Books

Record producer and consultant Colin Escott. Escott's had a long association with Sun Records, the company responsible for many of the great acts from the dawn of rock and roll. Escott has a new book about Sun, called "Good Rockin' Tonight" (published by St. Martin's Press).

Reporter Leonard Lee. Lee's new book, "The Day the Phones Stopped: The Computer Crisis-- The What and Why of It, and How We Can Beat It," examines how our growing dependency on computers, and the growing complexity of computer programs, have led to expensive, and sometimes deadly, computer failures. Prior to becoming a journalist, Lee was a systems engineer for IBM. ("The Day the Phones Stopped" is published by Donald I. Fine).

Book critic John Leonard reviews two collections of essays about Africa; "African Silences" by Peter Matthiessan and "Maneaters Motel" by Denis Boyles.

Maureen Corrigan reviews film maker John Sayle's new novel, "Los Gusanos."

Journalist Ron Powers. Powers new book, "Far From Home, " examines the decline of the small town in America. To illustrate the point, Powers profiled the decline of Cairo, Illinois and Kent Connecticut.

Rock critic Jimmy Guterman and editor Owen O'Donnell have a new book called "The Worst Rock 'n' Roll Records of All Time." Many of their selections are recordings made by some of the most popular artists, including the Doors, Bob Dylan, Billy Joel, and the Moody Blues.

Jacobson is the executive director of the Center for Science in The Public Interest. He's one of the authors of the new book, "Safe Food." It's a guide to the dangers in what we eat. The book discusses pesticides, bacteria and other toxic substances found in food.

Book critic John Leonard reviews "Jernigan," the first novel from writer David Gates. It's about an erudite alcoholic's frustration with suburban life.

Book critic John Leonard reviews the author's latest book, which he says doesn't live up to DeLillo's excellent novels from last decade.

Book critic John Leonard reviews "Bully for Brontosaurus," the new collection of popular science essays from biologist Stephen Jay Gould.