Editorial Note: A Plea

Your editor needs help! When I took on this job I asked Science for Peace colleagues to supply me with material they thought might be suitable for the Bulletin. And indeed I got reports of meetings, a couple of book reviews, etc. And some people have sent me various “news items”, that is, they have brought material in papers and magazines to my attention, in the expectation that I may want to use it. Well, I may. But the trouble is that for both “Quotes and Notes” and “From the Media” one needs to examine very carefully the context of highlighted material and, indeed, must frequently read and review (for “Media”, especially) several related texts — often quite lengthy texts — before featuring an item, sometimes in the form of a short review. And this is enormously time-consuming. If people would really like to help I would beseech them to do the following:

1. Send me “Quotes and Notes” material and — especially — “Media” material in a form that can be used directly. The style of thing I refer to can be seen by perusing this number of the Bulletin and its immediate predecessor (Vol 9, No. 2, June 1989). There can, of course, be no guarantee a particular item will be printed, because there could be many items competing for limited space, including those I collect myself — and most of which I eventually discard. But items that are sufficiently “worked up” that they require only a minor editing will be a great help. To save yourself undue effort, call me (416) 284-3353 or write to me (address on last page) or send email c/o C. C. Dyer (also on last page), to inform me of any item you think should be included and ensure I know it is coming.

2. If you read any new book you believe Science for Peace members should know about, then why not review it and send me the review (say 250- 1,000 words)? Reviews can be sent by email c/o C. C. Dyer (see last page of Bulletin) or posted to me (address on last page). This will simplify my search for suitable reviews. But, again, it will be wise to check first in case the book is not quite appropriate or I have already obtained a review for it.

3. Lastly, if you have news items of Chapter activities, reports of conferences, speeches on Science for Peace matters, etc., please try to put them into the form of concise statements that I can use with little editing.

Editing the Bulletin is an arduous job. So far I find I am doing too much of the spadework, whereas my job should be mainly selection, presentation, collation, and editorialising. There are a lot of you out there — and, as I said at the beginning, I need your help.