I have Stand By for Mars on my computer and it is a complete work, including the great Louis Glanzman’s illustrations that appear in the original Grosset & Dunlap versions. The illustrations are one of my fondest memories of the series and it was great to see them as part of the text. There is a free reader that you can download with a registration page for future update notifications and a magnifying glass to enlarge the illustrations.

The reader functions as an editor as well as providing an avenue for viewing your book. You may highlight a passage in the text, make notes about a passage of text and bookmark it for later review. All of the bookmarks, highlighting abilities and notes are user specific. Each user can have their own set of notes resulting in multiple “paths” of information. This is an excellent resource if you want to research the book or just come back to a passages for re reading.

There is an index and search function that helps in navigation within the books. I found I could use the reader’s search function to determine how many times and where in the book Roger called Astro a “dumb Venusian”! Very helpful if you are searching for a passage in the story or researching an event from the book.

The downloading procedure should not bother anyone who has been on the internet for any length of time. Download time depends on your modem and the quality of your connection. Most of the books in the series are 2.0 to 2.5 Mb in size. A 56K modem will take about 15 - 20 minutes. Not a quarter of the time it takes to upgrade your Netscape or Internet Explorer browser from the internet. The procedure is a little different in that you download you book and then register it by your payment via a secure server .

You can’t fault the price of $4.95, especially if you are still looking for that missing Space Cadet book. I admit that I am a hard-core book collector that prefers to hold the book in my hand, but I will have the whole electronic set downloaded as a reference work for future .

There are other series books being offered by Boondock Books that you will like and more to come. So blast off today and download a good read from Boondock Books.