FROM ATOMS TO INFINITY

This is a sampling of articles from the 1962-63 Science Reading Series of the Minneapolis Tribune, by various well known scientists and popular science writers. Unfortunately these bite-sized articles gain nothing by being served up together. There is a lack of cohesion in subject, content, and writing styles, emphasized by a lack of editorial prefaces. The ""Introduction"" is neither a satisfying apology for the relationship of science and technology, nor does it identify a connecting theme for the selections. While some of the articles on scientific research are interesting enough, the necessary brevity and simplification for press use may prove frustrating to readers of more than browsing-level interest. Isaac Asimov is the most heavily represented writer, but his section on infinity is nothing but a rewriting of Chapter 10 in his Realm of Numbers (1959), less imaginative and less meaningful here. The final section on the authors is in no obvious order and reads like extracts from professional data. Altogether, the book lacks the sense of focus and unity that should distinguish good science anthologies.