This book contains 230 pages covering both Wordwise and Wordwise Plus. Newcomers to both wordprocessing and Wordwise should find this book invaluable from the start. It contains, for example, about the clearest instructions I've seen for fitting a ROM into your machine.

The early chapters introduce, with many examples, all the main features of Wordwise as a wordprocessor. There are also frequent illustrations of the Beeb's keyboard to highlight the use of a particular key or group of keys. Some may feel that this is overdone - who needs a third of a page diagram just to identify the Tab or Break keys? Newcomers, though, will find this attention to detail reassuring.

The second part of the book is largely devoted to the use of Wordwise Plus as a programming language. Most of the features of writing Wordwise Plus segment programs are clearly described, and this is all put to good use in part three which contains 16 complete segment programs. Beebug members may well feel that this whole subject has already been quite comprehensively covered in the magazine.

To sum up, this is a very well-written and illustrated book and should sell well particularly to those with little or no experience of Wordwise. More experienced users of both Wordwise and the Beeb may feel that for them too much space has been wasted and that the price of £9.95 is high for what the book has to offer.

Within The BBC Microcomputer holds pages of numbers and addresses, and a treasure of information for the curious trying to find what makes the BBC Micro tick. This book describes all the major software systems by referencing the main subroutine entry point addresses. And, unlike recent Basic reference books that have appeared, Roger Cullis not ony goes into more detail, but covers a wider range of software too. You will find comprehensive descriptions of these systems: OS 1.2, Basic I, Basic II, HiBasic, DFS 0.9, NFS 3.34, 6502 Second Processor OS, Tube Communications Routines.

The layout of each system description is similar. Following a general memory map, zero page usage, and summary, the gazetteer details four to eight hundred routine entry points. For example, the OS 1.2 sections shows you the start of every *FX and OSBYTE call, or even where the cassette filing system generates a 0.2 second interblock gap.

Although this book is printed on unusually thick, rough paper held together in the standard spiral-bound format, do not judge it by its proverbial cover. Buy it!