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Download This PDF File Book Reviews 367 the University of Chicago on "The Uni­ stance. Are there in fact any models that versity of the Twenty-First Century." (A indicate whether such exceptional shorter version of this paper will be pub­ economic behavior can succeed, and do lished in the summer 1992 issue of Min­ we know what its public policy con­ erva: A Review of Science, Policy, and sequences, both positive and negative, Learning.) Shapiro's focus on increasing might be?-Scott Bennett, Johns Hopkins per capita student and faculty costs and on University, Baltimore, Maryland. problems of productivity are particularly relevant to the situation of an academic Blum, Rudolf. Kallimachos: The Alex­ librarian. That he invokes research librar­ andrian Library and the Origins of Bibli­ ies as a model for industry-wide institu­ ography. Trans. by Hans H. Wellisch. tional interdependence is both provocative Madison, WIS.: Univ. of WlSCOnsin Pr., and disturbing. Shapiro's comments un­ 1991, 282p. $37.50 (ISBN 0-299-13170). derscore not only how far academic librar­ LC 91-28997. ies still have to go, but also how little the Rudolf Blum's study was originally institutions we serve understand the com­ published in Germany in 1977 as a mon­ plexity and economic uncertainty of the ograph and in an issue of Archiv fiir tasks before us all. At the most fun­ Geschichte des Buchwesenss. It presents damental level, one might indeed the argument that Kallimachos (perhaps wonder whether colleges and universi­ more familiar in the Latinized form Cal­ ties can carve out a cooperative, interde­ limachus) invented the library catalog pendent niche for themselves, or for just and bibliography. Kallimachos may be some parts of their operations, in an best known as a learned court poet of the otherwise competitive marketplace. The Hellenistic period, famous for his re­ Anti-Trust Division of the Justice De­ mark that a "big book is a big evil," and partment has opposed such behavior in especially influential with Roman poets the administration of student aid, for in- like Catullus. Kallimachos was also a Leave no stone unturned! Search BIOS IS Previews~ When you search BIOSIS Previews, you'll Don't miss out on any of the vital life science leave no stone unturned! BIOSIS Previews is information relevant to your research - search the online database providing the most com­ BIOSIS Previews. prehensive bioscientific information, encom­ For more information, contact BIOSIS, passing the critical life science topics that Marketing Department CRL792NS, 2100 impact yoiiT' research. These include biotech­ Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103-1399 nology, pharmacology, biomedicine, ecology, USA. Or call toll free 1-800-523-4806 (USA agriculture, biophysics and more! except PA); or 215-587-4800 (worldwide); Search BIOSIS Previews for references to Telex 831739; Fax 215-587-2016. literature published in journals, meeting and symposia proceedings, books and book chap­ ters, patents and reports. The exhaustive cov­ erage spans more than 8 million items derived BIOSIS® from approximately 7,600 international life Information for Today's Decisions and Discoveries l science publications! BIOSIS is a n!gistaeduademarlc of Biological AbatneD,Ioc. 368 College & Research Libraries July 1992 scholar and librarian. Blum believes that standard reference work and for many he was the second to hold the position of years was used and cited as an authori­ chief librarian of the great library at tative source for Greek literary history. Alexandria. His Pinakes (or Lists), in The format adopted by Kallimachos pre­ Blum's view the first bio-bibliography, sented the name of the author, some was a massive work in 120 books, now formulaic biographical data, the title, the known only through later references, and size of the text and sometimes the first a major source for information about words (in medieval terms, the incipit). authors and their works in antiquity. Although the Pinakes has not survived, Founded in the early third century and its accuracy and thoroughness must B.C. by Ptolemy I, one of Alexander's remain uncertain, it decisively in­ successors, the Alexandrian library fluenced the format and content of biblio­ quickly grew in size so that by the time graphic work through antiquity and into of Kallimachos it must have held a sig­ Byzantine times. nificant portion of extant Greek literature. Because neither the Pinakes them­ Blum concludes from the fragmentary and selves, nor the works based on them scattered evidence available that Kallima­ have survived, Blum had to examine chos had inherited a collection that was scraps of evidence from the fifth century organized and inventoried, but that he B.C. to the Byzantine era. His reconstruc­ was the first to catalog its contents. Such tions often depend on a series of infer­ an undertaking demanded a critical un­ ences from this evidence with varying derstanding of Greek language and lit­ degrees