THREE BOOKS
 -----------

Next time you're waiting for the laser printer to finish up 353 labels why
not thumb through The Smiley Dictionary: Cool Things To Do With Your Key
Board, a compilation of Emoticons collected by one Seth Godin who had
literally nothing better to do than to catalog about 179 silly "Smiley"
symbols you can use within your online correspondence to one-up your readers.

Here's Seth's keyboard salute to:

 Hank Aaron              :-)--!<
 Geordie LaForge |-)
 Howard Stern            @#$!
 Robocop                 ([ (

Well, you get the picture. This book's got everything you'd want: a
dedication, acknowledgements, a foreword by Robin Williams (not the funny
one), a preface, a historical note (read bald-faced lie about the origin of
Smileys), coupons offering time off for good behavior on CompuServe and
America Online, and two different indexes. The Smileys come in a variety of
categories including: Classic, Characters, Celebrity, Nasty, Challenging, and
more. $6.95. Peachpit Press; (800)283-9444.

And for the novice comes a more suitable work penned by Carla Rose for the
Windcrest series from McGraw Hill, Mac Online!: Making the Connection.
Non-technical, including many charts, diagrams, and screen shots, Mac Online
is a good-sized handbook designed to make telecommunications simpler,
productive, and perhaps, just perhaps, enjoyable.

Rose covers various modems and their installation, and explains how to use
shareware programs including FreeTerm, Z-Term, and Termulator to access
online services like Prodigy, CompuServe, and the other usual suspects.
Included are useful primers on how to send electronic mail and faxes, use
various protocols, and engage in some of the available, real-time online
conferences. 448 pages, $24.95.

From Ventana Press comes The Mac Shareware 500: the last word on the best
virus-free Mac shareware. This edition includes four diskettes full of
shareware described in the book. Did I miss something? If you have the disks
then you don't need to download the programs from America Online which threw
in 5 free hours of online time with the purchase of the book. I guess the
publisher figures to whip us into a shareware downloading frenzy.

It could happen, too, as authors Ruffin Prevost and Rob Terrell categorize
and review free or shareware utilities, fonts, games, desk accessories,
control panels, graphics, HyperCard, sounds, telecom, business, and
educational programs that lurk within the net. They include other critical
information concerning the current version number of the program, name and
address of the author, and, where applicable, a rating system. The book
offers more by listing some user groups, and in explaining why you need more
than two megs of RAM, or how to conserve memory and other avuncular advice,
including many tips and comments scattered throughout. Are these the songs
the whole world sings? Maybe, at least in the key of Macintosh; particularly
since many of these files are on your hard disk and get downloaded everyday
by your users. Overall, I kind of like the idea of having a source that
describes one could consider a core collection of programs, which, from
Dungeons of Doom to SCSIProbe represent the collective unconsciousness of
what a Mac hack is. Almost 400 pages; a pricey $39.95.

[Bill Gram-Reefer, based in Concord, California, is president of WORLDVIEW, a
public relations firm specializing in connectivity and communications. He
operates WORLDVIEW BBS (510)676-2919, running on a Macintosh computer. Bill
has been writing about Macintosh computers since 1984, and can be reached at:
wk05156@worldlink.com]