This book is subtitled “Logo and your child: a new way of learning" and sets out to introduce Logo to parents and teachers. It is a book about Logo — not a book which teaches Logo. The author, Ray Hammond, is clearly a strong supporter of the language and his aim is to fire his readers with some of his own enthusiasm so that they will rush off to learn it and teach it to their children — or rather, allow their children to explore it by themselves, with the minimum of adult guidance and help. The early chapters describe the educational theories behind the development of Logo, and the research which has been carried out to determine its effectiveness as an educational tool. These are followed by explanations of the use of floor and screen turtles, and the application of Logo to the control of sprites and list-processing. Then there are descriptions of several different versions of Logo and the computers on which they are available, and a number of case studies which show how Logo has been used in different schools all round the world. The book is interesting and thought-provoking, but I have considerable reservations about some of the ideas expressed in it. Whether the introduction of cheap computers will actually revolutionise primary education to the extent that Mr. Hammond suggests must surely still be open to dispute. If you have children of your own, or work with young children, then do read this book and decide for yourself how important these theories are. M.N. , Home Computing Weekly | 
