The Word Processing Book: A Short Course in Computer Literacy, by Peter A. McWilliams (Prelude Press, Box 69773, Los Angeles, Calif. 90069; 240 pp., $10). If anyone who regularly uses a typewriter tells you he is not interested in a word processor, feel free to smile. The fact of the matter is that everyone who writes or types has a secret curiosity about the subject, one which, however, there is a certain anxiety to suppress. Why? Because word processors are expensive, and because to master their operation requires a certain amount of effort. Those anxious to continue in ignorance, and, worse still, without the most convenient writing aid since the discovery of the typewriter, should not order this book (available also by telephone: 800-421-1809, just give the automatic telephone your MasterCard or Visa number). The author, a published poet, couldn’t understand why a country exploding with knowledge-industry devices should be so grudging in the matter of explaining what a word processor is, and why anyone who doesn’t avail himself of one is a Luddite. McWilliams set out to write (on his word processor) a book which is informed, cheerful, relaxed, unintimidating, informal, and immensely readable. Indeed I’d want to read it even if I had no fingers, so to speak, to permit me to marvel at what has come to pass. The author concludes by giving a rundown of competing hardware.
Moreover, he has got into the habit of putting out a fresh edition every few months to keep track of developments in the industry. It is a splendid buy. And if the book is the proximate cause of your picking up a word processor, you will forever bless the name of Peter McWilliams.
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