ODDLY ENOUGH

A British brew of essays, by a persistent explorer of the curious world around him, displays urbanity and sanity, a sense of Things against man, speculations in ignorance, and a happy sense of the ludicrous. The maddening effects of plumbing, the post office, public telephones, the Loss Force (or the perversity of inanimate objects), escalators, traffic; the quandaries that pursue in activated sludge, Men with Little Carts, Coventry, Harley Street, box kites, typewriting, anagrams, a smattering of German, mechanical terms; the joy of a 1928 Austin 7 at home and in France; modern elementals and dwarfs; the vast social complex that is constantly an assult on the nervous system -- these get a near-sighted, larky scrutiny.