Good Reading: A Guide for Serious Readers, 21st Edition by J. Sherwood Weber (review)

GOOD READING: A GUIDE FOR SERIOUS READERS, 21ST EDITION BY J. SHERWOOD WEBER, EDITOR (New York: R. R. Bowker Co., 1978. 313 pages, $12.95.) Updated from 1969, Good Reading lists important and widely readable books of the 1970s without dropping valuable older books injudiciously. Samuel Schoenbaum's superb William Shakespeare: A Documentary Life (1975) is included, but not at the expense of Renaissance-Profiles, edited by J. H. Plumb (1965). Both are fine works which a "serious reader" can appreciate without specialized knowledge; and it is for the non-specialist that Good Reading, with its emphasis on breadth, is designed. Thus under the heading of "Physical Sciences and Mathematics" more works by George Gamow (who leads the field in interpreting science to the layperson," according to a note to one [p. 253] ), are listed than works.by Einstein. The latter's "non-technical" Relativity: The Special and General Theory (p. 253) is included, however, along with The Born-Einstein Letters, of which we are warned that some "are incomprehensible to the lay reader" (p. 252). The organization of Good Reading's annotated lists under three main headings — "Historical and Regional Cultures," "Literary Types," and "Humanities Social Sciences and Sciences" — causes more overlapping and fragmentation than are alleviated by cross-references and the index. Under the second grouping is a chapter entitled "Essays, Letters, Criticism, Magazines ." It includes Auerbach's Mimesis (p. 158) but not Bradley's Shakespearian Tragedy, which is listed in the first section under "Books About Tudor England" (p. 32) — although it is more a work of criticism than of history. Shoenbaum's aforementioned book, which should at least be crossreferenced to Tudor England, is not but is listed under "Biography" (p. 153); and there is no index reference to this work under "Shakespeare." The organizational problem notwithstanding, Good Reading makes appropriate titles accessible to the non-specialist with a clarity not present in more detailed general-reader bibliographies like the Bowker Reader's Adviser. Good Reading's annotations are short and usually to the point. Its brief chapter-introductory essays will help to orient some readers. DANIEL E. PARKER*»DANIEL E. PARKER is42 years old, married, and an associate professor at Lewis-Clark State College, Lewiston, Idaho. He received his B.A. at Haverford College, his M.A. at Johns Hopkins, and completed many courses at Washington State University. He has taught literature and composition courses at Lewis-Clark since 1964. ROCKY MOUNTAIN REVIEW ...