What can you say about a microelectronics dictionary except that it's a mine of useful and useless information? Well, this one's fairly comprehensive and up to date as dictionaries go. Before you actually get to the A-Z there's a short section on the history of the chip if you're actually interested in that sort of thing.

Then starts the dictionary proper. Everything from a for Ampere to Z for Zuse (designer of a programmable calculator) and a great deal in between. Did you know for example that 'Baroque Technology' is 'the extravagant and sometimes needless use of sophisticated electronic equipment to enhance the performance of something'.

Or that someone with a heart pacemaker is a Cyborg. I'll spare you the definitions of 'forbidden gap', 'bistable multivibrator' and 'kludge'.

I can't help wondering what kind of people buy this kind of thing. Personally I can do without knowing that my Amstrad Hi-Fi incorporates the latest in Baroque Technology, or that my granny's a Cyborg. Put the three quid towards something more useful?

Overall, a good dictionary, if you're into dictionaries.