of certainty, and at times the erature, since many works were known foundation seems too flimsy to support under a variety of titles or were falsely the conclusions. Nevertheless, his analy­ ascribed or attributed to several authors. sis and bibliography show familiarity With a few exceptions, such as a now­ with both the ancient evidence and pre­ lost work of Aristotle on Athenian play­ vious scholarship on the subject. The En­ wrights, no reference tools existed to glish version follows the German in help determine authenticity. Kallima­ translating all the ancient source material chos was forced to rely to a great degree so that the reader without Latin or Greek on internal evidence in the works them­ can readily follow the arguments. selves and on his knowledge of linguistic This work, first published in 1977, is and historical context. Thus, the task of undoubtedly useful for its close exami­ cataloging went far beyond biblio­ nation of the evidence and its articulation graphic description and became a com­ of Kallimachos' contribution to scholarship bination of literary history and textual and bibliography. Its methodology-the un­ criticism. Blum believes that Kallima­ avoidable scrutiny of fragmentary and am­ chos included in this catalog not only biguous information; and the rehearsal of bibliographic information about the previous scholarly interpretation-makes works but also biographical information it rather difficult to read, and the transla­ about authors accumulated in the course tion does not help. In general the transla­ of his research. tion seems to be accurate, though This unpublished catalog served constrained by the content and structure of chiefly as an internal document describ­ the original. But the style is often pedestrian ing all copies of the works then held in and awkward, and occasionally nonidio­ the library. The Pinakes formed a natural matic, if not incorrect (e.g., "Certainly the adaptation of this catalog and described Alexandrian grammarians found in these not copies, but works. Because it in­ works many useful informations."). cluded most extant Greek literature, the Although Blum's conclusions may de­ library at Alexandria served as a de facto serve wider recognition in the English­ national library and the Pinakes became speaking world-it attracted little a kind of national bio-bibliography for attention from reviewers in the English­ its day. Published by Kallimachos or his speaking world when it was originally literary heirs, the Pinakes came to be a published-it is not clear that a transla- Book Reviews 369 tion is really needed. To analyze Blum's myriads of separate programs, running arguments would require someone well­ on separate machines but cooperating, grounded in classical studies, who communicating, and coordinating with would necessarily have to be able to read each other over high-speed networks. the original German. The general picture Some of these ensembles take the form of the Alexandrian library, and the of personal "agents" that act as informa­ methods and achievements of Kallima­ tion gatherers for the individual user; chos-subjects which might have at­ others are more like general-purpose tracted the interest of readers without utilities, floating in some computational backgrounds in classical studies and in­ hyperspace, available for anyone to use. nocent of German-remain entangled in Gelernter likens these to piranhas wait­ the unfriendly prose and dense argu­ ing for a meal to present itself. As a task ments of the text.-Edward Shreeves, Uni­ "floats by," the programs "attack" it and versity of Iowa, Iowa City. solve whatever parts they can. The re­ maining parts float on until the entire Gelemter, David. Mirror Worlds: Or the task is solved, and the results are gathered Day Software Puts the Universe in a Shoe up by those agents "interested" in them. Box ... How It Will Happen and What It Supporting the mirror worlds is a vast Will Mean. New York: Oxford Univ. ''Tuplesphere" of information and pro­ Pr., 1991.237 p. acid-free, $24.95 (ISBN grams distributed via a global network 0-19-506812-2). LC 91-19178. from countless machines and databases. In Mirror Worlds David Gelernter joins ''While we're at it," Gelernter writes, the ranks of computer scientists who "we might as well take the world's li­ have attempted to provide the nontech­ braries, digitize them and dump them nical reader with a glimpse of the future into the Tuplesphere as well," with the of information technology. Gelernter all-too-common computer science in­ teaches computer science at Yale and souciance for the time, cost, and legal specializes in programming languages issues involved in such an action. for what is known as massively paral­ Gelemter describes at some length how lel computation. His book is both an programs work and how his "Linda" sys­ explication of the software architecture tem coordinates the actions of many for parallel programming and a vision simultaneous programs.
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