I read of this book in Mark Fendrick’s COMPUTER SHOPPER column, Timex/Sinclair Survival Column earlier this year and have been looking for it since. Last month I got a flyer from Sunset Electronics, 2254 Taraval St., San Francisco, CA 94116, and there it was, and two weeks later I had it in my hands.
I was DISAPPOINTED! I skimmed thru it looking for the BEYOND, not finding any put it down. But that isn’t the end of the story. A couple days later while down with the latest version of the flu, I was looking for anything to read and picked up Aker’s book and began reading, and found that I had the name of the book WRONG! In the Sunset ad, it says TS2068 BASIC and BEYOND, but the title is T/S2068 BASICS and BEYOND. So I was looking for something beyond BASIC, not Basics. So I reread the book in this light and it does the job and very well indeed. The book is for the new user, and for anyone without a proper education in computer sciences, this takes you by the hand thru all the keys you look at but are afraid to ask about. Anyhow the reader should sit in fron of the 2068 when reading this to try out each step and learn something new. I’ve been around Sinclair Basic for almost four years, and have learned several new uses of the logic keys.
The chapter on BEEP and SOUND is not disappointing. Ms. Aker covers the basics of music, mergers that with the sound chip, and gives you something to expirience. While on SOUND and BEEP, Mark Fendrick, see first paragraph, is writing on same in his column, it started in the Nov. 85 issue. Mark also wrote a piece in the ZX Computing magazine (England) Nov/Dec 85 issue reviewing Ms. Aker’s book and gave it very good marks. I paid 9.95 plus s & h for the book-and unless you are past BASIC, this could be a plus in your library.
Paul Hill, SINCUS