FLORIDA: LAND OF FORTUNE

Without half trying, Stephen Flynn makes Florida sound like the ""best of all possible worlds"" for almost (but not quite) everyone. Once done praising the climate, the scenic marvels, the nearly infinite variety of sports and other attractions, he launches into a category-by-category study of the problems, resources, disadvantages, and challenges, in a State to which 2,800 new residents have swarmed, per week, since 1950. The almost unbelievable statistics of Florida's population boom are only overshadowed by the dawning realization of what it has meant for schools, civic and municipal institutions, tourist and recreational accommodations, and every manner of shops and services to have to keep pace with the influx of people, many of whom are retired and living on low fixed incomes. It is admittedly impossible for someone who does not live in Florida at the present time to evaluate the reliability or viability of his innumerable specific suggestions for persons toying with the idea of migrating to Florida, but his common-sense clues (e.g. visit various places at several seasons of the year before choosing a permanent location) are all basically sound, and there is a very plausible ring to the other general data. His various lists of facilities can be checked against correspondence with appropriate groups and agencies (addresses provided in many cases). His statistics about job opportunities are supported by verifiable Labor Department and other figures for those who wish to check, and for such an obvious paean that would do justice to the most vainglorious real estate promoter, the whole book is remarkably well documented -- much greater depth reporting than, for example, either The Florida Story (Kofoed, Doubleday, p. 839, 1960) or The Most of Everything (Mehling, Harcourt, Brace, p. 836, 1960).