Everyone has heard of Clive Sinclair, and despite the bad press he's had recently over the C5 and his company's financial problems, he is still one of the great figureheads of the microcomputing world.

Everyone knows what a Spectrum looks like, and there are an awful lot of gamers all over the country with one of their own - so I guess, even before it was written, it was obvious that there are a lot of you out there who might be interested in reading his life story.

The Sinclair Story could have been a good read for anyone who's into micros, and especially for anyone who has ever bought a Sinclair micro. It's actually more of a good read for anyone fascinated by entrepreneurialism and the achievement of a man who built up his own business from nothing to becoming a household name with a multi-million pound turnover.

There's a lot more to Clive Sinclair than micros, as the book makes clear. Did you know that Uncle Clive has been inventing and selling things to electronics hobbyists since 1962? Did you know that he sold the first pocket calculator, the first pocket TV and the first integrated circuit in kit form? And did you know that he and Chris Curry of Acorn (with whom he is said to have had fisticuffs in a Cambridge pub last Xmas) actually worked together at Sinclair for fourteen years? Bet you didn't.

It's fascinating to read what Sir Clive was doing in the years before he came to fame (he was even acting editor of Practical Wireless for a time) and it puts a lot of what has happened more recently into perspective. The perspective isn't always that favourable; for example, doesn't this sound rather familiar?

"Many of you who have placed orders have had to wait an unacceptably long time. For this we apologise. All present orders will be fulfilled by..."

No, it's not the QL, or the Spectrum, or even the Microdrives - it's the DM1 digital multimeter that Sinclair was selling way back in 1972!

On the other hand, there is no denying the tremendous drive, initiative and invention of this self-made man. He started his own company at 22, with little previous experience, and within four years had built up sales of £100,000. He has achieved several firsts for British industry and of course we all hope that he'll soon spring back again, larger than life as usual.

Micros are only covered in five out of nineteen chapters, so you may well find parts of the rest a bit less interesting. Some of the detail gets pretty trivial at times, especially the illustrations which include an early press ad for a secretary, ghastly mug shots of just about all the Sinclair managers and Sir Clive's eight-line entry in the 1982 Mensa register. That the author is also a close personal friend of Sinclair is clear from the tone which borders on the starry-eyed in places.

At £9.95 it's a bit on the pricey side, but you always have to pay more for hard covers. I think it might have been better to have issued it in paperback so that more micro owners with a limited budget could afford it.

That said, it's a lovely story, well told, and makes interesting reading.