Books Received

83 ‘A research project centered at the Sonic Research Studio of the Department of Communication Studies, Simon Fraser University, British Columbia, Canada, devoted to the comparative study of the world soundscape. The project came into existence in 1971, and since that time a number of national and international research studies have been conducted, dealing with aural perception, community soundscapes, noise pollution, etc. . . .’ A list of 11 WSP publications is included under the term. R. Murray Schafer, director of WSP, states that its aim ‘is to bring together the scientific,sociological and aesthetic aspects of the sonic environment’. The Handbook serves toward that objective. The Appendix includes a list of abbreviations and symbols;a tabulation of pertinent physical units; a chart comparing the Pythagorean, Just Intonation and Equal Temperament systems of tuning, a tabulation of frequency equivalents in hertz of the pitches of the equal tempered scale(piano keyboard) and a table for converting power and voltage ratios to decibels. Handbook for Acoustic Ecology. Barry Truax, ed. A. R. C. Publications, Vancouver, B.C.. 1978. 171 pp.. illus. $.12.95. This is an alphabetical compilation of ‘major terms dealing with sound from the areas of phonetics, acoustics, psychoacoustics, psychology, electroacoustics, communications and noise control , together with those from musicwhich seemsappropriate for an environment handbook, and several soundscape terms . . . invented or adapted’ by members of the World Soundscape Project. Each term is defined or explained fully. Many of the explanations are the equivalent of a technical encyclopedia entry presenting mathematical equations, tabulated data, technical illustrations, graphs, literature references. etc. The definition for ‘soundscape’ begins with the following summarizing statement: ‘An environment of sound (sonic environment ) with emphasis on the way it is perceived and understood by the individual, or by a society.’ Under the term ‘World Soundscape Project (WSP)’one finds: BOOKS RECEIVED Abstraction and Artifice in Twentieth-CenturyArt. Harold Osborn. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1979.209 pp.. The Aesthetic Dimension: Towarda Critique of Marxist Aesthetics. Herbert Marcuse. Beacon Press, Boston, American Furniture and Its Makers. Ian M. G.Quimby, ed. Univ. Chicago Press, London, 1979. 244 pp.. Architectural Synibolism of Imperial Rome and the Middle Ages. E. Baldwin Smith. Princeton Univ. Press, Architecture and the Human Dimension.Peter F. Smith. George Godwin, London, 1979.240 pp., illus.€7.50. L ‘Architecture de survie: Ou s’invenre auiourd’hui le monde de demain. Yona Friedman. Casterman. Paris, The Arrogance ofHumanism. David Ehrenfeld. Oxford University Press, New York. Oxford, 1979.286 pp. Art and Architecture in the Service of Politics. Henry A. Millon and Linda Nochlin, eds., M.I.T. Press, Art History and Class Struggle. Nicos Hadjinicolau. Transl. from French by Louise Asmal. Pluto Press, Art in Primitive Socie/ies. Richard L. Anderson. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1979. 234 pp., illus. Art Kunst 7: International Bibliography of Art Books 1978. Theodora Vischer compiler, W. Jaggi, Basel, The Artist and the Camera. Albert Michini. North Light Publishers, Westport, CT, 1978. 128 pp.. illus. The Arts Betrayed. John Smith. Herbert Press, London, 1978. 256 pp.. illus. f6.95. The Best of Aubrey Beardsley. Kenneth Clark. John Murray, London, 1978. 173 pp.. illus. f9.50. Biology and Ethics: Reflections Inspired by a UnescoSymposium. Bruno Ribes. Unesco, Paris, 1978.202 pp. Paper. The Biology of People. Sam Singerand Henry R. Hilgard. W. H. Freeman, Reading, England, 1978.546 pp.. illus. $16.50. The Challenge Presented to Cultures by Science and Technology. Jean Ladritre. Unesco Press, Paris, 1977. 165 pp. Paper. Color: A Study of Its Position in the Art Theory of the Quattro-and Cinquecento.Jonas Gavel. Almqvist and Wiksell International, Stockholm, 1979. 179 pp.. illus. Paper. Sw.Kr. 66.50. Color Vision: An Historical Introduction. Gerald S. Wassermann. John Wiley, Chichester, 1978. 224 pp.. illus. f 12.60. Computing in the Arts at Oxford University. Susan M. Hockey. Oxford Univ. Computing Service,Oxford, 1977. 24 pp. Paper. Culture as Polyphony: An Essay on the Nature of Paradigms. James M. Curtis. Univ. Missouri Press. Columbia, MO, 1978. 194 pp. $18.75. The Dancing Wu Li Masters: An Overview of the New Physics. Gary Zukav. William Morrow, New York, 1979. 353 pp.. illus. Paper. $5.95. Digital Interjacing with an Analog World: How to Design Circuits to...