Pest Control for Home and Garden: The Safest and Most Effective Methods for You and the Environment

``It is not only possible but essential, we think, to control garden pests without creating needless hazards to health and environment.'' That philosophy is made workable in this timely book, based on a four-year investigation of pesticide components by Hansen and Consumers Union. The prescription? Not a banning of all chemical treatments, but a careful selection of the least baleful, and some reasonable advice to the contrary. This large and sensible book is likely to be in demand. Without belaboring points or righteously trying to convert, the authors explain what toxicity is and document its dangers, before setting out on the real work of the volume: offering specific direction to lawn and garden keepers, as well as a substantial rundown on standard outdoor pests. For example, the Japanese beetle. No one can fault the Union for lightheadedness: ``Look closely at the underside of the grubs,'' we're commanded. ``There is a V-shaped arrangement of stiff hairs on the last abdominal segment'' belonging to the Japanese beetle alone--and we're expected to get it straight. Advice in similar detail is served up in discussions of slugs, weeds, spiders, wasps, gophers, rats and squirrels. (Apr.)