scymanski has an ok story here. price has a good one about the gorgon. that one was very enjoyable, and had some lovely details. otherwise, this was dreary read. so many of these stories were not only badly invented, but seemed so uninspired to. i almost felt sorry for the writers, for making so bad stories. i think this is chaosium's worst.

I'm sorry having to say so, but I cannot recommend this book. For most paragraphs, the reader is left to guess what the writer is really trying to say. Additionally, the book has numeral errors, even in the most fundamental data and calculations. A few examples:

'The original compact disc [has a] 100-kilobit-per-second data-ransfer rate' (sic, p. 42). In fact, the read data rate of a normal CD is more than ten times as much (16 bits times 44.1 kHz times two is already 1.41 Mbit/s, and that excludes al error and medium coding that has to be added). Presumably, the writer is confusing kilobit per second and kilobyte per second, but many subsequent calculations of data rates, storage sizes and so on won't stand up either.

'During operating, DVD-Audio can store 192-kHz, 24-bit, two-channel sound for 74 minutes on single-sided, single-layer discs. By using standard linear pcm coding, single-sided, single-layer discs can store 74 minutes of 192-kHz, 24-bit, two-channel sound. The DVD Forum Working Group 4 also introduced a lossless coding method that allows the transmission of limited-transfer-rate, high-frequency audio signals without any loss of the original musical information. With this method, DVD-Audio enables the storage of 74 minutes of sound.' (sic, p. 65)The firsdt two lines seem identical to me, and it is unclear what the fird one adds.

'. [...] The NTSC standard provides an aspect ration [...] of 4:3. Introduction of the HDTV standard establishes a larger aspect ratio of 16:9 [..] Because of this, the viewer gains the capability to receive almost six times more information.' (p. 62)

A good book on this interesting subject would be very welcome, but I'm afraid that this book will not meet the expectations you can reasonably have of a book.