Trying to understand the difference between SIMMs, SIPs and DRAMs? Not sure if Myst is better than Sam'n'Max? Wondering how to fit that Quad-Speed CD-ROM which is Plug'n'Play compatible into the mess of cables and boards inside your PC? No matter how trivial of complex your PC question or need is, chances are you'll find something in PC-MOM, which bills itself the "Mother of All PC Books."
Authors Woody Leonhard and Barry Simon take a swat at penetrating the dense jungle of jargon, software, hype and hoopla surrounding PCs, and bring it down to understandable basics. Written in the same easy-to-follow style as the "Dummies" and "Idiots" series of books, PC-MOM is a treasure trove of advice, home-spun opinion and serious criticism. The book itself is divided into four parts. The first part covers hardware, the second part covers "professional" software, the third part covers "fun and family" software, and finally, part four covers game software. The book is aimed at any PC owner or user who has a limited amount of time and money to deal with the confusing computer marketplace. Two free CD-ROMs accompany the book that could do with some extra work.
The book is written as a continuing set of opinions set forth in succession, each delivered by fictitious and sometimes whimsical characters. This leads to interesting, if sometimes wacky, conversations between these characters. If you have the patience to hear their arguments out, you get a feel for the merits and demerits of each product or technology reviewed. I did not find many places in the book where the advice was blatantly wrong or completely inaccurate. The book is clearly well researched. Alas, I only wish the same was true for the two CD-ROMs that come with the book. These CDs contain a ton of software and demos on them. It is the kind of material that, sold individually, would make up the cost of the book and more.
My problem was not with what the CD's contained. In fact, the 2 CDs contain a lot of significant material. However, getting to the right CD, and loading each module is an entire job in itself. There is a SETUP.EXE program on the root directory of the first CD. Running that, however, only drops you to the Phone Directory software. A graphical interface to the all the contents of the CDs would have dramatically increased their usability. On-line help is nonexistent. The CDs have been sloppily put together, and it takes more time to navigate the CDs than I consider acceptable. This is especially true considering that multimedia is exploding, and very sophisticated CDs are being released at very competitive prices. The CDs are both an Achilles Heel and a strength. More time spent on the CD-ROMs themselves would have paid off far greater dividends.
Other than that flaw, the book-CD package is very good. The book is huge (700 pages) and is well written. To take one example, the authors discuss the merits and demerits of different types of memory on your PC (the infamous SIPs, SIMMs, and DRAMs we mentioned at the start of this review). Simple facts that one would easily ignore which can cause serious and sometimes irrevocable harm are well presented. ("Be careful! It's easy to knock off one of the tabs on the corner of the SIMM card. Unlike DRAMs, SIMMs aren't pushed into place; they're tilted").
There are enhancements and better usability required, nevertheless this book is a classic and deserves a close look. By the time you're done with it, you'll know what SIMM and DRAM memory is, play a couple of demo games, see if you want to buy Myst, and decide if the shareware clipart is worth registering for.
