Would you pay £10 for a paper copy of someone's database? That's essentially what you get in this rather cheaply-presented A4 paperback.

Seven of the 11 chapters detail between 15 and 60 programs. The applications include databases, program/inventory control, payroll, financial modelling, accounting systems and so on. Each begins with a brief introduction, a glossary of terms used for the column entries or the range of the programs listed. Following this, there's a table of software.

Program titles are in alphabetical order, grouped in fives, which makes the table easy to access quickly. For each program there are up to 30 column entries; these are dedicated to the type of package in the section. This is the nicest touch. For example, under word processing column heading include centre text, underline/bold and displayed as printed. This is so much more informative that rating all programs on scales like 'user friendliness'.

The first few chapters go into how to judge software and good advice is given about checking out post-sale software support. Chapter ten gives useful addresses and the last chapter details a host of software distributors.

There are some niggles. Three chapters don't explain column headings, so it can be difficult to compare products.

Only seven pages are allocated to dedicated vertical marketing packages, yet there is a great demand for such programs.

I'll be using this book, but can't help wondering why it's so highly priced. A year's subscription to 'Software File' is five times the cost of the book, but the magazine's updated every two months. The magazine may now provide potted revies, but contains many more programs.

However, most business users will find this book useful for their basic and general software needs.

Bryan Skinner