Book reviews

Abstract

When news of the assassination of Mohandas Gandhi circulated through New Delhi on 30 January 1948, Margaret Bourke-White, one of Life magazine's premier photographers, and Henri Cartier-Bresson, then a comparatively unknown French photojournalist, raced to Birla House, where the event occurred. Both understood the journalistic imperative of photographing Gandhi's body. Because of their different philosophical and technical approaches to photography, they responded to the challenge in different ways and produced very different results. This study compares their ideas, approaches, and results. It also offers a case study of one of Cartier-Bresson' s most important news reportages.¹     

A Suit of Silver: The Underdress of a Knight of the Garter in the Late Seventeenth Century

This paper describes the cut and construction of the doublet and hose worn as underdress to the robes and insignia of the Knights of the Most Noble Order of the Garter at the English Court under Charles II. This example belonged to Charles Stuart, sixth Duke of Lennox and third Duke of Richmond (1639–1672), who was created a knight of the Garter in 1661. It is interesting on several counts: the dominant textile is a very pure cloth of silver; the elaborate hose are constructed with reference to earlier seventeenth-century models; the garments exemplify Charles II’s understanding of the importance of ceremony to successful kingship. The suit was conserved for an exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh and the essay gives some account of discoveries made through this process. In addition, the garments are placed in the context of late seventeenth- century dress.     

Architectural Patents and Open-Source Architectures: The Globalisation of Spatial Design Innovations (or Learning from ‘E99’)

Patents are the strongest form of intellectual property rights available internationally, so far unbeaten by open source as a body of innovation and know-how. Mark Garcia , senior lecturer in the Department of Architecture & Landscape at the University of Greenwich, London, here considers the pros and cons of the patent system for architects in the digital age: from issues over patent categorisation by type, to possibilities of micro-royalties through the capacity of design software to track every stage of input from multiple contributors.     

Renzo Piano: Poet of Technology

The architecture of the Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW) is renowned internationally for the formal refinement of its components and detailing as well as for its sensitive responses to context, both in terms of its physical surroundings and local construction traditions. But, as architectural author and Piano specialist Peter Buchanan reminds us, the central concern of the practice remains focused on the original core impetus of expandingthe bounds of what technology and materials can achieve.     

‘Comfort and Freedom’: The Duke of Windsor’s Wardrobe

Abstract

Clothing belonging to the late Duke of Windsor (1894–1972), which remained in his Paris home until it was dispersed in 1998, provides an insight into both his taste and character. As the young and popular Prince of Wales in the 1920s, he courted notions of modernity, celebrity and informality, rejecting the stiff conventions of his father’s dress and court. His innovative sense of style was emulated on both sides of the Atlantic. Throughout his life he remained loyal to the tailors and haberdashers who helped to craft his image and provide the comfort and freedom he craved in his clothes. This paper considers how some of the surviving garments in his wardrobe can help to define the man who was Prince of Wales, King Edward VIII and Duke of Windsor.     

Obituary: Charles B. Ferster (1922-1981).

Presents an obituary for Charles B. Ferster (1922-1981), a pioneering figure in the functional analysis of behavior. Ferster was the moving spirit in founding the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, a hastily improvised publication that soon became a leading journal in the field, and he served as its first editor. In a pioneering project with M. K. DeMyer, he showed that the behavior of autistic children, hitherto supposed to be virtually unmodifiable, could effectively be reinforced with tokens which the children could use to operate a variety of amusement devices and vending machines. Their project opened the door to direct therapeutic intervention with this diagnostic group and to the use of tokens to alter the behavior of institutional populations. In the last years of Ferster's life, his main interest was in studying the concrete details of a variety of psychotherapeutic procedures and specifying their nature in behavioral terms. He died of a heart attack on February 2, 1981 at the age of 58. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Pathology of Cryptology—A Current Survey

Abstract

“The Pathology of Cryptology” is the title of a chapter in David Kahn's book The Codebreakers. This chapter mainly deals with hidden messages, which amateur scientists claim to have discovered in the works of William Shakespeare and in other literary works. The present article picks up this subject and provides it with a theoretic framework under the name of “para-steganography.” Moreover, further case studies are added to those given by Kahn, including many examples that only became known after the publication of The Codebreakers. These considerations show that a hidden code can be found almost anywhere, provided that one looks for it in a suitable manner.     

Review of The Metaphysical Club: A story of ideas in America.

Reviews the book, The Metaphysical Club: A story of ideas in America by Louis Menand (2001). In this highly entertaining and readable history, Menand examines the lives and thinking of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., William James, Charles Sanders Peirce, and John Dewey, members of an informal (and short-lived) discussion group that met in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1872 that called itself the Metaphysical Club. Beginning with the Civil War and ending in 1919 with the Supreme Court decision in U.S. v. Abrams, this insightful and thought-provoking book tells a story of the creation of the ideas and values that have shaped how Americans think and how we live. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)