TANGAROA'S GODCHILD

Report repeated from page 801 of the August 15th bulletin, when scheduled for fall publication, as follows: ""This book has so many different aspects that a complete listing of the categories it covers would only confuse the reader. Mainly however, it is autobiography, nature study, and anthropology, all held together by one constant theme: 'I have no desire', the author says, 'except, as I can, to set down here (as an artist might paint the image of his love, brush-stroke by brush-stroke) the concept I have of an ocean I love.' The Ocean is the Pacific, especially the areas around northeastern Australia. There are hauntingly beautiful chapters devoted to whales, seals, fishing, sailing, the Trobriand Islanders, and the early Europeans in this area. There are others describing subjects as seemingly remote as his first sex experiences and his career as a World War II bomber pilot, but everything is recounted with such care and sincerity that nothing seems either extraneous or commonplace. Tangaroa is the Polynesian sea-god; Mr. Ruhen is truly his godchild, and his book is a work of love.