Book Review: The Central Role of Hormones, Mary Pickford, Contemporary Science Paperbacks, Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh, 1969, $A1.20.
| DOI | 10.1177/000486587100400108 |
| Author | Allen A. Bartholomew |
| Date | 01 March 1971 |
| Published date | 01 March 1971 |
AUST. &N.Z. JOURNAL OF CRIMINOLOGY (March, 1971): 4, 1 63
ALLEN
A.
BARTHOLOMEW,
Melbourne.
[ect)
is
rather
cool.
They
say
that
"even
if a
new
form of
treatment
is
found
to
be
specially effective
with
a
certain
type
of
offender, it
may
not
be feasible
to
provide
that
treatment
in practice, on
more
than
alimited scale".
Obviously
there
is some
truth
in this,
but
it
seems
to this
reviewer
to be
rather
more
pessimistic than, for example,
the
results
to
date
of
Warren's
community
treatment
project
would merit,
nothwithstanding
Hood
and
Sparks'
criticizm of
that
work.
The final
chapter
deals
with
the
impact
of
imprisonment
on
the
offender,
and
again
there
is an excellent
review
of
current
knowledge
in
the
area.
There
is a critique
of
Clemmer's
work
and
particular
mention
is
made
of
Wheeler's
work
showing
that
the
degree
of prisonization,
or
alienation
from
"outside"
values
which
a
prisoner
feels, is
weakest
at
the
beginning
and
the
end of
the
sentence,
and
strongest
during
the
middle period. The clarification of
this
could
have
important
implications in con-
nection
with
inmate
treatment
pro-
grammes,
education
programmes
and
the
parole
decision.
Apart
from
the
first class
material
which
the
book
contains,
the
statistic
charts
used
as
illustrations
throughout
the
book
are
notably
clear
and
easy
to read. Indeed
the
authors
have
succeeded
admirably
in
their
aim,
stated
in
the
introduction, of
making
their
discussions of
methodology
as simple
as possible
without
sacrificing relevance
or
accuracy.
This is
particularly
creditable
insofar
as it is an implied recognition
that
criminology is in a sense a
"parasite"
dis-
cipline, encompassing
amoung
those
con-
cerned
with
it, sociologists, philosophers,
lawyers, psychologists,
correction
and
law
enforcement
officers, etc. This is a
reality
which
writers
in
the
field of criminology
frequently
overlook.
GREG
WOODS,
Sydney
University
Institute
of Criminology.
THE CENTRAL ROLE OF HORMONES,
Mary
Pickford,
Contemporary
Science
Paperbacks,
Oliver &Boyd, Edinburgh,
1969, $A1.20.
THERE
can
be no
doubt
as to
the
increas-
ing
importance
of biology in
the
under-
standing
of behaviour,
both
animal
and
human.
In
this
general
area
the
role of
hormones
is of
the
greatest
interest. It
is
therefore
most
necessary
that
asmall
and
simple,
but
authoritative,
book
should
be available for
the
general
reader. This
book
is small
and
authoritative,
but
is
it
simple enough? The
author
comments
in
the
Preface
(p.vi):
"The
reader
is
assumed
to
have
ageneral,
but
not
specialised
knowledge
of biology,
particularly
that
of
vertebrates
and
mammals". To my
mind
the
knowledge
required
for
this
book
is
quite considerable
and
many, if
not
most,
"criminologists" will find
the
text
very
heavy
going. The
book
is of
value
to
the
physiologically
orientated
worker
and
might be of value as
the
basis of some
tutorials
for
student
criminologists. How-
ever, on balance, the book will be of
very
limited
value
to the non-medical
or
scien-
tificallv
educated
worker.
-
ALLEN
A.
BARTHOLOMEW,
Melbourne.
THE SCIENTIFIC ASPECTS OF FOREN-
SIC MEDICINE, C. J. Polson, Contem-
porary
Science
Paperbacks,
Oliver
&
Boyd, Edinburgh, 1969, $A1.20.
TfIIS small
paperback
written
by
the
Pro-
fessor
of
Forensic
Medicine,
University
of
Leeds, is of value in
that
it is a
cheap
production
introducing
the
student,
"crimi-
nologist" or otherwise, to
the
subject
mat-
ter
of forensic medicine. However,
anyone
who
has
more
than
a
peripheral
interest
in
the
subject
should be encouraged, indeed
made, to
study
the
larger
and
more
lavish-
ly
illustrated
texts. A
number
of
such
standard
treatises
are
listed in
the
biblio-
graphy.
BOOKS
RECEIVED
Hewitt,
John
P., Social Stratification
and
Deviant
Behaviour. Random House,
New
York, 1970, 176 pp.
Leonard, V. A., The Police
Communications
System.
Charles C. Thomas, Illinois, 1970,
$5.75.
Leonard, V. A., Police
Patrol
Organisation.
Charles
C. Thomas, Illinois, 1970, $6.25.
More,
Harry
W.,
The
New
Era
of
Public
Safety.
Charles C. Thomas, Illinois, 1970.
Moynihan, Daniel P., Violent Crime: The
Challenge
to
Our
Cities. Braziller,
New
York, 1969, $3.00 (U.S.), 83 pp.
Parker,
Tony,
The
Frying
Pan: A
Prison
and
Its
Prisoners. Hutchinson, Melb.,
1970, $6.20, 222 pp.
Pickford, Mary,
The
Central
Role of Hor-
mones.
Oliver
and Boyd, London, 1969
(paperback), 112 pp.
Polson, C. J., The Scientific
Aspects
of
Forensic
Medicine. Oliver
and
Boyd,
London, 1969 (paperback), 140 pp.
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