General Sir IAN HAMILTON , G.C.B.,
G.C.M.G., C.B.E.
Here is the first talk in a series of book talks from a new angle. The idea is to review not new, but recent books. So many books are published these days that even good ones may get overlooked or forgotten. One important change is that the books are not necessarily to be recommended by the professional critic or author ; and in particular, speakers will remember those who depend on the public libraries and the twopenny libraries now so rapidly increasing in the country.
What does Sir Ian Hamilton think about books ? This evening he is to prepare the way for later speakers in the series who are to give suggestions for book lists ; and he will try to coax listeners into a new frame of mind about books and tempt some of them to buy a few.
The following advice is sterling, but comes perhaps surprisingly from a man of action and the best-known hero of the Dardanelles : ' If you are lucky and have one small room of your own, and if you have in it a few chosen books of your very own, then you are rich.'