Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, March 1, 1992                   TAG: 9203010229
SECTION: HORIZON                    PAGE: E-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BOOKS IN BRIEF

One of the great pleasures of 1990 was the discovery of Diane Ackerman's "A Natural History of the Senses." 1992 is similarly blessed with the publication of "The Moon By Whale Light." Ackerman uses her considerable talents to explore the worlds of - and the psyches of the people who husband - alligators, bats, crocodiles, penguins and whales. With elegant prose, she escorts the reader into caves where millions of bats sleep through the day; ducks the reader into chilling waters where whales swim and sing; forces the reader to straddle an alligator to touch an exposed tooth; and allows the reader to force-feed a penguin chick a milkshake made of Half & Half, herring and vitamins. The expanse of Ackerman's curiosity is dwarfed only by her ability to share her experiences with her readers. Becoming one of her readers is a privilege everyone should experience.

- LARRY SHIELD

\ Wondrous Times On the Frontier.\ By Dee Brown. August House. $23.95.

In an age before television, and when newspapers outdid the supermarket tabloids of today, when it came to the abuse of truth, people had to talk to each other to seek both information and entertainment. Some of what they said was nonsense, some was fact, part was cruel and a very great deal of it was both bawdy and hilarious. Such was the American frontier of the 19th century and such is the material from which the prolific Dee Brown makes this delightful book.

Brown has mined lodes both famous and unknown, borrowing from frontier storytellers such as Mark Twain and Bret Harte, and from soiled doves and their like, like Hop Fiend Nell, Squirrel Tooth Alice and Jack Rabbit Sue. Many of the stories, such as that of the monster rats of Pike's Peak, have long been forgotten, though they once were reprinted in newspapers around the world. Brown does us a service in reviving them.

Where his book differs from similar collections that have been compiled over the years is the degree to which he gives the Indian his due as a storyteller. (Finding the body of a monkey discarded by a railroad employee, an Indian who had never seen a monkey took it to his chief for identification. That's what you get when white men make love to cats, the chief replied.)

Too many of Brown's tales, unfortunately, are simple one- liners, and a little more time and perspective might have made a good book even better. The fact that the book was published by a newer, regional publisher in Little Rock is also a plus, helping to ensure that, like Algonquin Books in Chapel Hill and Peachtree in Atlanta, not all books by famous authors need come out of New York.

- ROBERT HILLDRUP

Hands Up, Miss Seeton.\ By Hamilton Crane. Berkeley. $3.99 (paper).

This latest paperback featuring Heron Carvic's Miss Seeton is peopled by many of the usual amusing characters. The local peer and his wife, the gossipy neighbors, the absent-minded rector and his managing sister are all here, but they are the background characters. On centerstage are the psychic Miss Seeton, Scotland Yard's Chief Superintendent Delphick and two artistic characters who were first seen in "Miss Seeton At the Helm" by Hampton Charles. The new characters seem unnatural adjuncts to the quiet English countryside.

The book is good bedtime reading though it lacks the freshness of the original five by Heron Carvic. In this one, Miss Seeton is less the lovable eccentric retired schoolmistress, and more just the bumbling old maid. If you have yet to meet Miss Seeton but like to read English mysteries, look first for "Witch Miss Seeton" or "Picture Miss Seeton." Neither Crane nor Charles has yet reproduced the naive delight in life in the midst of violence and turmoil and village backbiting with which Carvic's original Miss Seeton captivated her audience.

- CLIFFODEAN HUDSON

Larry Shield writes software.\ Robert Hilldrup is a Richmond writer and former newspaperman.\ Cliffodean Hudson considers reading as essential as eating.