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Lighting and seeing
Puhl. ftlth. L¢md. (I971) 85, 147-I4g
Book Reviews l.l~m31~G ASl) SEHNG by R. G. Hopkinson. Pp xii + 120. London, Heinemann. 1970. £1.75. From the technical aspect this book fulfils the author's intention declared in his preface, of familiarizing the disciplines of oculist and lighting engineer with each other's principles. This is no small undertaking, but it is accomplished with clarity and ease. It may therefore seem carping to point to small deviations from this generally high standard, but these could be important if, as seems desirable, the book is to enjoy a wider readership than that of the two professions for whom it is written. On page 29 the author uses as an example of percel31ion, the differing approaches to typesetting errors of an author and a proof-reader. The caption of Fig. 1.7 on page 10 proves his point as does the text on pages 8 and 9 which does not agree with tigures 1.6 and 1.7. Apart from these p r o o f reading errors, the histogram on page 37 would be more immediately l,crceptible if the vertical axis was designated 'No. of persons.' it is hoped to be that many other professions will find this book useful, if this is to be so then a standardization of terms (e.g. Nanometres, Angstrom units) would be helpful. There is no doubt however, that this volume fills a gap and will be greatly appreciated for its commonsense exposition of a highly technical subject, it should be part of the library of all c,~ncerned with environmental health. POVI:RIY IN BRIIAIN AND 1HE REFORM OF SOCIAL SECURITY. By A. B. Atkinson. Cambridge, 1969: Cambridge Uni~erslty Press; University of Cambridge, D e p a r t m e n t oT Applied Economics Occasional Paper 18: pp. 224, £1.00. This book is outstandingly important, its subject matter must be of concern to anyone interested in the public's health and its manner of presenting the problem and then of discussing on the basis oF hard d.m~ the various alternative solutions that have been proposed provides a model for others ~t) foltox~ and convincing evidence that "Social Administration" can truly be a rigorous academic discipline. In the first part of the book the author analyses the problem. He defines a person to be living in "poverty" if his income is beiow that at which he would qualify for Supplementary Benefits, so that he is able to examine the effectiveness of the present social security provisions in the light of the objectives of Government policy. However in using this d~finition he dissociates himself from any implied judgment about the adequacy or otherwise o f the Supplementary Benefit scale; and quite rightly points out that any rise in the scale will have the paradoxical effect of increasing the number delined as living in poverty. After presenting and examining the evidence the author estimates that the proportion of the PoPulation with incomes below the Supplementary Benefit .... i.e. about 4 m~llion people are living below scaie lies towards the upper end o.f the range 4 9 °/ the standard which the Government feels to be the national minimum. The majority of these people are single persons or married couples without children, but nearly a third are children. Most of the people with low incomes depend chiefly on pensions or other social security benefits, although for about 20~,~ thief earnings are their primary source of income. There are three main reasons for the failure of the present social security provisions to guarantee a minimum income at the Supplementary Benefit leve! : failure by people to claim the benefits to which they are entitled; low earnings, even when working ful[time; and the restriction o f the ~lmount of benefit paid through the operation, of the wage stop. Among old people, the two groups most likely to fall below the Supplementary Benefit scale are single women and the very old because fewer in these groups receive income from occupational pensions. Low pay among the employed cannot be explained as purely a temporary phenomenon for a particular worker or purely as a result o f short hours. Low paid workers are spread fairly widely over the range of industries, although there are a number o f industries with above average proportions of low paid workers and there are definite regional differences. Nearly half of the workers with tow earnings are over the age of 50. In the second part of his book Dr. Atkinson discusse~ the various form~ of help that have been suggested, such as raising the Retirement Pensio;~ to the level of the Supplementary Benefit scale ('Back to Be~eridge" policy) National Superannuation, .new child benefits, a natior~l minimum
Book Reviews l.l~m31~G ASl) SEHNG by R. G. Hopkinson. Pp xii + 120. London, Heinemann. 1970. £1.75. From the technical aspect this book fulfils the author's intention declared in his preface, of familiarizing the disciplines of oculist and lighting engineer with each other's principles. This is no small undertaking, but it is accomplished with clarity and ease. It may therefore seem carping to point to small deviations from this generally high standard, but these could be important if, as seems desirable, the book is to enjoy a wider readership than that of the two professions for whom it is written. On page 29 the author uses as an example of percel31ion, the differing approaches to typesetting errors of an author and a proof-reader. The caption of Fig. 1.7 on page 10 proves his point as does the text on pages 8 and 9 which does not agree with tigures 1.6 and 1.7. Apart from these p r o o f reading errors, the histogram on page 37 would be more immediately l,crceptible if the vertical axis was designated 'No. of persons.' it is hoped to be that many other professions will find this book useful, if this is to be so then a standardization of terms (e.g. Nanometres, Angstrom units) would be helpful. There is no doubt however, that this volume fills a gap and will be greatly appreciated for its commonsense exposition of a highly technical subject, it should be part of the library of all c,~ncerned with environmental health. POVI:RIY IN BRIIAIN AND 1HE REFORM OF SOCIAL SECURITY. By A. B. Atkinson. Cambridge, 1969: Cambridge Uni~erslty Press; University of Cambridge, D e p a r t m e n t oT Applied Economics Occasional Paper 18: pp. 224, £1.00. This book is outstandingly important, its subject matter must be of concern to anyone interested in the public's health and its manner of presenting the problem and then of discussing on the basis oF hard d.m~ the various alternative solutions that have been proposed provides a model for others ~t) foltox~ and convincing evidence that "Social Administration" can truly be a rigorous academic discipline. In the first part of the book the author analyses the problem. He defines a person to be living in "poverty" if his income is beiow that at which he would qualify for Supplementary Benefits, so that he is able to examine the effectiveness of the present social security provisions in the light of the objectives of Government policy. However in using this d~finition he dissociates himself from any implied judgment about the adequacy or otherwise o f the Supplementary Benefit scale; and quite rightly points out that any rise in the scale will have the paradoxical effect of increasing the number delined as living in poverty. After presenting and examining the evidence the author estimates that the proportion of the PoPulation with incomes below the Supplementary Benefit .... i.e. about 4 m~llion people are living below scaie lies towards the upper end o.f the range 4 9 °/ the standard which the Government feels to be the national minimum. The majority of these people are single persons or married couples without children, but nearly a third are children. Most of the people with low incomes depend chiefly on pensions or other social security benefits, although for about 20~,~ thief earnings are their primary source of income. There are three main reasons for the failure of the present social security provisions to guarantee a minimum income at the Supplementary Benefit leve! : failure by people to claim the benefits to which they are entitled; low earnings, even when working ful[time; and the restriction o f the ~lmount of benefit paid through the operation, of the wage stop. Among old people, the two groups most likely to fall below the Supplementary Benefit scale are single women and the very old because fewer in these groups receive income from occupational pensions. Low pay among the employed cannot be explained as purely a temporary phenomenon for a particular worker or purely as a result o f short hours. Low paid workers are spread fairly widely over the range of industries, although there are a number o f industries with above average proportions of low paid workers and there are definite regional differences. Nearly half of the workers with tow earnings are over the age of 50. In the second part of his book Dr. Atkinson discusse~ the various form~ of help that have been suggested, such as raising the Retirement Pensio;~ to the level of the Supplementary Benefit scale ('Back to Be~eridge" policy) National Superannuation, .new child benefits, a natior~l minimum