Dragon users will love this book, if only for the Bill Tidy cartoons that pepper the text.

Illustrations apart, this is a remarkably lucid and enjoyable exposition of how the Dragon works.

Don Munro wrote the book in Switzerland "while I was laid up with numerous injuries and the rest of my family skied". The mountain air has inspired a book that is understandable for first-time users without talking down to those who have a grasp of Basic.

Functions, loops, strings and arrays are well covered, as are the Dragon's sound and colour capabilities.

One aspect I really liked was the generous use of sample programs to supplement the explanations - 95 in total, obtainable on cassette from the publisher at £6.50.

Equally useful is the appendix which acts as an easy reference guide to Basic statements, system commands and library functions.

The book is subtitled "A friendly guide to a friendly computer". Users of the Dragon will not find this book a disappointment.