As is the case, I suspect, with many people, I have long been fascinated by astronomy but I've been too lazy to do more than simply marvel at the Voyager pictures of Saturn and occasionally turn on the TV to watch The Sky At Night.

I would never claim to be an expert on the subject, but there has always been something about it that has aroused my curiosity. With Maurice Gavin's excellent book - subtitled 'Discover the heavens on your computer' - my knowledge has increased considerably.

The jacket blurb maintains that 'astronomy and your Spectrum are just made for each other. The graphics potential of the Spectrum means that the subject can be brought to life...'

This book is not specifically directed at astronomers but at Spectrum owners who wish to expand their computing interests into other fields.

It may offer one answer to that perennial question directed at home computer owners; 'yes, it's very nice but what does it actually do?'

The book allows accurate representations of the features of the night sky on any given date and at any given location to be made, helps the budding astronomer to work out planetary orbits, predict the paths of comets, use the Spectrum's user-defined graphics to display the phase of the moon for any given date and much, much more.

For example, did you know that astronomers use their own calendar of Julian Days, which starts at noon GMT on 1 January 4713 BC? The current Julian Day is a seven-figure number in excess of 2,400,000.

It should be stressed that non-astronomers should find much to interest them here, as some of the routines can easily be adapted for other uses.

The listings are dumped direct to an Epson printer via an RS232 interface, so there should be no problems with wrong or illegible program lines.

ZX Spectrum Astronomy is well-produced, easy to read, and fascinating. Sunshine Press and Maurice Gavin should be congratulated for producing a book that goes far beyond the usual computer literature and which could well serve as an introduction to an absorbing hobby.