The subtitle of Brainteasers is "Programs to puzzle and amuse", and this just about sums it up. The book is a collection of 29 program listings, each one an interesting and amusing challenge.

I must admit it made a nice change to come across a collection of games that didn't rely too heavily on reflexes. No, there were no hordes of alien nasties whizzing across the screen. Just gentle, intriguing challenges.

The program types range from mazes and safe cracking to mathematical sequences and pattern sorting. I particularly liked the idea of Close Encounters Of The Fourth Kind, an intergalactic game of Simon.

With 29 listings to choose from, there must be something to satisfy or thwart every taste. And most of these listings aren't long, which encourages you to type them in.

At first sight they looked a little jumbled and cluttered but I had little difficulty entering them. Well, no more than usual. And the games were well worth the effort of typing them in.

A really nice feature of the book is that each listing has a few paragraphs of program hints before it. These greatly add to its value, giving explanations of various techniques used in the programs and hints on how to make them easier or more difficult. I'd love to know who wants them to be harder!

There's only one thing that I'd complain about. One of the programs I ran gave me an IQ rating. It must be wrong. I'm far more intelligent than that!

Despite that, it's an enjoyable book, far from the usual run of the mill set of games listings. If you like puzzles and you've got an Electron, then you'll like this book.

Trevor Roberts