Melzack, Ronald

English

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244 REVIEWS ESKIMO BOY TODAY. BY  BYRON FISH. chorage: Alaska  Northwest Publishing Com- pany,  1971. 8% x 11  inches, 63 pages.  $4.20 softbound,  $7.20  hardbound. Eskimo Boy Today is a long-overdue book on  the present-day life of Eskimo children in Alaska. It was worth waiting for! It is a superb description - in words and pictures -of the day-to-day life of an Eskimo boy. Most of us, young and old alike, are fasci- nated by Eskimos but have the notion that Eskimo children still live the way their an- cestors did many generations ago. This mis- conception is dispelled in this  book, but without losing any of the charm, simplicity and human warmth we have learned to  as- sociate  with Eskimos. Indeed,  the  pleasure of Eskimo  childhood shines through. The photographs and text blend perfectly in describing Eskimo life. The text is forth- right and easy to  read, without  “talking down” to children. The photographs, which take  up most of the book, make  the text come alive. Virtually every aspect of Eskimo  life  is shown, from school rooms to games to  life at home. Most important, the book bridges the gap between the primitive way of life most of us associate with Eskimos  and life as it really  is in  modern  day Alaska. Eskimo  Boy  Today is the sort  of  book children look for when they have to write essays about present-day Eskimo life, and  it is as much fun  for adults as it is for children. The book is clearly a work of love. The photographs are superb in  their  portrayal of every aspect of life of an Eskimo boy. How delightful to  see Eskimo  children  playing games, learning in  the classroom, visiting the doctor, waiting for  father  to  come  home  from work, or exploring the mysteries  of the  land around them! The text provides meaning and continuity to the photographs, and contains fascinating bits of information, such as the languages Eskimos speak, and even the con- cepts Eskimo children have of life in big cities in the United  States and  Canada. Every school and library should have this book. It will bring  pleasure to everyone who  reads it. Ronald  Melzack ILLUSTRATED BY BOB AND IRA SPRING: h- GLACIER ICE. BY AUSTIN POST AND ED- WARD R. LACHAPELLE. Seattle: The Moun- taineers,  and  University of Washington  Press, 1971. 14% x 11%  )inches, 110 pages, illu- strated. $20.00. Glacier Ice is a picture book containing a collection of 130 excellent photographs illus- trating snow and glacier ice. Many of them are oblique air photographs  taken by Austin Post who has an outstanding reputation for aerial  photography of glaciers. LaChapelle supplied the majority of the photographs taken from ground level. The authors have used contributions from other glaciologists, for example some Himalayan  photographs by Fritz Muller. Emphasis is on western North American glaciers where the  authors have done  most of their  esearch,  but  Europe, Asia, Greenland, and Antarctica are also rep- resented. The illustrations are in thirteen sections organized to explain the origin and behaviour of glaciers and  their effects on the landscape. The first section on glacier flow and mass balance shows snow and glacier ice crystals, then aerial views of accumulation and abla- tion zones, the snow line, and sedimentary layering. The second section deals with the major surface features of glaciers, especially crevasses and seracs. A brief section on glacier flow follows with a sequence of pic- tures showing changes in  the ice fall of Blue Glacier and several photos of glacier soles including Fritz Muller’s pictures  taken under Pumori South  Glacier. Glacier fluctuations are presented next with  retreating, advancing, and surging glaciers, mostly from western North America. The next section illustrates moraines, both deposited moraines and me- dial and ablation  moraines, some of the last bearing a cover of vegetation. Glacial surges are demonstrated by the distorted moraines of surging tributary glaciers, and chaotic  sur- face features of surged glaciers, mainly in Alaska. Ogives are given an extended treat- ment. Meltwater features including streams, potholes, and snow swamps are followed by a section on surface details such as crevasses, glacier tables, and ablation forms including suncups, ice pillars, and ice ships. Glaciers terminating in tidewater, glaciers on vol- canoes, and glaciers having jokulalaups fol- low. The next series of pictures  illustrates mainly the erosional effects of glaciers in mountains  with a few scenes of depositional forms. The final section shows polar  and sub- polar glaciers including ice shelves and ice sheets  in the Arctic and Antarctic. The book ends with a glossary of 74 terms. A brief text accompanies each  double page of illustra- tions. There  are  no references. According to the dust  jacket the  text is “for both the general reader and the specialist”; comments below are made  from  both points of  view. The specialist will find this  book an excel- lent  source of illustrations for teaching espe- cially as a reference for  an elementary  course 

Eskimo Boy Today, by Byron Fish

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Eskimo Boy Today, by Byron Fish

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