The best general-interest book about that most-adored Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) clearly came about from a lot of thought and effort. With a book richer in facts and better focused than the original edition, PalmPilot: The Ultimate Guide shows David Pogue's thoughtful consideration of his dedicated audience. Of course, Pogue includes information on the Palm IIIx, Palm V, and Palm VII. (And it's substantive information too, not the jive stuff--derived from press releases--that many books pass off as "coverage.") He also shows how to take advantage of recent advancements in Macintosh connectivity and brings in a Linux expert to show how to HotSync under that environment. He pays extra attention to the burgeoning universe of AportisDoc publications and helps untangle the confusion over getting your e-mail via your Palm. In addition to how-to information--both basic stuff that everyone needs to know and cool tricks that will surprise more experienced Palm users--Pogue catalogs a lot of Palm add-on hardware and software. The CD-ROM contains more than 3,100 programs for PalmOS. True, they're all on the Web (possibly in newer form), but this disc earns its keep by making it a cinch to screen more Palm software than you'd ever care to download. --David Wall