THE STORY OF YOUR EAR

Although the ear was included in the Silversteins' Sense Organs, a volume in their more substantial series on the human body's systems, this square-shaped, larger-print, more specifically focused volume caters to the trend toward easy-access, direct answers to routine assignments. The book in itself is more than a routine catalogue and summary, though there is much detail, backed up in the illustrations, on the parts of the ear and their functions. The Silversteins gear their explanations to their audience's understanding, drawing an analogy between the concentrated pressure of sound traveling through the middle ear and a high-heeled shoe concentrating a woman's weight. Sound waves are introduced with an analogy to mattress springs; and there is a pause to elicit realization of the tininess of the middle ear and its parts. Reliable and thoughtfully presented.