Video and shuttle

Press, 19 February 1983, Page 16

Video and shuttle

The Inside Story: Video. By Gareth Renowden. Collins, 37 pp. $8.95. The Inside Story: Space Shuttle. By Nigel Hawkes. Collins. 37 pp. $8.95. Aimed at the 10 to 11-year-old readers, these informative and well-produced booklets are sufficiently well written and illustrated to be interesting for all ages. Other titles in this series are “Jetliner" and “Automobile"; and “Computers” and “Nuclear Submarine” are planned. The publishers say that the books are intended to introduce children to the technology of today, using a “how it works” approach. These hard-covered Belgian-printed books do that well. At nearly $9 a volume, however (the British price is the equivalent of $6.51) they are not cheap — the price of the six volumes would buy a substantial reference or “How it works" volume. For those interested in just one or two titles, they may be very suitable. The subjects are covered as thoroughly as the space available permits, and each book has a good glossary and index. The explanations of technical details, and the illustrations that go with them, are often excellent examples of clarity. Inevitably, some points are glossed over: the “video" volume, for instance, talks of the use of "fibre-optic" cables, but does not explain what they are or how they work.—A. J. Petre.