The BBC Micro B Starter Pack is a sixty page A4-sized book containing two cassettes in a plastic wallet. It was developed at the Birmingham Educational Computing Centre and aims to teach Basic in 'a painless and informal manner'.

The book is well laid out with clear print, and it is obvious that the authors have much experience of introducing beginners to computing: for instance, the text clearly indentifies which keys to press by a small picture of a key shape with the legend inside. There are also many black and white photographs showing what the screen should display.

The text leads the beginner through the use of the keyboard and gently into Basic with plenty of examples and exercises. It's remarkably free from the clutter of jargon that surrounds micros, and terms used are fully defined. The book also explains in detail how to connect up the computer system, and load and save from cassette.

Some of the programs on the two cassettes are demonstrations of the potential of the computer; others are used to support understanding of each chapter. They let the beginner get on with the programming without the problems of typing listings into the machine correctly. My only criticism is that the graphics demonstrations at the end leave a lot to be desired.

The BBC Micro B Starter Pack is the most expensive of the beginner's books but remember the price includes the two cassettes. It works at a sensible pace, provides a useful, well-structured introduction to Basic and its lively, sympathetic approach should appeal to the BBC Micro owner who wants to learn to program.