Service as a Career"
s Government Service as a Stepping
f Stone" Faults and Ethics,'' "Women
: in the Government Service" and 1.-THE
College Graduate in Public Life The
s details given appear authoritative and
4 the service rendered genuinely helpful
l The Federal Civil Service as a Ca
reer. BY Ell Bic Kean Foltz. New York
: and London: G: P. Putnam's Sons.
For Bungalow Builders
Every prospective house or bungalow
builder will be interested in the book
; of 1.-THE Delineator's Prize $4,000
Houses" announced for early fall pub
lication by B. w. Dodge & Co. The
Delineator spent several thousand dol
} lars in prizes and labor to get to-
gether the plans and designs COM
prised in this book Many of the most
prominent architects in the country
competed, and the result is a revelation
to those who think utility and beauty
inconsistent with moderate cost. The
: | fI,o Iafa Mo T4yifI4
perspectives and plans for landscaping.
including much material not included
in the Delineator series and Is beau
tifully illustrated by the publishers.
Book on the Papacy
In that series of the first scholarly
excellence, the Grown Theological
Library" and under the Putnam i'm
print. has just appeared a masterly
study of the dynasty of the supreme
pontiffs that reaches back in unbroken
line from the living pope, Plus x, to
the popes of Pepin's day, and beyond
till 1t is lost in the twilight of legend
The book in question is entitled "The
Papacy," and is a translation of the
work by Prof. Gustav Kruger of the
University of Giessen. 1t is a brief and
mastery study, dealing with the ideas
that underlie the papacy and with the
great figures that have been the ex-
ponents of these ideas.
Meredith's Last Criticism
1t is noted in London and has been
pointed out in the Meredith number of
the London Reader that among the
latest if not the last literary work from
the pen of George Meredith, bearing his
spontaneous letter of tribute on the
death of Swinburne was the preface
written by him for the COLLECTED
Poems OF Dora Sigerson Shorter" wife
of Clement Shorter. The volume came
out in this country through the
Harpers in 1907 Dora Sigerson, whom
Mr.. Meredith knew personally, is an
Irishwoman, and her poems, all lyrical.
most of them ballads, contain the mys-
tical singing passion of the Celt. AL
, though the spirit of Meredith's own
verse was far more akin to the Ger
man, he had his own separate apprA-
citation of the Celtic spirit and of Ire
land, which supplied he said, zone of
the richest of fields" for the ballad
writer.
"The Real Bryan"
Extracts from the speeches and writ
ings of the distinguished Nebraskan
who has won friends in each of the
memorable defeats for the highest hon
or in the gift of his fellow countrymen
are collected into a volume entitled
"The Real Bryan compiled by Rich
ard L. Metcalfe, whose close personal
relations with the Great Commoner