HEALTH FOR THE HAVING
by William. Macmillan, 1944■ 146 pp.fx. 7 jr.
The strength of a nation lies in its manpower and materiel. Materiel depends upon manpower and manpower depends upon health. World War II is disclosing that the commonly held assumption that this country is a relatively inexhaustible source of both healthy manpower and raw materials will not be true even until the end of the current year.
"The most baffling fact about us human beings is our contemptuous and systematic disregard for health. In theory, a healthy body is our most prized possession; actually, we abuse our bodies as though they were laggard pack animals. The marvels of modern medicine have so fixed our attention on the possibility of curing disease that we tend to neglect the positive value of maintaining health. Witness the fact that only 20 percent of our people have optimum health. The health of 60 million people in the United States is impaired; 30 million more, according to life insurance examinations, are physically unfit. Not even in childhood—as school records show—is maximum health common," says William R. P. Emerson '92 who then proceeds to give us in Health for the Having a simple non-technical blueprint for estimating our degree of fitness; detecting our flaws and faults; and a non-faddist every day sort of solution for the problems which may present themselves.
Dr. Emerson is the Medical Consultant in Physical Fitness for the Aetna Life Insurance Company and formerly held the same post at Dartmouth. I take comfort when he says "It is neither possible nor desirable that every one should be an athlete, but we cannot main- tain optimum health and efficiency without regular exercise," and after describing cer- tain procedures he says "These exercises can be carried on efficiently even while lying in bed."
Only one in five of us has optimum health which leaves the other four needing his book. His chapters on weight, blood pressure, habits, diet, and time budgets are sound and a welcome relief from the profound pontifications of the vitamin vendors.
In these days of overloads and nervous strain it behooves all of us as a selfish as well as patriotic duty to give thought to our efficiency as affected by our health, and Dr. Emerson's little pocket size book is an excellent guide toward constructive thinking on the subject.
Colorado Evergreens, by Robert E. More '13 has been published by the Colorado Museum of Natural History and the University of Denver. This is a profusely illustrated and well printed pamphlet of 47 pages. Because of its beautiful illustrations and its valuable key to the evergreens of the State it will be of value not only to the people of Co orado, but to visitors who may wish to identify the evergreens found there.
Random House has just published LiteraryEnglish Photographs of Places Made Memorable in English Literature, by David E. Scherman '36 and Richard Wilcox. This book bears a preface by Christopher Morley and contains fifty photographs by Scherman. Each photograph is accompanied by a brief text. Unfortunately, in some cases the reproductions are not as clear as they might be. The book will undoubtedly have an appeal as a gift book.
