This autobiography of a man now serving a life sentence at Sing Sing for the murder of his wife, has an introduction by Basil King, who suggested the writing of the story to the prisoner as a means of escaping from his own morbid thoughts. The book contains the experiences of a newspaper man of forty years’ standing. The author was city editor of the New York Evening World at the time of the tragedy. Contents: From the bottom; Barnstorming; Chicago “Tribune” days; My first big “scoop”; A murder mystery; “Star” reporting; A city editor at twenty-five; Breaking into Park Row; On the “World’s” city desk; Newspapering today; The Pulitzers; Newspaper ethics; Gathering clouds; Tragedy; A “lifer” in Sing Sing.
Booklist 17:112 D ’20 + N Y Times p22 S 12 ’20 580w
“The recital of the morbid psychological conditions that led to the author’s crime does not make wholesome reading. Nevertheless the book is one of the most remarkable that ever came from within prison walls.”
+ − Outlook 126:334 O 20 ’20 70w Review 3:477 N 17 ’20 880w
“The author tells his story in direct and simple English, wasting no words, and stopping when the tale is completed. In comparison with some literary products, the work may seem ‘choppy’ at times, but the human story is there and written in a style easily understood and followed.”
+ Springf’d Republican p9a O 17 ’20 800w
CHAPMAN, ERNEST HALL. Study of the weather. il *$1.10 Putnam 551.5
20–10622
“The present volume of the Cambridge nature study series has been written chiefly to provide a series of practical exercises on weather study.... In addition to serving its primary purpose as a school-book it is hoped that the book will be acceptable as an introduction to the study of modern meteorology.” (Introd.) It is an English work and its problems and illustrations are based on climatic conditions in the British Isles. Contents: The weather day by day, observations of wind; What to look for in watching the weather; Clouds, the colours of the sky; Fog and mist, dew and frost; Rain, snow and hail, thunderstorms; Temperature and humidity; The pressure of the atmosphere; Weather charts; Cyclones and anticyclones; Anticipation of weather. Appendixes contain exercises, a syllabus of weather study for elementary schools and a bibliography. There are illustrations, maps and charts and an index.