Dartmouth Authors

Doug Storer ’21. Amazing But True! SportsAround the World. Pocket Books, 1977. 157 pp. $1.50. The Australians hold an annual regatta which features racing boats made of empty beer cans. Mary Queen of Scots was the first woman golfer. An Englishman named Waite won a bet on a race horse against which the odds were 48,737 to 1. In Indonesia they race bulls, not horses, and they train them on raw eggs and beer. And so on. ... Doug Storer was once a radio associate of Robert Ripley of Believe It Or Not! fame. It figures. This is Storer’s 11th book in the series.

William A. Ballard ’49 and Jim Hevener. AnIllustrated Guide to Platform Tennis. N.Y., Mason/Charter, 1977. 115 pp. Softcover. $7.95. If you’re serious about your game of paddle tennis, this is for you. Definitely. Over 500 pictures; self-help quizzes strategically placed; a “troubleshooting” chart at the end of each chapter; the basics of each stroke il- lustrated by the “Stroke Doctor,” a hinged wooden figure born of the imagination of car- toonist Hevener: this book has it all. But if you’re solemn about your game perhaps this book isn’t in your court. For solemn it isn’t. Would that all how-to sports books were as sprightly as this one or as literate. But the accent, Ballard says, is on “show,” not “tell.” And Hevener’s line drawings “tell” it all humorously and incisively. Look at the last chapter, “Strata-gems.” You’ll not only learn something from the cartoons; you’ll laugh a lot.

Shepard D. Robinson ’49. Land Use Guide forBuilders, Developers, and Planners. Far- mington, Mich., Structures Publishing Cos., 1977. 231 pp. $2O. The fundamental changes in how we use our land which have occurred since 1965, Robinson argues, “require that builders and city governments have an un- biased, practical understanding of the issues and problems confronting both parties.” This book is designed to meet that perceived need. It traces the genesis of our present struggles over land use; evaluates the effectiveness of several present methods of land-use control; analyzes the “forces that impact on land use,” such as urbanization, civil rights activism, en- vironmental concerns, and the energy shor- tage; and provides specific, practical guidelines to developers, planners, and builders, for dealing with the restrictions newly imposed by land-use regulations.