CD-ROM holds library of classic works

CD-ROM holds library of classic works

By Zatni Arbi

JAKARTA (JP): Would you care to know why I admire Norman
Shwarzkopf so much? It definitely is not because he successfully
led the Allied troops during Desert Storm. It is more because, in
my opinion, he talked the way any military leader should talk:
clear and concise. With his wit and intelligence, he often
sprinkled his press briefings with a little touch of humor, but
he always was clear and concise.

Honestly, I often get irritated when I hear our own commanders
talk. How I wish they would all stop talking like social
scientists, who are often mocked for their habit of belaboring
the obvious. How I wish our military leaders would economize
their words and use them more efficiently, especially during the
nerve-racking and tear-jerking riots which have pounded our
nation over the last year.

It turns out my wish is completely in line with what Sun Tzu
said 2,400 years ago, in what is regarded as the first military
treatise in the world. He said: "If words of command are not
clear and distinct, if orders are not thoroughly understood, the
general is to blame. But if his orders are clear, and the
soldiers nevertheless disobey, then it is the fault of their
officers."

Well, I don't have any intention of going into a discussion on
interpersonal communication. I just want to share with you the
CD-ROM which I have which has Sun Tzu's The Art of War on it. The
CD-ROM is Classic Library, and it is produced by Andromeda
Interactive.

It is really an admirable collection of classic works covering
a wide range of topics. In addition to the Lionel Giles English
translation of Sun Tzu's seminal work, complete with scholarly
commentaries, you can read the texts of over 2000 other
unabridged works which should live forever. If you like
literature, you can read Troilus and Criseyde by Geoffrey
Chaucer, the English poet who lived from 1343 to 1400 and was the
first to be buried in Westminster Abbey's Poets Corner. Or you
can read the entire text of Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen.
Shakespeare's works? Of course you have plenty of them on this
CD-ROM, although perhaps only a fraction of what he wrote. How
about Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte? Or Wuthering Heights by her
younger sister, Emily Jane Bronte? You'll also find Alexander
Pope's Essay on Criticism, along with several other masterpieces
by him. You even can read the biographies of these writers.

You'll find more than just novels and poems on this CD-ROM. Do
you want to read George Washington's 1796 Farewell Address? Or do
you want to read William Jefferson Clinton's January 20, 1993
Inaugural Address? They are all on Classic Library. And, would
you believe it, the CD-ROM even has the text of Peter Roget's
Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases.

Features

The program has a graphical user interface as the background.
Click on the bookshelf on the left and you'll get a list of all
the works you can read on this CD-ROM, from The $30,000 Bequest
by Mark Twain to Zummer an' Winter by William Barnes. Click on
the catalog cards and you'll get the search tool. When I typed in
Dickinson, the search tool gave me the list of materials relating
to Dickinson, including Emily Dickinson's biography.

Click on the statue on your desk and you'll be able to look at
the list of authors, from Aesop to Sir Thomas Wyatt. You'll get a
little animation if you click on the fire burning in the
fireplace. What a cozy place to read, and it's all inside your
PC.

Or, if you prefer, you can use the menus which are lined up on
top of the screen -- as shown in the accompanying screen capture.
You can search for a text based on the name of the work, the
author, or any word which comes to mind. You can also use
bookmarks to go back to the work later. The software also keeps
track of your activities, and you'll have the history in case you
need to go back to where you've been.

Should your reading stimulate a burning desire to write, you
can directly jump into a word processor of your choice. By
default, clicking on the piece of blank paper on your desktop
will invoke Andromeda's own word processor. I've set up my
Classic Library so the action will bring up Ami Pro.

Wish list

First of all, a library of this size should have a better
search tool. I cannot use wild cards such as "*" or "?" to find
the word or proper name I want. For example, I cannot simply type
Wil* to get to Oscar Wilde. This has to be improved.

Selecting a text you want to copy as a quotation, for example,
is still not done the Windows-way. I have to select one whole
line at a time, and when the characters become blue it means that
they're selected and ready to be copied. Today, selecting text
should be as easy as sweeping your mouse cursor over whatever you
want to select.

Apart from that, Classic Library is a must have. Sure, it's
nice and impressive to have rows of books bound in rich leather,
complete with 22 karat gold accents and elegant satin moire
end sheets in your home library, but this CD-ROM will give you
much faster access to the same works.

Unfortunately, though, Andromeda Interactive's Web site is
under reconstruction, and therefore not much information is
provided here about the price and availability of the CD-ROM. If
you like, just try www.andromeda.co.uk in a couple of weeks and
see whether they have reopened their online store. In the
meantime, if you happen to find Classic Library in a software
store somewhere, grab it.