New-York tribune., 1921-08-07
Books in Brief

"A uoW conCepClOn OF mans place In
nature is presented in Alfred Korzyb-
skis new book, The Manhood of Hu-.
manity, explained by its subtitle as
being concerned with The Science and
Art of Human Engineering, which E.
P. Dutton & Co. have just published.
The author diverges sharply from the
time-honored classification of man as
belonging to "the animal kingdom"
He sets forth, very clearly and read
ably, the scientific evidence for his
contention, that man should have a
separate classification as human" and
that the accepted philosophy Of ethics,
of economics, Of life generally, should
be revised and set up on a new basis
in accordance with this new classifica-
tion, for all these have heretofore been
based on the conception Of man as an
animal.
Korzybski puts ell life into three
classes, with this explanation: First,
the class Of plants, living In one spot,
which receive solar energy and trans
form it into organic chemical energy
and therefore can be defined as the
chemistry binding class of life; second,
| the animals, which use the dynamic
products Of the chemistry binding
class and have the faculty to move
about freely in space and can, there
fore, be defined as the space binding
class Of life; third, human beings, who,
in addition to being space binding,
have also the capacity Of utilizing the
labors and experiences Of all past
time and are, therefore, in a class by
themselves, the time-binding class of
life.
This conception Of man as being In
believes, must be made the starting
point for investigating and disclosing
the natural laws Of human nature, as
distinct from animal nature. He con-
tends that the difficulties of humanity
have come mainly from the confusion
of these two classes of life and the
consequent attempt of hankind to
guide Itself in part by laws applicable
only to animal nature.
A very complete book on the subject
covering every phase and every form
of direct advertising, appears in Eff
fective Direct Advertising, by Robert
E. Ramsey (Appleton).
This book is practical, reliable and
inclusive as was the same authors
Effective House Organs. Similarly it
will be among the foremost business
books of recent years. It's usefulness
extends to all who employ direct ad-
vertising, wholesalers, retailers, manu-
facturers, mail order houses, advertis-
ing men.
Very timely and very stimulating is
Professor j. Shield Ncholson's The
Revival of Marxism, published last week
by the buttons, searching study of
the theories of Karl Marx made with
thorough economic knowledge The au-
thor is professor of political economy
in the University of Edinburgh
In the brief preface he shows how
unprejudiced and judicial has been
his study Of Marx, for, he says, that
the MARKHAM critique of capitalism
offers "some ideas that might be of
service under present conditions" and
that "other socialists, from Robert
Owen downward, have done good serv-
ice in spite of their utopianism by
stimulating thought and suggesting
practical reforms" But the MARKHAM
scheme as a whole, he finds, to be
hopeless and depressing" and he calls
Marx "the Mad Mullah of Socialists"
and adds as his final conclusion that
"Marxism on national scale becomes
/ LerinisIns
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