upstill@ucbvax.ARPA (Steve Upstill) (12/18/84)
Try "The Whole Earth Software Catalog". Stewart Brand, et al, have been computer advocates for some time, and now here they are acting as Consumer Reports for hardware and software. The orientation is aligned with that of the Whole Earth Catalog: pointing out tools of use in giving individuals more control and power over their lives. If that sounds too airy for you, let me just say that as an advanced academic computist, I found the book very hard to put down, simply as a view on the world of consumer software. There is a lot of information here, and the reviews have it that it is a great intro for novices. BTW, the book costs $18, but for about $1 more, you can get the book AND a years subscription to The Whole Earth Review, successor to the mutually-defunct CoEvolution Quarterly and Whole Earth Software Review. The first issue, one third of which consists of articles under the heading "Computers As Poison", is worth the price of admission alone; I have rarely read such eloquent arguments for suspicion of computers. Steve Upstill