If you're prepared to pay as much as £10 for Peter Laurie's book The Joy Of Computers, you would rightfully expect it to tell you how to get more pleasure and fulfilment from computing, how to do different and more imaginative things with your domestic bundle of chips. Not so, regrettably - this substantial (and not inexpensive) tome suffers from a badly misconceived title.

The only really practical enlightenment you'll receive comes in Part Two of the book, the section on programming. The uninitiated will find a comprehensive discussion of the basic problems (as it were) involved in organising structuring programs. There's also an amusing account of a hypothetical program for eating lunch and a progressive discussion of how it can be enhanced and developed - but nothing much for the more experienced.

A few chunks of program are given (illustrating arrays and things) and then a few listings of games (in Basic) you might key in. That's followed by a complete program listing of a game called Star Voyage - more than 1,000 lines of it. Personally, I'd rather run a marathon than key that lot in.

A large proportion of this book is devoted to the non-obligatory potted description and history of computing (helps to fill a few pages). Then there's a competent overview of the computer and how it works, right down to silicon level.

Peter Laurie certainly knows what he's talking about - in his time he's been one of the more respected computer journalists around. Trouble is, he knows too much: and he can't (or won't) decide what kind of reader he's aiming for. Which gives the whole book a dubious purpose.

So to section three - and that too seems inappropriate for this kind of book. It's a huge and rather plodding account of how computers are used professionally, with little sections on the different species of business software. Since when was business computing a joy?

What value there is in this section must lie in the range and scope of uses discussed, the accounts are short and sharp. And Laurie doesn't miss anything out, indicating new and vital areas in computing - computer-aided design, networks, robotics, computer speech and vision.

This section is visually very well produced - as is the book generally. There are some really stunning full-colour examples of computer graphics (a double-page illustration begins each section) and each topic discussed is meticulously illustrated with photos and diagrams. Certainly full marks there.

The final section, called Progress, tries to put all the knowledge you've just assimilated into some kind of historic perspective. Laurie discusses the evolutionary process of computing and attempts to answer a few 'ultimate' questions.

Could computers become living organisms? Laurie probably worries about that - maybe computers won't provide us with much joy in the future. Overall, a beautiful mish-mash.