Date: Sat, 22 Jan 1994 14:53:12 MDT From: Rob Slade Subject: Book Review: "Compuserve CIM Running Start" by Campbell BKCSVCIM.RVW 931202 Sybex Computer Books 2021 Challenger Drive Alameda, CA 94501 USA 510-523-8233 800-227-2346 Fax: 510-523-2373 or Firefly Books 250 Sparks Avenue Willowdale, Ontario M2H 2S4 416-499-8412 Fax: 416-499-8313 "Compuserve CIM Running Start", Campbell, 1993, U$17.95/C$22.95 71650.2556@compuserve.com Let's review this on the basis of the cover blurbs. "Exclusive Two-Part Format, Designed to let You Get the Most Out of CompuServe." The two-part format is a tutorial and a reference section. Hmmm. Somehow that format sounds vaguely familiar. However, if you need this tutorial to get you started, I doubt that you are ever going to get the most out of CompuServe. Remember, this is a tutorial on how to use a graphical interface, which is, itself, an aid to a menu interface. "If you want to add an address to your address book, just press the Add button when you are in the Address Book Screen!" "Nine Simple, Step-by-Step Lessons to Help Make You a CompuServe Ace." Simple? Yes. Ace? See above. Let us suppose, though, that this book is aimed at the complete and utter computer neophyte. There is nothing here about the really hard part of communications: setting up the modem and making the first few calls. "Covers both WinCIM and DOS CIM." On the inside back cover is a sample screen from CIM for DOS. There are twelve references to differences between the two versions. Otherwise, this is about WinCIM. "Special Bonus Offer! FREE CompuServe Introductory Membership Plus a $15 Credit towards Your Usage." If there is anyone who has been involved in the computer world for a while and hasn't had dozens of such offers -- how did you avoid them? Now all of this may be amusing, but is it fair to the author? After all, it is the publisher who decides on such things as the cover, and often even the title. However, what is really at issue to the "consumer" is the book as a whole. Campbell has done a reasonably good job. The material is fairly clear, and the work is well written, as far as it goes. However, the concept of the book, as a whole, is one that boggles the mind. Do people really need documentation for this? Do they need a third party book? A while back a friend and I were delving into CompuServe via WinCIM. There were a number of "features" which we thought should probably be there, but we couldn't figure out how to make it work. This book was no help either in terms of finding those features, or in terms of confirming that they were or weren't available. Third party books on systems generally either help to mitigate the shortcomings of the existing documentation, or teach more advanced "tips and tricks". This book doesn't, and there seems to be little chance that such is possible with this topic. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1993 BKCSVCIM.RVW 931202 Permission granted to distribute with unedited copies of the TELECOM Digest and associated mailing lists/newsgroups.