CompuServe Messages

Yah, and there are other reasons for wanting a book… Here's one. Time-Life Books is creating CD-I discs now. Whatcha wanna bet that some of those "home repair" books are being converted? So here's your typical scenario (you can see this one coming a mile away, can't you? ;-): Guy wants to fix his leaky bathtub faucet. So he goes into the living room, turns on his TV, slips in the Time-Life CDROM and sits back on the sofa using the thumb-joystick IR remote. Title display comes up, so he clicks on the plumbing icon; clicks on a photo of a bathtub; clicks on the faucet. Music plays and then Bob what's-his-name from "This Old House" dissolves into view, holding a wrench and demoing the finer points of changing washers. At any time of course, you can click on what he's holding and get more info about it. Or go sideways into a discussion of bathtub history. Or view famous people in bathtubs. But I digress (just as the viewer would ;-). Anyway, so he gets a quickie course. The guy finishes his beer, gathers his tools, and gets back to the bathtub. Starts unscrewing stuff. Hmmm. "WHAT did Bob say about this part again?", he wonders. So he goes back to the living room to see. A coupla times of this and he gets a bright idea… take the player and tv back to the bathroom. Yeah! (laughing yet?) I'll leave the rest, including mishaps and electrocutions, to your imagination. Repeat this scenario with auto repairs, etc, as you please. Educational? Yes. Handy as a book? No. A good addition to the book? Sure.