A complete Sinclair database? Listing all software and hardware you can buy for the ZX81 and Spectrum? It's an excellent idea, but it's one of those notions that are easier to have than to put into practice.

The Complete Sinclair Database kicks off with a fairly extensive list of games and serious software. It would be unreasonable to expect such a list to be comprehensive, but the comments after each listing tend to be very short, and the way the listings are presented - two per page, mostly - wastes a great deal of space. This means the book covers a lot less software than you'll find listed in many magazines.

The hardware section is considerably more useful, and makes a fair stab at telling you about the whole range of peripherals available for the Spectrum and ZX81. But again it falls down on presentation. The tables look as if they have been produced with a bent felt tip and a typewriter with no margins, and although the information's all there, it's sometimes difficult to work out what you're reading, and what the bits actually do.

Having dealt with this, the book does something I reckon is really bizarre. It launches into a history of Sinclair (both Sir Clive and Research), with reference to competing companies and to - Stephen Adams? Seminal in writing the book, perhaps, but I feel modesty really should have prevailed.

So it's a book that is worth having, and it's nearly worth buying. It's the sort of thing that should really be updated regularly, and if the authors tidy it up while they're doing this, it will be a must for every Sinclair owner.

John Lettice