Dartmouth Authors
Herbert L. Marx Jr. '43, ed. Religions inAmerica. Wilson, 1977. 208 pp. $5.75. A collection of just under 50 short articles, chosen largely from the popular press, surveying major religions in America "with emphasis on the changes and developments that have taken place in recent years." The book includes such subjects as the current resurgence of evangelicalism, recent-changes in the Roman Catholic Church, and the connections between religion and politics, but no single point of view preponderates. To the editor's credit, his contributors disagree with one another frequently and vehemently.
Philip L. Mossman '55, ed. A Problem-OrientedApproach to Stroke Rehabilitation. Thomas, 1976. 369 pp. $34.75. A description, with illustrations, of 24 of the most frequent problems encountered by patients recovering from stro'ke, including paralysis, spasticity, contractures, and impaired communication. It is designed for all rehabilitation workers, from the physician-in-charge to the physical therapist or vocational counselor. Dr. Mossman is Director of Rehabilitation at Eastern Maine Medical Center, Bangor, and a staff physiatrist at the Sister Kenny Institute.
David G. Sammons '6O. The Marriage Option. Beacon, 1977. 134 pp. $9.95. From personal experience of two marriages and his professional counseling as a Unitarian minister, Sammons explores the possibilities and pitfalls of modern marriage, convinced that "no matter how many mistakes we may make, the pull toward marriage, whether the first or the fourth, remains strong." Conceding that the "picture-book ideal" of marriage is defunct, he commends a model which is "flexible," "open," and "realistic," but at the same time recognizes "the need for a centered relationship with a spouse."
Robert S. Mac Arthur '64
John M. Nevison '66. The Little Book of BasicStyle: How to Write a Program You CanRead. Addison-Wesley, 1978. Paperback. 151 pp. $5.95. In this first book in a new Joy of Computing series, Nevison offers 19 specific rules of style for writers of BASIC computer programs designed to produce a result which is not only clear but also literate. All are based on a fundamental analogy: "Many of the rules of writing good English can be applied to writing good programs. Both an essay and a program have rough drafts and final forms. Both strive for a balance between brevity and clarity. And in both, the rules of style help you polish a rough idea into a smooth result."
Michael L. Groden '69. "Ulysses" in Progress. Princeton, 1977. 235 pp. $13.50. Ittook James Joyce eight years, 1914-1922, to write Ulysses. Critics have been explicating it for 56. The final word still remains to be said. And though Professor Groden does not claim to have said it, his book makes a major contribution to reading Ulysses — and upsets a few old critical applecarts in the process. For the first time Groden studies the novel in terms of its processes of composition. Using Joyce's notebooks, drafts, manuscripts, typescripts, and proofs, Groden demonstrates that while writing Ulysses Joyce moved through three creative stages and consciously employed three distinct techniques in his novel-inprogress: the early interior monologue, an intermediate stage of parody, and a final "complex intermixture of realism and symbolism." The novel cannot be read narrowly as only a product of the last stage but rather, as Joyce intended, as "a palimpsest of his development from 1914 to 1922,... a record of all the stages he passed through."
