BKPCTEPC.RVW   981108

"Peter Coffee Teaches PCs", Peter Coffee, 1998, 0-7897-1703-4,
U$19.99/C$28.95/UK#18.49
%A   Peter Coffee
%C   201 W. 103rd Street, Indianapolis, IN   46290
%D   1998
%G   0-7897-1703-4
%I   Macmillan Computer Publishing (MCP)
%O   U$19.99/C$28.95/UK#18.49 800-858-7674 http://www.mcp.com
%P   647 p.
%T   "Peter Coffee Teaches PCs"

Neither the preface nor the introduction make it really plain who the
book is written for, but from various indications the text is aimed at
the novice user of Wintel machines: ISA/BIOS/Intel architecture
running a version of the Windows operating system.  Eventually, as we
get into the book, this seems to refine to Win95.

Chapter one, however, seems to reinterpret this novice business. 
First of all, it doesn't quite start at the beginning, but assumes
that have already dealt with the hardware.  There isn't even much
about how Windows operates before we get into MS-DOS and even DEBUG! 
Now, I'm all for giving people lots of information, but getting them
to create hex files does seem to be putting the cart before the horse. 
There is a lot of trivia, plus an awful lot about ways that files can
go wrong, in chapter two.  The points about overwriting files with the
same names, and file extensions, will be very helpful, and are not
often covered.  However, if this book truly is for newcomers, the
heavy DOS emphasis can possibly get users into trouble on a W95
machine.  Data representation could be useful down the road, but the
book is not clear about why we deal with it in chapter three.  Chapter
four tells us a lot of interesting things about microprocessors (and
misses a lot of things as well), but, again, one wonders about the
utility for new users.

Chapter five finally gets down to the visible hardware of the machine,
and does a pretty decent job.  Monitors get their own space in chapter
six, but it seems to be more of a buyer's guide.  (There's a lot of
that in the book; a number of recommendations for commercial software,
many of which have freeware alternatives.)  Modems get a very good
explanation of modulation, although there is both too much and too
little information on configuration in chapter seven.  There is a
brief review of sound and vision technology in chapter eight.  Chapter
nine looks at a variety of concerns when dealing with portable
computers.

Chapter ten deals with a lot of issues surrounding troubleshooting and
support, but misses a number as well.  Chapter eleven is mostly an
opinion piece on software.  This is continued in chapter twelve,
dealing specifically with software suites.  "Word processing" is
really about desktop publishing in chapter thirteen.  Chapter fourteen
reviews spreadsheets and other numeric software, fifteen does
database, and sixteen does presentation software.  Chapter seventeen
is a mixed bag of Internet history and operations, and security.  (The
very short section on viruses doesn't make many mistakes, but then it
doesn't tell you much, either.)

Personally, I have no problem with giving users, even new users, a lot
of background and technical detail: I approve.  However, I suspect
that a lot of users who just want to know how to make the thing work
will get annoyed.  In addition, for those who do want the facts "right
down to the metal," you are going to have to arrange and organize the
material and sequence better, and there are a lot of gaps in the
content of the book.  In the end I would say that this book is
definitely not for beginners.  Intermediate users will probably get
more use out of it.  Bear in mind, though, that while there is a lot
of information to be had, it isn't complete, and it won't always be
what you need.  This is a book to dip into when you have a chance, in
order to build background, along with your own experiences, for later
use.

copyright Robert M. Slade, 1998   BKPCTEPC.RVW   981108