Trees, it is said, tremble as Ian Sinclair walks by, and this latest effort from micro computing's answer to Barbara Cartland isn't liable to cheer them up. Its 99 pages may not seem much, but the thinking forest will be justly grieved by the ubiquitous arboricide's profligate use of these pages.

The trouble is, too little seems to have been written too fast. When it finally gets down to the meat of the subject with an explanation of streams and channels, it is certainly useful, but Mr. Sinclair doesn't go nearly far enough in answering the questions that arise from Sir Sinclair's inadequate manual.

For instance: "If you try to load a program called 'TEXTINDEX' however, without winding the cassette back to the beginning, you may find that the program cannot be loaded." Somewhere in the depths of the Amazon jungle there may possibly be someone who can't work this out himself - but I doubt Sir Clive has sent them an order form!

This sort of helpful advice, together with the recommendation not to store your Microdrives in a room where you'll be using sandpaper, is out of place in a book this short.

That said, there is some useful information in the book. The explanation of RS232 is clear, and a short database program is also included.

Mr. Sinclair also gives copious details on using Interface 1's RS232 with a Tandy printer-plotter. I'd query his choice of printed, and I'd rather he'd spent less space on this, but the information should at least help you connect up to another printer.

Overall, however, the book really is too sketchy to recommend. It holds some useful information, but not £4.95's worth.

John Lettice