LESSONS FOR LIFE

Published in cooperation with the Denver Museum of Natural History, this title in the Our Human Family series seeks to explore the human quest for understanding, but it lacks clear definitions and the examples are often atypical or confusing. ``Every human culture has systems to guide the mental, physical, and moral growth of its members,'' states Pickering in her first book, and then describes how cultures around the world, grouped by geographic region (Europe and the Middle East fall under one chapter), provide academic, social, vocational, and personal education. She provides examples accompanied by loosely related full-color photographs; thus, in the chapter on Africa, the text describes the preparations for adulthood among the Ngbaka people of Zaire while the photo shows a Bushman from Namibia. There is no other mention of Namibia in the text and no maps to provide locations inside the country of any of the groups described. Further, the author fails to tie ancillary discussions (e.g., on the importance of a ``true democracy'' or the destruction of the rain forest) to the main topic, making an already diffuse subject even more difficult for readers to grasp. (glossary, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 12+)