Editors' bookshelf;

              29
The busy season in book publishing is
the period between Labor Day and
early December, when new titles pour
from the presses in anticipation of
Christmas buying. The following books,
most of them selected from last
autumn's flood, appeared to the editors
of HirS Reports to offer a good mix of
information, inspiration and enjoyment.
No official endorsement is intended;
the proof is in the reading.
Science Is Not Enough, by Vannevar
Bush. Morrow, 1967, 192 pages, $4.50.
"A belief may be larger than a fact,"
writes this wise and urbane man of
science, in one of the delightful and
provocative essays in this book that re­flect
his life and philosophy. With other
truly great scientists (Albert Einstein
and Arthur Compton come to mind)
he sees science in the perspective of all
human thought. Whether writing of
computers (Dr. Bush is known as "The
Father of the Modern Computer"),
medicine or the laws of probability, he
will stretch the mind and expand the
vision of people of varied tastes. There's
an amusing chapter on baseball aver­ages
by way of illustrating probability
statistics—a batting slump is shown to
be quite normal.
But he speaks especially to modern
managers and professional people,
among whom he specifically includes
CPAs. Thus he writes that the differ­ence
between a technician and a man­ager
depends on whether or not "the
young manager recognizes that an art
exists, and strives to develop his own
personal form of that art, with the same
honesty, conviction and concentration
as he devotes to the techniques of his
profession." And he continues, "... the
central theme of any true profession
is ministry to the people. This is not
just service, humbly rendered. It is
guidance, extended with pride and
authority."
Once president of the Carnegie In­stitute
of Washington and close advisor
to five presidents of the United States,
Dr. Bush is now Honorary Chairman of
the Board of M.I.T.
Seven Days to Sunday: Crisis Week
with the New York Football Giants, by
Eliot Asinof. Simon and Schuster, 1968,
318 pages, $5.95.
The pro football season is over, but
this most popular of American specta­tor
sports holds its fans well after the
final whistle in January. Here is an in­sider's
view, written with deep human
sympathy by a former minor league
baseball player, who lived with the
Giants for two full seasons, watching,
listening and probing. His absorbing
story reveals a hundred fascinating de­tails
from the viewpoint of coaches and
players, which can help the stadium or
TV spectator and his family learn what
the pro game is all about.
Help Your Family Make a Better Move,
by Helen Giammattei and Katherine
Slaughter. Doubleday-Dolphin, 1968,
173 pages, 95 cents.
Each year, the Census Bureau tells
us, 20 per cent of American families
move from one home to another. H&S
families certainly contribute in some
measure to this statistic as they go up
the ladder. Here is a well-written
paperback book full of tips and warn­ings
passed on by those who have
learned the hard way, that can help
husband and wife plan their move with
maximum saving of time, money and
nerves. Some chapters may not be rele­vant
to your own situation. But even
the most experienced old pros among
mobile professional families will profit
from the checklists in the three chap­ters
on Working with a Moving Com­pany,
Preparing for the Move, and The
Move Itself.
Ernie Breech, by J. Mel Hickerson.
Meredith Press, 1968,241 pages, $6.95.
At the November 1921 CPA exami­nation
in Illinois, a 24-year-old small-college
dropout from the Missouri
Ozarks scored the highest grade and
won the Gold Medal. From that day
on, Ernest R. Breech, CPA, repeatedly
won recognition as a star industrial
manager. He is best known today as
the dynamic former Executive Vice-
President, then Board Chairman, of the
Ford Motor Company, who pulled it
out of the doldrums in the late 1940s
and 1950s. But Ernie, as his thousands
of friends call him, was a General Mo­tors
man even longer than he was with
Ford, and today in semi-retirement he
heads the board of Trans World Air­lines.
His career has been that of a pro­fessional
manager with unusual talents.
This sympathetic biography, written
by a friend of 30 years, shows one of
the masters of industrial decision-mak­ing
as he coped with difficult situations
in a dozen companies that he served
with excellence. An inspiring, educa­tional
story.
The Way Things Work: An Illustrated
Encyclopedia of Technology. Simon
and Schuster, 1967, 590 pages, $9.95.
The public accountant working in
industrial plants is often curious to
learn how they operate, at least in a
general way. Many of the most impor­tant
industrial processes are outlined
and illustrated in this fascinating refer­ence
book, which has been translated
from the German. Its text and more
than 1,000 clarifying drawings explain
the rudiments of such things as petro­leum
distillation, steel making, nuclear
reactors, manufacture of glass, synthet­ic
rubber, plastics, fabrics and much
more. For the amateur mechanic (man,
wife or youngster) it dissects radio,
TV set, washing machine, bicycle
brake, ballpoint pen and, just because
you might want to know, the heart-lung
machine. A great source book to
satisfy your curiosity, to help you deal
intelligently with repairmen, and to
give Johnny so that he can do his own
school research.