THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JOHN HAYS HAMMOND

A two volume autobiography, of which material was available on only one volume. That takes the reader through an adventurous youth, beginning with a boy-hood in California of the '60's, and winding up with hearing his own death sentence in a Boer courtroom. I loved the boyhood part, with accounts of his camping trip in the Yellowstone and the Mariposa Grove, his visits to mining camps, his growing interest in what proved to be his life work, mining engineering. Then followed the account of his years at Yale, his friendships with youths whose names have been blazoned since, his apprenticeship in mining, through the mining sections of this country, South America, Mexico, Africa. There his share in the empire building and his friendship with Rhodes. The book is an ideal success story, filtered through a long life of interesting contacts, brilliant scientific achievements, interests encompassing the world. A book that is certain of a good press and wide general interest, the country over.