METEORITES: Stones From The Sky

On November 30, 1954 Mrs. E. H. Hodges was sitting in her living room in Sylacauga, Alabama, when a nine-pound stone crashed through the roof, bounced, and struck her a glancing blow on the leg, thus making her the only authenticated case of a human being struck by a meteorite. As your chances of witnessing a fireball or discovering a ""find"" (or fallen meteorite)are somewhat greater, meteoriticist Fodor tells you what to look for. Fodor gives no more than a brief question-and-answer outline--ticking off the composition of meteorites, speed of fall, temperature on reaching earth (quite cold), etc. But his essay is a model of lucid, accessible writing and the photos (including specimens shot beside a ruler to indicate scale) are more than usually functional.