It can be difficult to discern why some books are published, or at least why, having been written for a particular market, the publisher decides to import it into another.

This book is a classic example of one which, though relevant and acceptable in the USA, is out of place in Britain. It's a combined tutorial and workbook with notes for parents or teachers, which introduces the Apple microcomputer as a school subject.

This is all very well in California. Its Apple Bill provides massive subsidies for schools to buy machines and software so that the place is flooded with computers, mainly Apples. But that's not the case here. Nor are the education systems the same.

Educational references aside, the actual material is little better. The examples of Basic programming are frankly atrocious... the jobs are unimaginative, poorly developed, nothing like bombproof, as well as having GOTOs all over the place, jumps to REMark statements and so on. And the worksheets don't raise the standard.