alcohol: "Particularly when influenced by alcohol, peoples need to talk in- creases, while the ability to register what others try to say is simultaneously reduced." Where has the author been sheltered all these years?

This book is a very good example of the fallacy of complicating the simple, and of assuming that scientific method can achieve what human ingenuity cannot. I t is an object lesson in false theory: give me a jury, and a competent lawyer-or even an incompetent one-any time.

Nicholas Fairbairn

THE M.I.B.

The Motor Insurers' Bureau Donald B. Williams (Oyez Publishing Ltd., London, 1972; 68pb., £1.05)

This concise little book explains the setting up and operation of the Motor Insurers' Bureau which aims to close the gaps in the law. For example the Bureau may provide a remedy in cases of hit and run where the culprit is never traced. The text of the Agreements setting up the Bureau are included.

A.R.B.

CHIEFS' CHOICE

Intensive Inquiries Allen Andrews (Harrap, London, 1973; 251p@., index, £3.00)

The cases described in the seven chapters of this book were selected by seven of the Chief Constables of Great Britain to illustrate recent typical murder investigations. The cases are presented not as so often from the point of view of what emerged in Court, but rather through the eyes of the officer heading the investigation. They include accounts of the often unrewarding labour of pains- taking detection, the expertise of the forensic scientist, the grim collection of brown paper parcels containing dismembered limbs and the careful matching of bruises with teeth patterns-in other words-a fair selection of the kind of work to be found in murder investigations today. The book is well written and a tribute to the restrained professional skill of the police in handling this aspect of their work.

A.R.B.

GRIM CRAM

Police Promotion Handbook 4th Edition No. 5.-Road Traffic Baker and Dodge (Butterworth, London, 1973; 347pp., index, £1.50)

This handbook serves the double purpose of providing material for examina- tion students and a digest of road traffic law for traffic officers. I t incorporates the changes in law to the date of publication and can be recommended for these purposes.

A.R.B.

ABERRATIONS TO ZOOM

The Focal Dictionary of Photographic Technologies D. A. Spencer (Focal Press, London and New York, 1973; 725pp., £8.50)

This is a magnificent production. The name of Dr. Spencer is a guarantee that it is authoritative, and it is also a very handsome volume well up to the high standard we have come to expect of its publisher. The main part of its