College and Research Libraries


BOOK REVIEWS 

A List of the Original Appearances of 
Dashiell Hammett's Magazine Work. 
By E. H. Mundell. Kent, Ohio: Kent State 
University Press, 1968. (The Serif Series: 
Bibliographies and Checklists, 13) $5.00. 
(75-97620). 

Mr. Mundell's assembly is neatly de-
scribed by its title. It is a commendable 
class exercise which has climbed its way 
into expensive print with a reasonably me-
ticulous sense of separate facts and no 
sense at all of why they should have been 
assembled. It has knowledge of its sub-
ject but no understanding at all of why 
the subject need have been approached. 

The compiler is careful to note from 
time to time that, "the original printing 
has not been examined," but he never 
tells us why book reviews, unsigned, have 
been assigned to Hammett. Although he 
seems never to have read more than the 
opening sentence of any of the stories, he 
seems to miss any connection between 
"The Big Knock-over" and "$106,000 
Blood Money." He has been too little curi-
ous to discover the publication date of "It 
Creeps By Night" (properly "Creeps by 
Night," 1931). 

William F. Nolan's recent "Dashiell 
Hammett: A Casebook" (McNally & Lof-
tin, 1970, $6.95) is much more useful and 
engaged. Mr. Mundell's dreadful little 
class exercise should have been graded 
C for sufficiently careful servitude by an 
instructor who would then have told him 
that making a bibliography is different 
than doing fifty push-ups. 

The whole proceeding is an example of 
conspicuous waste and Kent State Univer-
sity Press ought to inquire into the com-
petence of Mr. William White, general 
editor of the Serif Series. Mr. Mundell gets 
his C but he has also to be arraigned for 

280/ 

Recent Publications 

committing another nonbook, one more ef-
fluence in our affiuent society.-]ames San-
doe, University of Colorado. 

The Manual of Psychiatric . Television; 
Theory, Practice, Imagination. By James 
J. Onder. Ann Arbor, Mich.: Maynard 
House Pub., 1970. 144p. $6.25. 
Dr. Onder has produced the first com-

prehensive manual for those interested in 
television applications to psychiatry. He 
surveys early uses of television in various 
institutions, and clearly identifies what 
television can and cannot do. Uses for 
teaching, resident supervision, and thera-
py receive considerable attention. Self-
confrontation is described on both a theo-
retical and practical basis. Staff uses are 
described, including long-distance two-way 
consultations, closed-circuit programs on 
the ward, and both verbal and nonverbal 
communication. 

The effects of television on therapist 
and patient receive attention, and there is 
a section on protecting patient privacy. An 
excellent chapter on production techniques 
includes camera work, audio and editing 
techniques, and the like. 

In his conclusions, Dr. Onder discusses 
a need he identified in the course of his 
study of the field: that of having a coor-
dinator on the staff who provides the 
bridge between professional psychiatric 
personnel and technicians. 

Suggestions for research include inves-
tigation of how visual rna terials affect the 
learning process, how various camera tech-
niques affect what is seen, and what mea-
suring instruments can be developed to 
determine how much is learned from the 
teachers' use of videotaped patient ma-
terial. 

Further suggestions include research in-
to the effectiveness of providing therapy 
by a two-way television system, its use in 
postgraduate education, and the use of 

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