The good news is that Brainteasers consists of 29 well-structured programs of a typable length. Each has a section on programming hints that enables you to adapt the programs to fit your aptitude and requirements. Additionally, many programs display excellent working examples of features and procedures that the potential programmer could find helpful, e.g. shape construction, time displays, hints upon memory requirement reduction, etc.

Whodunnit includes an envelope statement that can be used to create sound effects whereas Detective exhibits a procedure for animating figures. 3D Brainstorm is an innovative noughts and crosses game, and 'Name the Graph' takes the moil out of Algebra. The 'flagship' of the book however, is The Francis Drake Adventure Game which is advertised as "the most ambitious, interesting and testing program in this book". It is, by far.

The bad news is that the battle for the epithet 'Least ambitious, interesting and testing program' is a lot closer. The truth is that a lot of the programs transgress the eight deadly sin of not really being worth the effort to type them into the computer. Still, if you are the sort of person that buys puzzle books, then this book would suit you admirably.

Dave Reeder