Mr. Michael Elder has succeeded admirably in his task of presenting anew a number of the great rescues carried out by men of the life-boat service. These are contained in For Those in Peril (John Murray, 18s.).

Most of the details have of course been recounted in book form before, but the great life-boat rescues have, as stories, something of the quality of the sagas in that they can be retold frequently and lose none of their quality. The trans- porting of the Lynmouth life-boat over Exmoor in 1899, the wreck of the Rohilla off Whitby 1914, the saving of the crew of the Daunt Rock lightvessel by the Ballycotton life-boat in 1936 and some of the great feats of Henry Blogg of Cromer are all recalled. The account is brought up to date with telling descriptions of such rescue services as that in which the Port St. Mary life- boat took two keepers off the Chickens Rock lighthouse and the rescue by the Lerwick life-boat of the survivors of the Soviet trawler Urbe.

There are more than twenty illustra- tions, including drawings of the Institution's new 48-foot 6-inch proto- type life-boat. Mr. Elder's concluding words are: "There is little room in such an organization for someone simply 'doing a job'. The inspiration of the Royal National Life-boat Institution is that it is run entirely by people whose sole aim, in whatever field of the Institution's work they find themselves, is the need to provide help and rescue for those in peril on the sea." Attractively Produced Booklets Pictorial and Practical English is the name of a series of attractively produced booklets published by Evans Brothers (7s. 6d. each) and designed to promote the teaching of English. They are skilfully written by John Trevaskis and Patrick Pringle, and after a story has been told questions are posed for the student. In Book Two one of the stories is that of the rescue from the Forfarshire by Grace Darling and her father. In Book Three the story is told of how the Lynmouth life-boat was taken over Exmoor..