BOOK REVIEW: A SURVIVAL GUIDE FOR ROAD WARRIORS

By Daniel S. Coolidge and J. Michael Jimmerson

Published by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, 163 pages

Reviewed by John F. Burke, CPA, The CPA Journal

Road warrior appears to be the nom du jour these days. The title of this book might imply it is intended for use by those who travel a great deal and are seeking to select a travel agent or good places to eat. Actually, as part of the AICPA Technology Series, the subject matter is limited to computers (notebooks only) and telecommunications, and its audience includes those CPAs whose "practice keeps him or her in the office late, requires travel to client sites, or involves time spent in airports...." In other words, any CPA.

The book has the following chapters:

* The Way of the Road Warrior

* Choosing Your Notebook Computer

* Peripherals, Software, and Other Essentials

* Mastering Telecommunications

* Online Services

* Dealing with Problems on the Road

* Security, Privacy, and Ethics

It also contains the following appendices:

* Information Resources

* Online Service Providers

* Using Multiple Boot Configurations

* Troubleshooting Tips and Tricks

The first chapter is merely a short introduction. The next two chapters cover both hardware and software. Although the hardware coverage relates to notebooks only, the discussion starts with the basics and includes topics such as the nature of processors, memory, hard disks, etc.

The meat of the book is the chapter on mastering telecommunications. It covers connecting to the phone system, faxes, email, file compression, and cellular telephones, among other topics. The next chapter on online services is comparatively short and probably spends too much time on America Online and CompuServe and not enough on other Internet service providers.

The title of the final chapter on dealing with problems on the road could be considered somewhat misleading since it starts off with the more mundane topics of hard disk maintenance, disk integrity checking, and antivirus protection. However, it then hones in on the rationale for the book by discussing dealing with airports, hotels, and other travel stops. The final chapter is devoted primarily to information security, including an explanation of encryption.

Overall, the book could be helpful to those starting out on the information highway. However, more advanced users of computers may have trouble wading through some of the more elementary material before getting to the meat and potatoes. Incidentally, although the subtitle of the book is "Essentials for the Mobile CPA," it was written by two lawyers. *