REFLECTIONS ON THE HUMAN VENTURE.

By Hadley Cantril '28 and Charles H. Bumstead. New York: New York University Press, 1960. 344 pp. $6.50.

"Reflections on the Human Venture" is a most fascinating compilation of psychological insights and observations. It was edited by Hadley Cantril '28 and Charles Bumstead. Dr. Cantril is the former Chairman of the Department of Psychology at Princeton and is now Chairman of the Board of the Institute for International Social Research. Dr. Bumstead was, until his untimely death, Professor of Psychology at Knox College.

Although this book was compiled by two psychologists and is concerned with human thoughts, feelings and behavior, its similarity to most books by psychologists is slight. Instead of presenting a considerable amount of empirical evidence in support of a small number of hypotheses, the editors have searched out a group of very literate and insightful statements concerning psychological phenomena. Evidence, in the formal sense of the word, is not given in support of these statements. Cantril and Bumstead have taken the position that we are in desperate need of penetrating insights and hypotheses and their selection is intended to meet that need rather than questions of formal evidence.

One could not conceive of a more varied group of contributors: from physicist Albert Einstein to poet Richard Eberhart; from theologian Martin Buber to physicist Percy Bridgman; from historian Arnold Toynbee to humorist James Thurber. Psychologists were not excluded; William James and John Dewey are both represented.

Cantril and Bumstead have taken this diverse group of people writing on diverse topics and organized a series of comments on such issues as human nature, the nature of human knowledge, human strivings, man and fellow man, decision making, and man and society. They have built them together with their own meaningful commentary. The person looking for a monolithic and simplified view of man will be disappointed with this book. But, the person anxious to perceive the many facets and problems of human action will be much stimulated by this most articulate selection of writings.