Dear TIME-Reader:

The impact of a TIME book review is no secret in the publishing world. Writing from New York in Books and Bookmen, Britain's new book-trade monthly, Geoffrey Wagner analyzed what he called the strong sales "pull" of a TIME review, reported that the reading public placed great faith in TIME'S Books section.

So, apparently, does a large segment of the academic world. I have before me the results of a survey of the faculty members of four universities: Princeton, Texas, Washington and North Carolina. The studies were made to determine (in part) which magazines teachers read and whether or not they are guided by the reviews in those journals when they buy their books. The surveys were conducted separately by the university press at each institution and coordinated by the University of North Carolina Press.

As you will see from the following tabulation covering the four polls, TIME was first choice of faculty members both as a magazine and as to readership of its reviews:

MAGAZINE NO. WHO LISTED IT

TIME 406

The New Yorker 254

LIFE 186

Harper's 184

N. Y. Times Book Review 165

Atlantic 153

Saturday Review 151

Reader's Digest 95

Newsweek 94

Saturday Evening Post 88

MAGAZINE NO. WHO WHO READ REVIEWS IN IT

TIME 343

The New Yorker 220

Harper's 160

N. Y. Times Book Review 158

Saturday Review 143

Atlantic 133

The Reporter 78

Newsweek 71

Scientific American 46

New Republic 27

TIME'S Books section is, in fact, a little magazine in itself, devoted essentially to literary criticism but also on the watch for new trends and new writers. To this end, its editor and writers examine more than 7,000 books a year, review more than 250. It is unique in that often (nearly half the books reviewed) the author himself has been interviewed by a TIME reporter at home or abroad. Among the recent reviews that have included "takeouts" of the authors, you may recall those of Mary McCarthy (Nov. 14), Simone de Beauvoir (May 28) and Colin Wilson (July 2).

In this issue you will see two of the many letters we have received on our story introducing young (25) Wilson and his prodigious book The Outsider. We remarked it was a pity that American readers, short of ordering it from England, would have to wait until next winter, when it will be published in the U.S. Last week Houghton Mifflin announced that, largely as a result of our review, it had revised its schedule and would bring out the book in September.

Cordially yours,

James A. Linen

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