power towards the writing of analytically         rigorous   textbooks
for Atricanetudents.        One hopes that Mr. Harvey,      in his next
textbook would be "llIoreadventu:rous" in trying to fill the gap
that 'e.xists. Unf.ortunat.ely, his present volume hasn't.
                                   (Prof. N. Ahmad -     U.B.S. Gaborone)
 Eckhard Strohmeyer. Namibian National Bibliography.
 1971 - 75 . Communications from
 The Basel Africa Bibliography
 Basel . 1978 • 242 pp
            The Basel Africa Bibliography        (BAB) has become    Ii\. well-
 known project which has gradually        developed  on the basis of a
 highly specialised library concentrating         on Afric~na   in general
 and Namibiana   in particular.      Several publications     on geomorpho-
 logical, hydrological,      historical, and bibliographical     topics
 have been published by BAB in recent years, with most of them
 written in German.
            Th1slanguage      has been used also in compiling. the NNB
 which aims at listing "titles of monographs.          pamphlets,   journal
 articles, and' similar documents of Namibian         interest, published
 anY'll1here'inthe worldll•
            In his foreword, the author explains why he undertook


Afrika Bibliographien     in Basle/Switzerland  should be chosen as
the major source for the compilation of the NNB, as this
library seems to hold the most comprehensive stock of Namibiana
outside the country itself.
           The NNB has been divided into two parts, i.e. the
classified   list of title-entries, and the author-title index.
As the author himself admits, his arrangement of documenta which
follows the Dewey Decimal Classification does not allow for
detailed bibliographic     information.   In fact, his system leads
to various errors and omissions, to mention only a fe"':
           (a)   Several items are inclUded under subject
           headings   to which they have hardly any relation-
           ship and should have better been placed else-
           where, e.g. item 593 (B. ROGERS, Namibia : test
           case) under classification number 341 'Interna-
           tional Law, Law of Nations' ~nstead of classi-
           fication number .3.30'Economics'; items 704 and
           706 (two documents dealing with hunting laws
           and customs) under classification number 6.39
           'Hunting & Fisheries' instead of classification
           number 342/349 'Law'; items 710 and 711 under
           classification number 350 instead of 342/349. etc.
           (b)   Some subject fields include documents
           which touch upon facets of scientific subjecta
           other than those mentioned by the author;
           leaving out 'GeomorpholO'gy', for example, as
           a separate subject field, relevant
           are arranged either under
           num.ber 551.4 'General Geology'
           1012-1014)   or under
           Climatology'    (e.g.
           should have been
           which embraces
           discipline.
                 Classification


           ohotchpl!)tchof docuJlIentswhich the author
            found difficult to allocate.        A subject
            heading like 'Miacellaneous'       would have
            been IIIOreappropriate     for the documents
            listed here.
'1irther tl!)these deficiencies     in the arrangement     of bibliographic
Illatet'ialt,he method of documentation       used for the NNB proves      to
be ratll.erunl$atisfactory:
             (a) annotations     are given alternatively       in three
             different   la~guages   (German, Afrikaans,     and
            English) .and impede the use of NNB for those
            readers who are not trilingual;
             (b) in :several instances, annotations        which in
             the bibliographical sense are meant as informa-
             tional and descriptive notes On documents, are
             phrased iXl a highly emotional way, e.g. those
             for iteJllS852 (Ilworthless sex ... storyfl) and 1.923
             (flhistorical manipulation     without any attempt
             to objectively    analyse the unfortunate     periOd
             of 190'+"'1907n) ...(Reviewer's    own translations);
             (c)    the cOntents of sOllieannotations     seem to
             be either irrelevant     or even useless,    like
             those fOllowing items 169, 573, or 960.
Finally, little effort has been put into covering            some important
 subject areas, e.g. the subject field 380 •Commerce,            Traffic '.
Here only 13 items are listed although          the list could have
 e!!\silybeen eXpanded by drawing on such sources as leading            B.A.
 maga~ines    (e .g. Financial° Mail),   journals (e. g. Bulloetin of the
 Africa Institute of South Africa),        and newspapers     including
 supplemen1;.l$.
             Qn the other hand, the author cites some sources
 which, due to their character,        are at least of dubious biblio-
 graphical value. e.g. the German sex-magazine          'Praline'    (see
 i tema 84lt,:                     fri volous 'Hamburger    I.llustrierte'


thorough discussion   on the scope andlllethods:for:futuredoeU!bell"
h.tion  work is urgently  needed.  Those librat'ie.ns and dOcullI(!nt
                                                                   .....
lists  who are concerned with Nal11ibianashol1J..dtherefore edabl.i$h
communication between themselves and con'lenea meeting in a not ...
too-distant   future in order to uplift   the standard or forthcom..
ing editions   of the NNB.
                                    (Dr. J. Jeske "- U.B.S. Gaborone)
Hoyt Alverson.        Mind in the Heart of Darkness: Value
and Self - Identity among the Tswana'
of Southern Africa . MacMillan
South Africa. 1978. 299 pp. £6.50
            Hoyt Alverson has addressl;!d
and most complex questions of
people from another culture
train  of associated  qu'~s1~iclns