A TREASURY OF CONTENTMENT

Serenity serendipitously collected and excerpted (Mr. Woods is co-appearing this season with How to Torture Your Mind--p. 50) from the ancients, Confucius and Epicurus, down through the ages. There are 617 passages conveniently if conventionally categorized, alternating between prose and poetry, and varying in tone from humor to non-denominational uplift. With the exception of Edgar Guest and a clutch of unfortunately rediscovered women writers whose winged words are dusted with talcum powder, the editor's choice is satisfactory and superior to say A. L. Alexander's Treasurehouse of Inspirational Poetry and Prose, a comparable guided miscellany.