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THE importance of the book as an educational agency has so long been recognized, that it will be unnecessary for me to dwell upon that side of the question. Yet it is impossible to ignore it altogether, for it is in the educational power of the book that we find the main reason for the existence of the school library. The elementary schools carry education up to a certain point, and the technical schools and universities take it up and carry it still further, but it is the library—or at any rate the book—which co‐ordinates the whole ; many people, indeed, have no education beyond the elementary school, except what they obtain from books. From this, the part played by the school library becomes obvious. Not only is it a powerful educator in itself, but it prepares the individual for the use of the Public Library and of books in general in the period following school life. Also, I need hardly point out that, although the use of the text‐book is dis pensed with as far as possible, the whole modern system of teaching is founded on the use of books.

With due recognition to the fact that business planning always occurs in an environment of uncertainty, the decade from 1975 to 1985 seems more uncertain than most. It contains more reversals, more crossover points in established long‐term trends, and more demographic and societal changes than has previously been true in U.S. history. To illustrate this point, this article identifies twelve trends that will very likely have a significant impact on the business environment in the next fifteen years and beyond. However, since other trends exist, and still others will emerge as time goes by, planners will need to consider these twelve the minimum number of societal and demographic factors in any current planning effort.

Highlights the importance of ensuring the highest possible return rates when using mail surveys. Describes a study investigating the difference in return rates between a parent company and a fictitious consulting firm. Reports that there was no difference between response rates for two different return addresses, and that response bias was not a problem. Concludes therefore that great cost savings can be made as a result of developing and mailing the materials in‐house. Summarizes research literature on response rate surveys.

George Spencer Brown is best known for his book Laws of Form, which elaborates a primary algebra of distinctions and forms capable of dealing with self-referential equations reflective of paradoxes in logic. The book has received little attention in mathematics, but it has greatly influenced cybernetics, communications, and ecological theories. But Spencer Brown also published poetry and stories, often under different names, and he practiced as a psychotherapist. Our chapter elaborates the utility of Laws of Form relating to organizational paradox before considering Spencer Brown’s other works in relation to his mathematics. Invoking philosophy, psychoanalysis and art, we suggest that these indicate a further distinction that sets all forms against the “nothing”: a wholeness or unity from out of which all distinctions, all words, meaning and life – but also all silence, nonsense and death – emerge in paradoxical opposition. Reading Spencer Brown not through the prism of mathematics, but as an evocative invitation to engage with the fissures that animate art and human life, highlights the paradoxical interplay of organization and violence; and how tragedy, suffering, sympathy and love should be more prominent in organizational research.

Blake is relatively well-known, but who was J M Robertson? What's his connection with George Spencer-Brown? And how exactly did J M Robertson influence George Spencer-Brown?

George Spencer-Brown (1923–2016) is the author (among other works) of the undeservedly little-known book, Laws of Form (1969/2011), which was a key inspiration for Niklas Luhmann (1927–1998). But what inspired George Spencer-Brown? This paper explores two key influences on George Spencer-Brown and his work: the English poet and artist, William Blake (1757–1827) and the Scottish rationalist, politician and author, J M Robertson (1856–1933).

The paper points to a broken link between George Spencer-Brown's work and Niklas Luhmann's.

These questions are explored from two perspectives: first, George Spencer-Brown's works and their debt to (1) Blake's work, from which he quotes in a number of instances and to (2) J M Robertson's (in particular, the latter's Letters on Reasoning (1905) and Rationalism (1912)); second, my personal connection to Spencer-Brown, who mentored me through Laws of Form and with whom I developed a close friendship involving regular weekly telephone conversations for the greater part of the last four years of Spencer-Brown's life. I share anecdotes and stories that connect George Spencer-Brown and J M Robertson that span George Spencer-Brown's lifetime – from his school days to his dying days. Both Blake's and Robertson's influences are relevant to Spencer-Brown's view of morality. The paper looks at specific connections between Blake's work and J M Robertson's on the one hand and George Spencer-Brown's on the other.

The paper uncovers a mathematical error in George Spencer-Brown's genesis of re-entry. It distinguishes between the two interpretations of re-entry presented in “Laws of Form”: recursive versus sequential. The Indeterminacy inferred by George Spencer-Brown from his recursive genesis of re-entry is refuted in three different ways. The calculation of the Modulator from “Laws of Form” demonstrates that only the sequential interpretation of re-entry is reasonable. This contributes to the demystification of re-entry and enables a deeper understanding. Finally, six differences between the concept of form from “Laws of Form” and Niklas Luhmann's sociological systems theory are presented.

Methodologically, the paper uses the ternary logic of discrete mathematics, which extends {0, 1} by “don't care” to {0, 1, -}. George Spencer-Brown's Indeterminicy is refuted by using three different methods: complete induction, Theorems 14 and 15 and the software XBOOLE. For the calculation of the Modulator, the only practical application of re-entry in “Laws of Form”, techniques from automata theory are used.

The paper reveals a mathematical error in George Spencer-Brown's genesis of the re-entry of “Laws of Form” and refutes the assumption of Indeterminicy. The analysis of the only practical application of re-entry presented by George Spencer-Brown shows that the functioning of this Modulator can only be described correctly with the sequential interpretation of re-entry.

The paper emphasizes the interdisciplinary potential of sociology and information technology and provides methods and tools of discrete mathematics for use in the analysis of the works of George Spencer-Brown and Niklas Luhmann.

Aarhus Kommunes Biblioteker (Teknisk Bibliotek), Ingerslevs Plads 7, Aarhus, Denmark. Representative: V. NEDERGAARD PEDERSEN (Librarian).