New Books

Vikings Op The Sunrise, By Dr.

Peter H. Buck. Our copy from Angus and Robertson, Ltd., Sydney. 15/-.

This work already has been described at length by an American correspondent in these pages. Dr. Buck, probably the greatest living authority on the subject, has brought into 330 well-documented and closely indexed pages, an authentic account of how the Pacific was navi gated and the islands colonised by the Poly nesian race. The Polynesians’ greatest voy ages, some of them covering many thousands of miles, were undertaken before Columbus crossed the Atlantic. This fascinating book throws new light upon the mysterious monu ments and stone images of the central and eastern Pacific, and gives us much more data about those migrations of the dim past, which apparently link Polynesia with Caucasian, Mongolian and Ethiopian races.

SO YOU THINK IT’S NEW!, by W.

J. Funk. Our copy from Angus and

Robertson, Sydney. 5/-.

An astonishing array of facts and figures, showing that there are very few human situ ations of the present day—economic, social, medical, scientific—which have not their counterpart in history somewhere in the last 5,000 years. For instance: “Hot dog” stands were common 1900 years ago. Inoculation for smallpox antedates Christ. Nudist crazes be gan far back, before history. Permanent waves and face-lifting were known in anci ent Mediterranean countries. Nero had an elevator 120 ft. high, and a self-playing organ.

Shatter-proof glass was made 1900 years ago, and artificial eyes 2600 B.C. People in India, in the dawn of our history, were making ice with clay, vaporisation and radiation. They were scolding their girls for running wild and staying out late at nights before ever Julius Caesar marched into Gaul and Britain.

Let’S See If The World Is

ROUND, by Hakon Mielche, Danish art

ist. Our copy from W. Hodge and Co.

Ltd.. 86 Hatton Garden, London, ECI.

12/6.

This book was published in Danish about three years ago, and now we have an Eng lish translation, it is a bright, racy account of the voyage of the “Monsunen”. Danish sci entific ship, from Europe to Panama. Gala pagos Is., Marquesas, Tahiti, Samoa. Fiji. New Caledonia, New Hebrides, Banks and Torres Islands, to Vanikoro (Southern Solomons) where she was wrecked. Mr. Mielche, in addi tion to being a humourist, is a clever and witty artist, and the book is illustrated with scores of diverting thumb-nail sketches, in which we recognise many men well-known in the Pacific. An excellent travel-book, and its 330 pages are packed with entertainment.

GUIDE TO SYDNEY, compiled and

published by N.S.W. Bookstall Co. Pty.

Ltd., Sydney. 2/6.

A compilation that is long overdue. Here we have all the information that travellers want about the Metropolis of the South Seas, ar ranged in handy form —where to go, how to get there, what to see. There is a whole ser ies of new maps, recently drawn —valuable, because the city lay-out has changed a good deal in recent years.