BKCMPTAT.RVW   980521

"Computers Today and Tomorrow", Marilyn Meyer/Roberta Baber, 1998,
0-7897-1641-0, U$29.99/C$42.95/UK#28.49
%A   Marilyn Meyer
%A   Roberta Baber
%C   201 W. 103rd Street, Indianapolis, IN   46290
%D   1998
%G   0-7897-1641-0
%I   Macmillan Computer Publishing (MCP)
%O   U$29.99/C$42.95/UK#28.49 800-858-7674 317-581-3743
%P   464 p. + CD-ROM
%T   "Computers Today and Tomorrow"

Although nothing on the cover or title page does, the preface refers
to this as a second edition.  The cover also refers to this as an
"authoritative explanation of computers and how they work".

Part one is basic concepts and vocabulary.  Chapter one purports to
look at computer literacy, but doesn't say much about that topic.  It
presents some simple computer terms for the basic hardware and
operations, but also ill-defined (and rarely used) slang such as
"cyberphobia."  Some of the terms are not only simplistic but flatly
wrong, such as the statement that Web browsers search for keywords in
collections of files.  (That entry even contains a grammatical error.) 
While much of the historical content of chapter two can be technically
said to be without error, very little of it is completely reliable. 
Ironically, one story that is carefully presented is that of Grace
Murray Hopper's famous bug--a tale that is frequently misinterpreted. 
The basic concepts of memory, as expressed in chapter three, are
generally acceptable, although the material becomes much more error
prone when it gets into specifics.  Chapter four's description of
files and storage does not present the basic concepts in a
straightforward way, and probably would not help new users understand
the underlying ideas.  For example, a sidebar on the millennium bug
mentions two digit date fields, but never explains why that might be a
problem.  Discussion of input and output devices reads like a
collection of sales brochures in chapter five.  The review of
different sizes of computers in chapter six is much the same.

Part two moves into software and applications.  The description of
software spends a lot of time explaining very few concepts in chapter
seven.  The depiction of programming in chapter eight is reasonable,
although so rudimentary that few programmers would recognize their
activities in the text.  Systems analysis tends to be pretty free form
in practice anyway, so chapter nine is not a problem.  Word processing
seems to lean heavily towards fonts and presentation in chapter ten. 
Chapter eleven's coverage of spreadsheets is brief but to the point. 
The database concepts presented in chapter twelve are very
theoretical, not well explained, and not likely to be used by
newcomers.  Multimedia is poorly defined in reality, so one cannot
fault the coverage in chapter thirteen.  Chapter fourteen is a grab
bag.

Part three touches on different types of communications technologies. 
A general introduction in chapter fifteen presents miscellaneous
concepts.  Chapter sixteen presents some terms relating to private
networks and networking.  I suppose chapter seventeen's glossary of
the Internet has to mention the information superhighway, and that the
Web must have a chapter all to itself in eighteen.  (By this point I
am not surprised that a section entitled "The Relationship between the
World Wide Web and the Internet" doesn't address that topic.)

Part four looks at social issues such as ethics and computer use in
various sectors.  These important issues are almost parodied in the
book's treatment.  The case study in ethics has nothing to do with
computers.  Environmental considerations speaks ignorantly of
radiation and "pulsed plasma fields."  Under security, the entire
section on viruses contains seven sentences that are not completely
and utterly false.  (And, heaven help us, recommends the Microsoft
Anti-Virus.)  The future is blue sky.  The material on computer
careers is reasonable, but the content on business and industry,
science and medicine, education, transportation, law enforcement, and
the arts are all just collections of mentions.  A chapter on buying a
computer, oddly positioned in the middle of the industry sectors, is
as good as the usual magazine article on the subject.

After lo these many years I suppose I *shouldn't* be surprised, but
I'm still astonished by the poor quality of general computer literacy
texts.

copyright Robert M. Slade, 1998   BKCMPTAT.RVW   980521